Chapter 54: Grand Line Baptism

As the Black Pearl came to settle in the waters of the Grand Line my crew and I untied our safety ropes.

Immediately after we did so I looked around and stopped the Twin Cape Lightouse on our right.

Yet I see no sign of either Crocus or Laboon.

Spreading out observation haki I attempted to sense them, but in that regard I came up empty as well.

The moment I did so I pulled back the range of my observation haki, wondering where the hell those two could be. I kept pondering for an answer to my question until I felt a tap on my left shoulder.

Turning around I saw it was Alfia.

"What's up?" I asked her.

"You're the captain we need you to decide where we are sailing that's what's up." Alfia sharply retorted.

"Understood dear, and thank you." I spoke.

I then gave Alfia a quick kiss on the lips before heading over to Bepo, who was standing behind the ships steering wheel. The New World log pose secured firmly on his left wrist.

Reaching him I turned my attention to the three needles of the Log Pose. When I did so I saw all of them firmly set and pointing in the direction of an island. I also noted all three needles were relatively staple.

Shame.

I wished one of them was acting a bit more erratic, since I recall one of the ministers from Fish-man Island saying the more erratic a needle on a New World log pose acts the more dangerous an island might be, and since I want some danger and excitement I would've told my crew to set course for such an island without any hesitation.

Unfortunately that won't be the case today.

Oh well.

I'll have plenty more chances to go to such islands in the future, so for now I'll settle with what I've got.

"Where to captain?" Bepo asked me.

Looking at all three needles I picked the one on the far left. "Let's head for the island this needle it pointing towards." I spoke.

"Ha!" Bepo happily said.

Once he did so I told everyone else. They then went to work.

As we unfurled the sails of the Black Pearl the wind picked up and we soon sailing.

Leaving the Twin Cape Lighthouse behind us.

Even though my crew and I didn't meet Laboon and Crocus.

But's it's fine.

Since we will definitely meet them in the future.

Count on it.

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Sitting in a fold out chair on the deck I lazed about as the Black Pearl continued sailing on the course we set.

Everything completely and utterly fine.

Then all of a sudden everything changed.

Before I could even blink a storm rolled in.

Then the second after it did hale the size of semi-truck's started raining down from the sky.

'I knew the Grand Line had crazy weather, but seeing is believing I guess.' I thought.

Several pieces of hail heading for the Black Pearl as I did so.

"Captain!" Bepo screamed.

"Just keep the Black Pearl on course and steady Bepo. The rest of us will handle everything else!" I shouted as the wind picked up to I'm sure at least 40 miles per hour.

Just as it did so the others came from below deck and joined me and Bepo.

Right as they did so I drew Dragon Fang and sent several flying slashes at the semi-truck sized hail coming towards us, destroying the pieces with ease.

But no sooner than I did so than more hail pieces appeared to take their place.

Though immediately after they did Rean handled them using his [Arc Slash] technique.

Then right after he did so the hail suddenly stopped.

"Damn, glad that's over." Weisz said.

'Weisz, you idiot!' I thought.

Since he just raised a flag high.

No sooner after Weisz spoke then I noticed a giant shadow covering the entire Black Pearl and a bit of the ocean surrounding the ship.

Looking up I saw a piece of hail the size of a small island heading straight for us.

"Agh!" Bepo screamed at the top of his lung.

"My, it's so big." Robin spoke. "I hope it doesn't crush the ship and us along with it giving us an early death." She mused.

Her true personality coming out a bit. Since Robin likes horro and morbid jokes and situation with a passion.

"Law!" I shouted.

[Room]

He shouted.

Encompassing the entirety of the Black Pearl and a large area surrounding it.

Law then used [Shambles] to switch the ships positions with one of the chunks of hail floating in the sea.

Just as he did so the island-sized piece of hail slammed into the sea and threw up massive waves.

As they hit the back of the Black Pearl our ship began riding the waves, more giant chunks of hail beginning to rain down just after this happened.

Needless to say my crew and I are definitely going through a baptism from the Grand Line.

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Lying on the deck of the Black Pearl my crew and I were drenched from head-to-toe. Breathing heavily from the strenuous amount of activity we just finished.

Which was navigating that horrible hail storm for the over two hours, which has just finally subsided.

Several minutes passed as my crew and I collected our bearings before we finally recovered.

As we stood to our feet Weisz spoke up fist.

"Well, that sucked."

"Yeah." Rean added.

"Definitely." Alfia spoke.

"Yeah well get used to it, since that's what we'll be experiencing from now on now that we are sailing the Grand Line." I spoke.

"Actually I found that rather fun." Robin spoke. A smile on her face as she did so.

Everyone decided not to comment on her statement.

Instead we set the Black Pearl back on its original course and began performing an inspection of the ship.

But as we did so Reiju called out to everyone.

"Enemies straight ahead. Marines!" Reiju shouted.

The moment we did so everyone assembled on deck.

As we did so we saw a marine battleship heading towards us, and from what I can sense with my observation haki it is carrying quite a few strong individuals.

Excellent.

My crew needs some good opponents to grow in strength.

So we'll use these marines to do just that.

At least they'll be good for something.