Chapter 111: Arrival at Shift Station – The Sea Train & Kokoro
Morning sunlight bathed the deck as the Merry sailed steadily toward Water 7. Yet Sol—usually full of energy—was now pale-faced, sitting alone at the railing. His hands gripped the bar tightly, eyes blankly fixed on the horizon.
"Hey, Sol, you okay?" Luffy stretched his neck over, rubber face practically pressed against Sol's. "You look awful!"
"I'm… fine…" Sol forced a smile, but beads of cold sweat already dotted his forehead.
"That doesn't look fine at all!" Nami shoved Luffy aside and crouched down worriedly. "Chopper! Come check on Sol quick!"
"Coming!" The little reindeer doctor rushed over with his medical bag. His fluffy hoof expertly felt Sol's wrist. Everyone held their breath, crowding around Chopper waiting for the diagnosis.
Chopper's expression grew more and more serious. Finally he even pushed up nonexistent glasses and solemnly announced: "According to my diagnosis…"
"What is it?" Nami anxiously grabbed Chopper's shoulders.
"Sol's otoliths—" Chopper took a deep breath, "—he's just seasick!"
"..."
An eerie silence fell over the deck.
"Pfft—HAHAHAHAHA!" Luffy was the first to explode into exaggerated laughter, rolling on the deck clutching his stomach. "A pirate gets seasick! I'm dying!"
"Hahahaha! Sol, you guy!" Usopp slapped his thigh, tears streaming from laughing so hard. "You're usually so badass, but you lose to ocean waves!"
Even the normally composed Sanji couldn't help but chuckle around his cigarette: "What an unexpected weakness."
"You… you bastards…" Sol weakly flipped them off, then immediately clutched his mouth in pain. "Urp."
"Ah! He's gonna puke! He's gonna puke!" Chopper flailed his hooves in panic. "Quick, get a bucket!"
Sol endured the dizziness, veins bulging on his forehead. Suddenly he lashed out and delivered a knuckle to both Luffy and Usopp's heads. "Having fun laughing, huh?" he growled through gritted teeth, fist still steaming.
"Sorry! We got carried away!" ×2
Luffy and Usopp instantly dropped to their knees begging for mercy, fresh steaming lumps already swelling on their heads.
Nami watched the two clowns helplessly, then turned to Sol: "But seriously—how did you suddenly get seasick? You've never had this problem before."
Everyone looked over curiously. Sol sighed and explained: "It's a side effect of Dragon Slayer Magic. Overusing dragon power gradually causes dragonification, which also damages the semicircular canals' balance function—after all, a dragon's body structure doesn't have that organ at all."
"So it's because of yesterday's fight with Kuzan?" Robin mused, recalling the dragon-scale patterns that had appeared on Sol during the battle.
"Yeah." Sol rubbed his temples. "The deeper the dragonification gets, the weaker the balance magic I cast on myself becomes. As soon as the ship starts rocking…" His face turned green again; he hurriedly swallowed the pill Chopper handed him.
"Then what do we do from now on?" Nami asked worriedly. "A pirate getting seasick is just too miserable!"
"Don't worry~" Sol suddenly grinned and gave a thumbs-up. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it!"
His optimistic attitude eased everyone's concern a little. At that moment, Zoro—who had been sleeping on the lookout—was woken by the commotion on deck. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and grumbled irritably: "What are these idiots making noise about now…"
He casually glanced at the sea—and his eyes suddenly widened. He was instantly wide awake. "Hey! Luffy!" Zoro leaned far over the railing and pointed into the distance. "There's a frog doing freestyle!"
"What?! A frog doing freestyle?!" The boys on deck immediately exploded with excitement and crowded to the railing to look.
Sure enough, on the sparkling sea surface, a brown-yellow frog covered in scars was swimming in perfect freestyle form.
Luffy waved his arms wildly in excitement: "Turn the helm two o'clock! Full speed ahead!" Usopp, Chopper, and Sanji instantly grabbed oars; the Merry veered sharply off course.
Nami stormed over furiously: "You idiots! Don't just change course randomly!"
"Nami! We found a frog that can do freestyle!" Luffy's eyes sparkled. "I'm definitely gonna catch it and grill it!"
"So it's just for eating?!" Chopper and Usopp deadpanned in unison.
Nami facepalmed and sighed, then suddenly noticed something in the distance: "Wait… why is there a lighthouse out here? Does someone live there?"
"Hey, you idiots, stop right now!" Sol suddenly shouted a warning. "A train's coming!"
Though confused, Luffy stopped rowing and climbed back onto the deck unhappily: "Sol, if we wait any longer the frog's gonna get away!"
Sol didn't answer—just pointed at the sea. Everyone turned to look. The frog had somehow climbed onto the water's surface and assumed a sumo stance. In the distance came the sound of a whistle—"Wooo wooo"—and a train billowing white smoke was roaring across the sea at incredible speed!
"W-What the hell is that thing?!" Nami's mouth fell open in shock. "How can a steel monster like that sail on the sea?!"
"Frog! Get out of the way!" Luffy shouted anxiously.
But the frog only let out a single "croak" and braced itself even more firmly.
With a deafening BOOM, the sea train mercilessly slammed into the frog and sent it flying, then continued roaring into the distance—leaving the entire Straw Hat crew frozen in stunned silence.
"What… what in the world was that just now?" Vivi's eyes were wide, staring incredulously in the direction the sea train had vanished.
Sol smiled and explained: "That's the sea train—a special transportation vehicle developed over ten years by Tom, the legendary shipwright of Water 7."
He pointed at the sea surface: "Look—those are specially laid sea rails. The train runs along these tracks."
The Merry slowly approached the lighthouse they had spotted earlier and docked beside Shift Station. Everyone followed Sol's pointing finger and indeed saw neatly laid iron tracks on the sea surface.
"It's real! There really are train tracks!" Usopp shouted in amazement.
At that moment, a drunken plump old lady stumbled out of the lighthouse: "Hic~ You young man sure knows a lot. First time here?" She let out a wine-soaked burp, cheeks flushed red.
"Granny, they're pirates!" a little girl with a green twin-tailed afro bounced excitedly. Beside her stood a rare blue rabbit-like creature. Both stared curiously at the Straw Hat crew.
Sol scratched his nose: "Me? Not my first time—I've ridden the sea train a few times before." He looked at the old lady. "Granny Kokoro, long time no see."
"Oh?" Granny Kokoro narrowed her drunken eyes and studied Sol carefully. "Ah! It's you, kid! Hic~ Last time you came you were still a little brat!"
Sol nodded: "Yeah. This time we're here because we want to go to Water 7 to recruit a shipwright to maintain the Merry."
"Ship?" Granny Kokoro suddenly sobered up a little. Her gaze swept over the Merry. "Hic~ That ship does look like it needs some serious repairs…"
Everyone froze in shock—they hadn't expected this drunken old lady to spot the Merry's problems with just one glance.
---------------------------------
This story has 200+ chapters available on my Patreon
If you want to read ahead of Webnovel and unlock more content, feel free to support and get access here:
patreon.com/inkshield