"Wow, that's the Red Line!"
"It's covered by clouds. You can't even see the top."
Roman looked up at the towering red curtain that rose straight into the clouds, his eyes flickering.
"In other words, if we crossed the Red Line right now..."
Roman turned to the others on deck.
"We could descend directly into the New World..."
And Roman happened to have this cheating "ability," which could get him to the end of the Grand Line in the shortest possible time.
???
"That wouldn't be fun at all!!"
Roman merely shrugged at Luffy's complaint.
"Of course, I was only saying."
"Setting aside whether I even have the stamina to leap over the Red Line, the New World is crawling with pirates worth over a hundred million. I could die at any moment."
"Hahaha, sailing is only exciting if you fight your way through!"
He had to admit that Luffy often grasped the point best—abandoning shortcuts and leveling up all the way across the Grand Line was the smart choice.
"An entrance is ahead!"
"Careful, we're about to get sucked in!"
Ahead, within the towering Red Line, a "river channel" appeared on the mountainside, its rushing waters surging toward the summit! This was the entrance to the Grand Line.
"Ooh, I heard half the people who make it here don't make it any farther."
Sanji looked at the "waterway" on the slope ahead. If they failed to keep the ship in the right current, they could easily veer off course and crash headfirst into the Red Line.
"Leave it to me."
This was when Nami stepped up. Only she could accurately read the ocean currents beneath the ship and prevent them from crashing.
"Then I'll help too."
Roman spread his arms, and sheets of white paper flew from his sleeves. They formed a pair of "wings" on either side of the Golden Merry.
"Paper Dance—Horizontal Wings!"
"Good. This will minimize the chance of the ship being swept off course by turbulent currents. But—"
Even Nami, with all her sailing experience, had never experienced a ship having to "climb a mountain."
"Careful—"
"We're in!!!"
With Nami at the helm and Roman stabilizing the ship, the Golden Merry smoothly shot into the Grand Line entrance between the Red Line, despite the raging waves and stormy weather!
As the violent current propelled the entire ship upward at high speed, the scenery raced backward before their eyes! Until—
"Ooh, I can see the Grand Line!"
Luffy shouted from atop the Golden Merry's sheep figurehead as the ship reached the summit. Looking out, they saw glittering waves stretching endlessly to the horizon.
"This is the greatest ocean in the whole world!"
"We're here, charge—"
Once they reached the summit, the waters from the other three seas converged there as well, driving the Golden Merry downward. Once they burst out of this waterway, below them would be—
?
"What's that, a mountain?"
"Woooooo~~~~"
Yet directly ahead of the Golden Merry as it plunged downward at high speed stood a black mountain that rose into the clouds...
"That's not a mountain, that's a whale?!"
"What a spectacular sight!"
"Ooh, a whale that huge~~~"
As Luffy and the others cheered excitedly, Roman covered his forehead, unable to bear looking at them.
"Have none of you considered that if we crash into that giant whale at this speed, the only outcome will be the ship wrecking and all of us dying?"
"Ahhh!?"
"Roman, think of something!" X5
"What do you take me for? Some all-purpose gadget cat...?"
Though he said that, Roman had long prepared for a situation like this. Ever since he decided to join Luffy's ship, surviving all kinds of extreme environments—at sea, on land, and in the air—had become something Roman constantly considered.
Don't ask. If you ask, it's because he had loved before...
Clap!
Roman brought his hands together, and sheet after sheet of white paper drifted from his clothes, thousands upon thousands of them. Amid a rustling sound, they all gathered and assembled at the stern.
"Paper Dance—Parachute!"
Sheets of paper formed a massive "parachute" at the stern. Though it was called a parachute, "drag chute" would have been more accurate—the kind used on space shuttles in Roman's previous life. It sounded high-tech, but in truth...
It was just a relatively sturdy umbrella.
Still, under the deceleration of that enormous "paper umbrella," the Golden Merry's speed dropped rapidly as it rushed down from the summit. By the time it neared sea level, it had practically stopped.
"Good—"
Crack,
The slowing Golden Merry collided with the mountain-like black whale, and the sheep figurehead at the bow snapped off. But compared to the shipwreck and deaths they had narrowly avoided, this was far better.
"Starboard helm, we'll go around..."
Just as Roman prepared to steer around this "big guy," Luffy sprang onto the rail with a smack.
"You broke my... special seat!"
?
Hey, don't—
"Gum-Gum Pistol!"
Smack!!
His extended fist slammed into the giant whale's eye, perfectly demonstrating what it meant to court death.
"Are you an idiot?!?!" X5
Nami, Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji burst into tears at once!
Worthy of the King of the Pirates—he could effortlessly make the famed Zoro cry his eyes out...
"Calm down, calm down..."
Roman, at the helm, no longer knew what he was saying.
"If I can develop a way to draw a 'Golden Whirl' with paper, use friction to affect the surrounding velocity field, control water and air to move according to a golden spiral, then I can break space-time and travel back to before I met Luffy..." (Araki Science)
Glance.
An eyeball several times larger than the entire Golden Merry turned, looking toward the "little thing" that had just attacked it.
"Hmph, bring it on—"
Bang!
"Shut up!!" X3
As Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji simultaneously kicked Luffy onto the deck, Roman would have rushed over to add another kick if he hadn't been gripping the helm.
"Hit him, beat him up! We don't need this captain—"
Did he not check the level before pulling aggro?!
And then:
"Careful, it's sucking in water—"
As the giant whale opened its mouth, the Golden Merry, not even a fraction of the size of one of its teeth, was sucked helplessly into the abyss of its massive maw!
Swish, swish, swish~~
Strips of paper flew out and rapidly bound everyone on the ship. Then—
"Let fate decide."
Roman was tired. Roman could no longer get back up. Roman began going with the flow~~~
Under "blue skies and white clouds."
"What do you think?"
Faced with Zoro's question, Sanji, a cigarette hanging from his lips, looked around.
"What can I think... I think we got swallowed by a whale..."
"Hahaha, aren't we alive and well?"
That was the eternally optimistic trio.
As for the others—
Usopp had fainted again, lying peacefully on the ground with a bouquet in his hand. It would have been even more perfect with a suicide note.
"Mom Bellemere... I want to go home."
A giant Sea King, a giant whale, swallowed whole along with the ship... Nami was on the verge of tears and had begun missing Cocoyasi Village.
"Roman, Roman, look! There's a little island over there~~"
At Luffy's shout, Roman had already made himself a lounge chair out of paper and sprawled across it like a salted fish.
"I'm not Roman~~~~"
"I'm just a salted fish,"
"Just let me idle away..."
Taking on a raid boss at level one, charging a tower with the ship... I can't carry this, I don't want to play anymore, goodbye...
"This... isn't an illusion, right?"
The big-hearted trio had calmed down and pointed at an old man lying on a lounge chair on that little island.
"Then what's this?"
--
He was a burly old man wearing a Hawaiian shirt, beach shorts, and slippers, sitting beneath a coconut tree on the little island and reading a newspaper.
He only glanced slightly at the Golden Merry, but his gaze behind the glasses was exceptionally sharp!
"Hey... what are you looking at...? If... if you want to fight... we've got cannons..."
Faced with Usopp's trembling threat, the old man merely spoke coldly.
"I advise you not to."
"People will die."
"Oh? Who do you think will die?"
Faced with Sanji's surging fighting spirit, the old man calmly uttered a single word.
"Me."
??
"You mean yourself!!"
Was this the most arrogant tone delivering the most cowardly words?
"Forget it, don't be impulsive."
Zoro figured Sanji lacked the patience for negotiations, so he would do it himself.
"Sir, could you tell us who you are and where this is?"
Faced with Zoro's "friendly" expression, the old man reading his newspaper snorted.
"When asking someone else a question, isn't it polite to introduce yourself first?"
"Mm-hm..."
"You're right." For the information, he would endure it. "My name is..."
"My name is Croccus. I'm the lighthouse keeper of Twin Cape, seventy-one years old, a Gemini, and have type AB blood."
?
Didn't you just tell us everything...?
"Can I cut him?!"
Having been toyed with, Zoro immediately revealed his true nature, killing intent overflowing from him, until Luffy patted his shoulder.
"Forget it, don't be mad..."
?!
Croccus—
Roman's eyes flickered as he lay nearby pretending to be a salted fish.
That name... Though his identity as a mere lighthouse keeper seemed quite ordinary, Roman knew this old man had another, far less ordinary identity!
He had been the ship's doctor of the King of the Pirates, Gol D. Roger.
Then it was time to act.
Before you continue