The Merry was like a stubborn leaf, tossed upon the furious waves at the edge of the East Blue.
The dark clouds in the sky hung oppressively low, with lightning occasionally flickering within them, casting brief, stark white flashes of light.
Luffy clung tightly to the main mast with one hand to avoid being thrown off, while his other hand stretched toward the kitchen door in search of food, laughing heartily, "Wahahaha! Such huge waves!!"
By the ship's railing, Zoro sat steadily on the deck, holding his three swords, unfazed by the violent tilting of the ship. He merely frowned and muttered, "So noisy, Luffy. Nami, is the direction okay?"
"Shut up! Just be glad we're not capsizing!!!"
Nami gripped the ship's wheel tightly, her orange short hair soaked by the rain and plastered to her forehead. She focused intently on every rise and fall of the waves.
"Miss Nami~~~! Please use this towel! Ah, even drenched by the rain, you are so beautiful!"
Sanji maintained a bizarre balance on the heaving deck, attempting to approach Nami with a cup of hot tea and a towel.
"Waaah! I'm going to fall! I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!" Usopp clung to the ship's figurehead, screaming with every tilt of the vessel.
And Giyu Tomioka was the only "stillness" amidst this chaos.
He stood silently at the relatively sheltered entrance to the ship's cabin, his sole left hand resting lightly on the doorframe.
His body made imperceptible adjustments with each sway of the ship, always perfectly countering the turbulent forces, remaining so steady it seemed impossible he was aboard a ship in a storm.
The hem of his half-red, half-green haori flapped sharply in the wind, the torn empty sleeve fluttering along with it.
Just then, Nami's gaze finally shifted briefly from the sea. Wiping the rain from her eyes, she happened to catch sight of the silent figure at the cabin entrance.
She froze for a second before suddenly remembering that this person had boarded with Luffy and the others at Loguetown.
"Wait a minute!" she practically shouted, her voice cutting through the wind and rain. "I noticed this earlier! Luffy! Who is this guy? Another partner you randomly brought aboard?"
Hearing this, Luffy broke into a wide grin. "Shishishi! Yeah! He's super—strong! Back in town, he sliced through that execution platform in a flash! And he can spray water!"
Instantly, all eyes focused on Giyu.
Sensing their gazes, Giyu spoke expressionlessly, his voice steady as it pierced through the rain.
"No."
"I am merely traveling with you temporarily. I am not your partner."
His words fell like a block of ice into a boiling pot.
Usopp immediately let go of the figurehead, scrambling over to Nami's side. Pointing a trembling finger at Giyu, he cried, "You heard him, Nami! This is bad, this is bad! The guy who came aboard isn't our partner at all! What if he's a spy for the Marines or Buggy?!"
Luffy immediately puffed out his cheeks, wrapping an arm around Usopp's neck and pulling him close. He rubbed his rubbery face vigorously against Usopp's, making an exaggerated funny expression. "Come on, come on~ Usopp~ Don't say that! He saved me! And he doesn't look like a bad guy!"
"Ouch, ouch, ouch! Let me go, Luffy! Your rubber face is hurting me!"
"Alright, Luffy," Sanji lit a cigarette, though the rain immediately dampened the tip, he still habitually held it in his mouth. "Don't force him. This... gentleman seems to have his own plans."
His gaze lingered on Giyu and the Nichirin Blade at his waist for a moment. As the former sous-chef of the Baratie, he had encountered all sorts of people and could sense an unusual aura about this man.
Nami sighed, pressing her palm to her forehead. "I really can't stand you guys... just dragging someone onto the ship like that. We're pirates! Can't you have a little more caution?"
Though she complained, she quickly glanced at Zoro and Sanji and noticed they showed no signs of wariness toward the man before them.
Nami relaxed slightly and turned to Giyu, her tone softening a bit. "Speaking of which, we still don't know your name?"
All eyes focused on him once more.
After a moment of silence, Giyu replied simply, "Giyu Tomioka."
A brief silence fell over the deck, broken only by the sound of wind and rain.
"My name is Monkey D. Luffy!" Luffy suddenly grinned widely, his rubber arm slapping his chest with a wet smack that sent rainwater flying. "The man who's gonna be King of the Pirates!This abrupt, confident declaration rang out through the storm, as abrupt and natural as ever.
"..."
Usopp was the first to break the silence. Leaning close to Sanji's ear, he muttered in what he thought was a whisper but everyone could hear, "So brief! He really just said his name! Does this guy think that's cool or something?"
Ignoring Usopp's comment, Sanji smiled at Giyu. "My name's Sanji. I'm the cook on this ship. If you're hungry or want anything to eat, just come find me."
Looking at this curly-browed cook named Sanji, Giyu thought he could learn some pastry-making methods from him. A rare smile appeared on his face. "Mm."
Just then, Nami, who had been observing the sea, suddenly let out a surprised "Huh?"
"Look!" She pointed toward the distant, rain-blurred horizon. "That light!At the edge of the ink-black curtain of rain, a steady, bright light pierced through the harsh weather, shining firmly like a beacon in the mist.
"Is that a lighthouse on an island?" Usopp squinted, trying hard to see.
"No," Nami's expression became focused, that of a top-tier navigator. "That's a navigation light! The entrance to the Grand Line is right in front of that light!"
"The Gr... Grand Line?!"
Usopp's legs immediately began trembling again, his voice tearful. "You're not thinking of having us charge toward that light in this storm, are you?! We'll die! The ship will definitely be destroyed and we'll all drown!"
"Hey! This sounds fun!Luffy excitedly jumped onto the ship's bow. "Let's go! Full speed ahead!Sanji produced an empty barrel from somewhere and placed it in the relatively stable center of the deck, laughing. "Alright! Since we've decided, let's have a..."
Before he could finish his sentence!
BOOM——!!!
An unprecedentedly massive wave suddenly crashed against the Merry's port side! The ship instantly tilted nearly forty-five degrees!
"Waaaaah!"
"Hold on tight!"
"The ship's gonna capsize!!!"
The wine barrel rolled clattering toward the sea. Sanji scrambled to grab it while Luffy stretched his arms to pull Usopp and Zoro back. Nami clung desperately to the ship's helm.
As the colossal wave crashed over them, Giyu seemed to root himself to the deck, his center of gravity dropping abruptly as he stood firm against the onslaught. Only his empty sleeve and haori flapped violently in the storm.
With remarkable composure, he even extended his left hand to gently deflect the rolling wine barrel, redirecting it to become lodged among the coiled ropes.
When the wave passed and the ship slowly righted itself, everyone stood drenched and shaken.
"No good!" Nami wiped seawater from her face and immediately addressed the crew. "The waves are too dangerous right now! Charging ahead blindly is suicidal! Let's get inside! We need to study the chart together!"
"Yesss~~~ Miss Nami is always so logical and reliable!" Sanji responded instantly.
The group stumbled into the relatively dry and warm mess hall. Giyu cast one last glance at the distant guiding light before silently following them inside.
Warm orange lantern light dispelled the gloomy chill within the mess hall.
Nami spread the chart she'd taken from Buggy across the central dining table, drawing everyone's attention.
"Look here," her finger tapped a crucial point on the chart, her expression serious. "The entrance to the Grand Line—"
She took a deep breath before revealing the unbelievable truth.
"—is a mountain."
"A mountain???"
Except for Nami who already knew and Giyu who remained expressionless, everyone was stunned, even Zoro opening his eyes wide.
"Right! Look at the chart, though I can hardly believe it myself..." Nami's finger traced the lines on the map. "See here? The navigation light is indeed positioned on Reverse Mountain of the Red Line."
"What are you talking about!" Usopp jumped up first.
He pointed at the chart. "Nami! Are you reading this wrong! Are we supposed to crash into a mountain?! That's not suicide, that's insanity!"
"Stop talking nonsense, Usopp!"
Nami knocked him on the head irritably. "Look carefully, isn't there clearly a canal drawn here?"
Usopp leaned in for a closer look, his eyes widening further. "A canal!!? Even if there's a canal, ships can't climb mountains!"
"But that's what the chart shows!" Nami was getting frantic too, as this defied all her previous nautical knowledge.
"What are you fools doubting the beautiful and wise Miss Nami for? Just follow orders! If Miss Nami says we can go up, then we can go up!"
Zoro crossed his arms and poured cold water on the enthusiasm: "Hey, cook, calm down. Don't forget we stole this chart from Clown Buggy. Can we really trust everything from that guy?"
"Climbing a mountain with a ship?"
Luffy's eyes suddenly sparkled with intense excitement. "That's amazing! Unbelievable! I can't wait!!!"
He waved his fists enthusiastically. "Let's call it the Unbelievable Mountain! Let's go! Mountain climbing time!"
Amid the noisy argument, a calm, steady voice cut through, quiet yet strangely audible to all.
"Since there's light, and a channel," Giyu spoke, his deep blue eyes resting on the chart, his tone as flat as ever, "we'll know once we go."
His logic was extremely simple and direct: the target was there, the path was there, so just go. Whether by walking or crawling, by ship or something else, it made little difference to him.
Everyone was momentarily stunned by his overly simplistic conclusion.
Sanji blew out a smoke ring. "But what this Mr. Tomioka said isn't wrong either. We have to keep moving forward."
Just then, Usopp, who had been staring out the window searching for other clues, suddenly made a surprised sound and called out to everyone:
"Look at the window..."
Hearing this, everyone turned to look at the navigation room's window.
The rain had stopped at some point.
The roar of the wind and waves had disappeared as well.
The Merry, which had been violently rocking moments before, was now as stable as if it were docked on an inland lake.
An eerie silence enveloped their surroundings.
"Huh?" Nami froze for a moment before rushing to the window to look outside. Her face instantly changed color. "No way... It couldn't be..."
A foreboding feeling gripped her heart as a navigator.
Puzzled, everyone followed her out of the navigation room and returned to the deck.
The scene before them left them all stunned.
The sky was no longer ink-black but had turned into a dull gray-white. The sea was smooth as glass, without a single ripple, and the air was so stagnant it felt suffocating.
The storm that had nearly capsized them moments before had vanished without a trace, as if it had all been an illusion.
"The... the weather's really nice..." Usopp remarked dryly, looking at the eerie calm.
"Haha... hahaha..."
Only Nami had cold sweat beading on her forehead, her face turning pale.
As she scanned the sea around them—completely devoid of even a breeze—the most dangerous term from a navigator's textbook surfaced in her mind.
Her voice carried a barely noticeable tremor as she murmured to herself.
"This is bad..."
"We've entered the Calm Belt..."