Author's Note: This chapter's a little longer than usual… sorry about that.

Hey, it would be pretty nice to get at least SOME reviews… posting two chapters that have gotten nada reviews is sort of depressing, and my morale's being lowered down the toilet.

Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece

Chapter Nine: Distrust and Suspicion

The White Berets went crawling away in formation again.

"What's with them?" Luffy muttered. "Just walk already."

"That doesn't matter!" Nami snapped. "More importantly, we've been marked! That old lady said so, didn't she? 'You may pass'? Now we're here, and they're calling it an illegal entry?! It's a fraud! I should beat the hell out of her!!" she raged.

"Got that right!" Usopp agreed. Looking pointedly at Luffy, he said, "And we won't mention the part where we would've gone through even if she said we couldn't."

"You shut up!" Nami roared.

"Nevertheless, this is certainly a terrible predicament," Pagaya said worriedly. "As you are now Class-2 criminals, we can no longer help you," he called from up the beach.

Hoshi sweatdropped. "Why are you talking from so far away?"

Luffy chuckled. "It's not like it matters anyway," he laughed. "We're used to being wanted. By the way," he said, facing Nami. "Why'd you come back?"

Nami's eyebrow twitched. "What was that?"

"We were about to set off for the lad we must never, ever set foot on to have a great advent- I mean, to look for you."

A stress mark appeared on Nami's forehead. "I can see right through you," she muttered. She punched him in the forehead. "WHAT great adventure!?" she roared.

Chopper ran and grabbed Sanji's leg for comfort. The cook patted the reindeer's pink hat sympathetically.

"There are CRUEL, MURDEROUS people on that island! You didn't see them so you have NO RIGHT to say that!" Nami shouted, punching Luffy more with every other word.

Usopp shuddered and gritted his teeth. "I'm sorry Luffy," he muttered, "It was nice knowing you."

"I don't know or give a damn about if that was God or not," Nami continued, still punching Luffy. "But that TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, INSURMOUNTABLE power was REAL!" she finished, punching Luffy into the ocean.

Luffy spluttered and gasped. "S-SABE BEE!"

"Ah! He's sinking again!" Chopper panicked. "W-w-what do we do!?"

"Leave him," Nami yelled, stalking off.

Luffy disappeared. Sanji sighed. "I guess we DO have to get him. He is our captain after all."

While the cook went to save Luffy, Hoshi turned to Nami. "What was that power you were talking about?" she demanded.

"Why the hell do YOU want to know?!" Nami raged. "We're not going there!!"

"Well excuse me," Hoshi shot back. "I just happened to feel something earlier, and I was wondering if it had any connection."

"It doesn't matter! We're NOT going!!" The navigator turned to the half-drowned Luffy to glower at him. "I am NOT, EVER, going back to that island!!"

Luffy spit out a fountain of water, then put his hat back on right. "Oh, then you can stay here while the rest of us go," he said.

"NO! Those White Beret people are going to come after me!" Nami said, more stress marks appearing on her head. "We are LEAVING this land right now!!"

Luffy stretched his neck to look at her in the eye. "No, we're not leaving! What's more important, adventure or your life?"

Nami grabbed his cheeks and pulled. "MY LIFE!" she roared, throwing his head into the beach. "Followed by my money!"

Sanji zoomed to her side. "Followed by me?" he asked.

"SHUT UP!" Nami raged, punching him in the head.

Sanji was swooning even as he flew. "Ah, Nami-san is so cute when she's mad…" he sighed as he landed face-first on the beach.

Usopp ventured a remark. "But this is sort of pathetic," he said. "We were in such a hurry to get to Sky Island, we never thought about how to get back down."

Hoshi jumped as Suu, the little Cloudfox, wove himself between her legs. Conis came shortly behind him. "I'm sorry if Suu was disturbing you," the blond girl said timidly. Hoshi answered with a cold silence.

"Neh, isn't there any way we can get home safely? Back to the Blue Sea?" Usopp asked.

Conis sighed. "Well, I wouldn't really call it 'safe' given your current situation…but there is a way. You must go to a gate at the very edge of the cloud, Cloud End."

"Thank goodness," Usopp sighed. "So there IS a way."

"Cloud End lies to the far east of the cloud," Conis explained. "To get there, you have to first go back down to the White Sea."

"Alright! Let's go!" Nami said, marching back towards the ship.

"No. I'm not going," Luffy said firmly.

"Oi, oi, oi! Do you want to be executed?!" Usopp asked.

"And you'd just cause trouble for Conis and Oji-san!" Nami added.

"Oh no!" Conis said hurriedly. "He's no trouble at all!"

The crew sweatdropped.

"Well even if we DID run for it, we might not be able to escape from those guys," Nami grumbled. "If that's the case, it doesn't matter where we stay. They know where we are, so we'll have to get a move on. Let's set sail!"

"Aye…" said the crew half-heartedly, following Nami to the ship. The navigator waved to Conis and Pagaya. "Thanks for all the he- AH! WHERE ARE YOU THREE GOING!?"

"I'm going to go get some food!" Luffy called happily. "You guys get the ship ready for adventure!!"

Nami scowled at Sanji, and Usopp's backs as they walked away, Luffy dancing with glee in the front.

Hoshi snickered as she heard Nami rage, "He still wants to go there! Damn idiot!" The navigator turned to Zoro. "It's really scary there!"

"So what?" Zoro snapped. "I don't care either way. Don't take it out on me!"

Everyone started walking back towards the ship. Nami called sweetly, "Chopper!"

The little reindeer froze, terrified. "You're on MY side right?"

Hoshi walked by, and Chopper latched onto her leg, trembling madly with fear. She glanced at his pathetic state before turning to the navigator. "Don't threaten him!" she called disdainfully to Nami.

A stress mark appeared on Nami's head. "I didn't say anything!"

As everyone boarded the ship, Zoro talked to Nami. "Don't you get it already?" he told her. "You can't convince Luffy. Even if we all told him together, he still probably wouldn't listen."

"How about 'definitely'?" Hoshi suggested.

Zoro grinned at her. "You're right about that."

Nami scowled. "Fine! Then I'm not coming!"

"Yeah, do that," Zoro said nonchalantly.

"'Do that'? I'd get killed by those wacko Marines!"

Zoro pulled his swords out of his waistband and leaned back on the mast to take a nap. "Then do that," he told her, before going to sleep.

Hoshi sweatdropped, then blue lines appeared over her eyes as she sensed a growing intent to kill from the navigator. To escape, she quickly scrambled up the rigging and took refuge in the crow's nest.

"Robin?" Nami asked. "Could the two of us restrain Luffy?"

"I doubt it," Robin replied with a smile.

Nami sighed. "I suppose that means we'll just be fending off whoever comes after us. Those White Berets must be gathering more of their nakama to come and attack us again."

Hoshi thought she saw movement in the undergrowth lining the shore, perhaps the flash of a ridiculous white hat, but when she looked again, it was gone. Still, it was enough to make her feel more uneasy than she already was.

Robin was pulling up the ladder when Conis came back. "Excuse me," she called. "I have something to tell you."

Hoshi couldn't hear what Conis was telling them once she got onto the ship, but she had a bad feeling. Leaning over the side, she caught a shout of surprise and joy from Nami. "A cloud current that will take us across the White-White Sea!?"

Conis nodded. "It will take you down to the White Sea, and proceed straight to Cloud End."

Nami looked excited. "Really!?"

"Yes. Once you're on that current, it should be difficult for anyone to catch you from that point on."

Nami snapped her fingers. "So that's it! We just have to keep the current a secret from Luffy until we get off the cloud!" she celebrated.

"By the time he realizes it, it's going to be too late, isn't it?" Chopper asked, looking a little disappointed.

Robin chuckled. "Although whether he gives up afterwards is another story."

Nami scowled. Chopper whimpered and hid behind Robin.

"I can guide you there using our Waver," Conis offered.

"Well," Nami sighed. "We just need to do it without that idiot catching on. I can do that pretty well."

"Well then!" Conis said. "Please raise your anchor and wait here!"

"We're indebted to you, Conis!" Nami said with a smile.

Conis jumped, and then she put on a shaky smile. "O-oh, it's really n-nothing," she stuttered.

"Hang on just a second," Hoshi yelled from the crow's nest. She jumped off and did a couple of flips before landing next to the group. Conis looked shocked for a second, but quickly wiped the emotion off her face.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Hoshi demanded, her aqua eyes ice.

Conis looked scared, but replaced it with a smile. "W-why would I lie to you? You all are good people, and I want you to get away!"

"First of all, you're sweating, telling me you're uncomfortable about something," Hoshi said, staring at the girl coldy. "Secondly, I don't remember you stuttering once before. You gave out all those informational speeches without so much as a mispronunciation, yet here you are. Thirdly, you're shaking like a leaf. Well?"

Conis was doing nothing to hide her fright now. She was visibly trembling under Hoshi's hard gaze, and seemed close to tears.

"That's enough Hoshi!" Nami yelled, whacking the raven-haired girl on the head. "You're scaring her!"

"I don't like this!" Hoshi shot back, rubbing the sore bump that had raised on her head. "How do we know we can trust her?"

"I-I trust her," Chopper ventured. "She's a good person!"

"If you're a human, you're born with the ability to lie," Hoshi said flatly. "It doesn't matter if you're good or bad in nature."

"Shut up!" Nami roared. She punched Hoshi into the mast. Hoshi yelled and crashed on top of the sleeping Zoro, landing in his lap.

"Hoshi! What the hell are you doing?!" Zoro yelled, pushing her roughly off of him.

"I wasn't doing anything!" Hoshi snapped.

"How did you fall on top of me?! You woke me up!"

"It wasn't my damn fault!"

Nami turned to Conis as the two kept arguing. "Sorry about that Conis! Hoshi's been through some hard times, so she tends to be… untrusting to most people."

Conis shakily smiled and wiped a small tear from her eye. "I've noticed," she said, a little dryly.

"Will you still take us to the current though?" Nami asked.

Conis nodded. Nami squealed and gave the blonde girl a hug. "You're really the best Conis!"

Five minutes later, Conis was walking away to get her Waver. Nami waved cheerfully. "See you, Conis!"

Conis waved back. "Heso!" she called, before continuing up the stairs.

Nami sighed in relief. "We finally see a ray of hope! With all that's happened, I was wondering what we were going to do!"

"But does that current really exist?" Robin asked.

Nami and Chopper looked at her. "If such a convenient current exists," Robin continued, "It wouldn't be unusual for survivors of Sky Island to be living on the Blue Sea."

Nami groaned. "First Hoshi, now you! Remember? They said they rarely get people who survive on the way up here in the first place! Of course almost none of them get away!"

Chopper looked up. "And even then, most of them probably weren't fast enough to get away before someone caught them," he said.

"Exactly!" Nami crowed, taking Chopper into her arms. "Chopper! You ARE on my side!"

Chopper started turning blue. "Can't… breathe…"

"Yosh!" Nami shouted, dropping Chopper onto the deck where he lay gasping. "Weigh anchor! Chopper, use Heavy Ball and do it this time… Zoro and Hoshi are still arguing."

"I-it's… 'Heavy Point'…" Chopper wheezed.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"NOTHING! Nothing…"

Nami went down, grabbed Hoshi's and Zoro's hair before cheerfully slamming their foreheads together. "Stop fighting you two!" she ordered. "We have to hurry or we'll be wasting Conis' kindness."

Through the stars and strange colors filling her vision, Hoshi spotted Conis' figure walking up the stairs. It paused and looked back at the ship for a second, then continued upwards.

Chopper pulled up the anchor. Hoshi leaned over the banister and looked at the spot where the anchor had risen from. It bubbled a bit, then settled down. She looked back at the beach, a frown on her face.

"Yosha! Now we just have to wait until Luffy and the others get back!" Nami called cheerfully, emerging from the cabin. She had put on a yellow T-shirt.

"I'm going to go check on the others," Hoshi said unexpectedly.

Everyone looked at her, surprised. "You sure?" Zoro said.

Hoshi just gave him a look. He waved his hand. "Fine, I get it."

"You shouldn't go!" Chopper said, concerned. "What about your leg?"

"It's fine, thanks to you!" Hoshi smiled at him. The reindeer started sweating a little, torn between happiness and duty to his patient… and duty won over.

"Even so, you have to take it easy!" Chopper ordered.

"But it's fine, thanks to me having such a good doctor to take care of it!"

Chopper started sweating again, and Hoshi knew she had won when he started doing his little happy dance around the ship. "Your words don't make me happy at all, you asshole!" he sang.

"No! We're about to set off! Are you going to tell Luffy about the current?!" Nami demanded.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Hoshi replied, vaulting over the side of the ship, putting most of the impact on her uninjured leg.

"Wait! Hoshi!!" Nami yelled, running up to the banister.

Too late. Hoshi was already running up the stairs.

"Ah geez," Nami grumbled. "What's with her?"

"I think Gakushi-san (musician) is worried about the others," Robin commented. "She's not the type to leave people important to her in the hands of those she doesn't trust."

Hoshi caught up with Conis, then without saying a word, the two continued walking up the stairs. Conis couldn't help noticing that she was breathing a little heavily, and she was sweating. Hoshi would have rather died than have admitted it to anyone, but her leg really was painful, and running up halfway up the staircase forcing herself not to limp was probably not the best idea.

They reached Conis' and Pagaya's house and walked into the living room, seeing Sanji arranging several lunchboxes in a very elaborate artistic setting. "Welcome back Conis-chan!" he said, without looking up from his work. He giggled to himself. "These three will be for Nami-san, Robin-chan, and Hoshi-chan!"

"Which one's mine Sanji?" Hoshi asked, relaxing a bit, wiping some of the sweat off her forehead.

"Oh! Hoshi-chan, you're here!" Sanji celebrated. He pointed to a lunchbox that had rice, lobster, and different colored sushi put into a pattern that looked like a pair of wings. "This one's yours!" He took a second look at Hoshi's sweating face. "Hey, is your leg okay? You don't look too well."

Hoshi nodded cheerfully. "It's just fine!" she said through a smile.

"Ah! They almost don't look like food!" Conis admired.

"You think so!?" Sanji asked, looking crazily happy with a heart in his eye. He held one up with a delicate sugar sculpture in the middle of it. "This one's yours!"

"You made one for me too?" Conis asked, surprised.

"But of course!" Sanji said, standing up and wrapping one arm around Conis. In all seriousness, he solemnly proclaimed, "The title of this lunch is… 'Love is an Ordeal: the Lunch of a Descending Angel'."

"My!" Conis exclaimed, looking a little uncomfortable.

Hoshi sweatdropped. "Um…"

"Well, it's all the same once you eat it," Luffy commented.

"Quit being so rude!" Sanji yelled. "Listen up, food has to LOOK delicious first! It's a basic rule!"

"Oh?" Luffy closed his eyes and stuck a piece of food into his mouth. "See? Tastes the same!"

Conis looked surprised, then laughed as Sanji yelled, "You ate it without looking at it!"

"Oh?" Luffy ate another one without looking. "Still tastes the same."

"You have to savor it with your EYES first, you dimwit!!" Sanji shouted.

As the two continued arguing, Hoshi breathed an inner sigh of relief. Nothing bad had happened to her nakama… not yet.

And that's the end of this chapter! Please review! I'd really appreciate it.