"Transit verification successful. Entry to reverse-flow channel three authorized."
With a cold, mechanical electronic voice, the gate slowly opened.
The Going Merry followed the powerful current, surging upward and beginning a wondrous climb that defied gravity.
"Whoooooa!!!"
Usopp clung tightly to the mainmast, cheering with excitement as the ship seemed to shoot toward the sky at a seventy-degree angle, leaving him weightless.
He had taken this route plenty of times.
Only the thrill of weightlessness still managed to stir something in him each time.
Sanji stood on the nearly vertical ship without holding on to anything. Even the cigarette between his lips remained steady as he quietly watched the ship race upward.
For Zoro and Nami, however, the scenery along the way was nothing short of a feast for the eyes.
"This is unbelievable!"
Nami gripped the railing, the fierce wind whipping her long orange hair into disarray.
She stared in wonder at the sides of the channel, where enormous panes of transparent reinforced glass formed a tunnel that contained the raging seawater.
Beyond the glass lay the Red Line's sheer red cliffs, as though carved by blades and axes.
Beside this miraculous, artificially modified waterway ran parallel tracks, along which trainlike vehicles raced.
"So this is the road to the center of the world..."
Facing the roaring wind, Zoro grinned with excitement, his eyes fixed on the rapidly approaching clouds. He could even feel the swords at his waist yearning for something.
The Going Merry climbed swiftly through the torrent, piercing the thick cloud cover.
After a brief spell of darkness and weightlessness, the ship abruptly leveled out. Sunlight flooded the deck again, and the view before them opened wide.
With a splash, the Going Merry landed steadily in an enormous expanse of water as broad as an inland