"We're almost there! We're almost there!"
The moment they came out of the route, because they were in a diving posture, it was another serious test of the ship's sturdiness.
The Thunder Fortress was tough enough—when it landed on the waters of the Grand Line, there was no structural damage at all.
"Grand Line! We're here!"
"Awesome, we really made it to the Grand Line! This is a man's dream!"
A lot of people on the Thunder Fortress were howling like ghosts. Most of them had come from small pirate crews in the West Blue, and the Grand Line was their land of dreams.
The dreams of members of small pirate crews were just that small—getting to the Grand Line was enough. Whether they could actually make it all the way through, they had never really thought about it before.
"Alright, alright, we just got into the Grand Line. Save your tears for later."
People who held cadre positions basically managed to control their emotions—or rather, they simply didn't have that kind of dream in the first place.
Baccarat, Lena, and Martha, the three women, plus the little girl Perona, couldn't really understand those men's tears.
Bonez, who came from an assassin background, was also very calm. The lion-man Tant was happy, but his way of being happy was to shout wildly like he had mania—absolutely no crying. Dice was only interested in fighting.
"Hurry up and leave. This place isn't that safe either."
Vane remembered that there was a gigantic whale here that would crash into the Red Line—Laboon. That thing was just too big; it could easily smash ships into pieces.
Laboon's story was very touching, but Laboon's size was too terrifying. Better not provoke it lightly.
The navigators subconsciously took out their compasses, then realized the needles in their hands were already completely messed up. Slapping their foreheads, they pulled out the Log Pose they had prepared long ago.
This was the Grand Line—ordinary compasses were useless here. The Log Pose was what navigators could rely on.
"The next island… according to the map, it should be Whiskey Peak."
The beginning of the Grand Line—more than half of all pirates' first target was Whiskey Peak.
Whiskey Peak was an island that looked very much like it was made up of multiple gigantic cacti, entirely green.
When it first appeared in the anime, it looked even more like fat cacti, the kind with thorns on them. In reality, the thorns on the peaks were pirates' tombstones.
This was a paradise for pirates, and also a graveyard for pirates.
Because it was the first stop upon entering the Grand Line, many pirates passed through here or even stayed here.
Clashes between pirates, the actions of bounty hunters, and even Marine purges would all add many more pirate graves here. Of course, the number of graves now definitely couldn't compare to what it would be more than ten years later.
Just after arriving on the Grand Line, the Thunder Fortress didn't use any other energy to accelerate and simply advanced at the speed of a normal sailing ship. When they reached Whiskey Peak, the sun had just sunk and moonlight began to cover the land.
"Feels really comfortable."
Although Vane wasn't afraid of the sun, as a ghost-blood being he still preferred the night. At night, he felt his strength would even be a bit stronger.
Whiskey Peak under the moonlight looked much more beautiful, and at the same time carried a faintly eerie feeling.
"We're here—first stop on the Grand Line, Whiskey Peak!"
...
The social environment here was extremely complicated. You could see all kinds of pirate ships—somewhat similar to Bliss Island.
But Bliss Island was a stable place controlled by forces behind the scenes. Pirates wouldn't easily cause trouble there. Whiskey Peak had very high turnover; the balance between them was extremely fragile. Even if occasionally a pirate could rule over Whiskey Peak's balance,
it would very quickly change because an even stronger pirate arrived, or because the ruling pirate left due to their own ambitions. Then Whiskey Peak would fall back into a chaotic state of small skirmishes every day and big fights every three days.
After more than ten years, this place would become Sir Crocodile's bridgehead—that is, a major activity area of the Baroque Works he founded.
"The port looks like it's been maintained pretty well, meow."
"People who come here, no matter what their identity is, all make their living by the sea. If the docks and port are destroyed, it affects them too, so they maintain them better."
There were many ships staying here, and the types were varied, but most of them were pirate ships.
Including the Ironclad Pirates who arrived together with Vane and the others—they had already reached this place too, counting as having passed the first hurdle.
For safety, and also because they didn't plan to stay long, the Thunder Fortress docked at an outer port position.
"This place is really chaotic. Leave half the people on the ship. Those who want to look around, don't go too far. If trouble breaks out, come back to the ship immediately."
The resources on the ship were actually very abundant, and there was no need to resupply for the time being. But after all, this was their first stop on the Grand Line—just brushing past it in a hurry wouldn't be appropriate. They would still stay for half a day or a day.
"Rear Admiral, do you want to go ashore and take a look? This island is full of pirates. If you're willing to take action to carry out justice, I promise I won't stop you."
As long as Strawberry didn't lay a hand on the people in his team, the lives and deaths of these pirates would depend entirely on Strawberry's mood and their own abilities.
"Whiskey Peak… it's quite famous. Three years ago, when I was still a Captain, I came here once. I didn't expect there to be so many more pirates now."
The last time he came, it was naturally the Marines bringing people here to purge pirates.
"How is that not normal? As long as pirates keep pouring into the Grand Line, then unless you move Marine Headquarters here, it's impossible to keep this place under control."
Moving Marine Headquarters here was definitely impossible. The Marines ultimately served the Celestial Dragons and the World Government, and couldn't be too far away from the Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
And on the Grand Line, this place was one of the islands farthest from Mary Geoise. If the World Government had even a shred of sense, they would never let Marine Headquarters be moved here.
Vane, Meowth, Strawberry, and Martha and Lena, bringing Perona and more than a dozen Rocket Team grunts, went ashore.
Baccarat, Bonez, Tant, Dice, the Bear Guard, and the rest stayed behind to guard the ship.
"Looks pretty decent… forget I said that."
...
Walking into the cluster of buildings, the lights were bright. Just as they were about to praise it, they saw two groups of pirates start fighting on the spot because neither side wanted to give way.
The people around them were also just watching the excitement and not minding the trouble, forming a big circle and shouting encouragement for both sides.
Strawberry said flatly, "This is pirates… and this is also why we Marines don't come here often."
A place that was all pirates like this did indeed look chaotic. But there were no real residents here—when there were many pirates, it would be chaotic, and when it was chaotic, they would wear each other down.
Since they would wear each other down anyway, the Marines might as well come less frequently and let these pirates grind down a large portion of themselves. Then one day, when they thought of it, or when they felt the timing was ripe, they could come and sweep through in one big operation.