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The Stand armor, enveloped in pitch-black energy, flew silently over the surface of the sea.
The closer it got to the Red Line, the more turbulent and violent the waves became.
…
“It really is absurdly high!”
The image on the wall screen was now completely filled by a towering crimson wall.
Liam jumped off the bed and walked over to knock on the window.
Outside, in front of the sky-piercing red line, a small “hole” appeared in the fierce sea wind, as if a piece of air had been sucked out.
“B.I.B.” hovered in the air. Through the open City Fortress portal on its chest, Liam and Robin sat side by side, craning their necks to look up at the wondrous, majestic mountain before them.
A vast, mist-shrouded Red Line that stretched for countless miles.
“The barrier that divides the world into the four seas…” Robin was equally astonished at the sight, muttering to himself, “This is the Red Line…”
No matter how detailed the descriptions in books, nothing could prepare one for the awe-inspiring sight of seeing it up close.
“Bo-roo!?”
Robin heard the startled cry of the green Den Den Mushi. Turning her head, she saw Liam holding the green Den Den Mushi out into the void, playfully teasing it.
With the towering cliff and stormy sea below, the green Den Den Mushi was terrified.
“Ha ha!” Liam laughed heartily, pointed to the red line ahead, and then gestured sideways, “Let’s go! To Reverse Mountain.”
Hearing this, “B.I.B.” flew close to the majestic Red Line, weaving through the clouds and mist.
The green Den Den Mushi, upon its return, became increasingly furious, angrily biting Liam’s finger.
But no matter how hard it bit, it couldn’t leave a mark, as if the caretaker’s skin had turned to steel…
A question mark slowly appeared over the green Den Den Mushi’s head as it lifted its lollipop-like eyes to look at Liam. It seemed to see Liam turn into a giant Den Den Mushi.
Liam flicked it with his finger and chuckled, “Not bad, huh?”
With the practice of Life Energy, or Life Return, Liam’s overall fitness improved with every meal, every strenuous workout or fight, every restful sleep. This growth in physical prowess, in turn, deepened his mastery of Life Return.
Though he wasn’t yet skilled enough to make his hair dance at will.
However, with a little concentration, he could harden his skin, increase the power of his punches and kicks, and increase his speed… all quite effortlessly.
As they approached the entrance of Reverse Mountain, a gigantic, turbulent channel surged upward at an impossibly steep angle toward the summit of the Red Line.
Liam clenched his fist.
With his current strength, he wouldn’t be so helpless when he faced Laffitte again!
“A river that actually flows upward…” Robin stood up in B.I.B.’s chest portal, unable to contain her astonishment. “How is that possible?”
“I’m curious too! How about we go down and take a closer look?” Liam stood up, his hands in his pockets, his hair blowing in the sea breeze. He tapped on the doorframe of the City Fortress portal and called, “Beep beep-excuse me, driver, please make a right turn up ahead, we’re getting off here, thank you!”
“……” The pitch-black armor complied, making a turn and flying to the right side of the Reverse Mountain’s entrance, where the river surged upward.
“Aren’t you a little under the weather? Come on, let’s climb the mountain for some exercise!”
B.I.B. came to a halt on the sloping red line. At its chest, Liam called back inside, “Backpack! Rod!”
As he shouted, the floor within a certain level of the Stand Armor’s City Fortress, where the luggage was stored, turned into a white liquid substance that quickly transported Liam’s backpack and iron rod to the portal at his chest.
Liam strapped on the backpack, lifted the iron rod, grinned at Robin, and took a few steps back.
“Yo-ho~~!!”
With a loud shout, Liam ran a few steps and dashed out from inside 『B.I.B.』.
As he broke through the cover range of the Shiro Shiro no Mi (Castle-Castle Fruit) Ability user, his body BIU-ed back to its original size, firmly landing on the rugged surface of the Red Line slope.
Boom!
The rushing river to the left, flowing upstream, sounded like rolling thunder.
With a BIU sound, Robin also jumped out of the 『B.I.B.』.
She crouched as she landed, felt the red earth beneath her, and looked back. As expected, the armored ghost was nowhere to be seen. It was hard to believe that they had just traveled from Las Camp Island inside the City Fortress in that ghost.
If the two of us had sailed here, we would probably have crashed into the Red Line in the turbulent sea… Robin watched the river flowing upstream to his left, and soon noticed a series of neatly aligned “冂”-shaped stone frames rising along the river.
“This thing, it’s definitely man-made, right?”
Liam, carrying his iron rod, fearlessly stepped onto one of the “冂” stone frames and crouched in the center, looking down.
On the Red Line slope, Robin used her Flower-Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) to grow an arm on the stone frame near Liam’s feet, then created an eye in her palm to closely examine the carvings on the stone frame’s surface.
The relief showed a beast-like head with the body of a fish-like monster…
Both the top and bottom were carved with wave patterns, seemingly symbolizing the sea…
…
The turbulent river continued to surge upward like an inverted waterfall, stretching toward Reverse Mountain.
On the right side of the Red Line slope, Liam slung the iron rod over his shoulders, casually swinging his feet as he walked, as if on a leisurely mountain hike.
Robin climbed the mountain, using her Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) to sprout hands on each passing “冂” stone frame, inspecting the carvings.
Liam casually remarked, “I’ve heard that a skilled Fish-Man can even change ocean currents… Maybe this unscientific upstream river was created by a group of bored but very serious Fish-Men!”
“Is that even possible?” Robin was skeptical. The idea that Fish-Men could change the currents of the sea was beyond her knowledge!
Especially a current like the one at Reverse Mountain… This was no ordinary ocean current…
Even if the Fish-Men could change the sea currents, what kind of Fish-Men would be needed to create a river like the one at Reverse Mountain, with its eternal upstream flow? They must be incredibly serious…
Liam thought for a moment, “Or maybe it was Sea Kings?”
He walked backwards, pointing with his iron wand at the “冂” stone frames far below, shrouded in a layer of mist.
“The carvings on those things look a lot like Sea Kings, don’t they?”
“Sea Kings don’t seem to be in the habit of migrating through Reverse Mountain to the Grand Line…” Robin said, though she sounded uncertain.
Liam shrugged, “Maybe someone asked them to? Who knows? It’s definitely something ancient…”
Could it have been the ancient “Poseidon” mermaid princess who ordered the Sea Kings to carve out the Reverse Mountain River?
But for what purpose…
……
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