338. Steam Wall

The Clown Pirates are in a dilemma right now because their way is blocked by a very hot sea. It's so hot that the seawater is evaporating and the steam is very thick like a cloud. Even a Seaking that entered the arena gets cooked by the hot water.

There is no doubt that the water in that area is boiling hard. Even from a 1 km distance, the Clown Pirates can feel the heat already. It already felt like they are in a desert, so the steaming area must've felt like the inside of a volcano.

"What do you think, Ruff?" asks Buggy.

"Hmm, I could make heat resistance clothes for all of us here, but it will take time. Also, we don't know how wide that area is and how hot it is in the center. The clothes might not be able to work if the heat is too strong. Besides, there will be a lack of oxygen there because of all the steam. We will inhale water vapor instead of oxygen, which is very dangerous. And even if somehow the clothes can help us through, our supplies will get cooked by the heat. The ship is strong so it should be able to handle that heat, but our food, water, or even clothes won't," says Ruff.

"What if you just cover the entire ship?" asks Yamato.

Everyone looks at Yamato strangely and she doesn't understand why.

"What?" asks Yamato confusedly.

"Yamato-chan, you know how big our ship is, right? Do you think that we have enough materials to cover the whole ship?" asks Elen.

"Ah, hehe, sorry," says Yamato in realization.

"Well, we still need a solution, so anyone has an idea?" asks Buggy.

Everyone is silent and thinks of what to do, but they can't think of anything to cross the steaming area safely.

"Hmm, I guess the safest way is going around it. The problem is we don't know how long & wide this steaming area is," says Cricket.

"Will that be possible, Jude?" asks Buggy.

"Yes, I can still navigate just fine even if we take a detour. But just like what Vice-Captain said, the problem is we don't know how long & wide the area is," says Jude.

"Then let's try to check it. Fishmen squad, can you guys check underwater? The source of the heated area might be some underwater volcanoes or something like that. No need to get too close, just try to find the range," says Buggy.

The Fishmen on the ship nod and then they jump into the sea. They've expected it, but the sea is quite warm here. Luckily, it's not too hot yet, so they can swim without any problem and dive into the sea. Sometime later, they come out and tell the crew what they saw.

"Uhm, there's only one volcano down there. But it's very long and the lava stream is all over the place. Also, it seems that the volcano is shaped into a circle, but we can't see the other side," says an Orca Fishman.

"Yeah, it seems like something is blocking our view. We couldn't see it well because there are many air bubbles from the boiling water. But we should be able to see the glowing lava quite easily. So there must be something that blocked our view. And we speculate that it's an island," says a Shark Fishman.

The others get surprised because most probably it's the island that the Log Pose pointed to.

"Hmm, we need to check if it's really the island. Enel! I choose you," says Buggy while pointing at the thick steam wall.

He calls Enel as if he is choosing a Pokemon. Enel doesn't know it but it's still pissing him off.

"No way!" says Enel pissedly.

"Come on, you are lightning, you can move through that thick steam wall in a flash to see what's on the other side," says Buggy.

"No! Why is it always me who needs to do this kind of work? Ask someone else," says Enel in protest.

".... Fine, anyone want gold?" asks Buggy.

"Me," says Enel immediately before he transforms into lightning and flashes into the steam.

Everyone sweatdrops at how easily Enel gets himself manipulated. Buggy always did this whenever Enel refused to do something and it never failed. That guy just loves gold too much that he even coated his room with gold.

Sometime later, Enel returns with a report, "It's really an island. The steam wall is all around it, so we need to pass the steam wall to reach the island."

"Damn, that's really troublesome," says Buggy before he realizes that Enel's face is quite strange as if he is thinking of something.

"What's wrong?" asks Buggy.

"Well, that island is surrounded by hot steaming water, so I thought it would be a hot island. But it's actually a winter island. The island is covered by white snow, and I even saw a blizzard happen there," says Enel.

"Don't think too much about it. Anything can happen in Grandline. Let's just focus on how we'll pass through that steam wall. For now, why don't we go around it? Maybe there's an area with lower heat and thinner steam that we can use," says Buggy.

Everyone agrees and they move again, following Buggy's instruction. The Fishmen swim under the ship to see if there's a place with fewer volcanic activities. Enel also phases through the steam wall every once in a while to find what they search.

After moving in a full circle, they finally find the spot. However, it is still very thick as the thinnest steam wall is half a kilometer, while the thickest wall is around 3 km. This steam wall is thicker than any man-made wall.

"So, what's the plan?" asks Palu.

"We will make a big hole in the steam wall, then use our airjet to fly through it. That's the best method that we can do right now. We only have one chance, so we need to succeed in one try," says Buggy.

They all nod and start preparing everything. The airjet is the name of their ship's air propeller. It's Black Pearl's version of Coup de Burst. But they named it airjet because their ship can move very fast with 4 compressed air shooters.

After everything's ready, Buggy gets ready in the ship's front deck. Buggy holds Pollux and feeds Haki energy to it. The other executives are doing other work like Enel who holds the rudder, Palu & Ruff are getting ready to activate the airjet, and the others are securing stuff.

Then after everything's ready, Buggy shoots highly compressed air at the steam wall. It looks like a white ball, and a moment after the white ball entered the steam wall, it explodes. The explosion is very big that it pushes the ship back a little.

The air explosion pushes all the steam & even the water in the area, then a big hole appears. Cricket immediately gives an order to Palu & Ruff who then activates the airjet engines. The Black Pearl gets shot forward and moves past the massive hole in an instant.

Everyone on the ship can feel the heat a little even though they don't touch the steam. They all now know that entering the steam without any kind of protection will kill them. Enel has high heat resistance because of his lightning power, so he was fine, and it was also Buggy's reason for sending Enel before.

Anyway, they've passed through the steam wall that blocked their way. The steam wall reverts back to normal a moment after their ship lands on the water again. If they couldn't move faster, then they will get boiled alive.

They sigh in relief before they all finally take a look at the island that gives them such a hard time to reach it. Just like what Enel said, it's a winter island. Everything is covered by snow, everything is white.

It's not just because of the snow that the island is white. The sand is white, the trees are white, the mountain is white, the rocks are white, everything is white. There's no other color that can be seen by the Clown Pirates.

The temperature drops significantly as they get closer to the island. It's such a strange thing to feel such coldness after such intense heat. Buggy gets reminded of Punk Hazard which will become a similar place as this in the future.

"This place is very cold, yet there's no ice at all on the water around the island," says Palu curiously.

"The water is actually warm here even though the air is very cold. Probably because the volcanoes are down there. So the water temperature follows the volcanoes while the air follows the island," says Ruff.

"Well, at least we will have hot water to keep ourselves warm. Let's get ashore, I want to explore this place immediately," says Buggy excitedly.

This island seems to be untouched by men, so Buggy is very excited now. Exploring a new place is always an enjoyable thing to do.

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