Chapter 45 - The Impressive Red Line! Descending the Reverse Mountain Towards What??

Waking up in the hallway of the Black Artemis, Noah felt his body tremble for a moment before returning to normal. The feeling of death was more refreshing when you fought many enemies.

"I definitely have to learn to calculate my time..." Being the second time that such an incident occurred, where he was suddenly dragged to the PHD, he lightly cracked his neck before continuing towards his room.

And as soon as he arrived, he saw that Nami and Noah were sleeping in his bed, a small white feathered dragon nestled in the sheets between them. Or rather, the green feathered dragon. Ryu was in a very cute position sleeping on his back.

'You...' Seeing how they left no place for him to sleep, he promised himself to "punish" them later and sat in one of the armchairs there.

Removing one of the red orbs he managed to get by killing some male flame lions, he immediately ingested it and felt a growing heat in his body. And unlike previous refinements, where he could feel the energy focusing on one part of him, now he was feeling it flow through everything and fuel him with energy. And finally, as a last step, the Spiritual Energy went towards his Energy Core, gathering there in an almost gaseous form. Its color was somewhat grayish, almost white.

So, with his body in a state of meditation, Noah absorbed red orb after red orb. Apparently, due to the way he was absorbing energy now, doing more exercises or not would not help make the process faster. And as it was night and he didn't want to wake the girls, he didn't practice his sword techniques or anything like that.

The good part of all this quietness is that it gave him time to think.

'Before I get to Arabasta, I need to make sure to defeat the Boss of the first map. The girls also need to reach Full Body Refinement and even Ryu needs to start his training.' Thinking about all the events of that turbulent Kingdom, even involving a Warlord (Shichibukai), Noah felt that his strength was very insufficient, 'Not to mention all the other involvements before that. If I want to take advantage of my knowledge, I should pray to the heavens to meet Vivi when I cross the Red Line.'

Despite not counting on being swallowed by Laboon, he really wouldn't mind if that happened. The important thing was that he wanted to meet Vivi so he could take advantage of various opportunities to strengthen himself on his way to his next fight.

Aside from the events in Loguetown, his only adventures were the most recent Clockwork Island and Warship Island. Even though they opened his eyes to many fascinating experiences, and that will happen even more in the future, they were nowhere near what he could experience in Arabasta.

Not to mention his plans for certain people he would meet there... His crew would increase more than Nami or Nojiko could imagine.

As the hours went by, those of which Noah used to cement the events and plan carefully while cultivating, the morning sun came in through the window and hit the eyes of the two beautiful women sleeping in his bed. And the little Ryu too.

"Good morning..." As soon as they looked at each other, Nami and Nojiko softly spoke to each other while stretching.

"Screech…" Ryu: Good morning… (⇀‸↼) With the same energy as them, the little dragon chirped softly while stretching its spine.

And everything was going well until two strong arms grabbed the two women from the bed, causing even Ryu to be slightly startled.

"Kyaa!” x2

"Good morning to you too." Placing one on each shoulder, Noah started walking towards his private bathroom, "Was my bed comfortable?"

"Very. It would be better with you in it, but you took too long." Nojiko resigned herself to fate and just leaned lightly on his back.

"How was the… wait, are you taller?" Nami was about to ask about his night training when she realized she seemed closer to the ceiling than she would like. And using her memory to calculate the distance to the floor, she realized that her hypothesis seemed correct.

"It wasn't just my height that increased ..." Noah gave an ironic smile when he closed the bathroom door with his foot.

And only a pair of desperate voices echoed inside.

"Oh no- don't! Kyya!

“…”

“… Screech?” Ryu: What? (•‿•)

°°°

After hoisting the sails, they had a light breakfast while sailing the last kilometers towards the Red Line.

And finally, after so many days of travel and adventure, Noah was presented with the amazing sight before his eyes. With Ryu on top of his head also looking at the horizon, Nami and Nojiko beside him opened their mouths in slight shock.

In front of them, extendingo from one horizon to the other, is the large wall made of an extremely hard reddish ore and seemingly indestructible, known as Red Line. Extending from the bottom of the sea to an unreachable height by common means, it is large and thick enough for its own islands to exist on its top, such as the holy land Mary Goise.

And the important part, the one they are going to use right now, is called Reverse Mountain. This location is unique as rivers from the Blues flow up the mountain, converge at the peak, and then descend into the Grand Line. This is due to the mountain, labelled as a "Winter Island" in Grand Line terms, being much colder than the surrounding sea in the Blues, but not in the Grand Line. The mountain has five rivers, with four ascending from each of the world's four Blue Seas, and one descending into the Grand Line. The river entrance is decorated with ten square arcs featuring tribal patterns and images of sea creatures.

Many pirates attempting to enter the Grand Line perish before reaching the mountaintop. The hostile water currents and storms often cause them to crash into the mountain walls if the approach angle is not just right.

Here was Nami's first challenge as a navigator and theirs as a crew.

“Nojiko, stay in control of the sails. Noah, can you keep an eye on the wind strength?” Nami closed her mouth after swallowing the shock and her eyes became firm as she went towards the helm, carefully feeling the currents of the water below them, “I hope it's as easy as the theory.”

“You're the boss, ma’am.” Noah smiled at her, who seemed a little nervous about her first test, and took Ryu off his head, “Stay with her, handsome. She's going to need your cuteness.”

“Screech!” Ryu: Yes, Captain! (づ ◕‿◕ )づ

In a few moments, with the ship on course, everyone felt the jolt the moment the Black Artemis entered the strange current that climbed the mountain. And that's when they realized why the Grand Line was called the Cemetery of Pirates... even its entrance could throw everything into chaos.

SWOOOSH!

At the same time as the turbulent winds tried to unbalance the ship, the strange currents tried to pull the ship quickly towards the walls, forcing Nami to maintain a firm and precise control of the helm. Nojiko was also doing her best to coordinate the movements and keep the sails in the right positions.

Meanwhile, Noah used his Wind Manipulation to keep the ship as stable as he could, also using it as a windbreak. As he realized that the speed could increase, since Nami controlled the ship well, he did so and maintained it for a while.

And in no time, they reached the top.

"Wow..." A small exclamation came from the mouths of the three humans and a small chirp from the dragon when they noticed the clear and beautiful blue sky.

Until they started to fall again.

"Hold on! Use Wind Manipulation!" Noah frowned when he noticed the strong winds that were pushing the ship down.

The current, the wind, the force, everything was contributing to the ship's hull shaking slightly and spreading out over them. But, with the three people quickly using their Spiritual Energies to control the wind around them, the speed was gradually controlled to an acceptable point.

The sounds that reached their ears at every arch they passed were like the sweetest honey. Each arch represented a step closer to the Grand Line, the new world in which they would now live. With its storms and rainbows that would make them stronger at every moment.

With a smile on his face, Noah was standing with his arms crossed at the bow of the ship, feeling the wind messing up his hair and clothes. And it was genuinely exciting.

'The Grand Line, I'm coming to turn everything-'

"WHAT?!? What the hell is that?!?"

Until Nojiko's scream pulled him out of his daydreams so they could concentrate on the huge "black wall" that suddenly appeared where they were going, covering them with its shadow. And if they kept at this speed, they would be torn apart with the encounter!!

"Noah, we have to stop the ship!" Nami immediately realized that, whatever it was, they could not hit it! Even if they didn't die, they would be without a ship on the first important day of the journey!

"Use your energy to stop, I'm going to test something new." Despite facing this difficulty as soon as he arrived, he knew that what was in front of him was not a wall.

It's Laboon, the stubborn whale!

And it just needs a good hit to get out of the way.

Heading to the tip of the bow, Noah stood there as he stretched his hand forward. Through countless life-or-death fights inside the PHD, he managed to train a new technique that helped him a lot during the lion hunt. And now would be a good time to test it.

Ignite! Swoosh!

A fireball appeared in the palm of his hand, at the same time a large amount of wind began to whirl around the small flame. But, as Noah poured his Spiritual Energy into the two manipulations, perfectly controlling each small vector, the small fireball became a fireball of almost a meter in diameter. The tornadoes also became like two rotating blades that fed the fire.

When he had already put more than half of his Spiritual Energy into the attack, he lightly spoke the name of the technique while watching it disappear from his hand.

“Wind-Fire Nova!”

Silence seemed to follow as a trail of fire flew at shocking speeds towards Laboon's belly.

And then.

BOOOOMM!!!