Oh yeah! This shit's about to get real, bros and bras! The crew has finally escaped Loguetown and now they'll head off for Reverse Mountain! BTW I'm skipping over the Warship Island Arc. Sorry, but I just didn't like it too much. I thought it was kinda stupid to be honest. Well, here are my replies to reviews on the previous chapter:

SugoiAuthorToBe: Yes, in a way, he is. XD Thank you! And yes, in the future he will be able to control that move, but that won't be for a long time still. I'm thinking either after Water 7 or after the time skip. See, demigods aren't exactly mortal. They're half-mortal, half-immortal, so Chiwohiku can kill demigods just fine.

DarkLord98: I'll definitely do the Laboon Arc because unlike the Warship Island Arc, it's actually important to the future. Remember how Brook's one of the pirates on the crew that Laboon became friends with and followed to the Grand Line? Oh, and arigatou!

gamelover41582: Somehow I don't see Daddy the Father as someone who'd want to give out an autograph. And actually, if you go back and watch the Loguetown Arc, Luffy does meet him briefly when he finds Zoro on the steps. And again, arigatou!

P.S., don't forget to watch out for the next book in this series! Because this is the last chapter! Follow or favorite my author's page, or even subscribe to my community One Piece: Full Blast for a sure-fire way to be updated.

Chapter 21 start!

The Legend Truly Begins!

Sea King Infestations and Mystery Mountains

Previously on One Piece Full Blast:

A straw hat floated down from the sky and was caught by a girl with a scar under her eye, who placed it back on her head. "Well, whaddya know?" giggled Lucy. "I'm alive. That's a nice surprise. Arigatou, Damon!"

The Buggy Pirates' jaws had dropped so far that they were nearly touching the ground.

"N-No problem," I rasped, my energy fading. "D-Don't mention it... K-Kaizokou Queen."

My vision faded and the world appeared to be eaten up by an all-consuming darkness as, overhead, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled.

My dream was as weird as ever. In it, there were a bunch of skulls floating around an otherwise empty void. Half of them had red noses and wanted to decapitate me. The other half wore a straw hat and wanted food - - to be more precise, meat.

When I woke up, things weren't any better. In fact, they were worse. A huge storm was raging around, me, and the back of my neck was tingling, which was probably due to the rough ocean. I was gaining energy by the second. In no time at all, I was practically bursting with energy, and I wondered if it had anything to do with the storm. That was when I noticed something: The sea was underneath me and I was flying through the air. Beside me, three people I knew very well were screaming bloody murder. The fourth, whose arm was stretched had been stretched around us while the other was holding her straw hat in place, was giggling.

"WHY THE HELL AM I FLYING?!" I roared over the howling wind.

Lucy, who was obviously the one carrying us, grinned and looked at me. "Oh! You're awake!"

"THAT DOESN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION!"

"We almost missed the ship because Nami was disembarking. I got caught up in a battle with some smokey Marine dude and Zoro was battling some blue haired lady. They seemed to know each other. Ah, well. It doesn't matter. A huge gust of wind blew us all to the harbor and I used Gum-Gum Rocket."

I stared at her. "That actually made sense."

"Nani? I can be sensible, ya know. Hey, where did you get that eye patch? It's sugoi!"

"WE'RE FLYING OVER THE SEA IN THE MIDDLE OF A HUMONGOUS STORM AND YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT AN EYE PATCH!?"

"Yeah. So?"

"Why did I end up with such an idiotic captain?" I moaned, crying anime tears.

Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji were still screaming. And we weren't landing. I started screaming too. Then we were caught by the red cross-sail of the Going Merry, bounced off it, and tumbled to the deck, cursing our lives. My landing was soft, however, and when I opened my eyes I noticed Lucy was lying under me, face red. I blinked and looked down. I had landed in such a way that I was accidentally straddling her.

My face went beet red and I quickly rolled off her, stammering an unintelligible apology.

"I-It's okay," Lucy murmured, sounding flustered. She adjusted her precious straw hat nervously while Zoro claimed that he'd definitely kill her someday. I couldn't help but wonder why she was blushing...

"Minna!" Nami cheered, peering over at us and grinning widely.

I pointed swiftly at her and barked, "You didn't see anything!"

She tilted her head. "I didn't see what?"

"Never mind. Where's my bag?"

The redheaded navigator blinked and pointed vaguely upwards. "In the crow's nest, like you said. Why? What's in it? And where'd you get that eye patch?" Luckily I was saved from answering by a sudden flash of moving light. We all looked out to sea. A lighthouse was sticking up out of the ocean proudly.

"A lighthouse!" Lucy reported as the rest of us recovered.

"That means we're getting close to the Grand Line," Nami informed us, smiling. "That's our 'guiding light' to Reverse Mountain, the entrance to the Grand Line!"

Lucy went to stand next to her. "The entrance to the Grand Line is over there?"

"So what now?" the other girl asked.

I smirked. "What else? We go to the Grand Line!"

Usopp, who was hugging the main mast of the Merry, cried anime tears. "Are you really so crazy you'd want to go in a storm like this? Please, work with me here, man!"

Zoro simply nodded, a small smile on his own face. Sanji just gave a thumbs up and I sneered at him evilly. He turned blue and scooted to the other side of the mast.

Lucy giggled. "Yosha!"

"Minna," said Sanji. "Let's have a little launching ceremony to mark the importance of this voyage. I heard sailors do this whenever they go out on an important journey. You get a barrel, place your foot on it, state a promise or wish or dream, and then everyone smashes the barrel together."

We all grinned at each other and agreed to do it.

Sanji was first. "To find the All Blue."

"To become the first kaizokou queen!" Lucy announced, placing her foot on the barrel. I was suddenly glad she didn't wear skirts.

Zoro did it, too. "To become the greatest swordsman."

Nami took the next turn. "To draw a map of the world!"

I smirked and put my foot on the barrel. "To become the strongest martial artist and to save the world!"

Usopp gulped and thought quickly. "Uh... I-I'm... to become a brave warrior of the sea!"

"LET'S GO TO THE GRAND LINE!" Lucy roared, and we all raised our feet before smashing them down on the barrel's lid.

"AYE, CAPTAIN!" we agreed.

CRASH.

Although the rest of the evening was crazy and we worked like dogs trying to keep the ship from capsizing, I never got too tired. I didn't know why. When it was time to turn in, every one else was out before their heads hit the pillow. (For some reason, Lucy always slept in the boy's cabin even though she was a girl. Don't ask me why. I'll never know.) I, on the other hand, was up in the crow's nest feeling as though I'd sucked down a hundred Pixie Stix. Where the hell all this energy was coming from, I had no idea, but when I finally hit the sack, it only felt like a few seconds before Sanji was calling for breakfast.

"What's wrong with you, Damon?" Nami asked worriedly as we inhaled a breakfast of eggs and Canadian bacon. Don't ask me why it was still called Canadian even in this world, because again, I'll never know. "You don't look too good. Did that hurricane Lucy was talking about earlier take too much out of you?"

I sighed and rubbed my bleary eyes. I sipped coffee, trying to get myself awake. "No, just the opposite. I couldn't get to sleep last night because I had too much energy. Now I feel pooped, though. Like when a sugar high lifts you up, then sinks you down lower."

"Sugar?" Lucy piped up. "Food..."

"WE'RE HAVING BREAKFAST NOW, BAKA! WHY ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT THE NEXT MEAL?!"

The day after that was calm and clear. In fact, it was as though the worst storm I'd ever encountered never happened. There was still stuff to do, though. Sanji and Usopp raised the sails so that we could catch some wind. I drew moisture out of the now-waterlogged floorboards of the Merry so they wouldn't rot. Zoro did lookout duty for me, though the job was a bit harder now that a giant bag of belli was sitting in the crow's nest. Lucy was fishing off the side of the Merry but grew bored and sat on her captain's seat - - you know, the figurehead.

"So, Nami," I spoke up after I had finished my job. "How close are we to Reverse Mountain?"

"Well, we just left Loguetown two days ago, so it's gonna take some time to get there." She looked at me in approval and was about to call a crew meeting when there was the sound of three cannons firing. The back of my neck tingled as three cannonballs fell around the Merry and into the sea. I looked out to the back. "What the... Marines!? Now!?"

"Dammit, they never give up," Nami cursed. "And there's a whole fleet of 'em, too!"

Lucy and the others gathered on the port side to see them, too. "Oo!" Lucy giggled. "They must be here to collect the bounty on my head!"

"Yeah, but why is there a whole fleet?" Usopp moaned, shivering.

"They must've heard how hard it is to beat me! Shishishi! I'm just too strong!"

"That was your warning shot!" came a voice from over the ocean. "If you do not surrender, we will be forced to sink your ship and capture your captain."

"Told ya! Shishishi!"

"THAT'S NOT A GOOD THING!" I pointed out in exasperation.

"So, what do we do?" spoke up Zoro. "Give 'em hell?"

"Yeah!" Lucy agreed. "Let's fight!"

Usopp was not amused. "Why must we always do this?" he lamented. "How come there's always some type of danger whenever you guys are involved? How do you plan to take on an entire fleet? What the hell will raiding them do?"

"It'll do something."

"NANI!?"

I turned to my captain. "Lucy, you fling Zoro and Sanji over there. Usopp, you take command of the cannon as backup for us. I'll get myself onto their ships using my demigod powers."

"Hontou?" Usopp sighed in relief. "Yatta! Then leave it to me. And just in case we have to make a quick escape, I'll do that, too!"

"Good plan!" she approved. "Yosha! Let's do this!"

Zoro backed up, looking panicked. "Oi, matte! You're not gonna - -"

Suddenly Nami gasped and said, "Zoro, face the sails south! Damon, get back up in the crow's nest! Usopp, Sanji-kun, take control of the rudder and steer us hard to starboard!" We blinked and looked at each other, but she barked, "NOW!" and we immediately did as we were told.

"Hey, Nami!" I called from the crow's nest once I had scrambled up the net. "What's up?"

"Yeah, what's going on?" Lucy wondered.

She frowned. "A squall is coming. We'll catch it and get away." She looked out to the fleet. "There's no way we could take that many ships on with the number of hands we have now."

"We'd be fine," the straw hatted girl protested.

A sudden gust of wind pushed the sails out as far as they could go without ripping and we increased speed. Lucy yelped and had to hold her hat in place so it wouldn't fly off. Riding the wind at such a speed from this high up felt almost like a roller coaster with no seat belts. It was an exhilarating feeling, but also a terrifying one.

"Ne, we're going really fast!" Lucy giggled from the lower deck. "This wind's fun!"

Usopp glanced behind us and grinned. "Check it out, Luce! We're loosing the Marines! Ha ha! Just try to catch us now!"

But I was getting a bad feeling, a warning tingle in my neck. "Hey guys!" I called. "We're sailing towards something weird with the sea."

"Weird?" Nami muttered, checking a compass. "We're going south..."

After a few more minutes of the huge gust, the wind died down, as did our speed (considerably), and when I looked off into the horizon, the Marines were nowhere to be found. That worried me a bit. They wouldn't give up chasing a big name simply because of a little wind. They'd probably try to ride the wind, too, in hopes of catching up with us. And now that I was thinking about it, I was getting a cold feeling on my neck, like the one I got when we were passing the reef before our landing at Conomi Island. But I was getting it in multiple places, like there was more than one huge creature.

"Oi, guys!" I shouted, worried. "Something big's coming and it's got friends!"

Usopp was ignoring me. "Ha! Those dumb Marines will never catch up to us now! Another great victory for Captain Usopp-sama!"

"Sugoi! Cool!" Lucy approved. "That's my navigator!"

"Ah, Nami-san is so wonderful she can even predict the wind~!" Sanji cooed.

"Well, I just had a feeling. And hold on," said Nami. "Damon, did you say that some large creatures were coming?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Oi," Zoro cut in. "We don't seem to be moving. It's weird."

There was a pause. Nami and I looked around and sure enough, we didn't appear to be moving. The sails were flat. The small black flag on top of the mast wasn't flapping. In fact, when I looked at the ocean, it was completely still. "Ne, you're right, Zoro," I remarked. "Come to think of it, the sea's as flat as a pancake. Flatter, even." That fact worried me. I'd been sailing for over three weeks now, and I had never seen the ocean this calm. Not a single time.

Suddenly Nami let out a piercing scream.

"Eh? What's up, Nami?" Lucy asked.

"Nami-san?" worried Sanji.

"Oh, no..." moaned Nami in horror, her body shaking so bad I could see it even from this high up. "WE'VE ENTERED THE CALM BELT!"

This didn't exactly have the reaction she'd been expecting. Everybody except myself looked at each other, confused, even though I'd explained to them last week. They must've already forgotten. But I hadn't. I stared at the ocean - - the Calm Belt - - in horror.

"So then those large sea creatures I detected..." I gasped.

Nami nodded. Her voice sounded scared, and I bet her face was ashen. "Hai. Sea kings."

My neck tingled and suddenly the ship rocked violently everybody shouted in surprise and tried to regain our balance. It was hardest for me, because I was in the crow's nest and had very nearly been tossed over the side.

"What the... an earthquake?" Lucy guessed.

Sanji stared at her. "An earthquake on the ocean?"

"You guys!" Nami sighed. "Stop talking like we're fine! Roll up the sails and start rowing. Get us back to where we were before as soon as possible. Damon, make a current in the water that will take us back to the East Blue."

"HAI, NAMI-SAAAAAN!" said Sanji

"Yeah," I agreed, my face pale. "That was no earthquake."

Lucy tilted her head. "Back to East Blue?"

"What are you so worked up about? Why do we need to row?" Zoro complained. "This is a sailing ship."

Usopp, too, was unmoved. "Yeah, he's right! Why would we go back there when we just ran away from the Marines? Isn't it better out here, safer?"

"WOULD YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME!?" Nami roared. We had started moving again, albeit slowly, because I had already started up an ocean current to get us the hell out of here. "WE'RE IN REAL DEEP TROUBLE, HERE!"

"But the seas are so quiet!" Lucy protested.

"That's exactly it!" I agreed. "The seas are too quiet. We rode that wind too far and now we're in the Calm Belt. Sailing ships can't go through it because of two reasons: One, there is no wind or even water currents. Like, ever. You could spend a life time in the Calm Belt and you'd never feel a bit of wind. Also, there are even bigger problems, the sea kings. The Calm Belt is home to hundreds, thousands, even, of the biggest sea kings in the world."

"S-Sea kings!?" yelped Usopp.

Sanji stared at the sea. "So when the old fart said the Calm Belt was dangerous, this was what he meant?"

Nami nodded quickly. "That's right. So ROW THE HELL OUTTA HERE ALREADY!"

My neck tingled and I froze. "No, don't bother. It's already too late. They're surfacing."

The sea had started getting choppy and the ship shook once more. The back of my neck went crazy. Below us, water pushed upward almost by itself and we were lifted high up into the air. While Usopp and Nami screamed their heads off, I tried desperately to keep my balance but didn't need to worry about my belli bag. It was packed so tightly into the crow's nest that it wouldn't budge. As I looked out around us, I saw the same thing happening in multiple places in the ocean. One of the bulges of water had to enormous eyes sticking out of it.

"Eh? What's that?" Lucy asked, peering at it in interest.

"I don't want to be eaten!" moaned the local wimp.

Around us, the water cascaded off of the creatures' heads, and we were finally able to see them. One was like a giant, yellow frog, and another had a head shaped like a horse. One was long, pink, and had fluffy white rings around its body. The one we were on was a nightmare baby between a zebra and a whale.

Sanji's jaw nearly touched the floor. Usopp looked like he was gonna pass out. Nami was hugging the mast and crying anime tears. Our captain was staring at the sea kings like they were her next meal. Zoro was frozen as he stared at the monsters all around us. His reaction would've been hilarious if I hadn't been feeling the exact same thing as him: Pure terror. We slipped down the snout of the zebra-whale thing and halted to a stop, which finally tossed me off of the crow's nest with a horrified scream.

"The reason you can't cross the Calm Belt is because of these things!" Nami cried.

"What are we supposed to do now?" hissed Sanji.

"For now, nobody move a muscle!" Zoro advised. "We'll be back in the water soon, and then we're gonna row like hell!"

"HEY, MINNA!" I shouted. "I'M KINDA FALLING TO MY DEATH HERE!"

But maybe I should've stayed silent, because the shout caught the attention of the Frogzilla. The enormous yellow creature jumped out of the water and right at me. I was on a direct collision course with its throat.

"Damon!" Lucy gasped. "Don't die! I'll save you!" She stretched her arm down to me and managed to wrap it around my waist. She retracted me back high into the air above our ship, with me crying tears of fear all the way. Not a moment too soon. Just as I was rescued, the frog snapped its mouth shut. If she'd been even a second later, I'd have been fish food and Lucy might have lost her arm. I looked down. Lucy was hanging off the side of the ship, arm wrapped around the mast so she herself didn't fall.

"A-Arigatou," I managed.

"No problem!" she called back.

I noticed the zebra-whale had a nose and got an idea. "Oi, Lucy-chan! Stretch me back down there! I have an idea to get us out of this mess!" Come to think of it, Apis had this exact same idea in the anime. So I knew it would definitely work. And come to think of that, we'd been following the anime pretty closely. So why didn't Apis show up today? Maybe it was unimportant since the Warship Island Arc was just a filler?

"Sure," said Lucy.

She swung me down to and I passed the monster's nose. I swung there for a second and tried not to throw up. Then I reached out and yanked out a giant nose hair from it's nostril.

"Yosha! Beam me up, Scotty!" I cheered.

I wasn't sure if she'd understand, but luckily she did. As the sea king reared back, Lucy retracted her arm and I tumbled to the lower deck of the Merry, where I was caught by Zoro, who didn't appreciate the collision. The nose hair bounced away and fell into the ocean.

Lucy giggled. "That's one big nose hair!"

"Wait a damn second..." cried Usopp.

"If you do that..." moaned Nami.

Sanji's face was ashen. "That thing's gonna sneeze!"

"Exactly!" I agreed.

The sea king's nose twitched and the Going Merry creaked and groaned, shaking like crazy. Lucy announced that it was time to go, and then the zebra-whale let out a huge sneeze that caused us to fly over the entire monster infestation.

"Gesundheit!" I shouted.

A certain straw hatted girl was amazed. "Whoa! It feels like we're flying!"

"NANI!?" the other Straw Hats yelled in terror. "HOW CAN YOU TWO BE SO CAREFREE ABOUT THAT!"

"We are flying!" Usopp corrected her.

SPLASH.

A few minutes of screaming later, we fell into the ocean and threw up a huge wave. I sighed in relief. My neck wasn't tingling any more and the surface of the sea was wavy. We had soared out of the Calm Belt. What wasn't good, though, was the fact that we were all still hanging in the air while our ship was below us. Lucy fixed this problem by wrapping herself around us and using her body as a cushion when we smashed into the Merry.

We rolled off her, cursing.

"Well, looks like we're back in the East Blue," said Nami in relief once we'd all recovered.

"Thank the gods," I sighed.

Zoro nodded, adding, "And no sign of the Marines."

Usopp had turned blue, like a Smurf. "I thought I was gonna die," he moaned.

"Yosha!" cheered Lucy. "Full sails! Our heading? Of course, it's the entrance to the Grand Line!"

The next three days were filled with nightmares about being eaten by frogs. Plus, some of them were mixed in with the terrible memory of the body of the demigod I'd killed outside of Arlong Park, Fennu. So to say that I wasn't very well rested when we saw the Red Line was like saying the Empire State Building is tall.

"Nami-san!" called Sanji. He was up in the crow's nest with me, helping me as co-lookout. "Report of love! There's dark clouds up ahead with a storm underneath!"

Leaning out over the railing, Nami sighed. "Guess we're back on our original course, then. We should see the Red Line soon."

Lucy stretched her arms up, latched onto the edge of the crow's nest, and flung herself up here with us. Now that there was three people in the lookout post at the same time, it was a bit crowded, but she didn't seem to mind. "Alright!" she giggled. "We're finally getting to the Grand Line!" She started patting Sanji on the back, but it wasn't really a pat so much as a hit. "Oi, Sanji! We're getting there~! We're getting there, man~! We're getting there!"

"I know!" Sanji cooed, his eyes turning to hearts as he swooned at his beloved captain's touch. "It's amazing, Lucy-CHWAN!"

She started hitting me, too. "Oi, Damon! We're getting there, man! We're getting there! We're getting there!"

I frowned and hit her over the head. "I can see that, now shut up."

"Meanie."

About two hours later, we had almost reached the storm and were done with lunch - - a delicious fish filet made with some salmon that Lucy and Usopp had caught the other day. Nami rolled out her map of the Grand Line, flattened it on the table, and slapped it, getting everyone's attention.

"Alright, guys, listen up!" she told us. "I've heard the rumors, but it's written here on the map, too. If it's true, then the entrance to Grand Line is a mountain." She was wearing a light blue diamond-patterned tank top with a darker blue heart over her sizable chest.

"A mountain?" Lucy repeated.

I grinned. "Is there an echo here or something?"

Snickers from Usopp. Then he went back to what he'd been doing previously: Trying desperately to move the rudder. But either he was weak or it was stuck, because it wasn't moving.

"You mean we have to crash through a mountain?" asked Zoro, raising an eyebrow. "The hell?"

"I thought it was crazy too," Nami soothed, "but there are canals drawn along the mountainside. That might mean we have to climb it."

"Oo, sounds like fun!" our captain approved.

"What are you talking about?" Zoro grumbled. "Even if there was a canal, it's impossible for a ship to climb a mountain."

"But that's what the map says!" the ginger protested.

Zoro was unmoved. "You stole that map from Buggy, right? You really want to trust it?"

I jumped in. "Oo, oo, I know this! The canals have such a strong current that they actually force themselves up the mountainside! But the currents on either side of the canals go down, and if we hit those, we'll smash into the Red Line and sink to the bottom of the ocean!"

"Listen to them!" Sanji barked at Zoro. "There's no way anything Nami-san says could be wrong!"

"Oi, Zoro!" Usopp whined.

Nami sighed. "Sanji-kun, go help Usopp with the steering rudder, will you? I can't think straight with all that noise!"

"HAI, NAMI-SWAN!" He wiggled over to the rudder. How the hell did his legs even do that? He grabbed hold of the rudder and said, "Here we go~! ...Huh?" The rudder still didn't move.

"The current's too strong!" grunted his companion.

Come to think of it, my neck had been tingling for quite some time now...

"Eh?" Nami blinked and stood up. "Usopp, say that again."

"I said that the current's flowing too fast!"

The redhead frowned thoughtfully then her eyes widened in realization. "The current... so Damon was right! We must've sailed onto one of the currents around Reverse Mountain! We really do have to climb the mountain!"

"You're still going on about that?" Zoro snorted.

Nami nodded and pointed to a spot on the map. "Listen: There's no doubt that the 'guiding light' last week was pointing to Reverse Mountain, which is on the Red Line."

Sanji had left the rudder to come look at the map, and Usopp yelled, "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO HERE?"

The ginger ignored him and pointed to a blue line drawn horizontally from the center of Reverse Mountain to the Grand Line. "See this? If the other four lines from the Blues flow up the mountain, they'd meet at the top and flow straight down it here into the Grand Line."

I tilted my head. "There's one part about that I don't get. Wouldn't we have so much force from the current that when we reach the top, we'd soar over the meeting point and down into either one of the other Blue currents or the mountain itself?"

Nami shrugged. "I don't know. I guess we'll see once we get there. Do you guys understand?"

Lucy rubbed her chin and grinned. "I get it! It's a mystery mountain, right? Shishishi!"

"IT'S NOT A MYSTERY!" I yelled, hitting her upside the head in frustration and exasperation. "WE JUST SPENT, LIKE, THREE MINUTES EXPLAINING IT TO YOU!"

The other girl sighed. "I don't think you get it at all... In any case, our ship is already riding on either the current up to the mountain, or the currents going straight down. So if we're lucky and if we don't mess up our steering, we should make it up Reverse Mountain in one piece."

I chuckled. "Ha! One piece! Nice pun!"

"IT WASN'T A PUN!"

"NAMI-SAN, YOU'RE SO AWESOME!" I don't even need to point out who said that...

Zoro was set permanently against it. "I ain't never heard of that. Ships climbing mountains."

"I've heard something!" Sanji cut in.

"About the mystery mountain?" wondered Lucy.

"No, not really. Just that about half of everyone who attempts to enter the Grand Line dies trying. So I know it ain't easy to get in."

My neck's tingling grew stronger and we heard it start raining outside.

"Sanji-kun, furl up the sails!" Nami ordered.

"HAI, NAMI-SWAAAN! Damon, get your ass over here!"

"Oh, come on!"

I sighed and ran out of the kitchen with the love cook. We scooted up the main mast and dashed along the thick poles sticking out on either side of the mast that the sails were attached to. I heaved and pulled with all my might, dragging the heavy canvas up and hanging onto the ropes for dear life. The wind was so strong I felt like a rag doll. A single gust could blow me off at any time, either tossing me into the sea (in which case, I'd probably survive because of my demigod powers) or tossing me into the ship (in which case I'd become a Damon-pancake). As I was thinking about this, I happened to look up. What I saw made me gasp. A red rock wall was reaching out of the ocean in front of us, and it was so tall I couldn't see the top. It was taller than the clouds! It was so huge I nearly crapped myself!

"Oi!" I called. "Reverse Mountain dead ahead!"

Everyone else ran out of the kitchen and gasped. "Man, it's huge!" commented Usopp. Because of my current position, I couldn't see his face, but I thought his expression must've been hilarious.

"The entrance to the Grand Line..." Nami said in a small voice.

"Lucy, catch me!" I shouted over the roar of the wind. I let go of my perch, having successfully furled up my side of the sails, and for a moment had the frightening sensation of dropping into space. Then I felt an arm wrap around me and I was pulled into a soft landing. I rolled off Lucy and thanked her.

Lucy grinned. "No problem!" Then she stood up and turned again, squealing in excitement. "So that's the Red Line, eh?"

"Y-You c-can't even see past the clouds!" Usopp reported, looking stricken.

I frowned. "Where's the canal? I can't see it!"

Suddenly my neck went crazy and the ship rocked a little. Lucy screamed, "We're getting sucked in!"

"Grab the helm!" Nami commanded. "Damon, try to make a current into the canal entrance! There's a small break in the mountain; that's where we want to go!"

I squinted and saw what she was talking about. "Right, I'm on it!" I sent my thoughts out to the sea, but it was wild and rough. I was feeling extremely energized, however, despite my lack of sleep, and I commanded it sharply to flow into the canal. There was a moment where it resisted my order, and I shouted in my mind, DO IT NOW! Finally, the patch of sea we were sailing on changed direction and flowed into the current that was pushing up Reverse Mountain.

It had taken a lot out of me, though, and I fell to my knees, panting.

Zoro had a pair of binoculars and was peering through them at the crack, jaw dropped. "I-I... I don't believe it!" he muttered. "The water really is... climbing up the mountain!"

I raised my eyebrow. Even though I'd been pretty much accepting everything before this point, I wouldn't be able to believe this unless I saw it with my own eyes. I ripped the binoculars away from the Marimo and looked at the crack myself. I did a double-take. Nearly crapped myself again. The water was moving so fast it was actually flowing uphill past the clouds! There was also a series of gates that had been built up in the entrance of the canal that had Japanese kanji on them, saying things like Good luck! and May God be with you; you'll need him where you're going.

"Make sure we keep a straight course!" Nami yelled. "If we don't, the ship'll smash into pieces on the cliff!"

A horrible image of the Merry crashing into that giant, unbreakable will flashed through my mind. I swiveled around and glared at Usopp and Sanji, who were manning the helm. "IF YOU TWO BAKAS GET US KILLED, I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

"That doesn't even make any sense!" Usopp pointed out, grunting with the effort of trying to move the helm. "How can you kill us if we're already dead?"

"I DON'T KNOW, BUT I'LL FIND A WAY SOMEHOW!"

"We're drifting!" noticed Lucy. "Go to the right! Right, right, right!"

"The right?" said the teen with the world's longest nose. "Okay, hard to starboard!" He and Sanji heaved with all their might, but as I was watching, the helm still didn't budge. In fact, it broke.

"YOU BASTARDS!" I screamed, my voice actually getting a little hoarse. "I'M GONNA KILL YOU SOMEDAY!" I swiftly turned and sent my thoughts out to the sea again, forcing the rebelling current to get us back on the correct path.

Just in time. Even a second slower and we'd have smashed into the water gate.

Sanji and Usopp were doing a victory dance in the kitchen.

Lucy, holding onto her hat to keep it in place, grinned in triumph.

As one, us Straw Hats roared, "WE DID IT!"

We had made it into Reverse Mountain. We had a straight path up to the sky, and the next stop, if all went well and we didn't soar into the other side of the mountain like I'd asked, then the next stop was the Grand Line.

TO BE CONTINUED