"The entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain."

"A mountain?!" all the boys, except Zoro, replied incredulously. Not even Sanji could instantly accept Nami's statement.

"That's right! When I first looked at the map, I couldn't believe it myself. But look! The guiding light was directly pointing towards Reverse Mountain located right here on the Red Line." Nami laid out the map and showed everybody.

"Do we have to sail through the mountain?" Usopp asked

"No, there's a canal on the mountain." she explained.

"A canal?! That's crazy! Canal or no, you can't sail up a mountain!" he reasoned.

"Well, that's what the map says."

"That's right! As if Nami could ever be wrong."

"Are we really gonna sail up a mountain on Merry? That's so cool!"

"Wait, wha? Guys, the storm just stopped." Usopp mentioned the change in weather and pointed outside. The sky was completely clear and absolutely no wind blowing despite the ranging storm just a few hundred meters away. The crew then all went outside to to take a look.

"What? That's impossible. We were riding the storm right up to the entrance."

"Oh no...We've drifted into the Calm Belt." Nami was filled with dread when her fears were confirmed.

"Calm Belt?" "What's that?"

"The storm's raging over there, but there's not even a breeze here."

"Cut the chit-chat! Lower the sails and start rowing! We have to get back in the storm!"

"Aye aye, Nami~!"

"Why? Don't you know this is sail ship?" Luffy asked.

"Why'd we have to go back to the storm?"

"Just do what I tell you to!" Nami raged, panicking at the current situation

"It's fine Nami. There's a quicker and easier way to do go back." Zoro tried to calm Nami, finally speaking up. Then the ship started shaking.

"Is this an earthquake?!" Luffy blurted out.

"But we're on sea!" Usopp said while literally holding on for dear life. A giant Sea King surfaced below the Going Merry, carrying the ship on its snout. Multiple other giant Sea Kings of all shapes and colossal sizes then showed up right after.

"Th-they're huge!" Luffy stuttered, one of the only times he was genuinely scared for his life.

"The Calm Belt is a breeding ground...for Sea Kings." Nami finally managed to explain why the Calm Belt was so dangerous.

"When these guys go under again, we row like crazy!"

"No need. I'll take care of it." Zoro said while jumping off the ship and directly on the Sea King. He combined his Conqueror's haki and his bloodlust to get the Sea Kings to stand down. The combination of Zoro's kingly presence, and freezing bloodlust that promises their head on a platter for insubordination caused the Sea Kings to be subjugated.

"Gently lay us down towards the storm. Everyone else, back off."

As Zoro ordered, the Sea King carrying Going Merry, who really wanted to sneeze, held it back and carried them northwards, back towards the storm, while the rest of the Sea Kings made themselves scarce. It laid and nudged the ship gently, with everyone, including Zoro who jumped back, safely on deck. They've never felt so happy going back towards a storm.

"Thank goodness, it's just a storm we have to deal with..."

"That's why we have to sail through the canal."

"That's not the only reason. People roughly as strong if not stronger than me...they're not exactly that rare in that half of the Grand Line." Zoro plainly stated the facts. With him reminding them through his demonstration of strength, the proposition of fighting somebody as strong as Zoro, or worse; it didn't really appeal to them right now.

"Nami, let's go sail up that damn mountain!" Usopp's fear of the unknown monsters of the Grand Line overcame his fear of sailing upwards.

"I got it!" Nami shouted out like she had a Eureka moment. "We'll naturally go climb the mountain anyway. A powerful current from the entire East Blue would push us up, just like the currents of all other Blues would, with the only canal going downwards heading towards the Grand Line...We're already riding that current so all we have to do is steer...But we still have to be absolutely careful. Reverse mountain is a arctic island, so when currents collide with it, the surface waters are forced downwards. If we miss the canal...the ship would get crushed, and we would all drown."

"Ah!...So it's a mystery mountain." Luffy innocently said.

"I guess expecting you to understand was too much..."

"You're so wonderful, Nami~!"

"Pull the sails up and man the steering shaft!" Nami ordered. The boys all followed her orders till they finally reached the opening of the canal. It had rectangular arches on the canal's opening. Ancient drawings were sculpted on the what appears to be a stone-like material. They were absolutely colossal, with its thickness being more than Merry's width, and easily capable of fitting massive galleon's like Krieg's Dreadnaught Sabre.

"We're being sucked in! Steer carefully!" Luffy shouted.

"Leave it to us!" both Sanji and Usopp shouted while holding unto the steer shaft. Meanwhile, Zoro's on deck, ready to respond to any potential complications that might arise.

"Wow..." muttered Nami, astonished by the downright bizarre sight. "The ocean really is rushing up the mountain."

"We're a little off! Move to the right! Right!" Luffy shouted at Sanji and Usopp.

"Right?! Don't you mean starboard?!" Usopp shouted as they pulled the rudder to turn more right. But then the steering shaft snapped and the ship was about to crash. Zoro jumped out on the water and ran to the side of the ship to push it to the right, preventing them from crashing.

"Zoro! Grab on!" Luffy called out to Zoro, extending his arm down to him to pull him back on deck. "Shishishishi!"

"We're in!"

"Grand Line, here we come!" they celebrated as the rain stopped, leaving the storm behind. After several minutes, they soon reached the peak, and were launched into the air by the strong currents. Unlike last time, they almost landed on the ground, if not for Luffy pulling them to the canal heading downwards.

"Now we just slide down!" said Nami.

"Oh...Wow!" said Luffy, climbing on top of his favorite seat, Merry's figurehead. "I see it! It's the Grand Line!" Even his breath was taken away by the view.

"BWOOOOOH!"

"Oh shit! It's Laboon. Nami there's a whale the size of an island just ahead. We gotta slow down the ship!" Zoro told Nami of the potential collision in front of them. Then everybody focused on looking as far forward as possible, which is when they saw a a gigantic shape where they're heading.

"That's a whale?!"

"We're going to die!" shouted both Usopp and Nami when they got close to Laboon.

"Calm down Nami! I'm going to the back to slow us down as much as possible. Cool your head and think." Zoro said as he held Nami's head on the sides, before jumping down to Merry's stern and trying to increase Merry's drag as much as possible. He was barely able to prevent Merry from accelerating downwards.

"Hah...Open the sails! Steer towards portside! Drop the anchor!" ordered Nami after taking a breath to think. "Luffy grab the tower on the left and pull us towards it." she ordered Luffy. Luffy grabbed unto a rail with his right hand and extended his left towards the tower to the left. Zoro then ran towards Merry's starboard to push her to the left. Through their teamwork, the Straw Hats managed to avoid colliding with Laboon and damaging Merry.

"That was fucking close." Usopp said after he and Nami collapsed to the ground. Zoro then climbed back up on deck right after.

But then, Laboon opened his mouth and swallowed them whole.