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Chapter 63: Reverse Mountain
"Ah... my foot..." On the deck, Zoro sat on the ground, clutching his foot, looking in pain.
Everyone watched helplessly as he was stepped on by the angry Ganyu; one could imagine how painful it was for him at that time.
However, the person who provoked this incident didn't deserve sympathy.
He was the one who first made this suggestion.
"Damn it, why wasn't I the one stepped on!" Sanji scratched his head in annoyance. "I should have been the one to say that last sentence!"
"Is now the time to worry about this? It's all your fault. Ganyu is obviously very angry. What should we do now?" Nami put her hands on her hips, scolding all the male crew members on the ship.
"Hey, Miss Navigator," Usopp mercilessly exposed her hypocrisy, "Weren't you laughing just now? I clearly saw you laughing until tears came out."
Nami was speechless for a moment, a trace of guilt flashing across her face.
She coughed lightly, trying to change the subject: "Anyway, we have to find a way to appease Ganyu. She just single-handedly held off the entire Marine force in Loguetown."
"That's right." Sanji immediately became serious, looking determined. "I'm going to prepare a special apology dessert for Miss Ganyu!"
"I want to order one too!" Hearing dessert, Luffy immediately raised his rubber arm, eyes sparkling.
"I want one too!" Usopp also raised his hand.
Nami was angry because her companions once again steered the topic away, so she said: "Hey! Are you guys listening to me at all?!"
Ganyu's anger had nothing to do with them.
But she shared a room with Ganyu. What if they didn't open the door for her? Where would she sleep at night?
Wait, that sounded a bit strange.
"Nami, you're thinking too much. Ganyu won't be that petty." Usopp patted Nami's shoulder, pointing at Zoro on the deck and said: "Look, she's traveled with this directionally challenged guy for so long. If she had a bad temper, she would have beaten him to death long ago."
"Hey, now that you mention it, it seems to make some sense." Nami nodded thoughtfully, feeling much more relieved.
She suddenly remembered that before she joined, Ganyu used to be alone with Luffy and Zoro.
It was hard to imagine how annoying it would be to deal with these two troublesome people.
Veins popped on Zoro's forehead, gritting his teeth he said: "You two, don't badmouth others! Also, who's directionally challenged here?!"
"You!" ×5
Four hands pointed at him simultaneously.
.....
A few hours later.
Ganyu pushed open the door, climbed onto the deck, and returned to the first-floor cabin.
Her expression returned to its usual calm, as if the previous episode never happened.
In fact, she had consumed too much elemental energy in the Battle of Loguetown and was exhausted. After returning to her room, she almost immediately fell asleep.
Her physical strength was no different from before; Smoker counterattacked with his weapon, but didn't leave even a red mark.
However, although her elemental power had been recovering at a fairly fast speed since joining the Straw Hat Pirates, it was still less than one-tenth of her peak state.
However, one thing was fortunate.
Deep inside, she felt that this body's ability to absorb elemental power seemed to have become endless.
This meant that as long as she stayed in the protagonist group, her strength could grow infinitely.
It wasn't ruled out that one day it would even surpass the original version.
Inside the ship's living area, the crew sat around the conference table (this table also served as a dining table), arguing loudly, seemingly discussing something important.
The first one to spot Ganyu was Luffy, who had been sliding around: "Yo, Ganyu, you finally came out! Are you hungry?"
He stretched his neck, leaning close to Ganyu's face, eyes looking at her expectantly.
"I'm not hungry yet." Ganyu shook her head gently, naturally sitting down in the empty seat next to Luffy.
"You're not hungry? What a pity." Luffy leaned back dejectedly.
If Ganyu said she was hungry, Sanji would definitely cook for her.
Then he could mooch another meal.
On the other side.
Seeing Ganyu, Nami quickly pushed away a nautical chart (which she had snatched from the Buggy Pirates), pointing at a crimson stone wall running through the entire chart.
"Ganyu, you came just in time. We're in trouble."
Nami frowned. "This is the legendary entrance to the Grand Line - Reverse Mountain. We're very close to it, but we can't see the entrance at all. There's only a sea current surging upwards along the mountain path."
"Does this mean... our ship will climb this mountain along this current?"
"Impossible," Usopp kept waving his hands. "Climbing a mountain by boat? No matter how you look at it, it's too ridiculous."
Zoro and Sanji also shook their heads slightly.
After Nami put forward this bold speculation, everyone felt it defied common sense.
Just now, they all witnessed that hundreds-of-meters-high inverted peak from the deck. How could a ship climb up it?
Hearing this, Ganyu understood, smiling knowingly.
Under everyone's questioning gazes, she extended a slender finger, gently touched the bottom of the inverted peak on the chart, then slowly slid up along the winding line until reaching the summit.
"No matter how incredible it sounds, Nami's idea is correct."
Ganyu's voice was gentle and firm: "Besides forcing through the Calm Belt, the only way to enter the Grand Line is climbing this peak."
Then, she further explained to her bewildered companions.
The Red Line is a ring-shaped continent traversing the whole world, intersecting with the Grand Line to form two meeting points, thus dividing the world into four oceans: East, West, South, and North.
Reverse Mountain is one of the two main meeting points between the Red Line and the Grand Line, with four opposite sea currents from East, West, South, and North directions leading straight to the summit.
Pirates from all over the world wanting to enter the Grand Line must climb Reverse Mountain against their respective region's sea currents, finally entering the Grand Line along the current.
"But how do we go up?" Usopp was still puzzled.
"Don't worry!" Nami patted her chest, a confident smile returning to her face. "At first I wasn't sure if this idea was correct, but since Ganyu confirmed it, I believe I can definitely lead everyone over this mountain!"
.....
Shortly after, when the Going Merry finally reached the foot of Reverse Mountain, a turbulent water flow appeared before everyone's eyes, surging upwards along the mountain.
"It really is an upward flowing force!"
Everyone was dumbfounded, looking at this natural wonder defying common sense in disbelief.
Luffy swallowed hard, then grabbed the railing excitedly: "Nami, how can we go up?"
"First, move everything on deck to the cabins and storage areas, then furl the sails."
Nami began issuing orders methodically, her voice carrying a professional navigator's confidence: "Everyone must man the helm, you must listen carefully to every order I give..."
Everyone moved quickly.
Finally, after everything was ready, the Going Merry was carefully steered into the entrance of the opposing current.
As soon as the ship touched the opposing current, it shook violently, everyone holding their breath.