CHAPTER 2: CLIMBING THE WATER MOUNTAIN

The giant wall of water in front of the ship looked completely fake. Leo stared up at it from his spot on the wet wooden deck, his eyes wide. It was one thing to see a drawing of a massive wave on a small page, but having fifty feet of black ocean water towering directly over your head while everything shook was a completely different story. The wind was screaming so loud it made his ears pop.

"Hold onto something!" Nami yelled from the steering wheel. Her hair was completely soaked and sticking to her face. She looked totally stressed out. 

Usopp was already ahead of her, wrapped around the base of the mast like a terrified koala bear. "We're dead! We're dead! I knew I shouldn't have left my village!"

Luffy, of course, was just standing at the front of the ship, holding his hat down with one hand and laughing like he was on a roller coaster. "Whoa! Look at that! It's huge!"

The Going Merry hit the bottom of the wave with a massive *thump*. The whole ship groaned, and a huge sheet of freezing water came crashing down over the deck. Leo got hit directly in the chest, knocking the breath out of him. He rolled over into a barrel, his twisted ankle sparking a sharp, annoying pain. 

"Ow, crap," Leo muttered, wiping salt water out of his eyes. He checked his jacket. It was totally ruined, but at least he was still on the ship. That was the most important thing. 

Zoro was standing a few feet away, holding onto the wooden railing with one hand. He looked completely calm, though his boots were sliding a bit on the wet wood. He glanced down at Leo. "Hey, new guy. You still breathing?"

"Yeah. Mostly," Leo gasped, trying to sit up against the barrel. "Just... don't let the ship flip over."

"Tell that to the navigator," Zoro grunted, looking up at the massive wave. 

The ship started going up. It wasn't like a normal boat ride; it felt like being dragged up a steep hill by a rope. The front of the ship was pointing almost straight up at the sky. Leo had to grab onto the ropes around the mast just to keep from sliding right off the back of the deck and into the churning ocean behind them. 

Nami was spinning the big wooden wheel with all her strength. "The wind is changing! Sanji, drop the main sail a little bit! We're taking too much air!"

"Right away, Nami-swan!" Sanji shouted from the upper deck. He kicked a rope loose, sending a section of the white cloth sliding down. Even with the storm blowing water everywhere, he somehow had a cigarette stuck in his mouth, though it was completely dead and soggy. 

Leo watched them all work. It was weirdly chaotic. In the manga, the transition from Loguetown to Reverse Mountain always felt like it happened in a few pages, but right now, every second felt incredibly long. The ship was bouncing violently, the wood making these deep, scary cracking sounds that made Leo wonder if the boat was going to snap in half before they even reached the Grand Line.

"Hey, jacket guy," Luffy said, suddenly dropping down from the railing right next to Leo. He wasn't even sliding, his feet somehow sticking to the tilted deck. "You said you know how to get to the Grand Line without dying. How?"

Leo blinked, trying to clear the water from his vision. "We have to follow the current! There's a mountain made of water ahead. Reverse Mountain. The ocean actually flows up it!"

Usopp let go of the mast for a second to scream. "Flows up a mountain?! That's impossible! You're making stuff up!"

"It's true!" Leo yelled back over the sound of the wind. "The currents from all four oceans hit the mountain at the same time. It forces the water up canals. If we hit the entrance perfectly, we go straight over. If we miss, we smash into the red rocks and die!"

Nami turned her head, her eyes wide. "Wait. You're talking about the Red Line? We're heading right for it?"

"Yeah!" Leo nodded, his wet hair flopping around. "Just look ahead!"

The storm clouds parted for a split second, and through the gray mist, a massive dark wall appeared. It was the Red Line.....a giant continent of solid rock that stretched as far as the eye could see, rising up into the clouds like a massive brick wall dividing the world. It looked completely red and ancient. And right in the middle of it, a huge line of white, crashing foam was rushing upward, straight into a gap in the stone.

"Holy cow," Sanji muttered, leaning over the upper deck. "The water really is going up."

"See? I told you!" Leo said, feeling a bit proud of himself despite being soaked and miserable. 

"Awesome!" Luffy cheered, jumping up and down. "A water mountain! Let's go!"

"It's not awesome!" Nami shouted, her voice cracking a bit from the strain. "The current is way too strong! Look at the gates at the bottom! If we don't steer perfectly, the rocks will rip the hull open!"

The Going Merry was rushing toward the base of the mountain at an insane speed now. The water here was spinning in giant whirlpools. The ship got caught in one, spinning around twice. Leo's head slammed against the wood, making him see stars. 

"Nami! The wheel's stuck!" Usopp screamed, running over to help her pull it. "It won't move! We're gonna hit the wall!"

The ship was tilted heavily to the left, heading straight for a giant, jagged black rock at the entrance of the canal. 

Leo realized this was the part from the story. The ship's rudder gets caught, and Luffy has to use a giant oar or his rubber body to bounce them off the rock. But looking at the speed they were going, Leo figured they needed to react even faster. 

"Luffy! Use your arms!" Leo yelled, pointing at the big rock on the left. "Grab the stone and pull the front of the ship away!"

"Got it!" Luffy didn't hesitate. He planted his feet on the wooden deck, took a deep breath, and threw both of his arms forward. 

His arms stretched out like two thick rubber ropes, flying across the white water and wrapping tightly around the top of the jagged rock. 

"Hold on!" Luffy grinned. 

The rubber snapped back. The front of the Going Merry jerked violently to the left, missing the rock by literally three inches. The wave of spray from the near-miss soaked everyone again. But the sudden turn worked. The ship's front aligned perfectly with the massive, roaring uphill canal. 

With a huge surge of energy, the boat shot upward. 

It was a total rush. The Going Merry was suddenly flying up the side of the massive red mountain, surrounded by walls of white foam on both sides. The speed was incredible, way faster than any car Leo had ever been in back in his old life. The wind was pushing his face back, and he couldn't help but let out a loud laugh. 

"We're doing it! We're actually going up!" Leo yelled, pulling himself up onto his feet by holding the ropes. His twisted ankle still throbbed, but the adrenaline was making him forget about it. 

"This is insane!" Usopp screamed, though he was laughing a little bit now too, his long nose covered in sea foam. 

Zoro let out a small chuckle, unsheathing his swords just an inch to check them before snapping them back into their cases. "Not a bad entrance."

Sanji walked down the steps from the upper deck, finally tossing his ruined cigarette into the sea. He looked at Leo, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Hey. You're pretty useful for a guy who just dropped out of the sky."

"I told you, I know things," Leo said, leaning against the side of the ship. "I'm your survival guide."

Nami was still holding the wheel tightly, but she looked a lot less panicked now that the ship was locked into the straight canal. She looked over her shoulder at Leo. "Alright, guy. If you know so much, what's on the other side of this mountain? Is it just the Grand Line?"

Leo's smile faded a little bit as a very specific memory popped into his head. A memory of a giant, dark mountain waiting at the bottom of the other side. A mountain with eyes. 

"Uh," Leo scratched the back of his neck, his voice dropping a bit. "Yeah, it's the Grand Line. But there's a small problem at the bottom."

Luffy ran over, looking super interested. "A problem? Like a monster? A giant fish?"

"Way bigger than a fish," Leo said. "As soon as we go over the top and start heading down, we're gonna see a giant black wall blocking the entire exit. Don't shoot at it. It's an island whale named Laboon."

"An island whale?" Nami paused, looking at him like he was talking nonsense again. "Whales aren't that big."

"This one is," Leo insisted. "He's been hitting his head against the Red Line for fifty years waiting for his friends. If we smash into him, the ship is going to break into pieces. We need to be ready to slow down the moment we see him."

"Slow down? Going down a mountain?" Usopp looked like he was going to throw up. "How do you expect us to slow down on a waterfall?!"

Before Leo could answer, the ship reached the very top of Reverse Mountain. 

The view opened up completely. For a single second, the ship seemed to float in the air above the clouds. Leo could see the vast, endless blue ocean stretching out under a bright sun on the other side. The storm from Loguetown was completely gone, replaced by clear skies and warm air. It was beautiful.

Then, gravity took over. 

The Going Merry dropped onto the downward slope, and the speed tripled. The ship was practically vertical, sliding down the massive water highway at a terrifying pace. 

"Ahhhh!" Usopp and Nami screamed together, both of them grabbing the steering wheel as if that would help. 

Leo looked straight down the canal. And there it was. A massive, smooth black mound of flesh was sitting right at the very end of the tunnel, completely blocking the exit to the sea. It looked like a literal mountain rising out of the water, covered in old scars. 

"There it is!" Leo yelled, pointing down. "That's the whale!"

"What the hell is that?!" Sanji shouted, his jaw dropping so low his dead cigarette fell out of his mouth completely. 

"It's huge!" Zoro muttered, his hand instantly going to his sword handles. 

Luffy didn't look scared at all. He looked thrilled. "Wow! That's a massive whale! Hey! Get out of the way!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, waving his arms. 

The whale didn't move. It just sat there, its giant eye slowly opening to look up the canal at the tiny wooden ship rushing toward it like a bullet. 

"Nami! Use the sails!" Leo ordered, taking charge because he knew exactly how close they came to losing the ship's mast in the real story. "Drop the sails completely right now! We need maximum drag!"

Sanji and Zoro didn't wait for Nami to confirm. They both ran to the ropes, pulling them hard. The big white sails came crashing down onto the deck in a messy pile, instantly catching the wind from behind and acting like a giant brake. The ship slowed down a bit, but it was still moving way too fast. 

"It's not enough!" Nami cried. "We're still gonna hit him!"

"Luffy!" Leo turned to the captain. "The cannon! Fire the main cannon right into the water in front of us! The blast will push the ship back!"

"Oh! Good idea!" Luffy ran to the front of the ship where the big iron cannon was mounted. He didn't have any gunpowder ready, so he just grabbed the fuse and lit it with a match he found in his pocket, pointing the barrel straight down into the water ahead. 

*BOOM!*

The cannon fired, a massive cloud of gray smoke filling the air. The explosion hit the water right before the ship reached the whale's nose. The force of the blast created a huge wave of pressure that pushed the Going Merry backward, the wooden hull vibrating violently. 

The ship slid to a grinding halt, its front nose lightly tapping against the thick, rubbery black skin of the giant whale. 

*Bump.*

It was a gentle stop. The ship bobbed up and down in the water, completely safe. 

Leo let go of the ropes and dropped onto his back, exhaling a huge breath. His heart was hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. "We survived. Holy cow, we actually survived."

Usopp fell flat on his face next to him, kissing the wooden deck. "Beautiful wood. Safe wood. I love this ship."

Nami let go of the wheel, her hands shaking a little bit. She looked at the giant black wall of flesh right in front of the boat, then down at Leo. "You... you actually saved us. Twice."

"Told you," Leo smiled, though he was too tired to move. "Zero cheats. Just a really good survival guide."

Suddenly, a loud sound shook the entire ocean. It wasn't an explosion. It was a deep, mournful groan that echoed through the water, making the ship tilt side to side. The giant whale slowly lifted its head, its massive eye locking onto the tiny boat floating by its nose. 

Luffy was standing at the front railing, looking right up at the eye. "Hey! That was a close one! Nice to meet you, Mr. Whale!"

The whale groaned again, and then, without any warning, it started to open its massive mouth. The lower jaw dropped down into the ocean, creating a giant whirlpool that began to drag the Going Merry straight inside. 

"Ah! It's eating us!" Usopp screamed, scrambling backward on his hands and knees. 

"Get the sails back up!" Nami ordered, but it was too late. The current inside the whale's mouth was too strong. The ship got sucked into the dark, watery cavern, slipping past rows of teeth that looked like giant white pillars. 

Everything went totally black.

Leo braced himself for the crash, but instead of dark, smelly stomach juices, the ship suddenly shot out into a brightly lit area. Leo opened his eyes and blinked. 

It looked like a tropical island in the middle of a sunny day. There was blue water, a small wooden house on a tiny island with a single palm tree, and giant fluffy white clouds in the sky. The only weird thing was that the sky had giant metal lines running across it, like someone had painted it on the inside of a huge bowl.

"What the..." Sanji muttered, looking around. "Are we outside again?"

"No," Leo said, sitting up and rubbing his twisted ankle. "We're inside the whale. He painted the walls to make it look like the outside. And that island over there? That's where the doctor lives."

Right on cue, the front door of the little wooden house opened. A very old man with white hair shaped like a giant flower walked out, holding a newspaper. He sat down in a deck chair, completely ignoring the giant pirate ship that had just broken into his stomach. 

Luffy leaned over the edge of the ship. "Hey! Old man! Who are you?"

The old man slowly lowered his newspaper. He had big glasses and a very serious face. He stared at Luffy for a long, quiet moment. The silence went on for so long it got completely awkward. 

"You want a piece of me?" the old man said, his voice clipped and entirely unbothered. 

"No! I'm asking who you are!" Luffy yelled back.

The old man went back to reading his paper. "My name is Crocus. I'm the caretaker of this lighthouse. Leave me alone or someone's going to get hurt."

"Who's gonna get hurt?" Zoro asked, his hand back on his sword. 

Crocus didn't look up from his paper. "Me."

Sanji kicked the side of the ship in frustration. "You old geezer! Stop playing around!"

Leo couldn't help but chuckle. Seeing Crocus's weird sense of humor in person was gold. He hopped over to the edge of the ship, careful not to put too much weight on his bad leg. "Hey, Crocus! We're not here to hurt Laboon. We just got sucked in by the current. We're trying to get to the Grand Line."

Crocus stopped reading. He looked at Leo, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses. "You know the whale's name?"

"Yeah. I know a lot of things," Leo said, leaning against the railing. "I know about the pirates who left him here fifty years ago, too. The Rumbar Pirates."

The old man stood up from his chair so fast the newspaper fell into the water. His bored expression was completely gone, replaced by a sharp, intense look. "How do you know that name, boy? That crew died in the West Blue decades ago."

The whole crew turned to look at Leo now. Nami looked confused, Zoro looked suspicious, and Luffy just looked excited because it sounded like a mystery. 

"They didn't all die," Leo said quietly, thinking about Brook floating around on a dark ship somewhere out in the mist. "One of them is still alive. He's just... taking a really long time to get back."

Crocus stared at Leo for a long time, the wind gently rustling the single palm tree on the tiny island. Finally, the old man sighed, his shoulders dropping. "You're a strange kid. If what you say is true... then maybe this old whale hasn't been banging his head against the wall for nothing."

Before anyone could say anything else, a loud crashing sound echoed from the other side of the stomach lake. 

Two people wearing weird clothes.....a guy with a crown and a girl with blue hair in a ponytail.....burst out of a hidden metal door in the whale's side. They were holding giant rocket launchers. 

"Gyahahaha! We found you, giant meat!" the guy with the crown yelled. "Mr. 9, fire the rockets! We're bringing this whale back to the town!"

"Right away, Miss Wednesday!" the blue-haired girl shouted, aiming the launcher right at the whale's stomach lining. 

Leo's eyes went wide. *Vivi.* 

"Luffy! Stop them!" Leo yelled, pointing at the rocket launchers. "They're trying to kill the whale for food!"

"What? Kill the whale?" Luffy's face went completely serious. He hated people who ruined other people's fun, and Laboon was his new friend. "No way!" 

Luffy grabbed the top of the mast, pulled himself back, and launched himself across the water like a missile, screaming at the top of his lungs. He flew right into the two agents, knocking them both off their feet before they could pull the triggers. The rocket launchers flew into the water with a loud splash.

"Who are you?!" Miss Wednesday (Vivi) yelled, her crown falling off into the water as she scrambled away from Luffy. 

"I'm Luffy! The guy who's gonna be the Pirate King!" Luffy shouted back, landing perfectly on the little metal platform near the whale's exit door. 

Leo watched from the ship, a big smile returning to his face. The story was moving right along, and even though he didn't have any powers, his little survival guide bits were working perfectly. They were finally in the Grand Line, and the real adventure was just getting started. 

He looked down at his rusty sword and then up at the fake painted sky. "Alright," Leo whispered to himself. "First island up is Whisky Peak. Time to make sure we don't get poisoned by a bunch of bounty hunters."

He turned back to Nami, who was busy trying to figure out how to use a weird round compass that Crocus had just tossed over to her. "Hey Nami, don't trust the normal compass anymore. The magnetic fields here are totally broken. You need that Log Pose."

Nami looked at the glass ball with the needle dangling inside, then up at Leo with a mixture of annoyance and respect. "You really are a freak, you know that?"

"Hey, I'm the guy keeping us alive," Leo laughed, hopping back toward the pile of ropes. "Just part of the service."