Gam

Leaving Fishman Island behind, the Thousand Sunny rises through the deep sea. The narration says the crew has finally set sail for the latter half of the Grand Line and that "the New World awaits them above." Someone says the departure is "smooth sailing, not a hitch," but the quiet feels unsettling. Inside the ship, Chopper admires one of Nami's clouds: "That cloud looks so fluffy and delicious, though... I bet it's sugary-sweet!" Nami corrects him sharply: "No, I'm fine! I washed the day before yesterday!" The cloud is not food but her shower tempo. Brook leers from the bathroom doorway, asking whether "sweet and delicious" is right on the mark, and Nami's scream rings through the ship as she sends him flying.

Nami soaks in the bath and enjoys the rare comfort. "Whew! That feels good!" she says, explaining that it has been two years since she last took a bath on the Sunny. Chopper remarks that it is amazing to enjoy a hot bath while gazing out at the sea depths, black as the night sky. He worries whether everyone will be all right on deck without a navigator, but Nami says she will be there by the time they reach the upward current. If sea monsters appear, the others can handle them. On deck, Luffy and Usopp are busy with a heavy rope. Usopp tells Luffy, "Hurry up! Have a little patience!" because they are dealing with super-giant fish and will not get anywhere with a normal rope.

The crew is clearly enjoying the deep sea. Robin notes, "My, you all seem to be having fun." Luffy laughs that he did not think to fish on the way to Fishman Island because he was too excited about getting there, but now they need to catch deep-water fish so Sanji can cook them on the surface. Zoro says they can celebrate reaching the New World with a feast and a good drink. The crew starts picking targets by flavor: one fish could be cut up and eaten salted, another looks tasty with mayonnaise, and another would be good broiled in soy sauce. Luffy decides it does not matter which one they get because Sanji can make anything taste delicious, and launches his attack: "Gomu Gomu nooo..."

Luffy throws a "Jet Pistol!!" through the deep water and strikes a huge fish anyway, even though one of the others says, "He went for the mayonnaise one anyway!!" The fish screams, "Ghuaaaa!!" and floats helplessly. Luffy orders, "Hurry up, hurry up!! You gotta reel it in!!" Usopp worries that it might be a bit too big, but the crew gets the line in and the capture star does its work. They cheer, "We did it!! We caught a deep-water fish!" Then the shape beside their catch makes them hesitate. The fish looks like an old man, and Luffy asks if it is really a fish at all. A far larger, darker face opens its mouth nearby, turning their catch into bait.

A larger predator takes the bait. One fish lunges at the Sunny's catch with the cry, "Another one took the bait!!!" and then an even larger fish swallows that one. The crew panics: "Aaaaaagh!!! Not an even bigger one!!!" Someone calls it a "deep-sea Russian doll," because each monster is being eaten by an even larger monster. Nami, still away from the deck, realizes the ship is shaking and asks whether the others are being noisy again. She wonders if leaving them alone was a mistake. Meanwhile, Zoro draws his sword and prepares "Ka-chinki!!" as the monster chain drags the ship into worse trouble. The comic fishing trip has become a real navigation crisis.

Zoro cuts down the enormous fish with "360-Pondo Hou!!!" and Luffy, instead of being frightened, is delighted: "Not just one deep-sea fish to cook!! There are two more inside it!!" Sanji, battered and smoking from the chaos, says a deep-sea fish sounds like a challenge to cook. The others ask what happened to him. As the severed monster drifts away, someone asks whether the ship is still on course, and another gets a sinking feeling. Luffy notices something long and asks, "Ooh! What's that?! A snake?!" but the others say that is just his imagination. The sea around the Sunny has become strange, and the crew still has not grasped the real danger ahead.

The strange "snake" is actually part of a massive white current. Robin looks closely and says, "Hold on... Could it possibly be...?" The ship passes beside a gigantic white whirlpool, and Robin identifies it: "The White Strom!!!" It appears suddenly, without warning, like a writhing dragon in the depths of the ocean. She explains that it is not a whirlpool underwater in the ordinary sense but a gigantic white whirlpool. Shirahoshi is not here; Nami is the one reacting from the bath and realizing, "Oh, no! Is that... the White Strom?!!" The White Strom is not a creature to fight or eat. It is a sea phenomenon big enough to carry entire ships away.

Robin explains the rumors of the White Strom while the crew scrambles. Ships that encounter it are discovered days later in waters impossibly far from their original location, with no crew on board. Usopp and Chopper panic that the whole crew could be killed and that they need to escape. Luffy, smiling at the danger, says he does not think so. The crisis grows worse when the giant fish they caught is pulled into the vortex with the line still attached. Franky shouts, "Hurry everyone!! We have to get away from that vortex!!" but also warns, "What are you playing at?!! We can't sail the ship with a thing that size attached to it!!" They need the fish cut loose before the Sunny is dragged in.

Nami erupts at the crew. "Honestly, I leave you alone for ten minutes and this is the situation you manage to get us in?!!" she shouts, asking which is more important, the fish or their lives. The terrified crew screams, "Eeeeeehhhhhhh?!!!" Nami calls for Franky and a coup de burst, but Franky says it is too late for that. The Sunny is already being dragged toward the White Strom. Luffy looks out at the vortex and says, "Whoa!! This is awesome!!" while Nami has no patience for the spectacle. The ship jolts violently, and she orders, "Everyone hang on to something...!!" as the current seizes them.

The Thousand Sunny is swallowed into the White Strom. The sea becomes a tunnel of spinning white water, the crew screaming as the ship is carried through the vortex. Then the motion suddenly stops with a heavy impact. Brook cries, "Ehh?!!" while Luffy says, "We've stopped?!!" and asks whether they bumped into something. The ship has not been smashed, but it has been thrown into a new situation. The White Strom has spat them out beside a massive dark shape in the deep sea, and the crew's first reaction is confusion rather than relief. They survived the whirlpool, but now they are nose-to-nose with something even stranger.

Luffy sees the giant black whale before anyone else and screams, "Laboon!!!" Brook is stunned too. In the memory of Laboon, Luffy once promised, "Laboon! We'll travel right round the world and come straight back here!!!" and Brook remembers, "Laboon!!! You've grown so much...!!" The thought is impossible almost immediately. Laboon should still be back in the first half of the Grand Line, and he could not even pass through the hole in the Red Line with a body that size. The whale before them is enormous and scarred in a familiar way, but it is not necessarily the same whale. The encounter throws Luffy and Brook back to one of the crew's oldest promises.

The crew realizes they have run into a group of island whales out of the blue. Brook, overwhelmed, sings, "Going to deliver Binks' Sake," calling out, "Laboon!! Wait!! Listen, please!! It's me, Brook!!!" but the others tell him to get a grip because he has the wrong whale. Several of the whales have wounds on their heads just like Laboon did, and Luffy cannot believe they are really not Laboon. Franky reminds everyone that before enjoying the view, they need to make sure nobody was lost in the vortex. Sanji begins roll call, asking Robin and Nami for confirmations, and tells the crew to get moving before one of the whales bumps them and damages the Sunny.

Nami understands what the whales are doing. A group of whales this large creates a powerful current as it moves, and fighting that flow would only put the Sunny in more danger. She orders the crew to raise the mainsail and point the ship in the same direction the whales are moving. Brook, still emotional, asks whether anyone here might be related to Laboon, and says this must be Laboon's home. One whale seems to answer the old story: if someone is looking for a young whale separated from his family fifty years ago, then there is no need to fear. The whale child is safe, alive, healthy, and has grown to magnificent size. Brook tells the whales not to worry, and Luffy agrees to "Ride the current!!!"

Brook begins to play Binks' Sake on his violin, filling the sea with music. He laughs, "Yohohohoho Yoooooooooo hohohohohooooooo!" and sings, "Going to deliver Binks' Sake! Following the sea breeze, riding on the waves!" The whales glide around the Sunny, listening. The song continues: "Far across the salty deeps, the merry evening sun... Painting circles in the sky, a jolly island song." The music reaches the whales like a message carried from Laboon. The scene becomes calm after the chaos of the White Strom: instead of fighting the sea, the crew rides the current with the whales while Brook's song connects the journey to his old friend.

The whales respond to Brook's music. They shake and call back with huge sounds: "Budooo!!" Luffy smiles and asks, "Hey!! Are you gonna carry us?" Nami sees the current and says, "It looks like they're getting on an upward current. If they want to take us for a ride, let's take them up on it!" The lyrics of Binks' Sake continue across the page: "Going to deliver Binks' sake. Today, and tomorrow, our dreams through the night. Waving our goodbyes, we'll never meet again." The whales lead them upward, and Luffy points ahead with excitement: "Here comes the surface!!" The ocean that almost killed them has turned into a route out.

The whales burst upward with the Thousand Sunny riding among them, and the crew finally reaches the New World. The sound fills the sea: "Buuuuooooohhhhhhhh!!!" Luffy shouts, "It's the New World!!!" and the crew cries, "We're here!!!" The celebration is immediate, but so is the danger. Usopp screams, "The weather's terrible!!!" Brook laughs at the stormy sky, Robin notes the mighty gales, Franky says the waves are rough and wild, Nami's compass spins wildly, Chopper sees red waters ahead, and Sanji calls it a raging ocean of fire. Zoro says it is like standing at the gates of hell. Luffy only grins and answers, "Bring it on!!!"

No description for this page.