"Finally," I breathe out, stumbling over to the boys, but the pain running through me makes it difficult to walk all the way to them. "Nice work, boys! He was getting on my last nerve! Literally," I whisper to myself.

"Akari!" Luffy whips his head to look at me. His eyes widening as he must see dried blood and bruises littering my body. "Are you okay!?" he rushes over to me, shaking his head when he reaches me. "Why did I ask that? Of course, you're not okay. You threw up and were hit by that fatass twice." His hands hover over me as they roam around. It is like he is afraid to touch me and grab a particularly injured part of me.

"I'll be fine," I softly smile, wrapping my arms around his exposed torso. Then I fall into him, humming at the warmth of his body. "In fact, this is making me feel a lot better already."

He gently lays his arms around me, rubbing his hands over my back. "I'm not doing that great of a job protecting you."

"It's hard when I just rush right into a fight."

"What hurts?"

"Everything," I whine. "It feels like I am one step away from all my bones shattering. I just need you to hold me, Luffy."

"I can do that," he presses a kiss to the crown of my head. "You need to get something to eat soon, too. After throwing up back there. Was it because you saw Sanji spit up blood?"

"Yes," I pout. "I really don't like blood and seeing that triggered something within in me that just had me vomit."

"You don't have to explain. I just feel better knowing that you are safe now."

"I don't think I can walk," I sadly giggle.

Luffy slowly pushes me back from his chest, a grin plastered to his face. "I'll give you a piggyback ride then."

"But you're hurt too, Luff," I shake my head.

He shrugs, "You're light, and I feel a lot better after your hug." He chuckles, and I see the lightest red dusted across his cheeks.

"You'll just keep insisting, so I'll accept the piggyback," I softly giggle.

He turns around, helping me onto his back without even a grunt of pain. "There, now you can just focus on resting while we search for the boat."

I move his hat back to his head in order to rest my head on his shoulder. "Where did Usopp go?"

"I was just wondering that," Sanji steps up to us with a small smile on his lips. "Maybe you do know how to take care of a girl, Luffy."

"Huh?" Luffy turns to press a kiss to my temple. "Well, I only need to know how to take care of one girl, so it can't be that hard."

I poke his cheek, "Especially when you've known me all my life."

"Luffy! Sanji! Akari! I found the boat!" Usopp's voice explodes through the forest. "Hurry! It is almost out of the forest!"

"Speaking of the bastard, he's still alive," Sanji says as we all look over to see Usopp waving at us. "He disappeared after the explosion, so I thought he was blown to dust."

"I completely forgot about the boat," I grimace. "Defeating that dick would have meant nothing if we got stuck in here."

"We better run," Luffy adjusts his hold on me. "Great work, Usopp!"

Luffy and Sanji start running, and I hold on tighter to Luffy to stop being tossed around as much. I'm not really sure how we are going to get back into the boat even though we've found her now, but all I can do is have some faith in these boys to figure it out in time.

"Guys! Grab onto my body!" Usopp orders.

"Your body!?" the three of us exclaim.

"I won't let you go, Karasumaru!" Usopp lets out his jungle cry as he sends his belt rope right at the figurehead, thankfully wrapping right around the neck. "Perfect, caught it!"

"Amazing Usopp!" Luffy cheers as he sends one arm to wrap around the boy's torso.

"Did you all see that!?" Usopp cheers as we start sailing through the trees like monkeys. "It worked like-"

"This sucks!" I scream as we start bouncing off every single branch on our way up to the boat.

Somehow, we reach the boat and fling ourselves into it. All of us groaning at being hurt once more after all the pain that damn Satori put us through. We all need rest and food before we even think about doing anything else.

"We're alive, right?" Usopp chokes out.

"Dumbass," Sanji coughs. "You're going to pay for that."

"It would have been better if I just stretched," Luffy mumbles.

"Don't bother me until my body stops hurting," I groan, curling into Luffy's side and letting my eyes fall shut. "Thank the seas that we are finally getting out of this damn forest."

It is only a moment later that I feel kisses being pressed to my face, jaw, and neck. Kisses that can only be coming from Luffy.

"Luff, what the hell are you doing?"

"Trying to help you heal faster by giving you kisses. Remember, you told me your mom used to do that when you got hurt?"

"She's not even my real mother," I open one eye to look at him. "She's just the woman who raised me."

"Even if she wasn't your real mother, she still loved you like you were her real daughter. She taught you a lot of great things, like kissing cuts or bruises to help them heal faster." He quickly presses more kisses to my face. "I like that one the most."

I close my eye, softly smiling as I scoot closer to Luffy. "Me too."

Luckily for me, Luffy doesn't prolong the conversation, and I am somehow able to let my entire body rest. Except I can't fall asleep as the pain radiating through me is too strong. It is like being sick and longing for sleep, but no matter what I do, there is not a comfortable enough position.

"Oh, it's morning already," Usopp mumbles.

Luffy bursts into laughter, "You're too much Usopp!"

"Might as well join the fun if I can't fall asleep," I open my eyes, sitting up slowly even if the pain isn't as strong as before. "What's going on?"

Luffy takes a deep breath before his face falls to look super tired. "Oh, it's morning already," he mimics Usopp.

Usopp bursts into laughter, clutching his stomach as he rolls around.

I sputter on giggles, knowing that this isn't the time to be making jokes.

"Stop messing around you idiots!" Sanji snaps, glaring at the two boys.

"We just endured a horrible challenge, I think we can have a moment to relax and laugh for a second, Sanji," I softly smile. "How are you feeling? That was a lot of blood you spit up."

"I could be better, but we all got hit by that guy, so I can't complain. I never meant to make you throw up, though."

I shrug, "It isn't your fault that I have a fear of blood. It isn't even a new development either. This is something I've dealt with for many years. It gotten better since I've seen my fair share of blood out here, but it still freaks me out a bit."

Luffy brushes his fingers over my bangs, "As long as seeing blood doesn't stop you from fighting when it matters, you can be grossed out by it."

I giggle, "Thanks, captain."

Our boat finally sails out of the forest, reaching an open prairie area that is almost too calm. The gentle breeze that makes the tall grass roll, and the soft rolling milky road that we have to take. It almost makes the skulls on sticks not as creepy.

"What is this place?" Luffy shields his eyes with his hand to look out in front of us.

"No doubt that this is the next area for a challenge," Sanji says, steering us down the clouds. "Everyone stay alert for another vassal!"

"One challenge was enough," Usopp whines. "Will it be string, or iron, or swamp?"

"I don't think they would throw another challenge at us," I say. "Not because I think these vassals and Kami are gracious people or whatever, but because of all these damn rules that they have to follow. We beat the challenge; we now have to just reach the alter."

"I agree with Akari," Luffy grabs my hand. "This is just a prairie with big flowers all over the place."

"Those are actually skulls on sticks if you look close," I grimace as we sail right by a few of them.

"Oh yeah, you're right," he gives my hand a squeeze.

A light shines in the distance, and the sound of something rushing at us shocks us all to look over at the forest we're heading to. Tree branches are breaking at a rapid rate, which means whoever is coming at us means business.

"Okay, maybe you were right, Sanji," I whisper.

A bullet shatters a skull nearby.

Usopp lets out a scream, "They're here!"

In the next second, four guerrillas burst out of the trees with weapons in their hands, and only one of them without a mask. They have tattoos that must have significance to their tribe, and all of them have the same small wings that seem to be a trait that all Skypieans have. All their feet are adorned with skates that must be powered by wind dials. And they have totally spotted us which means we are going to have to fight them.

I look at Luffy but see that he is already staring up at the man without a mask.

The sound of a gun firing shatters the brief moment of calm, signaling the start of a fight with a group that we couldn't even beat one last time.

"Why you!" Luffy jumps up. "Gum-gum Balloon!" he springs into the air as he expands into a balloon, sending the bullet away from us to explode against a tree.

"Those are the same masked guerrillas we saw on the White Sea!" Sanji blurts out.

"And we needed the Sky Knight's help to take out just one," I groan.

"What's the big idea!?" Luffy yells as Usopp is screaming behind him. "You do not want to mess with us! You hear me!?"

"You're the ones from the Blue Sea, shaking up things in Skypiea," the unmasked man says as he stops to look back at us. "If you value your life even a little bit, go back to the Blue Sea when you have the chance. If you insist on intruding on this island, we will erase you, along with Enel."

"Is that a threat!?" I scream, slapping my hands down on the side of the boat. An instant regret as it sends pain shooting through me.

"Bring it on, Baldy!" Luffy bellows.

"No, please, stop, don't say another word," Usopp groans.

"Wait, so the guerrillas and the Kami are on different sides?" Sanji asks.

"Of course, all that is to assume that you are strong enough to get off this island," Baldy takes one last look at us before him and his group dash off into the forest.

"Who are those guys!?" Luffy frowns.

"Well, they seem to be on the same side as us, considering they aren't friendly with that Kami Enel person, but they aren't friendly to us either," I shake my head. "Still, they didn't keep fighting us after the Gum-Gum Balloon, so they clearly have priorities on who they want to take down at this moment."

"I told you this place was going to be nothing but trouble," Usopp stammers.

"Let's keep moving," Luffy shrugs.

"Okay, now I think that we aren't going to run into anything else," I turn around, settling into my seat. "Our reward is a nice journey on this milky road.

We enter the forest on the other side of the prairie a few minutes later, and then the milky road in front of us begins to have loops and inclines to set up for drops. It feels like we've entered some kind of ride.

Luffy chuckles, "Loop-de-loops! Let her rip, Karasumaru!"

I giggle, "She can't go any faster, but at least this milky road has turned into a fun ride of sorts."

"We've been on it for a long time," Sanji says.

"Maybe we'll go straight to the alter since nothing happened in the prairie," Usopp says as we begin a climb to the treetops.

I hum, looking up at the sky to see the soft colors of a sunset beginning. "The day is coming to a peaceful end. The sun is setting somewhere behind all those clouds."

"So, dusk comes on Skypiea too," Sanji says.

"I just want to get back to the Going Merry and make sure that everyone is okay," Luffy says. "They have Zoro, so I'm sure their fine, but I bet they had to go through some kind of challenge like us."

"Well, they were on the way to being sacrificed," I grimace. "I bet a vassal was sent to try and take them out. With four of them, two being Devil Fruit users, I think that they probably did alright."

"And they had the whistle for the Sky Knight on the mast," Usopp adds. "If things got too bad, they would have blown the whistle."

"That's right," Luffy grumbles. "I bet they got to see the strange old man again."

"That's not a good thing!" Sanji snaps.

I giggle, "At least we know that he's on our side."

The Karasumaru floats down a steady decline before the milky road opens up into a larger lake. A lake that holds an alter in the middle that the Going Merry is sitting on top.

"Guys! Look! The Going Merry and the Alter!" I point out, a wide smile on my face.

"Was that really the big challenge?" Luffy asks.

"Nami! Robin!" Sanji gushes. "I completed the Love Challenge!"

"Were you guys scared!?" Usopp calls out. "No reason to fear anymore as Captain Usopp is here!"

It doesn't take much longer for us to stop at the alter steps, and then the four of us rush up to finally be back on the Going Merry. There is a huge problem as the main mast is missing, and there are some burn marks scattered about, but she's whole and that is the most important part. The crew is whole once again.

Chopper explains in a fit that a man came and attacked him. He had flaming spears that were impossible to stop, and the mast caught on fire to the point where the only way to save the whole ship was to toss it into the clouds. Chopper was luck enough to grab the whistle and call for the Sky Knight, and along with Pierre his horse-bird, are below deck recovering from the fight.

"Akari, you look horrible!" Nami rushes up to me, grabbing my wrists to look over all my injuries. "I can't believe they let this happen to you."

I chuckle, "Thanks. This is because of rushing into a fight. I wanted to get hurt. Well, I was expecting to get hurt, but it still does hurt."

"I guess even angels fall," she sighs. "I'm glad that you were able to fight then. Even if it means you look like a mess."

"I gave her kisses, so she'll be fine," Luffy says as he walks by.

"You'd be amazed at one a single hug does to help," I softly smile.

"Just as long as we make sure you get enough rest," Nami gently pats my cheek.

"Hey Chopper!" Luffy shouts at the boy declaring to a strong man. "Where is the old guy? You said he was badly injured, right?"

"Oh yeah!" Chopper turns around to face us. "The Sky Knight! Follow me if you want to see him!"

Luffy, Nami, Sanji, and Chopper head inside to check on the old man while the rest of us stay outside to be on the lookout for anything that might want to kill us.

"You seem to be holding it together quite well, Usopp," I step up to the boy still looking at the stump that is now the mast. "This is not what any of us wanted to come back to see."

Usopp sighs, "I know that Chopper did what he could to keep her safe, and that we can always fix her, but Chopper can't be fixed in the same way. I'm glad to see him safe, but it hurts to see the Going Merry in this shape. We've been so hard on her."

I pat his arm, "We'll get her fixed up properly the second we can."

"I know."

I sadly smile, turning on my heel and walking away to give him some more time alone.

"You look like a true fighter, Akari," Zoro teases. He's changed into a dark blue sleeveless t-shirt since we've been separated, and a pair of goggles are hanging around his neck. "Wish I could have seen it."

I chuckle, "I didn't actually get much fighting in. The one punch I did throw missed, but this guy we were fighting, it is like he knew what we were going to do before we did."

"Then we'll just have to figure out a way to not think before acting."

I roll my eyes, "I highly doubt that's possible."

"Then we just have to be faster than they can predict our moves," he shrugs. "That shouldn't be too hard for you."

"If I was just a little faster, it really shouldn't be."

The door to the kitchen opens, and the four that went to check on the Sky Knight exit.

"We should go into the forest and set up a camp," Sanji says. "If anything happens to us, we'll be able to fight back a lot easier down there."

"Yahoo!" Luffy exclaims as he and Chopper dance around. "We're going camping!"

I giggle, "Sounds like fun."

"Now hold on a second!" Usopp shouts. "Camping!? We are in enemy territory! We need to make a plan better than that!"

"Camping! Camping!" Chopper and Luffy chant. "Camping!"

+~*~*~*~*~*~+

"Attention everyone!" Usopp shouts, trying to get everyone to look over at his chalkboard where he has detailed everyone's reports on what has happened since we became criminals in the sky.

We've moved everything over to land for a nice camp for this one night. Sanji has made an amazing late lunch from the food we brought in our backpacks, as well as a sky fish that Zoro killed. Chopper is taking care of Gan Fall while the rest of us relax. Luffy, Sanji, Usopp, and I were able to wash off the soot, blood, and whatever else we had on us from our fight with Satori, so we are all fresh for whatever happens next.

"Thank you for all the reports! Many things are coming together thanks to all the data gathered. First, it turns out that El Dorado is this island that the Monkey Mountain Allied Forces have been searching for all these years!" he taps his chalkboard with his pointer.

"Really!?" Luffy blurts out through a mouthful of meat.

I giggle, leaning into his side. "Nami told us that already."

"At least one person listens!" Nami groans.

"What's this mantra thing?" Zoro asks.

"They use it to predict our moves, but that's all I know," Sanji says. He's mashing food for Gan Fall to easily eat. "Chopper, how much more smashed do you want this?"

"Make sure that it is easy for him to swallow," Chopper looks