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Chapter 62 is out!!!! +40 advanced chapters monthly
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After all, not even Vice Admiral Momonga would dare act recklessly in the Calm Belt!
"All hands, find something secure to hold on to! We are entering Reverse Mountain!"
Captain T-Bone barked the order, his tone gravely serious and his expression more intensely focused than ever before.
"Yes, sir!"
The Marines shouted in unison. They scrambled across the deck, either tying themselves to the support pillars, desperately hugging the mast, or gripping the interior handrails until their knuckles turned white.
ROAR! In an instant, the world flipped on its axis. The massive warship pitched backward at a sheer ninety-degree angle, riding the raging, reverse-flowing currents straight up the mountain. Suddenly, everyone on board was left dangling over a deadly drop.
A few Marines, completely caught off guard, felt an overwhelming gravitational pull drag them down. They slipped, plummeting straight toward the churning sea below.
"Aaah!"
They screamed in sheer terror, completely helpless to stop their fall.
"Sigh."
Watching this unfold, Baishui couldn't help but sigh. A cluster of glowing tentacles shot out from his back, darting through the air to catch every single falling Marine, leaving them suspended safely above the deck.
It was the absolute limit of what he could manage right now. The sheer ferocity of Reverse Mountain had exceeded his expectations, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
"Oh no! We're veering off course!"
A terrified shriek rang out from the helm. The warship, which had been climbing relatively steadily, was suddenly swept by a rogue current, hurtling directly toward the jagged cliff face of the canal.
"What?!"
T-Bone's blood ran cold. No one had anticipated such a sudden, violent shift. If they crashed into the mountain wall at this speed, the ship would shatter into splinters, and there would be no survivors.
"Baishui, it's all on you!" T-Bone whipped his head around, pleading with the only man on the ship seemingly unaffected by the chaos.
"I got it!"
Baishui nodded. Instantly, a massive, glowing orb of light materialized on the starboard side of the warship. As the hull scraped against the light, the orb acted like a cushion, violently bouncing the ship back into the center of the canal.
The recoil provided a terrifying burst of propulsion. The warship rocketed upward at four or five times its previous speed, shooting straight up the mountain face like a bullet!
"AAAAHHH!"
The ship breached the summit, suspended in the clouds for a split second before gravity took over, plunging them down the Grand Line side of the mountain. The Marines, who had just slammed back onto the deck, were instantly thrown into the air again, screaming for their lives.
"Light Particle Tentacles!"
Baishui muttered the technique name. Suddenly, it felt as though a giant, invisible hand had caught the ship. Their breakneck descent immediately decelerated.
Once the Marines gathered their wits, they looked over the railing and realized that thick, glowing tentacles had sprouted from the sides of the ship. The other ends of these appendages were clamped fiercely onto the canal's stone walls, acting as anchors to safely lower them down the torrential rapids.
Slowly, steadily, the warship reached the bottom.
"Incredible!"
"He's so strong!"
"As expected of the man Captain T-Bone personally requested!"
The Marines looked at Baishui, their eyes shining with pure awe and worship.
"Alright, since we're safe, get back to your stations. The crisis isn't over yet!" Baishui frowned, waving off their praise. Conquering the mountain peak only meant they were halfway there.
If he remembered correctly, this was exactly where a certain whale was supposed to make an appearance.
BWOOOOM! Just as the thought crossed Baishui's mind, a deafening, resonant bellow echoed from the waters directly ahead of the ship.
The crew rushed to the bow, leaning over the railing to look down. Their eyes nearly popped out of their skulls.
What in the world was that?!
A colossal whale, easily the size of a small island, was breaching the surface, its massive jaws unhinging as if to swallow the ship whole. The terrifying, jagged teeth lining its maw gleamed coldly in the sunlight, sending violent shivers down the spines of everyone on board.
Chapter 44: Be My Friend, Won't You?!
"Open fire!"
Seeing the sheer size of the beast, T-Bone instinctively barked the order to attack.
"Cease fire!"
Baishui immediately shut it down. The crew froze, turning to look at him with wide, confused eyes.
"Your cannons won't do a thing to him. Let me handle this."
With a flare of light, a pair of radiant wings erupted from Baishui's back. He leapt off the deck of the warship, gliding rapidly toward the colossal whale.
As someone who knew the lore of this world, how could Baishui not recognize this creature?
This was Laboon. A fiercely loyal, deeply sentimental whale who had waited at the base of Reverse Mountain for fifty agonizing years, all to honor a promise made to the Rumbar Pirates—and to Brook.
Every time a ship descended the mountain, Laboon would throw himself at it, desperately hoping it was Brook and the others returning. But how could the poor creature know that Brook was the only member of his crew left alive?
Baishui had absolutely no intention of hurting the whale. There was simply no need.
Thud! Baishui landed softly on Laboon's massive snout. He took a few quick steps toward one of the whale's giant eyes and waved his hand. "Laboon!"
Bwoom? Laboon let out a low, confused rumble. The massive beast stared at the tiny stranger. Do I know him?
"Be my friend," Baishui said, his voice ringing with absolute sincerity. "If we're friends, you won't have to wait here all alone every single day."
Laboon looked terrifying and monstrous to the Marines, but Baishui knew the truth: emotionally, the whale was only the equivalent of a six-year-old child.
Whales had incredibly long lifespans. What was a few years to a human was a mere fraction of a childhood for a creature like Laboon. He was just a kid, and kids desperately craved companionship.
"What do you say? Do you want to be friends?"
Baishui smiled warmly, sitting down right there on Laboon's head, patiently waiting for an answer.
Baishui loved making friends. In truth, it was because he was terrified of being lonely. Even if that friend was a giant, sorrowful whale, it didn't matter to him.
He didn't plan on using Monkey D. Luffy's method—picking a fight with the beast to forge a new rivalry and give him a new reason to live. He wanted a simpler, gentler approach.
Baishui fully expected Laboon to agree. After all, the whale was starved for affection. But Laboon's response caught him off guard.
Laboon refused.
Wooo... wooo... The giant whale gently shook his head, letting out three low, sorrowful cries, as if apologizing to the human.
"If that's how it is... then never mind."
Baishui sighed, shaking his head. A flash of genuine disappointment and melancholy crossed his face.
Laboon, seemingly realizing that this Marine warship was not the vessel he had been waiting half a century for, gave his massive head a gentle flick. Baishui was tossed lightly into the air as the island-sized whale let out one final bellow and dove deep beneath the waves, returning to his endless vigil for the next ship.
Baishui retracted his wings of light, landing softly back on the warship's deck.
"Phew... that was too close. I thought we were done for," T-Bone said, walking over and slumping against the railing, his face pale with the sheer relief of having survived.
"We made it into the Grand Line in one piece. You should be smiling, Captain," Baishui replied, masking his own lingering sadness with a lighthearted grin.
"You're right. Thanks to you, we navigated the mountain safely. We're one step closer to our destination." T-Bone nodded, his severe face softening into agreement.
"Alright, the sun is starting to set. Let's find the nearest island and make camp," Baishui suggested, glancing up at the sky. After everything that had happened today, the exhaustion was finally catching up to him.
"Agreed."
T-Bone nodded and immediately turned to bark orders, instructing the helmsman to look for a safe harbor.
Just before dusk, they dropped anchor at a small, uninhabited island roughly thirty nautical miles west of Reverse Mountain.
The night passed peacefully.
The next day, they resumed their voyage. Sail, rest, sail, rest. The endless, monotonous routine of life at sea was beginning to set in, making everyone painfully restless.
Chapter 45: Sabertooth Torson!
Perhaps it was because they had already paid their dues by surviving that chaotic entry via Reverse Mountain, but over the next few days, Baishui and the crew experienced remarkably smooth sailing.
They didn't encounter a single hazard. No sudden squalls, no freak Grand Line weather, and no Sea Kings. It was so peaceful that Baishui caught himself marveling at their luck. It seemed the heavens were finally cutting them a break.
The Marine soldiers relished the rare opportunity to relax—though, naturally, T-Bone ensured their daily training regimens were strictly enforced.
Bored out of his mind, Baishui had taken up fishing. He sat at the stern with a rod, not particularly caring if he actually caught anything. He was letting fate decide. If a fish bit, great. If not, it was just a way to kill time.
Of course, if he did manage to reel something in, it would make for a great meal. The oceans of this world were brimming with exotic delicacies.
Another day drifted by in this lazy manner.
Baishui was at his usual spot, fishing with one hand while passively circulating his energy and meditating.
Suddenly, a faint prickle of danger washed over him. It wasn't overt, but it was enough to make his heart skip a beat.
His Kenbunshoku Haki flared. He suddenly realized that the sea around them was quiet. Too quiet. It was an eerie, suffocating silence. There wasn't a single seagull in the sky.
"T-Bone, something's wrong," Baishui said, not daring to ignore his instincts. He spoke to the Captain, who was meditating a short distance away.
"What is it?"
T-Bone snapped his eyes open, instantly on high alert. He walked over to Baishui's side, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade. "What do you sense?"
"Don't you think this patch of ocean is a little too quiet? I haven't seen a single bird for miles. It's almost as if something terrifying has scared off all the wildlife."
Baishui reeled in his empty line, his brow furrowed in thought.
"Now that you mention it..." T-Bone narrowed his eyes, surveying the horizon. "I hadn't noticed, but it is unnaturally still. The only sound out here is this chilling wind." His expression darkened into an intense, battle-ready scowl.
"Looks like we have company. We need to prep for combat," Baishui said, tossing the fishing rod aside and standing up.
"Agreed. But the enemy is hidden, and we are out in the open. This puts us at a severe tactical disadvantage," T-Bone muttered, his sharp eyes scanning the surface of the water, terrified of an ambush from the depths.
"Rally the men first. Once the fighting starts, you won't have time to organize a defense," Baishui suggested. His gaze turned icy and piercing as he stared out at the seemingly placid sea.
Meanwhile, less than a kilometer away, hidden deep beneath the waves, a large pirate ship coated in a special resin lay in wait. The vessel boasted a menacing figurehead: a snarling Sabertooth Tiger.
"Well? Are the Marines here yet?"
Inside the submarine-like ship, a massive, three-meter-tall brute lowered his heavy broadsword and growled the question.
The man was bare-chested, wearing nothing but a pair of rugged vintage jeans that did little to hide his absurdly bulging muscles. Thick, animalistic fur covered the sides of his face, and his eyes featured vertical, slit-like pupils that gleamed with predatory malice. He looked exactly like a tiger ready to pounce on its prey.
Most notably, a massive, razor-sharp fang hung from his belt—a trophy that still bore faint traces of dried blood.
This was Sabertooth Torson, a notorious pirate captain boasting a staggering bounty of 130 million Berries.
"Boss, they're barely a kilometer out. They're sailing right over our heads!" one of Torson's subordinates replied.
The speaker was short and incredibly pale, but his eyes darted around with uncanny perceptiveness, as if his vision could pierce straight through the ocean water and the hull of the ship above.
"Hehehe... I bet those Marine dogs have no idea we're waiting for them right under their boots!"
"I can't wait to see the looks of pure terror on their faces when we blow a hole in their hull!"
"It's gonna be a bloody masterpiece!"
Three other pirates standing near the pale scout chimed in, their voices dripping with cruel excitement. They were practically salivating at the thought of a perfect, devastating ambush.
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