Soon all the coffee had been drunk, the various treats remaining after the previous night's feast had been eaten, the anchor had been raised, and the sails unfurled. The wind favored them, so the Going Merry set off briskly toward the foot of the Red Line, whose immeasurable bulk rose far above the clouds directly ahead. According to Nami, they would have to sail for at least an hour before the entrance to the Grand Line appeared, so everyone lazily dispersed to their own tasks. Sanji went to the kitchen as always—with so many gluttons aboard, he spent nearly all his time cooking. Nami began reading one of her books while monitoring their course. Johnny and Yosaku started lifting weights. Usopp worked on his combat slingshot. Luffy sprawled across the Going Merry's figurehead without taking his eyes off the Red Line, while Zoro, as promised, trained Tashigi. Time behaved as it always did in such moments and seemed to become rubber. Despite every attempt to occupy themselves, one hour appeared to stretch into a full day. Realizing that they were about to stand before the entrance to the mysterious Grand Line, every family member began feeling an uncharacteristic excitement—excluding gloomy Zoro, who was occupied with Tashigi—and could no longer concentrate upon familiar activities. But everything ended eventually, and so did the wait. At a certain moment, when the red bulk of the world's only continent finally resembled a giant bending over their ship, the whole family felt the Going Merry shudder. The vessel's speed began increasing rapidly.
"Nami, what's happening?" Yosaku asked.
"A current," the girl replied calmly, tilting her head slightly as though listening to something. Then she added, "A very strong current. It's carrying us directly toward the Red Line. I think we'll soon see with our own eyes whether the entrance to the Grand Line truly lies at the summit of the Red Line."
The whole family immediately gathered at the bow. Only Tashigi failed to react to the sudden commotion. Despite all her training, Zoro had managed within the past hour to reduce the Marine to a half-conscious state, to say nothing of her aching body. No prolonged training session could compare in intensity with even a short but genuine battle. It was a genuine battle that Zoro imitated in his training. Though killing blows became 'merely' extraordinarily painful ones, pain served as an excellent teaching factor.
"I think I can see the entrance," Usopp said after some time. "And unless my eyes are deceiving me... incredible! The water is flowing upward there, straight toward the mountain's summit! I never thought something like that was possible!"
Usopp became genuinely excited, while everyone else reacted with interest but relative calm. Unlike the long-nosed young man, they had seen a considerable number of incredible things. After those, water flowing uphill no longer appeared unreal, abnormal, or impossible. This offered yet another confirmation of Luffy's claim that the concept of 'normality' was highly conditional.
"Exactly what I'd expect from our sniper." Johnny nodded. "All I can see so far is one red wall."
Less than five minutes later, however, absolutely everyone could see the notorious entrance to the Grand Line.
"Ha-ha, the water really does flow upward here!" Luffy laughed. "Cool!"
"Agreed. It looks interesting." Yosaku nodded.
"And confirms the damned old man's words," Sanji added as he lit a cigarette from a match.
"Which words?" Johnny asked curiously. "That water flows uphill?"
"No. He never told me anything like that... but he did tell me more than once that over half of all people die simply trying to reach the Grand Line. Now I understand why."
No one asked what Sanji meant. It was already perfectly clear. The ship's speed increased with every passing minute, not so much because the wind was growing stronger as because of the current.
"Yeah." Yosaku nodded calmly again. "If we miss, our ship will be smashed into splinters. Nami, should we take in the sails?"
Every man considered taking in the sails an entirely sensible decision—the current was already powerful, so why make things worse?—but Nami merely shook her head in response.
"Absolutely not! Without the sail, we're finished!"
Nami might not have been the strongest person aboard, but without her the rest of the family would have been feeding fish at the bottom of the sea long ago. Truly. Excluding Zoro and Usopp, the others could navigate the sea more or less adequately, but only along known routes and in ordinary weather. Neither condition applied now. Though everyone knew the route to the Grand Line, they 'knew' it more than anyone possessed actual information. For the overwhelming majority, the path to the Grand Line was one-way. Only a handful returned alive, and they preferred not to speak of their experiences. People normally sailed to the Grand Line in search of fame and riches but found only shattered dreams and hopes that few wished to remember. Beyond that, Reverse Mountain - the official name of the sea route, if it could be called that, across the Red Line—was mostly used by people who either stood outside the law or represented it. Both groups had ample reason to keep their mouths shut.
"Sanji, take the helm!" Nami ordered sharply. "Everyone else, follow my instructions, or we'll definitely lose the ship and perhaps our lives as well."
"No, I definitely won't die," Yosaku disagreed.
"Neither will I," Luffy nodded. "Nor Zoro and Sanji."
"I think I could survive too." Johnny thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "The main thing would be not to fall into the water. After that I could climb the Red Line or find a convenient place and wait for another ship heading to the Grand Line."
"Hey, I couldn't do that!" Usopp's face turned pale.
"You?" Luffy raised an eyebrow. "Easily!"
"What do you mean, easily? I'd definitely die!"
"I'm your captain, so I know better. If I said you wouldn't die, then you wouldn't die!"
"If he doesn't die, then I will." Nami rolled her eyes.
"Who would allow that?!" every man exclaimed together.
"And Tashigi?" The girl did not so much as raise an eyebrow.
"Zoro would die first," Johnny snorted.
"Excellent!" Nami nodded. "Since none of us will die anyway, why don't we simply smash the ship against the rocks immediately and be done with it?" She did not even attempt to hide her irritation. "Because another minute and a half of your pointless chatter, and we can say goodbye to the Going Merry, along with our immediate plans for the Grand Line."
The final sentence had an extremely beneficial effect upon the stupid argument. Everyone instantly fell silent and began diligently carrying out Nami's orders. At moments like this, even Luffy kept his mouth shut, the most reliable proof that the girl knew her work perfectly. Under Nami's attentive guidance, and thanks to the men's immeasurable strength, the Going Merry entered the channel leading toward the Red Line's summit with jewel-like precision, exactly through its center. Boiling water and an onrushing stream of wind seized the ship like a tiny wood chip and dragged it rapidly upward, while familiar laws of physics were rudely sent to hell. Within only a few minutes, the Going Merry entered dense clouds and then rose above them. The entire family gathered at the bow again, eyes shining with delight as they watched the summit race closer. Even Zoro was no exception this time, though he did not abandon Tashigi and dragged her along. In such violent rocking, the young man did not risk leaving her alone upon the deck. Despite her complete exhaustion, the girl was deeply displeased.
No more than three hundred meters remained to the summit, where powerful streams of water from all four oceans collided, when the delight on Luffy's face changed into genuine astonishment. An instant later, Zoro beside him changed expression as well.
"Cut the damn thing!" Luffy reacted immediately.
"Done!"
"What happened?" Everyone else asked in shared confusion when they saw Zoro assume an attacking stance.
Neither Zoro nor Luffy considered an answer necessary. At their speed of ascent, the remaining three hundred meters vanished in an instant, so before anyone could repeat the question, the explanation became obvious. Coincidences with probability of one in tens or even hundreds of millions occurred constantly throughout the world. Such coincidences seemed virtually impossible, yet those 'impossibilities' happened every day. Even now, considering the danger of the route, timing, and speed, there was practically no chance that two ships would collide at the summit of Reverse Mountain. Different tonnage, different sails, different rates of ascent—an unbelievable number of variables existed. Yet as usually happened at such moments, chance caused that enormous mass of variables to converge upon one correct answer. Another 'impossible' answer.
Even more incredibly, the vessel with which the Going Merry was about to collide was not a ship at all, but a genuine submarine. Zoro was not disturbed in the slightest by this development and sliced the submarine in half with the same indifference he used to cut ordinary ships. The two halves, each easily larger than the Going Merry, passed on either side of their ship without threatening the family. At that exact moment, however, the divided submarine was enclosed within a strange transparent sphere that appeared from nowhere, and its two halves instantly joined together again. Every jaw dropped.
For several long seconds, time seemed to stop completely.
Astonishment or not, however, no one had abolished the laws of gravity. Water might flow along Reverse Mountain in an unnatural direction, but the Going Merry soon fell back into it in a perfectly natural manner. The completely intact submarine splashed into the water a couple of dozen meters off the starboard side, after which both vessels rushed downward at mind-bending speed along the steadily widening stream. The channel leading to the mountain's summit could accommodate only one ship the size of a Marine battleship, but three battleships could descend from the summit side by side. With every passing second, the channel grew wider.
The next instant, the Going Merry entered dense cloud, and visibility immediately dropped to only a few meters.
"Trafalgar Law!" Yosaku suddenly shouted, seemingly without relevance.
He did shout, but the roar of boiling water and the whistle of wind made him nearly impossible to hear.
"What?!" Nami shouted back.
"The submarine had Trafalgar Law's symbol!" This time Yosaku used the full power of his lungs, then began energetically pointing toward the submarine hidden among the clouds.
Everyone heard him this time. Aside from Nami, however, no one knew any Trafalgar Law. No one asked for an explanation either; amid such noise, any conversation was extremely difficult, and it would be easier to wait a little. They truly had only a short wait. The roar of water gradually began subsiding, their speed fell, and the clouds thinned, revealing a limitless blue sea stretching beyond the horizon. The submarine appeared again off the starboard side, and now everyone could see the symbol that only Yosaku had initially noticed. It was a red smiling face with large teeth and round black eyes, with black lines in the shape of large letter Ts extending from it, making the face resemble a smiling sun. The submarine itself had several decks and was painted yellow. Slightly above the smiling face, enormous letters decorated the hull: D E A T H.