The Grand Line (I)

"Logia?" Fanxin asked, taken aback.

"That's right, it's Logia." The old man said, "So what if it's Logia? If Roger were alive, he could kill him with a single finger."

The old man was furious; clearly, he was very unhappy with Smoker. Yes, the old man was very unhappy with Smoker because, because of him, the dreams of many pirates had been extinguished.

"Hehe, Logia? Very good." Fanxin smiled, kept it in mind, and didn't say anything more.

"Grandpa, don't worry! There will be more and more pirates in the future, Smoker can't stop them." Fanxin finished his brandy in one gulp and said, "I'm also preparing to go to the Grand Line, setting sail in the next few days. Besides me, there are more and more pirates following me."

"Oh, you're a pirate too?" The old man paused for a moment upon hearing this, then said.

"No, but it's about to happen. I'm planning to form a pirate crew and take them to explore the Grand Line. You just watch from here! In the near future, my name will surely resound throughout the entire sea," Fanxin said confidently.

Upon hearing this, the old man stared coldly at Fanxin. After a long while, he excitedly asked, "Boy, tell me, what's your name?"

"My name is Fanxin." Fanxin smiled, tossed down one hundred gold coins, and then left Roger Bar.

The old man watched Fanxin leave, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses.

"Hehe, Fanxin, huh? Fine, I'll wait here and see if you're a dragon or a snake." The old man chuckled, sat down in a chair next to the counter, and looked very pleased, for reasons unknown.

After leaving Roger Tavern, Fanxin headed straight for the Naval Headquarters.

"Hey kid, you're not thinking of trying this out, are you?" the Giant Dragon suddenly said.

"That's right, I want to try it out and see if what you're saying is true or false," Fanxin nodded and said.

"In that case, go! You'll understand." The Giant Dragon nodded and said. Then, it said no more, letting Fanxin go on his own.

Fanxin asked a town resident for directions and learned the location of the naval command post. He then headed straight there.

Upon arriving at the naval command, Fanxin immediately began attacking the navy without saying a word.

He was a spirit, so the navy didn't know who was attacking them. It was precisely because they didn't know that they were afraid.

The soldiers fled to the command post. One captain even rushed into Smoker's office.

As soon as he entered the office, he found it filled with smoke and he didn't see a single person.

However, he couldn't care less about anything else and shouted, "Colonel, Colonel, Colonel Smoker, this is terrible!"

"What's wrong? Is there any need to panic?" a voice rang out from the smoke.

"A ghost! A ghost! A ghost is attacking us!" the captain exclaimed urgently.

"Ghosts? Hmph, there are no ghosts in this world!" Smoker snorted lightly. A moment later, all the smoke disappeared, gathered together, and finally entered the body of a tall man.

The tall man, shirtless, was leaning back in a grand chair, fast asleep.

Smoker has short silver hair and wears goggles around his neck. He likes to have two cigars in his mouth at the same time, with smoke swirling in front of his eyes, but he doesn't seem to feel uncomfortable at all. That's because he's Devil Fruit User, and the smoke has no effect on him.

After smoking for a while, he stood up, put on his overcoat, picked up his weapon Seastone Jitte, and then followed the captain out.

Upon arriving outside the naval command post, Smoker glanced around and saw many soldiers lying on the ground, all wounded and unable to stand.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Smoker shouted, his face grim.

He was furious that someone would actually try to take advantage of him; this was unprecedented. Since he arrived, no one had dared to challenge his authority.

"Hehe, you're Smoker?" Fanxin glanced at the other person, chuckled, and said.

"Hmm, why can't I see you?" Smoker looked in the direction the voice came from and said.

"Because I can become invisible." Fanxin chuckled for a moment, then said, "Hey, Smoking Man, how about we make a deal?"

"A deal? What deal?" Smoker asked.

"I'll give you a few pirates, and you'll fight me in return," Fanxin said. "Of course, if you're not satisfied, I'll rip up the entire Marine headquarters and make you lose face."

"Hmph, you really dare to say that, kid. Come on over here if you dare!" Smoker snorted and said.

Fanxin smiled, then dumped Arlong and the others in front of Smoker. He had brought those men with him to hand them over to the Marines, and since Smoker hated pirates so much, he probably wouldn't let them go easily. In this way, he could consider the matter settled.

When Arlong and his crew emerged, the Marines gasped in surprise. Arlong was the pirate with the highest bounty in the East Blue!

"Arlong?" Smoker glanced at the Arlong, somewhat surprised, and said, "Heh, you've given me quite a gift!"

"Hehe, if you like it, that's good." Fanxin said dismissively.

"You wait, I'll deal with them first, then I'll deal with you." Smoker snorted and prepared to capture the Arlong.

The Arlong snorted and began to retaliate. He had been to prison before and had no intention of going back.

However, once Smoker reached his opponent, he didn't retaliate, allowing the dragon to attack him. Yet, despite the Arlong's best efforts, he couldn't hit Smoker. This was because Smoker had turned into smoke, rendering Smoker Arlong's attacks ineffective.

"See that?" the Giant Dragon whispered.

"As I thought, it seems you were right." Fanxin nodded and said.

"Go and try it later!" the Giant Dragon said.

Fanxin nodded. He didn't act immediately because Smoker hadn't captured the Arlong and the others yet. If the Arlong escaped, all his efforts would be in vain.

He just stood there watching.

Smoker stared at the Arlong for a moment and said, "It's no use, you can't hit me, give up!"

Upon hearing this, the Arlong immediately retreated, preparing to flee. He couldn't defeat his opponent, so running away was the only option; otherwise, he would end up in prison.

However, Smoker refused to let the Arlong have its way. He hated pirates the most, so how could he let this heinous Arlong escape from his grasp?

He immediately transformed into smoke and gave chase, entangling the Arlong. After catching the Arlong, he beat Arlong mercilessly until Arlong fell unconscious, at which point he stopped.

Soon after, the soldiers stepped forward, handcuffed Arlong and the others, and then escorted them to the prison.

Then, Smoker looked at Fanxin and said, "Although you have given me such a great gift, you have also injured my soldiers and offended me. I have no choice but to arrest you as well."

"Ah, I'm really scared," Fanxin said with a nonchalant laugh.

"Hmph." Smoker snorted softly upon hearing this, then transformed into smoke and rushed towards Fanxin.

Fanxin did not dodge, because he wanted to test whether his attack was truly ineffective against Smoker.

Smoker rushed over and surrounded him. Fanxin Xin immediately launched an attack, throwing punches at Smoker's body. However, every punch he threw seemed to hit empty air.

"Damn it, it really didn't work," Fanxin said dejectedly.

"Hmph, of course. Do you think you can hurt me with your weak attack?" Smoker said disdainfully.

"Tch, you think you can catch me like that? What a joke." Fanxin scoffed upon hearing this, then immediately activated the Wind and Sand Tower, creating a tornado that enveloped him.

Smoker is smoke, which, under the blowing of wind and sand, eventually becomes unsustainable.

Left with no other choice, he had to revert to human form and relinquish his Fanxin.

"Smoker, I didn't come here today to fight you to the death, but to test the power of Logia Devil Fruit. Now that I've experienced it, I won't stay any longer. Goodbye." Fanxin stood up, preparing to leave.

Smoker, however, had no intention of letting Fanxin go. He transformed into smoke and prepared to give chase.

However, Fanxin had already anticipated this. He immediately knew that countless tornadoes had enveloped the entire Haijun branch, and unless Smoker wanted to be swept into the sandstorm, he had no choice but to stay obediently in the command center.

Seeing the sandstorm raging across the sky, Smoker had no choice but to give up, for he had already lost all trace of his Fanxin.

He returned to the command post and continued his cultivation.

After leaving the naval command, Fanxin went to look for Ren Fang and the others.

"Hey, why did you make a move? Did you run into an enemy?" Ren Fang asked in a low voice.

"No, it was just to verify something, and it's all done now. So, I escaped. Don't worry! The navy doesn't know who attacked them, they won't be able to find us," Fanxin said with a smile.

"Okay, that's good." Ren Fang nodded and said, "We've finished buying the food. Now we're going to the clothing store. Do you want to come?"

"Oh, okay? Then I won't go. I'll wait for you at the beach. Be quick about it." Fanxin immediately shook his head and refused when he heard that Ren Fang was going shopping. Shopping was the most troublesome thing for women, and he disliked trouble the most, so he didn't want to go with her.

Ren Fang smiled helplessly and didn't say anything more.

Fanxin Xin immediately left and returned to where the ship was moored to wait.

He waited for two hours before Ren Fang and the others returned. A little while later, the Little Black Cat and the others also returned.

They all had smiles on their faces; they must have had a lot of fun this time.

"Alright, let's get on the boat! Let's get out of here as soon as possible," Fanxin said. Everyone agreed and boarded the boat.

They left Loguetown very quickly.

"Let's go, to the Grand Line!" Fanxin shouted.

"Okay." Upon hearing this, everyone agreed with both hands.

They accelerated at full speed, heading towards the Grand Line.

On the tenth day, they arrived at the entrance to the Grand Line.

Gazing at the magnificent scene at the entrance to the Grand Line, his Fanxin remained unsettled for a long time. For this was a wondrous sight: the seawater flowed backward, heading towards the top of a mountain peak—something he had never seen before.

They stopped the engine and furled the sails.

Because the wind was so strong at the entrance, it propelled their boat straight towards the mountaintop. They didn't need to accelerate; simply keeping the boat steady was enough. In this situation, accelerating would be tantamount to suicide.

"It's magnificent! This trip was definitely worthwhile," Ren Fang said with a smile.

Their boat was propelled by the turbulent waters toward the summit, but they could not see the peak; it seemed to reach straight into the clouds.

Indeed, this mountain is called Reverse Mountain. It is extremely tall, already above the clouds, and is the entrance to the Grand Line.

The waters of the East Blue, South Blue, West Blue, and North Blue China Sea all converge here before entering the Grand Line. If it weren't for this, the waters of the four great seas might never have had the chance to meet.

"Now, everyone tie yourselves to the boat with ropes. We're going uphill now, but soon we'll be going downhill. Going downhill is extremely dangerous. We have no choice but to do this to avoid being thrown off," Fanxin shouted.

Upon hearing this, everyone sprang into action, tying ropes around their waists. At the same time, to prevent any accidents, they gripped the railings tightly, thus providing them with double protection.

Several hours later, they finally reached the top of Reverse Mountain, where the clouds were right beneath their feet.

"It truly towers high into the clouds!" Fanxin exclaimed.

After saying that, their ship was swept high into the air by the sea.

Just then, everyone tensed up because the ship had taken off and they could no longer see what was below the clouds. All they could do was pray; there was nothing they could do now.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, the boat finally landed.

Once the ship descended below the cloud cover, they could finally see the location where it was about to land.

Looking down, everyone's faces turned grim, because their boat hadn't landed on the water, but was about to land on the soil.

"What should we do?" Ren Fang asked.

"Damn it, what bad luck!" Fan Fanxin's face was grim. After hesitating for a moment, Fanxin shouted, "Everyone put on your Flight Armor! We'll fly into the sky and pull together to drag the ship back to the sea!"

"Okay." Upon hearing this, everyone no longer hesitated and immediately put on their Flight Armor.

Then they divided the work: some people pulled hard on one side, while others pushed hard on the other side.

Thanks to everyone's efforts, the ship's landing position gradually shifted, and it eventually returned to the sea.

Fanxin was relieved to see the ship return to the surface. Everyone went back to the ship and clung tightly to the railings, watching it descend.

A moment later, the ship made a loud bang and had a close encounter with the sea.

"Hehe, now we can truly say we've entered the Grand Line," Fanxin Xin chuckled and said.