Chapter 88: The Inverted Mountain, Skipping Work

In the end, Doflamingo demanded that Qiubai remain here for another two or three months, waiting for the arrival of something important—at that time, Doflamingo would require Qiubai to briefly enter the Grand Line and escort back a batch of extremely valuable “goods.”

As for why Qiubai had to so readily waste so much time? Because it was absolutely necessary—the value of the goods Doflamingo wanted Qiubai to retrieve was conservatively estimated at over one billion Berries.

Although Qiubai had recently heard similar figures, they had always been just numbers to him. This time was different—the goods were truly worth a billion.

That is an enormous sum. To put it into perspective: Fisher Tiger, who caused chaos in Mariejois, had a bounty just over two hundred million, which means a billion would be enough to blow up the Celestial Dragons’ nest five times over.

If such an amount were given to the notorious “terrorists” of the Revolutionary Army, it would be enough for them to overthrow a nation.

This kind of money was nothing to scoff at even for Doflamingo. So the question remained—what exactly was Doflamingo up to, and why would he trust Qiubai with something of this scale?

Qiubai certainly didn’t believe he was trusted that highly by Doflamingo.

However, Qiubai already knew in advance what the “goods” were. Unless Doflamingo was playing some elaborate trick, their value truly exceeded a billion.

So, should Qiubai obediently wait here for his chance to enter the Grand Line, as Doflamingo required?

No—wasn’t what was happening now precisely “heaven’s favor?” During this “waiting” period, Qiubai could send Ailun away, and the original timing issue would no longer exist.

There was no time to lose. Once Ailun’s condition improved a little, Qiubai decided to depart immediately.

Qiubai, Ain, Bepo, and Ailun set sail under the cover of night, leaving the Nyagrapas Archipelago. Although there might still be Navy warships lurking offshore, it was best to move as quickly as possible.

A bit of risk at sea was acceptable—if they ran into trouble, they planned to do as they had in Flevance: directly and unexpectedly help send any intercepting warships to the scrapyard.

Fortunately, at least so far, nothing unexpected had occurred.

“I just thought of a small question. It might sound a bit amateurish to ask now, but… Anyway, Bepo, with your navigation skills, are you confident you can get us over Reverse Mountain?”

Qiubai, who had been brooding in the darkness, suddenly called out to the cabin.

At this time, Qiubai and Ain were outside, while the navigator Bepo and the badly wounded Ailun were in the cabin.

Previously, it had been mentioned: the Grand Line and the Calm Belt are arranged as follows—Calm Belt—Grand Line—Calm Belt, much like an Oreo, while the Red Line is a massive ring-shaped continent, standing perpendicular to the Grand Line, dividing both into two segments.

One of the intersections of these two is the entrance to the Grand Line, known as Reverse Mountain.

If we use Reverse Mountain as the origin, with the Grand Line and the Red Line as the horizontal and vertical axes, then, simply put, the northwest corner is the North Blue where Qiubai currently was; to its right is the East Blue, below is the West Blue, and across the diagonal is the South Blue.

Originally, there were no natural passageways into or out of the Grand Line. But to connect the Four Seas and allow passage, five artificial canals were cut into the towering Red Line.

The first four canals form an X-shape, with their intersection at the very summit of Reverse Mountain, the highest point of the Red Line. Although the summit is much higher than the canal entrances, due to various factors, the sea currents defy nature, rushing up the canals to the mountain’s peak. The sight of massive torrents “climbing” the mountain is spectacular.

The upward flow of seawater, so contrary to gravity, is what gives Reverse Mountain its name.

After converging at the mountain’s peak, the four currents then flow along a rather unremarkable fifth canal, stretching rightward from the intersection into the Grand Line. So, by crossing Reverse Mountain from any of the Four Seas, one can enter the Grand Line.

The fifth canal is the only one here where the water flows downward, as water naturally does; its end, Twin Cape, is the very beginning of the Grand Line.

However, at this moment, there should be a gigantic “island whale” blocking the way there.

But the whale’s story can wait. The key point is that simply “climbing” the mountain requires extraordinary navigational skill—otherwise, a ship is certain to be dashed to pieces in the raging current. That’s why Qiubai had asked.

Even if, by now, it was rather late to be asking.

“Re—Reverse Mountain and the upstream current, I know about those!!” The bear, perhaps feeling his skills were being doubted, put on a fierce expression.

But he avoided directly answering Qiubai’s question.

Qiubai nodded, signaling his understanding—and was somewhat reassured. At least Bepo was aware of the basics regarding Reverse Mountain, even if he only “knew of” them.

“Qiubai… are we really going to enter the Grand Line?” In truth, Bepo had no confidence in pulling this off.

A small boat, an inexperienced navigator, and Reverse Mountain—put together, that spelled “shipwreck and death.” Yet, what had to be done must be done. Even without Ailun, Doflamingo’s orders alone meant they had to cross Reverse Mountain and enter the Grand Line.

“Have some faith in yourself. Everything has a first time, doesn’t it? Besides, what’s the difference between a pirate who doesn’t take risks and a salted fish?”

Qiubai’s words sounded reasonable, but Bepo felt something was off… Come on, there is a difference between risking your life and outright seeking death, right? Having a first time is normal, but if it’s the only time, that’s terrifying.

No point worrying about whether the road ahead will drown you—after all, who in the world… Well, in any case, this voyage was proving to be a bit too much for Bepo. Plus, with an injured passenger aboard, was it really safe to torment the ship like this?

It was probably fine—after all, the injured had no right to voice an opinion.

“If only we’d made more preparations…”

Qiubai was set on his course, while Bepo scratched at his chin in misery—a sight almost too pitiful to watch. He still hadn’t realized he was a polar bear, not a panda, and that no amount of cuteness would help him here.

……

Since the Nyagrapas Archipelago was already quite close to Reverse Mountain, it took them less than two days before the rumble of surging currents and the immense, towering red continent appeared before Qiubai and his companions.

A little farther on, the canals came into view, white-tipped torrents of water endlessly rushing upward.

The current truly was “climbing” the mountain in a way that defied imagination.

Standing at the bow, Qiubai gazed in speechless awe for a long time before suddenly turning to Bepo.

“Navigator, I’ve changed my mind.”

“What?”

“I mean, we’re not going to the Grand Line after all? Hmm, yes, it really is too dangerous for us right now.”

Bepo let out a sigh of relief. Frankly, having seen the rapids of Reverse Mountain, he had even less confidence in managing the ship. He never would have expected the usually fearless Qiubai to back down.

But he was mistaken.

“No, what I mean is, before we head into the Grand Line, I’ve got a new plan… We’re going to the East Blue first.”

Bepo was stunned, then:

“Huh?”

To enter the Grand Line, as bizarre as it sounds, you go up the mountain, then down, but it’s all “with the current”—first up, then down. But if they wanted to make for the East Blue from here, the route would be shaped like a checkmark—they’d have to make a sharp turn at the summit.

In other words, first ride the current up, then fight the current down… the difficulty of navigation increased dramatically.

What a devilish new idea! Couldn’t he have mentioned this earlier so Bepo could at least mentally prepare himself?

The longer one spent with Qiubai, the more he seemed to radiate an aura of utter mystery…

Perhaps that’s what they called “surprise.”