when one looks back to their childhood, one remembers the vivid springs of laughter, climbing trees and reaching out for the stars, and making flower crowns in fields of flowers. but when [name] looked back at her youth, it was void of those colorfu...
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chapter 035. a mermaid's first love
[ you remind me of a prince, [name]! ]
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the red line.
it was as massive as she remembered. a towering, dark red stone mountain that stretched across the horizon, cutting the world in half like an unyielding wall. the very thing that separated the thousand sunny from the other side of the world—the place she had come from.
her gaze lingered on the imposing sight before them, a strange mix of emotions swirling in her chest.
"we're here," she breathed out.
"we're finally here!!" luffy's voice rang out in sheer excitement, arms shooting up toward the sky as if he could reach for the sun itself.
"it feels kinda nostalgic," nami sighed, folding her arms. a rare, sentimental look crossed her face. "i'm getting a little choked up."
sanji grinned as he took a slow drag from his cigarette. "one hell of a ride, huh?"
"i wonder if we've matured at all since then," zoro smirked, crossing his arms.
brook let out his signature laugh. "yohoho! easy for you to say! it took me fifty years to make this trip!"
luffy chuckled, stepping closer to the ship's railing. "we've reached the halfway point! twin cape, where we met laboon, is on the other side of this wall!" his grin widened. "i'm glad we got this far without losing anyone!"
"i can't even see the top!" chopper shouted in awe, staring up with his hooves on his head. "how tall is this thing?!"
usopp, however, was already full of emotion, tears streaming down his face as he dramatically shielded his eyes with his fist. "i-i'm tearing up... we've been through so much!"
franky chuckled, watching the younger crewmates react. "man, this takes me back. when i was just a baby, i came from the south blue through reverse mountain. but that was over thirty years ago!"
robin, standing beside him, softly smiled. "i arrived here five years ago, traveling from the west blue to the grand line."
[name] listened to them share their past journeys, then simply shrugged. "can't relate to any of that. i was born in the new world, after all."
that caught their attention.
"wait... then how long have you been in the grand line?" usopp asked curiously.
[name] looked down at her fingers, counting six on her fingers. "hmm... about two years."
there was a brief pause before the conversation naturally drifted back to the matter at hand.
