Greetings, fellow One Piece fans! FourthWallBreaker here with the next installment in Maria's adventures across the Grand Line! As of last Wednesday, we have completed the Strong World arc, and you know what that means for the Straw Hats' next destination!

Here's a couple reviews from the last chapter of the previous arc!

Pizzafan123 - Thanks for the birthday wishes! Usopp's and Luffy's reaction made me laugh, too. :) You know they're fan boys for robots, and if they had a robot on the crew, well then that would just be great!

Laradhel - Thanks for the birthday wishes! Yeah, Maria has been through A LOT. The whole "not human" thing is only the tip of the iceberg for her. Yeah, the whole "blue blood" thing is kinda creepy, but remember - Maria isn't human anymore, so if she has anything running through her, it's...not exactly going to be red. Like she said, the "Energon" is a fuel. As for your question about Kuma...she is going to be sent off to an island by herself. What happens there, though...you'll have to wait for me to get to posting that chapter, and that's not going to be for a while.

Anyway, enough prattling on from me! Here's to the start of a new arc!

Chapter 96 (or 1) - Arrival at the Red Line!

Maria's POV

"What the heck is going on?" Luffy complained, wearing a blue vest.

"This is no good..." Usopp muttered.

"Indeed," Brook agreed.

I looked up from where I sat underneath the swing tree, The Lord of the Rings lying open in my lap. Those four had been fishing for the better part of the day, and so far it looked like they were coming up with nothing. It was almost like no fish lived in this area of the Grand Line.

"We're can't catch anything," Luffy muttered.

"This is weird," Chopper remarked.

"We've hit a rough patch," Usopp commented.

Yup. They weren't getting anything at all. Which could be bad news for us, since we kinda needed fish in order to keep our food stores up, what with Luffy being the bottomless pit that he is.

"This is so boring!" Luffy muttered.

"Well, we have to be patient," Brook replied, fingering the net in his bony fingers.

Zoro shifted his sleeping position under the swing tree, next to where I was sitting. He was hugging his three swords close to him like they were some kind of stuffed animal or something like that. I figured that he probably did it to make sure no one took them as he slept.

Everyone else was sitting around a low table that Sanji had rolled out earlier in the morning, drinking tea.

"Nami, are we going to reach Fishman Island soon?" Luffy bent back to look at Nami, who was caught in mid-sip of her tea.

An annoyed look crossed Nami's face and she glared back at our bored captain. "Oh, give it a rest! I'm sure we're getting close!"

"Fishman...mermaids!"

I sighed and shook my head as Sanji went into another one of his fantasies.

"Oh, beautiful mermaids!" The cook started dancing around on the deck with those noodle legs of his. "Where is the mermaid I have dreamed of?!"

Zoro opened his eyes and looked over in the direction of the cook while I rolled my own. The green-haired swordsman closed his eyes again with a look of annoyance and snorted.

"I'm sick of this!" Luffy threw his fishing rod onto the deck. "Sanji! I need food!"

I gave Luffy an irritated look. "Why do you think you're fishing?"

"Hey! I see a huge school of fish up ahead!"

I looked over at Usopp in surprise, seeing that he had brought down one of the telescoping lenses that he usually used for sniping.

At Usopp's call, Luffy grabbed his fishing pole and scrambled over to the deck railing.

Brook laughed. "You see? With some patience, everything works out!"

"Shishishi! Let's fish 'em all up! They're coming this way!"

While Brook, Chopper, and Usopp all looked at Luffy like he was nuts, I shook my head and rolled my eyes at my captain's actions. Only attracted when there's actual proof that there's something out there...

Nami got up from where she had been sitting, causing me to look over at her curiously as she walked over to where the boys were sitting on the railing. She had a strange look on her face that made me frown out of concern.

"You want to try too, Nami?" Chopper asked, looking back at Nami. When Nami didn't answer, he asked, "What is it?"

"Something's not right," Nami responded.

"Hey, get back here, fish!"

I rose to my feet at Luffy's exclamation, setting my book aside before dashing over to the side of the ship. I got there in time to see a dark blob in the water swim off into the horizon.

"What in the name of the Grand Line?" I asked, blinking. A moment later, a frown came over my own face. "Something isn't right - you'd think that at least one of those fish would have taken the bait."

"That's..." Zoro's voice trailed off as we all looked in the swordsman's direction. Nami and I turned and followed his gaze up into the sky.

"Storm clouds?" I asked, frowning at the dark things that were starting to cover the sun. "I've only seen them form this fast when someone's using a Rain Dance or a Drizzle ability..." On a whim, I yelled, "Hey, Kyogre! Are you out there?"

"This is..." Nami trailed off.

"H-hey!" Usopp looked at Nami, a nervous expression on his face. "What is that obviously foreboding look on your face?"

And that's when everything abruptly became worse. The sky got so dark that, for a moment there, I thought we were back in the Florian Triangle. That thought got pushed out of my head, though, when the waves started acting all funny, crashing into each other and turning into multiple whirlpools all around the ship.

"Serpent Currents!" Nami exclaimed.

"Serpent Currents?" Chopper and I repeated, concerned.

"That definitely doesn't sound like something Kyogre would be able to make..." I trailed off as a disappointed expression crossed my face. "And I was hoping that we might be able to see her, too!"

"Everyone, be careful!"

As soon as the words were out of Nami's mouth, the whirlpools around us exploded. Funnels of swirling water were now swirling up in the air around us!

Usopp yelled in terror and surprise.

"It's almost like they're alive," Zoro commented, getting to his feet.

"This looks a little dangerous," Franky remarked.

I considered summoning my phoenix staff in order to access my power and do something about the water funnels around us, but I wasn't exactly sure what exactly I could do in order to get rid of them.

Meanwhile, Sanji seemed to have a better idea, because he went straight for the helm.

"Well, this is-"

"Cool!" Luffy interrupted Brook, a wide grin on his face.

I was tempted to facepalm. Only our captain would think this was cool. But, then again, you didn't see water spouts like this very often.

"Sanji!" Nami barked at the cook.

"Leave it to me, Nami-san!" I could see Sanji tightening his grip on the helm from where I was standing. A moment later, he cried, "It won't budge!"

"What?" I yelped. "We can't steer?!"

Chopper let out a cry of fear, and I quickly turned and followed his gaze...only to see that one of the water spouts was starting to "fall" towards us, bending exactly like a snake would!

Zoro ran past us and jumped up, armed with two of his swords. He slashed at the current and landed back on the deck before getting soaked by the destroyed water spout.

I started to look around at the other water spots, wondering if one of them was going to do the exact same thing. Sure enough, one of the water spouts on the other side of the ship started to bend towards us.

"Weapons Left!" Franky yelled. He aimed with his bazooka and promptly fired, causing the water to wash harmlessly across the deck.

My fingers twitched. It felt like my body wanted to do something in order to put a stop to the water that was coming at us, but I wasn't exactly sure as to what I would be able to do, soaked through as I was. What memories I had suggested that me fighting in rain was like dropping Luffy in the ocean - my fire powers weren't going to work now that I was soaked through like this.

Which meant I had to put my faith in the rest of the crew to get us out of this mess.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Zoro barked, glaring up at Sanji. "Steer the ship!"

"Shut up!" Sanji barked back. "In these waves, the rudder won't do what I tell it to!"

Luffy ran up to the front of the ship as a water spout started coming for us. "Gum Gum...Pistol!" A wash of water ran over the captain as the entire spout exploded.

The water spouts kept coming down at us. Usopp, Chopper, and I would have been hit by one if Brook hadn't stepped in.

"Are you all right?" Brook asked, turning to look at the three of us.

"Yeah," I replied, nodding.

"You saved us!" Chopper exclaimed.

Brook looked out at the ocean around us. "Serpent Currents... They certainly do move like serpents. They're very aptly named! Yohohohoho!"

"Yeah, I guess so." I nodded in agreement, looking at the water spouts around us.

"This is no time to be impressed you two!" Usopp barked. He looked at me a moment later. "And hey - why aren't you using your abilities to take these things out, Maria?"

"I'm soaked through, that's why!" I responded, holding out my arms and showing Usopp just how much water I had dripping off me. "I was standing too close to Zoro or something like that when he took down that last current, and besides - these things are made out of water. I use fire. In my experience, that usually means I won't be able to do very much."

Usopp sighed, looking miserable.

"Gum Gum Gatling!"

I turned my head when I heard Luffy yell, and my eyes widened in shock when I saw that he was taking on three of those Serpent Currents at once!

"I'm going up!" Franky started scurrying up the mast as two Serpent Currents started coming at us from the sides. A moment later, water started washing down onto the deck as the cyborg cried, "Star Shield!"

"Great," I muttered, getting soaked through again. "Today must be 'let's soak the fire user' day."

Brook and Zoro rushed past again, swords out and at the ready as they cut more of the currents to pieces.

"We keep cutting them down, but there's no end to them!" Zoro commented in annoyance.

I saw one rushing for Robin, but she used her Devil Fruit abilities and made a propeller out of her hands to keep the Serpent Current from going any further.

"How long are these currents going to last?!" Usopp yelped, hanging onto the mast for dear life.

"How much further are they going to go on?!" Chopper added from the other side.

I was still standing on the deck, not concerned about holding on-

My eyes widened in realization of something a moment later, and I dove for the swing tree, where I had left The Lord of the Rings sitting open on the deck. Somehow, it had managed to avoid getting wet, but I wasn't about to let myself take any more chances with it! I hid the book behind my back and willed it to disappear - almost like the hoverboard that I had managed to conjure up back when we had been fighting Shiki.

At first, nothing happened, but then I could feel the weight in my hand get lifted rather abruptly, and I turned slightly in order to see if the book was still there.

It wasn't. And there wasn't anyone behind me who could have grabbed it, either.

I frowned at my empty hand, wondering where it was that my stuff always disappeared off to.

"Should we fly out of here with a Coup de Burst?" Franky called down from above us. Since water was still raining down a little, the drizzle shook me out of my thoughts.

I was going to have to figure out this appearing-and-disappearing trick later. For now, there were other things to worry about.

"Oh, yeah!" Usopp sounded like he was relieved. "That's one way!"

"It won't work!" Nami called back.

"It won't?" I looked over at our navigator in confused surprise, noticing that she had a pair of binoculars in her hands. "Why not? We've used it to get away from storms before."

"That's the problem," Nami replied. "I can't see any end to the currents." She lowered the binoculars from her eyes. "Even if we fly away with a Coup de Burst, we won't be able to escape them!"

My eyes widened in surprise while Chopper cried out in disbelief.

"What?! No way!" The reindeer sounded panicked.

"That can't be good," I remarked. "So, does that mean we'll have to wait for the currents to stop? Or are we going to have to fight our way through this?"

"Yohohoho! Shall I play a song?"

I looked at Brook like he had gone insane.

"At times like these, we need to boost morale!" the musician explained. "All storms and currents will eventually recede. Let's just be patient."

Well, I can see how that would be good, but..."

"Sounds good, Brook!" Luffy shouted from the front of the ship. "Go for it!"

Brook readied his violin and got ready to play, but before he could strike a single note, the entire ship started to shake.

I stumbled before I forced my hand out in front of me, forcing my phoenix staff to come into existence. It took a bit longer than normal because I was wet, but I managed to get it out so that I could keep my balance. "What's going on?!"

"We're in the air!" Luffy called out.

Something suddenly shifted underneath us, and the ship was suddenly forced up into the air.

"H-hey!" I could hear Franky yelping from the top of the mast. "We're gonna fall!"

The ship started falling downward, causing me to yelp and scramble for the swing tree so that I had something to hold onto. Usopp continued to cling to the mast as though his life depended on it, and Chopper-

The reindeer flew off the mast, screaming as he fell away from the ship.

"Chopper!" Robin and I yelled at once.

I prepared myself to pull my hoverboard out of nowhere, but the archeologist was faster with her abilities, creating what almost looked like a rope made out of arms in order to get to Chopper. It wasn't too long before he was back on the deck, looking terribly out of it.

I let out a sigh of relief as the little guy was brought back onto the deck. "That was too close for comfort, right Robin?"

Robin nodded in agreement.

Time Break

We continued to fight through the Serpent Currents for a while, the stronger members of the crew blasting them back if they came close enough to try and dunk the ship or something like that. Usopp, Chopper, and I moved up onto the elevated front deck, near where Sanji was struggling with the helm. The others ended up gathering there with us.

Nami lowered her binoculars, getting my attention. "Hey, look!"

I turned and followed her gaze...and my jaw dropped. Near me, Usopp let out a gasp of surprise.

"I see it, I see it!" Luffy exclaimed from where he sat on the figurehead.

Up ahead of us...beyond the Serpent Currents as they rose up into the clouds...was a sunny spot with what looked like a wall of red.

Wait. A wall of red?

"It's the Red Line!" Luffy crowed.

"The Red Line!" Usopp repeated in an awed voice. A determined expression crossed his face a moment later.

"We finally made it this far!" Nami exclaimed.

"There was a nasty storm that day, too," Sanji commented from the helm.

It took me a moment to figure out what they were talking about. "Oh, yeah! You guys had to cross this thing before, right? In order to get on the Grand Line?"

"Yup!" Usopp looked over at me with a wide grin. "It's so big, you can't see the top because it's completely covered by clouds!"

I blinked, not exactly sure if that was a truth or a lie, but when I saw Nami's nod in agreement, I let my reaction slip out. "Wow..."

"It has taken me 50 years," Brook murmured nearby. "Yohohohoho!"

"Let's go, everyone!" Luffy declared.

I was about to respond to our captain's call...when a large Serpent Current suddenly exploded up from the sea directly in front of us!

"Whoa!" I yelped and jumped back in surprise at the sight of the large, watery monster of a water spout.

"That's..." Robin trailed off.

"It's huge!" Luffy exclaimed eagerly. It sounded like he was almost happy to see it.

Brook started to unsheathe his cane sword while Zoro grabbed at his own swords.

"Make sure you steer," Zoro growled warningly over at Sanji.

"I don't want you giving me orders," Sanji snapped back.

I gripped at the railing behind me, since I had let my staff disappear again. I was still soaked through, and anything involving fire against these moving water spouts was going to be absolutely useless.

"Should we use the paddles to retreat?" Franky asked.

"There's no time," Robin responded.

"Sanji!" Nami called. "Get us on that wave!"

"What?" I looked over at the navigator in surprise.

"You got it!" Sanji called back.

"Wait!" Franky called out. "What do you mean 'get us on it?!"

"That's what I'd like to know!" I agreed.

"Leave it to me!" Nami responded to the both of us. "I dealt with bigger stuff than this when we were going to Sky Island!"

"The Knock Up Stream, huh?" Sanji commented from the helm.

"Knock Up Stream?" I repeated, blinking. It took me a moment to remember what I had learned about the others' adventures before we had arrived at Water 7. "Oh, yeah. That was what you guys used to reach that island in the sky, right?"

"Yeah, that was really fun!" Luffy responded, laughing.

"That wasn't fun at all!" Chopper argued.

"Of course, there's no way this time is gonna be..." Usopp trailed off, then let out a scream of fear as the above-water end of the giant Serpent Current fell towards us.

It didn't hit us - thankfully - but I was still a little nervous as we started climbing up the Serpent Current.

"Go!" Luffy yelled from the figurehead as Franky and Sanji changed places.

"Now we can use a Coup de Burst!" the shipwright declared.

My grip tightened on the rail behind me. I was going to need something to hang onto.

"Raise the sails, everyone!" Nami called out.

Zoro and Brook ran for the mast and scurried up it. I watched the two of them grab the ropes and jump down onto the grassy deck, pulling the sails up as they went.

"Here we go!" Franky yelled. "Coup de Burst!"

My grip on the railing only got tighter as the ship exploded off the Serpent Current we were on and flew out of the stormy area and into the sunlight. I think the ship bounced twice as we came in for a landing on the sea again.

Chopper let out a sigh of relief. "We're saved!"

"Man that was a close one," Usopp agreed. He wiped at his forehead with a bare arm as he sighed.

Brook burst out laughing loudly as I sighed and looked around the thoroughly soaked deck. "I hope going through that isn't going to damage the wood any."

"Nah, the Sunny'll be fine," Franky responded, waving off my worries with a wide grin.

"We're here!" Luffy exclaimed. How he had managed to remain on the figurehead...I'll probably never be able to know. "We finally manage to make it here!"

I looked ahead of us at the Red Line, marveling at the wall of rock that was ahead of us.

"I can't see the top," Chopper said in awe. "It's huge!"

"Yeah," I agreed. "I've seen mountains that can reach this high, but I can't say the same for an entire wall of rock." I looked from one side to the other, noticing that the Red Line disappeared into the horizon. "Wow...I can't see the end of it."

"Well, the Red Line does go around the entire world," Nami commented. She looked back at the wall of rock in front of us. "It's kind of nostalgic, seeing it again."

"I wonder if we've grown a little since then," Zoro commented.

"I feel like crying!" Usopp declared. "So much has happened!"

I looked over at the sniper. "I think you already are," I noted, looking at the tears that were dripping down from the fist that was covering Usopp's eyes.

"Anyway, we're halfway there now!" Luffy said from his perch. "The Twin Capes, where we met Laboon, are connected to this wall on the other side of the world. I'm glad we all made it here together!"

I smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Apparently, I crossed Reverse Mountain from the South Blue before I was old enough to remember," Franky spoke up. "I'd guess that was more than 30 years ago."

"Really?" I looked at Franky in surprise, and he gave me a grin in response.

"I entered this sea five years ago, from the West Blue," Robin said.

"Once we go around the second half of the world," Luffy said, "we'll get to see this wall again, and when we do...I'll be King of the Pirates!"

I laughed at Luffy's exclamation. "I might have all my memories back by then, too. I don't remember how long ago it was that I crossed that Reverse Mountain and entered the Grand Line, but I'm looking forward to remembering!"

In a watery world where pirates and Marines fight on the open seas, a single crew of ten people travels to a goal at the end of a stretch of sea, where the famous Pirate King's treasure, the One Piece, lies in wait. One member of this crew - a young woman named Maria - has more secrets than even she herself knows, thanks to a bout of amnesia. While she wants to remember who she is, recently, her memories have started to make her worry...

And we are off!

Next week, since it's going to be Easter weekend, I'm going to do something very similar to what I did last year, when I was posting the Water 7 arc around this time (I can't believe Maria's been traveling with these guys for a year in our time! Wowza!). This basically means that I'm going to be posting three chapters next week, right in a row! So make sure you keep an eye out for that!

I'll see you then!