"Luffy, I hate you." It came from damn near everyone at once, layered together in a chorus of pain, disbelief, and general regret as their bodies lay scattered across the Merry's deck like they'd just been dropped out of the sky. Because they had been. Well, actually into the sky.
Varin didn't move for a long second, flat on his back, one arm draped over his face as if that might somehow undo what just happened. The wind still howled faintly around them, the ship creaking from the aftermath of being launched straight into the sky like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Sky islands were real. That part had been confirmed, unfortunately, so was everything else that came with getting there.
"I want a refund for my captain," Varin muttered finally, voice muffled under his arm. "Send me back to the ice."
Somewhere nearby, Usopp groaned like his soul had left his body halfway up the knock-up stream and just hadn't caught back up yet. "We almost died," he wheezed.
"We DID die," Sanji added from somewhere off to the side, not even bothering to sit up yet.
Nami pushed herself up slowly, one hand gripping her head. "No," she snapped, though she didn't sound much better. "We survived. Which means we can still make money off this."
"Of course, that's your takeaway," Zoro muttered, sitting up like this was just another afternoon inconvenience.
Luffy, of course, was the only one already on his feet.
"That was AWESOME!" he shouted, grinning like a man who hadn't just been violently hurled into the sky on a column of ocean.
Varin slowly pulled his arm off his face, turning his head just enough to look at him, expression completely flat. "…I'm going to throw you off this island," he said. Luffy just laughed.
Chopper stumbled upright next, wobbling slightly before looking around in wide-eyed amazement. "We… we actually did it," he said. "We're in the sky…"
That seemed to hit everyone else a second later. The clouds weren't below them anymore. They were around them. Stretching out in every direction, soft and endless, like the sea had flipped itself upside down.
Varin pushed himself up onto one elbow, finally taking it in properly. For a moment, just a moment, even he went quiet.
"City of gold, city of gold," Nami sang, already back on her feet like none of that had just happened, like they hadn't been flung a thousand miles into the sky on a column of ocean. She spun once for emphasis, pointing off toward the endless stretch of white. "Come on, you lazy lot, you've got gold to get me. I mean us."
Varin let out a rough laugh at that, pushing himself up with the help of the railing, still a little unsteady as his legs remembered gravity existed again. He dragged a hand down his face, then glanced over the side. And paused. because they weren't sailing on water. They were drifting across clouds, actual solid-looking clouds, stretched out like a river beneath the ship, carrying them along like it was the most natural thing in the world. "…right," he muttered, blinking once before looking back at Nami. "Makes too much sense. Ignore how we're on…" he jerked a thumb over his shoulder without looking this time, "…clouds, somehow, and your first thought is money."
Nami grinned at him, completely unapologetic. "Of course it is."
Varin huffed, shaking his head slightly, though there was amusement there. "I'd say never change," he went on, leaning his weight more fully against the railing now, "but I'm kinda scared of what would have to happen for that."
"Nothing," she shot back immediately. "I'm perfect as I am."
"Debatable," Zoro muttered from the deck, though he didn't sound particularly invested in arguing it.
Luffy, meanwhile, had already leaned halfway over the opposite side, staring down at the clouds with wide eyes. "Can I eat it?" he asked, reaching out like he was about to test it.
"No!" half the crew snapped at once. Though Varin did hear Chopper mutter it shouldn't be dangerous, but the lad was drowned out by the rest of the crew.
There was a beat of silence after that, broken only by the creaking of the Merry and the soft rush of wind through open sky. Then Varin let out a low chuckle, still leaning on the railing, eyes half-lidded as he looked out over the clouds. "Was fun though," he said after a moment.
Usopp's head snapped toward him so fast it was a wonder he didn't pull something. "How?" he demanded, eyes going wide in that exaggerated way he had when something truly offended him. "You of all people were pasted to the deck! You didn't, no couldn't move the entire time. How the hell was that fun?"
Varin pushed himself upright fully now, rolling one shoulder with a faint wince, like he was working out the last bit of stiffness. "That's what makes it fun, I think—"
"I swear to every god you believe in, Varin," Vivi cut in instantly, her voice sharp enough to stop him mid-thought. There was a twitch at her eye, the kind that promised violence if pushed even a little further. "If you say it was almost as fun as Crocodile, I will stab you."
Varin paused and considered it. Then, wisely, didn't finish that sentence.
Vivi took a step forward anyway, gesturing broadly at the rest of the crew like she was presenting evidence in a trial. "Look at literally anyone else," she went on, exasperation bleeding into every word. "We're soaked, half dead, and how in the world are we supposed to get down from here?"
Usopp immediately latched onto it. "Yeah!" he said, spinning toward the railing like he'd just realized the situation all over again. "We're stuck! We're actually stuck in the sky!" Chopper made a small, distressed noise at that, glancing over the side and then quickly pulling back.
Varin followed their gaze for a second, looking down at the endless stretch of clouds beneath them. No land in sight below. Just… sky. He hummed in thought. "…we'll figure it out," he said finally, tone easy, like that solved anything.
Vivi stared at him. "That is not reassuring."
Varin shrugged slightly. "Hasn't failed us yet."
"That's because we haven't fallen out of the sky before!"
"Details."
Zoro snorted from where he sat, arms resting on his knees. "We got up here somehow," he said. "There's a way back down."
Nami crossed her arms, already shifting into that focused, practical headspace she always fell into when something didn't make sense yet. "We'll deal with that later," she said. "Right now, we explore. If there's a city up here, there's answers."
Varin drew in a breath out of habit, then paused slightly when he noticed the others weren't doing the same so easily. Usopp was hunched a bit, breathing heavier than he should've been just standing there. Chopper looked uncomfortable, like he couldn't quite get a full breath in. Even Vivi had that tightness in her shoulders, subtle but there.
Varin blinked once, then looked between them. "You lot just decide to start actin' like fish outta water," he said, tone edged with mild confusion, "or am I just special?"
Chopper shook his head quickly, still catching his breath. "The oxygen this far up is a lot thinner," he explained, tapping his chest lightly like that would help illustrate it. "It'll take our bodies some time to adjust. How are you not feeling this? It's like I just ran between five islands."
Varin tilted his head slightly, testing it again, taking another steady breath. It felt… normal. Different air, sure, but nothing that slowed him down.
Before he could answer, Nami let out a small sigh, already piecing it together. "No," she said, glancing over at him. "It's his fruit. I know life's unfair, but still, that's a little much."
Varin huffed faintly at that, rolling one shoulder like he was shrugging off the whole thing. "Yeah, that sounds about right," he said. "Probably some divine constitution or somethin' like that."
Usopp shot him a look. "Of course it is," he muttered. "Because turning into a giant wolf wasn't enough."
Chopper nodded, though he still looked a little bothered by it from a medical standpoint. "It might be enhancing your stamina or how your body processes oxygen," he added, more to himself now, already thinking it through. "That would explain why you're not affected the same way…"
Varin glanced at him, then back out over the clouds, expression easy again. "Means I don't gotta worry about passin' out while the rest of ya catch up," he said. "Could be worse."
Vivi exhaled slowly, still adjusting. "I'd prefer if we were all on equal footing," she muttered.
Varin snorted softly. "Where's the fun in that?" She gave him a look. He didn't take it back.
Luffy, meanwhile, didn't seem bothered in the slightest, already moving toward the front of the ship like the lack of air didn't apply to him either. "Let's go already!" he shouted.
That was all the push they needed. The Merry drifted along the cloud river, the current carrying them forward without any real input from the crew. It was quiet for a while, just the soft hiss of the clouds beneath the hull and the occasional creak of wood adjusting to something it was never meant to sail on. Even Usopp, despite still looking like he might pass out from the altitude, leaned over the side just enough to stare in awe at the strange white current carrying them along.
The calm didn't last. Ahead, something started to take shape through the clouds. At first it looked like a wall, then a structure, then something far more… deliberate. A massive gate rose up out of the cloud sea itself, towering and ornate in a way that didn't match anything they'd seen before.
"Heaven's Gate," Nami muttered, eyes narrowing slightly as she read the sign.
Varin leaned forward against the railing, squinting slightly as he looked it over. "Bit dramatic," he said under his breath.
As they drifted closer, a small platform lowered down from the structure with a quiet mechanical hum. Sitting on it was an old woman, hunched slightly, her expression calm to the point of being unsettling. She looked like she'd been waiting there for years and hadn't gotten bored once.
"Welcome to Skypiea," she said, voice smooth, almost pleasant.
No one answered right away. Usopp leaned slightly toward Nami. "She's creepy," he whispered, not nearly as quietly as he thought.
Varin huffed faintly. "Aye," he murmured. "Bit."
The woman didn't react to that at all. She just continued like nothing had been said. "To pass through Heaven's Gate, there is a toll. One billion extol per person."
"ONE BILLION?!" Nami snapped instantly, stepping forward like she'd just been personally attacked. "Are you insane?!"
The old woman didn't even blink. "You may pass without paying," she said calmly. "Or you may pay the toll. The choice is yours."
That… didn't help the situation. Nami froze for a second, clearly trying to process that, suspicion written all over her face. "That doesn't make any sense," she muttered. "Why even have a toll if it's optional?"
Varin tilted his head slightly, watching the woman more closely now. There was something off about it. "Sounds like a trap," he said plainly.
Luffy, of course, didn't care. "Let's just pay!" he said immediately, grinning like that solved everything.
"Absolutely not, you know how long it took for me to steal all that money?" Nami shot back, rounding on him. The woman simply watched them argue, hands folded neatly in her lap.
Chopper leaned toward Robin slightly. "Do you think something happens if we don't pay?" he asked quietly.
Robin smiled faintly, eyes on the gate. "Certainly," she said.
Varin let out a low hum, glancing between them all before shrugging slightly. "If it's a trap, we deal with it when it happens," he said. "If it ain't, then we just saved ourselves a stupid amount of money."
Nami looked like she was physically restraining herself from finally ending Luffy's life, her eye twitching slightly at the sheer audacity.
The old woman gave a small nod, like that had been expected all along. "Very well," she said. "You may pass."
The gate opened without resistance, the Merry drifting through into another stretch of endless white, the clouds parting just enough to reveal more of this strange sky-sea ahead. For a few moments, no one said anything. It was too smooth. Too easy.
Varin leaned on the railing again once they were well out of earshot, eyes drifting across the horizon like he was trying to spot whatever catch hadn't shown itself yet. Then he spoke, almost idly. "So what's the chance we end up fightin' God or somethin'?"
There was a half-second pause. "WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!" Chopper, Usopp, Vivi, and Nami all shouted in unison, loud enough that even the clouds around them seemed to shudder with it.
Varin blinked at them, completely unbothered. "What?" he said, glancing between the four like he genuinely didn't see the issue. "I imagine their leader probably calls himself a god, or at least thinks of himself as one."
Usopp looked like he might actually cry. "You can't just say things like that up here!" he snapped, pointing wildly at the sky like that proved his point.
"We are literally in the sky!" Chopper added, equally distressed.
"That doesn't mean there's an actual god!" Vivi shot in, though she didn't sound nearly as certain as she probably wanted to.
Nami crossed her arms tightly, glaring at Varin. "And even if there was," she said, "we are not picking a fight with it."
Varin snorted softly at that, turning his gaze back out over the clouds. "Aye," he said. "Not pickin' one."
Usopp groaned, dragging his hands down his face. "That means we're definitely fighting one," he muttered.
Zoro, who had been quiet through most of it, just cracked one eye open from where he was resting. "If there is one," he said, voice calm, "we'll deal with it."
"STOP AGREEING WITH HIM," Usopp snapped immediately.
Luffy, meanwhile, lit up like someone had just offered him a new adventure. "A god?" he said, grinning widely. "That sounds fun."
Nami rounded on him instantly. "No. It doesn't."
Varin let out a quiet laugh under his breath, shaking his head slightly as the argument picked up around him. He let them argue it out behind him, voices overlapping, rising and falling in that familiar chaos that never really stopped once it got going. Varin didn't bother stepping in again. He just leaned against the railing, watching the clouds drift past, letting the noise fade into the background while his attention stayed outward. It was easier that way. The sky stretched on forever up here, too open, too quiet underneath it all, like something was waiting just out of sight.
The current shifted slightly beneath the Merry, subtle but enough to change their path. The clouds ahead started to break, not thinning, but forming. Shapes. Structure.
It didn't take long before it became clear they weren't alone up here.
A town came into view. Buildings sat on top of dense, packed clouds like they were solid ground, their foundations sunk into white instead of stone. Wooden walkways connected everything, stretching out over open air, and small boats drifted lazily along cloud canals like it was the most natural thing in the world. Massive staircases connecting various islands.
Varin straightened slightly, pushing off the railing as his eyes tracked over it all. "Well," he muttered, "that's new. Whadya think the rent costs up here."
The others quieted down as they noticed it too, one by one, the argument dissolving into that same shared moment of disbelief.
Chopper's eyes went wide. "It's a town…" he said, like he needed to say it out loud to believe it.
Usopp leaned over the side again, more cautiously this time. "It's all… clouds," he added, still not convinced he wasn't about to fall through it.
They didn't so much dock as ease up alongside the edge of it, the Merry nudging against the cloud shore like it was pulling up to a quiet harbour. There wasn't anyone waiting, no guards, no crowd, just open space and that strange, soft ground stretching out ahead of them. For a place this bizarre, it felt almost… calm.
Luffy didn't hesitate.
He was off the ship the second it was close enough, hopping down onto the clouds and immediately bouncing once, twice, like a kid who'd just found something new to break. "It's springy!" he shouted, laughing as he tested it without a shred of caution.
Usopp leaned over the railing, staring like he was witnessing a man willingly jump into the void. "He's going to fall through," he muttered.
"He's not falling through," Nami said, already kicking off her shoes. "Look at it."
One by one, the others followed, stepping down more carefully than Luffy had. The moment their feet touched, the reaction was the same across the board. A slight give, soft underfoot, but solid enough to hold their weight. And wet. Not soaked, not sinking, but damp in a way that clung just enough to notice.
Varin watched it for a second before stepping down himself, boots still on. The cloud held as he shifted his weight slightly, testing it, then glanced down at his feet as the dampness started to creep in through the material. "…right," he muttered.
Behind him, Vivi had already slipped her shoes off, holding them in one hand as she stepped more comfortably onto the surface. "It's like walking on soaked pillows," she said, a little surprised.
Chopper nodded quickly, doing the same. "Yeah! It's weird, but it works!"
Varin looked down again, then at the others, then back at the cloud. There was a brief moment where it looked like he might just ignore it. Then he sighed, bent down, and pulled his boots off, slinging them over his shoulder. "…didn't think I'd ever be takin' my boots off to walk on the sky," he muttered.
Usopp laughed nervously, still adjusting to the feeling. "I didn't think I'd ever walk on the sky at all!"
Varin stepped forward properly now, bare feet pressing into the damp cloud. It was strange, but not unpleasant, just… unfamiliar. Soft, but not weak. Wet, but not soaking. He glanced down at it again, then out toward the town. "…huh," he said quietly. "Guess this is real."
Ahead of them, the place stretched out, quiet but alive, waiting to be explored. Behind them, the Merry rocked gently where it rested, like it had always belonged in a place like this. Varin barely had time to take that in before the moment shattered.
Nami, apparently deciding curiosity was more important than safety, had scooped up a chunk of cloud and packed it into a ball, weighing it in her hand like she was testing a weapon. Her eyes flicked toward Usopp with very clear intent.
Usopp saw it. "Don't you da—" He never got to finish. Luffy, grinning like an idiot, beat her to the punch and dropped what looked like a melon straight onto the sniper's head. The thing made a dull, heavy thunk that did not sound like fruit.
Usopp folded instantly. "That was not a melon!" he groaned, crumpling to his knees, clutching his skull like it had just been split in half.
Nami didn't even look at him. Her throw had already been released. Varin turned his head just in time to see it coming, then it hit him square in the chest. There was a solid, wet thud, followed by a surprising amount of force behind it. For Nami, anyway.
He looked down slowly. The cloud ball had splattered against him, breaking apart into damp clumps that slid off his skin and hit the ground with soft plops.
There was a brief pause before Varin looked up. "...so," Varin said, voice flat, one brow lifting slightly, "that's what we're doin' now?"
Usopp was still on the ground, groaning. Luffy was already laughing. Chopper looked like he was trying very hard not to get involved.
Nami, for her part, didn't even try to deny it. "I needed to test it," she said, as if that justified everything.
Varin stared at her for another second. Then he bent down, scooped up a handful of the cloud, and started packing it together in his hands. Making a show of it, purposely slow.
"Oh, that's not good," Usopp wheezed from the ground, not even looking up.
Varin weighed the ball once, testing the density. "…fair enough," he said. And then he threw it. Hard. The throw snapped through the air with a sharp, wet crack, the cloud ball holding together just long enough to carry real weight behind it. Nami's eyes widened a fraction too late, her body already shifting but not quite fast enough.
It hit, square in the side, bursting on impact and sending her skidding a step across the damp cloud, the force of it far beyond what she'd expected from something that looked like it should've been harmless. Water and white fluff splattered out around her, clinging to her clothes and hair.
Usopp wheezed out a laugh from the ground. "Oh, that was worth it," he muttered, still clutching his head.
Nami slowly turned her head toward Varin. "…you're dead," she said, very calmly. Varin was already bending down again.
"Oh no," Chopper whispered.
Luffy, of course, lit up immediately. "A fight?!" he shouted, already scooping up his own chunk of cloud and packing it with zero understanding of restraint.
That was all it took. The next few seconds dissolved into chaos.m Cloud balls flew in every direction, some soft and useless, others packed tight enough to actually sting. Usopp, despite still recovering, managed to roll out of the way of one and scramble behind a small rise in the cloud, immediately turning it into cover as he started firing back with perfect accuracy. Chopper got caught in the crossfire almost instantly, yelping as one smacked into him and knocked him flat.
Nami ducked low, already forming another projectile with far more care this time, clearly learning from the first mistake. She launched it toward Varin again, faster, sharper.
The impact burst across his shoulder, soaking through, but he just grinned slightly this time, already retaliating with another throw that forced her to move properly or take it full force again.
Vivi tried to stay out of it at first. That lasted about three seconds before a stray shot clipped her arm."…alright," she muttered as she joined in.
Zoro stayed where he was for a moment, watching the whole thing with mild disinterest, until a poorly aimed throw smacked him in the side of the head. A second later, he picked up a chunk twice the size of anyone else's and hurled it without warning, the thing flying like a damn cannon shot and detonating against the ground near Luffy, sending up a spray of cloud and water. Luffy laughed harder.
Varin moved through it all without much concern, catching the rhythm of it like it was any other kind of fight. The difference was that no one was actually trying to hurt each other, which made it… easier.
He took a hit to the side, another to the arm, barely reacting beyond a shift in stance as he grabbed another handful and packed it tight. Across from him, Nami wiped her face, already lining up another throw, eyes locked on him with clear intent. Varin met her gaze, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. Something Varin often forgot, for all their limited power, families, past, and trauma. They were still kids. Teenagers are exploring the cruel, dark world for the first time. And for whatever else that would happen to them in the future, it was nice to let loose without fear of Marines for once. Or fear of something worse.