Nami, who had been called on, slightly furrowed her delicate brows.
She pondered for a moment, then raised her head, her expression becoming serious, "I can help observe the currents and figure out the right time to rise."
Everyone brightened.
"But..."
Nami suddenly changed tack. There was an unmistakably serious look in those beautiful eyes, "The Merry won't be coming up this time. It can only stay on Jaya Island."
"Huh?"
Luffy was the first to object. He abruptly stood up, "How can we do that! The Merry is our companion too! How can we just leave it here by itself! Absolutely not!"
Nami ignored his shouting and turned directly to Shanks, asking the most important question in her mind, "Mr. Shanks, I want to ask, how did Roger's ship withstand that current back then and make it up safely?"
"Ahahahaha!"
Shanks burst into loud laughter, his voice full of pride, "That was different! What we had under our feet back then was one of the world's top-class ships, built from Adam Wood. That hull was indestructible. Forget a mere upward current rising ten thousand meters, even if it plunged straight down from ten thousand meters in the air afterward, it still wouldn't get so much as a scratch."
After laughing his fill, his expression gradually became serious. He looked at Luffy's young face, filled with reluctance, and his tone softened somewhat.
"That's why, Luffy. Listen to me and leave the Merry here," He slowly shook his head, "With its thin hull, that current could easily tear it to pieces."
"There really isn't any way at all?"
Luffy unwillingly pressed on, his voice carrying a stubbornness that was almost pleading.
Sanji, who had been silently smoking, frowned and slowly spoke, "Well, it's not like there's absolutely no way."
He blew out a smoke ring and narrowed his eyes at Luffy, "I might be able to find a way to reinforce the Merry temporarily and make it sturdier. But..."
His tone turned serious, "Are you willing to gamble, Luffy? With the Merry's current frame and materials, no matter how much I reinforce it, the odds of it making it through that current are less than fifty percent."
"In other words, nine times out of ten, it'll still be wrecked in midair and sink to the bottom of the sea."
"Of course I'll gamble!"
Luffy blurted it out almost without thinking, his tone firm and decisive, without the slightest hesitation, "The Merry is our companion! There's no way I'm abandoning it! Leaving it alone on Jaya Island, what's the difference between that and abandoning a companion?"
He puffed out his chest and passionately repeated the same companion philosophy he held as his guiding principle.
A steadfast conviction burned in those eyes.
However, what answered him was a meaningful silence.
No one in the tavern spoke up to argue, but not a single person showed even the slightest sign of agreeing with him.
Quite the opposite. Almost everyone's brows quietly furrowed at that moment, so subtly that it was barely noticeable.
Companions were certainly important.
But in this world, it was absolutely not necessary to drag every companion into danger every time.
Weighing the risks and making choices for the safety of one's companions was precisely the responsibility and duty a qualified captain should bear.
And judging by the looks of things, this boy who kept talking about companions still had a long way to go before he understood that principle.
Still, in the end, nobody said anything.
The people present here, either they were barely acquainted with Luffy at all and only regarded him as a chess piece in their hearts, or they weren't people from the same ship in the first place, so there was no need to waste their breath on someone else's domestic affairs.
Or, simply, they had never truly regarded him as any kind of captain.
Since they weren't familiar with each other, naturally, nobody was willing to stick their nose into this any further.
After all, it was better to have one less thing to worry about.
Even Usopp, who should have had the strongest feelings for the Merry, was surprisingly silent at this moment.
He didn't care.
Compared with whether a ship lived or died, his thoughts had already drifted far, far away.
Not long ago, back when they were in Arabasta, his child had been born.
He had happened to find some time to rush back and spend several warm days with his wife and child, days so cozy he almost didn't want to wake up from them.
At this moment, his whole heart was still immersed in the joy of becoming a father for the first time, his mind filled with tenderness and foolish smiles that refused to fade.
As for the safety and survival of a ship...
Heh, who would really care?
At worst, they could just buy a few more. It was only a few hundred thousand Berries.
———
[The next day, the Waters Near Jaya Island]
Daylight had just broken. The surface of the sea was as calm as a freshly polished mirror, reflecting a few leisurely clouds drifting along the horizon.
Nami stood on the deck of the Merry, tilting her head up and narrowing her eyes as she gazed for a long time at the eastern sky, dyed honey-gold by the rising sun.
At times she would extend a finger into the breeze brushing against her face, carefully gauging the wind's humidity and direction. At other times she would bend down and dip her palm into the cold seawater, sensing the faint undercurrents coming from the depths.
After a long while, she slowly withdrew her hand, a look of certainty appearing on her face.
"It's today," She had declared this to everyone, "An upward current will definitely appear in these waters today."
And this was precisely the problem Shanks had admitted yesterday that he couldn't solve.
If they happened to be on the ship when the current surged upward, then everything would naturally be fine.
But if they were still on the island at that time, then no matter how strong he was, there was absolutely no way he could move an entire ship through the air to the vicinity of where the current would emerge within a short period of time.
More troublesome still, the duration of an upward current was unpredictable, sometimes long and sometimes short, entirely up to fate.
And once they missed the first wave, which was also the most powerful surge, any currents that rose afterward would be much weaker.
If the lifting force was insufficient then, their fully loaded little ship would not only fail to reach the White Sea ten thousand meters above, it would instead plunge from midair and be smashed to pieces.
Therefore, only by precisely timing it just before the current erupted and riding that torrent at the first possible moment could they have any chance of survival.
At this moment, the vast surface of the sea held only the Merry, floating there all alone.
Every member of the Red-Haired Pirates, along with Crocodile's group, had somehow all squeezed onto the Straw Hat Pirates' tiny sailing ship.
The deck was packed with people, giving it a rare sense of crowded liveliness.
And in just one day, Sanji had somehow found some helpers and thoroughly reinforced the Merry inside and out.
Now, the little ship was wrapped entirely in a layer of heavy external steel plating, looking just like an awkward yet sturdy iron-armored warrior hastily outfitted for battle.
"I'm telling you..."
Crocodile had a cigar between his teeth, his hooked prosthetic hand resting on the railing as he narrowed his eyes at the dead-calm sea ahead, his tone filled with undisguised doubt, "In weather this damn calm, without even a decent fucking wave, is an upward current really going to appear?"
He blew out a mouthful of purple smoke, letting it slowly rise in the completely still air and linger there for a long time.
Looking around, the sea and sky blended into one. The surface of the sea was so flat that there wasn't even a wrinkle, the blue water as docile as a sleeping baby.
Sunlight spilled down, dancing across the shimmering waves and spreading a brilliant, flowing brocade across the entire sea.
Anyone looking at it would only think it was simply a beautiful day.
"For something like this, you just have to trust me."
Nami stood at the bow with her hands on her hips, her tone carrying the confidence unique to a professional.
She tossed her orange hair and raised her chin, "The upward current will appear today. And..."
Before she could finish, she suddenly raised her arm and pointed straight at a certain spot on the sea ahead.
"Right there!"
The instant her words fell the weather changed dramatically.
The sea, which had been as calm as a mirror, seemed to be suddenly stirred from beneath by an invisible giant hand.
Right in the area Nami had pointed toward, the seawater suddenly collapsed in, and a huge, bottomless whirlpool appeared out of nowhere.
The whirlpool swallowed and expelled seawater, emitting a deep and ominous rumble as it spun faster and sank deeper.
"What?"
Everyone on the deck was shocked.
"What's going on?"
Robin couldn't help frowning as well, staring at the suddenly appearing whirlpool with confusion in her eyes, "Everything was fine just now. How could it..."
It wasn't that she didn't believe Nami, but this scene was simply too incredible.
"This is the sign that an upward current is forming."
Nami, however, remained completely calm. While swiftly checking the sail ropes, she explained, "It doesn't just appear out of nowhere. The seabed beneath Jaya Island has an extremely unusual terrain. Several ocean currents with completely different temperatures lie deep in the sea."
"They squeeze, collide, and intertwine with one another beneath the sea. Over time, they quietly accumulate an upward force in certain areas that becomes terrifyingly powerful."
She pointed toward the increasingly violent whirlpool, "This force takes a long time to brew and build up. So before it truly erupts, the surface of the sea has already left behind quite a few clues. For example, an abnormal change in the temperature of a certain patch of seawater, a shift in the direction of an ocean current, or a change in the patterns of seabirds circling overhead."
She turned her head, the corners of her lips curving proudly, "A truly skilled navigator only needs to quietly look at the sea once to read these signs that ordinary people can't detect from among the endless waves. From there, they can precisely calculate exactly when and where it will shoot into the sky."
As she spoke, the whirlpool had already expanded wildly, and in the blink of an eye, it swallowed the entire Merry, along with everyone aboard, into its enormous rotating center.
The ship began spinning and jolting uncontrollably with the current.
"All right, stop standing around!"
At Nami's command, she instantly switched into the role of commander, "Now comes the critical moment! Everyone, follow my orders!"
"Usopp! Get the main sail down immediately! Don't let the current rip the mast apart!"
"Got it!"
"Sanji, please go down to the bottom of the ship and brace those reinforced steel-plate joints firmly. If you notice anything coming loose, reinforce it immediately!"
"Leave it to me."
"Luffy! Go to the bow and use your rubber body as a buffer. The moment the current surges up, make sure you hold onto anything you can! Don't let anyone get thrown overboard!"
"Leave it to me!"
"Robin, please use your ability to grow some extra hands and secure everything scattered around the deck! Zoro, go hold down the rudder at the stern and keep the ship steady!"
For a moment, everyone performed their respective tasks, busy but orderly, getting the little ship that was about to take off into perfect order.
And amid all this activity, quite a few people's eyes unconsciously drifted toward Snake at one corner of the deck.
After all, there were two navigators aboard this ship.
Ussop was currently looking down as he tied the rope at his feet. Feeling those gazes, he laughed and cursed without even looking up:
"What are you looking at? Don't count on me. I can't handle this kind of thing."
He straightened up and helplessly spread his hands, "Even though we're both navigators, the gap between our skills is bigger than the gap between a human and a Sea King. As for a monster like her, who can look at the sea once and calculate the currents down to the smallest detail, there aren't many like her even across the entire New World."
"Hahaha! That's right."
Shanks nodded in agreement from the side and laughed, "Back then, our Roger Pirates actually didn't really need a dedicated navigator at all."
He looked at the churning seawater, his eyes full of reminiscence, "The captain's Observation Haki was simply too strong. He could hear the Voice of All Things. Whether it was the whisper of the wind, the murmur of the waves, or the slightest tremors and changes deep within the sea, none of it could escape his perception. With him around, our whole crew could cross the Grand Line with our eyes closed."
His words made everyone smile.
Even on the eve of these raging waves, the atmosphere aboard the ship carried a rare sense of ease and comfort.
However, Nami alone, staring at the violent center of the whirlpool, quietly felt a lingering trace of fear rise in those bright eyes.
Only she, relying on her extraordinary perception of the sea, vaguely sensed that something was wrong.
This upward current wasn't right.
It was far too unnatural.
An upward current naturally formed by nature absolutely shouldn't look like this.
The area it affected should have been much broader than this small patch of sea before them.
Yet this time, the current was strangely confined to this small stretch of sea where they were.
It was as if it had appeared specifically to lift their ship into the sky.
Not only that, they had only just entered this stretch of sea, and the current had suddenly activated right behind them.
This was nearly two hours earlier than the time she had repeatedly calculated and observed yesterday.
'This current...
'There are probably signs of human intervention!'
A terrifying thought suddenly rose in Nami's heart.
Before that thought could fully take shape.
BOOM!
The enormous whirlpool suddenly contracted to its absolute limit, as if a bowstring pulled completely taut had snapped and released all at once.
A tremendously powerful current surged from the very bottom of the whirlpool, roaring straight into the sky with overwhelming force.
"It's here! Everyone, hold on!", Nami shouted at the top of her lungs.
Crash!
The Merry was violently lifted by the water column shooting into the sky. Like a leaf caught up by a hurricane, it instantly broke free of the sea and rapidly shot upward toward the unreachable heavens.
"Woooah! It's so high!", Usopp clung tightly to the mast, excitement in his eyes.
"Wahahahaha! This is awesome! We're flying!"
Luffy, however, was so excited that he waved his arms around, looking up at the rapidly retreating surface of the sea and laughing without a care in the world.
"Damn... the force of this thing..."
Crocodile tightly hooked the railing with one hand. Even he couldn't help looking serious at this moment.
The seawater swirled around the Merry like billions of silver dragons, forming a gigantic column of water that blotted out the sky.
Sunlight passed through the surging curtain of water, refracting into brilliant rainbows that enveloped the entire ship in a dreamlike halo.
Jaya Island, along with the blue ocean, rapidly shrank and receded at an astonishing speed, eventually becoming a tiny, blurry dot beneath their feet.
At their ears was the howl of the wind and the roar of the waves.
Before their eyes were layers upon layers of clouds constantly changing and drawing closer.
No one knew how long had passed before the force finally began to subside.
A layer of clouds, white as fluff and soft as cotton, suddenly rushed toward them, gently yet completely embracing the entire Merry.
BOOM!
Accompanied by a tremendous splash, the Merry steadily reached the ten-thousand-meter-high sky.
A sea of clouds appeared before everyone's eyes.
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