(Eddy POV)

Eddy was a navigator. He might not be the best out there, but he considered himself fairly competent. In fact, his skill had only grown by leaps and bounds since entering the Grand Line, if only out of necessity. The incompetent tended to die quickly around here.

As such, he was normally comfortable in calling someone out on their bullshit, especially in his personal field of expertise. That was, if that someone weren’t his captain. Telling your captain that he was an ignoramus wasn't the smartest choice a pirate could make. Sarquiss on the other hand didn’t seem to have such scruples.

“The Knock Up Stream? You cannot be serious.”

“…” Bellamy remained silent.

“You’re serious. Oh god, he’s serious.” Sarquiss threw his arms up in the air, frustration and disbelief clear on his face. “People, the captain’s gone mad! Mad, I tell you.”

Looking around, Eddy saw similar sentiments echoed by most members of his crew. Muret and Rivers seemed to be the exceptions, but even they looked sceptical to say the least.

And why wouldn’t they? His captain had just told them, that the only way to get to the sky island was to ride an explosion of water up into the sky, on the hopes of landing on fossilized clouds. Should they get into position too early, their ship would be blown apart. Too late and they would fail to reach the clouds, dooming themselves to death by fall damage. To boot, they only had a minute to reach the clouds, at best.

To make things worse, that wasn't even the worst part. No, that dubious honour went to the fact, that they weren't even certain you could land on the clouds. Clouds didn't fossilise. They were vapour, a fact that didn't change just because a descendant of Noland the Liar claimed otherwise. They would be gambling their lives on the speculations recorded within the logbook of a notorious liar, who was executed for lying some four hundred years ago.

Also, let’s say that everything worked out. If they rode the Knock Up Stream, landed on fossilized clouds and found the island in the sky...

“How would we get back down?”

Sarquiss whirled upon Rivers, who flinched away from the first mate. “You cannot be considering this! We wouldn’t get up there in the first place! We’ll die!”

“Captain, you have to admit that this seems farfetched.” Muret said, massaging her forehead, seemingly trying to drive away the incoming migraine. “Normally I’d follow you no questions asked, but this is…”

“This is the only choice we’ve got. Unless you’d like to stay here forever.” The captain answered, cutting her off. “I know all of you secured some more log poses while I was away. Even some from crews who were just about to depart. Log poses, which were pointing to islands not in the sky.”

Usually the captain would grin his trademark grin. Right now, he was grimacing. “Do tell me. What happened to those?”

Nobody answered him. It wasn't that they didn't know the answer, but that the answer was too damning. Once voiced, Eddy was afraid that there would be no going back. They were already pushed to the very edge of the proverbial cliffs as they were.

The captain looked them straight in the eye, one after the other. It was a piercing stare, one which swallowed up all hope before it, the emotionless stare of a man who knew he was already dead.

Eddy swallowed.

“All of them, all of them started pointing up into the sky the moment you got your hands on them.”

Don’t say it. Please, don’t say it.

“We’re cursed.”

Dammit Rivers!

Mani let out a sob, burying her face in her hands. Others slumped forward onto the table, shaking and trembling. Sarquiss had gone catatonic, staring up into the ceiling as if he was beseeching some deity to provide divine intervention. In a corner, Hewitt and Ross were openly crying in each other’s arms, blubbering about the unfairness of it all. Eddy himself wasn't doing any better. He could taste the snot and tears running down his face.

“We aren’t cursed, you shitheads! There’s got to be another explanation for this shit!” Lily’s angry words just triggered a fresh round of wails, and the blonde lowered her fist after a moment. It was hard to keep up moral by your lonesome. “Muret, back me up here! Do your sciency shit!”

As a result, Lily threw the doctor a pleading look, but Muret’s expression was unreadable, only the slight biting of her lower lip betraying the doctor's inner turmoil.

This was not how their adventure had been supposed to go. A new era was coming and they were supposed to be the ones riding the waves to glory.

Enemies they could fight. Bellamy was the strongest, barring veterans like the Royal Warlords. But amongst the rookies, Eddy knew for certain that no one had the strength and potential his captain did. The government just didn’t know it yet. No, physical enemies they could deal with.

But…how did one deal with a curse? A witchdoctor? Where would they even find one? How did you find one if you couldn’t get off this godforsaken rock?

“Captain! Tell them it’s not a curse! Please!” Lily looked ready to cry too, scowling in a valiant effort to keep back the flood of tears. “Say something!”

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(Bellamy POV)

The situation was more serious than I had originally assumed. At first, I had hoped that we would have a choice. A way to keep our options open. Those hopes were cracked when Eddy brought me the first dozen log poses. Then they were dashed into itty bitty pieces not long after.

I didn't know what manner of Being dropped me into the world of One Piece, but it was obvious now that trying to stay out of the plot was a big No-No. The world was breaking its fucking rules in order to force my hand.

Stupid, stupid deus ex machina bullshit. Log poses didn't act like this.

Frankly, I was afraid of what else was going to happen if I couldn't convince the crew to go along with this. They were panicking already when they weren't in any immediate danger. What if…

“Captain! Tell them it’s not a curse! Please! Say something!”

Time to be the captain, come what may.

“Quit your blubbering! All of you!” I growled. They didn't but at least the wailing subsided into choked sobs. “We aren’t going to die.”

It’s like they'd saw the light at the end of a tunnel, like people who'd been burned by hope one too many times but were still desperately hungering for it. People willing to believe anything to escape the fear of certain doom and willing to cling to the frailest of hopes. And I had just promised to give them that hope.

Right now they were terrified because the world stopped making sense. So terrified in fact, that they now believed in something as irrational as curses.

You couldn't reason with irrationality.

…It was time to commence operation bullshitting.

“Who am I?” No answer. “Who the fuck am I?” I repeated, slamming my fist down on the table.

“Bellamy.” “The captain.” “Bellamy the Hyena.”

“That’s right, I’m Bellamy the bloody fucking Hyena! And I’m not someone who’s going to be a footnote in someone’s story.”

Standing up for emphasis, I did my best to appear regal. Not sure how but from the portraits of kings I’d seen, I had to slightly turn to the side, tilt my head up, look down my nose just a bit, with one arm placed on my hip, the other held high. Fist closed. “I’m going to be the hero of my own tale. I’m going to carve my name into the annals of history. I’ll be feared and respected, my name on every household lip. Spoken in the same breath as the Yonko!”

I know that it was a load of crap tumbling out of my mouth, but I couldn't stop now. I had committed to this and breaking it off, because of my personal feeling of awkwardness, would backfire horribly. Plus, it was kinda working. They'd stopped sobbing and I turned to fully face them, my arms stretched wide open.

This was so embarrassing.

“My tale will not end here for I refuse to let it end! I decide my own fate and no curse is going to stand in my way!"

I very consciously avoided mentioning God, the devil, ROB or anyting else of said nature. I probably was already pushing it by calling out fate, but I could see hints of a smile creeping back onto their faces.

“I ate a devil fruit! The curse of the sea! I took it, I broke it and made it my bitch! I did it once, I’ll do it again!”

I'll just conveniently leave out the part where due to the curse I couldn't swim anymore, ok? That was hardly relevant right now.

“You are the crew of a future legend.” I said, toning down my voice to add some gravity to my next words. Now, I had to tickle their pride. According to canon and the fragments of Bellamy's memories, these guys had only experienced successes so far. It would be weird if they weren’t packed up their gills with pride. “Are you weaklings who’ll let something like this stand in your way?”

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Come one, you guys have to give me something to work with here. Where's your arrogance?

“No?” The voice was uncertain but it was there. It wasn't nearly good enough but it was a start.

“I asked, are you weaklings?”

“No.” “I’m not a weakling!” Ok, that had more conviction in it but it still wasn't enough. Sarquiss hadn't responded yet and neither had Muret or Ross. Lily was screaming it though, good for her.

One last time. “ARE YOU WEAKLINGS?” I roared at them, gripping the table so hard it cracked.

The response was nearly as loud, a resounding “NO!” echoing around the room.

For the final finish. “THEN WHAT’S THE BLOODY PROBLEM?” Flexing my muscles, I ripped the table half and flung the pieces through the wall behind me. It certainly had an impact if the following cheer was any indication at all.

“NOTHING, CAPTAIN!”

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The sun was beautiful as it set, lighting the sea on fire.

“Nice speech back there, captain.”

“Thank you.” I answered, which seemed to slightly take her aback. Did Bellamy not say thank you? “Did you want something Muret?”

Whatever it was, it probably hadn't been a big deal, because Muret plopped down beside me without another word. “How are the rest doing?”

“They were cheering and hollering for a good twenty minutes but have now calmed down somewhat. Sarquiss took most of them into the jungle looking for that bird.” Muret answered me, hugging her knees to her chest.

“Most of them?”

“Hewitt is stocking up on supplies. Why did you want a fruit basket anyway? You don’t even like fruit. Heck, you despise pineapples and that’s the one fruit you specifically told Hewitt to get.”

Did I tell her that it was to test out a fanon theory on devil fruit reincarnation? Nah. I wasn't even sure if it would work at all. It was best not to chance it.

“Not sure they have fruit up there. Might as well have it on hand, just in case.”

“Just in case?” her voice had a teasing lilt to it, and I was sure that if I were to look, I’d see her smiling softly. She did have a nice smile, just that she rarely ever showed it. Most of the time she just smirked with the best of them, much like in the show.

“Just in case. Who knows, maybe I’ll put it on pizza.” Ow. “Did you just punch me?”

“That’s revolting and you know it.” she said, her nose scrunched up in distaste and her eyes daring me to say otherwise. I decided that caution was the better part of valor and wisely went no further. I was not getting into that argument. It got vicious back home.

“You do know you just committed a mutiny, right? Assaulting your commanding officer is a punishable offence.”

“And, what are you going to do about it…sir?”

“…” That joke just backfired, didn't it? Well, when you’re losing, flip the board. In this case, I flicked her on the forehead. Turning your fingers into springs made for good practice. Muret pouted in response, shielding her forehead against future assaults.

I probably could have pursued this, if I were inclined to do so.

Though the thing was, I wasn't blind and I knew that Eddy had the hots for her. The man couldn't take his eyes off her.

To quote Machiavelli, a leader had to avoid being hated. Feared yes, but not hated. And taking someone’s money or love interest was a surefire way to get hated. Maybe if I had really liked Muret, I would have chanced it. But as I didn't, antagonizing the man in charge of keeping my ship on course sounded like a really bad idea. She was still a solid seven though, so until Eddy made a move I was going to enjoy the view.

Muret was enjoying a view of her own, her chin resting atop her knees as she stared out at the first stars appearing in the sky.

“Think we’re going to make it?”

That was a loaded question. But I couldn't imagine that the Being, that dropped me here and was forcing me to take the Knock Up Stream, was going through all that trouble to just kill me off.

“I know we will.”

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(Rivers POV)

“What is wrong with this stupid jungle?”

“I hate bugs! I hate bugs! I hate bugs!”

“Lily calm down! Watch where you point that thing!”

“Die bugs! Die!”

“Are you trying to kill me?”

“Sarquiss, these mantises mean business!”

“Fuck! Eddy, help!”

“On it!”

“Gaah! It’s in my hair! It’s IN MY HAIR!”

His crew were idiots.

“They’re all idiots.” Hey, that was what he had been just thinking! He knew Mani and him had a connection! “With how much noise they’re making, they’ll have scared off all the birds in the vicinity.”

This was his chance! “Why don’t we go searching for the bird together? I’m sure we’ll do better job, just the two of us.”

“Sigh, we might as well. Better than wandering off on my own in any case.” YES!!! That’s a green light, right? Right? “I wouldn’t want to get lost alone in the jungle.”

They walked together for a while, silently searching the trees for the bird. Well, Mani was searching and Rivers was…half-searching. After all, he had to make sure his crew mate was safe.

His caution also soon paid dividends. “Mani, on your six!”

Quickly shouldering his rifle, Rivers took aim to intercept the snake when - THUNK - its forehead suddenly grew a knife.

“Got it. Thanks, Rivers.”

Gotta be natural. Gotta be natural.

“Anytime.” Yes, that was natural. Nailed it!

“…”

“…”

“…”

“So…you see a bird?”

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(Bellamy POV)

“What happened to you guys?”

“That jungle is hell. I'm never going back in there again.”

“Giant mantises, captain. There were giant praying mantises.”

“Of course, I had no problem with them, but I had to bail out Ross.”

“Fuck you Sarquiss! I had that and you know it!”

My crew came back to me in the evening, disheveled, dirty and wild eyed. Well, Sarquiss was looking more or less fine. Lily on the other hand…

“Ihatebugsihatebugsihatebugsgodssomanybugshelpsomanybugsmakeitstopihatebugs…”

She was lying on a bed in a fetal position, eyes closed to the world. “A giant caterpillar got into her hair, captain. We had to carry her back.”

Sigh.

“Muret, please fix her, will you? Thanks.” Seeing Muret haul Lily to her room in a bridal carry, I turned back to my second in command. “Where are Mani and Rivers?”

He at least had the decency to blush. “We…lost them.”

“You lost them. In the jungle.” I deadpanned. I was sure that this jungle wasn't dangerous enough to kill them but still. It was the principle of the matter. “How did you lose two members of my crew, Sarquiss?”

The man shrank into himself, staring down at his shoes before mumbling something.

“What was that?”

“We were ambushed by the bugs. And pigs. By the time we fought them off, they were gone without a trace. With Lily in the condition she was in, we couldn’t spare the manpower to organize a search party.”

That made sense…in a way. It didn't mean I had to like it, but I couldn't fault Sarquiss for his decision.

“Let’s go look for them Sarquiss. Where did you lo…”

“Ahoy the ship!” Looking up, I saw a widely grinning Mani jogging towards us with a scowling Rivers in tow. And perched on Rivers’ head was the south pointing bird.

Relief flooded through me at the confirmation that they were well and fine. When had I gotten this attached to them?

“Mani! Rivers! Glad to see you safe.” I greeted them.

“Of course, captain. We’re the crew of a future legend after all." she responded, shooting me a wink. "No little jungle is going to get us down.”

Oh, I could just hear those words piercing the rest of the crew. Especially as Mani and Rivers had nary a speck of dust on their clothes. “We even found the bird.”

“You sure did. Hope it wasn’t too much trouble?”

“Honestly, it was a walk in the park.” Mani shrugged. ”We just had to lay out some snacks…”

“My snacks. The rare chocolate pepper mint cookies I had been saving all month.”

“…lay out Rivers’ snacks and the bird came to us. Once he had eaten those, he hopped over to Rivers and started pecking at his pockets in search for more. Rivers had to promise to provide more back at the ship to get him to stop.”

Wait a moment, what?

“It understands you?”

"SQUAWK!"

“He, captain. Not it. He.”

“…He understands you?”

She shrugged again. “We think he does. Doesn’t talk, but responds all the same.”

Whatever. I would probably see weirder shit in the future. “Well, welcome aboard. You point us south in a few days and we feed you until then. We have a deal?”

The bird nodded enthusiastically. “SQUAWK.”

I’ll take that as a yes.