413. The Real Start

After leaving Loguetown, the Straw Hats go to Reverse Mountain immediately. But before they arrive, they do a kind of ceremony by saying their dreams or goals out loud. It is just to set their goals and their reasons to enter Grandline.

"I will be the Pirate King."

"The strongest swordsman."

"Finding All Blue."

"Creating World Map."

"Defeating my dad."

"T-to be a brave warrior of the sea."

They say their goals while slamming their feet onto a barrel. Then they break the barrel to finish the unknown ritual.

"Why should we break the barrel? It can still be used to store water," says Leo.

"To show our conviction, right, Luffy?" says Usopp

"Nah, it just looks cool," says Luffy.

Leo sweatdrops at that answer, but he doesn't mind it because it's not that important now. The scene in front of them is more important. They finally arrive in front of the Reverse Mountain, the place where the sea is rising to the sky.

The crew is in awe at the sight of water climbing a very tall wall at a very high speed. But their amazement doesn't last long because now they need to enter the stream. They need to avoid crashing into the wall and it won't be easy although their ship is small.

Nami directs them where to move and eventually they can enter it safely. Now they can't control their ship anymore and can only follow the stream. They keep going up the Reverse Mountain until they reach the peak.

The sight on the peak is amazing, yet they can't enjoy it for a long time because gravity is pulling them down. They fall and the ship goes down the Reverse Mountain even faster than when they climbed. So they hold onto the ship because they don't want to fall.

They finally reach the bottom and the sea gets calm again. There is no Whale wall like how it was in the series because Laboon isn't there anymore. Laboon is staying in the sea around Clownland because Brook is there now and the whale is happy by Clownland's merriness.

Instead of Laboon, the Straw Hats see some dolphins swimming around the coast. An old man with a flower head is checking one of the dolphins on the shore. He is injecting something into the dolphin before releasing it and then the dolphins leave after jumping around happily.

Crocus finally sees the Straw Hats and he stares at them menacingly, making them nervous. But then he sighs and just turns around to leave. He doesn't say anything, but the Straw Hats feel offended for some reason.

"What's with that old man?" asks Sanji pissedly.

"I don't know, but he looks disappointed for whatever the reason is," says Usopp.

"Well, let's just go there and ask some questions," says Luffy.

They go ashore and get down from the ship to ask Crocus a few things about Grandline. Crocus is already sitting on his beach chair while reading a newspaper.

"Uhm, excuse me," says Usopp.

"Toilet is there," says Crocus while pointing at a small hut without looking at Usopp.

"Uuh, I don't ask for a toilet," says Usopp confusedly.

"Hmm, my name is Crocus, 71 y.o, my birthday is June 4th, my blood type is XF, and I'm 203 cm," says Crocus, making them even speechless.

Usopp tries to ask again, but Zoro stops him to ask himself.

But before Zoro can even say anything, Crocus says, "You wanna ask about this place? This is Twin Cape, the gate to Grandline. It's the place that everyone from 4 Blues reaches first when they enter Grandline. They come happily not knowing the horror of this place that is often called as Pirates' Graves."

The Straw Hats are speechless again, but they don't protest because it's a piece of quite nice information. It's just that they want to ask something else, but the old man kept interrupting. Even with the nice info, they are still pissed by this old man.

Sanji then takes over, "Alright, listen old man."

"Crocus," says Crocus, reminding them of his name.

Sanji then pissedly comply, "Alright, old man Crocus. We are just going to ask-."

He hasn't finished, but Crocus suddenly falls asleep and even snores.

".... Oi, let's just beat him up," says Sanji pissedly.

"Stop, someone will die," says Crocus who wakes up all of a sudden.

"Oho? And who is it?" asks Sanji.

"Me," says Crocus, making the boys really frustrated.

"Where's the closest island in Grandline?" asks Leo so suddenly.

The other boys are surprised he can actually ask the question. Well, he just takes the moment of chaos to ask, and Crocus doesn't have time to interrupt him.

"Well, even I'm not sure. The closest island for every crew is different," explains Crocus, which doesn't make any sense to them.

"Can you elaborate?" asks Nami curiously.

"Sigh, it seems I need to teach some rookies again," says Crocus before taking a rolled paper and putting it on the wall.

The paper has some lines and dots that the Straw Hats don't understand.

"Alright, listen, this is how things work on Grandline. You can't navigate here using the normal compass, you need this compass called Log Pose. I sell it for 100 thousand Belly," says Crocus while taking out a Log Pose.

"We already have it and I bought it for 10 thousand Belly," says Nami while smirking.

"Tch, they are one step ahead. Fine, so this Log Pose, you just need to follow where its needle point at," says Crocus before he explains more things about navigating in Grandline.

Then after he finishes, he charges them some money, but Nami refuses. So he asks for food and drinks instead. The crew also needs to eat anyway, so they eat together with Crocus while talking about Grandline.

Crocus has done this many times since Laboon left Twin Cape. Buggy told him to play this Guide NPC game because many rookies don't know anything about Grandline. Crocus can have fun while getting some money with this.

The Straw Hats' attitude makes Crocus becomes fond of them easily. They remind him of some people he knows, so he starts telling them more things. He doesn't tell them anything unusual, just some important thing about Grandline.

"Do you know that Grandline is divided into 2 parts? This is the 1st part and it's called Paradise because even though it's already very dangerous here, this place is considered as Paradise compared to the 2nd part of Grandline, New World," says Crocus.

The Straw Hats are surprised to know that the Grandline has 2 parts and the 2nd part is much more dangerous than the already dangerous 1st part. They don't know how dangerous it will be because they've just arrived. But they've met those who failed in Grandline, so they can imagine it a little.

"New World is a whole different level than Paradise. Many crews that succeeded in Grandline failed in New World. New World is also called the sea of Emperors because there are giant crews that rule many islands and dominate New World. You said you wanna be the Pirate King, right? They will be your greatest competitors. Though not all of them are interested in finding One Piece," says Crocus.

"How strong are they?" asks Leo curiously.

"Each one of the Emperors is said to have the ability to destroy an island alone. The Marine also has individuals at that level, the Admirals. You need to be careful of those people, especially the Admirals when you are still in Paradise because the Marine HQ is located here," says Crocus.

The Straw Hats are surprised to hear how powerful the Emperors and Admirals are. But they can only imagine how powerful one needs to be to destroy an island alone.

"How about Hawkeye, the Strongest Swordsman?" asks Zoro.

"Him? He should be able to do the same because he has fought against 2 of the Emperors many times and the result is a draw most of the time. Although I don't know if they fight using full power or just competing in swordsmanship," says Crocus.

"Old man, have you ever heard of a pirate named Buggy?" asks Leo.

"Hmm? What's with him?" asks Crocus with a rather surprised tone.

"He's our father," says Leo while pointing at Nami.

Crocus is even more surprised now, but then he remembers that Buggy once mentioned that he has kids. He also told Crocus that one day his kids may enter Grandline. Now Crocus finally meets the kids that Buggy mentioned.

"Yeah, he is quite famous. You will find out about him as you go further. I don't know much about him though," says Crocus.

He lies a bit because Buggy has told him to keep his real identity a secret from his kids if they come. Buggy has hidden a lot of things from his kids and only Bellemere knows that he is an Emperor of The Sea. He wanted it to be a surprise for when they come to Grandline.

Zoro seems confused now because he feels like he has heard that name before. But he can't remember it, so he stops thinking about it. He will be surprised when he knows that Buggy is the man who took Kuina as a disciple.

Speaking of Kuina, she has left her village a few years ago to go on a journey. Buggy has told her that she won't grow if she kept staying in one place. She went to explore East Blue, but even Zoro who also went around as a bounty hunter never heard of her.

Well, she actually went to another sea after exploring East Blue. She was always amazed by Buggy's stories when he explored the Seas. So she wanted to see those seas for herself while also improving herself by challenging swordsmen.

Her goal is still the same though, to be the strongest swordsman. Sooner or later, she will cross paths with Zoro who has the same goal. But that won't happen soon because they are still early in their journeys.

______________________________________________

You can read up to 35+35 chapters ahead of my fanfics and more pictures on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

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2. Chapter 448. 4 Sea Emperors (Transcended as Lord Buggy)

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