As Gojo's ship disappeared farther into the distance, Nami turned toward the rest of the crew and said, "We should also move before the Marines start gathering around. This is the best time for us to escape."
Luffy nodded in agreement, and soon after, the Straw Hat Pirates also set sail, leaving the docks of Loguetown behind.
Gojo sailed calmly across the sea, his ship having departed not even half an hour ago when the atmosphere began to change. Dark clouds slowly gathered overhead, and the wind grew heavier, signaling the arrival of a storm. However, Gojo remained completely unfazed—he had already made all the necessary preparations well in advance.
Looking up at the darkening sky, he muttered to himself, "A storm is coming… but it won't be that strong. It should be fine."
With that, Gojo simply sat down on a chair near the deck, deciding to wait it out. During a storm like this, pushing the ship too hard wasn't necessary, and he had no real urgency to force his way through. In his hands, he held the map that had accompanied him throughout his journey in the East Blue. Glancing at it one last time, he said thoughtfully, "This map cost me a hundred thousand Berries. It was detailed enough to be worth the price… but now it's basically useless. After all, I'm leaving the East Blue behind."
He folded the map neatly and placed it aside.
Thanks to his Limitless, neither his body nor the items around him were affected by the heavy rain pouring from the sky. The raindrops never truly reached him, dispersing harmlessly before they could soak his clothes or dampen the map resting nearby.
After almost an hour passed, Gojo noticed a ship in the distance moving ahead of him. It didn't take much effort to recognize it as the ship of the Straw Hat Pirates. He wasn't surprised in the slightest. After all, their ship had an entire crew managing it, while he was sailing alone. Naturally, they would be faster under such conditions.
A few minutes later, as his ship continued forward, Gojo stood up and walked to the helm. His eyes fixed on the massive landform rising ahead—a towering mountain that seemed to defy the natural flow of the seas.
"So this is the Reverse Mountain," Gojo said quietly, a faint hint of intrigue in his voice. "The only path a normal pirate can take to enter the Grand Line."
…
A few hours earlier, aboard the Straw Hats' ship, just after they had left Loguetown behind, Sanji approached Luffy with a curious expression. Lighting a cigarette, he glanced toward the horizon and then looked back at his captain.
"Luffy," Sanji said, "I honestly didn't expect you to control yourself and not invite Gojo Satoru onto our ship. I really thought the moment you saw him, you'd try to recruit him into our crew."
Luffy shook his head slowly. "At first, I did think about it," he admitted. "But after meeting him and seeing how he operates, I understood something important." His expression turned serious. "His goal isn't the same as ours. He lives for something completely different. He doesn't roam the seas for adventure or freedom—he roams them for the thrill of fighting and killing."
Luffy paused, then continued, "Because of that, our ideologies are totally different. He would never fit on our ship. And even if I invited him… he wouldn't accept."
Nearby, Zoro, who had been standing quietly near the side of the ship, nodded in agreement. "I think the same," he said. "He's a pure monster. When it comes to fighting, he doesn't show mercy to anyone." Zoro's eyes sharpened slightly. "That kind of mindset suits a swordsman, but there's another truth—he doesn't want to make someone else a king. He has the arrogance to stand at the top of the world himself."
Zoro crossed his arms. "Because of that, there's a chance we might clash with him in the future. And honestly… I hope that day comes. I would love to fight him."
The rest of the crew listened quietly and nodded in agreement with Luffy and Zoro's assessment. Sanji exhaled a thin stream of smoke and gave a small smile. He understood now—and Luffy's decision made perfect sense.
Once again, it proved what everyone on the ship already knew: Luffy's intuition when it came to people, especially his crew, was almost never wrong.
…
Back in the present, Gojo's ship began its ascent, pushed violently upward by the raging upstream of Reverse Mountain. The water roared beneath the hull, crashing against the ship from all sides as the unnatural current fought against gravity itself. Relying solely on his sailing and steering skills, Gojo quickly realized just how difficult it was to control the ship in such conditions.
After struggling for a short while, he let out a quiet sigh.
"It seems I, Gojo Satoru, am also incompetent in a few things," he muttered, his tone calm but honest.
The casual expression on his face faded, replaced by unmistakable seriousness. Slowly, he reached up and removed his blindfold. Instantly, his sky-blue Six Eyes were revealed, glowing faintly as they focused on the turbulent path ahead.
"Blue," Gojo said softly.
The moment the word left his lips, a large sphere of Blue formed in midair—about the size of a football—its presence distorting the space around it. At that very moment, Gojo had already stepped away from the ship's steering helm, leaving the vessel unstable and dangerously close to crashing into the rocky walls lining the upstream.
Just as impact seemed inevitable, the invisible pull of Blue activated.
The ship was abruptly dragged away from the wall, its trajectory forcibly corrected as it was pulled toward the centre of the upstream. The violent shaking subsided, and within moments, the ship stabilized, riding the raging current without colliding into the surrounding stone.
The sphere of Blue hovered in midair just ahead of the ship's bow, exerting a constant pulling force. In a sense, it acted like an invisible anchor—holding the ship steady while simultaneously guiding it forward. As Gojo calmly controlled the movement of Blue, shifting it ahead little by little, the ship followed obediently, drawn forward by the overwhelming attraction.
Without any hesitation, struggle, or danger, Gojo's ship continued its ascent. Pulled smoothly upward against the torrent, it traveled through Reverse Mountain's upstream with ease, as if the impossible path had been rendered trivial under Gojo's absolute control.
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