We are finally here, guys.
In the Grand Line.
It took a long time to reach here, and this only marks the beginning of the main events.
.
.
Certain things before you continue.
The travelling between the islands will follow the same as the cannon, there is no extra story into it, only things that will be different is their encounters of the different islands, or I may say, Yuji's encounter.
Other than that, just follow their journey.
.
.
Thought of the day:
POWAAAAA
.
.
Attendance Please:
--------------------
ON THE GOING MERRY—
The storm has worsened. Rain falls in heavy sheets, slapping against the deck like gravel. The sky has turned the color of a day-old bruise, and somewhere behind the churning clouds, thunder rumbles like an old man nursing a grudge. The Merry groans with every wave, her timbers straining.
So Usopp, Yuji, and Zoro did the only sensible thing left to do, they rolled up the sails before the wind could shred them and let the ship move forward on its own, a leaf surrendered to a flood, trusting the current to find the way.
They had already passed the lighthouse. Its beam swept over them once, twice, a slow, golden blink in the chaos, and then it was behind them. Now, through the rain's blurry curtain, they could see it: a hazy outline, impossibly vast, a wall of rust-red stone that climbs and climbs until it ceases to be earth and begins to be sky. The Red Line.
Inside the dining room, the world feels smaller and drier. The lamp swings overhead in lazy arcs, casting shadows across the walls like puppets engaged in an argument. A map of the Grand Line entrance lies spread across the table. The paper is old, and the ink is faded in places, as if the map has been through several adventures of its own.
"This has been bothering me for a while now…" Nami spoke up, her finger tracing a line on the parchment that seemed to defy all reasonable logic. "…but according to this map, the entrance to the Grand Line is up a mountain."
"A mountain!?" Usopp asked, his voice rising dramatically. He leaned over the map to get a better look.
Nami nodded. "That's right. When I first looked at the chart, I didn't believe it either. I thought it was a mistake, a joke. But the lighthouse we just passed..." She pointed to the narrow path drawn on the map. "It was pointing directly toward Reverse Mountain on the Red Line. There's no other way to interpret it."
"So what you're telling us," Zoro said, arms crossed and voice flat, "is that we have to run into a mountain?"
Nami shook her head. "No, there's a canal here. See?" Her nail tapped the thin blue line woven through the rock on the map.
"Wait, wait, wait—" Usopp's hands were tangled in his hair, gripping it as if his skull might float away from sheer disbelief. "A canal!? Don't be ridiculous! A ship can't just sail up a mountain! That's not how ships work! That's not how water works! That's not how anything works!"
"Well," Nami said with a huff, "that's what the map says."
Silence settled over the table like a held breath. The storm outside howled, but inside, the quiet was even heavier. Everyone stared at the impossible blue line on the parchment, their minds spinning and finding no solid ground.
Then, a light cough caught their attention.
They all looked at Yuji.
"If I may," he began, "the map is correct. Reverse Mountain is the only way to enter the Grand Line. Well..." He gave a small, lopsided shrug. "Other than sailing through the Calm Belt, that is, if you feel like wandering into a sea king's nest and introducing yourself as lunch. But the point—" He leaned forward, hands moving as if shaping the explanation in the air, "—the current around Reverse Mountain flows upward. Very strong. Strong enough to carry a ship. So we don't have to worry about falling off. The water does the climbing for us."
Everyone blinked at him in surprise.
Yuji observed their varied expressions, Nami's narrow-eyed, calculating stare; Zoro's deepening frown; Sanji's raised eyebrow; Usopp's open-mouthed, goldfish-like expression; and Luffy's… well, Luffy was grinning like a child who had just been promised a rollercoaster. Yuji blinked back at them.
"What?!"
"Buddy," Sanji said, his voice carrying the distinct exhaustion of someone speaking to a beloved but deeply puzzling friend, "how the hell do you know so much about all this stuff when you're not even a navigator?!"
Yuji's expression shifted. "Well… my late grandfather was a Marine in the Grand Line. He used to tell me about his experiences sailing those waters, the dangers, the tricks."
"Oh yeah!" Zoro straightened up, the memory clicking into place behind his eyes. "You did tell me and Luffy about that back in Shells Town. Don't you have his journal? The one you showed us?" He jerked a thumb toward Nami. "She could definitely benefit from it."
"Huh? Journal? What journal?" Nami's head swiveled between them, confused.
"Yeah, I remember that too!" Luffy interrupted, nodding with a confident enthusiasm that suggested he did not actually recall the details. "Yuji's grandpa's adventure journal! Nami, you should definitely take a look at it."
"Uhh… hey, guys?" Usopp waved his hand weakly, looking between them like a spectator at a tennis match played in a language he didn't understand. "What are you two even talking about? It's going completely over my head!"
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that." Yuji was already moving, lifting his backpack from the floor and setting it on the table with a solid thump. "I was already planning to give it to her."
He unclasped the chain and rummaged through his belongings. His hands found what they were searching for. He pulled out the journal first, its leather cover worn smooth at the edges from years of handling, and then another object that caught the lamplight and reflected it back in glints.
The journal, he handed to Nami. "Take a look. Everything you need to know about the Grand Line is written in there. Well—" He gave a small, self-correcting tilt of his head. "—everything he knew, anyway. Which was a lot."
Nami took it with both hands. Her fingers brushed over the name etched into the brown leather surface: ITADORI WASUKE.
She opened it. The spine crackled softly, like a fireplace settling. And there, on the very first page, written in bold, unapologetic letters that seemed to announce themselves rather than merely state:
GUIDE TO ENTERING THE GRAND LINE.
Below it, in smaller script: If you're reading this, you're either very brave or very foolish.
She began reading, word by word, line by line. The storm outside faded. The swinging lamp dimmed. The others disappeared. There remained only the ink, the knowledge, and the growing, breathtaking realization that everything Yuji had told them was true.
"This…" She looked up, her voice barely a whisper, yet it filled the room. "This is like the ultimate treasure for a navigator. No—" She shook her head and looked at Yuji. "—this is the ultimate treasure for a navigator." She held the journal to her chest. "Are you sure you really want to give this to me, Aniki? It's your grandfather's journal. It must be your most priceless possession."
Yuji waved his hand casually. "If I were sailing alone, I might have needed it. But as you can see…" He gestured broadly at the assembled crew. "I'm here with you guys, and I trust you more with this than those idiots over there."
"Hey!" came the unified response from the group of idiots.
Nami smiled. "Don't worry, Aniki. I promise to navigate us safely through the Grand Line, all of us."
Yuji nodded. "Good."
Then he reached for the second object on the table: a small glass sphere, no bigger than a pocket watch, with a compass needle suspended inside.
"Now this," he said, placing it in Nami's free hand, "is called a Log Pose. It's what you use to navigate the waters of the Grand Line."
Nami frowned as she looked down at it, turning it over. "But why this? Doesn't a normal compass work in the Grand Line?"
Yuji shook his head; a gesture tinged with almost pity. "No, it won't. Here's the thing—" He leaned forward, elbows on the table. "A normal compass works by using the entire planet's magnetic field. It aligns to the North Pole, the South Pole, one big, stable, predictable system. But the Grand Line?" He laughed, short and dry. "The Grand Line is where that system goes to die. Every island in that sea, every single one, has its own magnetic signature. All those signatures overlap, interfere, and completely scramble any normal compass. A regular compass in the Grand Line will just spin in circles until you throw it overboard in frustration."
He pointed at the Log Pose. "That's why some genius created this. It doesn't rely on the planet's magnetic field. Instead, it locks onto the magnetic frequency of the nearest island and points toward it. It locks on, guiding you there. Then, once you arrive on that island, the recorded frequency resets. The Log Pose empties itself and prepares to find the next island. And the next. And the next, one at a time, step by step. That's how you navigate the Grand Line. Mind-boggling, isn't it?"
Silence.
Nami's brain was visibly overworking, her lips moving slightly as if she were repeating his words to herself, cross-referencing and filing everything away.
Usopp's mouth kept opening and closing like a fish gasping at the sheer absurdity of the ocean.
Zoro scratched his head, his brow furrowed so deeply it looked painful. He had caught maybe a third of it and was coming to terms with it.
Sanji blinked owlishly.
And Luffy… Luffy had been lost before the first sentence was finished. His eyes glazed over somewhere around the phrase "magnetic field," and now his pinky finger was on its own brave expedition deep into his right nostril, searching for treasure.
"So…" Nami said slowly, thinking aloud, "…a normal compass is a no-no, and a Log Pose is a yes-yes."
"Yes," Yuji replied, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
She exhaled, a long, deep breath. "Well, it looks like I've got some extra work on my hands now."
Yuji reached over and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, my dear little orange kitty. You just need to experience it once. After that, it will click. You'll feel it in your bones."
"Hey!" she pouted and looked away, chin lifted in theatrical offense. "Don't call me that!"
Everyone just shook their heads, watching Nami, their sharp, fierce, unflappable navigator, act like a sulking little sister in front of Yuji. No one quite knew how he managed to elicit that reaction from her. Maybe it was the big-brother energy he gave off effortlessly.
--------------------
At last, the Going Merry finally reached the Red Line.
A wall of stone, red as aged iron, rising from the sea with a sheer presence that instantly and completely conveyed why maps regarded it as the spine of the world.
"WOAH!!" Luffy shouted, his voice cracking with excitement too big for his body. He was hanging off Merry's figurehead, one arm wrapped around the carved sheep's neck, the other pointing wildly at the impossible wall ahead. "THAT'S THE RED LINE!! LOOK HOW HIGH IT GOES!! IT'S PAST THE CLOUDS!!"
He wasn't exaggerating. Its peak vanished into the gray-white ceiling of the sky, so tall that the clouds didn't drift across it but broke against it.
"Hey," Zoro's voice was unusually hushed. He had a pair of binoculars pressed to his eyes. "I can see what Yuji was talking about. The current… it's really going upwards." He lowered the binoculars, his expression that of a man watching physics pack its bags and leave without a forwarding address. "The water is flowing up the mountain."
The ship suddenly jerked, a violent, full-body shudder that ran from the keel to the masthead, as it entered the powerful upward current.
"Woah! What the hell?!" Usopp grabbed the rudder with both hands, knuckles popping, muscles straining as he fought to keep the Merry steady against the surge.
"Don't," Yuji's voice cut through the chaos.
Usopp looked at him with wild eyes.
"If you push the rudder too hard, it will break. The current is stronger than you are. Let Merry sail on her own; she knows what to do." Yuji's hand settled gently on the railing. "She's braver than she looks."
Usopp swallowed and nodded. Slowly, he removed his hands from the rudder. He stepped back until he was standing shoulder to shoulder with Sanji, who clapped him on the back without looking away from the impossible sight ahead.
Everyone stood on the main deck, gathered together in the rain, soaked through, shivering, and utterly, electrically alive, watching as the Going Merry adjusted herself on the current with the grace of something that had been waiting her whole short life for this moment. Her bow tilted. Her timbers sang. And slowly, impossibly, gloriously, she began to climb.
"Hey… hey, hey, hey…" Luffy's voice was almost reverent now, his usual explosive volume compressed into something small and breathless. Then the dam broke, and he was jumping on the deck, feet slapping the wet wood, arms pumping the air. "WE'RE CLIMBING UP!! WE'RE REALLY CLIMBING UP!!!"
"Yes, Luffy," Nami's voice was soft, almost dreamy. "We're sailing up a mountain."
"It looks like we're about to reach the top!" Zoro announced, his voice cutting through the wind and water.
In just a few more minutes, the ship would crest the peak of Reverse Mountain.
And the world fell open.
Everyone's breath caught.
Because the view from the top was truly extraordinary.
The four currents of the four Blues converged here, East and West, North and South, meeting in a roaring, foaming collision before plunging together down the mountain's far side toward the sea below. The Grand Line stretched out beyond the descent, mist-shrouded and glittering, a vast expanse of water that seemed to promise more than it revealed.
"It's…" Yuji started, then stopped. He was seeing something like this for the first time in both of his lives. When his voice returned, it was barely above a whisper. "It's so beautiful."
And it was, the kind of beauty that made you forget, for a moment, that the Grand Line was also a graveyard.
"Look!" Nami pointed, her arm steady despite the rest of her trembling. "All the currents of the three other Blues! That one's from the West Blue, that one's from the North Blue, and that one's from the South Blue." She swept her hand toward the final path. "The one we came up is the East Blue, which means the fifth one…" Her finger traced the roaring meeting of waters, the point where all four currents crashed together and then plunged downward in a chute of white foam and mist. "…is the entrance to the Grand Line."
Everyone stared at the convergence point, the path leading down into the sea that had haunted maps, stories, nightmares, and dreams for as long as anyone could remember.
Sanji glanced sideways at the current of the North Blue, if only for a moment. A flicker of something crossed his face, there and gone too quickly to name. The water from the North appeared darker in his eyes, carrying memories he had long tried to avoid tasting.
'No time for that now,' he thought. 'A new chapter is about to begin. The old one can stay closed.'
Slowly, the Merry turned toward the downward flow. Her bow dipped. Her sails, still furled, trembled with anticipation. Then she began to descend, sliding down the mountain's throat toward the sea below, picking up speed until the wind became a living force, screaming past their ears.
"THIS IS IT, GUYS!!" Luffy's shout echoed from the figurehead, where he had planted himself like a captain claiming his ship, his throne, his destiny. His grin was so wide it threatened to split his face. "THE GRAND LINE IS FINALLY HERE!!!"
Everyone stood on the front deck, rain, spray, and wind whipping at their clothes, hair, and faces. No one moved or spoke. They all watched the water ahead, waiting for the moment the mountain released them and the sea embraced them.
Then Yuji spoke up, his voice transformed. It was the voice of someone recalling something crucial at the very last moment.
"Hey, Usopp, quickly climb up to the crow's nest and see if there's anything blocking our path ahead."
"Wait, what?!"
Everyone looked at him. The sudden change in tone was jarring enough to snap them out of their trance.
"Just do what I say. Now."
"O-okay!" Usopp scrambled up the rigging toward the crow's nest.
He reached the nest, fumbled for the monocular, and pressed it to his eye, scanning the churning waters ahead. Spray blurred the lens, so he wiped it with his thumb and scanned again, left, right, center. There was nothing but white foam and dark water.
"Uhh… I DON'T SEE ANYTHING!!"
"ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT!? NO BLACK MASS OR ANYTHING!??" Yuji's voice was strained now.
"YEAH, MAN, THERE'S NOTHING AHEAD! THE PATH IS WIDE OPEN!!" Usopp shouted back.
A frown creased Yuji's face, and his jaw tightened. 'What the hell? Where is Laboon? He should be blocking our path.' He stared at the open water, searching for a shadow beneath the surface, a wall of scarred flesh.
"Yuji, is something wrong?" Zoro asked.
"Yeah," Yuji said without looking away from the water. "There should be an island whale blocking our path."
A beat.
"Island whale!?" Nami's voice jumped half an octave. "What's that? Some kind of different whale species?"
"You could say that. They're called island whales because a full-grown adult can be as large as a small island." He paused, letting the words sink in. "And one of them should be right at the entrance. He's been there for decades."
"WHAT!?" Nami's shout was like a physical force.
Zoro's eyes widened, a rare sight indeed.
Luffy, of course, just laughed. "Shishishishi… now I really want to see it!"
Nami's fist connected with the back of his head before he could finish laughing. "YOU IDIOT, IS THAT WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND!? Don't you get it? If there really is a whale that size waiting for us at the entrance, then we're finished. Our adventure ends before it even begins in the Grand Line!"
The impact of her words struck Luffy harder than any punch ever could. His eyes widened, comically, catastrophically, and the color drained from his face. "NO WAY!!! I CAN'T JUST DIE LIKE THAT!!" He whipped around toward the crow's nest, cupping both hands around his mouth. "USOPP, KEEP LOOKING!! KEEP LOOKING!!"
"YEAH, YEAH, DON'T WORRY, BUDDY… I'M LOOKING!!" Usopp shouted back, pressing the monocular so hard against his eye socket that it would probably leave a bruise.
Soon, they entered the waters of the Grand Line proper.
Zoro slowly paced in a circle on the deck, one hand resting on his sword hilts as he scanned the horizon in every direction. Nothing. No shadow. No wall of flesh. No whale. "Uhh… I don't see any island-sized whale around here."
Nami wiped the sweat from her brow and let out a breath she had been holding since Yuji mentioned the words island whale. "Phew… thank God. Nothing's here."
Then Usopp's voice came down from the crow's nest. "HEY, GUYS! I CAN SEE SOMEONE ON THE LEFT MOUNTAIN! THERE'S A LIGHTHOUSE, AND THERE'S A PERSON SITTING OUTSIDE IT!"
Sanji was the first to respond, tilting his head back and shouting, "GOT IT!" He then turned to the others and asked, "Well, then, should we go there?"
Nami nodded, slipping into navigator mode. "If someone is living at the entrance of the Grand Line, they should definitely know which island is nearest, where we're supposed to go next."
Zoro was already moving toward the rudder. Without a word, he adjusted their course, steering the Merry toward the small lighthouse perched on the mountain's shoulder like a watchful bird.
In just a few minutes, they arrived at a small wooden dock nestled at the mountain's base, a humble structure, barely large enough for a single ship, as if visitors were rare and not particularly welcomed. Zoro guided them in with ease, and the Merry bumped gently against the dock's edge with a soft, wood-on-wood sigh.
Everyone disembarked, their feet striking the dock in a scattered rhythm. The stairs leading up the mountain were carved directly into the stone. They climbed in silence, the only sounds being their breathing and the distant roar of the currents behind them.
At the top, the lighthouse stood watch. Beside it, a small cabin, squat and sturdy, stood quietly. Thin, white smoke curled from its chimney.
And there, on a weathered lawn chair, sat an elderly man.
He was bald, with what appeared to be flower petals sprouting from the back of his head. He was reading a newspaper.
As if sensing their presence, the old man glanced up. His pale, sharp eyes behind his glasses scanned them one by one.
They landed on Yuji first.
And stayed there.
The old man stared at him intently, and it was no casual glance. It was the look of someone reading a familiar book in a language he hadn't seen in years. His gaze seemed to pass through Yuji, reaching some echo or shadow lurking just beneath the surface. The pink-haired man shifted uncomfortably under its weight. It felt like being recognized by someone he had never met.
Then the old man's eyes shifted to Luffy.
And it twitched.
Annoyance, immediate, instinctive, and almost nostalgic, flickered across the old man's weathered face. Luffy, for his part, grinned ear to ear, vibrating with barely contained energy. His grin only widened under the old man's scrutiny, as if Luffy interpreted the twitch as a greeting.
Then the old man's gaze dropped.
To the Straw Hat.
And then it stopped.
The silence that followed was different from the ones before it.
"Tell me, boy." The old man's voice was gravel over gravel, worn smooth in some places and sharp in others. He folded his newspaper slowly and set it aside on a small wooden table that looked almost as old as he was. "Where did you get that straw hat?"
Luffy's hand instinctively reached for the hat, his fingers brushing the frayed brim. "Oh, this?" he said, patting it gently, despite everything about him being anything but gentle. "Shanks gave it to me. We made a promise, a super important one."
"Is that so?" The old man's eyebrows rose slowly. "What, pray tell, did that foolish brat promise you?"
The grin flickered, fading at the edges. Luffy's jaw tightened. "Oi, don't call Shanks an idiot. He's not an idiot. He's super cool."
The old man's eyebrows rose higher. "Oh ho… so that brat has the nerve to go around acting all high and mighty now, does he? The last time I saw him, he couldn't even tie his own boots without—"
"Stop that."
"Huh? Stop what? Be specific, boy."
Luffy's voice dropped. "I said, stop badmouthing Shanks."
"And what will you do if I don't?" The old man leaned forward slightly, a spark igniting in his pale eyes.
"Then I'll punch you in the face."
The words landed cleanly. No bravado. No posturing. Just a simple statement of fact, like saying the sun will rise tomorrow.
The old man stared at him for a long moment. Then, he snorted. "Tch. Kids nowadays, they forget how to respect their elders. You didn't even introduce yourself, and now you're threatening an old man who's done nothing but sit here reading his paper. How rude."
Behind Luffy, the rest of the crew exchanged glances.
Then Yuji stepped forward.
He bowed just enough to show respect without groveling. "My name is Itadori Yuji. I come from Orchid Island, East Blue. My blood type is Yes. I'm this idiot's right-hand man, and I'm very sorry for any trouble he's about to cause."
The silence that followed was an entirely different kind.
Nami pressed her palm to her forehead. Sanji choked on his spit. Zoro made a sound somewhere between a cough and a laugh. Usopp simply stared, mouth agape, because after everything that had happened today, this was what finally broke his mind.
The old man blinked once. Then twice.
Then he chuckled, a dry, raspy sound, like pages turning in an old book. It grew into a laugh, genuine and surprised. "Hehehehe… I like your attitude, Itadori Yuji. You've got some manners in you. A rare thing these days." He nodded slowly, taking his measure. "Looks like you have a very disciplined guardian."
"Had."
The word was quiet, simple and final.
The old man's expression shifted. His laughter faded, replaced by something softer and sadder that flickered behind his eyes. "Oh, my apologies for your loss."
"Thank you."
"Well, then." The old man planted his hands on his knees and pushed himself upright, unfolding to his full height. "You've introduced yourself. It's only right that I return the favor."
He looked at them and smiled.
"My name is Crocus, keeper of the Twin Cape Lighthouse—"
He paused.
"—and I welcome you, young ones, to the Grand Line."
--------------------
Like the chapter, then please share your powerstones with me.
See you in next chapter.
Peace out....