"We finally… arrived here!"
Luffy exclaimed in surprise.
The others also looked ahead.
Before them was the towering, endless Red Line, reaching into the clouds.
Looking at this mountain range that spanned the entire world, everyone smiled, with a sense of nostalgia in their eyes.
"It's so nostalgic!"
"That day was also a stormy day!"
"We've grown so much since then!"
"It took me 50 years to get here! Yohohohoho…"
"It's so tall! It's too big!"
"It inexplicably makes me want to cry! It's been such a rough journey!"
"We've already come halfway! Once we cross the other half, we'll conquer this sea!"
Everyone gazed at the Red Line, sighing with emotion for a long time.
Joy and excitement filled every face.
The Red Line is the most symbolic landmark on the Grand Line; anyone who reaches it after enduring countless hardships will be deeply moved.
After a long while, their emotions gradually recovered from the awe and excitement.
Next, they had to figure out how to find Sabaody Archipelago.
Just as everyone was discussing the specifics and how to search.
Suddenly, everyone felt a dangerous aura rapidly approaching them from beneath the sea.
Instantly, they all leaped to the ship's starboard side and looked into the sea.
In the blue ocean, a dark shadow continuously approached, growing larger and larger.
Until a certain moment.
Splash!
A huge splash sounded.
Then everyone saw it.
A massive Sea King with a brutal rabbit-like head was staring at them with sharp fangs bared and bloodshot eyes.
Roar!
The Sea King let out a powerful roar.
Then it swooped down towards the Straw Hat on Sunny's deck, poised to devour them.
Bang!
However, before the Sea King could get close, Luffy casually threw out a stretched-out punch.
The Sea King immediately rolled its eyes back, falling towards the sea surface with a pained expression.
Just as everyone thought this small commotion was about to end, they were all suddenly surprised to see.
After the Sea King was punched by Luffy, it spat out two shadows, one large and one small, from its mouth.
"Waaahhhhhh…"
"Ohhhhhhh…"
Two screams echoed in the sky.
And as those two shadows got closer, the Straw Hat crew members' mouths dropped open in astonishment.
"Th-that shadow is…"
"No way?!"
"It-it's really…"
"A Mermaid!!!"
Everyone exclaimed in unison, Sanji's eyes instantly turning into hearts.
As they exclaimed, the two shadows simultaneously fell onto Sunny's deck.
And as they fell.
Everyone saw their appearance clearly.
One was a Mermaid girl with the upper body of a human and a fish tail.
The other was a starfish wearing a hat.
Luffy recognized their identities at this moment.
The Mermaid girl was Kaimi, and the starfish was Pappagu, the chief fashion designer of Fish-Man Island.
"Hoo… hoo…"
Kaimi breathed heavily, recovering from the shock of escaping the Sea King's mouth and falling from a great height.
After calming down slightly, she slowly raised her head to look at her surroundings.
And when she saw a large group of people watching them, Kaimi's eyes instantly popped out in fright, and she exclaimed.
"Wah!"
"You scared me to death!"
"There are so many humans?!"
The Straw Hat crew was still deeply immersed in the wonder of seeing a Mermaid, and Kaimi's exclamation startled many of them.
After both sides were simultaneously startled, Kaimi suddenly reacted, immediately returned to her normal demeanor, and thanked the Straw Hat crew.
"I was almost digested, thank you for saving me!"
"I'm easily eaten by sea beasts!"
"This is roughly the twentieth time!"
As she spoke, Kaimi's eyes suddenly lit up, remembering something, and she said happily.
"Oh, right!"
"I have to repay you!"
"Let me treat you to takoyaki!"
Normally, Luffy would definitely choose takoyaki without hesitation.
But now they had something else to do, so Luffy spoke up.
"We want to go to Sabaody Archipelago, can you take us there?"
Kaimi immediately agreed upon hearing this.
"I can!"
"Hachi just happens to have a takoyaki shop nearby, so I can treat you to takoyaki on the way, and then take you to Sabaody Archipelago."
Luffy nodded upon hearing this.
As for Nami, when she heard the name Hachi, she felt it was somewhat familiar, especially when linked with octopus, it involuntarily made a certain person appear in her mind.
Afterward, both sides briefly introduced themselves.
Then they planned to head to Sabaody Archipelago.
Just before they set off, Kaimi suddenly thought of something and pulled out a den den mushi.
"Ah! Oh, right!"
"If I'm treating you to takoyaki, I need to contact Hachi first and meet him later."
As Kaimi spoke, she dialed a number.
Soon, the den den mushi was connected.
"Hello! Hachi, it's Kaimi!"
"Sorry! I got separated from you!"
"Where are you now?"
After a moment of silence on the other end of the line, a surprised laugh suddenly came through.
"Hey!"
"That voice is Kaimi, right?!"
"Muhahahahaha…"
"Do you know who I am?"
"I'm not Hachi!"
Kaimi's eyes immediately popped out again in fright upon hearing this, and she exclaimed.
"Ah?! You're not Hachi?!"
The voice on the other end of the line sounded again.
"We are your old acquaintances, the Makuro Family!"
The Straw Hat crew had already realized something was wrong upon hearing this.
Kaimi also became serious, asking worriedly.
"How do you have Hachi's den den mushi?"
Another loud laugh came from the other end of the line.
"Muhahahahaha…"
"That's because we got rid of Hachi!"
Kaimi immediately denied it upon hearing this.
"You're lying! Hachi wouldn't be defeated by you!"
The Makuro Family laughed.
"Hey! We couldn't beat Hachi before!"
"But this time…"
"The Flying Fish Riders and we teamed up!"
"Muhahahahaha…"
Just then, another voice came from the den den mushi.
"Oh! Kaimi, you're alright!"
"That's great!"
Kaimi immediately recognized it as Hachi's voice.
And Nami and Nojiko frowned simultaneously when they heard this voice.
They both felt this voice was a bit familiar.
Kaimi asked in confusion.
"Hachi! Were you really defeated by them?"
Hachi replied with a weakened breath.
"I was a bit careless!"
"Don't come here, Kaimi!"
"Oh! I'll deal with them and then come back!"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine!"
As soon as Hachi finished speaking, the Makuro Family's voice sounded again.
"Muhahahahaha…"
"Hey! Kaimi!"
"I'm going to sell this guy!"
"Octopus Fishman are rare, he'll definitely fetch a good price!"
"If you want to save him…"
"Then come to the sea 5 kilometers east of Island 44 in Sabaody Archipelago."
"Which is the Flying Fish Riders' base!"
Hatchan's voice rang out again.
"No! No, Kaimi!"
"You absolutely must not come!"
Makuro cursed and kicked Hatchan.
"Shut up! You dead octopus!"
After kicking him, he spoke into the den den mushi.
"Bye-bye!"
"Click!"
The den den mushi was hung up, and all sounds vanished.
Kaimi stared blankly at the den den mushi in her hand, muttering worriedly.
"Hatchan..."
Suddenly, Kaimi looked at Luffy with a worried expression and said,
"I'm sorry, Luffy!"
"I need to go save my friend right now!"
"I'll give you the takoyaki I promised you next time!"
"I can't take you to Sabaody Archipelago anymore."
"However, the Flying Fish Riders' base I'm going to is just 5 kilometers away from Island 44 in Sabaody Archipelago."
"I can take you near there."
"After that, you just need to walk 5 kilometers northwest to reach Sabaody Archipelago."
Luffy nodded upon hearing this and said,
"Then let's go to the place you mentioned first!"
He did not immediately agree to help Kaimi rescue Hatchan.
Because Hatchan was one of the people who persecuted Nami's hometown, Luffy decided to let Nami decide whether to save him once they arrived.
After confirming the location,
Kaimi called a group of Fishmen from the sea and asked them to lead the way to the Flying Fish Riders' base.
Throughout the journey, Kaimi sat there with her head bowed, looking very worried.
Meanwhile, Pappagu began telling the Straw Hat about the kidnapping gangs in Sabaody Archipelago.
Because Fishman and mermaids are extremely rare and can be sold for a lot of Berries in Sabaody Archipelago, many kidnapping gangs are dedicated to capturing them.
The Makuro Family, who had captured Hatchan earlier, had always been eyeing Kaimi.
As for the Flying Fish Riders,
Pappagu said that it was a powerful kidnapping gang that had recently emerged.
It was said that their leader, Dibaruo, had been looking for someone.
However, Dibaruo always wore an iron mask, so no one had seen what he looked like beneath it.
As Pappagu introduced this to everyone, the school of Fishmen leading the Sunny suddenly became agitated.
Seeing this, Kaimi immediately went to check the situation.
"What's wrong, Kaimi?"
"The little Fishmen said, 'Sorry, this is as far as we can go!'"
No sooner had Kaimi finished speaking,
than the others saw several people riding flying Fishmen in the sky ahead, flying towards the Sunny.
As they approached the Sunny and saw the giant Straw Hat skull on the sail, their eyes immediately filled with endless terror.
One of them immediately took out a den den mushi and dialed a number.
The call was quickly connected.
"Hello! Dibaruo-sama!"
"Something terrible has happened!"
Dibaruo's deep voice came from the other end of the line, asking...
"What's wrong? What happened?"
The person on this end quickly reported,
"We were originally preparing to welcome the mermaid, but we found that the mermaid came on a pirate ship!"
"The symbol on that pirate ship..."
"It's the Straw Hat!!!"
When reporting the name of the Straw Hat, the person screamed it out in panic.
And the moment Dibaruo heard that name, his body trembled violently.
He subconsciously reached out and touched his iron mask, then said in a deep voice,
"Finally..."
"I've been waiting for this!"
After muttering to himself, Dibaruo ordered the few people,
"You all come back first!"
"I must kill that man with my own hands!"
The person on this end hesitated, then said tremblingly,
"Di... Dibaruo-sama, 'Black Leg' Sanji is a great pirate with a bounty of over 1 billion Berries!"
"I'm afraid even if all of us go, we won't be able to kill him!"
"And they came as a whole group..."
As the person was speaking, Dibaruo's furious roar came from the other end.
"Shut up!"
"Don't you know how much harm that guy has caused to my life?"
"No matter how strong he is, I must kill him."
"Let them in!"
Hearing Dibaruo's anger, the person dared not argue any further and responded tremblingly,
"Yes, Dibaruo-sama!"
...
On the Straw Hat's side,
not long after seeing the flying Fishmen appear, everyone noticed that they suddenly turned around and headed back.
This scene immediately left the others and Kaimi confused.
At this moment, Nami suddenly looked at Sanji in confusion and said,
"I just heard them on the phone saying they wanted to kill Sanji."
At these words, all the Straw Hat members looked at Sanji in confusion.
Sanji himself was also baffled, not understanding why someone would want to kill him.
At this point, Nami continued to look at Sanji and said,
"Their leader said that you caused great harm to his life!"
"That guy just said that even if their entire group came out, they wouldn't be your match."
"But even so, that leader is determined to kill you!"
At this point, the confusion in Nami's and the others' eyes grew even thicker.
They all looked at Sanji in confusion and asked,
"Sanji, what in the world did you do to make someone hate you so much?"
"Do you remember hurting anyone?"
Sanji was also full of question marks at this moment, racking his brain but unable to think of who it could be, and he guessed,
"Maybe it's someone I offended when I was at the restaurant!"
"At that time, I did kick quite a few people for wasting food!"
As everyone was guessing, Kaimi suddenly exclaimed,
"Eh?!"
"The entire Flying Fish Riders couldn't even defeat one person; are you guys really that strong?"
Seeing Kaimi only just realizing this, Pappagu couldn't help but grin and complain,
"You're reacting way too slowly!"
Kaimi didn't care, however, and instead looked at Luffy and said,
"Luffy!"
"I know I shouldn't bother you guys 4.1 again."
"But Pappagu and I are no match for the Flying Fish Riders."
As Kaimi spoke, her voice softened a bit, and she switched to a pleading tone, saying,
"Can I ask you to help us rescue Hatchan?"
Luffy looked at Kaimi's pitiful, pleading expression but was slow to respond.
Although he wanted to agree, he still prioritized Nami's feelings.
Just then, Nami suddenly stepped forward and said to Kaimi,
"We agree!"
Nami quickly added,
"In exchange..."
"Kaimi! We want to go to Fish-Man Island later!"
"But we don't know how to get there."
"When the time comes, can you take us to Fish-Man Island?"
Kaimi immediately nodded repeatedly in surprise upon hearing this and said,
"Of course!"
"That's great! Thank you!"
Luffy still said nothing.
When the time comes, he'll let Nami handle it herself!
After sailing for a while,
Luffy and his group finally saw a cluster of wooden houses built on the sea ahead.
In front of the wooden houses hung an iron cage.
Inside the iron cage was an octopus Fishman with six arms!
The moment Kaimi saw that Fishman, she immediately cried out in joyful surprise,
"Hatchan!"
Meanwhile, Nami and Nojiko's pupils trembled.
Nami frowned and said, rubbing her forehead.
"I've been suspicious all along, but I didn't expect it to really be that guy!"
Nojiko asked,
"Do we still need to save him?"
Nami glanced at Luffy.
Luffy just smiled slightly and said,
"It's up to you to decide!"
Nami looked at Hachi, then at Kaimi, who was full of worry, and finally sighed, saying,
"Forget it!"
"Let's save him!"
"He's not a bad person anyway!"
"And I promised Kaimi!"