A/N: Update time! Other than that, carry on.
Entering the Grand Line
"Why the hell did we leave Kai there alone!" Marshall shouted, slamming his hand against the railing of their ship.
Marshall had left Kai to face the Admiral, after a little shove, and had sprinted back to the ship as fast as he could. When he got there, he had found Nemo and Doctor waiting for them. He had quickly explained that Kai was facing off against an Admiral and that Doctor should go and give him a hand, but Doctor brushed that notion to the side and told Marshall to get aboard. He did so, and even as he objected, Doctor started to get the ship moving. Now they were a fair bit away from Yew City and heading onwards, lacking a Captain.
"I told you to go back and help him!" Marshall said again, moving up to Doctor who was lounging against the side.
"So you did." Doctor replied, yawning wildly and looking out in the direction the ship was moving.
"He's probably been captured by now, or killed, and it's all because you decided to run away instead of fighting…"
"Enough!" Doctor said and turned back to Marshall with his arms crossed. "How much of an idiot are you, fretting over nonsense."
"Nonsense? He was facing an Admiral! No-one can face one of them alone." Marshall replied.
"You panic too much, Marshall." A voice said before behind, and Marshall turned to see Nemo stepping out of room below deck.
"Don't you remember who our Captain is?" Doctor added. "He's…"
"I'm Kai Velure, and don't you ever forget it!" A voice said from above them and as the three of them looked up; Kai dropped down to the deck and brushed invisible dirt off his top. "No child is going to be able to take me down, no matter what rank they may hold."
"Did you kill him?" Marshall asked, clearly stunned.
"Kill him? No, that would be too much of a waste." He smiled "Let's just say that the marines won't be underestimating me this time around."
Marshall actually sat down on the deck to prevent himself from falling over. "How was he?" Doctor asked with a sly grin on his face.
"Our Aokiji was stronger, although he does have a nifty little Devil Fruit ability. He'll certainly be an interesting fight when we get around to it." Kai replied, his smile similar to Doctor's. "But more importantly, Marshall, you need to go and man the helm."
Marshall shook his head to recover himself from the shock and used his arm to pull himself to his feet. "The helm, in the middle of the ocean? Are we not heading the right direction?"
"See, this is why you aren't the navigator…" he paused in thought. "Oh yeah, I'll have to add that to my list, I can't be doing everything now." He frowned and then shrugged and then turned back to the front of the ship. "See that?" he pointed forwards, but all Marshall could see was mist.
"I don't see anything." Marshall admitted, moving forward slightly to get a better look.
"Nemo, what about you? Can you see anything?" Kai was smiling wider now and even Doctor's smile had crept out.
Nemo walked to the front of the ship and leant on the railing to look as far forward as he could. "All I see is mist."
"Give it a minute and you will understand what I'm talking about…I suggest you keep your gaze a little bit higher then you would normally." Kai said, still smiling wildly.
A minute passed but still, only a mass amount of fog seemed to be in front of them; but then the shadow appeared. It was massive, rising so high into the sky that the top was hidden by the clouds. As they got a little bit closer, it was revealed to be a humungous wall of rock, the biggest cliff in the world.
"What is that?" Marshall said, amazed. Even Nemo had a look of awe on his face.
"That, my crew, is the Red Line. It has been many years, old friend." He muttered the last sentence and nodded respectfully to the mass of rock. "But now is not the time for dillydallying, Marshall man the helm! Nemo, get to the bow; you're to make sure we're not going to hit anything we shouldn't do. Doctor, to the crow's nest." Despite their amazement, Nemo and Marshall reacted to the order and moved off to their posts. Doctor, on the other hand, simply looked up to the top of the mast.
"There isn't a crow's nest…" he said, glancing at Kai.
"Oh yeah, we'll have to build one in. You'll just have to hang on real tight then." Kai said and when Doctor started to say something, he smiled. Doctor shook his head but leapt nimbly up the mast to take his position.
"Where are we going Kai, we're going to smash into the rocks!" Marshall cried, looking ahead at the wall.
"Don't panic. The size of the Red Line throws your sense of distance off. But more importantly, we're aiming for a waterway in the cliff; it should send us up the mountain."
"Mountain?" Nemo questioned, glancing back at Kai quickly.
"Keep your eyes to the front Nemo; if there are rocks in the water, you're the one who needs to tell us. But to answer your question, yes, I said a mountain. I think I've mentioned this before, but we're heading for Reverse Mountain, it's a unique mountain in that there are 5 waterways carved into its sides, each leading from a different Blue and into the Grand Line. That's not the unique bit though; the unique bit is that the waterways run up the mountain, and will carry and ship that gets into its current."
"We're going to sail up a mountain!" Marshall said, his eyes locked on the massive wall they were approaching.
"Exactly, now hold that bearing Marshall and don't waver. I'll lend a little bit of a hand." He dropped to one knee and crossed his arms, resting his fingers on the opposite shoulder. "Diamante, Cerro Gemelo Senda." Small bits of diamond floated off his body and then disappeared over the side of the ship. Suddenly, a bar of diamond appeared either side of the ship and created a pathway for Marshall to follow. "Keep to that and we shouldn't crash into the sides of the waterway…look, there it is!" Kai pointed forward just as an opening in the rock face appeared.
It was wide enough for a big ship and followed the side of the mountain into the air. Over the entrance, someone had created stylised arcs made of stone and wood; however, one of them had collapsed and was blocking the route.
"Doctor…" Kai started but Doctor had already leapt forward of the mast with an impressive jump and was aiming for the collapsed arc.
"Falling Axe!" he called out, and despite the distance between him and the blockade, the stone was blasted into rubble and disappeared under the surface of the water, freeing the route up for the ship to take. Doctor then looked down as he was about to hit the surface of the water and clasped his hat on his head before splashing down.
A second passed and then he reappeared, grabbing hold of one of Kai's diamond bars, lifting himself out of the water and expertly balancing on it. The current had now caught hold of the ship and it was pulling it forward at a greater speed, allowing Doctor to jump up from his perch and land on the deck. He shook himself off, and then without another word he launched himself to the top of the mast.
"Marshall, don't fight it now, we're in the current!" Kai shouted back to his crewmate, who had been holding the wheel in a vice grip. Marshall released his hold but the wheel hardly moved as the ship raced towards the entrance. "Brace yourselves!" he called just as the ship crashed into the incline of water.
There was a massive rise in the water and a wave crashed its way over the deck, knocking Nemo away from the railing and back into Kai, who caught him without looking. He deposited the soaking pirate on the deck and burst out laughing. "I'll never get tired of entering the Grand Line, although I wonder if the other Blues have to go through a similar thing." He jumped to the side and landed on the railing, holding onto the rigging to keep balance. "Now, for those of you new to this experience, hold onto your stomachs and behold the Grand Line!"
As he shouted the last two words, the ship finally crested the peak of the mountain and the crew was shown their destination from a once-likely position of the peak of Reverse Mountain. However, even with the beautiful view one had from looking into the distance, Kai's view was focused down the waterway to their exit.
"Something isn't right…" he said and rushed forward to lean on the railing. "Doctor, what's happening down there!" he shouted, looking up to Doctor, who had the best view.
"I don't know, I can't see because of this mist. But something is definitely wrong." He shouted back before dropping from the mast and landing on the deck. "It looks like someone's built some kind of dock-island or something."
"I don't like the sound of that, what of Laboon?"
"Laboon?" Nemo questioned but was ignored.
"I can't see him." Was Doctor's reply, a look of concern on his face.
"Then something is wrong, guys, prepare for the worst."
"What's the worst?" Marshall asked from his position at the wheel.
"We'll find out when we get there. Look, there's the exit." He pointed again and sure enough, the waterway suddenly opened out to a large sea, except that it didn't.
Although there was a large space of water for them to land in, they soon discovered that they were in a semi-circle dock like area, with a number of ships moored up against this side. Except that on closer inspection, it looked like the ships had been abandoned; some of them had even started to fall apart.
"What is this?" Marshall asked, finally giving up his position and walking up to where the others were standing.
"Unnatural is what this is." Doctor replied, surveying their surroundings. "This shouldn't be here."
"Doctor, park us up on the right over there, away from the other ships. We'll disembark there and find out just what the hell is going on here."
Doctor nodded and jogged over to where Marshall had been moments before to take up the wheel. Just like in Yew City, he was surprisingly talented at steering the ship towards dock, and when they were close enough, Kai sent Nemo over the edge of the ship to tie the mooring rope.
"Doctor, drop the anchor and meet on 'shore'" He said the word 'shore' with clear sarcasm, and anger, as he jumped over the side and landed on the wooden decking.
Kai surveyed what he could see but the thick mist prevented him from seeing much, what he could see was some kind of sign pointing them to go in a certain direction. "Look, there's a sign and everything, come on." He said, just as Doctor joined them.
They walked through the mist, Kai taking the lead and Doctor at the rear, following the signs until shadows started appearing. They were high up and strange and when Kai went to investigate one of them, his body started to shake in anger. Doctor noticed this immediately and rushed forward to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Kai?" He questioned, ready to react to an outburst.
"I'm under control, but look at that." Kai said and raised a hand to what he had been looking out. Doctor followed his gesture and froze when he saw what it was, his hand gripping down on Kai's shoulder with more force.
It was a cross, with a figure nailed to it by the wrists and ankles; a small platform under its feet stopped it from ripping itself free from gravity. The figure was malnourished, his hair was falling out, and he was dead. By the looks of it he had been dead for a number of years.
"Who the hell…" he started, looking behind the cross to see hundreds more set up on the wooden island. "Just, who the hell would do this?"
"Hell…hello…?" A voice croaked from the mist and Kai immediately pinpointed the voice and rushed over to another person nailed to a cross, but this one was alive. As Kai got closer he recognised the distinctive hairstyle and half-beard.
"Crocus…" Kai said, looking up at the former member of Gol D Rogers' crew and carer for the whale Laboon. "What happened here?"
A/N: Oh noes, what heinous creature would do this to our lovable Crocus? More importantly, where the hell is Laboon? Keep your eyes and ears peeled for the next chapter heading your way…and so the penultimate chapter comes to a close and the final chapter follows! The end is nigh I tell you!
