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RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
Veiled by clouds, the Red Line—a continent so immense it seemed borderless—loomed majestically over the sea.
Before Rowen and the crew lay the specific section containing the entrance to the Grand Line.
Most astonishingly, cutting through this seemingly endless landmass was a narrow, uphill channel.
Currents from all four Blues converged here, funneling into this channel and surging upwards towards the mountain's summit—hence the name, Reverse Mountain.
Ships from the four Blues wishing to enter the Grand Line simply needed to ride these currents up the channel!
"SUGEEE! The current is really climbing the mountain!" Usopp yelled, utterly amazed.
"Truly magnificent," Rowen laughed, listening to the roar of the current and watching the colossal stream surge uphill.
Such a majestic spectacle could only exist in the unique seas of the One Piece world.
Before the awesome power of nature, human strength seemed insignificant.
Of course, in the One Piece world, the truly strong could conquer this sea, conquer nature itself!
Rowen gazed at the massive, reverse-flowing current, the crimson-black light in his eyes intensifying.
"But... if you miss the entrance, can't you just turn the ship around, recalibrate, and try again? Why did you say more than half the ships are destroyed before even entering the Grand Line, Rowen?" Zoro asked, voicing a logical question.
"Because Reverse Mountain... is a Winter Island," Rowen replied, smiling towards Nami.
"Ah! I see!" Nami instantly understood upon hearing Rowen's explanation, gasping slightly.
"What does that mean?" Zoro and the others asked curiously.
"Because Reverse Mountain is a Winter Island within the Grand Line, the currents that crash against it plunge from the surface down into the depths. If you don't enter the canal precisely, the currents will smash your ship against the Red Line—shipwrecked and doomed," Nami explained, applying her navigational knowledge.
"Basically, it's an incredible mountain!" Luffy concluded with a smile, rubbing his chin, showcasing his usual terrible naming sense.
"Forget it. I don't expect you to understand," Nami sighed helplessly, then turned to Rowen with a smile. "But Rowen, you're amazing! You know so much about navigation too!" Nami's eyes sparkled.
Her dream was to draw a map of the entire world; navigation was her passion.
Being able to discuss these topics with Rowen filled her with happiness.
"Well, since your dream is to map the world, and you're so skilled at navigation, Nami, it's only natural I'd learn a little too," Rowen replied, seeing the sparkle in Nami's eyes, his lips curling slightly.
He silently initiated the equipping process for Nami's Navigation Trait in his mind.
Hmm, didn't expect this Trait would have such... conversational benefits! Must talk more with Nami about navigation later.
Rowen saw the affection in Nami's eyes and gently patted her head.
Given their current bond, the Trait equipping process completed almost instantly.
Nami felt incredibly touched, her eyes shining brightly.
"So... there's no turning back?" Zoro asked, looking towards Reverse Mountain, a feral grin spreading across his face.
"Of course! To conquer the Grand Line, there's never any turning back! Only... forging straight ahead!" Rowen declared, standing tall on the deck, gazing at the rapidly approaching entrance to the Grand Line, laughing powerfully.
"Take the helm! The current's pulling us in!" Nami yelled, immediately taking command as they neared the upward-surging canal.
The powerful currents converging from the four seas made steering too difficult for Usopp alone. Sanji rushed over to help him manage the helm.
"Hah!" Rowen planted himself firmly at the bow, his arms erupting into dense smoke.
"White Out——!" Rowen unleashed the full power of his Smoke-Smoke Fruit.
Vast plumes of smoke wrapped around the Going Merry, then—pulled forcefully!
Having now equipped Nami's Navigation Trait, Rowen could clearly sense the ship's trajectory through the smoke. Combined with his Logia powers, he guided the Going Merry smoothly into the skyward-bound channel.
WHOOSH!
The Going Merry caught the powerful updraft, surging towards the mountain's summit!
"YAHOOO! We're in!" Luffy yelled, standing on deck with arms outstretched.
"GRAND LINE! YAHOO!" Sanji and Usopp threw their arms around each other's shoulders, laughing excitedly.
"Amazing ability, Rowen! We thought the rudder was going to break! Your smoke really helped!" Sanji and Usopp exclaimed, doing a nonsensical celebratory dance while looking gratefully at Rowen.
——
—[Kingly Disposition increased! Born of the Sea activated. Conqueror's Haki intensity increased!]—
——
Seeing the notification and hearing Usopp and Sanji's praise, Rowen smiled.
Just as expected! Conquering majestic nature also increases Disposition—mental strength—which in turn strengthens Haki!
And the magnitude of the increase seemed related to one's role as a leader or driving force during the act of conquering.
Take the Roger Pirates, who conquered the entire Grand Line. Roger, Rayleigh, and Gaban were undoubtedly the crew's main combatants. They likely gained the most mental strength during their journey, with Roger gaining the most of all, making him the man with the strongest Haki of his era.
Meanwhile, apprentices like Buggy and Shanks probably gained negligible amounts from the journey itself.
Haki is essentially the physical manifestation of willpower. The stronger the spirit, the stronger the Haki!
"Hahaha!" Rowen spread his arms wide, reveling in the sea energy surging from the upward current, laughing freely and joyously.
With the Born of the Sea Trait, all this sea energy nourished his spirit, making his Haki even stronger!
"Keep going straight up!" Nami excitedly jumped onto Rowen's back, pointing towards the summit of Reverse Mountain, her smile radiant.
"Amazing! We're above the clouds!" Luffy laughed heartily.
"Rowen, look! We're reaching the summit!" Nami cheered, hugging Rowen tightly.
"Yeah!" Rowen replied, holding Nami securely, a grin on his face.
WHOOSH! The Going Merry shot out from the top of the upward current, soaring briefly through the air.
"YAHOOO!" Luffy yelled, clutching his straw hat.
SPLASH! The next moment, gravity took hold, and the Merry plunged back down, landing in the descending current—the convergence point where the waters from the four Blues flowed into their final destination: the Grand Line!
"Just gotta ride this down, and we're in the Grand Line!" Rowen laughed, looking at the sea faintly visible below the clouds.
"Mihawk is out there!" Zoro declared, gripping Wado Ichimonji, his eyes gleaming with determination.
"The All Blue is out there!" Sanji added, a hopeful smile on his face.
"Proof of a brave warrior of the sea!" Usopp rubbed his nose confidently.
"Gotta draw the perfect map..." Nami murmured, leaning against Rowen's back, feeling the rush of air, her eyes sparkling.
"This is it! The world's greatest sea—The Grand Line!"
"ONE PIECE—is out there somewhere on that sea!" Luffy beamed, flashing his widest grin, clutching his hat.
"One Piece, huh?" A smile touched Rowen's lips as well.
On his path to becoming a King, Rowen intended to see for himself what this legendary treasure truly was.
"LET'S GOOO!" Luffy yelled excitedly.
WHOOSH! The next moment, the Going Merry plunged into the clouds below.
"Wheee!" Nami squealed happily, enjoying the feeling of rushing through the clouds, hugging Rowen tightly.
"Moooooooooooo..." Just then, a low, mournful cry echoed faintly through the clouds.
"Did you guys hear something just now?" Zoro asked, frowning slightly.
"Sound? Probably just the wind! This terrain is pretty weird, after all!" Nami replied cheerfully, still caught up in the excitement.
"No... that wasn't the wind," Rowen stated calmly, his lips curling slightly.
"Eh?!" Nami, trusting Rowen implicitly, instantly tensed up. "R-Rowen! Don't scare me!" she pleaded, clinging tighter to his neck, her face paling slightly.
"Hey! Look! There's a mountain!" Sanji, perched on the main mast keeping watch, yelled down, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Mountain? How can there be a mountain? From here, past Twin Capes, it should be open ocean as far as the eye can see!" Nami exclaimed in disbelief.
"That's no mountain. It's a whale," Rowen corrected. His Observation Haki, spreading out, had already detected the presence of the massive Island Whale ahead—Laboon.
'Truly enormous... literally the size of an island. Easily as big as some giant Sea Kings.' Rowen felt a sense of awe.
"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
The next moment, the Merry broke through the clouds, and Laboon's colossal form appeared directly before them.
"W-What do we do?! It's a whale as big as an island!" Usopp screamed, tears welling up in his eyes.
This wasn't one of his tall tales; this was real!
"Well? Wanna fight it?" Rowen asked, rolling up his sleeves.
"No! Rowen! Don't fight it!" Nami cried, almost sobbing.
Rowen looked at Nami's terrified expression, felt her clinging even tighter, and smirked inwardly.
Teasing Nami is quite fun.
"But it's blocking our path! If we keep going like this, we'll crash!" Zoro stated, gripping Wado Ichimonji—'Guess we have no choice!'
"Wait! It's like hitting a wall! We need to find its eyes first!" Sanji yelled, putting his strategic mind to use.
"Right! It's so huge, and we're so small! Maybe it hasn't even noticed us!" Usopp added hopefully.
"Looks like we can squeeze past on the left!" Zoro pointed towards Laboon's left side.
"HARD TO PORT!"
"It's no good! The current's too strong! Rowen, can you help out with your smoke power again?" Usopp and Sanji yelled, struggling with the helm.
"No need for that trouble! I've got a great idea!" Seeing his comrades struggling, a metaphorical lightbulb lit up above Luffy's head. He dashed into the cabin.
"Great idea?" Everyone except Rowen looked puzzled.
Luffy? Having a good idea?
Rowen simply smiled knowingly.
He had initially planned to use his smoke power to guide them, but with Nami clinging to him so tightly... well, compared to enjoying Nami's soft, trembling form pressed against him, letting Luffy handle this seemed like a fine alternative.
BOOM!
The next moment, the sound of a cannon blast echoed.
A cannonball exploded directly against Laboon's massive hide.
The force of the explosion acted as a retro-rocket, slowly bringing the Going Merry to a halt.
"A cannon?!" Seeing Luffy's "great idea," Usopp burst into tears of terror, while Zoro and Sanji face-palmed simultaneously.
Nami buried her face in Rowen's back, pretending to be unconscious, seeking security there.
Thwack!
"See? We stopped!" Luffy emerged triumphantly from the cabin, only to see the Merry's sheep figurehead broken off from the impact.
"MY SPECIAL SEAT!" Luffy's eyes instantly turned bloodshot with rage.
"It didn't react to the cannon!"
"Is it just really slow to react?"
"Who cares?! Let's get out of here while we can!" Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji, seeing the whale remained motionless, felt a surge of relief and prepared to row away quickly.
"YOU BASTARD! What did you do to my special seat!"
WHAM! Just as they thought they were safe, Luffy's rubber fist stretched out and slammed directly into the whale's massive eye.
"!!!" Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji felt tears stream down their faces in sheer despair.
"Waaah!" Nami simply gave up and buried her face deeper into Rowen's back.
MOOOOOOOOO!!!
Startled by the attack, Laboon's enormous eye focused directly on the Going Merry.
"Bring it on!" Luffy, still furious, roared defiantly, rolling up his sleeves.
THUMP!
"WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY!" Zoro and Usopp simultaneously kicked Luffy, sending him flying.
"Hahaha! It's okay, it's okay! Leave it to me," Rowen laughed heartily, comforting Nami while finding Luffy's antics endlessly amusing.
Luffy truly is one of a kind.
MOOOOOOOOO!
WHOOOOSH! Laboon opened its colossal mouth and inhaled sharply.
RUMBLE!
A terrifying suction force pulled the Going Merry, along with vast amounts of seawater, towards the whale's cavernous maw.
"AHHH!" Luffy, knocked off balance by Zoro and Usopp's kick, went tumbling towards the giant mouth.
"I can't die here! Gomu Gomu no——!" Luffy stretched his rubber arm, grabbing onto one of Laboon's massive teeth, then scrambled up the whale's enormous body.
"Kyaa!" Nami screamed, but was instantly enveloped and secured by a tendril of smoke.
"White Launcher——!" Rowen's lower body dissolved into smoke, using the propulsion to carry Nami out of Laboon's closing mouth and up onto the whale's head.
"I thought... I was going to die..." Nami collapsed weakly into Rowen's arms.
CHOMP! Laboon's massive jaws snapped shut.
"Rowen! Nami! You're okay!" Luffy exclaimed with relief upon seeing them, but then immediately clutched his head in panic again.
"ZORO! USOPP! SANJI! Bastard—Spit out my comrades!" Luffy roared furiously at Laboon, eyes bloodshot.
"Calm down, Luffy. There's more to this whale's interior than meets the eye," Rowen said, holding the still-trembling Nami, his gaze fixed on a strange hatch set into Laboon's head.
"Let's go. They're alright." Rowen opened the hatch, revealing a man-made passageway inside.
"Eh? There's a passageway... inside the whale?!" Nami stared, dumbfounded.
"SUGEEE! Did you sense it with Observation Haki, Rowen?" Realizing his friends were safe, Luffy instantly relaxed and excitedly jumped into the passageway.
"Let's go. They'll be at the end of this passage," Rowen stated, a smirk playing on his lips.
His Observation Haki had already detected presences down there.
Including the person Rowen was looking for.
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"Alright! Infiltration successful! Listen up, Miss Wednesday! The stomach is just beyond that door! That annoying old man is probably in there! We have to take him out! Everything... for the whale!" a man dressed strangely like royalty declared.
"Understood, Mr. 9. After all, this whale is a very important food source for our town," replied a beautiful woman with striking light blue hair and a curvaceous figure, wielding a bazooka-like weapon.
—Princess Vivi of Alabasta.
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! Just then, the passageway began to shake violently, like an earthquake.
"Whoa! Can't stop! Rowen! Help me!" Luffy, thrown off balance by Laboon colliding with the Red Line, couldn't stop running uncontrollably down the passage.
"Luffy! Ram that door! Zoro and the others are right behind it!" Rowen, flying smoothly with Nami using his smoke powers, pointed towards the door at the end of the passage—and the two figures standing before it—his lips curling into a knowing smile.
Found her. Vivi.
"Zoro and the others? Watch this!" Hearing his comrades were nearby, Luffy abandoned all caution and charged headfirst towards the door.
"Yah! What the—?!" Vivi and Mr. 9 yelled in alarm.
"White Out——!"
WHOOSH! A tendril of smoke shot out, instantly capturing Vivi.
Luffy and Mr. 9 crashed violently through the door leading into Laboon's stomach.
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