When Robin told Cyrus her dream, her eyes were fixed on him.
In her vision, the Hunter Association Cyrus spoke of was not something that could be established casually.
Although she felt the difficulty was very high now and completing this goal would certainly not be easy, how would she know if she didn't try?
"So, you'd better not be just saying it." Robin smiled and spoke again.
Hearing her words, Cyrus sighed softly, then nodded.
Cyrus pointed a finger above the waterway.
Flames shot out from the stern, and the ship's speed suddenly increased.
"To achieve my ideals, I must at least conquer the Grand Line." Cyrus said loudly, his back to Robin.
"Have you gotten taller?"
The spirit Cyrus had just managed to muster was derailed by Robin's single sentence.
"Have I? But I'm about to turn sixteen. It's normal to get taller, right?" Cyrus gave his answer.
Robin nodded and said no more, securing herself to the ship.
Cyrus could be reckless at times; he might just fling her off the ship.
With the acceleration from the flames, combined with the already swift current in the waterway, the ship with its fiery tail surged upstream.
The journey, which would have originally taken some time, was significantly shortened by the dual acceleration.
Then, at the highest point, the ship left the water's surface and flew into the air.
This time, Cyrus didn't change the ship's direction.
"If we crash onto the water from this high, the ship won't be able to take it!" Robin shouted loudly at Cyrus.
The fierce wind made it difficult for her to even speak.
"It's fine!"
Cyrus grinned upon hearing her, letting the ship under his feet free-fall.
As it was about to make contact with the waterway leading to the Grand Line below, he coated the entire hull with Armament Haki.
BOOM!
The ship slammed onto the water's surface, and the seawater that splashed aboard drenched Robin.
Feeling a bit weak, Robin looked at Cyrus, whose clothes were also soaked.
But the seawater had no effect on Cyrus whatsoever.
Under Robin's speechless gaze, Cyrus laughed heartily, standing on the prow.
The ship beneath them flowed with the current, moving faster and faster.
Soon, infected by Cyrus's laughter, Robin also stood up after the effects of the seawater wore off.
She walked to Cyrus's side, looking at the downward-sloping current ahead.
The speed of going downstream was naturally extremely fast.
Soon, the boundless ocean below came into their view.
They could clearly see the glistening waves on the sea's surface.
Just as the ship was about to descend onto the sea below, a massive shadow appeared on the water.
The shadow grew rapidly, and then, an island appeared directly at the mouth of the waterway.
The ship beneath their feet was heading straight for this suddenly appearing island.
"It's an Island Whale!"
Seeing this island, Robin's eyes widened in shock.
"Watch me!"
Cyrus stomped hard on the prow, leaping into the air.
A dark purple light glowed on his fist.
As Cyrus pulled his fist back, the light grew even more intense.
BOOM!
With one punch, he struck the massive, upright Island Whale directly on its lower jaw.
With a resounding cry, the giant whale fell backward, and its fall created enormous waves.
The ship, which had been sailing down at high speed, slowed down due to Cyrus's stomp.
After throwing the punch, Cyrus landed back on the prow.
Once the ship stopped, it bobbed unstably on the huge waves caused by the whale.
"I can't believe there's an Island Whale here. This kind of whale is rare. I think they exist in the West Sea, but not many people have seen one."
Robin looked in awe at the massive whale floating on the sea like an island in the distance.
"The Grand Line is as dangerous as they say. If it were any other pirate ship, crashing into this Island Whale would probably mean the end of both ship and crew."
As she spoke, Robin looked at Cyrus, who had drawn his sword.
"How is it?"
"Not great. This thing is too big. Even if it just floated motionless in the sea, not many people could hurt it. I amplified the power of my Armament Haki just now to cover the area of impact, but I didn't injure the whale."
Cyrus shook his head.
The ship beneath their feet slowly moved forward.
The Island Whale, which had been flipped onto its back, suddenly righted itself and floated on the water.
With such a massive body, its every move could create giant waves.
But now was not the time to focus on the waves, because one of the Island Whale's eyes was staring at them.
Evidently, Cyrus's punch had enraged it.
"You can beat it, right?"
The single eye staring at them was countless times larger than their ship.
"I'd rather not get blocked right at the entrance to the Grand Line and have to retreat in disgrace."
Hearing Robin's words, Cyrus raised a hand and patted her shoulder.
Defeating or even killing this Island Whale wouldn't be difficult for him.
However, he was more concerned about the person living inside this whale.
Crocus, the ship's doctor for the Roger Pirates.
Back then, none of the crew members who followed the Pirate King Roger were weak, with the exception of Buggy.
As the doctor on the Pirate King's ship, Crocus had also been to the final island.
Of course, Cyrus had no interest in the final island, but he was interested in this old man.
Just as the anger in the Island Whale Laboon's eyes intensified, a small figure appeared on its head.
This figure looked a bit disheveled.
Clearly, when Laboon had flipped over just now, things had been turned upside down inside its body as well.
"Someone's there!"
Cyrus saw it, and so did Robin.
She pointed at the figure on Laboon's head.
Cyrus's Observation Haki had already detected this person the moment he appeared.
A sturdy old man.
He had a strange, flower-like hairstyle and carried several sharp harpoons on his back.
He was watching them from a distance.
"You wait on the ship."
As Cyrus's words fell, his body transformed into a ball of fire and flew toward Laboon's head.
Crocus was also very surprised at this moment.
Laboon's body was huge, over four hundred meters long.
With such a massive size, and given that Laboon rarely engaged in strenuous activity aside from ramming the Red Line.
Crocus tranquilizers could calm Laboon down when it rammed the Red Line.
But today, everything inside Laboon had been turned upside down.
The small ocean inside Laboon had turned into a tsunami.
This made Crocus immediately realize that Laboon had likely encountered a powerful enemy.
That's why he had rushed out of Laboon's body in such a hurry.
And then, he saw a ship with only two people on it.
Just as he was about to take a closer look, he saw a figure on the distant ship transform into flames and fly toward him, and he immediately became guarded.
The fiery light landed not far in front of Crocus, and Cyrus's figure materialized from within the flames.
"It's you?"
When he got a clear look at Cyrus, Crocus's eyes widened.
Although he had been staying here without moving, he still paid close attention to events outside.
He had naturally seen the special edition newspaper from not long ago.
What he hadn't expected was that just after reading about Cyrus, he would now see him in person.
And, it seemed this visitor did not come with good intentions.