Reverse Mountian, the entrance to Grandline, was thousands of meters high, disappearing in the ever-present black clouds that never stopped raining.
Kuina, Nojiko, and Nami were seeing it for the first time in their lives, and their hearts were palpitating in fear as the Ship was headed in a course of collision with the Mountain.
As soon as the Black Pearl entered the swirling tides in the vicinity of Reverse Mountian, its speed sharply rose, and the currents directed it towards a canal that travelled up the Mountain, defying all the laws of Physics the three young girls were familiar with.
Nami was carefully observing how Bepo was navigating the ship, coursing around the rocks in the hostile water currents, with half of the Ship's sails now folded.
There was a reason why this place was referred to as the Pirate's graveyard. Most of the ships would never make it to the canal that led up the Mountain, and crash into the tips of underwater mountains, sinking them to the bottom of the sea.
After a scary ride, they finally made it to the river canal which had several Square Arcs at the entrance, decorated with different Tribal Tattoos and Sea Creatures on each of them. Once they entered it, there was no longer any need to steer the ship. The water current controlled their speed and direction, taking them upwards against the gravitational force.
All of them were gathered on the Forecastle Deck, holding tightly onto the Railing as they climbed the mountain. Once their fear wore off, Nami, Nojiko, and Kuina started laughing, thrilled by the natural marvel the Reverse Mountain was.
Bonney, who had her arms wrapped around them, felt their laughter sweet enough to melt her heart, and she soon joined them, laughing together with them. And the Bepo was loudly yelling, announcing to the World that they were coming.
The journey up the Mountain continued for nearly half an hour, and then they finally reached the sea where the Four ascending rivers merged. It was called the Sea of Origin and was unusually calm.
When night time came, the already low temperature dropped quite drastically, making them shiver in cold, ushering them to get inside the ship.
The Crew set the course in the direction of the river that descended into the Grandline, and then prepared for the night.
Nami being curious about Reverse Mountain's geography barraged several questions on Robin, which she calmly answered to her understanding and knowledge.
The two sisters and Kuina had always believed that the Four Blue Seas were isolated from each other, but Robin informed them that it was not the case.
East Blue and North Blue were connected via specific passages through the Red Line, which were controlled by the World Government. Similarly, some passages connected South Blue to West Blue. However, if anyone wanted to travel from West Blue to North Blue, East Blue to South Blue, West Blue to East Blue, or from North Blue to South Blue, their only viable option was the Reverse Mountain.
The Reverse Mountian had Four ascending Rivers, one from each of the Blue Seas, five descending Rivers, one into each of the Blue Seas, and then the river that descended into the Evil Sea of Grandline. But with how hard it was to ascend the Reverse Mountain, even if all Four Blue Seas were somehow connected through it, they were still partially Isolated from each other.
Travelling to another Blue Sea by going through the Calm Belt was just not an option for Merchants, Pirates, or people who were not directly affiliated with the World Government. Marines could take that route, since their Warships were coated with Sea Prism Stone, enabling them to transverse through the Calm Belts without being bothered by the terrifying Sea Kings. But it was too time-consuming as they had to pass through the Grandline, a Sea that was ever ready to devour anyone that sailed on its waters.
For any ship that once entered the Grandline, the only way out was through the Calm Belt. And therefore, entering Grandline was a very important decision for any Captain.
The Blackstar crew spent the next two days and nights enjoying them to the fullest. That was because Sin had warned them that their Peaceful days would be coming to end as soon as they entered Grandline, a Sea that changed the course of your ship as soon as you stopped paying attention to it, and a Sea that had unpredictable weather phenomenons which no one could really explain.
On the third day, they finally entered the current of the Evil River, and the Black Pearl was guided by it to the entrance of Grandline.
Even if Sin, Hancock, Robin, and Bepo had been to Grandline before, it was the first time they were entering it from the Reverse Mountain.
The crew braced themselves as the descending speed got faster and faster. It did not even take them 15 minutes to descend thousands of meters, and to their relief, the end was not steep, but curved, saving the ship from colliding right into the water.
Bepo hurriedly took the helm and steered the ship as they made their way to the famous Twin Capes. The speed was still very fast, but he was able to steer the ship now.
"Bepo! Lower the Ship's speed! Fast!" Augur's voice sounded from the Crow's Nest, and the Mink immediately got to work.
Had it been any other ship, it would have crashed into the obstacles that stood in the way, but Black Pearl was a ship that prided itself on its manoeuvrability and speed. It managed to gain back control of its speed in a very short time, slowing down to a desirable speed.
All of them gathered on the Forecastle Deck, watching what was happening at the Twin Capes.
Two Pirate Fleets were engaged in a battle with each other. Nearly all the ships were heavily damaged, and more than a dozen were utterly destroyed after crashing into each other. The bodies of dead Pirates sailed with the debris as the current took them away to the Evil Sea to devour them.
The stupid Pirates were still firing Canons at each other, and on some smaller ships, two groups of Pirates were engaged in a heated duel, with clanks of swords and gunfire as loud as the water current of the Evil River.
For a moment, both parties stopped and looked in the direction of the haunting Black Ship that was slowly headed their way, and then a battleship made a mistake that it shouldn't have.
As soon as it adjusted its course to unleash Canon Fire at the Black Pearl, an evil smile adorned Sin's face.
The dark clouds that surrounded the Reverse Mountain rumbled loudly as Sin raised both his hands in the air.
Bonney understood what was about to happen, and immediately covered the eyes of Nojiko and Nami with her hands.
"God's... Wrath!" He called out, and several terrifyingly powerful lightning bolts descended from the sky at an unfathomable speed, striking the Pirate Ships, and unleashing devastation that froze the hearts of even the Blackstar Crew.
They just saw the flashes, and by the time it thundered, the Pirate Ships were already done for. And after the following explosions subsided, only the sound of the river that was merging with the sea remained.
The crew watched in silence as the Evil Sea devoured all the debris and the dead bodies and body parts that had survived the Godly Attack. Within minutes, there was left no trace of the Pirates, whose journey ended before they even landed on the Twin Capes.
"That was some flashy entrance into the Grandline, Captain." Hachi was just as scared as he was impressed, and he couldn't help the laugh that escaped his mouth.
"Glad you liked it." Sin smirked at him.
"Show off," Hancock called him out on being a little too much, but the grin on her face said otherwise.
"Thank you, Princess." He planted a kiss on her cheek, which pleased her immensely, and then he turned to look at the younger girls, who were fearfully looking back at him.
Instead of saying any words of comfort to them, he just winked at them, flashing his brightest smile, and then disappeared from the ship in a bolt of lightning.
Sin landed right next to the left Lighthouse, where an old man was calmly lounging, reading today's newspaper as if he had not witnessed what had just transpired there. However, Sin did not pay attention to him either, and looked in the direction a little far away, where he had sensed and heard something with his Observation Haki.
"What is an Island Whale doing in this place, crying in such sadness?" He asked, and finally, the old man raised his head to look at him meaningfully.
Not receiving his answer even after a few minutes, Sin turned to look the old man right in the eyes, and the two of them kept staring at each other for a good minute.
"He wants to see his friends again, who abandoned him nearly fifty years ago." The Old man finally answered, and folded his newspaper before getting up and looking in the direction Sin was now looking at.
"Did they live?" Sin curiously asked after a while.
"No." The old man sadly sighed.