The crew, Apis and I were about to get back to the ship when we heard a scream. When we turned to the source, we saw Erik.

"Man, you're still here?" Luffy asked.

"Indeed," he said. "Any longer and I would've drown. Behold! This beautiful radiance... Isn't it wonderful?"

"Yeah. We know. What's your point?" I asked.

"This is the source of the elixir of eternal youth, the Ryuukotsu."

"But with the Sennenryuu calcified like this, there's no way to make an elixir," Nami told him.

"So it seems," Erik agreed. "But you're forgetting the bountiful living Ryuukotsu sitting right before us. How about this? I'm tired of this meaningless fighting. Why don't we share this fortune?"

Is he crazy? I highly doubt that there's such thing as eternal life, anyway. I don't know where these guys heard these things, but they are nothing more than rumors.

"No," Luffy replied at his offer. And now my respect for him grew, by a little.

"Don't you want eternal life?" Erik asked us.

"Not interested."

"LIAR! There is no man who doesn't fear death! And for you and I who have eaten Devil Fruit, only a thin line seperates us from this world and hell! There's no way you can't fear death!"

"Heh. That's what you think," Zoro said. "If this guy's done what he set out to do, he'll die with a smile on his face."

"Besides, he's well prepared for death," I added.

"I see. Very well then! You can all stand back while I collect Ryuukotsu for myself," Erik told us.

"NO!" Apis disagreed.

"Stay put, you brat!" Erik yelled, using his devil fruit powers on her. Usopp managed to save her from being cut.

"Don't be reckless," Usopp told her.

"Even if it's reckless, I have to protect them!" Apis said. "This is the sacred place for the Sennenryuu! I will protect this place... FOREVER!"

'Well said,' I thought.

"You still intend to stop me?" Erik asked. "Then you shall all die here! Kama Kama no Tsumujikaze!"

The moment he used that attack, Luffy and I jumped in front of them and took the hit for them. And man, it really hurts! Getting back on our feet, Luffy and I glared at Erik.

"He's mine," Luffy said.

"But Luffy-"

"I made a promise," Luffy cut Nami off.

"Wait Luffy," I spoke, putting my hand on his shoulder. "Mind if I fight with you? He almost killed Apis. And I won't forgive him for that."

"... Sure." With that reply, we both went in to attack Erik.

"Kama Kama no... Tsumujikaze!"

"Gomu Gomu no... Pistol!"

"Sliding Dash!"

The three of us attacked each other with long-range attacks. Even though Erik's attack gave Luffy and me several cuts, we kept going until our moves hit him. Before they hit, however, Erik jumped out of the way, making us hit a boulder instead.

"Is that all you two have?" he asked us. "And now, the ultimate Kamaitachi technique. No matter where you run or hide, you cannot escape. I wonder how you can handle it."

'At this rate, Luffy and I will die if we don't do something about his devil fruit power,' I thought.

"Kama Kama no... Kamaitachi Midareuchi!" At that attack, everything in Erik's way got cut to smitherines. Despite that, Luffy and I charged in.

"Neither of us are going to run or hide!" we said.

"Fools! I'll cut you to pieces!"

"Luffy! I'll be your shield!" I told my captain.

"Okay! Go for it!" he responded.

I tightly gripped my Keyblade and got myself prepared to use the strongest magic spell for defense. "Reflectga!" I yelled, putting up a big shield in front of me and Luffy. Erik's attack hit the shield, but it didn't cut it down.

"What?!" he gasped in shock.

"Go! Luffy!" I shouted.

"Leave it to me!" he said. "Gomu Gomu no... Kane!" he yelled, grapping onto Erik before giving him a hard headbutt. "And Bazooka!" my captain added, blowing him away. "We won!"

"We did it!" Apis cheered.

Minutes later, after I healed Luffy, when we got to Apis's village, we brought everyone to the best view to look at the Sennenryuus. They were all surprised when they saw them.

"It won't be long until this place has to sink again," I said.

"When that happens, the Sennenryuus have to leave again, huh?" Usopp guessed.

"That baby Sennenryuu will have to go somewhere, too, I guess..." Apis muttered in a sad tone.

"But isn't that good?" I asked her. "At least this time, he won't be alone. After what you did for him, he doesn't have to feel lonely, right?"

Smiling, Apis nodded in agreement.

"So, would everyone care to come over and have some of my famous butaman?" Bokuden asked.

"We love to, but we have to pass," Nami hastily said. "We're in a bit of a hurry, you see."

"We are?" Luffy asked. "I wanted to try-" He got cut off by Nami's punch in the head. And I thought being a rubberman won't hurt him, but Nami's punch made it look like it will kill a normal person.

"Thanks for the offer, but we have to go," Sanji politely said.

"Well, that's unfortunate. It will take three days to prepare," Bokuden said.

"Didn't you say it'll take four to five hours the other day?" I asked.

"Well, in the meantime, I'll tell you the story of the Lost Island's royal family-"

"We've already heard of that story," Nami told him.

Several minutes later, we all went back to the ship and got ready to set sail to the Grand Line.

"Apis, you wanna come?" Luffy asked.

"I had so much fun being with you guys, I love to come. But I'm going to stay here on the island," she said. "I want to learn more about our customs from Grandpa Bokuden. And just as our ancestors protected the Sennenryuu, I will protect the Dragon's Nest. I will wait for the day when the baby dragons will return to the island."

"Wait a minute..." Usopp spoke up. "The next time they'll come back... Won't that be in anouther thousand years?"

"Don't say stuff to ruin her dream," Sanji scolded.

"Come on guys, Apis knows she won't live that long to see them. Right?" I asked the girl.

"I might not be able to see them, but my children, or their children will," Apis corrected the boys. "And we'll protect this island forever!"

"You're talking crazy," the sniper said.

"Don't we do crazy things everyday?" I questioned him. "And all because of a certain someone."

"Really? Who?" Luffy asked, causing our jaws to drop. Just how simple-minded is this boy?! I can barely believe that he's a year older than me!

Letting that slide, we unfurl the sails and sailed off the island to the Grand Line.

"See ya, Apis!"

"Apis! Don't forget me! The brave warrior of the sea, Usopp-sama!"

"Bye-bye!"

"Until we meet again, Apis!"

"Bye-bye! Everyone! Take care!" she waved at us.

"You too, Apis! Take care!"

After our good-bye's, we all just stood at the back of the ship and watch as the island grew smaller in our view.

"Do you really think Apis will be okay?" Usopp wondered.

"Apis will be fine," Nami said. "She may be small, but she's full of spirit and courage. It'll be fine."

"You're right, Nami-san," Sanji agreed.

"It's okay," Luffy said. "Apis is our friend, right?"

"Damn straight," Zoro agreed.

"Well then, shall we move onto the Grand Line?" I asked.

"Yeah," they all agree.

A few hours later, we were on a lookout from various spots on the ship. What are we on lookout for? The entrance to the Grand Line of course.

"Nami-san! A report of love!" guess who shouted from the crow's nest. "There are some massive rain clouds ahead of us. And there's a storm below them."

'Back to our old route, huh?' I thought. 'Now that I think about it, how do we get to the Grand Line if we can't cross the Calm Belt?'

"We're finally getting to the Grand Line!" I heard Luffy said from the crow's nest. And I can tell that he's happy, due to the fact that he's constantly patting Sanji's back, annoying him, and then to Zoro, when Sanji kicked our captain away from him.

"STOP THAT!" Zoro yelled at our captain.

A few minutes later, we all went to the meeting room, talking about how to get across the Red Line to get to the Grand Line.

"Look at this," Nami ordered us, placing the map on the table. "I heard rumors about it, but it's written in the map, too. If they're true, then the entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain."

"A mountain?" Luffy repeated, holding a glass in his mouth.

"You mean we have to crash through it?" Zoro asked.

"What the hell...?" Sanji sighed.

"I thought it was crazy, too. But there are canals drawn along the mountainside. That means we have to climb it," Nami explained.

"That sounds like fun," Luffy said.

"What are you talking about?" Zoro asked. "Even if there is a canal, it's impossible for a ship to climb a mountain."

"But that's what it says here," Nami reasoned.

"Of course! There's no way Nami-san can be mistaken!" Sanji supported.

I turned to the grunting moise that I've been hearing and saw Usopp struggling to move the helm. Curious to know why he's struggling, I walked over to him and helped him move it.

"Need any help?" I asked.

"Oh? Thank you, Xion," the sniper thanked. At that, the both of us tried to move the helm. But for some reason, no matter how hard we pull or push it, the thing won't budge.

"Nami! Emergency!" I shouted, getting everyone's attention. "The helm! It won't budge!"

"That's ridiculous," she said. "Sanji-kun, help them."

"Yes, Nami-san~" Oh, Nami. Why does it have to be loverboy? "Here we go." Sanji tried to move the helm with our support. Unfortunately, it still won't move.

"T-the current's flowing too fast!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Usopp, say that again," Nami told him, probably making sure that she heard right.

"I said the current's flowing too fast!"

"The current... I got it!"

"Got what?" Luffy asked.

"We really do have to climb the mountain."

"You're still talking about that?" Zoro asked.

"Look here," she instructed Zoro and Luffy. "Listen. There's no doubt the 'guiding light' was pointing here. Here on the Red Line, Reverse Mountain."

"Oi! What are we suppose to do here?!" Usopp and I asked, as Sanji went over to their side to listen to their conversation.

"See the canal here?" Nami asked ignoring us. "If a strong current from each of the four oceans flow towards this mountain, the four currents would climb the mountain, meet at the top, and flow straight down into the Grand Line. Since Reverse Mountain is a Winter Island, the currents that collide with the Red Line travels down toward the ocean floor. If we can't make it to the canal, the Going Merry will slam straight into the Red Line and the ship will be destroyed. Nothing left but ocean debris. Understand?"

"I see," Luffy spoke up. Oh, so he does have a brain in that head of his? "So it's a 'Mystery Mountain', right?" I take that back.

"I don't think you understand at all," Nami sighed. "In any case, the ship's already riding one of those currents. So if we don't mess up our steering, we should make it up to Reverse Mountain in one piece."

"Nami-swan~ You're so awesome~" guess who complimented.

"I ain't even heard of that. Ships climbing mountains," Zoro sighed.

"I heard of something like that from one of those friendly pirates back on Tanoshi Island," I spoke up, still struggling with the helm with Usopp. "They said that the currents at the entrance are so strong that they actually climb over the Red Line."

"Really?!" Luffy asked, eyes sparkling.

"As for you Zoro, unless if you want to go across the Calm Belt to get to the Grand Line and get eaten by the Sea Kings, be our guest. I think there's a dingy somewhere on the ship you can use to get over there. If you can survive from the strong currents that is!"

"I think I'm better off being here," he said, scared of the decisions I gave him. As soon as he answered, rain fell on the ship.

"Sanji-kun, help us with the sails," Nami ordered.

"Yes~" he replied. "Luffy! Get your ass over here!" That said, we all did whatever we could to get to the canal.

"Hey! I can see the Mystery Mountain!" Luffy yelled, as we all got to the deck.

"Man! It's huge!" Usopp stated.

"The entrance to the Grand Line," Nami muttered.

"So that's the Red Line?" Luffy asked.

"Y-you c-can't even see the peak past the clouds!" our sharpshooter exclaimed. Our ship then got caught in another current.

"We're getting sucked in! Grab the helm!" Luffy ordered. Well, now he's being like a captain. "N-nami! Where's the entrance?! If we keep going like this, we'll hit the mountain!"

I looked long and hard at the mountain, trying to find the entrance. When I spotted a crask of some sort on the cliff, I quickly assumed that is the entrance to the Grand Line.

"Nami! Is it that crack on the cliff?" I asked her.

"Crack?" she asked, looking at the direction that I'm pointing at.

"Hey, Nami! What do we do?!" Usopp asked, as he and Sanji tried to steady the helm.

"Hold our path steady!" our navigator ordered.

"You sure?"

"Just do it!"

"Nami, is that it?" Luffy asked, landing next to her.

"Perhaps," Nami answered.

"Unreal," Zoro muttered, looking through the binoculars. "The water really is going up the mountain."

"Not at the Grand Line, yet we're seeing something that shouldn't be happening," I muttered in awe.

"Make sure we go straight between those gates, alright?" Nami ordered. "If we don't, the ship'll be smashed ot pieces."

Despite the hard effort, the ship is drifting to the left. "We're going off course! Go more to the right! Right! Right!" Luffy ordered.

"I'll help out!" I shouted, summoning Starlight. I went to the left side of the ship and pointed the tip in front, using a wind magic to move us over. "Aeroga!" The plan seems to be working, even though it's only a little bit working. Until we heard a 'CRACK' sound.

"THE HELM!" we all screamed, as Merry got back to going-to-crash-into-the-gate route.

"Xion! Can't you use a stronger wind magic?!" Nami asked.

"I would, but I can't master them!" I told her.

"What do you mean by 'can't master them'?!"

"Exactly what it means! I'm only good at basic and advance type of magic spells! I have yet to master any ultimate types!"

"So then..."

"The wind magic I'm using right now is my strongest at the moment!"

"That can't be!" our navigator screamed.

"Gomu Gomu no Fuusen!" Luffy shouted, jumping off the ship to save the Going Merry from being destroyed as well as changing its course.

"Luffy!" we all called.

"Luffy! Grab my hand!" Zoro ordered our captain, as the latter stretched out his hand to grab the swordsman's and rocketed himself back on the ship. With that, we all made it to the entrance in one piece without missing anyone.

"WE MADE IT!" all of us cheered.

"And now we'll just head straight for the peak!" Nami told us.

"Sweet! Hey! I wanna see it, too!" Luffy shouted, running to the front.

All of us couldn't wait for the adventure ahead of us, as we kept going up. The atmosphere around us was short-lived when we heard a familiar, unwelcome voice.

"You bastards!" We all turned to the voice and saw Erik. How did this guy get on our ship?

"The Okama Fruit guy..." Luffy identified.

"Bastard, you're still here?" Zoro asked, prepared to unsheathe one of his swords.

"You're so persistent," I stated.

"SHUT UP!" he yelled. "You have crossed the line for the last time. Thanks to you, my dream of obtaining the Ryuukotsu is gone! But I won't let it end like this! I will at least have the pleasure of taking that B30,000,000 head of yours and-!"

"Summon: Komory Bat!" I shouted, interrupting his little 'speech'. Fang did his screech attack on Erik, causing him to lose his balance and fall off the ship. "Nice one!" I complimented, receiving a screech of embarrassment from the bat.

"Since he's a hammer, he won't bother us anymore," Nami said.

"Even if he could swim, the current's just too choppy," Usopp added.

"That's my Xion-san~!" Sanji said. And since when was I his Xion?

"Hey! We made it to the clouds!" Luffy told us. "AWESOME! We went above the clouds!"

"It's getting harder to breathe up here, now that he mentioned it," I stated, holding my throat.

"It'll pass as soon as we go back down," Nami told me.

"I guess so."

"And look up there! It's the mountain peak!" When she announced that, it would mean one thing: we're almost at the Grand Line.

As we got to the top, we noticed that some of the sea water quickly turned to ice. I know Nami said that this is a winter islad, even though it's a mountain, but this is ridiculous. Then again, we'll see more ridiculous things from here on out. And once we cross this mountain, I'm getting back all the Dream Eaters that were left here and revive them all.

"I see it!" Luffy shouted from his 'special seat', which is actually the figure head. "I see the world's greatest ocean, Grand Line! And somewhere over there, One Piece is waiting! LET'S GO!"

TO BE CONTINUED...

A/N: And that's a wrap, folks! For this story that is. The sequel is already up, guys. The title is SCP: Saving Alabasta. For those who are like Luffy or worse, insults not intended, SCP stand for Second Chance as a Pirate. See you in the sequel, readers! :)