Baroque Works' Invitation / Landing

So, in everyone's eyes, Reverse Mountain was the only choice.

If Arthur were alone, he would have chosen to brave the Calm Belt by himself.

But now that Nami was with him, he could only take the usual route.

Beneath the Red Line, a small cabin sailboat, as inconspicuous as an ant, gradually approached the stone wall towering into the sky.

"Arthur, I found the entrance..." Nami said to Arthur, who stood beside her looking perfectly calm, as she watched the wind and kept hold of the helm.

Arthur was peeling one of Nami's beloved oranges and savoring its sweetness. Hearing her, he looked in the direction she indicated and saw the waterway flowing uphill, an intimidating sight that made his heart tremble.

"Do it however you think best. If you need any help, just say the word," Arthur said encouragingly with a smile, offering a segment of orange to Nami's lips.

His tone was so relaxed and casual that he might have been discussing what to eat for dinner. Nami, who had seemed a little unsure of herself, felt her tension ease.

"Mm."

Nami ate the orange segment Arthur offered her and nodded, determination in her eyes.

Nami was undoubtedly a world-class navigator. Though she came from the East Blue, her skill at drawing navigational charts and her sensitivity to wind and weather were almost like the Voice of All Things.

When she calmed down and focused, she was a steadying presence aboard the ship, making everyone feel completely at ease.

Arthur had absolute faith in her navigational skills.

That was why Arthur remained entirely relaxed.

Even if fate played a trick on them and something went wrong at the crucial moment, there was no need to worry.

Arthur had not eaten a Devil Fruit, so he had no fear of the sea at all.

The waterway leading to the summit of Reverse Mountain was neither broad nor narrow, but it was more than spacious enough for Arthur's small cabin sailboat.

There was no need for excessive worry. Nami watched the water flowing uphill and steered the sailboat toward it.

Along the way, Nami called out, "Arthur, hurry and furl the sail."

"Leave it to me." Arthur ate the rest of the orange in one bite, rose lightly on his toes and leaped up to the lookout on the mast. Grabbing a rope, he gave it a hard pull.

At once, the sail that had been catching the wind drew in.

With the sail furled, the boat quickly slowed and glided into the current.

The water flowing uphill lifted the hull and carried the sailboat with Arthur and Nami aboard into the waterway leading to the summit of Reverse Mountain.

Once they had entered the waterway, all they had to do was keep control of the helm and stop the sailboat from drifting out of the current.

It was a task that was neither quite simple nor particularly difficult.

Whether they succeeded depended on whether the navigator stayed focused or let her attention slip.

As the sailboat gradually climbed toward the summit of Reverse Mountain, the East Blue came into full view from that height.

"The sea is so beautiful..."

Looking through the hazy mist at the sea around her homeland, Nami sighed in admiration.

"Yes," Arthur agreed with a smile. There was no denying that One Piece's vast world and its colorful variety of islands were its greatest attractions.

Arthur had felt fortunate more than once to have transmigrated into One Piece. If he had been given a free choice between Naruto and One Piece, both long-running shonen manga, he would have chosen this world of freedom without hesitation.

A man's ambition lay in adventure. Nothing was more exciting than sailing freely across the sea, challenging all manner of people and the forces of nature along the way.

"Arthur..."

As she admired the beauty of the East Blue, Nami suddenly called his name.

"Hm?" Arthur looked at her in surprise. Nami's eyes curved into crescents, and her face flushed as she looked at him and whispered with a sweet smile, "Let's kiss."

"..."

Seeing Nami's bashful face, Arthur suddenly stepped forward, wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her tightly into his embrace, placing his other hand on the helm.

Looking down at Nami as she tilted her head up, her eyes full of shyness, Arthur smiled and teased, "It's my first kiss too, so you can't charge me afterward for taking yours..."

Without waiting for Nami to speak, Arthur forcefully lowered his head and claimed her rosy lips.

"Mm..."

Nami clutched Arthur's clothes tightly in both hands and closed her eyes. As though she had forgotten they were in a dangerous uphill waterway, she eagerly exchanged saliva with Arthur, tasting each other's flavor and breath.

Mist filled the waterway, and amid the perilous surroundings, an ethereal scene unfolded aboard a sailboat.

Arthur was utterly domineering, his movements like hammer blows, leaving Nami completely lost in them.

With anyone else, the sailboat would have long since veered off course.

So, as Arthur kissed Nami, he also released his Observation Haki at just the right time to keep the sailboat balanced.

Still kissing, the two failed to notice when the sailboat reached the summit of Reverse Mountain.

Still embracing, they failed to notice even as the sailboat sped down the other side and a powerful rush of wind swept over them.

It was just as the saying went—a kiss to the end of time.

Chapter 18: Baroque Works' Invitation

It seemed that ever since he met Nami, Arthur's luck had been maxed out.

The sailboat raced downward without being obstructed by Laboon and successfully reached the Grand Line.

Arthur took a close look around and quickly extended his Observation Haki over the surrounding area. He detected no living people, but sensed a powerful life force beneath the sea.

Arthur was not surprised. Less than a month had passed since he had gotten ahead of Nami and dealt with Arlong.

At this point, Luffy was still in the East Blue, and it would take him some time to catch up.

Although Laboon often rammed the Red Line with his head, he did not do it every day.

Arthur's luck had evidently let him avoid the moment when Laboon struck the Red Line.

Arthur also sensed no living person at the lighthouse on Twin Cape.

Clearly, Crocus, the former ship's doctor of Roger's crew, had already moved inside Laboon to stay for a while.

At that thought, Arthur merely smiled and paid it no more mind.

"Nami, this is for you."

Looking down at Nami, who was clutching his clothes tightly and was still too entranced by their kiss to come to her senses, Arthur took a box from his pocket and held it out in front of her.

"Wh-what is this?" That kiss had left Nami feeling suffocated and nearly made her faint. Now her whole body felt hot, and the skin on her cheeks, neck, collarbones and arms had turned bright red. All she lacked was visible steam rising from her.

Looking at the box before her, Nami asked the question between gasps.

"This is an essential compass for the Grand Line. The islands here all have special magnetic fields, and you need this Log Pose to record them. Once it has stored enough magnetism, the needle inside will point to the next island," Arthur explained in detail.

"I see. The Grand Line really lives up to its name." Nami's eyes lit up. With her world-class talent for navigation, she grasped what Arthur meant at once.

Opening the box, Nami found that, just as Arthur had said, the needle was quivering slightly and pointing in one direction.

"Twin Cape's magnetic field is weak, so it filled up quickly, but some islands take a very long time," Arthur continued, explaining how to use the Log Pose. "Besides this kind of Log Pose, there's also an Eternal Pose. As the name suggests, no matter where you are, it always points to the island whose magnetism it holds."

"Mm-hm... So, if we get the chance, we need to buy an Eternal Pose to prepare for the possibility that we land on an island where it takes a really long time to store the magnetism, right?" Nami nodded repeatedly and smiled.

"That's right."

Arthur smiled gently. As expected of the future greatest navigator in the world, she understood instantly with only a brief explanation.

Actually, besides those two kinds of Log Pose, there were two other kinds of "compass."

They were the special Log Pose of the New World and the Vivre Card.

Since both the special Log Pose and Vivre Cards came from the New World, Arthur was in no hurry to mention them to Nami.

Whiskey Peak was Cactus Island, an island where several enormous cacti could be seen from a distance.

On the island was a town that welcomed pirates, but it was actually a branch of the secret criminal company Baroque Works, and everyone in the town was a bounty hunter.

Not everyone was as powerful as Arthur. Generally, people with his strength developed an ambition, one that could be called either a dream or a desire for dominance.

Almost everyone driven by such ambition became a pirate, a marine or a revolutionary.

Those were the three most powerful organizations on the seas apart from the World Government. Beneath those three was the organization known as the Underworld.

The Underworld was a collective term for a mixture of occupations, such as arms dealers, slave auction houses, drug dealers and companies that sold all sorts of mysterious powders, such as Dance Powder, as well as human traffickers, bounty hunters, thieves and so on...

Among them was Baroque Works, the secret criminal company.

Bounty hunters were actually only a little better than thieves.

Indeed, most people almost regarded "bounty hunter" as another name for "human trafficker."

That was especially true in the Sabaody Archipelago, where the so-called bounty hunters were nothing more than human traffickers driven mad by money.

Bounty hunters all worked for money, and those who had to worry about money were all weaklings.

Thus, most bounty hunters were weak. Being weak, they needed to band together, and so the Underworld's bounty hunters came into being.

"What an amazing island. The legendary Grand Line really lives up to its name..."

As the small cabin sailboat approached from afar, Nami, who was at the helm, could already see the cacti. If she had not known it was an island, she would surely have thought they were several mountain-sized cacti floating on the sea.

"That's a gathering place for bounty hunters, an organization that specializes in going after pirates from the four seas who have never seen the wider world," Arthur said, standing beside Nami with his arms folded.

"A gathering place for bounty hunters?" Nami looked at Arthur in surprise. As if something had occurred to her, she nodded and said to herself, "Come to think of it, I remember Kuroobi saying something about Armament Haki and how you weren't from the East Blue, and then there's this Log Pose. I'd never even heard of any of them... Don't tell me this is the organization you joined?"

For the last sentence, Nami turned to Arthur with a sly smile.

Smack!

Without hesitation, Arthur brought the edge of his hand down on Nami's forehead. Looking at her as she winced and groaned, he said with mild exasperation, "Where do you get such a complicated idea?"

"I know about it because the boss of this organization once invited me to join, and I turned him down..." Arthur began.

Indeed, Arthur really had received an invitation from Baroque Works.

Like Zoro, Arthur was famous. His name as the Wind Sword Knight was known throughout the East Blue, and even Zoro's Pirate Hunter reputation was overshadowed by his. As a result, Baroque Works had noticed him and specifically sent Miss Friday, the vulture who wore sunglasses in the original story, flying over Reverse Mountain to deliver him an invitation in the East Blue.

It said that if Arthur was willing to join Baroque Works, he would immediately become an intermediate agent, and that he should come to the Grand Line if he was interested.

Arthur had refused on the spot.

Baroque Works had not cared, either. If it had been the West Blue or the North Blue, Crocodile might have come in person or sent Nico Robin.

Perhaps he also thought that, since the East Blue was the Weakest Sea, no matter how famous someone was there, he could only be so impressive.

Otherwise, they would not have offered Arthur only an intermediate agent's position.

That was plainly looking down on him.

Chapter 19: Landing

"I see..."

After hearing Arthur's account, Nami nodded in understanding, then asked, "So what are we doing here?"

Arthur was a bounty hunter, but that did not mean Nami had a favorable opinion of them.

After eight years of experience mingling with various pirate crews and escaping unscathed every time, Nami's impression of bounty hunters was:

Hyenas, money grubbers like her, and killers—

That much could be seen from how people feared Zoro's title of Pirate Hunter.

Not everyone was Arthur, and no other bounty hunter had a good reputation like the Wind Sword Knight.

It should be remembered that Nami had initially worked with Arthur because of his knightly bearing, his disregard for money, what he had done for Orange Town and the stories about him in the East Blue.

Most importantly, his gift of ten million Beli had improved Nami's opinion of Arthur.

Of course, when Nami had first begun working with Arthur, her purpose had been to use him as a tool for making money.