The current surging toward the top of Reverse Mountain was extremely turbulent, and it was the first challenge pirates faced before entering the Grand Line.
At this entrance, more than half of the pirate crews and ships were buried here every year.
To resist the raging upward current, the importance of the helmsman went without saying.
Jim was the helmsman aboard the ship. Before coming aboard, he had never encountered anything related to helmsmanship.
Yet he had mastered the job in just one month.
What he relied on was his strength and foundation.
Even so, crossing Reverse Mountain had been incredibly dangerous.
After the mast ship successfully crossed over, Maud let out a sigh of relief.
If the ship capsized, he and Lafitte could ensure everyone's safety, but the massive amount of Beli aboard would be lost.
That was the money they had planned to use to exchange for a good ship.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly.
The mast ship followed the downward current toward the lower sea. The gale carried waves of spray that splashed toward the rear.
"Once we pass this place, we'll be in the Grand Line..."
Facing the biting cold wind, Maud silently gazed at the calm sea in the distance.
The finest things one could pursue in this world all lay ahead, within this vast ocean that encircled the entire world.
As long as one kept climbing higher step by step, money, women, power, strength...
Anything one desired would be within easy reach.
What Maud wanted most, however, was the strength to stand at the summit without falling.
Only sufficiently powerful strength could allow him to remain unmoved by anything external, just like the towering Red Line behind him, which reached into the clouds.
Maud looked ahead.
The others did the same.
"The first step toward