One Piece: In Search of Freedom [Book 1]

CH 11: THE MUGIWARA BECOME WHALE DINNER?! THE APPEARANCE OF LABOON!

Inherited will...

The tide of the times...

People's dreams...

These things cannot be stopped.

As long as people seek the answer of freedom, these things will never cease to be!

The entrance to the Grand Line, just how many pirates had risked their lives in order to reach it? It was hard to imagine that such a beautiful canal like this had been dyed by the blood of thousands.

But as the Mugiwara no Ichimi descended Reverse Mountain, full speed ahead, they couldn't think of any of that. The only thought in their minds is that soon, their ship would sail in the waters of the Grand Line, the place that held the One Piece and all sorts of powerful individuals.

Even with its sails up, Merry's speed only continued to increase. In no time, they broke through the clouds again. The white cotton obstructing their view.

Unlike when they were going up, the clouds remained around them longer. Not clearing up even as the distance between them and the sea grew smaller. They were at such a perfect height but could not take advantage of it to lay their eyes on what awaited them.

It was a shame, but they were already too overjoyed to bother with it.

Suddenly, a strange echo that was hard to distinguish surrounded them. The sound amplifying due to the tall pillars of rocks standing on both sides of the canal.

With the keen hearing of the swordsman, Zoro was the only one to notice the difference, "Did you just hear something?"

"Huh?! What'd you say?!" shouted back Nami, the sound of the wind ringing against their ears making it near impossible for anyone to understand what the other said.

"Don't you hear a strange sound?!" repeated Zoro.

"Isn't it the wind?! The terrain here is quite odd, after all!"

"BUOOOOOH!!!" The sound ringed again, this time louder than the last. But it still wasn't particularly distinctive or familiar. Not like the huge shadow that soon appeared ahead.

Usopp on top of the mast was the first to notice and focused his lenses to try to see the shadow clearer, "What's that?" Sanji soon finding it, too, "Nami-san! I see a mountain up ahead!"

"A mountain?! That can't be! Once we pass the twin capes up ahead, we should reach the open sea!" Nami turned back to the chef in astonishment. She had checked the map multiple times. If there was such a thing, she would have noticed.

"I knew the Grand Line was a cruel place, but I didn't expect it to be so cruel from the very beginning... Even trying to kill newcomers at the very entrance..." [Name]'s brows twitched, really hoping that the possible mountain in front of them was no big deal.

Unfortunately, wishes don't always come true.

The strange sound came again as they finally exited the cover of clouds that had blocked their view the whole way down. And what appeared before them was a whale, a 400 meters long whale.

"GHAAA!!!!"

"That's not a mountain!!"

"It's a whale!!!"

"BUOOOOOOH!!!"

The crew couldn't have paled any faster, sweat running down their skin as they faced this thing that didn't lose to those Sea Kings they had encountered in the Calm Belt.