After a string of ridiculous incidents, the Straw Hats finally managed to board the Going Merry without further trouble.
A moment later, Luffy, his head covered in huge lumps, blinked through a pair of swollen, bruised eyes.
He couldn't understand it.
Why did he still have to suffer such inhumane treatment when he was about to become the Pirate King?
All he had done was swing them around like a pendulum at an altitude of ten thousand meters for five minutes.
It wasn't like they would really die. Was there any need to be that angry?
The injured Luffy simply couldn't wrap his head around it.
But after beating him up and venting their anger, the others had already stopped paying attention to him.
Nami raised one hand, and a virtual projection instantly appeared above the Going Merry's deck.
Displayed within the image was a blue planet slowly rotating.
It was none other than the legendary blue star they currently inhabited.
At that moment, three flashing red dots had already been marked on the blue star. Naturally, they were the three coordinates revealed by the three Road Poneglyphs they had obtained earlier.
In the blink of an eye, Nami rapidly tapped the virtual projection a few times. A brand-new projected red dot suddenly appeared.
Immediately afterward, the projection of the blue star expanded. The four red dots stopped flashing and extended into two straight line segments, crossing at a certain point on the blue star and forming a new set of coordinates.
"Just as expected!"
Looking at the brand-new coordinates that had suddenly appeared between the four points, the Straw Hats, gathered in a circle, all lit up at once.
"I never imagined that the legendary Laugh Tale really wasn't on the sea."
"No wonder no one has found any trace of Laugh Tale after all these years!"
"But this location… is it under the sea!? Strange, it doesn't seem quite like that. If it's the seabed, wouldn't this be way too deep?!"
"Perhaps…"
Looking at the marked point on the virtual projection, Red suddenly spoke.
"This isn't an ordinary seabed. It may be somewhere even farther below!"
"Even farther below!?" Nami's expression shifted slightly. "Red, are you saying Laugh Tale is actually beneath the sea… inside the earth's crust?"
"In any case, we'll know once we go there and take a look ourselves!"
Red smiled faintly. Then he suddenly snapped his fingers, and a soft healing glow descended from above, landing on Luffy and instantly repairing all his injuries.
"Captain, the location of the final island has been confirmed."
"So… isn't it time we set out?"
"Ahahaha! Of course it is!!!"
The carefree Luffy quickly forgot the beating his crewmates had just given him. After bursting into hearty laughter, he spread his arms wide with all his strength and shouted toward the sky:
"Pirate King!!!!"
"I'm gonna become him!!!!!!"
His long, resounding cry was like a stirring overture to an adventure, and also like the final passage of an article nearing its end.
At this moment, what the Pirate King and Laugh Tale truly represented no longer mattered.
To Luffy, this was destined to be the last time he would shout the dream that had run through the first half of his life.
As for the second half of his life, it would surely be filled with even more thrilling adventures and stories.
That was the place he truly wanted to reach!
…
…
The gigantic Going Merry was like a sharp blade, cutting through the boundless sea of clouds, leaving a rainbow-like trail behind as it sped toward the end of the New World!
Lodestar Island was the final island in the Grand Line that could be recorded by a Log Pose.
Generally speaking, this was the end point for the overwhelming majority of powerful pirates.
Any pirate crew capable of reaching this place was one in ten thousand, even in the New World.
But fate loved to toy with people.
For hundreds of years, countless pirates had advanced one after another, only to ultimately arrive at this desolate Lodestar Island. Unable to find the next island, they wasted their lives chasing after an empty title.
And today, the Going Merry, carrying the strongest pirate crew in the world, suddenly descended from the sky and pierced a huge hole through the thick clouds above.
Brilliant sunlight poured down into the area, bringing light once more to the small island that had been shrouded in dark clouds for several days.
However, the suddenly appearing Going Merry had no intention of stopping at Lodestar Island. Its speed did not decrease in the slightest. Whipping up fierce gusts of wind, it advanced at a terrifying speed surpassing the speed of sound.
For the strong warriors of the pirate world, breaking the sound barrier had long since ceased to be difficult.
Even the speed of their punches during normal training could reach several times the speed of sound.
But for a giant warship—especially a giant warship capable of soaring through the sky—the visual impact of breaking the sound barrier was no ordinary shock.
Whoosh—!!!
A howling gale swept violently over Lodestar Island, yet the ship continued straight toward the area below it.
…
…
"This direction…"
High above the sky, Nami, the witch of natural disasters, was not affected by the impact of the airflow at all. Instead, she stood at the bow and carefully sensed the direction in which the Going Merry was traveling.
"That's right! A little farther ahead should be the direction of Reverse Mountain!"
"In other words, we're getting closer and closer to the starting point of the Grand Line!"
As if realizing something, Nami suddenly turned around and once again returned to the center of the deck. She summoned the virtual image of the blue star and began operating it quickly.
Although it was still impossible to observe with the naked eye, the positioning function on the Going Merry accurately marked that if they continued forward for about another half hour, they would return to the very beginning of the Grand Line!
"Strange. Could the legendary Laugh Tale really be beneath Reverse Mountain!?"
Looking at the marker on the virtual image, Usopp immediately made a bold guess.
In fact, ever since Red had raised the Straw Hats' horizons to a far higher level, everyone had proposed all kinds of theories about Laugh Tale's location.
Among them, the idea that Laugh Tale was at the bottom of Reverse Mountain had already been suggested within the Straw Hat Pirates long ago.
After all, if Fish-Man Island could exist ten thousand meters beneath Mary Geoise, then wouldn't it be perfectly normal for something to exist beneath Reverse Mountain as well?!
Because of this guess, Red had even previously sent Fish-Men from the Straw Hat Grand Fleet to investigate the area specifically.
Unfortunately, the result had been disappointing.
Beneath Reverse Mountain, there seemed to be nothing but mountain walls, with nothing else present.
The nearby underwater region was also pitch-black, without the slightest sign that any special island might exist there.
Yet now, looking at the location indicated by the Road Poneglyphs, even the Straw Hats could not be certain for a moment.
"It shouldn't be beneath Reverse Mountain."
At that moment, Jinbe gently shook his head, denying the guess.
After all, the Fish-Men sent out at that time had been several high-ranking members of his former Sun Pirates.
Although they might not have been overwhelmingly powerful, their ability to handle tasks was still trustworthy.
"Indeed, it isn't beneath Reverse Mountain!"
Suddenly, Red spoke.
And the instant his words fell, the Going Merry, which had been speeding through the air, suddenly came to a suspended stop.
The enormous inertia caused the Straw Hats to sway slightly.
In the next second, the figure of the Klabautermann Little Merry appeared directly beside Red and the others.
"Everyone, please prepare yourselves~"
"We are about to dive into the undersea world!"
Little Merry smiled faintly at the Straw Hats, speaking like a train announcer.
Immediately afterward, large amounts of soap bubble liquid suddenly seeped out from beneath Red and the others' feet. Before long, it wrapped around the entirety of the enormous Going Merry.
Pop~!
A faint sound of air fluctuation rang out.
The soap bubble liquid, shimmering with rainbow light beneath the sunlight, suddenly expanded and directly formed a massive spherical coating, enveloping the entire Going Merry.
Although it did not possess functions like a submarine, the current Going Merry had already been fitted with a specialized automatic coating device.
A mere deep sea could not be described as a place it could enter as though uninhabited, but for the current Merry, there was no longer anything capable of obstructing its movement.
Splash…
The coated Going Merry descended from the sky and directly smashed an enormous crater into the surface of the sea.
Surging seawater churned violently. Under the impact of the giant ship, it rolled outward in every direction.
And when the seawater followed the waves and returned from above once more, the Going Merry had already vanished from that stretch of sea.
In the quiet world of the deep sea, a sudden colossal object arrived, frightening away all the fish and shrimp around it as it quickly sank toward the depths.
Beep… beep…
Beep… beep…
The device representing the detection signal continuously emitted soft, rhythmic sounds, covering the heartbeats of the Straw Hats and inexplicably calming them in this dark stretch of deep sea.
Beep… beep…
Beep… beep…
The detection device continued operating.
And as the Going Merry descended farther and farther, the atmosphere on the deck finally grew tense.
Everyone widened their eyes and stared intently ahead in the direction the Going Merry was traveling, afraid of missing even a single frame.
Just then, as though it had sensed the presence of living beings, the originally calm deep-sea region suddenly underwent a change.
Rumble~!
A huge sound, slightly muffled by the seawater, rang out, instantly stunning the focused Straw Hats.
"What was that sound!?"
Usopp and Chopper instantly hugged each other, trembling timidly.
The next moment, a violent shaking suddenly came from the hull of the Going Merry!
"What's wrong, Merry!?"
"What happened!?"
The sudden change immediately put everyone on alert.
At that moment, Little Merry's soft, gentle voice appeared out of nowhere in everyone's minds.
"I'm not entirely sure about the exact situation either~"
"But just now, at the location Nami marked, a vortex with extremely powerful suction suddenly appeared after we approached. It's continuously pulling at the hull."
"But please don't worry. I've already used Psychic Power to control the ship. This vortex won't affect us."
"Wait!!!"
The instant Merry finished speaking, Nami, as the navigator, suddenly rose into the air. Her entire body flew directly up to the coating, and she reached out to grab a patch of the soap coating, wrapping it around herself.
"Red, protect me!" Nami suddenly said. Without even turning her head, she directly slipped out through the Going Merry's coating.
At the same time, a pinkish energy barrier suddenly appeared around her body.
It was clearly a psychic barrier Red had created in an instant to protect Nami.
Carrying Red's psychic barrier with her, Nami headed straight into the pitch-black deep sea ahead.
A moment later, the terrifying vortex seemed to begin exhausting itself as well. Its momentum gradually weakened until it finally disappeared.
The pitch-black deep sea became quiet once again.
Time passed, minute by minute and second by second.
The Straw Hats, who were only one step away from entering Laugh Tale, forcibly suppressed their impatience and waited in silence.
Although they did not know what Nami had suddenly gone out to do, since she had made such a decision as their navigator, there had to be something special that they had not noticed.
Sure enough.
A little over ten minutes after the deep-sea vortex disappeared, Nami's telepathic message suddenly rang in Red's mind.
In an instant, Red raised one hand and summoned a Hyperspace Hole beside him.
The protective barrier that had originally been attached to Nami expanded at once, blocking the seawater with its terrifying pressure outside the Hyperspace Hole and bringing the distant Nami back.
"Everyone!!!"
The moment Nami returned, her face immediately revealed an expression of overwhelming surprise. Then she smiled at everyone and said:
"I think I've already found the way to enter Laugh Tale!!!"
"What!?"
"Really, Nami!?"
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's hurry up and go!"
"Nami-swan, you're the best~"
"…"
"…"
With Nami's words, the Straw Hats, who had only been pretending to stay calm, immediately became like a stirred-up hornet's nest, chattering nonstop.
Clearly, that peaceful atmosphere from earlier had all been an act.
The final island was right ahead of them. At this moment, even the Straw Hat crew, whose gazes had already turned toward the sea of stars, could not restrain the excitement in their hearts.
The smile at the corners of Nami's lips grew even deeper.
Then she explained to everyone:
"Under normal circumstances, it's impossible for a vortex to appear in the deep sea of the natural world."
"And since a vortex appeared here, that means there must be a region nearby with the power to stir the seawater."
"So just now, I followed the path of the vortex and investigated all the way along it. In the end, I discovered…"
"That vortex really wasn't some naturally formed undersea phenomenon. It was specifically there to guide us…"
"A deep-sea secret passage!!!"
"Deep sea!? Secret passage!?"
Listening to Nami's explanation, everyone, Red included, could not help blinking in confusion.
At that moment, even Red began looking forward to what Nami would say next.
Seeing everyone's expressions, Nami nodded in satisfaction, then continued with a smile:
"That's right!"
"A deep-sea secret passage!"
"Do you remember the guess we mentioned earlier—that Laugh Tale might be beneath Reverse Mountain!?"
"In fact, that idea might be correct! It's just that the way we were searching was wrong!"
"If my calculations aren't wrong, the true Laugh Tale is indeed directly beneath Reverse Mountain!"
"Only, it isn't in the seabed depths beneath the mountain as we understood it…"
"It's even farther below than that… beneath the deep sea under Reverse Mountain…"
"Beneath the oceanic crust!!!"
(End of Chapter)