Chapter 61: West Blue and Giants
Chapter 61: West Blue and Giants
East Blue, in the waters near Foosha Village.
Aboard the Red Force, Shanks and his crew held their respective bounty posters, excited smiles unconsciously gracing their lips.
Soon, someone holding Louis's bounty poster complained with a puzzled face, "Why is Louis so strong but only has a bounty of fifty-something million?" The fact that someone of Louis's strength had such a low bounty instantly extinguished his excitement over his own.
To this, Shanks looked away from his own bounty poster and said with a smile, "A bounty amount doesn't represent a person's strength. Besides, isn't it good that it's this low? It allows Louis to attract less attention."
"I guess that makes sense..."
Just then, Hongo, wrapped in bandages, gave a light cough, attracting his crewmates' attention. "Ahem..."
"What's wrong, Hongo?" Shanks cast a concerned glance at the sound.
Hongo showed everyone a mysterious smile, then quickly pulled out a Den Den Mushi from behind his back.
"A Video Transponder Snail?"
"What are you doing with that?"
Hongo's lips curled into a thoughtful smile. He said in an extremely casual tone, "Yelena gave this to me..."
"..."
The crew was taken aback, looking at each other. But soon, as if they had realized something, their expressions became strange.
"Could it be..."
"The recording inside... it couldn't be..."
Hongo patted the Den Den Mushi in his hand and nodded with a smile. "That's right! It's the full recording of Uta's first concert!"
The next second, everyone swarmed forward and snatched the Den Den Mushi from Hongo's hand. "Quick, turn it on and let's watch..."
...
A moment later, the unique sound of a concert echoed within the ship's cabin. The figure of a young girl with two-toned hair appeared before the Red Hair Pirates, accompanied by a clear and pleasant singing voice.
Shanks watched Uta's singing figure, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.
"Thanks, Louis!"
East Blue, in front of Reverse Mountain.
Avant Heim descended from the sky, slowly setting down a warship flying a pirate flag.
Louis walked out from the cabin, looking up at the red high wall before him, which connected to the clouds in the sky and stretched beyond the horizon. "The Red Line..."
"This... is this the homeland where your people originally lived?" Yelena's amazed voice came from behind. At this moment, her red pupils were trembling violently, her face filled with shock. She had originally thought that the plateau where she lived was already huge, but when she saw the red continent before her, she realized how small her world had been.
"Rather than our homeland, it's more accurate to say it's our ancestors' homeland." A scene of the first time a tribe elder had brought him to see the Red Line flashed in Louis's mind. "We have experienced more than one historical gap over the centuries," he explained softly. "Much information has been forgotten. Most of the knowledge of the previous generation came from legends passed down on the sea and from what we learned from our enemies."
"Is that so?" Yelena heard him and then didn't discuss the topic further.
Just then, a pink figure swam out from the cabin. Uta, in her siren form, swam around the two of them and finally stopped beside Louis. She lay horizontally in mid-air, flicking the small wing-fins that emerged from her red and white hair.
"Aren't we going to the Four Seas? Why did we come to Reverse Mountain?" She cupped her head with her hands, blinking her purple eyes at Louis, her face with its colorful scales full of confusion. In her understanding, passing through Reverse Mountain from the Four Seas could only lead to the Grand Line; it was impossible to reach the other three seas.
Louis reached out and patted Uta's head as she leaned in. His eyes were on the giant ocean current not far away, which rushed straight toward the mountain's peak. "We just need to change course when we reach the summit to go to the other seas," he explained softly.
"Change course..." Uta seemed to be on the same wavelength as Louis. She flicked her pink fishtail and the wing-fins on her lower back and swam to the edge of the warship, leaning on the railing to look at the sea surface.
The next moment, propelled by the current, the warship climbed onto the Reverse Mountain stream, heading for the peak of the Red Line.
The chaotic current is the main reason why many pirate ships from the Four Seas find it difficult to enter the Grand Line. Many have been swept up by this chaotic current and crashed against the cliffs of the Red Line, their ships and crews destroyed. Merchant ships and World Government vessels, on the other hand, enter the Grand Line through another, safer method.
But Louis had never worried about this. The seawater beneath the ship had been imbued with life by him, firmly protecting the vessel. For this creation of his ability, which often followed him, Louis had given it a name he thought was pretty good.
"Fantasy Species - Natural Water."
"Fantasy Species" was a unified term Louis had come up with on the spur of the moment for his ability's creations, similar to Big Mom's Homies.
...
Soon, carried by the current, the warship reached the five giant forks at the summit of the mountain—the several routes from the Four Seas to the Grand Line.
Upon reaching the summit, the surrounding unstable factors increased. Under Louis's instruction, Uta changed back to her human form and stuck close to Yelena's side. The four turbulent currents from the different seas converged, forming an even more violent current that swept the warship toward the Grand Line.
Louis opened a simple chart of Reverse Mountain that he had prepared beforehand. Using the route they had come from as a reference, he searched for the channel to the sea he wanted to go to. After some comparison, Louis quickly found the route.
Just then, the Natural Water beneath the ship exerted its strength, carrying the warship against the current that was heading to the Grand Line, and reversed direction, proceeding along Louis's guidance.
Just as the group entered the channel on the other side, a long, drawn-out cry came from the direction of the Grand Line.
"What is that?" Yelena and Uta subconsciously turned their heads toward the source of the sound.
Without turning his head, Louis said casually, "It's a whale. A very big whale."
Yelena nodded thoughtfully. She knew of whales and had eaten quite a few. Once, a group of reckless whales had swum into the waters near Canaan, and she had caught them.
The warship moved against the current, and soon brought everyone to the sea Louis wanted to come to—the West Blue.
Seeing the gradually calming current, Yelena also let down her guard. She then turned to look at Louis and asked, "Which sea is this?"
"The West Blue. Among the Four Seas, it's one of the two with the strongest average power level," Louis replied.
Louis was here to find a powerful race that had also suffered persecution by the World Government. They were also believed by the world to be extinct. The World Government believed that only one member of this race remained, and even the future emperors of the sea couldn't get their hands on them. But there are always exceptions to everything. In the Calm Belt, there was a muscle-bound old geezer who had been to the hidden land of this tribe.
...
Several days later, Louis and his group encountered their first ship since arriving in the West Blue. It was an extremely rare, super-large vessel. On its deck stood giant figures.
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