"It's a little whale! Barn! Quick, quick! If you can reel it in, I'll never give you grief again!" Mabu turned back and taunted Barn once more.
"Get lost! Reel it in? Reel it in so you can eat it, you idiot?!" Barn roared at Mabu, his teeth turning into sharp fangs, but inwardly he was thinking:
Laboon? Now that this little guy is here, we're almost at the Grand Line. Once we enter the Grand Line, we won't be far from getting wiped out in the Florian Triangle. I'm much stronger than before, but I still can't stop the gears of the plot from turning, can I?
At that thought, the good mood Barn had enjoyed all morning vanished in an instant. His spirits sank. He released Mabu's collar, ignored the excited crowd, and walked straight into his cabin.
Fitz didn't understand why Barn had suddenly become like this. After casting a reluctant glance back at the little whale, Fitz hopped onto Barn's head and went with him.
That evening, everyone aboard threw a welcome party for the little whale Brook had named Laboon. Barn came out of his cabin to join them.
He smiled happily. He had made his peace with it. Since he couldn't change anything, he would walk the last stretch of the road alongside York and the others.
Laboon was delighted, swimming excitedly back and forth all evening and singing the Pirate Song with Brook and the others.
Fitz got along especially well with Laboon. Perhaps animals simply had more in common with one another.
And so half a year passed, with Laboon singing with Brook and the others every day, occasionally tilting his head as he watched these creatures called pirates do one strange thing after another.
Not long before, York had excitedly announced to the crew that they would enter the Grand Line in another two months. Barn fell silent, while everyone else eagerly discussed all the strange and wonderful things they had heard about the Grand Line.
But they faced one major problem: Laboon!
Laboon was simply too young. He was still a calf, and the Grand Line was far too dangerous.
The pirates argued for a full half month over whether Laboon should stay or go.
In the end, they decided to leave Laboon here. It was a heartbreaking decision.
Over those six months, everyone had formed a deep bond with Laboon. Such a sudden parting was hard for Barn, York, Brook, and Laboon to accept.
Laboon stubbornly kept following the Rumbar Pirates' ship, just like a willful child.
York tried to persuade him, but he wouldn't listen.
Barn tried to persuade him, but he wouldn't listen.
Brook, who was closest to him, tried to persuade him, but he still wouldn't listen.
Even Fitz, a fellow animal, flew over and pecked at Laboon's wooden head.
But Laboon still refused to leave, swimming after the pirate ship every day.
With no other choice, York finally ordered everyone aboard to stay in their cabins until they entered the Grand Line. There would be no drinking and no singing.
From that moment on, a heartbreaking silence settled over the entire ship.
At last, the Rumbar Pirates reached the foot of Reverse Mountain...
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! This is incredible! So ships can climb mountains too!" Bullong hung in midair, clinging to the mast and shouting in his trademark booming voice.
"Yohohoho!" With one hand on his cane and the other holding his hat, Brook slid back and forth across the deck at a peculiar forty-five-degree angle...
Why was Reverse Mountain called Reverse Mountain? The Red Line and the Grand Line each formed a ring, so they had two intersections. The first was Reverse Mountain. This incredible and dangerous mountain was the entrance to the Grand Line. It had five waterways in total, four of which flowed upward toward the summit. Those four waterways connected to four different seas: the East Blue, West Blue, South Blue, and North Blue. The final waterway carried the waters of those four seas, which converged at the summit, down into the Grand Line. It was precisely because the water on this mountain flowed upward that it was called Reverse Mountain.
The Rumbar Pirates finally crossed Reverse Mountain, but they weren't as lucky as Luffy and his crew. Their ship was already battered and broken, and Barn finally found a chance to mock their navigator, Mabu.
At Twin Capes, at the foot of the mountain, Barn met Crocus, the legendary ship's doctor who had extended Roger's life by three years. He was only in his early thirties now, still very young. It was hard to imagine that fifty years later, when he was over eighty, Crocus would still be so hale and hearty.
York asked if they could stay for a while to repair their ship, and Crocus readily agreed. Then he casually asked, "Is that your pet?"
Brook looked in the direction Crocus was pointing...