Reverse Mountain

"So, you were sent by the boss to keep an eye on me?" William was quite surprised when Koala revealed her identity, but memories from his time as "Colonel William" quickly surfaced in his mind.

From those fragments of memory, he learned that Koala had indeed grown up with him at the Revolutionary Army base. If Arlong were here now, he would certainly recognize Koala as the only human who had once been aboard the Sun Pirates—the human child Fisher Tiger had rescued from the Celestial Dragons.

According to Koala, she was now the acting instructor of Fish-Man Karate at the Revolutionary Army base. William did not know how strong an acting instructor was, but anyone acknowledged by the Revolutionary Army's Commander-in-Chief could not be weak. Moreover, Koala had come here at Monkey D. Dragon's command.

It seemed that his transmigration had changed many things in this world, and the effects of that butterfly effect were growing ever greater.

"Of course not!" Koala said irritably. "I was the one who suggested it to the Commander-in-Chief!"

Monkey D. Dragon had indeed intended to assign someone to monitor William, but Koala had taken the mission herself. More importantly, Monkey D. Dragon believed no one was better suited for it than Koala.

"It doesn't matter why!" William did not care in the slightest whether the Revolutionary Army was watching him. He was only curious about Koala's strength. "I never expected you to be an acting Fish-Man Karate instructor!"

"William, what are you laughing at?" Koala looked at William in confusion as he suddenly started laughing. Was being an acting Fish-Man Karate instructor that funny? Who said humans could not learn Fish-Man Karate?

"Don't you think the Straw Hat Crew is interesting? Both you and I are stronger than the captain, aren't we?" William had not meant to mock Koala at all. Normally, the captain was undoubtedly the strongest member of a pirate crew, but the Straw Hat Crew was an exception.

Setting William and Koala aside, Zoro and Sanji were not much weaker than Luffy either. Zoro in particular was practically a training fanatic. As a human without the aid of a Devil Fruit, Zoro's own strength was incredibly formidable. Even William, without the support of his Devil Fruit ability, would only be evenly matched with Zoro.

Although this was a world where strength reigned supreme, one's position did not necessarily represent everything. Take Luffy's grandfather, Vice Admiral Garp. Though he was only a vice admiral, his strength far surpassed that of admirals.

"That's true! How about you become the captain?" Koala suggested with a smile.

"I'm not interested in that!" What William sought was neither wealth, power, nor fame. He sought only freedom. He had chosen to help Luffy find One Piece, and that was his freedom, because in Luffy's eyes, pirates were those who pursued freedom the most.

"Then why did you eat a Devil Fruit?" In Koala's impression, William was not the kind of person who would abandon his beliefs for a Devil Fruit. Of course, she was not referring to the mission to escort the Devil Fruit, but the Revolutionary Army's undercover mission. However, Koala did not know that William was no longer the original William, so none of those missions had anything to do with him.

"Who knows?" With that, William invited Koala out of the Castle inside his body. Although they had not seen each other for six years, if Koala continued questioning him, he would only reveal more flaws. If Monkey D. Dragon learned that the current William was no longer the original "William," would he kill him to keep it secret? William believed he definitely would.

"Nojiko, why did you untie them?" William was curious about what had happened while he was talking to Koala. How had the sisters Mary and Anne been untied?

Earlier, he had tied the sisters up because he was afraid they would cause trouble aboard the ship. Sanji had indignantly tried to play the hero and rescue them, but unfortunately, he was no match for William. Zoro, who understood the situation, had also helped stop him.

"I convinced them to join us!" Nojiko said with a smile. William did not know how Nojiko had persuaded the two of them, but as long as she had succeeded, that was enough.

"Boss, we offended you earlier!" Mary and Anne bowed together, apologizing for their rash actions in Loguetown.

"From now on, you'll be my direct combatants!" Since they had chosen to join the Straw Hat Pirates, they were one of them now. William pointed at Koala. "This is Koala. She's from the Grand Line, and she's our partner now too!"

"Huh! Sister Koala is from the Grand Line?" The sisters' cry of surprise caught everyone's attention, and they all looked curiously at Koala, their new partner from the Grand Line.

"Go call everyone to the deck!" William immediately instructed the sisters. As the Straw Hat Pirates' strategist, there were some things he needed to tell everyone in order to prevent unavoidable disasters later.

"Are we having a feast?" When Luffy heard that William wanted everyone gathered on the deck, he asked excitedly.

"Of course not!" Once everyone had assembled, William said, "What I mean is, we're still missing one very important companion—someone we absolutely have to find after entering the Grand Line."

"A musician!" Luffy answered again, but his reply earned him nothing but eye rolls.

"What do we need one of those for?" Nami was so irritated that she punched him. Ever since learning Haki from William, Nami beat Luffy into a pig-headed mess whenever he made a mistake.

"A ship's doctor!" William said helplessly. "And by the way, with our current strength, it'll be difficult for us to establish ourselves in the Grand Line. That place is far more dangerous than the East Blue—perhaps even many times more dangerous."

"We just have to become stronger!" Zoro said unconcernedly. In his eyes, to surpass Hawkeye, he had to surpass himself and overcome every difficulty. Besides, only by entering the Grand Line would he have a chance to meet that man again.

Yet aside from William and Zoro, no one else on the pirate ship trained much at all. If they relied on fighting enemies to level up, they would probably end up just like in the original story—or even worse.

"I can see the Red Line!" Usopp, temporarily serving as lookout, suddenly shouted. A red "wall" gradually entered everyone's sight. This was the Red Line, which intersected the Grand Line vertically and divided the world into the four seas of east, south, west, and north. Its endless expanse stretched so far that they could not see its end.

"What a tall mountain! We can't even see the top!" When the Golden Merry approached the Red Line, everyone was stunned. William stared in disbelief at the Red Line, which reached straight into the clouds with no summit in sight. Was this really the kind of mountain Fisher Tiger had climbed barehanded? Even if the Celestial Dragons did not live on this side, the Red Line on the other side should be about the same height, right?

"But how do we enter the Grand Line? Are we supposed to make the ship climb a mountain?" Nami asked as she took out a nautical chart. Though there was a "-" river symbol on the chart, Nami had mistaken it for five rivers flowing down from the mountaintop.

"In the middle of the Red Line is Reverse Mountain, a winter island." Koala pointed at the "-" river symbol on the chart. "Each of the four seas has a Reverse Current leading to the mountaintop, where they merge into one and flow into the Grand Line!"

"How could a current like that exist?" Everyone, including William, found it impossible to believe that a current could flow in reverse. After all, not only the East Blue, but the other three seas as well were ordinary seas. There should not have been any strange climates or miraculous islands.

"There are! The Grand Line has quite a few currents like that!" Sanji said.

"I can see the entrance! Control the ship, or we'll get sucked in!" William shouted hurriedly. The entrance to the Reverse Currents was narrow, and red cliffs surrounded it on all sides. If they failed to control the ship in time, the Reverse Currents would smash it apart at the entrance.

"The sea is really climbing the mountain?" Even amid the storm, everyone could see the Reverse Currents surging upward, and they were deeply shaken.

"What an incredible mountain!" Luffy shouted excitedly from the best seat at the front.

"We're off course! More to the right, or we'll crash!" Luffy shouted in panic. However, William and Zoro used too much force and snapped the steering wheel.

"Help!" When they discovered that the steering wheel had broken, the girls and Usopp were badly frightened.

"Leave it to me, Gum-Gum Balloon!" Luffy hurriedly leaped over and used Gum-Gum Balloon to stop the Golden Merry from crashing directly into the rocks, while also allowing the ship to successfully catch the Reverse Currents.

"Whoa, whoa, that's the Grand Line!" When the ship rushed to the summit of Reverse Mountain, Luffy and the others could already see the Grand Line. But next, they would have to face the current plunging downward.