After a great deal of effort, Sherlock finally managed to calm down the ship full of idiots.
"What the heck? Why are all the Berries you copied backwards? I can't spend them at all!" Nami stared dejectedly at the huge stack of colorful banknotes in front of her, complaining to Sherlock.
"This meat tastes awful." Luffy stuck out his tongue dramatically. "The meat you made is way too bad, Sherlock. It's got no flavor at all."
Sherlock let out a long sigh, looking helplessly at Luffy and Nami. "I told you, it's a mirror image. Of course it's reversed. And mirrored food doesn't just lack flavor—it won't fill your stomach either."
Hearing this, Nami casually tossed aside the wad of worthless paper. "Fine, whatever. You owe me money now anyway. Remember that—fifty million Berries. Hehe." She then flashed Sherlock a charming smile.
Sherlock's face was full of black lines. He felt utterly helpless toward this utterly shameless, money-grubbing navigator.
Seeing his grand dream of endless meat shattered, Luffy pouted unhappily and turned to Sanji, who was standing off to the side quietly smoking. "Sanji, I'm hungry! I want meat!"
"......" Sanji kept the cigarette in his mouth, hands in his pockets, staring silently out the window at the heavy snow with a look of utter despair. Even when Luffy called him, he didn't react at all.
Usopp broke out in a cold sweat at the sight. "Based on my many years of experience as Usopp, Sanji's broken because reality is too cruel."
"U-Um......" At that moment, a timid voice came from nearby—Miss Wednesday.
Miss Wednesday first glanced fearfully at a certain bespectacled man, then tentatively asked Nami, "No one's been at the helm since earlier. Is that okay?"
The navigator glanced at the Log Pose on her wrist and replied casually, "Ah, I just checked the Log Pose. Don't worry, everything's—"
Nami's voice cut off abruptly, as if an invisible hand had clamped around her throat, and she let out a scream.
"Ah!"
"Nami-san! What happened?" Sanji, who had been frozen in place, snapped back to life and rushed over anxiously.
Sherlock glanced at the Eternal Pose on Nami's wrist, pushed up his glasses, and said seriously, "The course is completely reversed. We're heading back the way we came!"
Nami, slapped in the face by reality, irritably scratched her hair. "How could this happen? It was perfectly calm!"
"You've been played by the waves!" Miss Wednesday said with a hint of schadenfreude, seeming quite pleased that the Straw Hats had been thwarted. The blue-haired girl then looked at Nami mockingly. "In these seas, you can't trust the wind, the waves, or even the clouds. The only thing you can rely on is the Log Pose."
Mr. 9 chimed in smoothly, "Hey, young navigator…"
Sherlock gazed calmly at Nami, his dark eyes behind the lenses betraying no emotion.
For some reason, the navigator was always especially sensitive to Sherlock's gaze. Though his eyes held no impurities whatsoever, Nami still somehow picked up on this meaning:
(You money-grubbing navigator are stupid beyond belief~)
"Ugh… This is infuriating!" Nami clenched her fists, barely holding back her anger as she took a deep breath. Now wasn't the time to waste. She quickly barked orders at everyone present: "Hurry up and correct the course! Turn the ship 180 degrees to the left. Sanji, you take the helm…"
Then Nami whipped around and yelled at the two whispering freeloaders: "You two hitchhikers better help too, or you can swim back yourselves!"
The group scurried off obediently, not daring to defy the great demon king Nami. This kind of commanding presence that no one on the ship dared disobey gave Sherlock the illusion that Nami was actually the Straw Hat Pirates' hidden boss.
Opening the cabin door, a gust of frigid wind carrying snowflakes blew in, making Nami instinctively shrink her neck. She stepped out onto the deck and gazed into the distance.
"Damn it, this is literally a devil's sea. You can't apply any normal logic here. All my years of navigation skills are useless!" Nami muttered, her face extremely grim.
At the same time, thunder rumbled in the sky, waves began to churn, and in the distance, a gigantic Sea King leaped out of the water. Several towering waterspouts whipped past, sucked up by tornadoes…
The Grand Line was beginning to "welcome" the newcomers.
Howling winds, unpredictable currents, floating ice, and ferocious Sea Kings left everyone aboard the Merry in a frenzy.
The crew bustled about in chaos for several hours. Maybe the heavens finally took pity, but the weather eventually stabilized.
The sea and sky blended into one, a few seabirds gliding through the azure blue above. The earlier madness was gone, replaced by serene peace.
The Merry sailed slowly over the calm waters. The Straw Hats and their two hitchhikers lay exhausted on the deck, unmoving. After those heart-pounding hours of sailing, the Straw Hats truly understood how precious it was to navigate the Grand Line in peace.
"The Grand Line really is interesting. The sea disasters we faced in just a few hours nearly match what I experienced in ten years in the East Blue," Sherlock said wearily, sitting on the deck and carefully wiping his glasses with a silk cloth. He had shattered at least ten massive icebergs earlier, and overusing his Devil Fruit ability had left him starving.
At that moment, the green-haired mosshead who had slept through two whole chapters finally opened his bleary eyes. He stood up, stretched hugely, adjusted the three swords at his waist, looked up at the sky—bright sunshine, perfect weather—and then down at the deck, where Luffy and the others lay sprawled out lazily.
Seeing his crew slacking off like this, Zoro helplessly warned them: "Hey, hey, hey. Even if the weather's this nice, you shouldn't be lazing around like this. And what's with lying on the deck? Aren't there beds?"
(I've never seen such shameless people!) the exhausted crew thought in unison.
Sherlock's face filled with black lines as he put on his silver-rimmed glasses. If he could, he'd love to put a bullet through this green-haired idiot who talked big without back pain.
Perhaps sensing Sherlock's resentment, Zoro spotted the bespectacled man who had ended up on the ship by accident. He scratched his head, puzzled, and asked, "You're… uh, Sherlock, right? Why are you still here?"
Sherlock pushed up his glasses. "I've joined the Straw Hat Pirates. From now on, we're crewmates. Pleasure working with you, Roronoa."
"Oh? The 70-million-Berry crewmate, huh." Zoro blinked, seemingly surprised by Sherlock's addition, but he didn't dwell on it. He just grinned. "Another strong crewmate. Pleasure's mine, Sherlock."
After greeting Sherlock, Zoro turned to Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday, who were lying corpse-like nearby. "So, are these two joining us too?"
"No," Luffy answered from where he leaned on the railing. "We're just taking them back to Whiskey Peak."
"Whiskey Peak?" Zoro raised an eyebrow. The green-haired swordsman, already used to his captain's quirky ways, wasn't surprised by the odd decision. But the name felt familiar—he just couldn't place it right away.
"You all look like you're up to no good… What are your names again?"
Zoro crouched down, sizing up the self-proclaimed Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday with his signature bad-boy grin. He rubbed his chin and continued, "Weird names. And I feel like I've heard of you before. Whatever, anyway…"
Thud—a dull impact.
Before Zoro could finish, something heavy struck his head. He turned irritably, only to see the orange-haired navigator in full demon mode. The swordsman with his strong instincts immediately sensed danger!
"You bastard who wouldn't wake up no matter what—how dare you say that about us…" What followed was a series of pained yells.
"Tch… Idiot mosshead!" Sanji exhaled a puff of smoke, watching Zoro get pummeled by Nami's fists with great satisfaction.
At that moment, Usopp—who had somehow climbed up to the crow's nest—shouted excitedly down to the crew: "Hey! I can faintly see an island in the distance!"
"Oh! For real? Awesome!" Luffy scrambled up to his captain's seat on the ram's head, hand on his straw hat, face beaming with excitement. He looked so thrilled that if he could swim, he'd probably dive in and swim over right then.
Because this was the first island they'd reached in the Grand Line!
Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday exchanged a glance, a meaningful glint flashing in their eyes.
Sherlock pushed up his glasses, taking it all in. He stood, facing the sea breeze, and gazed ahead.
"Whiskey Peak, huh. Interesting." A slight smile curled at the corner of Sherlock's mouth.
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