Ameliorate ✦ One Piece

44

As they drew closer and closer to the mountain ahead, the crew had retreated below deck, all gathered together as they stood around the table where Nami displayed the map to the Grand Line. After all the headache it's caused in the past, Akira was ready to admit she was happy to be able to store this thing away once this was done.

"That's a big mountain," Usopp's worry shined through as he stared down at the unrolled parchment.

"The map is clear," Nami said as she began to trace their intended path with the tip of her finger. "The Reverse Mountain waterway is our best option to enter the Grand Line."

"Then let's do it," Luffy said from her other side.

"I don't know about navigation," Zoro piped up from the sidelines, his tone much more doubtful than that of their captain as he stretched out on the blue striped bench by the windows. "But I do know a ship can't travel up a mountain."

"Nami knows how it works," Sanji said firmly as he joined Akira's side by the table. "That's good enough for me."

"Well," Nami started, unable to hold back the small trace of doubt as she stared down at the map. "I have a theory on how it works."

"So?" Akira asked. "Your theories and plans have gotten us this far, navigator." The encouragement in her tone made Nami offer her a small smile before focusing back on the table as she opened up one of the books she'd brought out along with the map.

"The currents of the four seas should drive us up. However," she pointed a finger at an illustration of how the waterway worked, "the waters here are colder, so the currents at the mountain's edge travel down to the sea floor," she explained. "Meaning if we don't hit it just right, we could crash and be dragged to the bottom of the ocean."

"Wha..." Usopp gasped out in shock, starting to pace with his hands on his head once that piece of information was revealed.

"It's very technical!" Nami defended.

"Get it right or die."

"Okay... Not that technical." She sighed at Zoro's words. "Look, the Red Line circles the world," she started to refocus, knowing they had no other options. "We can't go around it, we have to go through it."

"If our navigator says this is how we get to the Grand Line, then this is how we get to the Grand Line." Luffy smiled over at her, showing absolutely no signs of doubt or lack of trust. If Nami was leading them somewhere, that was where he was going.

For a moment, Nami smiled back at him, happy with his confidence in her. And the fact that no one was questioning it. Not that they had time to if they intended to do so. Not as the ship gave a sudden tilt, making them sway around, grabbing onto the nearest surfaces to keep upright.

"Come on," Nami instructed, knowing it was time as she started head back up the steps towards the upper decks of the ship where the crew began to head off in different directions, all ready to take their intended places along the ship.

Luffy, of course, instantly rushed to his perch atop the figurehead at the front of the ship while Nami and Usopp went back towards the platform and the tiller. With no specifically assigned positions of their own, Zoro and Akira followed after the pair while Sanji remained on the main deck to keep an eye on Luffy.

From their positions they all quietly watched as the ship sailed right up to the edge of the mountain, the swaying and movement growing more rapid and unpredictable the closer they got as the currents began to carry them forward and through a myriad of torn apart ships sticking out from the waves.

"That's a lot of shipwrecks," Usopp muttered out in a concerned tone as he manned the tiller.

"See?" Zoro looked over at Nami. "Not everyone ends up on the bottom of the ocean."