The Going Merry creaked and groaned as the currents thickened beneath her hull, drawn toward the looming stone beast that was Reverse Mountain. The sky above looked deceptively calm—soft clouds drifting lazily, sunlight glittering across the water—yet everyone on board could feel the tension rising.
Gil stood at the bow again, hair whipping in the wind as he stared up at the impossible sight ahead: a river that climbed the side of a mountain, defying every natural law.
"Still freaks me out every time," Usopp muttered, clutching the railing like it owed him money.
"It's amazing!" Luffy beamed, practically vibrating. "We're gonna ride right up it!"
Nami pinched the bridge of her nose. "We're not 'riding' anything. We're navigating. Carefully."
Gil didn't look away from the towering current. "It's a natural wonder. A fitting gateway for the path Roger left behind."
Sanji lit a cigarette, cupping the flame against the wind. "You're awfully dramatic today, Your Highness."
Gil's eyes narrowed—not annoyed, but focused. He could feel it: a thrum beneath the water and the mountain itself, like the earth's heartbeat echoing through the stone. Something powerful lived beyond that climb. Not dangerous—simply… ancient.
"Sanji," Nami said, "set the sails! Zoro, help me steady the helm!"
"Aye!" both answered, though Zoro immediately grabbed the wrong rope.
"That's the anchor line—ZORO!"
"You don't have to yell!"
Gil moved before Nami could, his hand closing around the correct line Zoro had missed. "Try pulling this one. Unless you wish to test whether the ship can climb without sails."
Zoro grunted. "I knew that."
"You did not."
"Both of you shut up!" Nami barked. "We're hitting the current!"
And then the ship lurched upward.
The Going Merry shot forward, rising up the mountain's watery slope as the river seized her. The force pushed everyone back, hair flying, the deck trembling under their feet.
Luffy whooped like a man possessed.
Usopp screamed like a man dying.
Gil simply planted his stance, completely unfazed as water sprayed across his face.
"This is incredible!" Luffy yelled. "Nami! Faster faster faster!"
"NAMI, SLOW DOWN!" Usopp cried.
"We're going exactly the speed the river decides!" Nami shouted over the roar of water.
The river narrowed, walls of stone closing in around them. Gil glanced up—and there, perched high on a carved ledge, he saw it.
An eye.
A massive, yellow, unblinking eye.
Something enormous shifted in the shadows above, and the mountain seemed to breathe.
Gil murmured, just loud enough for Nami to hear, "There's a presence here."
"A presence?" Nami didn't look away from the wheel. "What does that mean?"
"It means something old is watching."
Before she could respond, the ship burst out of the mountain's shadow and into blinding sunlight at the peak.
For a heartbeat, the crew hung in awe—staring at the Grand Line stretching endlessly before them, wild and untamed.
Then the current dropped.
"WE'RE FALLING!" Usopp shrieked.
The Merry plunged down the Grand Line side of the mountain, the world tilting around them, the wind screaming past their ears.
A booming sound echoed ahead—deep, mournful, like a voice calling through the sea itself.
And then Gil saw it.
A whale. No—a wall. A creature so massive its black hide blotted out the horizon.
"BRACE!" Gil shouted, grabbing the railing as the Merry hurtled downward.
Nami turned the wheel desperately. "We're gonna crash—we're gonna crash—we're gonna—"
At the last second, a shadow darted in front of the whale.
A man. White-haired, holding two harpoons like walking sticks, standing on a floating raft as casually as if strolling through a garden. He tapped the side of the whale's head.
"Easy, Laboon! Visitors, not enemies!"
The whale slowed.
The Merry didn't.
Gil moved. In one smooth motion, he stepped forward, slammed his palm down on the deck, and forced his strength through the wood. The ship groaned violently, skidding, bouncing—then slowing just enough that they struck the whale with a jarring thunk instead of an explosion.
Usopp collapsed to the deck. "I'm alive…? I'm alive!"
Luffy landed on his feet, hands in the air. "WHOA! THAT WAS AWESOME!"
Nami wiped sweat from her brow. "We almost died, Luffy!"
Gil straightened, brushing splinters from his palm. "Almost."
The white-haired man on the raft floated toward them with a lazy smile. "Well now," he said, voice crackling like old parchment, "that was one hell of a landing. Name's Crocus. Doctor of this lighthouse."
Gil's gaze sharpened. He didn't miss the way the man's eyes flicked over him—too perceptive, too knowing.
"Doctor," Gil said with a courteous nod, "I imagine you have explanations."
"Oh, plenty," Crocus replied. "But I think your captain already has his own priority."
Luffy was standing nose-to-nose with the giant whale. "HEY, MISTER WHALE! WHY'D YOU TRY TO HEADBUTT US?!"
Crocus chuckled. "Ah. This'll be interesting."
As Luffy launched into what would inevitably become a screaming match with a creature three hundred times his size, Gil stepped closer to Crocus.
"You recognized something," Gil said quietly. "When you looked at me."
Crocus's smile thinned. "Let's say," the old doctor murmured, "you carry an energy I haven't felt since a very long voyage with a very particular crew."
Gil didn't look surprised. "Roger."
Crocus didn't confirm it. Didn't deny it either.
"Careful on the Grand Line, boy," the old man said. "Confidence is a fine thing. But here? The sea has a way of humbling kings."
Gil's eyes glinted. "Then I will remake the sea."
Crocus's brows lifted, amused and unsettled all at once. "You remind me of someone. And that's not entirely comforting."
Before Gil could respond, a deafening BOOM echoed across the water—Luffy had punched the whale.
Gil sighed.
"Your captain," Crocus deadpanned, "is about to start a fistfight with Laboon."
"Yes," Gil said. "He usually does that."
The Grand Line wind howled around them, carrying the scent of storms and chaos and uncharted futures.
Nami glanced at Gil from across the deck, hair whipping in the wind, eyes sharp and searching.
Zoro grinned like a devil finally let off his leash.
Sanji exhaled a stream of smoke, watching the horizon with quiet hunger.
Usopp tied himself to the mast just in case.
And Luffy—still yelling at the whale—looked like he'd found heaven.
Gil rested a hand on the hilt of his sword.
At last, he thought. The real world begins here.