Third person's point of view:

"The control room should be just ahead," Urouge said in a whispering voice as he followed behind Laffite along with the rest of Johnny's crew.

"Stop whispering like you bastard," Law said with twitching eyes. "It's honestly creepy when a muscular middle-aged man whispers like that," he added with a disgusted expression as he took a step back.

Hearing Law's words, Urouge merely shrugged his shoulders with a smile while Laffite smiled, and Kozue let out a light chuckle.

"Let's hurry up," Laffite's smiling expression quickly turned to a serious one as loud mechanical noises began emerging from the walls surrounding them as he rushed towards the control room.

"Quickly, Urouge, stop the defense systems," Laffite said in a hurried tone as he burst into the room and took down the three pirates within.

"It looks like they already activated the thunder cannon," Urouge said with a frown as he began looking through various dials that were installed on a weird board in the middle of the room.

"Do what you can, and do it quickly," Laffite instructed as he began checking out the surroundings.

-0-

"It's too late," Lokni said as he returned to his calm, indifferent expression. "Your friend will die, and you will be next," he concluded, and I could see the faintest of smiles on his face as he spoke.

I heard Lokni speak and ignored it, promptly activating berserk for the extra speed boost as I rushed towards Wilson while the thunder cannon was emitting even more blinding light and crackling with more electricity.

Luckily I was fast enough to arrive in time, tossing Wilson away and earning a scowl from him as the thunder cannon finally fired a purple stream of electricity in my direction.

'I'm resistant to thunder, but this could prove too much even for me,' I thought with a somber expression as I began applying armament Haki to my body.

'Still, I won't be able to phase through it in time, so I'll have to endure it for a second before doing that,' I concluded as I braced myself for the pain as the thunder's blinding light filled my vision.

"Hmm?" I hummed loudly as the attack submerged my body into the giant thunder beam. "This isn't as bad as I thought it would be," I remarked as I began moving my limbs and didn't feel anything wrong.

The thunder still stung like a motherfucker, but that's the keyword here, stung, as in it was a mere annoyance and nothing more.

'Is this related to the fact that my cyber ware grows and becomes stronger with me?' I questioned inside my head with a bewildered expression.

'No matter. I can think about that later,' I shook my head and with the useless thoughts out of my mind. 'I have a fight to win first,' I concluded as the attack dissipated, revealing my unharmed form.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," I commented with a grin as I turned to look at Lokni, whose faintly smiling lips promptly turned into a thin line as streams of cloud began rushing towards him for the ground.

"That can't be good," I said with a frown as I quickly charged towards him, trying to stop whatever Lokni was trying to do because whatever it was, it felt dangerous.

I quickly arrived in front of the pirate captain and began hammering him with Haki-infused punches, but he merely grunted in pain and endured my hits as more and more clouds began merging into his body.

"Why won't you die?" Lokni asked as he finally had enough of my attacks, releasing a wave of lightning from his body that sent me flying backward despite not taking any damage.

"Why does each and every one of them insist on standing in my way?" he kept talking, and it felt like he was to himself and not me. "I'll kill them all," he added with a deranged tone as his body began to enlarge.

"Starting with him," Lokni concluded as he turned to look at me after he finished his transformation. "Well, shit," I said with a frown as I looked at the thirteen meters long monsters that had a body of thunder clouds.

The monster's body looked humanoid, but his head looked like that of a dog with elongated horns, and he had purple eyes that looked like thunder orbs.

"Interesting," I said, as my frown turned into an eager smirk despite myself.

"Playtime is over, you insect," Lokni, the thunder cloud monster, exclaimed in a booming voice that reverberated in the surrounding area. "Now die, and stop getting in my way," he added as he launched his giant fist towards me.

"Flaming impact fist," I replied with an attack of my own, involuntarily raising my voice as battle lust took over my mind, launching a flaming, Haki-infused fist towards the giant.

Fire met thunder in a loud explosion that dispersed both and pushed me back roughly ten meters, while Lokni merely took one step back as he reformed his hand with more thunder clouds.

Lokni shouted in unabashed rage at the result of our clash as he moved to attack me again. I looked at the gigantic enraged monster, my grin becoming more pronounced as I flew towards him, dodging his fist and circling around it.

I quickly reached the monster's face and swung Triton, releasing a flying slash that cut off the monster's head in one swift motion, jumping back and watching as a new head formed on his neck.

'How troublesome,' I thought. 'Unless I can eradicate the entire thing, then I have to figure out where Lokni's actual body is inside that giant monster,' I concluded.

"Oh, well, the second option flew out of the window," I murmured with twitching eyes as I watched Lokni raise a hand over his head, causing thunderclouds to gather at the palm of his hand rapidly.

"I can do that too," I said with a smirk as I flew into the air away from the palace to avoid having my crewmates getting caught in the aftermath, releasing flames from my hand and compressing them into a giant flaming ball above my head.

"Thunder Burial," Lokni exclaimed as he brought his hand down towards me, releasing the giant ball of thunder cloud in my direction.

"Apóllon thymós (Apollo's wrath, in Greek)" I raised my voice, launching my mini sun at the thunder cloud ball that was double the size of my own. I began manipulating the air's density to push forward at a higher speed while simultaneously compressing it and making it smaller.

My mini sun met the giant thunder cloud halfway, promptly pricing through it and causing it to explode. Lokni's attack exploded in the air, and yet it was strong enough to create a crater in the ground that was a dozen meters below.

"DAMN YOU!" Lokni shouted with an outraged roar as his attack dissipated while my own kept charging towards him without losing any momentum, causing him to brace himself for impact.

...

The miniature sun quickly reached the thunder cloud monster, and he reacted by trying to stop the attack with his hands, reaching and grabbing it with gigantic hands.

"No matter how great the sub is," Lokni said through gritted teeth as he received the attack with both of his hands. "A single rain cloud is all that's needed to block its light," he added, grunting as he began applying pressure on the miniature sun and trying to extinguish it with his clouds.

I watched with a grin as Lokni seemed to endure the attack despite his apparent struggle as the miniature sun kept getting smaller and smaller in his hands. "That may be so, but there will always be some light slipping through the cracks," I replied, my smirk becoming more pronounced as my attack suddenly stopped shrinking.

"Not that I really care about any of this nonsense," I added with casual disregard as the miniature sun began to expand rapidly, engulfing all of Lokni's gigantic body and promptly exploding.

To say that the resulting explosion was merely loud or big would be an understatement. The very ground shook with debris flying everywhere, tarnishing the surrounding building, reaching so far as to damage the god palace I went out of my way to stay clear off even more.

The loudness of the explosion was nothing to scoff at either, and as a person with enhanced hearing, I must say, that was not pleasant at all, but I digress.

The explosion quickly cleared after a dozen seconds or so, revealing a giant crater on the ground with a gigantic monster's form to where to be seen. Still, I could see the figure of good old Lokni lying in the center of the crater, what's left of his figure anyway.

"Haha..., haha," The scorched, disfigured Lokni, who had two of his limbs missing, tried to laugh through his burnt throat, producing a sound that was no more pleasing to my ears than the explosion.

"That goddamned magician," the pirate captain said with a smile that hid his anguish. "Magician?" I asked with a frown as I made my way toward him.

"A fortune teller," Lokni replied as he turned his head to look at the sky with a lot of difficulties. "He said that I'll amount to nothing as a pirate, and only death would be waiting for me if I continued on this path," the pirate captain explained, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"I guess he was right," Lokni said, his voice losing volume as he spoke and becoming whispers at the end of his sentence while his one remaining hand reached towards the sky. "HAHAHAHA," and with one last laugh, Lokni's hand fell to the ground, and he was no more after spending the last of his energy.

"Basil Hawkins, eh?" I murmured with a blank expression. "I never liked creepy bastard even in the anime, and it looks like he's even more of an asshole in real life," I remarked, shaking my head as I took out my whisky bottle.

"What are you talking about?" Wilson asked with a curious expression on his face as he made his way towards me. "Nothing, just thinking out loud," I replied with a smirk as I burned what remained of Lokni's body and turned him to ashes as the last sign of respect for the dead.

"Let's get going," I said in a sober tone. "We have a sky island to loot and a devil fruit to find," I added with a smirk as I turned my back to Lokni's ashes and left.

-0-

Third person's point of view:

Earlier.

"What the hell is that giant monster?" Elly asked with wide eyes as Urouge, the rest of Johnny's crew, and her exited the palace, promptly noticing the giant monster battling her captain.

"That should be Lokni," Urouge replied with a frown as his usual broad grin left his face for just a second, but it quickly returned.

"I've heard tales of former users of the cloud fruit being able to transform into giant monsters of thunderclouds," he explained after a second of silence the mad monk used to regain his composer.

"That thing is pretty dangerous. Is your captain going to be okay?" Urouge asked while watching the giant monster attack Johnny.

"Of course, he'll be okay," Laffite replied, having learned his lesson after watching his captain fight Don Chinjao back in Kano county. Still, the idea of believing so blindly in another was new to him, and he was worried on the inside but chose not to show it.

Elly nodded with a smile, not hesitating for a single second to showcase her approval of Laffite's statement as she had no problem in blindly believing in her captain.

Law, on the other hand, merely frowned with a concerned look on his face, but he didn't make transform his worries into words. He was satisfied with only preparing himself to act in case something went wrong.

"I see," Urouge said while nodding his head with a grin. "Your captain quite the lucky man," he added as he turned his attention back to the battle.

The battle intensified and quickly concluded with a giant fiery explosion that swallowed Lokni's thunder cloud form, leaving him as nothing but a charred body that was living on borrowed time.

"I didn't know you captain could do something like this," Urouge said with eyes wide in amazement after the explosion subsided, his smile faltering for the second time today. "He definitely didn't use that against me," he added in a light tone.

"Way to state the obvious," Law replied in a sarcastic tone as the tension finally left his body. "You wouldn't be standing here if he did," he added with a raised eyebrow, looking sideway at the mad monk.

"Still, I didn't know he could do something like this either," Law remarked after a second of silence as he turned to look at Laffite and Elly with a questioning look on his face.

Laffite merely shrugged his shoulders with a smile, indicating that he didn't know either, causing Law to turn his eyes to Elly.

"I didn't know about this ability, too," Elly said with a smile while waving her hand. "But that's what's so fun about following Johnny," she added in a happy, excited tone.

"You always learn something incredible about him every day," she concluded as she flew into the air, making her way towards Johnny.

"Well, don't just stand there with your mouth full of teeth. Let's get going too," Laffite said in a joking tone with his usual amiable smile as he followed behind Elly, jumping into the air.

"I have to learn how to do that," Law murmured with twitching eyes while watching Elly and Laffite basically fly their way towards Johnny. "You and me, brother," Urouge said jokingly from the side while shaking his head in exasperation.

"Don't act friendly with me, old man," Law said with a scowl, activating room and disappearing from the vicinity. "What a bunch of rowdy pirates," Urouge murmured to himself with a smile as he too made his way towards Johnny with a jog, feeling like a peasant for his inability to move in fancy ways.

...

Third person's point of view:

As byron watched the fight between Johnny and Lokni, he couldn't help getting lost in thought, reminiscing about the tall tales old, retired pirates used to tell on Toroa island.

The veteran pirates told stories of strange creatures, beautiful islands, storms that resembled the wrath of God, and men who were so strong they could destroy entire countries.

To the Byron from back then, these tall tales looked nothing but that, tall tales. He still loved the old pirates' stories and would listen to them with rapt attention whenever they spoke of them, but he thought of them as nothing but a fun distraction.

Still, Byron's perception of these stories slowly began to change since that fateful day when Jelly Bean Jack attacked his home island. Byron still remembers how he, along with Toroa's strongest fighters together and fought the pirates.

He could also remember the despair of fighting an opponent that was virtually impossible to defeat thanks to eating a fruit of all things, and he will never forget the pain as he lay on the ground, overwhelmed and helpless.

Though Jack's attacks landed on his body, it was his broken pride that caused him the most pain, numbing the ails of his flesh.

He also vividly remembered how Wilson charged the pirate captain with an eager grin and kept fighting him despite being unable to do any damage to the man.

Still, even that wasn't the highlight of the day, as another man showed up in the most ridiculous of ways. He actually flew down from the sky by jumping in the air.

The man then went to bash Jelly bean jack like he was nothing, promptly cutting off the pirate captain's head. It was then that Byron realized that the old pirates' tall tales might not be so tall after all and that he needed to get out of the island.

Still, he didn't have any money for a ship, and he didn't have the patience to gather a capable crew, so he made the most logical decision he could make at that time. Follow that man.

So Byron gritted his teeth and approached the black pearl with unwavering resolve and a do-or-die attitude, and it's a good thing he did as he almost died while enduring Johnny's test.

Although his captain's punch hurt much more than the many blows he suffered from Jelly bean jack, he endured them with a smile and a straight back, feeling pride in himself for surviving instead of shame.

His decision of following Johnny soon proved to be a wise one, as he began seeing the many wonders of the world while voyaging on the black pearl. Strange creatures, beautiful islands, storms that resembled the wrath of God, and men who were so strong they could destroy entire countries. He saw much of that, and they haven't reached the grand line yet.

Perhaps when he is old enough to retire from a hopefully, long and successful career of piracy, he would return to Toroa island and tell tall tales, like the old pirates from back then.

"Men who are so strong they could destroy entire countries, huh?" Byron murmured with a light smile on his face as he watched his captain's last attack that basically obliterated everything in its vicinity.

Byron shook his head, still smiling as he transformed into his hybrid form, quickly flying in his captain's direction.

-0-

Johnny's point of view:

"Hey, good job with the defense system," I exclaimed, waving my hand with a smile as I spotted Elly, followed by Laffite and Kozue, making their way towards me.

I was about to say something else, but I had to swallow my words, awkwardly smiling as Elly wrapped herself around me like an octopus. "That was great, captain," Elly said, hyperventilating in her excessive excitement.

"What was that attack at the end?" She asked with an eager smile, her face dangerously close to mine as she proceeded to barrage me with even more questions, leaving me speechless.

"The questions can wait, for now, Elly," Laffite said with a smile as he landed in front of me. "I'm sure the captain is pretty tired after such an intense battle," he added, picking up Elly from the scruff of her neck and dislodging her from me, causing me to sigh in relief while Elly pouted like an angry kitten.

Though I hate to admit, Laffite wasn't wrong. I was dead tired even though I didn't show it. Producing so much flames in such a short time has been draining, and the excessive amount of force I exhibited with my shock waves did a number on my muscles and bones as well.

I felt some broken bones and torn muscles as soon as the fight ended, and I couldn't just pop a poison vial and call it a day, as healing through poison requires stamina, which I don't currently have.

Still, it wasn't anything that a good meal and some rest wouldn't fix.

"Good fight, captain," Kozue said with a thumbs-up as she too arrived shortly after, followed by Law and Urouge. "You guys did well with the defense system, too," I replied with a thumbs-up of my own.

"The timing was immaculate," I added with a satisfied smile, causing them to smile as well.

"Oh, here comes Byron as well," I remarked as I turned to look at the sky after hearing some movement, waving my hands as soon as I noticed the blonde musician's hybrid form approaching us.

"It looks like you didn't get any action this time, Byron," Wilson said with a shit-eating grin as soon as Byron landed near us. "Everything went well, so I don't really mind," Byron replied with a smile, but I could tell he was slightly disappointed.

"Well, our journey is far from over," I said with a shrug, smiling as I put a hand on Byron's shoulder. "I'm sure you'll get more action than you bargained for sooner or later," I concluded in a joking manner, causing him to smile with a nod.

"At any rate," I said, clapping my hands to get everyone's attention. "We've taken care of the danger here on the island, but our work is far from over," I added with a serious look on my face.

"First of all, we need to get as many dials as we can," I explained, raising one finger. "Whether they are daily usage or fighting Dials, I want them all," I added while pointing at the palace.

"I also want the Dials-based weapons as well," I said, raising another finger. "And lastly, is Lokni's devil fruit. It should have reincarnated somewhere on this sky island," I added, lifting the third finger.

"We're not leaving this sky island without these three things, so everyone immediately get to work," I concluded, waving my hand for them to get going.

"You want to get the cloud fruit?" Urouge asked with a raised eyebrow, smiling broadly like he always did and causing me to be incapable of reading his expression.

"I am. What of it?" I replied, matching his raised eyebrow with one of my own. "And I don't care if it's a religious treasure or whatnot," I added as my lips thinned with my expression turning blank.

"Well, calm down. I don't really care about that fruit," Urouge said while shrugging his shoulders. "In fact, I have some pieces of information that could help you find it faster as thanks for taking care of Lokni," he added while waving his hands.

"Sure, go ahead," I said as the thin line on my lips disappeared, being replaced by my usual smirk.

...

"You already know that the cloud devil fruit only reincarnates on the white tress," Urouge said while pointing at one of the said trees, and I nodded, indicating for him to continue.

"What I didn't tell you was that they tend to grow on the biggest tree available to them," he added with a grin. "Doesn't that meant that it will reincarnate on another sky island somewhere?" I asked with a frown.

"Not, really," Urouge replied while shaking his head. "You see, when my people built this city, they also brought the biggest known holy tree here as well," Urouge explained, and I nodded in understanding.

"Since they wanted this city to be a bastion that protects the rest of north blue's sky islands, they thought it was fitting to have the devil fruit reincarnate here as well," Urouge concluded.

"So where is this so-called holy tree, then?" I asked after a second of processing. "It's a closed-off area north of the god palace," the mad monk replied, gesturing with his hand and pointing towards the northern direction.

"I see," I said while nodding my head with a smile. "Thanks for the info. Whatever you think you owe is now settled," I added while shrugging my shoulders.

I didn't think that Urouge owed me anything, but a free favor is a free favor, and I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I readily accepted Urouge's gratitude.

"Anyway, I'm heading back for the ship," I said as I turned to leave. "I'll be seeing you later, monk," I concluded as I made my way back towards the black pearl, calling Laffite and instructing him to look for the cloud fruit in the place Urouge mentioned.

-0-

A week had passed since I've defeated Lokni, and now it was finally to return to the blue seas below after we got everything we came here to take.

Our haul ended up being a lifetime supply of regular and day-to-day use Dials, a couple of dozens of axe Dials, almost a hundred impact Dials, fifteen Eisen Dials, and three reject Dials along a shit ton of thunder Dials.

We also didn't forget to get our hands on Dial-based weapons too, like Burn Bazookas, burn blades, and flashguns, along with some transportations like jet boards and wavers.

I also went back to find that Giant dog, intending to take it back with me to the blue sea, but I, unfortunately, had to give up as Urouge informed me that they couldn't survive below the clouds, which was a shame, but I guess that's fine too since I won't have to clean up its giant turds from the black pearl's deck.

Sky people have also begun returning to Skyguard one after the other, and it was no surprise that they didn't show us a single shred of gratitude, treating us with caution and hostility instead.

Pirates will be pirates, was their reasoning, which was understandable since I've made it clear that I won't leave without a shit ton of their recourses and a national treasure to boot.

Speaking of the so-called national, religious treasure (The cloud devil fruit), or whatever they wanted to call it, we managed to find it too, in the place Urouge mentioned, but it wasn't easy.

The number of holy trees in that place was frankly ridiculous, and most trees were roughly about the same gigantic size, so it took us the entire week to find the devil fruit despite knowing its general location.

Still, having that devil fruit was worth the effort, so I'm not complaining. The cloud devil fruit had great potential, and even with someone like Lokni, it was terribly difficult to deal with, even though he didn't make full use of its abilities, in my opinion, but I digress.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay here for a couple of more days?" Urouge asked with a smile as he stood next to me on the black pearl's deck.

"I'm sure," I replied with a shake of my head. "What about you? Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" I asked as I turned away from him, gazing at the white horizon ahead.

"I'm sure," the mad monk replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I still have things to take care of here, but maybe we will meet later," he added as he turned to look at the edge of the cloud sea.

"I will make my way towards the blue sea below, and then the grand line, sooner or later," the mad monk added, looking into the blue sea that was visible from the edge the black pearl stopped at with a burning gaze.

"Well, suit yourself, buddy," I remarked with a smile. "Alright, get ready, you all," I exclaimed as I turned to look back at my crew.

"You know the drill already. Make sure we tied down everything, and hold on to something when we're about to get down," I instructed, nodding in satisfaction as everyone got to work.

"I guess this is where we part way then," Urouge said with a smile as he grabbed a waver that was on the deck. "I guess it is," I replied with a smile, nodding my head.

"Take care," I said, extending my head towards the mad monk, asking for a handshake. "You too, friend," Urouge replied as he grasped my hand in a firm handshake that didn't shame his gigantic physique, promptly throwing the waver on the clouds and boarding it, making his way back Skygaurd without looking back.

"We're ready to go, captain," Elly shouted from her spot on the crow's nest while firmly holding on to a robe. "All right, hold on tight," I exclaimed as I flew off the deck, making my way towards the black pearl's rear.

I quickly began decreasing the black pearl's density to decrease her weight, which took a couple of minutes. "We're ready to go, Laffite," I exclaimed with a grin as Laffite began to work on steering the ship towards the edge.

"Here goes nothing," I remarked as I flew below the ship as soon as it fell off the edge, guiding it towards the blue sea below.

'My life sure is weird,' I think to myself with an amused expression as I gently guide my ship back to the sea. 'One day, you're choking on a fucking apple of all things, and the next thing you know, you're flying in the air while carrying a ship on you're back,' I chuckled to myself despite my concentration on guiding the ship.

"I'm not complaining, though," I murmured, shaking my head to get rid of all useless thoughts and focus on the task at hand.