Lara's POV;

We reached Galmon, Nirü's home, late in the afternoon. The trip was more troublesome than first thought. Sure, we can sail on the clouds just fine, but for that, there have to be clouds.

Nirü told us that with Enel's leave a massive lightning storm befell the whole of Skyprie. It lasted for a whole day and destroyed many clouds. Their sea was riddled with holes like a swiss cheese.

Almost no settlement survived the storm and many of the ground like clouds were destroyed. Sailing on this sea has to be done with great care and can lead to a quick death if not navigated skillfully.

Nojiko was cursing up a storm from all the things she had to think about and the rest of us was in constant motion to help out. Driving with a waver would have been easier. Maybe we can get our hands on a couple of them.

Anyway, the small town Galmon was now in view. It wasn't a town, it could barely call itself village if you ask me. There were palisades made out of wood, some huts and cloud houses and a few sentries. There were no cannons in sight, according to Lia.

The crew and Nirü were on deck, ready to set anchor or defend. “Let me stand at the front, if they see me they won't attack”, told Nirü us. She climbed up on our railing without waiting for a reply and began to wave to Galmon.

Soon a group of six people came rushing out of a gate, all of them wearing cloud skates. They shot over to us and jumped on board. They had spears as weapons, all of them ready to fight yet not truly aimed at us.

“Nirü? You are safe, what happened?” The speaker was the most muscular of the six. A man in his late teens with a bald head. His wings too pointed downwards, as did those of the other five.

“Hör, you don't know how good it is to see you. These sea dwellers rescued me and treated my wounds. They were nice enough to bring me back home and only asked to be informed about the current state of Skyprie.” Said Nirü, she has jumped back down and was hugging Hör.

He, while still hugging Nirü, looked over to us and nodded his head in thanks. “Thank you very much sea dweller. We feared the worst when Nirü was kidnapped.”

“Nah, no problem. We only did the natural thing and helped”, replied Jonny with a wide smile. I would have liked to tell him that this was not why we helped. I only left her alive because we needed information.

If she wouldn't have been there I would have used the now dead idiot for those. But someone who is thankful to you is less inclined to lie. And it gives Lia and me a few good points with our crew.

So I did not say those and instead supplied something more friendly. “Yes, we could see that she was in need of help. No one should be held captive against their will.”

Hör smiled widely when he heard that and the rest of his men lowered their weapons fully. “Again thank you. Please follow us, the elder will answer any question you have about Skyprie.”

Three of his friends then jumped back down into the sea and led our ship through the cloud-sea. We ignored a few obvious passages. When asked they only said that not every passage is safe to traverse. It's obvious that they blocked those in some way and we would crash into something nasty if sailed through.

Their harbour wasn't really existent, so we had to drop our lifeboat and row on land ourselves. And with ourselves, I mean Jonny and Yosaku did the rowing. Mrs Chicken Wing gave the tact by clucking encouragingly. Jo remained with Fiara on the Shadow.

Once we hit land Noa jumped off and pulled us on secure ground. I jumped off as well and felt how the ankle high sea cloud syphoned my strength off. These things are affecting our Devil Fruit power. Good to know.

The six soldiers, as well as welcoming party of ten more, were waiting. “Please follow me, the elder will want to greet you.” Announced one of the unknown soldiers. He too held a spear as a weapon.

Others had bows or swords. Only one or two had cloud guns.

If I remember correctly then Enel forbid any use or the owning of weapons during his reign. It would explain their lack of arms.

“Of course, I'm Lara, the captain of my crew, the Kage pirates. These are Lia, Noa, Nojiko, Jonny, Yosaku and Mrs Chicken Wing”, I answered, with a gesture to each of us. Several of them stiffened when they heard that we were pirates, but none of them acted on it.

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“My name is Fära, the leader of our defence force. We are the guardians of our town and will defend our people against any foe”, he replied. The silent threat was understood by us, yet not really intimidating. They looked to be on the same level as Noa. So everyone on our crew could beat them. Maybe Nojiko can't if she's too close. And I don't know about Fiara's capabilities.

The group then led us into the village, we were flanked on each side by six with five behind us. Fära and Nirü were leading us.

“This is the market, we sell gaunasu and sky shark or sky lobster. You'll have to try a gaunasu cocktail, they are delicious.” Nirü was happily filling the silent void. Not noticing that her friends were tense and not protecting us, but caging us in.

“Oh, I'd like that. Maybe you could show me around later?”, replied Jonny for us. He was heavily trying to flirt with Nirü, ever since she came out of the medical bay today's morning.

Yosaku was rolling his eyes at Jonny's blatant try, but none of us would fault Jonny for trying. Nirü may not be as pretty as me or Lia, but she could compare to Nojiko and her wings were a bonus.

Maybe they are even sensitive, I'd love to try and pet them.

It was Fära who brought me out of my musing. “And this here is the elders home.”

It was a smallish house, made out of bricks that looked to be made out of hardened clouds and not actual stone. They were a strange kind of whitish-grey. Fära knocked on the wooden door and then gestured for me and Nirü to go inside.

“Please understand that the house of the elder can't accommodate all of us. I'd like to ask only for your leader to come inside.” The house was indeed too small for all of us, but I felt as if Fära just wanted to have as few as possible of us near to his leader. He certainly had no trouble in coming inside, followed by five of his soldiers.

We were greeted by a large living room that quickly became crowded with all seven of us. There was a table with four chairs and in front of the table stood an old man and an equally old woman. They reminded me of Pocho and Gintry from Numuro Island. The old man even had the long white beard any stereotypical old man needs to have.

“Heso, I'm Darö and this is my lovely wife Füra. I've heard that you saved our little Nirü from harm worse than death and even escorted her back to us. How can I thank you?” Greeted the old man. He was having a friendly expression and was really thankful. But his heartbeat was fast and his shoulders slightly tense.

I nodded back in greeting, not sure if a handshake is normal and not wanting to use the embarrassing pose for a full heso greeting.“Heso, my name is Lara. My crew and I found ourselves up here in the sky sea after surviving a weather phenomenon called knock-up stream. It carried us up here and we are in dire need of information. More so after getting attacked right after coming here. Saving Nirü was the natural thing to do, yet we would kindly ask for help in bringing us back down, safely that is.”

“I'm sorry to hear that, yet also glad, for it saved Nirü. If that's all you ask for in return I will gladly answer any question you may have.” The relieve in Darö's posture was visible. He must have thought to pay some kind of money or other things they have not much of.

He gestured for me to sit down and his wife vanished for a moment, before coming back with tea of me, Fära, Nirü, herself and her husband seems like the five guards had to stand by and watch.

“Please ask away, if possible I will answer anything.” Started Darö with a friendly smile. He also took a sip of his tea. As my own was filled from the same decanter I did so too. It smelled sweet and tasted like orange with a mix of apple. Quite good in my opinion.

“Yes, then a few things I still don't know after asking Nirü. First would be a possible course to either the Sect of Enel or Urouge's base. Nirü told us about the balloon octopus and how they can bring us back down.”

Darö stroked his beard in thought before answering. “I'm sorry but I can't really tell you the answer for both of them. None of us has ever seen their base, we only know of their general location. The Sect of Enel always attacks from the north, while Urouge's men come from the west. That is all I know about their base.”

I nodded, that much was understandable. These people don't look to be in any position to stage a retaliation strike. They probably only defend themselves.

“My next question is about money or what kind of material is considered expensive.” Hopefully, he will tell me that they use extol and think that vearth is extremely expensive.

“Well, we use a currency named extol. You may also barter things from the blue sea. Feel free to take a look at our market.” Replied Darö. He spoke no word about vearth, is he withholding that so that he can get it for less than it is worth?

“Thanks, there are a few more things we'd like to know. We were able to buy some dials down in the blue sea and like to buy more of them. And if possible other kinds of those we don't have yet. Can you tell me about them? We have some for heat, water and wind. And one member of my crew is using pistols that shoot hardened clouds.” A soldier behind me rustled his clothes slightly when he heard that we use these weapons.

“Such a weapon would be worth quite a sum here on Skyprie. Since Enel forbid them we don't have many of them left. It also means that you will not be able to buy any more of them. Which does not mean that there are other dials to buy.

We have lamp dials, wind, heat, water and even cloud dials. All of them can be found on the market.”

“And what about the shoes that your soldier used to get on our ship? Are there other dials that can do this, if so can we buy them?”, I asked for clarification. If not we have to liberate a few from the Sect of Enel or Urouge.

“They are called skate-waver or waver in general. We have only a few of them and need them for fishing or our defence. I'm sorry, but we won't be able to sell any of them.” Fära was ready to spring into action, in case I would reply none friendly.

I in return waved him off. “No problem, maybe we can get some from the Sect of Enel.”

It was the first time that Darö's expression turned slightly sour. “You've hinted at it before, but are you planning to fight the Sect of Enel or Urouge?”

I nodded once, not telling him more.

“Then I advise you not to. Both are highly dangerous and won't only kill you. I'm sure that it is possible to buy a balloon octopus from Urouge, there is no need to fight.” Is he concerned about us or about a possible retaliation strike? Maybe the first, but more likely the second.

“Let that be our worries. You don't have to help us in any kind or form if that worries you.” He wasn't happy with my answer but did not press any further.

“I think that would be everything we need to know. My crew and I would like to buy a few dials from your market. Do you have some questions?”, I continued, also not speaking any more about our coming fight between Urouge and the Sect of Enel.

“Only if you plan to stay in our town”, he asked.

“I don't think we will. We plan to buy some things from your market and then get back to our ship. Tomorrow morning we plan to set sail and search for the Sect of Enel.” I answered. He nodded in acceptance and stood up to guide me out.

“The tea was lovely Mrs Füra”, I thanked before leaving the house with Darö behind me. Outside we found my crew speaking to a few curious villagers and a bored Lia.

Darö drew attention to himself by a loud cough and then addressed his fellow villagers. “My friends, these people here saved Nirü from the fanatics of Enel. They did so without asking for anything in return and I allowed them to sell and buy from our market.”

The people murmured among themselves, some thanking us loudly, others eyeing us more friendly after hearing the news. “If you'd excuse me, Ms Lara, my old bones aren't quite as spring as yours.” Spoke Darö then in parting and went back inside his house.

“I will show you around”, offered Nirü brightly. Fära stood behind her, not saying anything, but silently stating that he won't leave as well.

Jonny jumped at the opportunity of speaking to her. “Thanks, Nirü, I'd really like one of these gaunasu drinks you've spoken about.”

Nirü smiled brightly and gestured us to follow her back to the market.