Chapter 28 - On to the Grand Line!
I'm back~
Before I forget. If any of you have followed meon Facebook, yes~ I have bad news. You must have noticed that identityverification was requested at some point? Now you know that "Kitsune Nee-chan"is my pseudonym, so there are no legal documents, which meant that I can nolonger use my account.
But don't despair. I've been on Tumblr fora while now (but I only post there in English). So if you would like to seesome of my fan fiction recommendations, drawings, reactions, etc. all you haveto do is follow this link: (see comment section)
Well, I don't want to torture you any more and I hope you enjoy the new chapter.
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"Hey, what's that smell?" Nami askedas her nose suddenly detected a smell. "A smell?" "Yeah, it kindof smells like...smoke and sweat." "You probably just smell thesobagaki," Zoro said and pointed with his thumb at the blonde who wasstanding next to him. "What was that, you bushido brown?!" hissed the Smutjeand stepped closer to the swordsman, "At least I know the importance ofpersonal hygiene. Do you even know what soap is?" "But you're theonly one of us who smokes here, curly cook." Before the argument betweenthe two could get out of hand, Nami stepped between them and put a hand on eachthere chest. "Now slow down, guys. We haven't even been back on sea for 10minutes and you're trying to smash each other's heads." "Now that yousay it," Usopp said, putting his hand thoughtfully on his chin, "Inotice that smell too." "What are you talking about? I don't smellanything." Following his nose, the black-haired man turned his head towards thestraw hat wearing woman. The others followed his gaze. "Why are you all lookingat me like that?" asked Luffy, tilting her head a little to the side. Withnarrowed eyes, Nami stepped closer to the younger one and sniffed, which sheimmediately regretted. "Good heavens. Luffy, you smell worse than Zoro'ssocks after he trains! You need a shower immediately!" "WHAT?! But we are soclose to the Grand Line! Can't I freshen up later?" "Absolutely not!I'd rather not risk you polluting our cabin with your stench. Or one of theclosed rooms." Luffy tried to convince Nami for a while, but the orange-hairedwoman couldn't be persuaded. She had one hand on her hip and was pointingtoward the bathroom with the other. "I don't want to hear any more rebuttals,young lady! March and finally go wash this smell off!" Defeated, Luffy hung herhead and disappeared into the bathroom a short time later.
"Really," said Nami and just shook her head, "how can you act like that?" "I'm more wondering why Luffy smells like smoke," Usopp spoke up, who had his arms crossed in front of him. "It could be because of that Marine Captain who was stationed in Lougetown and cut us off from the port," Sanji said. Just the thought of the gray-haired man darkened his mood. "Marine Captain?!" Nami's eyes had widened and she seemed to have become a little paler. "Not 'White Hunter' Smoker!" Usopp became nervous when he saw the navigator's reaction. "You-you've heard of him?" "Just rumors. It is said that he alone is responsible for the fact that hardly any pirates from the East Blue have made it to the Grand Line in recent years. He's said to be worse than any bloodhound." "Eeeeeeh, w-w-what?! T-there is someone like that?! B-but if you r-r-ran into that c-c-captain, h-h-how did you e-escape him?" "We didn't." "HUH?!" "How about we discuss this inside?" reported Zoro spoke up and pointed behind him with his thumb, "I don't know about you, but I don't feel like standing here in the storm all the time." "You, you're right." "I'll prepare something warm to drink for us." "And I want to know what exactly happened! How did Smoker find out we were in town? And more importantly, what happened at the scaffold?"
"WHAT?!" Usopp and Nami screamed in horror whenthe other two told them what happened. "Wait a moment. Time out! You wantto tell us that if it wasn't for that Lightning X-Makina..." theblack-haired man began, before the only woman in the room at the momentfinished his sentence, "...Luffy would be...then she would be now...""Yes," said Sanji before taking another drag from his cigarette. Hestill had the image in his mind and was sure that it would haunt him for quitesome time. Zoro stood leaning against the wall with his arms folded, his gazedirected to the floor as he said, "I don't know what was worse. The factthat we couldn't have prevented it or that she even apologized with asmile." No one saw him ball his hand into a fist. "What normal personsmiles when they are about to die?!" "Luffy is not a 'normal' person.We've seen this more than once," said the orange-haired woman, looking deepin thought into her cup. An oppressive silence had fallen over the galley aseveryone present was lost in their own thoughts. However, there was one thoughtthey all shared. "We almost lostLuffy."
"Why," Nami broke the silence,"Why does she always have to throw herself into danger socarelessly?" "That's just how she is. With the head through the walland not thinking about possible consequences," said the green-haired man, hiseyes closed. Usopp also spoke up: "That may be true, but can't she just thinkabout how we're doing? I know she's strong, we all know that, but still...whenshe pulls a stunt like that, puts herself in danger so carelessly, then I can'thelp but want to protect her like...like..." "...like a little Sister?"the blonde finished the long-nosed man's sentence when their eyes met."Exactly. Like a little sister." "A little, naive sister," the brown-eyedwoman added, before Zoro added, "who is sometimes too stubborn for her owngood." The four exchanged glances in silence. Now that they had said it outloud, they had to admit to themselves that it was true. In a way, their captainwas like a sister to each of them. Be it one they never had or with themselvesin the role of the older, responsible sibling.
However, before either of them could bring up the topic again, the door to the galley opened and Luffy came in dripping. She shook herself a little before saying: "This is terrible weather. I could have just stayed on the deck and taken a shower there." "NO WAY!" came the voices of her crew. The black-haired woman looked at the four in surprise before a grin spread across her face and she said with a laugh: "Shishishishi, that was just a joke. Even I know you don't do something like that." The four of them looked at her with expressionless expressions. "I would not be so sure about that."
Two days had passed since they sailed away fromLogutown and the storm that had allowed them to escape that day was stillraging. Luffy was hanging upside down on Merry's figurehead, holding her hat inone hand as she said to Nami, who was standing at the railing wearing a rainjacket and holding a map, "Hey, Nami, how long will it take until we reachthe Gran Line?" "You still have to be patient. It takes a few daysuntil we reach the gate to the Grand Line. And the storm doesn't makenavigating any easier." She turned her gaze to the younger one beforecontinuing, "Also, could you get down from there? You're making me verynervous with your fidgeting and I'm not sure if one of the boys would be ableto get you back on board in this swell if you fell into the water." Theblack-haired woman turned the right way around again with momentum and turnedher head to Nami. "No way! I won't give you my place!" "Who saidanything about me wanting it?!" the orange-haired woman snapped at her,before her eyes wandered back to the map, lost in thought. "But there issomething that bothers me." The straw hat wearer looked questioningly at hernavigator. But she had already turned away and was making her way to thegalley. "I explain it inside and with the boys present. That's something wehave to discuss immediately." Luffy didn't hesitate for a second andfollowed the older one, who was already gathering the boys, especially Zoro, whohad decided to take a nap on the deck during the storm.
Nami had pulled the hood off her head and placedthe map in the middle of the table. "According to the map, the entrance tothe Grand Line is on the top of a mountain." "A mountain?!"Usopp shouted in surprise, while the others also stared at Nami with wide eyes.The four of them looked at the map attentively when Namiauf pointed it out andexplained: "You heard that right. When I first looked at the map I couldn'tbelieve it, but look for yourself. The lighthouse light was definitely pointingtowards Reverse Mountain, on the Red Line." "We have to hit a mountain?"asked Luffy surprised. "That soundsmore like a way to end an adventure fairly quickly." "No, there'sa canal there." The brown-eyed woman points with a finger to a small linethat seemed to lead to the top of the mountain. Luffy tilted her head slightlyas she noticed four more lines that seemed to meet there. One seemed to comefrom the West Blue. As well as from the South and North Blue. And a line thatled directly into a designated area that was labeled ''Grand Line.'' "A canal? Don'tbe silly. No matter whether it's a canal or not, a ship can't sail up amountain!" said Usopp, who just shook his head. Who has ever heard of aship that can sail upwards? "Well, that's what the map says.""Listen guys," said Sanji, looking at Usopp, Zoro and Luffy, "Namiis always right when it comes to maps and navigation." "But you have stolenthe map from Buggy. Can we even trust it then?" Zoro interjected with hisconcerns. Luffy, on the other hand, just grinned at the thought. "We climb amountain with a ship? That sounds great! This must be a mysterious mountain!""Why do we have to sail through some entrance anyway?" the green-haired manasked no one in particular and rubbed his forehead. That was too complicatedfor him. "Can't we just sail south and from there onto the GrandLine?" "NO WAY!" said Luffy, slamming her hands on the table asshe stood up. "She is right. There's a good reason for it." For abrief moment, Nami hoped that Luffy had some sort of common sense afterall...but her hopes were dashed by the black-haired woman's next words."It wouldn't feel right if we didn't pass through the entrance!""That is not the reason!" Nami shouted in frustration before punchingLuffy.
Meanwhile, Usopp noticed that the strong rockinghad stopped and he could no longer hear the rain falling. He was surprised andgot up and went to one of the windows. He couldn't believe what he saw. "Hey!How strange. The storm stopped all of a sudden." Surprised, Sanji himselflooked out only to see the same thing as the long-nose. "Yeah, it'ssuddenly completely quiet." "What?" said Nami, stunned,"That's impossible. We were supposed to reach the entrance through thestorm." The navigator didn't know what was going on, but it couldn't meananything good.
The five had left the galley and made their wayto the deck. The sky was bright blue. Only a few isolated white clouds could beseen and the sea was as calm as a lake in the middle of a forest. The blondechef stretched with pleasure as he said with a sigh: "Ah. The weather iswonderful!" "What's going on here?" asked the black-haired man nervously as helooked around. He wasn't comfortable with the matter. Luffy, on the other hand,just laughed. The gray eyes of her firstmate, on the other hand, looked thoughtfully at the clouds. Was he imagining itor... Nami, who still had the feeling that something was wrong, didn't missthis. "What's wrong, Zoro? You've been looking so serious for a whilenow." "Nah, it's just kind of strange." "What?""It seems," the swordsman began, turning his gaze to Nami, "asif the ship hadn't been moving for a while." The orange-haired woman paled whenshe heard this and slowly turned her gaze to the limp sails. With horror sheslowly realized what that meant. The reason why the storm suddenly stopped. Abloodcurdling scream escaped her throat, causing the others to look at her."What's wrong, Nami?" Luffy asked. It couldn't be a good sign thather navigator appeared so panicked. But the straw hat wearer didn't seem to haveheard her at all. Cold sweat ran down the older woman's body as she looked atthe sea with her eyes wide in terror. "Nami?" "Oh no. We're inthe...Calm Belt!"
"Calm Belt?" "What is that?"asked Usopp and Luffy, tilting their heads to the side in question. "Hey,look!" Zoro called out and pointed with his finger in the direction fromwhich they had come, "The storm is still raging over there, but here isn'teven the mildest breeze to be felt." The eyes of the two black-haired teensand the blonde's widened as they saw the raging storm they came from. It wasalmost as if an invisible barrier was keeping the storm away from them."The Calm Belt: An area of absolutely calm water!" Nami said andcouldn't understand how the others could remain so calm. "Absolutely calmwater?" Suddenly the Going Merry began to rock. "Huh, an earthquake?" theblack-haired woman wondered, while she was careful not to lose her footing.Sanji just shook his head next to her before saying, "There are noearthquakes on the sea." "Don't stand there, you idiots! Lower thesails, grab a paddle and start rowing! We have to go back into the stormimmediately!" Nami snapped at the others. "Of course, Nami-swan~. Your wish ismy command~." The green-haired man had his arms crossed as he looked at thenavigator with a raised eyebrow. "What are you so upset about? Why should werow? This is a sailing ship, after all." "He's right," Usoppspoke up, "Why would we want to go back into the storm?" "JUSTDO WHAT I TELL YOU! We're in really serious trouble here." "But yousaid yourself that the sea is very calm here," said Luffy, scratching hishead. Wasn't it usually good to be in calm waters? Especially when you had achoice? "Grrr. Well then, I'll explain it to you. Listen! The ship went muchfurther south than we had planned." "So..." Luffy began, a smileslowly spreading across her face, "are we already on the Grand Line?""That wasn't just as I had hoped,but what happened is done. It's not worth drooling over spilled milk. ...Orsomething like that." Usopp started cheering when he heard that. However,this quickly fell silent again when Nami said hissing: "IF IT WAS THATEASY, EVERYONE WOULD DO IT!" The orange-haired woman took a deep breath tocalm herself before continuing. "The Grand Line lies between two other bodiesof water. This area that separates the respective Blues from the Grand Line iscalled Calm Belt. Nobody knows why, but there are no winds or ocean currents inthese areas. To put it simply: it is a permanent quiet zone. For ships relyingon the wind, this is an extremely dangerous area to navigate. Do you understandthat, Luffy?" The black-haired woman nodded. "Yes, that it is a very bad areato be with the Merry." "Yes, exactly. I'm glad you understood that.""So that's what the old man meant when he said it would bedangerous?" Sanji asked, looking at Nami. "So that's why there's nowind," Zoro said when he heard her explanation. "Well, if the shipdoesn't move, there's not much we can do about it," the brown-eyed manspoke up. Luffy looked at her gunner with a grin. "Then we'll just waituntil the wind comes back." "You're not listening to me!" thenavigator shouted, suppressing the urge to tear her hair, "Once you reachthis area there won't be any wind.No matter how long you wait! And that's not even the worst part." Theothers exchanged glances in silence as they saw how pale Nami was starting toget again. "There is another reason why this place is considered dangerous.This place is..." Before the orange-haired woman could finish her sentence, the Merrysuddenly began to rock violently. Zoro, Usopp, Sanji and Luffy instinctivelyclung to the railing while Nami more or less clung to the mast. They watchedwith widened eyes as the Going Merry rose into the air as if by itself. No, notby itself. With their mouths wide open, they stared at the gigantic, black andwhite creature whose nose they seemed to be on. And it wasn't the only monsterthat had risen from the water. Everywhere they looked they saw strangecreatures that they had never seen before. Some bigger than the others. "They're even bigger than the lord of thecoast off Dawn Island!" Nami, who was the first to find her voice, hadslipped down the mast. Tears streamed down her face as she said in a tremblingvoice, "The Calm Belt is the breeding ground of sea kings. From the greatest ofthe great. The reason you can't cross the Calm Belt is because of thesethings."
"What should we do now?" Sanji askedno one in particular. "It's best not to move for now," said Zoro, cold sweatrunning down his body. "They'll surely dive soon and then we'll row likecrazy." "Are you kidding me?!" the black-haired man shouted, hisknees shaking. He expected a lot of things when he joined the crew, but hecertainly didn't expect to end up as a little snack for a monster!"Idiot!" Nami hissed and covered the long-nosed boy's mouth. It wasalmost as if the younger man wanted the sea kings to notice them. Unfortunatelyfor everyone, that was the case. A relatively small, frog-like sea king seemedto have heard the gunner. With a leap the yellow monster jumped towards them."THE FROG IS COMING!" Luffy shouted when she saw this. And if thatwasn't bad enough, the Sea King they were on suddenly started turning its headand making strange noises. "That'sstrange. If I didn't know better, I would say that the Sea King..."Before the straw hat wearer could finish her thought, the Sea King suddenlysneezed. The five were shaken wildly when Usopp suddenly lost his footing.Screaming, the gunner was about to be devoured by the giant frog when Luffywrapped one arm around the railing and let go with her other hand before shestretched it out and saved the black-haired man from certain doom. For amoment, the Going Merry hit water again before being thrown back into the air.Like a stone that would be skipped across the water. "How cool! It feelslike we're flying!" Luffy shouted, laughing as they shot past the dozensof sea kings. "That's because we areflying!" shouted Usopp, who once again saw his entire life flash before hiseyes.
It wasn't long after the Merry made its finaljump that the Straw Hats were greeted by the storm. The five of them layexhausted on the deck. The brown-eyed man stared rigidly at the weather as hesaid: "Thank God we're only dealing with a Typhon." "Do you nowunderstand why we have to use the entrance?" Nami's voice sounded barelyintelligible. Her face was pressed against the wet deck, silently praying thatthis was the last dangerous situation they would have to endure before theGrand Line. "Yes," said Zoro, sitting with his back to the mast and resting hishead on his legs, "I got it."
Suddenly Nami sat up as a thought occurred to her. "That's it." "What's what?" "We really need to sail up the mountain." The gray-eyed man raised an eyebrow when he heard that. "Are you still saying that?" "The ocean currents! The strong currents of the four blues converge on this mountain. The water is likely to flow up there through the canal from all four sides and flow from the top into the Grand Line. The ship is already in the current. All we have to do is steer. Because Rivers Mountain is a winter island, the current that hits the Red Line is pulled toward the ocean floor. So if we don't make it into the canal, the Going Merry will burst at the Red Line and we'll be dragged down with her remains." "Ah, I see. Then this is...a mysterious mountain." "I could have guessed that you wouldn't understand," Nami sighed and shook her head. Why did she even bother to explain all this? "You're just amazing, Nami~," said Sanji, already back into his usual love frenzy. "I've never heard of ships climbing mountains like that," Zoro said with his arms crossed. "I think I've heard something about it before," Sanji spoke up, looking over his shoulder at the green-haired man. Luffy's eyes sparkled. "From a mysterious mountain?" "No, from the Grand Line. I've heard that half the wannabes die trying to reach the Grand Line. I knew it wouldn't be easy to get there."
Luffy saw something through the wall of cloudsthat slowly began to disappear in front of them. Her eyes widened when she sawit. A gigantic red rock wall whose top she could only imagine. That was it, theRed Line. "Hey, I can see the mysterious mountain!" "What?"Usopp shouted in surprise and froze at the sight that greeted him. "Man,that's huge!" "The entrance to the Grand Line," Nami breathed inawe. "So this is the Red Line." Luffy's eyes had started to sparkleagain. It wouldn't be long before she would take the first big step on thejourney towards her dream. "Y-y-you can't even see the tip behind the clouds!"shouted the long-nose, shivering. The Going Merry shuddered as it was suddenlycaught in the current. At the last moment, Luffy regained her footing beforeshouting, "WE'RE GETTING SUCKED IN!" GET THE HELM!" "Leave it to me!""Let's do it!" Usopp and Sanji ran to the galley, pushed open the door and bothgrabbed the control stick. Both on one side. "N-Nami, where is the entrance?!If we stay on this course, we'll crash into the cliffs!" No matter how hard shestrained her eyes, the black-haired woman couldn't see anything that evenremotely resembled a passage. The orange-haired woman, who had gone back to theupper deck and was staring intently at the storm, had narrowed her eyes whenshe suddenly spotted something. "Thegap in the cliff..." "Nami, what should we do?!" Usoppcalled from behind her. His eyes darted nervously back and forth between theapproaching cliff and the navigator. His grip on the control stick tighteneduntil his knuckles were almost white. "Stay on our course!" Nami shouted intothe wind, her eyes fixed on the gap. She couldn't risk losing sight of it. "Areyou sure?" "Just do it!" Luffy, meanwhile, had grabbed the railing next to theorange-haired woman and swung herself over it before asking: "Nami, is that theentrance to the canal?" "Possibly?" "I can't believe it," said Zoro, who wasalready standing on the upper deck, binoculars firmly in his hand as he lookedthrough them. It was unreal and yet the evidence was right in front of hiseyes. "The water really flows up the mountain." Stone arches had been embeddedin the gap between the cliffs through which the water shot up the canal. Itreally seemed almost like a gate.
"Make sure we get right between these gates! If we don't make it, that's it for us!" With every second they got closer to the passage. Luffy's eyes widened as she noticed. "We're drifting!" she called over her shoulder to Sanji and Usopp, "We need to go more to the right!" "Right? OK. Hard starboard!" Usopp and Sanji pushed with all their strength against the control stick, which only seemed to move millimeter by millimeter. The Going Merry began rocking wildly back and forth as the boys tried to steer against the current. But then it happened. The wood groaned under the strain before the club broke off. Wood splintered as the two lost their balance and fell. The other three's eyes widened. Panic rose in Nami as the Merry headed toward one of the stone gates, unhindered and unable to steer. "The steering is broken!!" Luffy didn't hesitate for a second. She tossed her straw hat to Zoro as she ran to the bow. "Gomu Gomu no Fusen!" At the last second, Luffy jumped between the stone gate and the Merry in a bloated state. She gritted her teeth as the railing hit her. She couldn't give in otherwise everything would be lost. "This has to work! This has to work! This has to work! This has to work!" It seemed like an eternity until the Merry moved slightly to the side and thus avoided her doom. However, the black-haired woman wasn't safe yet. She watched as the ship slowly began to move away as she approached the raging waters without stopping.
"LUFFY!" shouted Zoro, who had rushed to the stern, "Grab my hand!" The young Portgas didn't have to be told twice. As soon as she let the air out, she threw her arm towards the Merry. She was only a few centimeters from the surface of the water away when she felt Zoro's hand and pulled her arm together. Just before she could crash into her first mate, he pulled his arm up as if he was throwing something behind him and let go. With a small groan, the black-haired woman crashed onto the deck. Nami breathed a sigh of relief while Sanji and Usopp wrapped an arm around each other in the galley and began to celebrate. "WE DID IT!" A grin spread across Luffy's face as she stood up again and accepted her straw hat. Nothing could stop them now. It had stopped raining as they broke through the storm clouds and drove higher and higher. With each passing second the sky began to become clearer and clearer. Nami had taken off her rain jacket and was holding it in the wind as she shouted with a smile: "And now we are on the direct way to the top!" All five were standing at the bow and looking towards the horizon. This was the first step to their adventure, the first step to fulfilling their dreams. "We're through the clouds!" With a wide grin, Luffy took a seat on the figurehead and held on to its horns. The first rays of sun shone down on them as they neared the top. She could already see the water splashing where the four canals came together. It sparkled like thousands of small diamonds. "That's great!" "Look, there's the mountain top!" The Going Merry lifted off the water a little as it adjusted to the new current. "YAHOO!" The wind rushed past them as they began their descent. Zoro had tightened his grip on Wado as he stubbornly looked straight ahead. "Mihake is there." Sanji had made himself comfortable on the galley and put a new cigarette between his lips. "I'm getting closer to the All Blue." "To draw a map of the world." A small smile graced Nami's lips as she half supported herself on the railing and half clutched it. Usopp rubbed his nose with one hand, grinning, while holding on to the mast with the other. "To prove what a brave pirate I am!" Luffy looked speechless at the supervision that was offered to her. Directly below them were all white clouds, blocking the rest of their view. But what really made their eyes sparkle was the vast blue sea that stretched out before them. That was it. She had been waiting for this moment almost her entire life. "I can see it! The largest sea in the world. The Grand Line!" A grin spread across her face. "And somewhere ahead of us is the One Piece! Let's go!"
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The first chapter of our new arc. I'm pretty happy with it. Especially considering the situation that I didn't just have to look at what I could take from the filler arc with Abis and what actually happened after the manga.
But what wouldn't this story be with a tinylittle thing where I need your help? You guessed it right: as soon as thevoting starts again. This time even a double.
For a scene that I think you will like,you can choose which music box it will be. You can choose from music box A)
and music box B)
But what would a music box be without a littlemusic? And here you can choose between song 1:
https://youtu.be/znsUh6vBWLI
and song 2:
https://youtu.be/J5P2-9YY7qU
The vote continues until the release of Chapter 33. Presumably the end of Whiskey Peak.
Just as a little additional information: In addition to uploading it to Wattpad, I also started translating the story. Therefore, international voices will also be taken into account in the evaluation in the future.
Whatever. See you next time.
Bye~
Oh, before I forget: I only have 5 chapters finished besides this one. So to give myself some time to write Little Garden and Drum, I'll only upload at the beginning of the month for now. As soon as I have more there will be more regular uploads again.
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