The sea was screaming.
Waves crashed with violent joy, slapping against the hull of the Going Merry as she climbed a mountain that should not exist. The sky above twisted with stormclouds, the current beneath their ship dragging them upward like a thread caught in a god's hand.
Luffy grinned at the madness. "WE'RE GOING UP A MOUNTAIN!!!"
Usopp's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. "THIS ISN'T NORMAL!! THIS ISN'T SAFE!!"
Zoro stood calm, legs spread wide, gripping the mast. "Just ride the current."
Sanji adjusted the sails, fighting the wind like it was a living thing. "I'm not dying until I cook for the All Blue!"
Nami's hands flew over the wheel, eyes locked on the water. "The stream's stabilizing—hold steady! It's guiding us! Don't fight it!"
Rex stood at the front of the ship, cloak whipping behind him, eyes fixed on the monstrous wall of water ahead. His stance didn't waver, not even as waves smashed over the rail.
The sea roared, but he remained still.
Then, a sound broke through the thunder — not from the sky, not from the ship.
But from below.
A deep, grinding groan echoed up from the base of the mountain, far beneath the current. Something was moving in the dark. Something massive. Something old.
A shape twisted beneath the waves, circling the current like a predator beneath a whirlpool.
Nami gasped. "What is that?!"
Usopp screamed. "A SEA MONSTER?! AT THE MOUNTAIN?! NO NO NO—!"
Zoro drew his sword. "I can't cut the ocean!"
Luffy leaned over the edge. "COOL!!"
Sanji narrowed his eyes. "It's coming up fast."
Rex didn't move. His eyes stayed on the rising black shadow beneath them.
Then—
A colossal shape burst out of the current just ahead.
Teeth the size of sails.
Eyes like moons.
A giant whale — Laboon.
The Merry skidded across the water, heading straight toward it.
"WE'RE GONNA HIT—!"
BOOM.
Everything went white.
Silence.
The ship floated in a strange calm.
Dark water stretched in every direction, silent as a tomb.
Then a groan echoed through the air. Not the sea's voice — something lower. Sadder.
A whale's cry.
"Where… are we?" Usopp murmured.
"In its mouth," Sanji muttered, brushing dust from his sleeve.
The interior of the whale was cavernous, like a sunken cathedral. Wooden beams jutted from the walls. Ships, anchors, debris. A painted blue sky on the ceiling, cracked and fading.
Footsteps echoed.
A man in a white coat and top hat approached — calm, curious.
"You're awake," he said. "Good."
Crocus.
The lighthouse keeper. The doctor.
And the man who lived inside a whale.
They listened to his story — the tale of a whale who waited for a crew that never came back. Of a promise made, of time passed, of a heart too loyal to forget.
Luffy punched the whale.
Because of course he did.
Then made a promise — one that made Laboon smile, even through the pain.
The ship was patched.
The whale stepped aside.
And the sea opened again.
Rex stood at the railing as the Going Merry passed between Laboon's great fins, into the tunnel that led deeper — toward the Grand Line.
Wind caught his coat.
He didn't speak.
But his gaze burned like fire in the cold.
They were through the first gate.
The real journey had begun.