Approval

Gideon made his way through the town, the sun was still high when he began his search. In a tavern across town, the giant had heard from a reliable source, or at least who he thought was reliable, that there was a bitter fruit that he had tasted deep in the forest of the Upperyard; one lick had him tossing the fruit back into the temple he had found it. Gideon wanted to ask the man more about the temple and why was this fruit was inside such a place as well as directions, but the giant was overhearing this winged man speaking to another while was kneeling by the window outside the tavern since he was too big to fit in.

Now Gideon marched off towards the Upperyard, passerby looking to him every so often as if they’ve never seen a giant before. Though the town was beautiful, he had to step over a few houses in order to avoid taking longer detours.

What Gideon has heard of the Upperyard was that it is Hollow ground and was off limits some time ago because of some tyrant, but now all winged people are allowed to live there. The lore escaped him, mainly because he couldn’t get a grasp of the culture in the sky as well as the fact that he couldn’t hear much of the conversation from citizens who stood so low to the ground.

The giant looked up to the sky to view the clouds above… then looked to the floor to view the clouds on the ground. Being in the sky felt so weird and Gideon has yet found a way to get to the floor without just simply jumping off, but even a brain-dead monkey could figure out that a 7,000 meter drop would kill him. He had also tried to convince others to allow him to ride on their boat, but no one would allow him to ride along, fearing he would sink their ship before they departed.

Gideon sighed, releasing a small gale that cleared the streets of litter.

Yuurei had finally made it to this island, and he knew that being in the crew with the others it meant that soon they would have to fight. Still, it seemed like Mashyuu was going to head into this big fight with the slaver owner just yet. He figured that his captain was looking for more people to join his crew, and possibly join his cause. It made sense honestly, and he figured he would help out with that. The young thief decided that if he had found anybody who was worthy in joining their crew on this island, he would fish them out. The thief also decided to get stronger as well on this island. He was not going to halt his training because they were so high up in the sky. He wasn’t going to slack off, and he was going to make sure that he could protect everyone who stood in their ship.

The best place for him to gather certain information was at Taverns. It was where people got drunk, told their stories, and even gossiped about other people. Those were the best drunks as he could gain information and even rumors. Yuurei had gain a new weapon to his arsenal, but he wasn’t done with just that. No, the man had to get another sword, and it was because he had to continue to get stronger. His father sword was beautiful, and one of his favorite, but he knew that the way things were in the Grand Line, the sword wouldn’t last. He was sure there would be a day where he would fine someone, or something that would be strong enough to break his sword. He hoped that day would never come because he didn’t want to see the destruction of his father’s sword. It was one reason why he was looking around for the swords that his father had spoken to him about. The thief was wearing his average looking clothes, as he sat at the bar in the Tavern. He was looking around to see how people were different here.

They seemed like they were enjoying themselves, and talking their asses off. When he got here they looked at him with a smile because he wasn’t one of them. It seemed like they were surprised to meet someone that wasn’t of their race. He was actually enjoying it here because he had gotten some free drinks. Yuurei of course had taken his signature Jack and Coke and he did what he always did with his drink and it was moving around the glass. He looked at the glass, but continued to pay attention to the people that were talking about certain, and rare things. There was a man who had talked about a fruit of some kind, and when he spoke about how it tasted bitter when he licked it, Yuurei’s eyes widen and he almost dropped his drink. He must have found a devil fruit. Those things are rare as they come. How come he didn’t take it and try to sell it? he thought to himself as he didn’t know why he asked himself this question when he knew the answer.

He must not know what they are. They aren’t really affected by the world below, which honestly is a good thing in its own right, but sad that they might one day taken over by assholes,” he thought to himself. Yuurei would hate that for a place like this to be taken over by the wrong people, so he decided that it was on his list of things to speak to the captain about. He was a part of their race, so would they mind? He shook his head as had stopped thinking about that as he was trying to gain more information. The thief wasn’t too crazy about the fruit, but he kept the whereabouts of it in his head. It would go for a lot in the black-market. He continued to listen around though as he was hearing things about gold, weird ships, and different kinds of weapons. Still, there was nothing about what he was looking for, and it was katanas.

This brought him to a bit of frustration as he figured today would be a waste of a day. Yuurei wouldn’t want that, and figured that he would soon leave this place and find an area to train at. He was about to drink the alcohol that was in his cup, but he had stopped when the glass had gotten to his lip. The words that had come out of someone’s mouth made him smile. His focused had turned to the gossip of two winged men. It seemed like they were planning on heading to the Upperyard to find a rare sword. He continued to listen to them as they said it was hidden within the area, and nobody had found it. They continued on with talking about a long time ago a man that came from the bottom had perished here and hid his sword and made sure that whoever was worthy of his sword would be able to find it. Yuurei continued to go on a scavenger hunt as he chugged his glass, and placed it on the counter. The thief had placed his change on the counter, and gotten out of tavern.

When he had did this, his eyes blinked a few times because he thought he was seeing shit. ”Did the alcohol hit me that hard?” he asked himself as he rubbed his left eye. When he had done that it seemed like what he saw didn’t disappear. There was a giant on Skypiea and it seemed like this person was heading in the same direction that he was heading in. That was interesting, and Yuurei figured he would follow behind this big man. Still, he would have to catch up to him, and if he found him scary, he would have to make sure he had some type of escape plan. Yuurei started moving though as he knew where his destination was, and what kind of things he would get himself there was unknown to him, but there was one thing he knew was this, collecting strong swords was what he was known for.

Gideon's bag nearly slipped out his hand as he was rummaging through it, however it had caught it before it had landed upon the street where a number of people would have probably been flattened by the giant bag. Pulling out a packet of sushi rolls, Gideon took a seat in the middle of a plaza.

"Itadakimasu!" He gave his thanks because he pulled out two wooden walking sticks to use as chopsticks and plucked one of the sushi rolls into his mouth. He found himself fortunate enough to have stumbled upon a sea king serpent while swimming around White-white sea, trying to find a way back down to the earth. After defeating the serpent, he chopped it up and made sushi rolls with other ingredients he still had within his bag. It was difficult finding ingredients in a foreign place; he couldn't figure out how even the most basic things worked, it was confusing enough to try and understand how the cloud beneath his feet could even support him.

For a moment, Gideon wondered why he was going through such a task to find this fruit. Simple answer, he wanted to put his mind at ease by giving himself an errand to run, but as a bonus, he was sure he could recognize the fruit he was hunting since it belonged to the Upper Yard. As far as he could gather from the talk around town, the Upper Yard appeared from the earth below, meaning it is a piece of land that may hold ingredients and food that the giant can gather to provide himself three course meals a day... at least until he finds his way back to the earth below.

He plucked another sushi roll into his mouth while looking into the distance. Over the houses, he could see the white-white sea and a massive chunk of green land stretching across the horizon. "Vegetation" Gideon happily said before eating another roll. He had hoped there were animals to eat the vegetation as well, where there are plants, there is also meat. He planned to swim over to that area once he finished his sushi rolls... and hopefully he didn't run into any trouble.

Yuurei was hoping that the rumors were true as he was moving through the streets. The winged people looked at him and were surprised to see such a man here. He was different to them, and he was rarer than a human in their eyes. They had never seen someone with such long arms, and they even took note of the two elbows that he had. He could see their exciting expressions, but he didn’t have time for any of that, nor the attention they seemed willing to give him. He dodged a few people who weren’t paying attention where they were walking. He continued to move through the area as he never asked, or investigated his crew to see if anybody had a bounty. Honestly he didn’t even know if he had one, but he found it exciting more than ever to have one now. Still, the only thing he knew he did was steal and beat up a few people, and he wasn’t sure if that was worthy enough.

While he was thinking about all of this, he heard the giant shout a word, and it was really loud coming from the big guy. He had covered his ears for a quick second and soon after he looked over to see that this man was eating an oversize sushi roll. Yuurei’s eyes widen and his jaw dropped because he had never seen something like that before. He looked around to see if anybody had gotten the same expression, and yes there were a few people who were shock to see this as well. He could wondered who had made this for the giant, and was sure that nobody here would have been able to make this for the giant. Did he make that himself? Is he a cook? Do we have one of those on the ship? I think Daimaru is the navigator, and I doubt Harley would want to cook for a bunch of men. He thought to himself as kept his stare, and soon enough the aroma had hit him right on the nose.

The smell of the giant’s food was delicious and it took him a second or two, but he noticed that his stomach had started to grow due to Gideon eating his food. Yuurei could only gulp his saliva, and shook his head because he knew that he had a mission to do. He was going to get himself stronger, so that way he would be able to help out his captain on whatever conquest he had in Skypiea. Yuurei could use his hands to fight, but he knew with better swords he would be able to defend his crew better. The thief shook his head and started walking pass the giant as he had never been to the Upper-Yard before. When he kept his quick pace he had soon come to a stop. This stopped made him look around the area ahead of him, and he could just sighed in disbelief.

There was a sea in front of him, this sea being white and bubbly like clouds. Yuurei wasn’t sure if it was truly sea, but it moved like the blue sea, and looked way different than the clouds he had been stepping on up to now. Yuurei had decided to test it out and placed his hand in it and soon enough eh could feel the dampness that came with this sea. Yuurei had picked his hand up and noticed that it was soaked, and he sighed because there was no way he was able to get through this sea on his own. He wasn’t going to take the ship either because he probably would get lost trying to navigate it on his own. Yuurei dropped to the ground as he sat on his butt and was thinking about what he could do. He looked around and figured he could ask if someone could take him to the Upper-Yard, but from what he heard nobody was allowed in there.

It just meant that there wouldn’t be anybody who would be willing to take him there. Then he remembered, the giant was heading in this direction as well, and maybe he could hitch a ride on him? Yuurei wasn’t sure if the giant could actually walked through the sea without drowning. Yuurei didn’t know what else to do right now and he had no choice, but to ask. Yuurei got up from the floor now and turned around to look at the giant. ”Oi! You big guy with the bandana and the two logs in your hand! Are you planning on crossing this sea! Are you planning on heading to that Upper area crap?!” he shouted at the top of his lungs because he wasn’t sure if the giant could hear him or not, but what a way to start a conversation.

There was no denying how beautiful the area seemed. Cloud islands, the white cloud-like ocean that stretched to the horizon, it was like a life-like portrait, but that is what Gideon wanted it to be, just a portrait; he missed the soil of the ground, he felt out of place being so high up in the sky, he missed seeing another giant. Sure, giants weren't common down below, but he was sure there were no giants other than himself up in the clouds, judging by how the tiny citizens react to seeing him as he passes by.

He plucked another sushi roll into his mouth. A groan escaped through his lips; though the sushi was good, he had ran out of wasabi, so the meal wasn't as great as he is use to. "I need to get back down below". Every time Gideon tried to talk to the citizens, they either ignored him or generally tried to avoid contact with him as if he committed a crime, but he was sure he didn't do anything other than slay a sea king.

Gideon caught word from someone calling out to him. He looked down and noticed a wingless human wearing a blue jacket, what also seemed off about this one was that he was a head taller than the rest of the citizens. "Yeah, I am heading that way" He looked up towards the Upper Yard, figuring the blue jacket guy might want a way towards the area by the way he was gesturing, "You need a lift?" he said as he picked up another roll, but then hesitated for a moment before handing the roll to unwinged human, "Would you like?" he felt generous because this one human chose to speak to him as oppose to the other citizens who try to avoid him. It seem by comparison, the sushi roll was the size of a loaf of bread to the blue-jacket man.

Yuurei had yelled his lungs off to the giant to gain his attention and it had paid off. He was excited that he was heading towards the same direction as he was in, which meant that he might have been able to get a lift there. The other thing that made him happy was that the man had asked him if he needed a lift. This was going pretty well, and he was excited right now, and couldn’t help but wonder how things would go south from here. The thief knew anytime he had gone through with something, it would alter a certain way, or never go in the direction that he wanted. Before he could answer him about the lift he had asked him if he wanted some. Yuurei nodded his head as his stomach had rumbled because he was hungry, and soon enough the man had moved the oversized sushi towards him.

He was happy to take it and when he held onto it, he was a bit surprised on how huge this thing was. The sushi looked like he was eating a weird looking sandwich, but it also meant that he would be good with just this. ”Thanks,” he said as he took a bite out of the sushi, and closed his eyes while chewing his food. It was good, and he was enjoying this more than he thought he would. ”Mm,” he groaned from the sensation he felt while eating the food. He took another bite of the sushi and chewed into it savoring the flavor, but it was good, and he didn’t slow down with eating his meal. When he finished the sushi he had exhaled with the amount of food he had eaten. He could eat more, but he wasn’t going to ask for anything else. This would be enough for the time being, and he would be okay until later on.

”That was some good sushi. Who made it?” he asked him. He was done with eating, so he figured the next thing he would do was get on the giant. He looked around to see how he would be able to get on the giant’s shoulder. He didn’t want to ask for help, and he figured that it would take too long to speak up. He decided that it would be best for him to climb up, and use his arms to toss himself upward. ”I don’t need a lift, give me a second,” he said. He stretched a bit until he felt like he was ready. He knew what he was going to do, and soon enough he had jumped over the man’s palm and onto his wrist. He didn’t want to be dirty and step on his palm with his shoulder, so he landed on his wrist instead.

When he landed, the thief had started running across his arm, and when the slope got too steep for him to run up anymore, he grabbed onto the man’s jacket, and started climbing upward. When he climbed a few, he would pull himself up using the strength of his arms, and tossed himself up to the giant’s shoulder. When he did that he was quick to land on the man’s shoulder, and he could only smile. That was fun, and amusing to do. He had never climbed up on a giant, and now that was something he could tell other people. Yuurei kept his balance, but placed his left hand onto the giant’s neck. He didn’t want to accidently fall to his death. ”That was actually fun, if I say so myself. Thanks for agreeing to take me to the Upper-Yard, the name is Yuurei, what’s yours?” he asked the giant wondering what his name was, and if they were going to start moving through the vast sea.

Seeing the wingless human accept and sushi roll and devour it in just moments, Gideon's heart warmed. He didn't realize how cold it was up in the clouds until he met someone that actually spoken to him.

"I did" Gideon felt proud, though he tried to hide it,"It's something simple, I don't have the necessary ingredients for an actual meal".

Before the wingless man finished his roll, Gideon had plucked the last three rolls into his mouth, even savoring the flavor, though he still desired the wasabi. In another moment, Yuurei, as the wingless man introduced himself, hopped onto Gideon's shoulder.

"Gideon Wodan" the giant finally got a chance to introduce himself since he's been on Skypiea for the last three days. He then stood up and made his way to the beach, "Don't worry about, I was heading there anyway, might as well have a companion to talk to while making the trip".

Even the 'sand' felt odd. Practically everything was a cloud in some form. Pretty soon, Gideon, with Yuurei on his shoulder, waded through the white cloud water, which risen from his ankles, to his thighs, then within a minute to his waist. "Where are you from, Yuurei? If you don't mind me asking" hopefully the human didn't mind, Gideon hasn't had an actual conversation in days and it was beginning to drive him crazy, even though back on the earth below, he was already distant from other people, even to some giants.

"Hold on a moment" Gideon's hand grasped softly around Yuurei's waist, lifting him up as the giant half-dove into the water, "Better travel" he said as he was doing soft backstrokes while Yuurei was placed on his chest, "Do me a favor and direct me since I can't see" he said as he looked off at Angel island from where they were leaving.

Yuurei had heard the man’s name and he was glad that the giant was actually making his way to the Upper-Yard. It just meant that he didn’t have to do much convincing. He wondered how many people actually enter this place. He was sure that people weren’t allowed to be there, but he didn’t care. There was a way, or the people in the tavern wouldn’t have been gossiping about it. He felt the giant standing right now, and Yuurei held his ground as he knew this was going to happen. He was not going to fall, and that was why he took precaution at the beginning. When Gideon stood up, Yuurei could see how high he was. He looked down to see all the people that were below him. He could see how tiny they were, and knew that the giant could see people just like that. We look so easily crushable from this angle. He thought to himself.

He was actually surprised that the giant was able to walk through the water. He thought it was somehow going to fail, but it indeed work. The thief noticed how deep the water was to the giant, and knew that he would never be able to accomplish something like that. Still, it was quiet only for a second. He was going to say something, but the giant had beat him to it. Yuurei figured he would tell him as it wasn’t a thing that would endanger him. ”I’m from Swordsmen Island. The island is filled with people who train in using katanas, and just anything that is branded as a sword,” he spoke to him as he could see how he was easily moving through the water. The only thing he didn’t like about being a giant from what he could tell was that they had to dry their pants every time they were done walking in the sea.

Then suddenly Yuurei noticed the man’s hand moving straight towards him. Yuurei’s eyes widen as he felt like this was a trap. Did he agree to take me into the sea, so he could drown me when we got to deep end of it? He thought about this as he didn’t know what was going to happen. He did hear the man tell him to hold on, and soon enough he could see the giant swimming, and he was on his chest. Yuurei sighed as he had calmed his nerves, and relaxed himself. He didn’t know what this damn giant was going to do to him, but he was safe right now. It seemed from what he could tell, that the giant was a nice person and wanted someone to talk to. He was quick to offer him food, which brought him back to thinking about the sushi he had given him. That was good, and he was the one that made it.

Yuurei knew they didn’t have a cook, so could he be a good addition to the crew? He was about to sit down on the giant’s belly to think more about the situation, but the giant had asked him to direct him. He looked around using his sight to tell him where to go. It wasn’t hard to find the place, and he figured navigating would be a fun experience for him. ”If you keep moving straight ahead you should be fine. I’ll let you know if you accidently shift to your right, or left Gideon,” he told him as he figured he could make conversation with him. ”So where are you from Gideon, and how did you get up here?” he asked him curious to how a Giant made his way up to Skypiea without a shape. He could only imagine Gideon climbing a huge tree that nobody knew about.

At first, swimming was a bit difficult until Gideon drew his bag, which he usually had strapped to his waist, and placed it on his chest, right behind Yuurei; though the bag was small enough to be considered a fanny pack to the giant, it was nearly two times Yuurei's size in length.

"Swordsman island? Sounds interesting" Gideon smiled at the thought of a whole island of blade-wielding humans; though such swords in the hands of skilled people like them, they were deadly, but to a cook the size of himself, it was as good as a paring knife, perfect for peeling and dicing vegetables.

When Yuurei asked Gideon where he was from, the giant nearly lost his smile entirely, but he answered nevertheless, "Born in Elbaf, the home of most giants, though I grew up on a nameless small island near the calm belt, don't know why my parents wanted to be secluded, but that was my life" He began thinking back to when the Marines had visited the island, but shook it off, trying to focus on something else other than negative thinking, "So I was traveling and came across Jaya island, the locals told me there was a sea king terrorizing passerby ships, so I figured I'd have a meal out of it, I fished it out and just when I was about to slay it... a huge geyser erupted under me, next thing I knew, I was waking up on Skypiea" His tone had shifted to try and make the story seem more laughable, since to him it was funny, though the joke was already getting annoying. He ached to get back to the ground.

"So you are a swordsman" Gideon dragged his eyes from staring at the sky back to Yuurei, "You have a sword, of course, may I see it?"

Yuurei heard Gideon speak about where he was from, and he nodded as he figured he would be born in that island, but it was nice to know that his parents had secluded them on an island. He could understand why Gideon was looking for people to talk to. He was a harmless giant, or at least he meant to say was that he was a person looking for friendship. While they were traveling he noticed that Gideon was moving a little bit away from their destination. He was about to say something, but he could hear him speak about his travels. He heard how he ended up in Skypiea, and he could only laugh about it because it was funny and not something anybody would expect. Still, he figured it was possible for someone like him to be shot up into Skypiea.

When he was done with laughing, he had took note that they were getting off course. He shook his head and figured that he would tell him now before he would say anything else. ”Hey Gideon, can you move to your left. You were getting off course, and that was probably because of conversation,” he said to the giant as he was peering through the vast sea, and making sure they were actually heading in the right direction. The thief felt like a weird pirate sailing the sea on the stomach of a giant, but he found it cool, interesting, and different to do this. He had a smirk on his face as he could only imagine who else could say they had done this before. He was hoping they would get back to the right course, and while he was doing that he asked him if he could look at his sword. Yuurei could only chuckle as he was excited to share this information with someone. There was one thing he was, and it was a nerd when it came to swords.

Yuurei out one of his swords, Ichi, and showed it off to the giant. ”This katana right here, was given to me by my father. It is a good sword, but the way it’s made is very common throughout the world. Still, it belongs to my father, so I carry with me at all times. My father had made this as he was trying to make one the greatest swords in the world, but it didn’t work,” he took the blade out of the sheathe showing it to Gideon real quickly before he placed it back into its scabbard. When he was done with that he placed that sword away, and moved onto the next sword. Yuurei unsheathed both the swords that he had gotten from Thomas. These swords were reminders of what he had to through to get the sword he wanted most. ”These two swords I got them from a man who pierced them into me. They are a reminder of what I had to go through in my past,” he said putting them away. Yuurei was smiling even more when he got to this weapon. He was excited to share this knowledge with Gideon. ”And this beauty,” he unsheathed Benihime. ”Is made from one of strongest materials in the world, and the person who made it craft it to be one of the rarest swords of its kind. You can tell by the edges of the blades, and even the hilt,” he paused for a bit.

”This is one of the many weapons I’m collecting to show my father, and I’m hoping when I collect all of the swords, I can go back and show my father,” he added on. He placed the sword away knowing that he was talking too much, but it was about something that interested him. ”Sorry about that I got carried away. As soon as we get to our destination, let’s keep moving from there okay?” he asked him if he was okay with that decision as the two were getting close to the Upper-Yard, and onto land again.

Though the cloud-water was different, it felt as natural as the water of the blue sea. Gideon continued his backstrokes normally as he enjoyed the swim, "Oh, thanks" he shifted his direction towards his left as Yuurei directed.

Gideon watched as Yuurei showed his sword, giving a short history behind it. At that moment, he thought of his own father, of the good days when he was still around, though the thought was short-lived, the sound of Yuurei snapping the sword back into its sheathe snapped Gideon back to reality. The next sword was more detailed and judging by the edge of the blade, it had well enough sharpness; indeed it was the size of a paring knife to the giant, but with such a blade, he was certain it would be able to cut the thickest of meat.

Yuurei had seemed to be very into his blades; it made sense, his people may have some kind of connection or affinity with swords, hence the island's name.

Soon enough, the two of them reached land. Gideon stood up and let his pants drain water a bit, though it was still drenched. He then looked from the beach inward. The cluster of trees were enormous, even for Gideon, "Woah" which escaped from the giant's lips. He had traverse through forests and woods before, but no such terrain had trees that dwarfed his size like the ones he was viewing, "So... where to now?" He had realized he had no idea where this Temple of Michael was, only that the one who spoke of the bitter fruit also spoke of something called Ordeal of Strings, "Do you know anything about an Ordeal of Strings?" he looked down at Yuurei.

It didn’t take long for the two of them had gotten to the beach that was close to his view. When they had gotten to the beach, Yuurei had noticed that Gideon was now standing up from the water. He figured that was his cue to get down and off him. He jumped down and landed on the ground and his feet slammed onto the soft sand. He looked around as he could see the amount of trees that were around the area. There seemed to be a lot routes they could head through, but he could only wondered which the right path was. He looked over to Gideon as he noticed that the giant wasn’t even bigger than the trees that were around this place. That was interesting, and he didn’t think that he would ever see something taller than Gideon when he met him. He just scratched his head because he kept looking around.

He figured the giant would know where to go, but the worse thing could happen. He was asking him if he knew anything about the Ordeal of Strings. Yuurei just sighed because they didn’t know where they were going after all. They just knew about this place, and nothing more. The thief just looked at the giant as he figured that with his height, he would be able to see something that he couldn’t, but that wasn’t the case. ”No I don’t know anything about the Ordeal of Strings, but if you can give me a second I can find out where we need to go,” he nodded at Gideon as he decided that it would be best to traverse with this guy. This Ordeal of Strings gave him the chills that went right down his back. Still, first thing he needed to do was find the right path. He started moving through the sand as he kicked the sand up in the as he was moving around the place, and soon enough his feet were no longer on sand.

When he was looking around he noticed something that intrigued him and it was the fact that there were signs, or at least warning signs leading to a different Ordeal. ”Ordeal of Iron,” he read it, and he could see the stone entrance to, but never moved forward because he figured this wasn’t the place that the Giant was trying to head to. Yuurei did remembered the men talking about the Ordeal of Strings, which meant that the sword he was looking for could be there. Yuurei moved through the area until he noticed that there was a path leading inside of a forest. He rubbed the back of his head as he figured this would be bad. Still, he did see that there was a warning sign saying Ordeal of String. Enter at your own risk. He blinked a few times as he figured this would be the case, but he honestly would do anything he could do to get any of the legendary swords that were all over this world.

Yuurei nodded as he found out where they needed to go, but now he would have to go get the giant. The thief ran back to the beach and when he seen Gideon, he could only wave at the big man. ”I found the entrance to the Ordeal of Strings. Let’s go so we can start moving through and find a sword that should be at the end of this!” he shouted out loud towards Gideon, so he could hear him, and start making his way towards Yuurei. When the big man got close enough, Yuurei started leading them around the area until they had gotten to the entrance of the Ordeal of Strings. He sighed and just hoped that nothing went totally wrong. ”Well let’s hope for the best,” he said as he started moving into the road that led into the forest. What mystery waited for the duo now?

Gideon nodded as Yuurei made his way off, stating he was going to take a look ahead. The smaller man trek his way through shrubs and clusters of trees that the giant couldn't get through. After he vanished beneath the green, Gideon took a moment to look around and enjoy the scenery. He felt the soil with his fingers after taking a moment to crouch down. Then he leaned in to smell a patch of flowers; this was it, this was what has been missing, a piece of the world he came from, the world he missed.

After some time, Yuurei had returned while Gideon was inspecting his meat tenderizer that he pulled out from his bag. "Good, let's make our way" he followed behind Yuurei after putting away his meat-tenderizer, brushing away branches of clustered trees and careful not to step on his companion.

"So you say you're looking for a sword?" Gideon brought up what Yuurei had let slip just a moment ago, "Should have figured someone from Swordsman Island would be on a hunt for a weapon" Soon enough they had stumbled up on a path, fortunate for Gideon since he had more walking room.

The path had made a few turns, sloped down and up for a number of minutes. Gideon suddenly slapped his cheek when he had felt something brush his face, "Damn spiderwebs" One thing he didn't miss from the earth below were dangling spiderwebs; you couldn't see them as you pass through them, so lightly brush you and something if they were high enough, they would enter your mouth. For Gideon, this was rarely a situation, unless he was traversing through an area with high trees or a mountainous terrain with spiders large enough to produce thick enough strings to annoy a giant.

"Let me know if you see any over-sized spiders" Gideon told Yuurei as they continued their walk. Little did Gideon know, those were not spiderwebs that he ran into... but strings he had never came across, and they were piling upon him.

The young pirate was moving through the forest with the big freak. While he was walking he could feel things slowly gathering on him. He only felt this because he was slowly slowing down in his walking pace because of it. He took out his blades and started cutting whatever was in front of him. He wasn’t able to see it, so it looked like he was a mad man just swinging away his blades. Still, whatever he was doing was working as he didn’t feel as constricted as he was a few seconds ago. The thief heard Gideon speak to him, as he asked a question, but it wasn’t just that, the man was also going through what he called spider webs. Yuurei didn’t think it was that, or probably it was, but he couldn’t see them, so he wasn’t too sure. He never heard of spider webs that were invisible to the naked eye, but he understood they were on an island where things might be different.

He was looking around the area though, and it was because of what the giant had told him. He didn’t want any huge spiders attacking them, and if there were webs, or strings around that were getting in the way of the giant, then they must be huge monsters around here. The thief had swallowed his saliva as he was a bit nervous about that. He didn’t like any big insects coming at them, and they would sure freak him out. Of course he would just try and kill them before they could touch him. He chuckled nervously thinking about the whole ordeal. While he was walking through this forest with Gideon he figured it was time to have some conversation. He kept himself aware, and when he felt like he was becoming constricted again he would cut the strings that he couldn’t see.

”One of the guys had been talking about a sword being somewhere in the Upper-Yard. When I heard about that I figured it had to be a strong sword, or one of the swords that I’m looking for. I couldn’t just sit there when I heard about this, so I rushed over to the Milky Road,” he said proudly. He was glad to be a man who collected the blades of this world. He wondered why the giant was heading here actually. Yuurei didn’t ask him, but when he was running back to Gideon he could see the man smelling flowers like he was missing something. ”So what brings you to the Upper-Yard Gideon?” he asked. He wasn’t sure if he made his way over here because he asked, or if there was another reason for it. There travel through the Ordeal of Strings seemed smooth from how it was going, but that wasn’t the case.

The strings that had been caught between the two, had been destroyed, and tugged on. They were tugged so hard that they had alerted a few creatures that had lived in the forest. They were aware that there were food lurking through the forest. As for where they were, these creatures were fully aware of where that was. The creatures started rushing their way towards the duo as they would continue to traverse through the strings, tugging on, and destroying them.

Gideon slapped his face again after feeling something else brush it again. Looking down at Yuurei who was slashing his swords around him, wondering if this was normal for the people from Swordsman Island, but decided not to ask, figuring it was disrespectful to.

Hearing Yuurei's story, the giant confirmed his initial guess, the swordsman was indeed hunting a sword, he couldn't help but smile, "Well, I heard of a fruit that was found within the Upper-Yard, that it was too bitter to be considered food, so I figured I'd take it as a challenge to find it and serve it as a good meal" compared to Yuurei's reason for entering the forest, Gideon felt his own reason was laughable.

"What the hell!?” Gideon came to a stop as he was waving webs that seemed to be in his face, then as his hand got caught in a tangle of it, he took a closer look and could barely see the web, but as he felt around and tugged hard, he realized by the feel that it wasn't web, but some kind of string... a large amount. The giant soon realized he had been walking about, pulling and entangling himself in such a large amount, that just simply pulling himself free wasn't enough, "What is this string!?” he grunted as he tugged as he could, which caused several branches from nearby trees to bend.

"Oh crap, I guess I was half right" Gideon said as he pointed with a free finger towards a high branch nearby; three spiders were making their way towards him, crawling along the invisible string, looking as if they were moving in midair. As a response, Gideon reached for his fanny pack... or at least tried to, the heap amount of strings kept him from moving his upper body. He realized that Yuurei had been slicing through string of the lower region, prevent his legs from getting into a similar situation, "More trouble" Gideon grunted as he looked around him. Other insects began gathering such as centipedes, millipedes, dragonflies, mosquitoes, and other carnivorous six-leggers. To Gideon, these bugs were just mere annoyances individually, but within a large group and while he is immobile, they can do real damage to him over time, to Yuurei however, they were too over-sized to be considered pests. Trouble was brewing and the pot was just getting hotter.