Air currents swirled slightly around Vivi's body. Merry closed her eyes, fully sensing the flow of seawater around the ship.
A single Gomu Gomu no Giant Pistol blasted out, directly dispersing the water serpent.
Zoro also flashed his blades repeatedly. Pound Hō slashed open another incoming current.
Brook, nervously sailing, explained, "Serpent usually refers to a playing snake. These currents are like giant serpents they attack everything in their path!"
Nami raised her telescope, her brow furrowed. "This is bad. The telescope can't even see the border of this current area!"
The Going Merry had already been retracted into the Thousand Sunny.
But everywhere visible in this sea area was filled with Serpent Currents.
Just then, Merry suddenly opened her eyes, raised her small hand, and shouted crisply, "Nami-neesan, I found a way! Between the third whirlpool on the left and the fourth tornado, there's a relatively stable gap we can pass through!"
As a ship spirit, her perception of the surroundings far exceeded that of ordinary people.
"Good job, Merry! Sanji, hard left! Franky, prepare Coup de Burst on my command!"
Nami immediately seized the opportunity.
Under Nami's precise command and Merry's navigation, the Thousand Sunny, like an agile fish, shuttles thrillingly through the furious swarm of snakes.
Finally, after a perfectly timed Coup de Burst accelerated, the ship burst out of that chaotic sea area.
Ahead, the way was clear.
Sunlight once again filled the sea surface. And at the end of the horizon, a majestic red continent, seemingly connecting heaven and earth, stood in sight!
"We've finally seen the Red Line again!"
Luffy pressed down his straw hat, a smile appearing on his face.
Everyone looked at the spectacular sight, their own thoughts in their hearts.
Luffy, Nami, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, Merry... back in the East Blue, they had also experienced a violent storm. At the foot of this same Red Line, each had sworn their dreams and begun this great voyage.
Vivi tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. "I met Luffy at Twin Capes."
"Yohoho. After fifty years, I finally see this barrier that divides the world again." Brook was quite emotional.
Fifty years?
Bonney couldn't help but glance at the skeleton.
Could Brook be the hidden old monster deepest in the Straw Hat crew?
"We've completed the first half of the Grand Line?" Usopp murmured in disbelief.
"Yeah!" Luffy grinned. "Everyone made it through safely!"
Franky wiped away nonexistent tears and struck his classic pose. "Super——! I crossed Reverse Mountain from the South Blue to get here. That was thirty years ago!"
Robin held her tea cup and smiled. "I entered this sea from the West Blue five years ago."
"Once we sail the remaining half of the Grand Line, we'll definitely see the Red Line again! And then we'll achieve the feat of circling the entire world."
The only crew to have achieved this feat on this world was the Roger Pirates.
When he achieved it himself, he should also have become the Pirate King.
Luffy couldn't hide his excitement.
Woo hoo! Finally, he could escape this Pirate King Training Plan!
Bonney listened quietly nearby, watching the memories overflowing on their faces, their emotions, and their longing for the future. Her feelings were complicated.
She was a bit envious of them for having experienced so many adventures together and forming such deep bonds.
"This place is very close to Marine Headquarters Marineford and the World Government's holy land, Mary Geise. You need to be very careful." Bonney reminded them.
As if to confirm her words, the previously calm sea suddenly churned violently. A huge shadow rapidly rose from beneath the ship.
"Waves?" Merry exclaimed.
Luffy's eyes condensed. "No!"
He instantly realized that wasn't a wave at all. It was an unimaginably massive sea beast raising its body from the sea!
The Thousand Sunny was as small as a child's toy before this sea beast.
"Gomu Gomu no: Giant Pistol!"
Luffy leaped up. His arm expanded rapidly in mid-air. His huge fist contained terrifying power, crashing directly into the relatively soft abdomen of the sea beast.
BOOM——!!
With a dull impact, accompanied by the sea beast's painful shriek, its huge body suddenly stiffened, then slowly began to topple backward.
"Watch out for the tsunami!"
Nami shouted very experiencedly.
Sure enough, the sea beast's huge body crashed onto the sea surface, kicking up waves tens of meters high that came crashing toward the Thousand Sunny.
Zoro, Sanji, and the others immediately struck, using slashes or kicks to disperse the waves approaching the ship.
Luffy returned to normal, landing on the deck. He rubbed his growing stomach and looked pleadingly at Sanji.
"Sanji, can you cook this big guy? Is it edible?"
"It's edible, but—"
Before he could finish—
"Ahh, I'm saved!!"
An unfamiliar voice, carrying relief and a hint of daze, suddenly interrupted, cutting off Luffy's order.
Everyone was stunned. They all looked toward the direction of the voice.
A green figure jumped out of the slowly sinking sea beast's belly, drawing a beautiful parabola in the air. Then, impartially—
Plop.
—landed right on Luffy's face as he looked up at the sky.
Everyone: "..."
Luffy: "???"
He frantically pulled the unknown object off his face. His hands felt slippery. Only then did he realize he was holding a fish tail!
"Eh?!"
Everyone looked over. Only then did they clearly see—it was a young girl.
No, calling her just a young girl was too superficial.
Because the upper half of this creature was a human girl wearing a shell bikini, with green short hair and big, clear eyes. The lower half was a beautiful fish tail that shimmered with a faint pink sheen.
"A-a mermaid?!"
Everyone exclaimed in unison.
"I'm saved, I'm saved. I almost got digested."
The mermaid completely failed to realize where she had landed. She patted her small chest, looking relieved. "I was a bit confused, passing by this sea beast, and it just treated me like an ordinary little fish and swallowed me whole. Let's see... back and forth, I've been swallowed by different sea beasts over twenty times now."
She then noticed Luffy and the circle of dumbfounded people around him. She bowed politely. "Thank you for saving me! My name is Camie. I'm a mermaid, Camie!"
"My name is Monkey D. Luffy. I'm the man who's going to become the Pirate King."
Luffy also introduced himself automatically.
Two seconds later—
Camie's eyes suddenly bulged out like a goldfish's. Her mouth formed an "O" shape. She looked completely terrified. In a shrill voice, she shouted, "P-PIRATES?!"
Luffy was also startled.
A girl who had been quite pretty suddenly turned into this grotesque sight. Anyone would think she had eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi.
"There's no need to shout like that. It's not like we're going to do anything to you." Nami said somewhat helplessly.
Her feelings toward fish-men were complicated. Having experienced the Arlong incident, she naturally harbored innate hostility toward fish-men.
But she would not easily extend her hatred to the entire race especially not to this innocent mermaid girl before her.
Camie nervously clutched Luffy's collar. Upon hearing this, she sighed in relief and patted her small chest. "You won't hurt me? That's great."
Vivi watched this unsuspecting little mermaid and couldn't help but hold her forehead. "She believes that so easily?"
Robin held her coffee and added with a completely serious face, "She seems very easy to cheat."
"Huh?! Was I tricked?!"
Camie's expression instantly became extremely exaggerated, with a kind of natural cuteness.
Everyone was surprised to see a living mermaid. Even Bonney had never been this close to one before.
When she heard that Camie was from the Sabaody Archipelago, Bonney was even more shocked.
"The Sabaody Archipelago? How did you get out of there?" Bonney asked.
Luffy was confused. "Is there a problem?"
Bonney explained, "The Sabaody Archipelago has many lawless zones, filled with kidnappers and slave auctions. Someone like Camie—no combat ability, so conspicuous is basically their ideal target. The fact that she made it out of there alive and got to this sea is an absolute miracle among miracles."
Hearing this, Camie immediately panicked. Her eyes reddened instantly.
"Waa, that's exactly it! My good friends, Pappag and Hatchan the fish-man, were both captured by those awful kidnapper organizations while protecting me!
I didn't know who to ask for help. Could you please... save them? Pappag and Hatchan were captured because of me."
"Fish-man Hatchan?"
Luffy frowned. He remembered back in the East Blue. Nami had said afterward that one executive of the Arlong Pirates had escaped. That name sounded familiar. His expression turned strange. "This Hatchan you're talking about... is he an octopus fish-man who used to be in the East Blue?"
Camie nodded vigorously. "Yes! Hatchan used to be in the East Blue."
"Then we can't agree to this request." Luffy interrupted Camie. His tone was uncharacteristically cold and hard.
"Why?"
Camie was desperate. Tears welled in her eyes.
Luffy looked at Camie seriously and said, "Because we have a grudge. In the East Blue, I wiped out the Arlong Pirates."
He paused and glanced at Nami, whose expression had slightly changed. "But Nami did say one escaped in the end."
Camie noticed Nami's instantly pale face and complicated eyes. She became even more anxious and quickly defended Hatchan.
"Hatchan has been repenting ever since he came back from the East Blue. He said he did a lot of bad things! He now runs a takoyaki shop on the Sabaody Archipelago. Most of the money he earns goes to helping people in trouble on the island! He really has turned over a new leaf!"
Nami's hatred toward Arlong and his crew—Luffy had been the primary witness.
Zoro and Sanji hadn't even made it there yet. Luffy had wiped out the Arlong Pirates by himself.
No matter how one looked at it, Luffy would absolutely stand on Nami's side.
***
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