Mountain Lord

The spiraling current churned beneath the huge ship, pushing it slowly, slowly forward.

As the ship began to move, Kuta jumped down from the windmill prow and landed on the foredeck.

He walked to the rail and leaned over it. Raising a hand to Doto and the shipwrights still standing beside the ship, he shouted, "Goodbye, Mr. Doto! Goodbye, everyone!"

"Goodbye..."

Doto and the shipwrights raised their hands and shouted back.

The ship passed through the great gate, then tipped downward at a forty-five-degree angle and shot along the current like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Outside the shipyard lay a man-made waterway sloping at forty-five degrees straight toward the sea.

Carter Shipbuilding Company had built it specifically for launching new ships.

"Woo-hoo!"

"This feels incredible!"

Ahua and A-Luo climbed down from the mast and ran to the bow. They shouted toward the boundless sea, their faces alight with excitement. Then they spread their arms, their hair whipping in the sea wind, as though ready to embrace the adventure ahead.

Soon, they would be heading to the legendary Sky Island.

For them, nothing could be more exciting right now than setting out across the sea and into the sky.

At the last moment before the Freedom left the shipyard, Kuta looked back at the sheep's head from the Freedom's old prow. A trace of reluctance filled his eyes. "Goodbye, Fake Merry."

It was a name only he knew.

He hoped it would be well cared for at the Carter Company.

In truth, being unable to sail the sea was a cruel fate for a ship.

But the Fake Merry truly could not continue with them. It had been built from ordinary timber. Sailing the Four Blues had been fine, but as soon as it entered the Grand Line, Kuta