35 Chapter 35

'For how many years have I rot in East Blue?'

Deuce thought to himself as the ship bravely sailed through the intensifying storm.

'I threw away the mundane life the moment I discarded my name. The adventure unlike any other, that's what I was and am seeking for.'

Deuce looked at Rowan's back. Rowan, grinning as he stared at the chaotic storm ahead at the front-most part of the ship, seemed to contain no fear in him.

'I was initially afraid. I feared on what would happen to me now that I was forced into your crew, but...'

Though it's been a short time, the journey as the member of Grimheart Pirates has been enjoyable to Deuce. In this crew, he was fulfilling the exact thing that he was dreaming of.

'Grand Line for sure will be tough.' Deuce too found a smile on his face, 'I don't feel that scared though.'

By the side, Bartolomeo looked at the gigantic red wall that began to appear in front of their vision.

'Desire, Gambia, grandma, all of you... will I get to see you ever again?'

Bartolomeo wanted to become a tough man, someone worthy of the title of 'Cannibal'. He clenched his hands as he saw Rowan, and couldn't help but think,

'...I want to become strong like you, captain. This is the exact reason why I'm in this crew.'

"Rowan!"

From the back, Nami shouted.

"The rain is getting heavier, and my ability is weakening!"

The rain fell onto her eyes. Nami wiped the water on her as she continued,

"It should be alright though! We are safe from entering Calm Belt, and we've entered the current leading to Reverse Mountain just ahead!"

Rowan nodded with his grin still intact. Briefly glancing at the log pose that was strapped onto Nami's wrist, he found his heart thumping rapidly. What he was facing wasn't a dream, but a reality. The dream that his mother didn't manage to achieve due to her health status—he was living every second of it.

"..."

Carina, on the other hand, leaned against the railing with her arms crossed. Unlike the exhilarated members of Grimheart Pirates, she looked dull.

'The end of the beginning.'

Rowan thought as Shooting Star began to accelerate. The ship rapidly soared through the water current that moved upward onto the mountain. It was going against the gravity and the logic that Rowan learned from his previous life.

Nami cried as she held the handle of a door, "Hold onto something!!!"

""AHHHH!!!"" With a yelp, Deuce and Bartolomeo's bodies were afloat as they tightly latched onto the railings. Carina too was facing the same situation, but she seemed to be having a much better time due to her lighter weight.

"Kyaaa!!"

Then, Nami's unstable hold over the door handle slipped, and she was flown forward. Rowan, who was maintaining his position at the front by gripping the railing with one arm only, casually reached his free hand out at Nami's arm and pulled her back in before she fell out of the ship.

"Gotta learn how to fare without your devil fruit power, eh?"

"Huff... huff... yeah..."

Nami, trying to calm her breathing down, nodded.

"So, we're almost at the top of the mountain—"

Rowan, in the middle of his words, stopped speaking. His eyes flashed in alert before he threw Nami backward,

"Deuce! Bartolomeo!"

Deuce and Bartolomeo, whose positions now stabilized, prevented Nami from flying out of the ship.

"Captain!!" Bartolomeo shouted, "What is happening?!"

"Another ship!! From different Blue!"

Carina cried in disbelief,

"What?! How unlucky can we get?!"

Rowan quickly dashed from his position to where the steering wheel stood. Removing a stick that was placed to keep the steering wheel locked, Rowan spun it sideways such that the rapidly rising Shooting Star was placed on the right side of the current.

"ALL OF YOU! BRACE YOURSELVES FOR THE IMPACT!!"

As Shooting Star flew beyond the rain and storm and reached the top and flew into the air, another, much bigger ship revealed itself from the other side. Said ship was a skeleton-themed, orange-coloured one that had a large yellow dinosaur skull as its figurehead.

Within the sunny and warm environment,

BOOM!

Shooting Star crashed right into the side of the ship—although neither ship was damaged due to their sturdiness.

"Hah?!!" On said ship stood numerous men. Above the ship was a jolly roger, indicating that they too were pirates. Among them, there was one with spiky red hair, to whom Rowan found himself amused at.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU, DARING TO HARM MY VICTORIA PUNK?!!"

"Pff... did you put on a lip gloss?"

Bursting in rage, the red-haired man jumped up from his ship. Having expected this reaction out of the man, Rowan too jumped up.

SPLASH!

As two ships, connected to one another, landed on the downward current of the mountain, the metals in the big ship, Victoria Punk, and Shooting Star, vibrated before flying up and attaching themselves around the red-haired man's cocked back fist.

"DIE!!!"

The huge fist full of metals approached Rowan. However, Rowan with his eyes gleaming in red, rotated his body midair to dodge the huge fist.

The red-haired man expressed disbelief,

"W-What?!"

"Hi."

Grinning dangerously, Rowan's fist struck straight at the man's cheek and sent him crashing back onto Victoria Punk.

"""CAPTAIN!!!"""

The crew members of the enemy crew screamed in panic. Then, as Rowan landed back on Shooting Star, the man wearing a white and light-blue striped full-head helmet dashed toward Rowan with scythe-like blades. Rowan could've reacted, but simply stared at the approaching enemy fearlessly.

Clang!

"As if I'd let you touch captain!"

Bartolomeo, jumping in front of Rowan, blocked the helmeted enemy's blades with a sword in his hold. Following Bartolomeo's interruption, the helmeted enemy backflipped and retreated back to Victoria Punk, and as ships began to tilt, Rowan pushed himself and Shooting Star against Victoria Punk, finally separating themselves. Two ships, now side by side, began to descend the Reverse Mountain, towards the Grand Line, at the same time.

Meanwhile, with a groan, the red-haired captain of their crew revealed himself on the deck of Victoria Punk once more.

Glaring at Rowan, he growled,

"Just you wait until we reach down... I will murder all and every single one of you!!!"

Nami, making her way by Rowan's side, stuck out her tongue,

"Behh~ bark all you want, idiots!"

Rowan, picking his ear, simply gave the enemy a middle finger, causing the red-haired captain to roar in a fit of anger.

Then, raising his hand up, Rowan caught the cannonball that was fired on his way. Then, turning around while keeping a careful hold of the cannonball, Rowan threw it back at Victoria Punk, which was smacked away by the metallic arm of the red-haired captain.

BOOM!

The cannonball exploded in the sky. And immediately after, Nami pointed her index finger at the red-haired captain while opening only one of her eyes to concentrate.

"Bang!"

A bullet of pure fire was blasted right at the red-haired captain, who was caught off guard by the sudden strike. He quickly raised his metal-clustered arm just on time, and thanks to said metals being drenched in rainwater, the fire didn't pose many problems.

"H-HUH?!!" One of the enemy pirates screamed with his eyes popping out.

"A devil fruit user like captain?!!"

The red-haired captain's eyes narrowed at Nami.

As all this was ongoing, two ships were accelerating as they traveled on top of the downward current. Rowan and the red-haired captain glared at one another, daring to act if each other made even the slightest movement.

"C-Captain...?"

In this state, Deuce's fearful call reached Rowan's ears. For some reason, the enemy pirates too, with their eyes heading to the exit of the Reverse Mountain, expressed shock and disbelief. Rowan, noticing these behaviours, quickly turned back to face where their attention lied, and...

"...A wall?"

There was a gigantic, blue-coloured wall that stood right at the exit of Reverse Mountain, with narrow paths on its left and right to slip past by it. Bartolomeo, jumping up in horror, screamed,

"A-AHHHH!!! WE HAVE TO STOP!!!"

In urgency, Rowan shouted,

"NAMI!!"

"ON IT!!"

Rowan, while holding the railing of Shooting Star, leaped out of the ship and kicked against the red wall. Shooting Star, as it continued to descend rapidly, was rotated by 90 degrees such that its head was now facing the red wall. At the same time, Nami quickly ran toward where the booster lied.

"KID!!!"

Meanwhile, the helmeted one in the enemy pirate crew shouted at the red-haired captain. Said man, now known as Kid, growled in frustration as he looked at the quick response from Grimheart Pirates.

"Killer! Rotate the ship sideway!"

Kid ordered as he began to gather even more metal objects around his metal-clustered left arm. All kinds of things flew off of Victoria Punk and formed a huge arm made out of metal scraps.

Now, Shooting Star and Victoria Punk were facing away from one another, looking at the left and right red walls by the sides.

In Shooting Star, with Nami having reached the booster, the booster began to blast fire. The course of Shooting Star changed from straight to diagonal, which allowed them to graze by the wall instead of crashing right into it.

On the other hand, Victoria Punk had a much harder time. Kid, before the ship crashed into the wall, pressed his arm against said wall in a split second and pushed the entire ship against it. The arm instantly burst back into pieces and Kid's left arm began to bleed from the damage it received, the huge Victoria Punk barely managed to get through—at the cost of having multiple cannons knocked off the ship.

"Huff... huff... what the hell is this?!"

As Shooting Star's sail calmed down, Bartolomeo inspected the wall with his eyes squinted. He poked at it and reported the surprising sensation,

"It's... meaty?"

Rowan, with his eyes headed up, chuckled dryly.

"Is this a so-called sea king that we've seen in an encyclopedia?"

Nami, taking a breather with her body leaning on the railing, chuckled in resonance.

"Maybe, hehe."

"You know, I sense two presences, apart from those pirates, just ahead. One must be this creature, and another... seems to be inside this thing. Poor guy, my condolences."

Carina, hearing Rowan's words, hiccuped with a pale expression.

"G-Grand Line... so scary..."

Deuce seemed worried,

"Will this creature attack us? If it does so, aren't we doomed?"

Rowan shrugged.

"I don't sense any malicious intent. Maybe it's full right now."

Deuce let out a breath of relief.

"But get ready for those pirates."

Rowan grinned while rolling his sleeves.

And at last, the never-ending blue wall finally came to an end, and the sight of Victoria Punk was revealed once more.

Noticing each other, Rowan laughed lightly while Kid growled.

The enemy pirate crew seemed to be ready to fight.

Temporarily calming his anger down, Kid asked,

"Name?"

"When asking for someone's name, isn't it a common manner to give yours first?"

Impulsively, Kid roared,

"THE NAME'S EUSTASS FUCKING KID, ASSHOLE!!!"

Rowan casually replied,

"Call me Rowan."

With his face completely red, Kid ordered,

"CHARGE!!! MURDER THEM ALL!!!"

Rowan, snorting at that, turned and looked at the tired state of his crew members. Mischievously, he stated,

"Let's run!"

Nami and Carina seemed delighted.

""Hai, captain!""

Then, Nami looked at Carina weirdly,

"Captain?"

Carina, sweating profusely, defended herself,

"I-I mean, that's cap!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A round of cannonballs were fired at Shooting Star and landed by the nearby water. With splash here and there, the ocean beneath Shooting Star churned violently.

"W-Whoaaaa!"

Deuce quickly held a railing to prevent himself from falling to the deck like Bartolomeo.

"Ow..."

Bartolomeo lifted his face from the sprawled state, and his nose was bleeding.

Rowan, who's operating Observation Haki, rotated the steering wheel in a mystical manner—such that no cannonballs managed to reach the ship. Nami, reaching the booster for the second time, shouted,

"Alright, here we go!"

With her supplementing the fire into it, Shooting Star suddenly picked up the speed. Within seconds, the ship has disappeared from Victoria Punk, leaving Kid flabbergasted.

Staring at the blue ocean blankly, Kid eventually mumbled,

"Fuckards..."