The sea was screaming.
Waves surged like living walls, their frothing crests glowing white against the dark sky. Lightning carved scars into the storm clouds above, illuminating the violent ballet of nature. Thunder shook the bones of the Going Merry as it charged forward, sails barely clinging to their masts.
And rising in their path, like a judge before the gates of destiny—stood Smoker.
He hovered over the sea on a cyclone of dense fog, his coat torn and soaked, his jitte pointed straight at the bow of the ship.
"You're not getting past me!" he roared through the wind.
Luffy stood at the front of the ship, unmoving. Water ran in rivulets from his soaked straw hat. The shadow beneath him surged in response, dark tendrils crawling along the deck, gripping the rails.
"I'm done playing," Luffy said quietly.
Smoker's eyes narrowed.
Then—lightning struck behind Luffy, casting his silhouette in stark relief. The wind howled louder. The sea rose higher.
And the storm roared forward.
Onboard, every Straw Hat snapped into action.
Zoro took to the rigging, looping a rope around his waist as he steadied the remaining sail, rain pounding against his face. "Hold the angle!" he shouted. "One wrong pull and we capsize!"
Sanji was already on the mainmast, tightening a line with his shoulder jammed into a winch. "Give me two more seconds or we lose the sail!"
Usopp crouched by the side rail, eyes darting between the sea and the mast. "Incoming wave! Starboard! It's huge!"
Nami spun the wheel hard, rain blinding her vision. "Ride it—don't fight it! Tilt with the surge!"
The ship tilted violently. The deck was slick. Every movement was life or death.
Luffy activated the system.
[Shadow Resource: 68% Available]
[Tactical Maneuver: Breakthrough Required]
[Formation: Piercing Wave – Confirmed]
[General – Arlong: Full Offensive]
[Environmental Risk: Critical Wavefront – 45 Seconds]
He raised one arm.
"Arlong."
The shadow general erupted from the deck, now clad in hardened armor shaped like a deep-sea predator. Fins edged like scythes. Axe-arm reforged with sharper obsidian.
He launched forward, skipping across the surface of the waves like a torpedo.
Smoker dove to meet him.
The two collided in mid-air—shadow versus smoke. The explosion of force cracked the sea apart. Smoker's jitte slammed into Arlong's axe, and the echo of the clash thundered louder than the sky.
Arlong's strike forced Smoker to disperse.
But he reformed mid-surge, landing on the Merry's mast and swinging his jitte toward Luffy.
Shadow tendrils lashed upward and slammed into his side, staggering him before he could land the blow. Smoke erupted and scattered in the wind.
[Target Smoker – Temporarily Staggered]
[Window for Escape: 15 Seconds]
Luffy didn't wait.
"All shadows," he shouted, "open a path!"
Black spears shot from the ship's underbelly and stabbed into the sea ahead. A line of spikes cleaved through the rising waves, breaking the surge just long enough to carve a tunnel through the worst of the storm.
For a heartbeat, the world was quiet.
Then—
"GO!" Nami screamed.
The ship lunged forward.
The Going Merry plunged into the path, buffeted by wind and water, but unharmed.
Sanji braced the mainmast.
Zoro gripped the line as the ship tilted and twisted.
Usopp yelled something no one could hear.
Luffy stood tall.
Behind them, Smoker reformed above the ocean, trying to reform the smoke vortex in time—but the Merry was already gone, vanishing into the tunnel of wind and water like a shadow slipping through a crack.
The opening slammed shut behind them with a roar of collapsing sea.
Smoker hovered in place, fists clenched, eyes blazing.
But he didn't give chase.
Not now.
Not in this storm.
Not with something else watching.
On deck, the system responded.
[Threat Cleared – Smoker: Disengaged]
[Shadow Reserve: 41% Remaining]
[Environmental Shift Detected – Atmospheric Surge Terminating]
[Presence: Unknown Influence Stabilizing Weather]
[Grand Line Coordinates Locked – Reverse Mountain Trajectory Active]
The sea calmed.
The wind softened.
And sunlight pierced through the thinning clouds behind them.
But the crew remained silent.
Each one gripped the rails. Hearts still pounding. Eyes on the horizon.
They had survived.
But something had helped them.
Luffy didn't say it.
Didn't need to.
He could feel it in his bones—that same pressure from the plaza. The same pulse in the air that didn't belong to the Marines, or the storm, or the shadows.
Someone had cleared their path.
And now… there was only one road left.
In the far distance, rising from the sea like a wall of legends—stood Reverse Mountain.
The gateway to the Grand Line.
Nami stared.
Usopp's jaw dropped.
Zoro grinned.
Sanji lit a cigarette with shaking hands.
Luffy stepped to the front of the ship.
Then the system pinged.
[Update: Incoming Current Detected – Reverse Mountain Entry Imminent]
[Warning: Steering Challenge – 12 Seconds to Alignment]
The ship began to tilt upward.
The current rose beneath them like a living thing.
And the Going Merry began to climb.
[End of Chapter 95]
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