Chapter 24: The Red Line

Rest and relaxation at last! After that Clockwork Island fiasco, we all deserve a good break before we get to the Grand Line. No Marines or idiotic pirates anywhere to beat us up; just clear skies and calm ocean as far as the eye can see. Well, except for that major cloud coverage up ahead. Looks like a storm's on its way. I'm hoping that it's more rain than lightning; I'm a bit wary about it since the last time I tried to absorb lightning.

But on the bright side, we're finally back on course and according to Nami we're getting close to the entrance of the Grand Line. I gaze at the map on her shoulder and look where she is. It looks like a mountain is right in the middle of the Grand Line as well as a giant wall called the Red Line. So we have to go to a wall in order to get there?

After a while, Nami calls us all inside the galley and opens the map on the table. I jump off her shoulder and sit on the table. "Listen up!" Nami places her hand on the map. "I know this sounds crazy, but the map is clear; the entrance to the Grand Line is through a mountain." My ears perk up; a mountain? So you're saying we have to climb a mountain to get there, ship and all?

"Sounds like fun!" Luffy says. Of course it does…

"What are you talking about; a ship can't climb a mountain." Zoro scoffs.

"Hey! Anyone notice that the rudder's stuck?" Usopp demands. I look over at him and he's right; that thing isn't moving and Usopp's trying everything in his power to move it. That's weird… I get up and trot over to him, looking over the tiller. It's not budging, almost like something froze it in place. I know the thing is heavy but this seems really off.

"Sanji would you give Usopp a hand?" Nami says irritably. "I can't think with all his yelling…"

"Right away Nami~!" Sanji chimes and moves to the rudder. This guy is quickly becoming Nami's personal slave…

"Does the current seem a bit strong to you guys?" Usopp asks. Hmm...I don't like this…

I quietly trot out of the galley and jump onto the railing as the dark storm clouds have already covered the blue sky. I don't feel a whole lot of lightning, so that's good. But what I can feel is an ominous feeling in the air, like something big is coming our way and fast. I frown slightly as I make my to the front of the ship and jump onto Merry's head to get a better insight on what I'm feeling.

I gaze at the empty ocean ahead of us; whatever's waiting for us up ahead, we better be ready for it, no matter what. After a few moments, the sky opens and rain starts to fall. I crouch on the Merry's head and squint through the rain and building fog. The wind isn't too bad and the sea isn't very rough, so hopefully we'll be able to find our way just fine.

Sanji and Luffy fold the sails when something tall begins to come into sight. I strain my eyesight and my eyes widen; it's a wall! That has to be it! "Pika pika!" I call, pointing ahead.

Luffy looks down at me and looks ahead as well. "Hey! I can see the mystery mountain!" he calls. We all stare up at it in amazement; that is one big mountain!

"I...I can't see the top!" Usopp exclaims. "It's higher than the clouds!" We all grab onto something as the boat suddenly rocks. The ocean is going crazy and beating against the cliffs of the mountain wildly. I can even see the water swirling like whirlpools near it!

"Hold the rudder steady!" Luffy yells. Sanji, Zoro, and Usopp run inside to man the tiller. "Nami! Which way?" Luffy yells. "If this keeps up we're gonna crash!"

I crawl forward a few inches on Merry and wipe the rain out of my eyes. I gaze ahead as the wall comes ever closer and I spy what looks like a giant crack in the mountain. "Pika!" I turn back and call for Nami.

She rushes over to me, "What is it?" she asks. "See anything?"

I point towards the crack, "Pika pika!" I respond.

Nami follows my paw and her eyes widen, "That must be it!" she exclaims. She runs back to the upper deck, "Keep bearing straight ahead!" she yells.

"What?! You can't be serious!" Usopp yells.

"Trust me!" Nami responds.

Luffy joins her on the upper deck, "Is that the entrance?"

"Most likely!" Nami answers. My eyes widen in awe as we draw closer to the entrance. A bunch of water gates stand before us and the current is quickly sliding up the mountain. The ocean is literally climbing the mountain, who would've guessed?

"We have to get through those water gates just right or we'll be smashed to pieces!" Nami yells. I jump off Merry's head so I'm not blocking anyone's view and stand near the mast as the ship begins to veer away from the entrance.

"We're drifting off course!" Luffy yells. "Go to the right! The right!" I grip the mast fearfully as the ship slowly begins to go to the right when there's a loud snap followed by a crash. That can't be good! I look up to see that the tiller has completely snapped off, sending Sanji and Usopp into the table.

"THE RUDDER!" I stare at the entrance; the side is gonna smash right into the gate!

"Gum Gum…" Luffy throws his hat to Zoro and runs towards the front of the ship. "Balloon!" He inflates himself and puts himself right between Merry and the gate. I watch in anticipation as the Merry slowly rolls with Luffy until it finally bounces off and moves properly into the middle of the current. Luffy stretches his arm and grabs Zoro's, helping to sling him back onto the boat and Nami and I sigh in relief while Sanji and Usopp cheer in the back.

The rain stops as quickly as it came and Nami takes off her rain jacket, "Now it's just a straight shot to the summit!" she cheers. I quickly rush up to the head of the Merry and jump onto the railing next to Zoro.

Luffy comes up a few seconds later along with everyone else. "Wow! What a view!" Luffy comments. We all stare ahead in awe and slight relief when my ears twitch.

We all seem to get the same sensation because we all turn to see...Sicko standing on the railing?! What the hell?! I thought Luffy sent him flying! Has he been on the ship this whole time?! He spouts some nonsense about how he can never get Dragonite and how he's gonna kill us but luckily, Nami has a foolproof plan.

"Hey, is that Dragonite?" One kick later, Sicko has vanished under the rushing currents. Thank you Nami! Now we know he won't be causing us anymore trouble!

Now where were we? Oh yeah, sailing up the mountain to enter the Grand Line! We eventually rise above the clouds and the top of the mountain comes into view. I sit on Merry's head in front of Luffy as we near the top.

"This is insane!" Luffy cries happily.

"Pikachu!" I agree. My eyes widen as I see the water spray up at the top. Because we're so high, the water that's spraying is freezing instantly, creating waves upon waves of sparkling ice. It's so beautiful! I surprisingly don't get any memory flashes from this, so I take the opportunity to enjoy the scenery. We finally reach the summit and the Merry flies into the air.

Luffy laughs as we look back to see the tall hill we had left behind. We're so high it feels like we're on top of the world! We all probably forgot that we were in the air because we all yell out in shock when we sharply begin to drop.

It catches me off guard, making me fly high above Luffy. I flail in the air for a bit as I fly back from the wind when I catch Sanji's eye. He holds out his arm and I quickly latch onto it, landing on his shoulder when the Merry returns to the water with a splash. We all hold on tight as we begin to descend down the steep hill on the other side of the mountain.

I stare at the blue skies ahead of us; this is it, the Grand Line is within our grasp! Somewhere in that amazing but dangerous ocean is a clue to my past, to where I came from! My home...my family...my memories...they're all waiting for me at the bottom of this mountain! I don't know when or where I'll find them, but I won't give up until I finally remember who I am!

We re-enter the clouds as the strong wind blows against us. Sanji climbs up on the net towards the Crow's Nest to expose us more to the rushing air. "This is great!" Sanji exclaims.

"Pika pika!" I laugh as a feeling of adrenaline rushes through me. Combined with the feeling of excitement and adventure waiting for us, I feel like I'm going to burst! All of a sudden, my ears twitch and I hear a low sound, like a low horn. What the heck was that? Was I just imagining that?

...No, I hear it again! What is that? It sounds like a few others heard it too. I look ahead and squint through all the clouds when something begins to take shape up ahead. It looks big...round...and black. I tap Sanji on the shoulder, "Pika!" I shout over the wind.

"What is it?" Sanji responds loudly.

"Pika pi, pikachu!" I yell, pointing up ahead.

Sanji follows my gaze and his eyes widen, "Nami! There's a mountain up ahead!" he yells.

"That's impossible!" Nami responds. "After we pass the Twin Capes up ahead there should be nothing but ocean!"

"But it's right there, we can see it!" Sanji protests.

"Pika pika!" I chime in, pointing along with him.

"Who cares?!" Luffy yells over the wind, "Let's go!" However, that low sound echoes around us again catching everyone's attention this time. I wince at the sound; is it just me, or is it getting louder?

The clouds finally clear and sure enough, that mountain is right in front of us at the very bottom of the hill! We all scream in shock as the ride suddenly became a death trap; how are we supposed to get around that?! And what even is it?!

"It's a black wall!" Luffy yells.

"No it isn't!" Nami responds.

"Then what is it?!" Zoro demands.

Usopp looks through his scope and pales considerably. "I-It's a whale!" he yells.

Are you serious?! That thing is a whale?! It can't be! That thing is about a hundred times bigger than a full grown Wailord! Nothing can be that big! I don't have time to think about the newest word I just remembered (better add that to the list along with Seaking and Snorlax) as the whale draws closer. The low noise from before is heard again, and it's a lot louder now. It's so loud to my sensitive hearing it almost makes me drop off Sanji.

"W-What do we do?!" Usopp wails.

"Should we fight?" Luffy asks.

"How can we fight a hundred ton whale?!" Nami demands.

"Calm down!" Sanji yells. "If this creature looks like a wall to us, we must be a speck!"

Nami brightens, "Yeah, it's possible that it doesn't even know we're here!" she agrees.

"Yeah but we'll crash into it at this rate!" Zoro adds. "We can get by on the left! Turn hard to port!"

"Did you forget that the rudder's broken?!" Usopp demands.

"Just do something!" Zoro yells. Sanji jumps down from the net and I leap down onto the lower deck while he and Zoro join Usopp in the galley to help with the rudder. I look around anxiously for anything I can do to help, but nothing can slow us down in time!

Luffy runs below deck and I grip the mast in fear. The ship isn't turning and that whale is right on top of us! This isn't good! I crouch down and cover my head with a frightened squeal, bracing for impact when-

BOOM!

I hear cannonfire and I'm suddenly thrown forward. I roll on the deck for a moment until I get my bearings along with everyone else. Did someone just shoot the cannon? I look inside the open door to see Luffy standing proudly by the smoking weapon, "Done!" he proclaims with triumph.

I watch as the ship slows and just barely taps the whale, or, it felt like a tap to us. I squeak and leap out of the way as Merry's head crashes onto the deck right where I was standing.

"Nooo!" Luffy yells in horror. "That was my special seat!" Luffy, I think that's the least of our worries!

I look up and cower as I see just how big this whale really is. Holy mother of Kyogre, that thing is freaking monstrous! (Yet another word to add to my list of mystery words.) If Sanji and the others are specks to this thing, I'm probably so small I don't even exist! If that thing moved an inch we'd probably capsize! Luckily, it doesn't seem to realize that we're here.

Everyone looks nervous, even Zoro! "Let's get out of here before it's too late!" he yells. The boys take up the paddles we quickly begin making our way around the whale in a panicked frenzy. The loud low noise rumbles through the air once again when we near its eye. I crouch down and scream, covering my ears. That's so freaking loud it feels like my head's gonna pop off!

"Hurry! Just keep paddling!" Usopp yells. I'm nearly deaf when the sound finally stops; I never wanna hear that again for as long as I live! Luffy suddenly steps up near the eye. I don't know what he said, but it was probably something stupid as he punched the whale right in the eye a few seconds later. We all watch as the eye abruptly looks down at us. I think it's safe to say that we're in big trouble now. My ears are still ringing and in pain but I'm pretty sure everyone's screaming in fear right about now. The whale opens its mouth and lets out a huge roar, ten times louder than before.

My eyes widen for a split second before squeezing shut and I let out another pained scream. I'm surprised I'm not completely deaf yet! Everything's blurry and spinning and the boat is being yanked towards something. I stumble across the deck, my ears still ringing loudly and I hit something. That something turns out to be Luffy and the next thing I know, we're falling towards the ocean.

I manage to get a few of my thoughts back and I grab onto Luffy's vest as he stretches his arm and latches onto a giant tooth. Wait...tooth? Oh Arceus...are we in the whale's mouth?! Are we being eaten?! I cling tighter to Luffy as he climbs the whale's head; my hearing slowly starts to come back as I hear rushing water and screaming.

Suddenly, everything goes quiet and Luffy and I are sitting on top of the whale. I tap my ears as my hearing begins to fully function once again just in time for Luffy to stiffen in horror, "Oh man...they've all been swallowed whole!"

My eyes widen and I jump to my feet, "Pika?!" Oh Arceus...Sanji, Nami, Usopp, and Zoro...they've all been eaten!

Luffy springs up and begins punching the whale, "Hey! You stupid whale, can you hear me?!" he yells. "Spit them out, give back our friends!"

"Pika! Pika pi, pikachu!" I yell, hitting the whale's smooth skin as hard as I can with my tiny paws. 'Let Sanji, Nami, and the others go you stupid Wailord!'

Luffy and I both cry out as the whale starts to move and sink into the ocean. Oh crap, we're screwed now! I immediately start to frantically look for a way off the whale when my eyes land on something weird. Is that...a door on the whale's back…? Do whale's like this have doors on them? Ah we'll question it later; we have to move now!

I tug on Luffy's shorts as he's still yelling at the whale until I finally get his attention. I silently point to the door and Luffy looks just as confused as me, but only for a split second. He grabs me, throws the door open, jumps inside, and closes it just in the nick of time. We both deflate in relief, "That was close…" Luffy breathes.

"Pika…" I agree, climbing onto his shoulder.

"Now where are we?" Luffy and I take a look around and both our faces become the epitome of confusion. We're...in a hallway...a lighted hallway...inside a whale… "Uh...I don't know much about whales, but since when do they have doors and lighted hallways?" Luffy asks.

My ears wilt, "Pika pi…" 'Your guess is as good as mine...'

Luffy sighs, "Well, guess we better find the ship." I nod and Luffy starts walking down the hallway. I hope Sanji and the others are alright… We walk for a while, the hallway not changing whatsoever when the whale roars again. Thankfully, it's not as loud since we're inside, the hallway begins to move and shift violently.

Luffy and I both scream as we're thrown down the hallway, bouncing off walls and tumbling through the air. I get so dizzy that I let go of Luffy, but the momentum of the hallway keeps us together until we finally land on solid ground. We both sluggishly sit up, our heads spinning like crazy.

"So dizzy…" Luffy murmurs.

"Pika…" Once our sight comes back we take a look around. Looks like we've landed in an even bigger hallway, and there's...water?

"The whale has river in it too?" Luffy wonders.

"Pikachu." I say with a shrug. It's like we're in a sewer system or something; what kind of whale is this? The area starts shaking again and we start to slide on the floor. We both get to our feet and try to run upwards, but it's getting too steep too fast! We both fall again, but thankfully we don't start spinning or hitting walls like before.

I latch onto Luffy as the ground suddenly levels out again and Luffy's literally hits the ground running. The ground is still slightly downhill making Luffy speed up greatly. "Pika pika!" I yell, holding onto his vest with all my might. 'Slow down, idiot!'

"I can't stooooooop!" Luffy shrieks and he continues running down the hall at light speed. All I can do is hold on for dear life. After a few moments, a wall comes into view as well as a door; please let that be the way out! Both our eyes widen as we see two people in front of the door; we're gonna crash! I squeeze my eyes shut and brace for impact as Luffy slams right into them.

We all tumble into the door making it fly open and we're suddenly soaring through open skies. Wait a minute, I thought we were inside a whale! I have so many questions right now!

"Hey Zoro!" Luffy's yell catches my attention. "Is everyone okay?!" My eyes widen as the Merry is floating safely on a pool of green water that stretches below us.

"No! We're going to fall into gastric acid!" One of the guy;s we ran into yells. Gastric acid?! What?!

"That doesn't sound good…" Luffy mutters. My eyes widen as he plucks me off his shoulder. Oh no... "Sanji! Catch!"

I scream as I'm flung through the air towards the ship. 'Not agaaaaaain!'

"Dammit Luffy, what is it with you throwing my partner?!" Sanji runs up and catches me with ease while Luffy and the two others land in the water, or acid I guess, with a splash. I deflate with exhaustion in Sanji's arms.

Can this day get any more hectic?

I'm sensing a theme between Pika-chan and Luffy...