The world of One Piece is divided into six parts: the Grand Line, the Red Line, and the four seas, East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, and South Blue.
The Grand Line and the Red Line intersect perpendicularly and wrap around the entire planet, segmenting the seas into the four distinct regions.
Bordering the Grand Line on both sides are the Calm Belts, zones of ocean where no winds blow and where massive Sea Kings dwell. These belts isolate the Grand Line from the four seas.
There are two known intersections between the Red Line and the Grand Line. One is Reverse Mountain, and the other is the Holy Land of the Celestial Dragons, Mary Geoise.
Reverse Mountain is a mysterious and dangerous entry point to the Grand Line. It has five water channels flowing along it. Four of them, defying gravity, flow upward toward the mountain's peak. These four routes connect to the East, West, North, and South Blue respectively.
At the summit, these waters converge and flow down the fifth channel, into the Grand Line. This means entry into the Grand Line is only possible through this outflow, which becomes the official starting point of the route.
The Grand Line is no ordinary sea. Its first half is known as Paradise, while the second half is called the New World.
The New World is especially chaotic, magnetic fields, weather, ocean currents, and wind patterns all behave unpredictably. Navigating it is nearly impossible using traditional methods. Even knowing your exact location is a challenge.
Only two tools can be trusted: the Log Pose and the Eternal Pose.
The Log Pose captures the magnetic field of the island you're on and, once it stabilizes (which takes anywhere from a few hours to a few months), it points you to the next island.
The Eternal Pose is a permanent version of the Log Pose. It is set to always point to a specific island.
From Reverse Mountain, seven magnetic routes branch outward. While one may freely choose any of the routes at the start, once a route is chosen, it cannot be changed. These paths must be followed island by island, until eventually all seven merge into a single route leading to the Grand Line's final island, Raftel.
However, some small islands do not lie on any magnetic route.
Because Log Poses do not point to these off-route islands, few pirates or merchant ships ever pass by them.
One such country lies in the first half of the Grand Line, a small, peaceful alliance of villages known as Redley.
Though they called themselves a nation, Redley was really just a handful of towns that cooperated and held meetings between village chiefs when problems arose.
Thanks to the island's pleasant climate, its self-sufficient people lived peacefully and happily, until two months ago, when a nightmare descended.
That day, like many before it, a gentle breeze drifted over the island, where spring ruled all year round.
Riding that breeze came a tiny boat drifting across the sea, carrying an unconscious passenger.
It was far too small for ocean travel, no one would be foolish enough to sail the Grand Line in such a vessel.
The kind villagers immediately recognized it as a refugee boat.
"What a poor soul," they murmured among themselves.
Several strong swimmers plunged into the sea, hauling the boat to shore before the waves could carry it away again.
Others helped bring the injured man ashore to find medical help.
The man was large and burly, but his body was a mess, head soaked in blood, multiple ribs shattered.
It took everything the village doctors had to stabilize him.
But that was only the beginning of their nightmare.
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Two Months Later,
This forgotten island, rarely visited by ships, was once again approached, this time by a pirate vessel.
Luffy stepped off the ship.
He'd never imagined that killing a Celestial Dragon would earn him a reward of 100,000 gold coins.
Overjoyed, Luffy had immediately bought ten "Rapid Growth Capsules" from the loot aboard the massive ship.
The first few capsules only caused minor physical changes, mainly increasing his height, but the stat boosts were negligible.
It wasn't until the tenth capsule that he noticed real improvements: each attribute increased by over a hundred points.
Now far more powerful, Luffy took one of the lifeboats from the Celestial Dragons' ship and left that area behind.
He hadn't drifted for long before he encountered another pirate ship.
At first, he only wanted a ride, after all, he had just finished a massacre and wasn't in the mood for more killing.
But the pirates mistook Luffy's clean and attractive appearance as a sign of value, they planned to sell him into slavery.
That left Luffy no choice.
As the saying goes: "Heaven may forgive sins done to you, but self-inflicted sins are unforgivable."
True to his belief in strength, Luffy used violence to teach them a lesson, and gave them a second chance at life.
This crew wasn't weak. Their captain was a well-known pirate with a 130-million bounty, a fearsome figure in the first half of the Grand Line.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, he crossed paths with Luffy.
Unable to control his strength, Luffy's final punch knocked the captain into the sea.
He figured the man, being a Devil Fruit user, was surely dead. Yet strangely, the system never notified him of any reward.
Disappointed at the lost XP and coins, Luffy took command of the ship and began aimlessly drifting.
Just last week, bored out of his mind, Luffy rummaged through the captain's quarters.
There, tucked in the nightstand, he discovered a piece of "Vivre Card", Life Paper.
This unique material, made by mixing fingernails into special pulp, is fireproof and waterproof. It represents a person's life force.
People often tear off pieces to give to loved ones, and those pieces are naturally drawn to each other.
With nothing better to do, Luffy adjusted the sails and followed the direction of the Vivre Card, curious to see what might happen.
That's how he ended up on this quiet, isolated island.
As he wandered in from the port, he noticed that every house had its doors shut tight. Shops were half-closed and silent, the entire town seemed broken and lifeless.
When he reached the town square, he finally saw people, lots of them.
They were hauling stones, carrying sand, and working themselves to the bone.
An old man struggled to pull a massive rock behind him.
Curious, Luffy stepped forward to give him a hand and asked, "Hey gramps, what are you guys doing?"
The sudden relief startled the old man, he nearly stumbled.
Turning back to respond, he barely got a word out when,
"CRACK!"
A whip lashed across his back.
"Hey, you old geezer! Who said you could stop?!" a burly overseer shouted, whip in hand. He then turned to Luffy. "And you, what crew are you from? Get back to your station unless you don't want today's food!"
Luffy glanced at the man with the whip, then lowered his head and muttered to himself:
"Looks like… I've got more work to do."
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