"Empty your mind."
"Don't try to tame the recoil."
"Flow the way water flows."
"Don't force the trajectory. Feel the trajectory."
"Be water."
"Be like water."
On the deck, Jin stood behind Maya, guiding her aim. In her hands was a brand-new sniper rifle.
During his month roaming the North Blue, Jin trained as he traveled. He pushed the limits of the Munch-Munch Fruit and set himself a new challenge: build a practical weapon of war.
After eliminating several options, he settled on the Kar98k.
He didn't choose the Barrett or Model H2 and the like. Partly because their structures were too complex and outside his comfort zone. More importantly, they weren't suited for rapid mass production. They were poor choices for arming an entire force.
But the 98k—Jin knew it inside and out. In shooters like Peacekeeper and others, it was the classic big-game sniper. He'd once loved it so much he collected schematics and notes. If the law hadn't stopped him, he might have built one by hand long ago.
Nostalgia helped. So did pragmatism.
A 98k could serve as a precision rifle and as a standard-issue infantry weapon. In a world of pirates, it would sit neatly ahead of flintlocks and early Gatlings—first- or second-generation superiority, enough to flip the battlefield.
As for other platforms—A-series, bolt mods, semi-auto evolutions—they would come later. Weapons must iterate. You don't open with your royal flush. You field one generation, produce the next, research the third, stockpile the fourth. A deep-cycle doctrine, step by step.
After countless tests and tweaks, Jin finally nailed the composite materials and ratios for his 98k. With the Munch-Munch Fruit, he synthesized the first rifle.
[Overall length: 1107 mm]
[Capacity: 5 rounds, internal staggered magazine]
[Action: manual, turn-bolt]
[Caliber: 7.92 mm]
[Rate of fire: 10–15 rounds/min]
[Muzzle velocity: 755 m/s]
This 98k did not use soft, sooty lead charges like a flintlock.
First, Jin synthesized smokeless powder. That part was easy—he had a standard formula to match the inputs. When you've got the equations, the problems go fast.
Then, with copper jackets, he formed the 7.92×57 mm rifle cartridge.
It worked.
After a successful live-fire test, he had Little Ai use the Munch-Munch Fruit to replicate parts to spec: one hundred rifles and ten thousand rounds.
Training came first for the crew.
Soon he discovered that Maya, under the influence of her budding Observation Haki, had a natural gift for sniping. He took her on personally.
A sniper rifle in a regular hand and in a sniper's hand are two different weapons—especially in seas ruled by pirates. The true marksman weds Haki to the bullet, and with Observation locks a target as if by fate.
It wouldn't be the absurd "eight hundred li headshot" from a drama. But a ship struck from ten li away?
That, you would see.
Maya sighted on a pirate flag a thousand meters out. Her cheeks flushed. Pressed against the king's chest, she could hear his strong, steady heartbeat.
Her own heart began to race with it.
She gripped the bolt handle. Breath in, breath out. Breath joined to breath.
A dizzy sweetness rose to her head. She was still young, but as a shrine maiden she knew what such racing heat meant. At the springtide age of awakening, how could she endure it?
Fortunately, her Observation Haki—fortified by her ancestors' blessing—was potent. She could listen to the voices of all things.
Bang.
The trigger broke cleanly. The round leapt from the muzzle.
One precise shot cut the line holding the skull-and-bones. The pirate flag fluttered down into the sea.
"Got it!"
Maya whooped and bounced in Jin's arms.
In a month through the North Blue, Jin had run into six small pirate crews. This was the seventh.
The fight ended quickly. The sea fell quiet again.
Far off, Reverse Mountain loomed like a giant standing against heaven. Clouds curled around its crown. The updrafting current battered the Red Line's crimson wall.
Jin drew a long breath.
The North Blue tour had ended.
This time, the devil carrier would not circle Reverse Mountain. It sailed straight into the channel, letting the ocean's stairs lift it.
The waves twisted into violent spirals. All currents poured one way.
The carrier shuddered hard in the torrent.
Fortunately, the baptism of temporal energy had remade her. No matter how the mountain tossed her, the hull would not be harmed.
"Oi, do you see that beam?"
"That's the lighthouse on the island—the guiding lamp!"
"The light marks the mouth of the safe channel through the reefs!"
"So that's the Red Line up ahead?"
"Incredible. We're really going to ride a sea current up the mountain!"
"Amazing!"
At the news that they were about to shoot Reverse Mountain, Law, the crew, and Maya all hurried to the rail, chattering and buzzing.
Robin was calm. She had entered the Grand Line from the West Blue—she had seen this once already.
Reiju was calmer still.
Years ago, Judge had led Germa 66 across the Red Line in three weeks to invade the East Blue. After entering, they fought the kingdom of Kergia. Early in the war, Reiju released Sanji. When Judge learned of it, he severed their father–son bond and let Sanji go.
Since then, Germa had crossed the Red Line more than once, heading to the South Blue, West Blue, and the Grand Line for operations.
So to her, this was routine. Familiar steps, familiar heights.
With Robin's briefing beforehand, everyone had the basics: Reverse Mountain's geometry, the Calm Belt, the soaring currents.
It's the unknown that terrifies. Once the thing is known, even if there are surprises, you handle them.
Besides, Jin's devil carrier was no ordinary ship. No tow chains, no air-wings, no tricky rudders.
The carrier could auto-cruise.
They slipped obediently into the current and accelerated like an arrow.
Bepo: "A-a-aye…"
Maya: "So cool—so intense!"
Shachi: "Charge!"
After being forced to accept their fate of entering the Grand Line, the Heart Pirates adjusted quickly. Jin treated them well. They couldn't leave the ship, true, but they never lacked food or drink, and he didn't work them to the bone. Better living than before.
When pirates appeared, they were allowed to sortie, fight, and train. With a monster guarding their backs, confidence came easily.
And honestly, Law wasn't planning to run. If you're going to follow someone, may as well follow the strongest.
One by one, they shouted themselves hoarse.
The ship reached the ten-thousand-meter crest. The four sea-currents met and clashed, paused a heartbeat at the summit—
Then spilled into a broader chute.
Bepo: "Waaa— we're going to fall!"
At the sight of that massive drop, even Law, who had kept his composure, flinched.
"Hold tight!"
"Careful! Don't get flung over!"
They plunged down the seaward chute, speed climbing fast. A waterslide a thousand fathoms tall—more thrilling than any roller coaster.
Grand Line, we're back.
Boom.
The devil carrier struck the sea. A fierce shudder rolled her bones.
No damage. The hull rang like a bell—and steadied.
A gust of ocean wind swept across the deck.
Hands stopped shaking. Hearts settled.
Mist rose in wreaths all around.
They cleared the surge zone.
Behind them, the Red Line towered so high its summit vanished into cloud.
Maya palmed the sweat from her brow. "Whew. We came down from that high and didn't die. Lucky!"
Penguin dashed to the bow, leaning on the rail. "Hey, Law—this really is the Grand Line, right?"
As far as the eye could see, an endless sea lay utterly calm. The sky and the water felt frozen in place.
Law folded his arms, sword resting in the crook of his elbow, gaze deep.
Bepo sprawled on the planks in a giant breath sucking air. "Thank goodness—I'm still alive!"
Suddenly Shachi yelped. "Oi, look! There's an island ahead!"
Everyone jerked their heads up.
Out there, something drifted on the water. Black. Like a humped reef rising from the sea.
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