It was still dark out when Grit woke.
He had a rude awakening.
Despite passing out from the copious amounts of sake that Swiss somehow made him drink, Grit was still a victim of a nightmare.
In his dream were his comrades. He relived those golden days he spent with them.
By the end of the dream, and what forced him to wake up, was a gruesome scene where he watched Gurifis slaughter his comrades.
He did so one by one. When he turned and pointed his bloodied blade at Francesca, Grit tried desperately to run to her side.
But alas, in his dream it felt like he was running in quicksand. No matter how hard he ran, Grit could not make it to his lover.
Like the sands he treaded at his feet, so too did Francesca crumble.
Like space dust prancing in the breeze, never to be truly grasped.
"FRANCESCA?!" Grit rose with sweat covering him all over. His head had a pounding headache. "Ugh.."
Grit stumbled out of his hammock and made his way out of the cabin for some fresh air.
He needed to cool his head.
"Hmmm? It's still nighttime?" Grit came outside only to be met with pure darkness. It must have been a cloudy night because not even the stars or the moon were shining.
"This is ridiculous.." Grit grimaced. It was impossible to see outside, so he turned to head inside and grab a lantern to lighten things up.
He had his hand on the doorknob when suddenly his body felt weightless.
Around this same time, outside, the Giant Pelican was flying at an incredible speed.
Still inside its mouth was our unfortunate trio, unaware that they had caught a flight.
The Giant Pelican flapped its great wings like it was the king of the sky.
Below, rising from the depths of the ocean, came out an entity so large that it could jump from the water and snap at the feet of the passing Giant Pelican.
It was a sea-king; a massive Eel that could swallow a warship in one bite.
Thankfully for the Giant Pelican, the sea king only just managed to bite at its feet.
Unfortunately for Swiss and company, the Giant Pelican, in a panic, opened its mouth and dropped their Jalopy sailboat.
They plummeted towards the ocean.
"AAAAAAH!" Grit screamed, he lost his grip on the doorknob and was now in a free fall.
The Jalopy sailboat spun violently in the air as it went falling into the waves.
Inside the cabin, everything is flying around. Pots and pans, crates of alcohol, and of course, Swiss and Jinzo.
"DAFUQ?!" Swiss woke in a panic.
*CRASHHHHH!*
Miraculously, the Jalopy sailboat managed to land on its hull. Besides the awful mess in the cabin, the boat sustained essentially zero damage.
It was not over yet. A great wave created by the Eel sea king when it launched itself into the air was now upon the sailboat.
They rode that wave like they were surfing at the beach.
"Bruh?! What the fuck just happened?" Swiss ran outside, with Jinzo following closely behind.
"A tidal wave?" Jinzo wondered.
"Oh shittt! Look!" Swiss pointed towards the Eel sea king in the distance, flailing around in the ocean with a Giant Pelican in its mouth.
"… That's terrifying." Jinzo watched in horror.
"Tell me about it. Can you imagine the size of its dick?" Swiss said.
"Pardon me?" Jinzo replied with even more horror.
"Think about it! A fish that huge must have an enormous penis. When that mother fucker jizzes, the whole surrounding water must turn milky white. A bunch of smaller fish probably swarm and eat that shit like its plankton."
Jinzo contorted his face in disgust, "Ewww, Swissan. I think I'm going to be sick…"
"TROLOLOLOL!" Swiss was evidently quite pleased with the consequences of his joke, he wiped away a tear of laughter before then saying, concerned, "Uhhh… Where is Grit?"
That's when a voice hollered from the distance.
"Oiiiii! Over here!"
"Eh?" Swiss and Jinzo peered out in the direction of the voice. "Trololol. We need some telescopes."
"There!" Jinzo pointed to a small dot in the water.
"Ohh, there he is. OI GRIT, WAT ARE U DOIN IN THE WATER, U BAKA!"
"Shut it and pick me up!"
"Trolololol. What was that? I can't hear you…" Swiss held his hand to his ear and pretended to feign ignorance.
Jinzo watched Swiss' childish antics and yawned, "I'll make some tea."
"Right behind you."
Swiss ignored Grit and retired into the cabin.
"Holy fuck…" his jaw dropped in disbelief.
The cabin was a complete mess. Broken shards of glass everywhere, apples all over the place, furniture in disarray, and the eggs that Swiss was especially looking forward to were splattered on the wall.
"Nooooooo!" Swiss dropped to his knees and ran his fingers through the egg yolk in utter sadness, "Not the eggs…"
Jinzo let out a soft chuckle, "Haha. We'll have to get some more at the next port."
"…Yeah." Swiss cheered himself up, "Hey Jinzo, question; How do you like your eggs?"
Jinzo poured himself a cup of tea and hummed as he thought about it, "Hmm, I think I like them best when scrambled. What about you, Swissan?"
A giddy grin flowed from Swiss' face. Jinzo knew that look all too well. He was already in the process of rolling his eyes as Swiss answered him.
"I like my eggs fertilized. TROLOLOL!"
"Wow, Swissan. I think that Eel's penis has put a dirty theme in your mind.." Jinzo retorted as he brushed shards of glass from a chair and sits on it.
"You bastards!"
At the door was Grit, soaking wet and piercing at them with murderous eyes, "I had to swim all the way here!"
"I didn't take you for a morning swim sort of guy. Good on you!" Swiss wiped off a chair of his own and took a seat.
"I'M NOT-.." Grit stopped himself and took a deep breath. He wasn't going to let Swiss' silly behavior rile him up. "Anyway, I was awake during the whole thing. We were in the mouth of a giant bird."
Swiss took a sip of tea that Jinzo poured him, "Are you still drunk? I think you gotta lay off the sauce, Grit."
Jinzo giggled at Swiss' remark. Then said, "In any case, that was an interesting way to wake up. Let's clean up the cabin once we're done with breakfast."
That's what they did.
After cleaning up, they assessed their supplies. Much of the alcohol had been lost when their bottles smashed during the turbulent fall. Luckily for them, the food was still bountiful.
Swiss groaned as he let down the sail, "I gotta ration my sake…"
With the sail down, he takes a scan of the surroundings. The ocean today was calm, with sunny weather. Not a cloud in the sky.
More calm was the air. Not even a gentle hint of the wind could be felt.
"Oi oi, how nice is it today?" Swiss said, hopping down to the deck, where Jinzo and Grit were playing cards.
"Yeah, this is probably the best it's been." Grit said, drawing a card and looking it with a sour expression.
"I'd say it's the perfect day for a drink, but I want to make the rest of the sake last until port," Swiss added.
"Haha, you really like your sake, don't you, Swissan?" Jinzo joked.
"Like it? I LOVE IT! It's the elixir of life, trololol."
They sailed like that for days.
Well, to say they 'sailed' would not be entirely accurate.
The weather remained calm all the while. Never did their sails catch the wind. Never did a cloud appear in the sky.
Swiss was lying on his back, pouring the last drop of sake from the bottle onto his tongue.
Once he felt that last drop, he looked at the sky through the glass of the bottle.
"All out." A deep sigh escaped him, "I'm bored…"
Swiss lazily rolled over and watched the horizon. Another calm day with no outside stimuli to entertain them.
How long had they been sailing in that calm nothingness?
Suddenly, a haunting thought occurred to Swiss. The butterflies in his stomach flapped their wings to the tune of despair.
"Shit, it can't be.."
Swiss frantically made his way inside the cabin to inspect the maps on the table.
Jinzo was reading a book. Grit was half asleep on his hammock.
"What you up to, Swissan?" Jinzo asked.
"Look here! Where do you think we are right now?" Swiss aggressively tapped his fingers against the map.
"Uhhh, somewhere around here, maybe?" Jinzo pointed towards a section of the South Blue that is a wide body of ocean. "This would explain the quietness."
"No, no, no…" Swiss shook his head in denial, "We would have seen something, ANYTHING, by now."
He then turned to Grit with the eyes of a deadman, "Grit…"
"Hmm?" Grit glanced at Swiss from the corner of his eye.
"You mentioned earlier that we were in the mouth of a giant bird?"
"Yeah. It looked like a Giant Pelican."
"…And you're saying were flying in the sky?"
"Yes?" Grit looked at Swiss with a puzzled disposition. He did not get the point of this line of questioning.
"…FUCKKKKKKKKKK!"
Jinzo jumped, taken surprise by the sudden outburst, "What's wrong, Swissan?"
"… I think we're in the calm belt."
"The calm belt?" Grit said like he was the audience to a children's show.
"It's a body of water that acts as a barrier between the four blues and the Grand Line. No wind to sail with, and sea kings lurking in the deep. To summarize, my friends; we are fucked." Swiss finished his thesis and then frantically ran back outside.
"How long were we passed out?! Damn bird!" Swiss looked to the sky and orientated himself with the directions.
"If we are in the calm belt, that means the South Blue should be south of us. So if we go southwest, that should take us back, while also getting us closer to reverse mountain…" Swiss muttered without taking a moment to breathe.
"But why not head north into the Grand Line if that's where we were heading?" Jinzo asked, following behind.
"Because that would be fucking lame, dude. We can't rob ourselves of the reverse mountain experience. Besides, we would have zero chance of navigating the Grand Line if we went now." Swiss told him, as he found a long rope and tied it to himself.
"… What are you doing, Swissan?" Jinzo worriedly asked.
"What does it look like? If we have no wind, then we're going to need to tow this thing! You should help also!" Swiss swan dived into the ocean.
"You're going to swim us back to the South Blue?"
"We have no choice! Go inside and get that baka Grit to help me out!"
Grit never did end up helping Swiss tow the boat along.
For days, Swiss swam like a madman, with the Jalopy sailboat tied to him by the rope.
Initially, Swiss would waste energy with a poorly formed freestyle stroke.
Eventually, Swiss figured out that it was more energy efficient to use a breaststroke.
It allowed him to swim with more power and made him feel like he was actually making progress with towing the boat.
'Those assholes!' Swiss would swim with detestable hatred towards Jinzo and Grit. Both of whom did not think pulling the boat along would work.
After a couple of days of this, however, Swiss did not care any longer.
He figured that it was good training. In that case, it was best not to diminish the workload by being helped.
The three of them took a bet. Grit and Jinzo had their money on a ship passing by and rescuing them.
Swiss knew better. Only marines and select few civilizations that live in the calm belt would have the technology necessary to sail it.
The chances of coming across a rare pirate ship or a fleet of marines were highly unlikely. Furthermore, Swiss had not yet confirmed the date he was in.
For all he knew, the world government had not come up with a way to sail the calm belt yet. There were still too many uncertainties.
Thus, Swiss knew for a fact that he was going to win the bet. But he wasn't going to win by sitting around and doing nothing.
Even if he was a weak swimmer… even if what he was doing was only very minuscule… Swiss knew that his towing idea was their only hope of survival.
And he was right.
Sitting atop the mast, Jinzo was scouting the horizon. That's when something caught his eye.
"Land ho! I see land!" he cried.
"Nani?! You better not be trolling me!" Swiss barked back.
Once or twice, Swiss had hallucinated seeing an island.
The endless swimming had made him slightly delirious. He no longer trusted his own senses.
"I'm serious! Over there!"
Sure enough, it was land. Euphoria welled in the heart of Swiss, "WE'RE SAVED! FUCK YES!" he shouted in celebration.
Swiss swam towards that island with more vigor than ever before. It still took him a while to drag the boat to the island.
"Huff…Huff…" Swiss crawled on the sandy beach of that lush green island. Jinzo and Grit jumped ashore to grab hold of the rope and help pull the boat onto the beach.
"Hah…Hah…" Swiss lay on his back, "You bastards lost. Told you we'd find an island first."
"Hmph. It was a lucky call. Still, you win" Grit reluctantly replied.
"I wonder where we are?" Jinzo said as he looked up and down the beach. He then turned to the dense forest which meets the coast. "You think there will be people?"
"There better be!" Swiss jumped to his feet.
He noticed how there was a great river that flowed from the island out into the ocean.
It made him think of the Amazon river. He imagined it flowed out into the Northern Atlantic ocean with the same grandeur as he saw here on this island.
"Think we should sail down it?" Grit asked.
"Nah. I think it's better we leave the Jalopy on the shore and proceed on foot. That way we have a quick getaway, should the shit hit the fan" Swiss answered.
"Fair enough. Shall we get a move on?" Grit cracked his knuckles.
Jinzo sighed, "No time like the present."
Swiss showed his teeth in a great smile, "YOSH! You smell that boys? That's the smell of adventure. Trolololololol!"
After Swiss walked in between them, Jinzo and Grit made eye contact.
It was eye contact of mutual understanding.
'Surely,' they thought.
'Surely, Swiss will be the death of us…'