Chapter 15: Reverse Mountain
Three days had passed since they left Shimotsuki Village. They were still five days away from the entrance to the Grand Line, and there were 11 days left until that damned second mission: the 31-strike sword drill.
The salted-fish slacker Eric finished his daily task with pain etched on his face. He pulled a compass out of his shirt. It was something he had bought from the system shop for a cool 10 million Berries: [Captain Jack's Compass. Note: The compass points toward what the holder desires most in their heart.] Time to test it out.
'I want to go to Reverse Mountain,' Eric thought, and the white compass began to spin. Its red needle adjusted and settled pointing southwest—in the same direction their ship was headed.
'Goro Goro no Mi.' The needle turned southeast.
'So it doesn't point toward the route to get the item, just the direct line toward the object of desire…' If it pointed out travel routes, it wouldn't spin like this. Since they couldn't go through the Calm Belt, their only option was still Reverse Mountain.
'Yami Yami no Mi.' The compass needle started spinning wildly without direction. Looks like beating Blackbeard to it was out of the question.
Bored out of his mind, Eric went browsing the system shop—his version of window shopping on Taobao. He noticed the Munch-Munch Fruit was still listed. That meant Drum Kingdom's King Wapol hadn't eaten it yet. Eric decided he had to grab it before Wapol did. The fruit's ability to create alloys with unique properties would be immensely helpful in advancing technology. What man doesn't want to build a Gundam? Sadly, real-world materials weren't strong enough to replicate anime-level specs.
Even if Wapol had already eaten the fruit, Eric could kill him and use his corpse as a summoning medium. But killing the king of a World Government-affiliated nation would skyrocket his notoriety and bounty. Eric still wanted to lie low for a while. After all, those who endure to the end are the true victors.
With his goals clear, Eric minimized any time-wasting. He only stopped in towns to resupply food and water.
Thanks to calm weather and favorable wind and currents, they were able to lock the rudder in place, allowing Chiron to take some time to train his two students. With her 3-star Observation Haki, Akame could now dodge Eric 's attacks with her eyes closed.
As for Eric , his swordsmanship training pushed both his Constitution and Swordsmanship up a level. More impressively, Chiron—who had once trained many great heroes—managed to teach even the slow-learning Eric how to use both Observation and Armament Haki.
[Name: Darren Eric ]
[Constitution: 2.5 Stars]
[Martial Arts: 1.5 Stars]
[Swordsmanship: 2 Stars]
[Firearms: 1 Star]
[Armament Haki: 0.5 Stars]
[Observation Haki: 0.5 Stars]
[Overall Combat Power: 2 Stars]
Seeing his upgraded stats, Eric smiled with satisfaction. His training hadn't been in vain—he finally understood how to use Haki. Only half a star, but better than nothing.
But when he saw Akame's panel—[Observation Haki: 3.5 Stars] and [Armament Haki: 1 Star]—he fell silent. She really was different from him. An elite ace assassin vs. a lazy homebody? No contest.
...
As they neared the Grand Line's entrance at Loguetown, Eric couldn't resist stopping by to check on the orphanage director who had raised him. He sneaked into the room and left 2 million Berries and a letter explaining he hadn't done anything evil and wouldn't. Then he slipped away.
With no Monkey D. Dragon to bid them farewell, their trip to Reverse Mountain had fair weather. When they finally saw the crack in the Red Line from afar, Eric raised his telescope and said, "That must be the entrance. Let's not crash into the continent."
"Don't worry," Chiron said calmly from the helm.
The massive red cliff stretched to the sky. Its sheer size was awe-inspiring. Supposedly, the Red Line reached 10,000 meters high—taller than Mount Everest. Eric wondered if Oda had really understood basic geography. The temperature drops six degrees Celsius for every thousand meters, and yet Mariejois supposedly had all four seasons year-round?
'Forget it. This is One Piece. No need for science here.' Eric shook off the thought.
The current sped up as they got closer. Through the telescope, Eric could now see the powerful upward stream approaching them like a blue dragon defying gravity. Even Chiron was amazed. "I've never seen anything like this."
The roar of the rushing water drowned out all other sounds. The waves slammed against the Red Line. One wrong move, and their tiny single-mast ship would shatter instantly.
"I can count on your sailing, right, Master Chiron?" Eric asked nervously.
"We'll pass Reverse Mountain smoothly," Chiron replied confidently, steering with expert control. He wasn't about to twist the rudder clean off like a certain pair of idiots.
They passed the first obstacle—Reverse Mountain's entrance—successfully. In the anime, the canal looked only three to four times wider than the Going Merry, but in reality, it had to be at least 200 meters wide. Otherwise, how could Krieg's fleet of 50 ships, each far larger than the Merry, pass through? If the canal were too narrow, shipbuilders wouldn't bother creating massive pirate ships in the first place.
'One challenge down. The second one's up next. Let's hope Laboon is asleep and not blocking the exit.' Eric had a soft spot for the emotional whale who had waited 50 years for his friends—but if he got in the way now, that'd be a serious pain.
Of course, Eric 's prayers didn't work. After passing through the clouds, a dark blue mass came into view.
"Can we dodge that, Master Chiron?!" he shouted. Laboon, though massive, wasn't blocking the entire exit—perhaps because the water current was too strong, or maybe he wasn't fully grown yet. There were openings on both sides.
"I'm on it!"
"Master Chiron, you're the best!"
Unlike a certain five-man crew who broke their rudder and had to use cannon recoil to stop their ship, Eric 's trio kept their cool. (That ridiculous anime scene where a woman falls out of a plane, gets blown back into it by another explosion… yeah, the writers clearly borrowed from this.)
After passing Laboon, they stopped nearby to observe the whale's mighty roar toward the heavens.
"This is the first time I've seen a whale this big. This place keeps surprising me," said Chiron.
"I wonder how it tastes," said Akame.
"Hey! That's messed up. If you knew his story, you wouldn't say that!"
"Oh? It has a story?" Chiron asked, intrigued.
"Uh… someone else should tell it. I don't remember much." Eric only vaguely recalled the whale was waiting for Brook's crew—who wanted to peek at people's underwear. The rest was a blur. "There should be a doctor here somewhere. I think he's vacationing… inside the whale?"
"Inside the whale? Is that possible?" Akame asked, curious.
"You'd be amazed at Oda's imagination," Eric said solemnly.
Just then, Laboon started smashing himself against the Red Line. The booming impact shook the sea. Waves surged as the massive whale thrashed.
"He's hitting the wall? There's no way he can damage it. He'll only hurt himself," Akame noted. As someone familiar with wild animal behavior, she was confused. Normally, animals avoid injury—they only attack weaker prey.
"There's always a reason. He'll calm down soon," Eric replied confidently. 'That old doctor should be injecting a sedative about now.'
Sure enough, a few minutes later, Laboon slowed down, stopped, and floated back to the surface.
"Looks like the lighthouse keeper is inside the whale. Let's go find him."
"How do we get in?" Akame asked.
"There should be a door on his back. Let's sail over and look for it."
(END CHAPTER)
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