(A/N: A new arc begins! Due to how things were written, and put chronologically, this arc will have an extra chapter, from the end of Warship Island. ;) Enjoy!)

Chapter 1: Cross The Red Line! A Watery Ride Up a Strange Mountain!

Days after their experiences at Clockwork Island, the Straw Hat crew continued their journey to the Grand Line. "Nami-san!" Sanji gushed, as he looked through binoculars from the crow's nest, with an annoyed Zoro close by. "I have a report of love! I see big rain clouds up ahead! There's a storm under 'em!"

"A storm?" Venus perked up from inside the cabin.

"Looks like we're back on our original course," Nami concluded, and looked at her map. "We should be seeing the Red Line at any time now."

An eager Luffy pulled himself up in the crow's nest. "The Grand Line, at last!" He started smacking the cook's back repeatedly in ecstasy. "Hey, Sanji! We're finally going! We're finally going!"

Sanji finally turned, and stopped him with a foot shoved in his face. "That hurts!"

"Sowwy!" He mumbled.

'But is it really like how it's drawn here?' Nami wondered to herself amidst Luffy smacking Zoro's back next.

"Stop that!"

A humming Usopp was in the cabin with the rudder, but to his confusion, it wouldn't move even a little bit.

"Look at this!" Nami showed the map to everyone in the cabin, Venus now in a new, clean outfit. "I'd heard the rumors about it, and it's drawn on this map too! If it really is true, then the entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain!" She pointed to their destination.

"A mountain?" Luffy held a glass with his teeth, as Usopp struggled to steer.

"We gotta crash into a mountain?" Zoro asked.

"You can't be serious," Sanji added.

"I didn't believe it myself, but the map has canals that lead to the mountain."

"The canals go inside it?" Venus questioned.

"Either that, or that might mean we have to go up it!"

"Neat!" Luffy grinned.

"What're you talking about?!" Zoro exclaimed. "Even if there are canals or whatever, a ship can't climb up a mountain!"

"But that's what the map says!"

"Yeah!" Sanji snapped. "Nami-san would never say anything that's wrong!"

"You stole that map from Buggy, right? Can we really trust it?"

"H-hey!" Usopp caught their attention. "Someone help with the rudder!"

"Oh!" Venus ran over, and shoved the rudder in his direction with all her might, but there was no give. "Why don't it move?!" She groaned.

"Sanji-kun, give them a hand!" Nami ordered.

"It won't budge!"

"I can't think with all his shouting! Or hers!"

"Pardon our struggling!" Venus glared. "I don't see you rushing over here!" Her hands slipped, and with a yelp, fell face-down at his feet.

"It won't move! Someone help!"

"Yes, Nami-san!" Sanji happily obliged. "Okay! I'll take over, Venus-chan!" He tried to pull, but strangely, it stayed put.

"D-doesn't this current seem a bit strong?!"

"Eh?!" That caught Nami's attention. "Usopp! What did you just say?"

"The current's strong!" Venus snapped from the floor.

"Current... that's it!"

"That's what?" Luffy asked.

"They really do go up the mountain!"

"Are you still saying that stuff?!"

"No, she's right!" Venus used the table as leverage to regain her footing. "The current will push us up!"

"Yeah, look here! See?" Nami pointed back to the mountain. "The guiding light was definitely pointing to here on the Red Line... Reverse Mountain!" Sanji joined them in looking, leaving Usopp on his own.

"Hey! Little help over here!" Venus rushed to assist him again.

"See those canals here?" She pointed to a trio of canals merging, leading to a pair going out the other side. "If major currents from the four oceans all flew toward this mountain, then the four currents would go up these canals, collide at the top, and then flow into the Grand Line! Reverse Mountain is a "winter island", so any currents that collide into the Red Line will plummet from the surface into the depths. If we screw up, and miss the entrance to the canal, the Going Merry will run smack into the Red Line's face, and get wrecked! And then we'd be at the bottom of the ocean. Understand?"

"Oh! Interesting!" Luffy grinned, and held his chin in wonder. "So, basically, it's a mystery mountain!"

Nami frowned in disappointment. "Well, maybe you don't get it. Anyways, now that we're on this current, as long as we don't mess up with the rudder, we should be able to go straight to the summit of Reverse Mountain!"

"Nami-san!" Sanji swooned, as Usopp and Venus struggled. "You're so amazing!"

"I've never heard of ships going over mountains before," Zoro remarked skeptically.

"I've heard some stuff before!" Sanji said.

"Stories about the mystery mountain?" Luffy asked.

"No. I heard that half of everyone who heads to the Grand Line dies before entering it. I knew getting in wouldn't be easy."

Later on, the crew encountered the storm spotted by the cook earlier that day. Amidst the downpour, Zoro panicked and ran over when he saw a short-statured figure standing at the railing, seemingly enjoying the dangerous weather. "Venus! What're you doing?!" He grabbed her short cape, to her surprise, and made a beeline for the cabin with her in tow. "Get inside! You'll fall overboard! And you're getting soaked!"

"Zoro!" She protested. "I love storms!"

"Then watch from inside, dammit!" He practically threw her inside, surprising Usopp, and slammed the door shut.

"Venus, what were you doing out there?"

"Enjoying the weather," She replied, "I love storms."

"But i-it's dangerous out there! Why do you like them?" She merely shrugged, not having a straight answer.

"Sanji-kun! Could you get the sail?"

"Yes, Nami-san!"

"Luffy! Help out!" He ordered.

"Eh?!" The captain rolled one of the sails, he looked up to see a mountainous wall up ahead. "Hey! I see the mystery mountain!"

"W-what?!" Everyone rushed over to have a look, Nami and Venus wearing protection over their clothes; Nami's a pink jacket, and Venus' a black cloak, both with hoods over their heads.

Usopp's eyes widened. "T-that's insanely huge!"

"The entrance to the Grand Line..." Nami stared in awe.

"This is it, Luffy!" Venus cheered.

"So that's the Red Line, huh?!" He beamed.

"I-I-I can't see the top because of the clouds!" Usopp stammered.

As waves crashed, and whirlpools spun, a huge current sent the Merry shooting forward, and caught everyone off guard, Luffy swinging from the sail. "We're getting sucked in!" He shouted. "Hold the rudder good!"

"We're on it!"

Everyone worked together to stay on their path. "N-Nami!" Luffy called. "Where's the entrance?! We're gonna crash into the rocks if we keep going this way!"

Nami was watching when she saw a divet ahead. "The crack in that cliff..."

In the cabin, Usopp worked the rudder with Sanji. "Nami! What do we do?!"

"Keep going straight ahead!"

"A-are you serious?!"

"Just do it!"

Luffy pulled himself down next to the navigator. "Nami! Is that the canal entrance?"

"Most likely!"

Zoro watched through binoculars with shock, as Venus stood next to him. "This can't be real! The damn ocean really is flowing up the mountain!"

"Let me see!" After he gave them to her, Venus looked through the binoculars, and was in awe. "Whoa!" After a deep drop, there was square-shaped archways inside the crack, leading to the upward-flowing canal.

"We gotta make it through those water gates just right!" Nami said. "Otherwise the ship'll be busted into pieces!"

The ship started swerving in the powerful current. "W-we're getting off course!" Luffy urgently reported. "More to the right! Right! Right!"

"The right?!" Usopp exclaimed. "Go starboard!" He and Sanji strained to pull the rudder. "C-come on now!" All of a sudden, the rudder snapped in two, sending Usopp and Sanji flying into a table, breaking it in half.

"The rudder!" Everyone screamed in horror.

Venus ran inside, and grabbed the lower half, trying in vain to keep steering. "Venus-chan, don't!" Sanji protested. "It's no use!"

"You'll get splinters!" Usopp pulled her away. "Stop!"

"Gum-Gum...!" Luffy jumped up to where the ship was heading for one of the gates. "Balloon!" He inflated himself, and after some straining, sent the ship away.

"Luffy! Grab on!" After deflating, he shot his arm out, grabbed Zoro's outstretched hand, and was launched back on deck, his head breaking through the wood. Usopp, Sanji, and Venus danced in victory, as Nami sighed in relief. "We made it!"

Nami stripped off her jacket, and held it up high. "Now it's just a straight shot to the summit!"

"Hey!" Luffy strained to pull his head out. "I wanna see! I wanna see!" He fell back when he was freed. "I'm unstuck! Hey! Let me see too!" Little did they know, as he ran to join Zoro and Venus at the prow, a certain someone was hiding on the ship. "A-awesome!"

"Woo-hoo!" Venus held on the railing. "This is so much fun!"

"Curse you all!" The stowaway stood on the railing, interrupting the celebration. It was Eric!

"Huh?" Nami looked in confusion.

"It's the Sicko Fruit guy," Luffy observed.

"You!" Venus glared.

"You're still alive?!" Zoro exclaimed, keeping her behind his back.

"What tiny eyes!" Luffy commented, and she stifled giggles.

"Shut up! Curse the whole lot of you! Thanks to you, my dream of Dragonite has been crushed! I can't just leave things as they are now! At the very least, I'll have your 30 million bounty head!" He pointed to Luffy. "Just surrender to your fate like a good little boy!"

"Now what?!" Sanji asked urgently. "If he uses his wind slashes here, there's no telling what he'll rip apart!"

"We can't act carelessly," Zoro said.

Eric laughed deviously. "How do you like that? You can't lay a finger on me now!"

As he taunted them, Nami had an idea, and looked to the deck. "Oh! Dragonite!" When he was distracted, she took the opportunity to kick him off the ship; with a scream of terror, as the others watched in shock, he disappeared into the strong current, never to be seen again. "Bye-bye!" She waved happily.

Everyone palmed their fists in sync. "Oh! Good thinking!"

"He can't swim either, so I don't think he'll be following us anymore!"

"Given this current, being able to swim wouldn't matter anyways!" Usopp grinned.

"Way to go, Nami-san!" Sanji swooned.

As they descended farther upward, laughing in victory, the air became foggier. "We're in the clouds!" Luffy pointed out, now sitting on the prow. The air quickly cleared up, so they could see the very top. "Awesome! We're above the clouds now!"

"Look! The summit!" Nami observed. "It's the summit!"

The ship sailed to the top, and flew off into the open air. "Yahoo!" Luffy cheered, keeping his hat on.

"We're flying!" Venus cheered from by the mast. She looked up at Usopp, who hung on above her for dear life. "This is awesome!"

"N-no it's not!"

After a few glorious seconds of being airborne, the ship suddenly shot down, briefly leaving the crew in the air, and landed roughly in the next canal.

As they rode down, the crew's minds, sans the captain's, were occupied.

'To do what Mihawk said.'- Zoro.

'To find the All Blue there.'- Sanji.

'To draw my perfect sea charts.'- Nami.

'To prove I'm a brave warrior of the sea.'- Usopp.

'To achieve my full potential as a witch.'- Venus.

Luffy watched, as he saw their destination ahead. "I see it! This is the greatest sea in the world! The Grand Line! The One Piece is up ahead, somewhere! Go!"

(A/N: That concludes the first part of Reverse Mountain! One Piece, and everyone in it belongs to Eiichiro Oda, and Venus belongs to me.)