Two days later, in the evening.
North Blue sea region, near Reverse Mountain.
"Wow… is this Reverse Mountain?!"
Under the starlight, Ash Thalos looked up at the towering mountain range and the seawater flowing upward against gravity. Even with everything he had already seen in this world, he could not help but feel stunned by the absurd and magnificent geography of the Pirate World. It was a place that completely ignored logic and physics.
Although Pini and Dicken were natives of this world, they had never left the Benbona Kingdom region in their entire lives. Naturally, this was also their first time witnessing such an unbelievable sight.
The three of them stood on the deck like idiots, staring at Reverse Mountain with their mouths wide open for a long time before finally snapping out of it.
There was no helping it.
Now that they were this close, Pini no longer needed to use his wind ability to propel the ship. The violent upstream current had already grabbed hold of their sailboat and was dragging it straight toward the foot of Reverse Mountain.
If they kept zoning out, their very first ship would probably be smashed into scrap metal before they even entered the Grand Line.
"Brother Pini, is everything okay?"
Ash and Dicken both turned to look at him.
There was nothing they could do. None of the three of them knew how to properly steer a ship. The only solution was to physically carry the ship over Reverse Mountain.
And the only one capable of doing that was Pini.
Pini laughed confidently. "No problem at all! Even if the ship were ten times bigger, I could still carry it over easily."
"If there's no problem, then good!" Ash said, suddenly taking off into the air. "Brother Dicken, keep an eye on the supplies. I'll wait for you on the other side!"
As he rose, a ring of flames appeared around his body, forming a one-meter-wide circle that completely enveloped him. The temperature quickly increased, and the flames gradually shifted from red to a brilliant golden color.
Ash stretched his arms forward, head first, feet behind, and shot toward Reverse Mountain like a comet, leaving a blazing golden trail in the sky.
His voice echoed faintly through the air.
"Yoho! I'm a Super Saiyan!"
Dicken listened carefully, then turned to Pini with a confused expression.
"Brother Pini… what does 'Super Saiyan' even mean?"
"How would I know?" Pini said irritably. "That brat is losing his mind in the middle of the night. He keeps saying he wants to hide his tracks, but this fire can probably be seen from ten nautical miles away!"
"…"
At Ash's speed, he quickly reached the summit of Reverse Mountain.
Looking down from above, he saw the ocean currents splitting into five massive streams, flowing in different directions. Four led to the Four Seas, and the fifth poured straight into the Grand Line.
It was exactly like the manga.
No, it was even more spectacular in reality.
After admiring the view, Ash shifted his gaze to both ends of the Red Line. Despite being constantly drenched in seawater, the massive rock formations were completely barren, without even a trace of vegetation.
In the original story, only the Celestial Dragons lived on the Red Line, in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise. There was almost no information about what else existed across that vast landmass.
Ash was definitely curious about it.
But he was not suicidal.
Besides Imu, the Gorosei, the God's Knights, and CP0, who knew how many terrifying monsters were hidden up there?
When he actually counted them in his head, Ash felt his scalp go numb.
At his current level, he might not even be able to beat the weaker Celestial Dragon guards, let alone Admiral or Emperor-tier monsters.
Better to stay low for now.
Anyway, he would grow stronger even if he did nothing. If that was the case, why rush to risk his life?
Ash was very good at comforting himself.
After taking a few more glances at the Red Line, he changed direction and flew straight toward the Grand Line.
"Yoho! I'm a Super Saiyan!"
On the other side of Reverse Mountain, near the summit.
"Brother Pini, did you hear that?"
Dicken shouted. "Ash yelled again, something about Super Saiyan!"
Pini rolled his eyes. "Why do you care what that idiot is shouting? Just assume he's having a breakdown. And stop distracting me, I need to focus on controlling the ship!"
"Didn't you say earlier that even a ship ten times bigger wouldn't be a problem…?" Dicken muttered quietly as he walked away.
"I heard that, you bastard!"
On the other side.
"I knew you'd be here."
Ash looked down at the massive whale beneath him, its head covered in old scars. He smiled, then suddenly accelerated.
"Braised Whale!"
A golden line of fire shot straight toward .
"!!!"
"Ang!"
"Laboon, watch out! You damn brat, stop it!" an old voice shouted urgently.
"Clap."
The flames around Ash vanished instantly. He landed lightly on Laboon's head, laughing loudly as the confused whale let out a low sound.
A tall figure leaped up beside him in a few quick movements, standing protectively in front of Laboon and staring at Ash with vigilance.
The old man had a strange half-sunflower hairstyle.
Ash looked at him and smiled slightly.
"I knew you old geezer would be here too."
"Haha, relax. I'm not going to hurt Laboon. I was just saying hello." Ash waved his hand casually. "Oh right, you're the ship doctor from Pirate King Roger's crew, right? Named Carlos?"
"It's Crocus, you brat!" shouted, veins bulging on his forehead.
This damn kid either did not know him at all, or was deliberately messing with him.
"Kid, who are you? And how do you know me?"
Roger had been executed fifteen years ago. Crocus had lived in seclusion here for the same amount of time.
If it were not for Laboon waiting at the Twin Capes Lighthouse, he would never have chosen such a conspicuous place to stay.
"Me?"
Ash pointed at himself and grinned. "I guess you could call me a pirate hunter. Though I haven't officially started yet."
"A pirate hunter?" Crocus's expression turned serious.
He had clearly seen Ash descend from the sky engulfed in flames. That was definitely a Devil Fruit ability, and most likely the Logia-type Mera Mera no Mi.
Not easy to deal with.
Even though he was already 64 years old, Crocus had once traveled to the final island with Roger. His strength, especially his Observation Haki, was far from ordinary.
Ash noticed Crocus's tense posture and smiled.
"Relax. I'm not interested in hunting retired old men like you."
He continued calmly, "If I meet some murderous lunatic, I'll kill them on the spot. But you're a doctor. You mostly treated that bastard Roger, so you can't be a bad person."
Crocus's pupils shrank.
This young man knew far too much about his past.
Who was he?
Why did he know all this?
What exactly did he want?
Could it be… Laugh Tale?
Seeing Crocus grow even more tense, Ash felt helpless.
This old man was definitely overthinking things.
"Anyway, can you ask Laboon to move aside?" Ash said. "My companions are about to come down. I'd rather not cause unnecessary misunderstandings. I actually like this whale quite a lot."
At the same time, Crocus's Observation Haki detected something large rapidly descending from the sky.
Compared to Laboon, an ordinary sailboat was laughably small, not even as big as the giant squids he usually ate as snacks.
But looking at Ash again, Crocus finally decided to trust him this once.
Standing on Laboon's head, Crocus shouted,
"Laboon, move back!"
In mid-air.
Pini shouted in panic, "Damn it, what is that huge thing below?!"
"Rumble…"
Dark clouds slowly gathered in the sky, and distant thunder began to echo.
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