Chapter 107: Let's Go Swimming Together
Roy ran as he spent intimacy points to buy himself more time.
[Consumes 1 Intimacy Point!]
Next chaotic time travel: in one month, January.
He still had plenty of points in reserve, enough to keep extending his lifespan until he died of old age if he really wanted.
But he had scruples.
What if, in this timeline, he ran into an enemy he could not handle?
Escaping from Mary Geoise only meant the immediate crisis was over. Out at sea he might be chased by some troublesome opponent. If he could not shake them off, could not rendezvous with Linlin to borrow her power, then his last escape route, crossing time, would become his trump card.
So, first stabilize things for a month. In that time he could figure out the current era, what had changed on the seas over the years, and only then decide whether to spend more points.
As for locking it in day by day?
Well…
The smallest unit he could buy was one full month. There was no other option.
The points required to stabilize the rules of chaotic spacetime were absurdly cheap.
…
On the edge of the Red Line, a thin veil of mist drifted lazily across the scarlet rock. Loose red pebbles clicked and bounced as they tumbled down the slope.
Roy stood at the brink and looked down.
A ring of clouds wrapped around the Red Line not far below, hazy and thick. The blanket of white covered everything beneath it.
It made for a beautiful view.
It also screamed danger.
"Come on, get closer," Roy said. He let go of Hancock's hand, gripped a jagged outcrop on the wall of the Red Line, and started climbing down. "We go together. If anything happens, I can pull you back."
They said going up a mountain was easy and coming down was hard.
For the Red Line, that was doubly true.
Climbing down this gigantic wall of red stone was an extreme test of courage and stamina. One tiny mistake and…
Going down would be very easy.
There would be a swish, a snap, then a straight fall from the Red Line into the sea.
From this height, if you hit the water, everything depended on whether the great Newton decided to show up.
If that psychic old man poked his nose into the world of anime, the ending would probably look like a head first fall onto concrete.
If he took the day off, you might live.
"Hoo…"
Hancock drew in a deep breath. Without complaining, she set her feet where Roy did, pressed herself against the rock, grabbed two protruding handholds, and began to follow him down.
Sandersonia and Marigold hurried after her.
The surprising part was the female slaves.
They followed too, without the slightest hesitation.
It made sense. They knew very well that falling to their deaths might be kinder than being dragged back to Celestial Dragons.
If they slipped and died here, then so be it. If Roy had never appeared, their fate would have been even worse than death.
After they climbed for a while, a few of the women nearly lost their footing. The three Boa sisters, however, had grown up training on Amazon Lily. For them, this kind of climb was difficult but still within their limits.
Roy, on the other hand…
He had to consciously hold back his strength so he did not crack the stone every time he grabbed a handhold.
Even as sweat beaded on Hancock's forehead, he was completely relaxed. No panting, no trembling arms, not even a sheen of sweat.
Roy really ought to burn incense to thank Charlotte Linlin. Her talent had turned his grand sea adventure from hell mode into something much closer to a casual stroll.
Which meant he had plenty of spare energy to tease girls along the way.
"Splash!"
A scatter of pebbles slid past his boots and vanished into the white clouds below. The wind howled around them, tugging at clothes and hair.
Sheer slopes, high altitude climbing, and roaring wind, every factor pushed the difficulty higher.
If someone fell straight into the water, there was at least a chance that the strange physics of this world would let them live.
But now the wall was growing less vertical.
That made it easier to climb, but if anyone slipped, they would tumble and bounce their way down in a storm of dust and stone.
Survival was a coin toss. Disfigurement and broken bones were almost guaranteed.
Roy moved beside Hancock, with the other two Boa sisters on her far side. If any of them slipped, he was ready to grab them.
"Thank you," Hancock said softly. She glanced at Roy, eyes still shining with fear, then looked back to the rock.
Sandersonia and Marigold both turned, quietly watching their sister and the boy in front of them.
A savior had literally fallen out of the sky and rescued them.
Their proud big sister, who had always looked down on men, had been fooled by traffickers this time.
How could she possibly develop feelings for a man?
Yet now, Roy was the only male Hancock was willing to trust and talk to.
Cough. No, the only boy.
Roy and Hancock were both still children.
Sandersonia and Marigold exchanged a look and snickered under their breath.
"It's nothing," Roy replied. "We are almost at the bottom of the Red Line. Just hold on a little longer."
He glanced down.
The place where the Red Line met the sea was no longer that far away.
He studied the water carefully, following the line of rock with his eyes. Sensing his gaze, Hancock looked down as well.
This stretch of Red Line was a little different from the places where the four great canals led ships into the first half of the Grand Line.
This was open seawater.
In the original story, Nami had once explained the Red Line, the entry canals, and the seawater that flowed outside the rock walls near those channels.
Where the four seas merged into the Grand Line, the combination of canals, currents, and temperature created a violent downward stream.
Ships heading for the Grand Line were pushed up the canal by that force. If they missed the entrance, the current would slam them into the Red Line and turn ship and crew into splinters.
Here, there were no canals.
The sea along this section of red stone was calm. There were no strange currents waiting to drag them to their deaths.
Thank goodness.
That meant as long as they reached the base of the Red Line, everyone had a chance to survive.
Knowledge was really useful.
Thanks for the lesson, Nami. By the way… when had Nami been born again?
Hehe. He only wanted to save Nami in the future, he definitely did not have any wicked thoughts.
"Are we going to swim?" Sandersonia asked in a small voice, staring at the sea.
They had been forced to eat Devil Fruits. According to the rumors, the ocean itself would hate them now.
"We ate Devil Fruits," Marigold said, her face pale. "The sea will reject us. We are finished."
The calm surface might as well have been lined with teeth in their eyes.
"What are you afraid of? I am not an ability user," Roy said. "The two of you hold on to each other, and I will pull you away from here."
He began tearing at his own clothing, twisting the strips into makeshift ropes.
As long as everyone was tied together, he could take the lead and drag them as he swam.
Roy had confidence in his stamina. He could keep going for a long time.
It was just a few girls and a few women.
No problem. His endurance was excellent.
Everyone who had seen him train agreed.
The female slaves understood what he meant the moment they saw what he was doing.
They quickly began tearing their own clothing into strips and twisting them into ropes as well.
Hancock had just reached for her own clothes when Roy caught her wrist.
"That is enough. Do not tear any more," he said, looking at them with a helpless expression.
Honestly. Was she trying to seduce him?
The women chosen by the Celestial Dragons all had exceptional figures.
Now those figures were half wrapped in rags, half bare, with torn clothing and glimpses of undergarments flashing as they moved.
It was dangerously distracting.
Roy took the ropes from them and started tying the Boa sisters and the slaves together, one by one.
If a devil fruit user fell into the sea, their strength would vanish. Linking them ensured none of them sank straight down.
Finally, Roy tied his own body to Hancock's with one of the ropes. He checked the knots, made sure everyone was connected, then nodded.
"All right. Jump."
They went into the sea together with a splash.
With Roy and the unpowered women swimming hard at the front and along the sides, the chain of bodies slowly pulled away from the Red Line, towing the Boa sisters behind them.
They left the red wall behind.
Out on the open sea, however, the horizon was empty.
There was not a single ship in sight.
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