Chapter 17: The First Dawn of the Grand Line
The rest of the night was an agonizing vigil.
We didn't sleep. We couldn't.
The scent of the dead Sea King was blood in the water, and while its carcass sank, the fear that others would come kept us paralyzed.
We drifted in the absolute silence, Riyon and Vasco taking turns rowing with the oars to put some distance between us and the kill site.
I sat at the prow, my knees pulled to my chest, my eyes fixed on the eastern horizon.
I hated the night. I hated the weakness.
But more than that, I hated the feeling of being a burden.
"Don't think so loud, Captain," Elara said softly, sitting down next to me. She handed me a mug of hot cocoa Vasco had whipped up. "You'll wake the fish."
"I was useless," I murmured into the mug.
"You were a kid," she corrected. "A kid who steered a ship through a kaiju attack. And you used your Haki. You saved us."
"Riyon saved us. Vasco saved us. You saved us."
"That's what a crew does, Luthor," she said, bumping my shoulder with hers.
"You carry us when the sun is up. We carry you when it's down. That's the deal. That's the balance."
I looked at her. "Is it enough? To be a King... can a King be weak half the time?"
"A King," a deep voice grumbled from behind us, "is the one who holds the flag. It doesn't matter if he holds it with a god's hand or a boy's hand. As long as he doesn't drop it."
Riyon leaned against the mast, cleaning his blade. "You didn't drop the helm. That's enough for me."
I felt a lump in my throat. I nodded, silently swearing to myself. I will get stronger. My base stats... I will raise them until my night form is a monster too.
And then, it happened.
The gray of the horizon turned to violet. Then to pink. Then to gold.
Thump-thump.
My heart beat harder.
Thump-thump.
The warmth returned. The shivering stopped. The aches in my muscles vanished, replaced by the surge of limitless, divine energy.
I stood up.
My shadow stretched across the deck, growing longer, sharper. My shoulders broadened. My height increased. The fear evaporated like mist, replaced by the absolute, crushing certainty of Pride.
"Captain?" Vasco called from the galley door.
I turned to them. I was no longer the boy who needed cocoa. I was Suncorch.
"The night is over," I boomed, my voice resonating with power.
I walked to the stern. I raised my hand.
"Let us leave this silent grave."
FWOOOOSH!
The jet of solar heat erupted from my palm, stronger than yesterday. The sails snapped taut. The Purgatory leaped forward, carving through the glass water.
We sailed for an hour, the speed increasing as the sun climbed.
And then, the silence broke.
It started as a whisper. Then a moan. Then a roar.
Wind.
Real, chaotic, violent wind.
Clouds, dark and swirling with purple lightning, appeared on the horizon. The sea ahead wasn't flat; it was a churning mountain range of waves.
"Captain!" Elara yelled, fighting the helm which was suddenly bucking like a wild horse. "Ahead! The transition line!"
We burst out of the Calm Belt.
The moment we crossed the line, the world went mad.
Rain lashed down sideways. A bolt of lightning struck the sea fifty yards away, boiling the water. The wind howled like a banshee.
"BWAHAHAHA!" Riyon laughed, grabbing a rope as the ship tilted 45 degrees. "Now this is an ocean!"
"My soufflé is going to collapse!" Vasco screamed in horror, rushing below deck.
"Welcome to the Grand Line!" Elara yelled over the storm, her eyes shining with pure exhilaration. She checked the Log Pose.
The needle, which had been limp, snapped to attention, locking onto a magnetic field to the southeast. "We have a lock! First island recorded!"
I stood at the prow, the rain sizzling as it hit my superheated skin. I looked out at the chaotic, dangerous, beautiful nightmare that was the Grand Line.
Somewhere out there was the One Piece.
Somewhere out there were the Admirals.
Somewhere out there was my father.
[System Notification]
[Hidden Quest: Survive the Belt of Monsters] -> COMPLETED!
[Reward: +50 EP, Trait [Mental Fortitude (F)] Unlocked]
[Trait Description: Host is slightly more resistant to fear effects during Night Form.]
[New Main Quest: The Grand Line Rookie]
Objective: Reach the first island and establish your dominance.
Reward: +200 EP, Map of the Paradise Sector.
I grinned, a smile of pure, solar arrogance.
"Let the world tremble," I whispered to the storm. "The Sun has arrived."