We gathered in the ship’s dining room to escape the storm raging outside.
"The entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain."
Nami told us, pointing at the chart with her hand.
"A mountain?"
Usopp looked utterly shocked.
"That’s right! Reverse Mountain, on the Red Line."
"If you look at the map here, there’s a canal."
"A canal? Even if there is one, there’s no way a ship can climb a mountain!"
Usopp made an entirely rational and scientific point.
Sanji agreed with Nami’s opinion simply because it was Nami’s opinion,
while Zoro questioned whether a chart from the Buggy Pirates could be trusted.
"And do we really have to go through the ‘entrance’? If we head south, can’t we get in from anywhere?"
Zoro said to Nami.
"No, we can’t, idiot!! Going in through the entrance is way cooler!!"
That really was the mindset of a shonen manga protagonist.
After we briefly explained why Zoro’s idea was impossible—namely that we would have to pass through the Calm Belt, where colossal Sea Kings lived—the objections to taking Reverse Mountain’s canal disappeared.
And after much trouble, all we had to do was ride the canal down.
"Ooh!! I can see it—the Grand Line!!"
Luffy shouted while hanging from the bow of the Going Merry.
That beer-bottle bastard was way too fearless.
While I stared at Luffy in disbelief—
"Hey, what’s that? Didn’t you hear something?"
Zoro said.
"Yeah, I did. Wait."
I used Observation Haki to see through the fog ahead... and there was a black whale blocking the entrance, as huge as the colossal Sea Kings we had seen in the Calm Belt earlier.
"Stop!!! Huge whale ahead!!!"
I shouted at once.
I spread my wings and positioned myself in front of the ship to stop it.
But the ship was moving too fast, and the weight limit of my flight ability was still too low. Stopping it completely was impossible.
Was this how Spider-Man had felt when he stopped that subway train?
The whale was getting closer and closer.
We were still going too fast.
I instinctively kicked against the ship to push it back, and for a moment, it felt like I had stepped on something—or rather, like something had clicked beneath my foot.
The instant I felt like I understood something,
I heard a cannon fire, and the cannon directly beneath me launched a shot.
Thanks to that, the Going Merry was able to stop without taking any damage.
"All right! Did we stop the ship?"
Luffy asked in the brightest voice imaginable.
With the ship stopped, I climbed back aboard.
Everyone was scared stiff by the sight of the giant whale.
The shock from seeing those colossal Sea Kings in the Calm Belt must have still been fresh.
"R-Run away!!"
For even Zoro to suggest running away,
we must have been desperate. We steered the ship through the gap beside the whale.
Nami was terrified by the whale’s enormous eye, and everyone rowed as hard as they could.
Of course, I rowed with every ounce of strength I had too.
Which was why I couldn’t stop him. Luffy...
"You... you almost wrecked our ship!!!"
Luffy punched that gigantic eyeball.
"That idiot!!!"
Nami was practically collapsing...
We all shouted in unison.
"It looked this way!! Bring it on, you bastard!!"
The giant eye shifted and turned toward us.
"Will you just stay still for once?!"
Usopp and Zoro kicked Luffy down and subdued him.
But it was already too late. The huge whale opened its mouth and swallowed us.
I was taking care of Nami, who had fallen over and could barely hold herself up,
so although the raging current flung Luffy off the ship, I saw that he had not fallen into the sea and didn’t bother going after him.
"What do you think?"
Sanji said.
"What do I think...? Is this a dream?"
Zoro answered Sanji, though he did not sound very confident himself.
After all, we had clearly been swallowed by a whale,
but instead of the inside of a whale’s stomach, the sight before us was
a small island on a tranquil shore, with a tiny but charming house and palm trees built on it.
"What are that island and that house?"
"...An illusion, probably."
Just then, a giant squid appeared in front of our ship.
"A giant squid!!!"
Nami and Usopp, having regained their senses, screamed in fright.
I formed my wings to deal with the squid, but suddenly,
I saw three harpoons protruding through its back.
The squid was dead, floating on the water’s surface.
"Looks like there’s someone here."
"I hope it’s a person."
"For now, I can only sense one presence."
I tensed up and activated Observation Haki.
The harpoons had flown in without me being able to react at all.
Even if the giant squid had concealed him from view, he was an incredible fighter.
Then the presence I had sensed from the house emerged.
"It’s a flower!"
"A flower?"
"No, it’s a person."
Sanji said, then Zoro, and then Sanji again.
Despite his old-man face, he had a remarkably sturdy body.
There were some impressive-looking scars on his arms too.
The old man just stared at us without saying a word, then began handling the giant squid he had killed with the harpoons.
The others might not have known it, but I could feel that he was a powerful opponent—strong enough to put even me on edge.
"Hey!! Say something!!"
"Hey, Sanji, that’s way too rude for a first meeting!!"
I immediately stopped Sanji.
"........."
But the old man still said nothing.
"I-If you want to fight, then come on, old man! We’ve got cannons over here!!"
"Stop it... You’ll die that way."
The old man finally spoke in response to Usopp.
"Heh, who’s going to die?"
Sanji replied with an expression that said, Go ahead and try me.
Guys, please...
"Me."
"Are you kidding me?!"
The old man said it as casually as anything, while Sanji was the only one freaking out.
"Now, calm down. Old man, tell us something. Who are you, and where is this?"
Zoro said, restraining Sanji as he addressed the old man.
"Isn’t it polite to introduce yourself before asking someone else questions?"
"Ah... You’re right. Sorry, my na—"
"My name is Crocus, the lighthouse keeper of Twin Capes. I’m seventy-one years old. A Gemini with type AB blood."
"Should I just cut that bastard down?"
"You want to know where you are? You barged so shamelessly into my ‘one-man resort,’ and you’ve got a lot of nerve talking big. Does this look like the inside of a mouse to you?"
"What’s going to happen to us?!"
"I’m fine, because I’m with Jin..."
Nami and Alvida had completely opposite reactions. Yeah, Alvida sure was positive...
"The exit is over there."
"We can get out?!"
In the middle of this One Piece-style comedy routine, the sea began to rage.
No, not the sea—the whale’s stomach acid...
The old man jumped into the sea of stomach acid.
Then three figures burst out of the small door set into the enormous exit door Crocus had pointed out, and plunged into the sea of stomach acid.
"This is bad, Miss Wednesday! Below us is a sea of stomach acid!!"
"Aaaah!!"
Huh???
"Hey, Luffy!! What are you doing there?"
I recognized Luffy and called out to him.
"Hey, everyone! You’re all okay!! Help us out first!!"
We pulled the three of them out, and shortly afterward, the sea of stomach acid calmed down.
‘Mr. 9, those guys are pirates.’
‘Ah, I know, Miss Wednesday. But if we explain our situation, they’ll understand.’
I could hear the two of them whispering quietly.
‘Ah... So that blue-haired girl is Vivi...’
"As long as I draw breath, you won’t lay a single finger on Laboon!!"
Crocus shouted as he emerged from the small door that Luffy and those two had come through.
"But we’re already inside the whale! Making a little air hole in this stomach is—"
Before those two could fire their huge bazooka-like guns, I crushed the weapons with my hands.
"Hmm? What did you say??"
I asked the two of them.
"...We’re sorry."
They immediately prostrated themselves and apologized. Were we still in the One Piece comedy section?
We subdued the pair—when they resisted, Luffy knocked them unconscious—and after hearing Laboon’s story from Crocus, we were making our way out of Laboon’s body through the waterway.
"Still, this is an incredible waterway."
Zoro said.
"A doctor’s little amusement. I may have only been a doctor for a few years, but I do have some experience as a shipwright."
Wait, if you were a doctor here, did that mean you could do stuff like this too?? Wasn’t this practically the domain of an engineering student??
"A shipwright? Then join our crew as our shipwright!"
"Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t have the energy for people like you anymore."
At last, we came out of the whale. We tossed the unconscious Vivi and the guy wearing the weird crown into the sea.
Then, while we were talking about Laboon again,
Luffy broke our ship’s mast and stuck it into the whale’s head.
"Gum-Gum Flower Arrangement!!"
"Isn’t that a mast?"
Zoro asked, sitting down.
"Our ship’s..."
Sanji said, cigarette dangling from his mouth...
"Yeah. The main mast."
Usopp said with his arms crossed...
"Ah, so now our ship is going to have an accident record on its insurance."
Sorry, Merry. I couldn’t protect you...
A beat later, the whale began thrashing wildly.
Then Luffy and the whale traded blows for a while.
"It’s a draw!! I’m strong!!"
The whale reacted to Luffy’s words.
"You and I haven’t settled our match yet, so we have to fight again!"
"Your crewmates may be dead, but you’ve got me, your rival."
"When we make it all the way around the Grand Line..."
"We’ll come back to see you, so let’s meet again and fight then!!"
The whale cried out, tears streaming from its eyes.
Once we had finished our business with the whale,
we had another round of One Piece-style comedy with Vivi and her partner Mr. 9,
then took the two of them aboard and headed for Whiskey Peak.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register