章 22: Entering the Grandline
"Hah… Nami, when will we reach the Grandline?" Luffy asked with exhaustion as he sat on top of Merry.
Nami was laying down on the chair while reading the newspaper as she replied.
"I already told you many times. It will take two or three days. Besides, shouldn't you start training as well?"
Luffy looked at her and asked "What about you? Didn't you say that you also want to train?"
"Me? I am tired of training. I will continue later."
Hearing her words, Zoro who was training nearby rolled his eyes. In fact, Nami barely stuck with training for ten minutes.
Luffy thought for a moment.
'Should I really train in the ship? What if I break it? Well, Usopp and Zack can fix it so I should also train.'
Finally, Luffy decided to train as well. He didn't start with weights rather he stood at the top of the Merry and wrapped his legs around her. After that, he started contracting his legs.
This process was very painful because he was contracting his leg while keeping it stretched. The pain was constantly showing off on his face but Luffy didn't care.
He had already borne so much pain as a child. This was nothing compared to that. He simply continued contracting his legs. This was something he came up with by himself.
While he stretched his body, he noticed some part of his wasn't stretched. Like when he used Gomu-Gomu No- Pistol, he only stretched his arm, not his hand.
That means if he can contract one part of the body while stretching another part, he would be able to launch a devastating attack. But then he suddenly remembered. It wasn't something he came up with.
Zack did suggest something like that but at that time, he didn't listen properly.
"Argh!"
Luffy grunted in pain and finally, his legs couldn't hold and stopped stretching altogether but when his legs returned to normal, the impact was so powerful that it sent Luffy toward the sky.
"Ahhhh!" Nami screamed when she saw Luffy going toward the sky but Zoro and others didn't care.
Splash!
After a few minutes, he finally fell onto the sea. Nami immediately jumped from the sea and went to bring up.
"You idiot, why did you do something so reckless?"
"Hah! Hah! Hah!" Luffy didn't reply as he was panting hard. But eventually, he threw water from his mouth with two raw fish and shook his head.
"I didn't know what would happen."
"You were trying to stretch and contract your body at the same time, weren't you? You idiot, when you stopped stretching the force released out of contraction will impact your body." Nami smacked her face and shouted.
"Huh?" Luffy looked at her with confusion.
Nami sighed and said "Listen carefully! When you stretched your body, it will eventually return to normal. By contracting your body, it will also eventually return to normal."
"But, there is one major difference. While stretching allows you to release the power, contraction stores the power. When your stretching released to normal, you forgot to release the power of contraction so it was automatically released when your legs returned to normal."
"Of course, if you release the power of contraction together with the power of stretching, then the power will be four times than before."
"Oh! You mean I should release contraction before stretching my arm?" Luffy asked.
Nami suddenly blinked her eyes. She did mean it that way but she didn't expect Luffy to get it. She touched her chin and tilted her head.
'Is he acting stupid most of the time?'
But the next moment, she shook her head and thought 'Nope! He is indeed stupid. But, when it comes to battles, he can be someone our crew can depend on. I believe Zack feels the same way.'
Bang!
Suddenly, Luffy's fist pierced the deck and made a hole in it. Seeing this, Nami got furious and smacked Luffy's head.
"You idiot, don't try it here!"
"Sorry! Sorry!" Luffy apologized as his arm returned to normal.
Nami sighed and muttered, "Why is Zack taking so long?"
Inside the Cabin,
"So, can you do it?" Zack looked at Usopp and asked.
Usopp looked at the paper with a design of a gun and touched his chin.
"It shouldn't be hard but if you want me to create the bullet out of those rods, it would be hard. Remember, we don't have a furnace here."
"You are correct but we have to do it. Right now, we can't fight against Devil Fruit users especially when they are too powerful. The only way to do so is by using tricks."
"The bullet made out of Sea Prism Stone would be great to have during the battle. Not to mention, if you manage to develop this gun, we would be able to even the stronger opponent."
"Zack, your gun isn't properly. I can create it as long as I get the required materials. But, you know just how hard Sea Prism Stone is right? To melt it, we would need high-temperature flames."
"How about this? If we reach the next island, we can dig a big hole and start a fire. We will use every flammable thing we have to increase the intensity of the flame and then melt the Sea Prism Stone."
"I know it is going to be troublesome but we need it, Usopp." Zack continued to persuade Usopp for it.
Usopp finally sighed "Alright, I will try my best."
"That's our Usopp." Zack patted his shoulder with a big smile on his face. He turned his head to the side and shouted "Sanji, is food ready?"
"Didn't you just eat the breakfast?" Sanji helplessly spoke. Unlike Luffy, Zack doesn't steal food but his hunger isn't any less than Luffy's.
"But, I consumed all of it during training. Anyway, I will continue training. Cook something else, kay?" Saying so, Zack rushed out of the cabin.
"Hai! Hai! I won't let anyone go hungry." Sanji sighed and slowly smiled as he started cooking.
On other hand, Usopp was looking at the drawing.
'Machine Gun ,drones , UAV missiles, is it? If we can have this kind of weapons, we would be able to fight much better and faster. Zack idea is amazing. But, how can I create a motor so small?'
Usopp stumbled upon a problem but he didn't give up.
Outside the Cabin,
"Oi Luffy, why did you make such a big hole in the ship?" Zack shouted at Luffy.
"I was just training." Luffy innocently replied.
'I wished Franky was here.' Zack sighed and took out the plank. While stitching the plank, Zack muttered.
"Don't worry, Merry. We might not find a shipwright now but I will do everything to keep you in a good situation."
Although Zack said that, he knew it would be impossible. He was just trying to cheer up himself. Unless a miracle happens, Merry will eventually die.
The death of the ship wouldn't be much of a problem for most crews in the world but for Straw Hats, it would be crucial. Because just like them, their ship is also very unique.
Zack sighed. He quickly finished patching up Merry and started training. Right now, he wanted to train Tekkai. The principle behind this technique is fairly simple to say but hard to use.
It requires one to concentrate on their muscles on a molecular level to stiff them. Doing so will restrict the movement of the user but it will give immense defensive capabilities.
After training this technique for a while, user can also increase their muscle strength, slowly increasing their overall strength. This technique is truly useful for all straw hats, even for Luffy.
That's why he asked Luffy to practice this technique. It's just that Luffy wasn't motivated to practice something that isn't related to his devil fruit. So, he planned to train this technique first and then show it to Luffy to convince him.
While training this technique, Zack was simply exhausted in less than twenty minutes. Stiffing one's muscles takes a lot of toll on the body. CP9 and other marines have been training this for a long time.
But, Zack has just started it. After twenty minutes, he rested for a while, and a thought came to his mind at this moment.
'Rokushiki isn't something that Marines would simply let the pirates have. Although I killed that marine captain at the end, the marines outside should have told the HQ about my torture.'
'No wonder, Ryokugyu would try to kill us. If he was present here from the beginning and affiliated with the marines, it all makes sense. He didn't join marines because there was no position for Admiral.'
'He had Logia fruit and the strength of the admiral. Of course, he wouldn't be happy with any rank lower than that. In the story, he said that he hadn't eaten anything for three years.'
'If he wasn't a marine, would marines let a powerful individual like him kill other people in order to absorb their life force and fed himself? Of course not! So, my theory about him is correct,he must be a bounty hunter who was affiliated to marines, waiting for a chance to become an admiral.'
'That must be it.'
"Zack, I need your help. This is bothering me too much." Nami shouted from the Cabin. At this moment, the sky was covered with dark clouds and the storm was making the sea go wild with rain.
But even so, Zack was training outside. This kind of condition would normally make the training more intense. But hearing Nami's words, he let down the weights and finally got inside.
He dried his body with the towel and walked closer to the table where everyone was gathered.
"So, what's the trouble?"
"I can't figure out the route to the Grandline. There is a giant Red Line further ahead of us and then we have Calm Belt to the side. How are we supposed to enter the Grandline?" Nami asked with a troubled expression.
"Nami, you need to understand one thing before we enter the Grandline." Zack said while walking toward the locker. He opened it and took out a small watch-shaped navigation tool.
There was a small needle inside it and it was covered with blue glass. He passed it to Nami.
"This is something I got from the marine base. They had a bunch of these. As I was saying before, you need to understand one major thing before we enter the Grandline, maybe two things."
"First, never doubt this new navigation tool. Second, never test this tool with your common sense. It is called Log Pose. You have seen Green Island, right? In the Grandline, almost every island will be just like Green Island."
"And, I didn't mean the exact island like that rather the condition of the island would be something that defies common sense. Each island would be the world of itself thus each island has a strong magnetic field."
"Log Pose's needle will point toward the nearest island and we need to go there and wait until the Log Pose resets. Only then do we move to the next island. So as a navigator, never doubt the Log Pose."
"Wow! Amazing! Amazing! Amazing!"
Hearing his words, Luffy excitedly clapped but he was clapping with his feet.
"There is nothing excited about that." Nami screamed at Luffy but unfortunately, she couldn't calm down his excitement. She sighed and looked at Zack.
"You still haven't told us. How can we go to the Grandline? You already know we can't go through Calm Belt, right?"
Zack nodded his head and pointed his finger at the middle of the Red Line.
"This is called Reverse Mountain. It has a total of five canals. Because the waves near the Grandline are too strong, we can climb the mountain through these canals and reach the fifth canal which will lead us to the Grandline."
"Are you serious? Zack, I don't mean to doubt you but how can a ship climb up in the mountain no matter how hard the waves might be." Zoro asked.
"Guys, I need a hand. These waves are too strong. I can not move the rudder."
Just before Zack could explain, Usopp shouted while trying to move the rudder. Zack then pointed his finger at Usopp and said.
"Sanji, help him!"
"Are the waves really that strong?" Sanji doubted as he tried to move the rudder but even with his strength, he couldn't move it properly.
Zack raised his head at Nami and said "We need your exception navigation skill here. The condition around the Red Line is usually extreme."
Nami took a deep breath and decided to trust Zack. She could also see the canals flowing up into the mountain but it sounded ridiculous that she didn't even say it.
But, she didn't expect it to be true. She quickly wore the raincoat and dashed out of the cabin but suddenly, she noticed that the dark cloud has disappeared. There was not a single drop of rain or anything.
Suddenly, the ship took a sharp turn toward the right which made everyone fall to the side.
"Nami, what happened? The rudder suddenly started working without any problem."
At this moment, Zack's and Nami's eyes widened.
"We entered the Calm Belt. Damn it!"
Zack hurriedly rushed outside but just when he was moving out, the ship started shaking a lot and slowly floated toward the sky.
At the same time, everyone came out of the cabin and the next moment, their expression changed. Everyone was horrified seeing the giant sea kings and didn't expect themselves to be at the top of the sea king.
"Is this what Zack said by not relying on common sense? How could such big giant sea kings even exist?" Zoro gritted his teeth and mumbled.
"We have to get out of this fast," Sanji responded while holding the ship.
Zack walked to the front of the ship and noticed the sea king moving its nose.
'Alright! This is still going to happen. Thank god!'
Zack waited while signaling everyone to shut up.
Achoo!
The sea king sneezed out so hard that their ship flew away.
"Ahhhhhh!" Suddenly, all of them heard the cry of Usopp and noticed him falling toward the mouth of another sea king.
"Usopp!" Luffy stretched out his arm and caught Usopp. Their ship flew above that sea king and landed on the edge of the Calm Belt. Zack and Zoro immediately started paddling until they reached away from the Calm Belt.
"What kind of place was that?" Zoro asked while panting. They barely managed to escape the nest of the sea kings.
"It's called Calm Belt. Grandline is a sea that divides the other seas from meeting each other just like Red Line. While Red Line is a mount, Grandline is a sea so it had two layers on each side to separate it from the rest of the other seas."
"This is only possible thanks to the Calm Belts. Calm Belts are the seas without any wind. A sailing ship can't move in the Calm Belt. And, even if some wants to paddle it, it wouldn't be possible since it is also have the hive of rest of the biggest sea kings."
"This is why the only way to reach the Grandline is this mountain. Am I wrong, Zack?" Nami explained.
"You are correct. Anyway, thankfully we were lucky that sea king sneezed, or else, we would be the food for those sea kings." Zack slowly stood up after panting.
The rain had already started and the storm was going stronger.
"Sanji, Usopp, quickly adjust the rudder toward the right. Zack, Zoro, control sails. We will crash into the mountain if we do not stick to the proper path." Nami shouted.
Zack and Zoro hurriedly controlled the second sail. While the main sail was for movement, the second sail could be used for control. At the same time, Sanji and Usopp started turning the rudder to the right.
Nami used her binoculars to properly see the situation.
Crack!
But, suddenly, the rudder cracked.
"The rudder is broken," Sanji shouted from the cabin.
"Damn it! We are going to crash. The Red Line is just in front of us." Nami shouted.
"We are not going to crash," Luffy shouted and jumped. He instantly used Gomu-Gomu No- Ballon and slowly pushed the ship into the right track.
"Luffy!"
Zack and Zoro shouted at the same time. Luffy lets out the air from his body and stretches both of his hands, catching Zack's and Zoro's hands.
Bam!
Three of them got smashed into the wall but they didn't care. They quickly got up and rushed toward the front. The ship moved at a rapid pace, toward the top of the mountain.
"We did it!"
Everyone shouted when they saw the ship finally moving at the top.
"Guys, we haven't done the ceremony even though we are already at the Grandline," Zack spoke as he took out a barrel.
"Ahhh yes, let's do it." Luffy excitedly walked near it. Everyone gathered around the barrel.
"I want to find the All Blue ." The first one was Sanji as he placed his foot on the barrel.
"I want to become the world's greatest swordsman." Zoro said.
"I want to draw the map of the world." Nami smiled as she spoke.
"I want to become the King of Pirates." Luffy spoke.
"I-I-I I WANT TO BECOME THE BRAVE WARRIOR OF THE SEA."
Finally, Zack raised his leg and put it on the barrel. Everyone looked at him and he looked at them with a smile.
"I WANT TO GO ON THE GREATEST ADVENTURE OF ALL TIME."
Bang!
"Let's go!" The barrel broke as everyone shouted with excitement.
.....
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