Reverse Mountain

"So, you were sent by the boss to keep an eye on me?" William was quite surprised when Koala revealed her identity, though 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 definitely 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 commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Army could not be weak. Moreover, Koala was here because Monkey D. Dragon had ordered it.

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

"Of course not!" Koala said unhappily. "I was the one who suggested it to the commander-in-chief!"

Although Monkey D. Dragon had indeed intended to assign someone to watch William, Koala had taken the mission herself. More importantly, Monkey D. Dragon believed that 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 instructor of Fish-Man Karate!"

"William, what are you laughing at?" Koala looked at William, who had suddenly started laughing, in confusion. Is being an acting instructor of Fish-Man Karate that funny? Who says humans can't 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 should undoubtedly be the strongest member of a pirate crew, but the Straw Hat Crew was an exception.

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

Although this world revered strength above all else, one's position did not necessarily represent everything. Take Luffy's grandfather, Vice Admiral Karp. His rank was only vice admiral, yet 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 pursued 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 people who pursued freedom above all else.

"Then why did you eat a Devil Fruit?" In Koala's impression, William was not the sort of person who would give up his beliefs for a Devil Fruit. Of course, she was not referring to the mission to escort the Devil Fruit, but his undercover mission for the Revolutionary Army. However, Koala did not know that the current 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 within his body. Although they had not seen each other for six years, if Koala kept questioning him, more and more flaws would be exposed. If Monkey D. Dragon learned that the current William was no longer the original "William," would he silence him? William was certain he would.

"Nojiko, why did you untie them?" William was curious about what had happened while he had been speaking with Koala. How had the sister pair, Mary and Anne, been untied?

He had tied them up earlier because he feared they would cause trouble aboard the ship. Although Sanji had indignantly tried to play the hero and save the damsels, unfortunately, he was no match for William. Besides, the sensible Zoro had stopped him.

"I convinced them to join us!" Nojiko said with a smile. William did not know what method Nojiko had used to convince the two sisters, but as long as she had succeeded, that was enough.

"Boss, we offended you earlier!" Mary and Anne bowed at the same time, apologizing for their reckless behavior in Loguetown.

"From now on, you two are 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 companion now as well!"

"Eh! Sister Koala is from the Grand Line?" The sisters' cries of surprise drew everyone's attention, and the people aboard the ship all looked curiously at Koala, their new companion from the Grand Line.

"Go gather everyone on deck!" William immediately instructed the sisters. As the strategist of the Straw Hat Pirates, there were some things he needed to tell everyone, lest they encounter unavoidable disasters later.

"Are we having a feast?" Hearing that William wanted everyone on deck, Luffy asked excitedly.

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

"A musician!" Luffy blurted out the answer again, earning another round of eye rolls from everyone.

"What do we need one of those for?" Nami was so annoyed that she punched him. Ever since she began 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 gain a foothold on the Grand Line. That place is ten times—maybe even a hundred times—more dangerous than the East Blue."

"Then we just need to become stronger," Zoro said indifferently. In his eyes, if he wanted to surpass Hawkeye, he had to surpass himself and overcome every obstacle. 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 like in the original story—perhaps even worse.

"I can see the Red Line!" Usopp, who was temporarily serving as lookout, suddenly shouted. A red "wall" gradually entered everyone's view. 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 span stretched so far that no one could see its end.

"What a tall mountain! I 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 that rose into the clouds, its summit still invisible. Was this the kind of mountain Fisher Tiger climbed barehanded back then? Though the Celestial Dragons don't live on this side, the Red Line on the other side should be about the same height, right?

"But how are we supposed to 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 shaped like "-" on the map, Nami had mistaken it for five rivers flowing down from the mountaintop.

"There's a mountain called Reverse Mountain in the middle of the Red Line. It's a winter island." Koala pointed at the river symbol on the chart. "Each of the four seas has a Reverse Current that flows to the summit, where they merge into one and enter the Grand Line!"

"How could there be a current like that?" Everyone, William included, found it impossible to believe that currents could flow in reverse. After all, not just the East Blue—even the other three seas were normal bodies of water. There should not have been any strange weather 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 did not control the ship in time, the current would smash it to pieces at the entrance.

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

"What an incredible mountain!" Luffy shouted excitedly from his front-row seat.

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

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

"Leave it to me, Gum-Gum Balloon!" Luffy immediately jumped over and used Gum-Gum Balloon to prevent the Golden Merry from crashing directly into the rocks, while also guiding the ship smoothly onto the Reverse Currents.

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