Hello, all my readers, new and old alike. Welcome to Grand Line Paradise, my moster no. 2. Since One Piece is a long way from bing finished, who knows how long this thing is going to be by the end. How many installments will it have. Will I even be able to write this until the end?
Malin; You started it; now you finish it.
Me; Reality is Harsh. Oh well, I was gaining a little popularity with the first part; On Top Of The World; Romance Dawn, so while it's not my most popular one, it's still in pretty high demand. Thus I will continue to write. So to all my loyal readers who have followed me all the way here; Thank you.
To all my new readers; Welcome. Please enjoy the madness. And if you wish to read the first half; On top of the World; Romance dawn, you may find it on my profile.
Part 1; Island Whale
Chapter 1/4; There's an entrance for a reason
One of these days, Buggy knew his luck would run out. Today he had been struck by lightning, and if he hadn't had a devil fruit power he knew for sure he'd be dead now. Sure, he still felt the effect of the electricity in all of his muscles, lungs and heart included, but otherwise he was just sooty. Next the marine had captured both him and Alvida in a sea-stone net. Because of course this island had a captain with a devil fruit, and knew how to deal with pirates who had eaten devil fruits. This was Logue Town for crying out loud!
Well, Straw hat had also survived, and the marine officer had gone after her, which meant Buggy and his men plus Alvida, with a little help of the brewing storm, had managed to escape. Buggy had kept the net though, just in case. He wasn't stupid enough to rely only on his devil fruit power, he'd been through too much to not know what happened to those who thought they were invincible just because they had some inhuman power.
Now the clown pirates and Alvida were back in their hideout, where they found Moji and Ritchie.
"Good. I trust you burnt Straw-hat's ship to charcoal," Buggy said and was about to step past his right-hand man.
"It's quite funny actually…" Moji started, laughing nervously.
The clown captain bore his gaze into Moji and Ritchie. "Did you not burn their ship?"
"It took some time to find it, and then it started raining…"
Buggy really had had enough of bad luck, and the beast-tamer certainly deserved the beating he received. The upside was that beating Moji released a lot of Buggy's stress and made him think clearly again.
"If Monster girl still has her ship then she's on her way to Grand Line already. Let's follow her."
All of his men, and even Alvida started. "Grand Line?!"
"But captain!"
"Don't be a fool, Buggy," Alvida protested. "We don't know enough about that sea. According to the rumours not even half of all the ships trying actually manage to survive entering the Grand Line."
"Why so shocked?" Buggy asked calmly. "We have unfinished business with Straw-hat. It's a perfect opportunity. Besides, don't underestimate us. We have everything we need to return to the Grand Line."
Smoker's heart was still pumping with adrenaline when he returned to the base. Dragon, the rebel leader and wanted by the whole world. Well, Smoker didn't have much of a problem with the rebels against the world government, rebels weren't pirates and they didn't aid pirates. Yet today in this very city, the rebel leader himself had shown up and stopped the capture of one single pirate.
There was something else going on here.
And Buggy the clown plus Alvida and their crew had escaped. As if Smoker cared about such small fry when Mugiwara no Ruffy set off every single one of his inner alarms.
"Ready a ship! I'm going to continue my pursuit of the straw-hat!"
"What?"
Smoker's eyes narrowed at the protest. "I'm going to the Grand Line."
The troops around him gaped in disbelief. All but one.
"I'm coming too!" Tashigi shouted, much to Smoker's surprise. "I can't forgive that Lolonoa Zoro! I'll bring him down with my own two hands!"
Well, that was a rather good look on the woman, Smoker thought. Tashigi would never have that air of a woman scorned that made men cower in fear, but the face she pulled now was pretty close.
"B-but sir!" the sergeant protested. "This town us under your jurisdiction! What will your superiors say when they hear…"
Smoker shot the man down with one dangerous look and a message. "Tell them they can't order me around."
"Here Nami! Log pose!"
The navigator took the gift her captain handed to her with some surprise. They were still in the middle of the storm and Ruffy had just stopped in passing –wearing Sanji's clothes and smelling like burnt flesh for some reason– to hand over the strange trinket before moving on. It looked like a cheap bracelet with a glass ball with a compass needle inside it. Sweet gesture, Nami supposed with a shrug, and put the gift in her pocket. She had other things to worry about.
Ruffy jumped onto Merry's head after pulling the ropes of the sails a little tighter. The ship was light and the wind was strong, also it was a tailwind, which meant Ruffy wasn't getting any rain in her eyes as she studied the lighthouse.
"Everyone! Gather inside, I need to tell you something," Nami suddenly yelled.
Sanji had been in the kitchen for a few minutes already, making tea and salmon rice balls for when anyone needed some warmth and energy. He served the crewmembers cups of tea as they arrived one after another.
Ruffy was last. Actually, Sanji wasn't so sure she would even come inside the kitchen due to whatever issue she had. But he suddenly heard a strange noise outside the door, right before Ruffy walked inside the kitchen, keeping a tight hold of Sanji's blazer with one hand and digging the other in underneath it. A moment later she pulled out the remains of her red tank top.
"It came off," she said with a sad frown.
"What happened?!" Usopp cried out. "It looks like it got burnt!" He suddenly sniffed the air. "Actually, it smells like something got burnt."
"It should. Ruffy was struck by lightning," Zoro said, frowning, probably at the fact he didn't know what to do with or for Ruffy. Sanji had to admit, at least to himself, that he was as lost as the other in what to do. He wanted to worry about Ruffy, dote on her and most of all check the damage. But they'd been a little preoccupied until now. And even now was a bad time to start doing something.
"Struck. By. Lightning?" Usopp repeated each word individually, as if they didn't belong in the same sentence. He looked at Sanji with a rather deadpan face. "Why isn't she dead?"
The cook could only shrug helplessly.
"Shouldn't I be alive?" Ruffy pouted, before something seemed to catch up with her. "I was struck by lightning?" she asked Zoro.
"Yes," the swordsman said slowly as Sanji handed a cup of tea to the girl. "Right as Buggy was about to behead you, lightning struck."
"Oh. I thought someone hit me in the back with a hammer or something. So it was lightning huh?"
She sure took it well. Unfortunately, as she accepted the tea, she spasmed again and threw the hot beverage right at Sanji and broke the cup in her hand at the same time. The cook quickly lifted his arm to protect his face.
"Sorry!" Ruffy gasped. "I can't control it."
"Of course you can't!" Nami cried. "Getting any kind of electricity into you messes up your body's functions! I'm surprised you can even walk."
Sanji exchanged a look with Zoro, silently agreeing on not saying that Ruffy actually hadn't been able to walk for a while.
"Well whatever, sit down. There's something you need to know," the navigator ordered.
Sanji gently pulled Ruffy towards the bench by the wall to sit beside Zoro. There was no blood on her hand so crushing the cup hadn't hurt her further, but Sanji still had a little mess to clean up. The fact that Ruffy showed no kind of discomfort from the fact she was inside the kitchen, and that she didn't seem to understand Nami's order showed that the lightning might have done more than just physical damage. He could only hope it wasn't permanent.
"The entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain!" Nami declared.
All the boys said; "Mountain?!"
Ruffy hiccupped and said; "I know."
Nami opened her mouth, just to close it again when Ruffy's words registered. "You know?"
"Sun told me. She was going to show it to me and let our boat sail up the mountain." Ruffy then pouted. "But the marines are cheating and go straight through the Calm Belt, so they cut us off."
"That's impossible!" Nami protested. "Nobody can cross the Calm Belt and survive!"
Usopp looked between the girls. "What's the Calm Belt?"
"And why does Grand Line have an entrance to begin with? Can't we just sail south and still enter?" Zoro had to ask, not exactly sure why Ruffy would say "Sail up the mountain", which was physically impossible no matter how he looked at it. Water don't run upwards and boats can't climb.
"You use the entrance to avoid the Calm Belt, which is…" Nami was saying when the cook's surprised voice cut her off.
"Hey, we're out of the storm."
Sanji had just cleaned up the shards of Ruffy's crushed cup, still listening carefully to Nami's voice when he'd cast a glance out the window. The rain and darkness outside had suddenly given way to sunshine.
Nami and Ruffy both startled. "What?"
"We shouldn't be! The storm should have taken us all the way to the entrance!" Nami said.
Ruffy jumped up and ran out. "Fucking shit! We've drifted into the Calm Belt!" she cried, and it was the very first time Sanji heard fear in her voice. Nami too turned pale fast.
All the boys went outside too, looking to the clear sky.
"Oh, I can see the storm over there, but the water's almost still here," Usopp observed.
"There's no wind at all," Zoro noticed.
"Everybody grab the oars and start rowing!" Nami cried furiously. "We have to get back into the storm!"
"We have ours?! Where?" Ruffy demanded.
"In the storage below. Get them all," Nami ordered, not bothering with the happy surprise Ruffy was just as anxious as Nami to get back on course.
The captain was quick to obey. It was this fact that had Zoro really start to wonder. Ruffy was anything but a scaredy-cat, and aside from cooks (which was a strange phobia either way) she didn't show much fear. So to see her anxious now had the swordsman glance at Nami again.
"So? What happened?"
"We drifted south just like you suggested!" Nami yelled angrily.
"So we're in Grand Line now?" the swordsman asked looking around. With the wonderful weather and sunshine, it was certainly underwhelming considering all the horror stories.
"If it was this easy anyone could enter!" Nami screeched. "Listen up, all of you! Grand Line is surrounded by two seas called the Calm Belt! That is where we're stuck right now!"
"I got the oars!" Ruffy cried as she ran out from the storage, only to run straight into Usopp.
"And what's so bad about being here?" Zoro pressed Nami, narrowing her eyes.
The navigator didn't have time to answer, because suddenly the ship shook and tilted, then lifted high up in the air. Ruffy and Usopp rolled to the railing, the captain grabbing for the oars with one hand and pressing the other over her ear.
Sanji jumped after the two, and what he saw over the railing made his heart almost stop. Usopp fainted.
Going Merry was suddenly about a thousand meters above the sea, sitting on the snout of a monster.
Zoro was by the mast, but he didn't need to be anywhere else to see the unimaginably large heads and colourful bodies that were suddenly covering the sky around them. Not to mention he had a perfect view of a black and white forehead as big as a whole island with sleepy eyes on both sides.
"Calm Belt is the home of all the worlds' largest sea kings!" Nami cried, clinging onto the main mast, certain that this was it. This was where their journey ended. They'd sailed straight into Calm Belt and would be crushed or eaten by the biggest sea monsters in the world.
Sanji and Zoro both fumbled and grabbed an oar each.
"G-got it," the swordsman stammered, promising himself to take Nami's words at face value from now on. He'd even believe they could sail up a mountain or whatever the entrance called for! "Then we'll row like fucking hell as soon as soon as this thing dives again!"
"Roger!" Sanji agreed, dying to light another cigarette but didn't want to let go of the oar.
Ruffy too had a death-grip on an oar, but she was looking rather green. She also looked a lot like she wanted more arms as she was trying to cover her mouth and ears and hold an oar and the groggy Usopp at the same time.
Then the monster whose snout their ship sat on made a strange noise, Going Merry rocked, and then it was like some sort of underwater explosion unexpectedly shot the ship in the belly, sending her flying. Zoro just managed to catch his captain before she faceplanted on the deck like Usopp –which effectively woke him– and the cook both did. He looked over at Nami, who hadn't let go of the mast and was now holding onto it like a last life-line as gravity took hold of them again. The swordsman looped his arm around the railing, using the oar as a lock and grabbed his captain's neck when Usopp for some reason tried to fly away but was held back by Ruffy who only had one oar in her other hand.
Rain and lightning engulfed them all and the sea returned. Not even Zoro could keep from hitting the deck with a painful sound. Once again the stormy winds tore at their clothes and thunder rolled overhead.
"Safe. Back into the storm," Usopp groaned.
"Do you now understand why people use the entrance?" Nami asked Zoro, who could only nod.
"I hate being drunk."
The swordsman's eyes snapped to his right hand that held onto his captain's neck. She'd vomited, but it was quickly carried away by the rain.
"Drunk?" he asked tensely.
"I had to *hic* win the Grand Line compass and it was awful."
That… no, didn't make sense, but it actually explained a few things, like why Ruffy had walked into the kitchen and had troubles understanding directions. It might also explain why she'd been at the top of the execution stand, but Zoro wasn't about to bet money on that one. She'd done worse stuff sober.
"I get it! The ship will be pulled up the mountain."
"You're still going on about that?" Usopp asked. "And why up the mountain? Why not through?"
"Here," Nami held up the chart. "It's the sea currents. In theory, if all four seas have strong currents going in the direction of reverse mountain, then they would push the water up the waterway. Since we're already riding the current, all we have to worry about is steering."
Ruffy hiccupped and heaved a yellowish, watery substance the rain quickly carried over the railing. "And if we miss the entrance…" she spit over her shoulder, "we'll crash against Red Line and the current will take us to the bottom of the sea."
"Exactly," Nami nodded with excitement glowing in her eyes. "So get to work boys. We need to adjust the sails, grab the helm. We're about to enter Grand Line!"
"Aye, Navigator!"
"Nami-san is wonderful," Sanji sighed dreamily.
"So we're going to climb a mountain with the ship?" Zoro asked as he and the cook adjusted the sail.
"I've heard about it," the cook said around a smile.
"The mountain?" Zoro asked.
"The Grand Line," the blond corrected. "Half of the time people die just trying to enter, and those who do are half dead when they manage."
Anyone with self-preservation would get worried at that, but the cook looked eager, and Zoro couldn't deny he was curious himself. No matter how impossible it sounded to climb a mountain with a ship, if it could be done Zoro wanted to know how much craziness they would face in Grand Line.
"I see the entrance!" Ruffy yelled from the port side where she was keeping the sail taunt.
"Hey! What's that huge shadow?! It's enormous!" Usopp yelled.
Zoro looked over. Indeed, through the rain and mist he saw something even darker, like a wall that covered the entirety of their vision.
"It's Red Line!" Nami yelled.
"I can't even see the top! It disappears into the clouds!"
And they were heading straight towards it. Zoro hurriedly scanned the wall for anything that looked like a waterway or entrance or whatever.
"We're getting sucked in! Grab the helm!" Ruffy yelled.
"Aye, aye Captain!" Usopp and the cook answered.
Nami handed her spyglass over to Zoro, her face full of awe. "It's amazing," she breathed.
"I can't believe it," Zoro agreed as he spotted what looked like several archways, way larger than their ship, in which water was pulled in and running upwards the mountain. He noticed the arches were made of steel of some sort and had designs on them, suggesting it was actually manmade and not natural.
"We're drifting too far port!" Ruffy called. "Hard to starboard!"
"Roger!" came the answering call, and then the sound of snapping wood.
Everyone looked up. Usopp and Sanji were both on the ground, staring at the broken helm. They were still off course, heading straight for the archway rather than the waterway.
"We're crashing!"
Ruffy suddenly jumped off the ship. Zoro almost swallowed his tongue and ran after her, spluttering. The girl landed with her feet against the steel of the archway, and when Merry hit her, she used all momentum she had to push the ship into the waterway, saving them in the nick of time because in that second when Merry was almost still, pushing against Ruffy, she had started tipping dangerously far forward. Zoro desperately ran along the railing, reached down and grabbed Ruffy, hurling her aboard before she lost the pressure of Merry and fell into the ocean herself. The ship scraped against the arch, earning a slight dent, but she was on the right course, sailing up the mountain, heading for Grand Line.
Ruffy looked up at Zoro, who let out a breath of relief to see her alive.
"We did it," Ruffy whispered. Then she sprung up and ran to the bow along with the rest of them. "WE DID IT!"