Crocus

Reverse Mountain, Grand Line.

This was the only route all pirates from the Four Blues had to take to reach the Grand Line. Four tributaries began at the foot of the mountain in the four seas, eventually converging into a single downward current.

At the foot of this mountain stood a lighthouse, watched over year-round by a half-bald old man.

"Pop~"

With the sound of a bubble bursting, two figures abruptly appeared beneath the lighthouse. They were Oak and Robin. Oak raised his head and gazed at the Reverse Mountain of the Red Line not far away.

It had been a long time since he had last come here, and he felt rather nostalgic. Back then, this was where Cipher Pol Aigis Zero agents of the World Government had escorted him from the West Blue to the Grand Line aboard a prison ship.

In the end, Shiki had rescued him, brought him back to Hachinosu, and let him join the Rocks Pirates, officially stepping onto the grand stage of the world.

He still remembered joking with Shiki back then, saying that he would repay that favor by collecting his corpse someday.

Thinking of that, he suddenly missed Shiki.

He wondered how that guy was doing now.

Judging by the timeline, Shiki should have already broken out of prison and been planning his scheme to destroy the East Blue.

Just then, the cloudless sky above them suddenly darkened, as if some enormous thing had drifted overhead. Soon, the sky cleared again. Noticing it, Oak looked up, narrowing his eyes.

Robin looked up as well.

"Strange?"

"Why did the weather suddenly turn gloomy and then clear up again?"

Although the weather on the Grand Line was unpredictable, this rarely happened. And this was Twin Cape, the part of the Grand Line closest