The open ocean beyond the bay was another world entirely.
From a distance, when he’d been on the island for months, he had felt the larger energy field beyond the island’s boundary, and the natural energy of the open Grand Line waters flowed differently from the way it flowed around an island.
In actuality, it was much different than either of those things he’d experienced up close, sitting in the bow of the Going Merry as it left the bay on its first voyage.
When he allowed his Sage Mode to immerse him in it, he nearly drowned.
There was something in the Grand Line waters that made him think it was living.
He knew better, in truth, but the analogy was appropriate.
The Sea Kings didn’t make up everything that lay beneath the surface here; there was an energy, a life, within the water itself, and currents that remembered where they’d been and what they’d done throughout history.
Temperatures changed across the Grand Line, and not randomly; there were channels of colder and warmer water, deeper pools and currents running through the waters that remembered all of the storms that had ever passed above them, all of the tides.
As the morning continued and he let himself feel the currents below him, he began to comprehend what he and this ship’s crew were riding upon.
It was not simply wind nor water; the winds of the Grand Line represented the surface of the current, and that was just the surface of something else, something vast and articulate which flowed beneath both of them, and had done so long before anyone had learned to read it.
Almost nobody.
But he was somebody.
He looked over his shoulder and to the wheel.
Nami was turning it with easy hands, her eyes scanning the horizon, a far-off look in her face that spoke of listening, of hearing the winds and waves beneath her.
For weeks he hadn’t been sure what his navigator was capable of.
Now, in truth, he knew her gifts were different, more subtle.
She wasn’t taught, she hadn’t learned; there was some other part of her which knew the currents that ran through the Grand Line, and gave her sufficient information to allow her weather readings and navigational skills to surpass anyone with forty years of training with all of the proper tools at their disposal.
And so she listened and knew without understanding she knew, without even knowing what she was listening to.
Her skills were due solely to intuition, born of experience.
That afternoon, as he watched her steer the ship with calm confidence and ease, he felt a distinct signature at the edge of his sensing range, clear and cold.
It was something entirely new that he’d never sensed from the island.
“Drum Island,” said Nami, without taking her eyes from the horizon.
He turned back towards her.
“How far?”
“Just over a week, assuming this wind.”
“It will hold for four days.
Then, the winds will shift, and you should move towards the east and catch the new wind.
That’ll get you to Drum Island.” Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
In one hand, she held a notebook.
With the other, she began writing without looking down, having long since mastered that particular skill.
He watched her record the data on the paper without shifting her gaze from the horizon, marking down today’s date and numbers and closing the notebook around her thumb.
“I have a new section here,” she said calmly.
“Ah?”
“Did you notice that.”
“A few weeks ago.
Your old section is pure navigation.
This new one is—”
“Not your concern.”
“That’ll do.”
A long moment passed, during which her hands maintained their hold on the wheel as it turned steadily with the ship.
Finally, so quietly he might not have heard it over the wind, she replied.
“It’s called Kael.”
He turned his face towards the bow.
Her gaze remained fixed, unwavering.
He sensed, though he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where, that she found some pride in the fact that he hadn’t pushed her on the topic.
He returned to the galley and assisted Sanji, who needed to cook without knowing it yet and who needed assistance that he could provide as nobody else on the ship could.
So he let Nami continue her work on the wheel.
In the afternoon, they sailed through cold waters at great depths, and the sound of the waves suggested a passing Sea King.
He detected it before anyone else; stepping to the deck with no hint of fear whatsoever and standing at the rail, he waited until Usopp noticed thirty seconds later and, as usual, described what he could only call a Sea King in a voice not unlike a series of squawks mixed with half-sentences, which Luffy responded to immediately.
Zoro had woken up, sprinting to the side of the ship where Kael stood.
“Wait,” he said calmly.
“Wait?”
“He’s just passing through.”
He stood and waited until it passed, and he let his chakra drift below the ship to acknowledge the passing giant below.
There was no attempt at communication; simply acknowledgement, a request that he not be disturbed or interfered with.
The thread returned, with weight he hadn’t expected. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping.com.
This was a particularly old Sea King, and he recognized this individual instantly.
It wasn’t shock in return, but rather something like recognition, perhaps, something more akin to acknowledgement.
The creature had sensed him through all the years in this water, far below, and now understood him through something beyond his senses.
He held very still.
It did not emerge to the surface to challenge him, and instead simply swam through the water as he watched.
When he sensed it finally go away, he maintained Sage Mode on it for as long as it was detectable.
He let go of his sage powers, but the crew watched him closely.
“What was that?” Zoro demanded.
“One of the old ones.”
“It knew you.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Again, he contemplated for a brief moment and answered honestly.
“I’m not entirely sure.”
Zoro nodded sagely and returned to the mast as though it was completely reasonable, while Luffy, not having gotten the show he wanted, looked eagerly to the future, where some new adventure lay ahead.
Usopp stayed in the crow’s nest and stared into the depths a bit longer than the others did, though the waves had offered no further insight.
Meanwhile, Kael remained standing at the rail, his hands still holding it as his sage mode powered down, watching the waters pass beneath him in peace.
He didn’t understand yet what it might mean for something ancient to know him through his sage powers.
But he would find out.
Likely, slowly, as the fragments would come together gradually.
And he would never stop understanding until he reached Drum Island, or Alabasta, or wherever else he went on the grand ocean.
He would never stop understanding.
But that was okay.
He had all the time he could hope for.
The wind held.
The ship sailed.