The day after they left Warship Island.
Torrential rain fell from the sky, and thick fog surrounded them as the Going Merry cut through the waves toward Reverse Mountain.
Nami looked at the sea chart in her hands, comparing it with their surroundings, and called out to everyone, "Pay attention, everyone! We're almost at Reverse Mountain!"
Luffy was overjoyed to hear that. "We're finally getting there!"
Just then, the currents changed. After all the ocean currents converged at a certain point, instead of flowing down, they surged toward higher ground!
Sanji stared at the currents in shock and shouted, "What's going on? Why is all the seawater flowing upward?"
Nami answered, "I've heard from people who've been to the Grand Line that it's an incredible sea of miracles. To enter the Grand Line, we have to ride this Knock Up Stream straight to the other side."
Then Nami took out the sea chart and pointed at a mark on it. "Everyone needs to stay on full alert. There are four Knock Up Streams leading to the Grand Line, one each for the East, West, South, and North Blues. If another ship rides one at the same time as us, we'll collide where the currents meet. Our ships will be destroyed, and we'll die."
Liu Qing stepped forward and thumped his chest. "Leave that to me. No ship will be able to hit us."
"Good." Nami nodded. She had complete confidence in Liu Qing. Then she pointed at the entrance. "There are lots of whirlpools in the waters near the Knock Up Stream. They'll stop us from controlling the ship's direction, so we need a way to force the Going Merry to change course. Otherwise, a whirlpool might drag us into the Red Line."
Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji said in unison, "Leave it to us! We'll definitely make it past Reverse Mountain!"
"Reverse Mountain's just ahead. Let's get a ceremony ready," Sanji said.
With that, he brought over a barrel of liquor. Luffy was the first to plant a foot on it and shout, "I'm the man who's going to become the Pirate King!"
Zoro followed right after him. "I'm going to become the World's Greatest Swordsman!"
Nami said, "I'm going to become the best navigator in the world! I'm going to chart every sea!"
Sanji said, "I'm going to find All Blue, the sea every cook dreams of!"
Usopp said, "I... I'm going to become the bravest warrior of the sea!"
Liu Qing said, "I'm going to travel freely all over the world."
"All right, let's move forward for our dreams!" Luffy said. Then they all lifted their feet and stomped the barrel to pieces together.
Just then, the current beneath the ship suddenly turned violent. Like a raging beast beneath the sea, it surged relentlessly, dragging the Going Merry along in its furious rush!
"Everyone, get ready! We're entering the whirlpools!" Nami shouted.
Then she began giving orders. "Usopp, hurry and furl the sails!"
"Sanji, go watch the helm!"
"Luffy, Liu Qing, be ready to stop the Going Merry from hitting the Red Line at any moment!"
"Zoro, keep an eye on everyone. Don't let anyone fall into the sea!"
"Everyone, get moving!"
"Whoo!" everyone answered.
After they had sailed for a dozen or so minutes, Usopp shouted, "Nami, there's a huge whirlpool just ahead! It's pulling the Going Merry toward the wall! At this speed, the Going Merry won't be able to enter the right channel!"
Luffy and the others wore grave expressions as they watched the Red Line draw closer and closer.
Just as Luffy was about to use his rubber elasticity to force the Going Merry to change course, Liu Qing spoke. "Don't be so nervous. A little thing like this won't stop us. I'll handle it. Hold on, everyone, and don't fall into the sea."
"Wood Release: Wood Dragon!"
Just before they hit the wall, a hundred-meter wooden dragon appeared beneath the Going Merry. It carried the Going Merry into the air, flew over the whirlpool, and headed straight above the channel, charging rapidly toward the exit.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and gave him thumbs-up. "Nice work, Liu Qing! That's just like you! Even a wooden dragon of yours can carry the Going Merry through the air!"
Liu Qing did not answer, because they had already reached the summit. "Hold on tight! We're heading downhill!"
With that, he controlled the wooden dragon and sent it charging downward.
Only a dozen or so seconds later, they saw a blue whale ahead. Since the wooden dragon was carrying the Going Merry through the air, none of them panicked.
Luffy grinned like an idiot. "What a huge whale! Haha! That'd make loads of meals!"
But to everyone's surprise, the whale burst straight out of the sea and swallowed both the wooden dragon and the Going Merry in one gulp.
After they were swallowed, Liu Qing dispelled the wooden dragon. It was not that Laboon was strong enough to swallow a wooden dragon under Liu Qing's control; Liu Qing had let it happen on purpose. He knew sea charts were useless on the Grand Line, and there was an old man inside Laboon's belly who had an Eternal Pose. How could he get it without entering the whale's belly? He couldn't just kill Laboon.
"Ahahaha! This is so much fun!" Luffy was not worried at all about being eaten and kept laughing foolishly.
Meanwhile, on a small island inside the whale, an old man wearing slippers, glasses, and floral shorts was leisurely sunbathing, reclining in a deck chair and idly leafing through a newspaper.
Suddenly, a waterfall poured out of an opening not far away, accompanied by a foolish laugh.
He lowered the newspaper, watched the rapidly pouring current, and frowned as he listened to the laughter. "Have some people and their ship been swallowed by Laboon?"
While he was thinking, six black specks and a pirate ship flew out of the opening, hurtling toward him!
The old man's face suddenly filled with terror, and he screamed wildly, "Hey! Stop! You're going to hit an old man!"
Crash! The Going Merry slammed straight into the old man's house, smashing it to pieces in an instant.
The old man froze in fright, and the newspaper in his hands fell to the ground.
Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, and Nami were all knocked senseless by the fall. They staggered to their feet and stared around in bewilderment.
"Where are we? Weren't we swallowed by a whale? How did we end up on an island?" Nami asked.
"Is the Going Merry all right?" Usopp hurried over to check. After inspecting it, he relaxed. "Thank goodness. The Going Merry's fine."
"Huh? You old geezer, who are you? And where is this?" Zoro turned and spotted Crocus standing motionless.
Hearing Zoro's questions, Crocus came to his senses and snapped angrily, "You bastards! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to steer like that? You nearly killed an old man, you know!"
After scolding them, he looked Luffy and the others over, then realized who they were. "Oh, you're the Straw Hat Pirates! I didn't expect you to reach the Grand Line so soon. You've made good time."
Hearing that even the old man knew him, Luffy immediately grew smug. "We're that famous already? Hahahaha!"
Crocus looked at the straw hat on Luffy's head and said, "My name is Crocus. I'm the lighthouse keeper at Twin Cape."
After a pause, he continued, "Straw Hat boy, what's your dream? Is it to become the Pirate King, like Roger?"
Luffy looked baffled. "Why would I want to be like Roger? I don't want to be like Roger! I'm going to become the Pirate King!"
Nami smacked Luffy hard on the head. "You don't even know who Roger is, and you want to become the Pirate King? Roger was the last Pirate King!"
Luffy laughed foolishly. "Really? Roger was the Pirate King? Haha!"
"Is that so?" Crocus turned his head and smiled.
Suddenly, the seawater beneath the island began to surge. Quite a few droplets splashed onto the little island where Luffy and the others stood, instantly blackening the ground.
Startled, Sanji looked at the old geezer and asked, "What is this water? Why is the seawater so corrosive?"
"You don't know this, but we're inside an Island Whale right now. His name is Laboon. The seawater below is actually stomach acid. For certain reasons, Laboon has been waiting for a group of people to return. But decades have passed, and they still haven't shown up. So Laboon thinks the Red Line is blocking the people he's waiting for, and he wants to ram it down," Crocus said helplessly.
"Enough about that for now. I need to calm him down first, or he'll keep ramming it." With that, he jumped straight into the stomach fluid.
Sanji said urgently, "Hey! That guy jumped right in! Won't the stomach acid digest him?"
Liu Qing rolled his eyes at Sanji. "Are you stupid? Haven't you learned Haki? How could you ask such a dumb question?"
Luffy quickly chimed in. "Exactly! Even I thought of that! Sanji, you're so stupid!"
Sanji gave Luffy a speechless glance and waved him away. "Shoo, shoo! Easy for you to say after the fact. Stay away from me!"
Crocus covered his entire body in Armament Haki and soon reached a passage built inside Laboon's body. He took a sedative out of his pocket and injected it into Laboon.
Within just a few seconds, the drug took effect, and Laboon calmed down again.
Crocus swam back and said to Luffy and the others, "Come on. I'll take you outside. You'll have to figure out how to get your ship out yourselves."
He walked up to an iron door and pulled it open. Bright sunlight immediately streamed in. "Come on. You can get out through here." With that, he led the way outside.
"You go ahead. I'll bring the ship out," Liu Qing said.
Once everyone had left, Liu Qing used the wooden dragon to carry the Going Merry outside on its back.
Before you continue