Chapter 347: Lab! I'm back!
The towering Upside-Down Mountain reaches into the sky, and the waves beat against the Red Earth Continent. Compared with the vast Red Earth Continent and the sea, the canal on the mountain is like a stream, and the Amber near the Red Earth Continent seems insignificant.
Altria put on a white coat and a blue scarf. After all, the climate of Upside Down Mountain is closer to that of Winter Island, so she had to give it some respect. However, compared to this outfit, Zhang Da would rather cover her with a quilt with a blue base and white edges.
Splash! Shark Chili broke through the water and landed on the deck with a thud: "The route is confirmed, first turn left!"
Altria quickly turned the steering wheel, and then continued to adjust the direction of the Amber according to Shark Chili's instructions.
Shark Chili warned: "Be prepared, the current will be very fast and the rudder will be difficult to control. If you make a mistake, the Amber will be finished!"
"Leave it to me." Altria said calmly, holding the steering wheel with both hands. Her blue scarf swayed slightly in the wind behind her. Her golden hair was extremely dazzling in the sun, and she looked very reliable.
——If there wasn’t a person and a cat by her side to help her hold the ice cream, especially with the cat standing on a small stool.
Ye Yan looked at Zhang Daye, Tom, and Altria, the three people who were in an awkward position: "Hey, this is a matter of life and death! Are you sure you want to go in like this?"
Zhang Da also handed the ice cream to Altria and asked her to take a bite. He turned around and said, "If you are scared, you can wear that blue dress, the one with the water drop-shaped hood. When the ship sinks, you can complete your performance art. It's called 'Gazing at the Blue Waves', right? It's very appropriate."
Ye Yan roared, "If it really sinks, it will become the 'ghost in the blue water'!"
"Nonsense, Brooke is the wronged soul, you don't deserve it."
Normally, Brook should have joined in the conversation at this time, telling a joke about skeletons or something, but he was obviously in no mood now. He just stared blankly at Upside Down Mountain, as if his eyes could penetrate the mountain and see directly to the other side.
Shark Chili patted him and reminded him, "Don't just stand there, find a place to hold on to. We will be climbing the mountain along the upward current. Be careful not to be thrown out."
"Oh, yes, I understand, thank you." Brooke grabbed a railing. It was not his first time to come to Upside Down Mountain, so he still had some common sense.
Shark Chili shouted, "Everyone else hold on tight! Get ready to climb the mountain!"
"Yes!" Everyone grabbed something to stabilize their bodies. Zhang Da also stuffed the ice cream in his hand into Altria's mouth so that she could eat it quickly, and then grabbed the railing in front of the Amber.
Tom watched Zhang Daya's actions, stuffed the ice cream into Altria's mouth, and then hugged... the small stool under his feet.
"Stupid cat." Zhang Da also reached out and grabbed him. "Is the stool holding you or you holding the stool?"
Tom shook his head . It seemed like they were all the same, right? Wasn't it enough to just grab the thing?
"Wuwuwu... Gurgle, it's so cold." Altria suffered the most unreliable feeding. Her mouth was stuffed with four ice cream sticks. She chewed the ice cream roll with difficulty and swallowed it. She looked at Zhang Daye and Tom who were hugging each other with resentful eyes.
Fortunately , it was not wasted in the end... No, fortunately, she had not forgotten her mission and skillfully controlled the steering wheel, allowing the Amber to smoothly sail into the canal on the Upside Down Mountain.
The water at the entrance of the canal was turbulent, and the Amber was quickly carried up the mountain. The hull of the Amber was already parallel to the mountain, and the bow was tilted upward. Zhang Da also held Tom with one hand and held the railing with the other hand to prevent himself from sliding down the deck.
"Wow~~~~" Rui Mengmeng, Perona, Wendy and Xia Lulu exclaimed. It was really a wonderful experience to ride a boat to a high place.
Although Perona was brought to the Grand Line from the West Sea by Moria, they did not take the Upside-Down Mountain at that time, so it was her first time experiencing such a thing.
Ye Yan was surprised and said, "Water can really flow upwards. Although I have heard you say it several times, it is still shocking to see it with my own eyes."
Zhang Da also said: "It is said that it is because of the currents of the four seas... The principle is not important. Anyway, this world is ruled by Newton's brother."
As the altitude continued to rise, the water flow in the canal showed no sign of slowing down and remained fast and powerful. Under the help of Altria's riding skills, the Amber moved forward steadily and would not easily change direction due to the rapid water flow.
After an unknown amount of time, the air became increasingly humid. Rui Mengmeng wiped her wet bangs and said, "What a thick fog!"
Wendy corrected him, "This isn't fog, it's cloud. We're already above the clouds now, and the air is thinner than down there."
"Ah? Is this a cloud?" Rui Mengmeng reached out to grab it curiously, but she could only catch a handful of small water droplets at most, and occasionally some small ice crystals, which would melt immediately after sticking to her hands.
She looked back curiously, wanting to see how high it was, but there was only a sea of white and she couldn't see how far it was.
Soon, the Amber passed through the clouds and reached the top of the mountain. On the top of the mountain, four canals from the southeast, northwest, and four seas converged together. The water flows collided with each other and finally merged into one stream, pouring into the only downward river channel and flowing along the mountain into the Great Route.
Water mist floats above the canal, forming beautiful color ribbons under the reflection of the sun.
"It's a rainbow! A round rainbow!" Rui Mengmeng and Perona pointed excitedly to the front.
"So beautiful!" Wendy and Xia Lulu were also amazed at the beautiful scene.
"Hold on tight, the boat is about to take off!" Zhang Da also reminded without paying any attention to the atmosphere.
At one point, the Amber was carried over the top of the mountain by the rising water, and then bounced up under the force of three other currents, falling right into the descending canal.
"Oh~" Everyone's bodies floated in the air for a short time, but fortunately they all held on to the fixed objects on the boat and were not thrown out.
Only Zhang Daye's arm was stretched a little for a moment, but quickly bounced back.
Altria still held the steering wheel firmly, allowing the Amber to drift safely downstream, speeding up.
For Zhang Daye, this was the most exciting mountain rafting he had ever experienced. Although there were not many bends, it was exciting enough to go on mountains thousands or tens of thousands of meters high. If it had been before the time travel, he would never have dared to do such an exciting activity.
The downward process is much faster than the upward process. This situation puts a great test on the quality of the ship. It is not uncommon for the rudder to break here and then hit the mountain wall.
But the Amber was built by the younger brother of the world's number one shipbuilder... The wood used to build the ship was originally intended for the Sun Pirates, so the quality was absolutely impeccable. Coupled with the excellent helmsman Altria, the whole process went very smoothly.
Except for the statue of Tom on the bow, whose heart beat violently when no one was paying attention.
"I can see the sea surface!" Shark Chili breathed a sigh of relief. This was the second thrilling incident since he became a navigator, and he finally completed it successfully.
However, things were not that simple. Soon, Shark Chili noticed a huge black shadow in front of him: "What is that? A mountain? I haven't heard that there is another mountain behind Upside Down Mountain! It's about to block the entrance, right?"
"You'll die if you keep going like this!" Perona was almost frightened to death.
Tom's expression was more exaggerated than hers. His two eyeballs had flown out and fell on the deck with a crackling sound. Yes, although there were only two eyeballs, they gave people a feeling of falling with a crackling sound.
Tom's eyeballs bounced a few times on the ground and then jumped back up again. Tom hugged Tatsuya's neck nervously and trembled.
The official life card indicated that Lab's body length was 400 meters, but looking at the huge creature in front of him, Zhang Da always felt that this number was too conservative. Could 400 meters be just the small part that was exposed above the water?
"Is it too late to jump off the boat now?" Ye Yan planned to let Jin Erpeng take him and Perona, two fragile people, to fly away. Xia Lulu could also transfer one of them, and then summon the Chaos Beast to cushion the situation below. With the physique of the others, they should not be hit to death. As for the Chaos Beast being afraid of water, he could only kill it at the critical moment. It was better than death.
"That's not a mountain, it's a living thing, probably some kind of sea king." Artoria took out her sword, "Now I have no choice but to chop it apart."
Zhang Da did not doubt whether she could do it, but he strongly suspected that she had calculated how long this thing could last, but if it was really chopped, it would be troublesome.
"No! Don't! That...that's...Labo! That's Labo!" Brooke stood in front of Altria, his words incoherent with excitement, tears streaming down his face. "He's waiting for us here, he's still waiting for us here! It's been forty years! Forty years, Labo! Wuuuuu..."
Brooke was filled with guilt. He had said that he would be back in two or three years, but he made Lab wait for forty years. Lab was only a tiny one at the beginning, but now he has grown so big...
He even subconsciously ignored the fact that if he continued like this, he would be smashed to pieces by Lab.
"Don't panic, there is still a way, slow down first!" Zhang Da also shouted hurriedly, "Wendy, come to the bow quickly!"
"Yes!" Wendy reacted, fell flat on her back, then quickly got up and staggered to the bow.
Zhang Daye immediately asked again: "Shark Chili, can the shark giant withstand this place?"
Shark Chili said: "Let's give it a try. It's not easy to use this slope and this fast current to gain leverage."
Wendy has already taken action. She stood at the bow, holding onto the statue of Tom. She took a deep breath, puffed up her cheeks, and a magic circle appeared: "The Roar of the Sky Dragon!"
A thick tornado that was extremely disproportionate to Wendy's body size erupted like a dragon's breath. From the side, it looked like the Amber was breathing out.
The speed of the entire ship dropped rapidly, and it only started to accelerate again when Wendy's magic stopped.
"It works!" Perona excitedly hugged Rui Mengmeng beside her, "Wendy is amazing!"
"Good job, Wendy!" Zhang Da also said, "There's still some distance to go, wait for the right moment to come again!"
"Yeah!" Wendy clenched her fists and stared ahead carefully.
"Now!"
"Tianlong's——Roar!"
The Amber slowed down again. According to its current altitude, Ye Yan estimated that if the Chaos Beasts were used as a cushion, neither the ship nor the people would be in danger.
"Wendy, come back quickly." Altria suddenly said, "Everyone hold on tight, there is a gap between the whale and the mountain wall, which is big enough for us to pass through. At this speed, there will be no problem at all!"
"Woo-oo-oo-oo-ang~" Lab, who had been quiet at first, let out a long cry.
"Wow!" Everyone felt pain in their ears and subconsciously covered their ears with their hands. Labu's voice was too loud. It might also be because his shouting was mixed with ultrasonic or similar sounds. When listened to from a close distance, it felt like someone was playing suona in their ears, making people's heads dilate.
Fortunately, Altria was not affected too much. She accurately controlled the Amber to rush out through the gap between Rab and the mountain wall, and docked steadily on the shore about a hundred meters away from Rab.
There is a lighthouse not far from the shore. Under the lighthouse, an old man with white hair and beard is sitting on a beach chair reading a newspaper. There are some yellow and purple petals on his head. Considering that the people in this world are very strange, Zhang Da couldn't tell for a moment whether the petals were decorations or grew from his head.
Noticing the movement here, Crocus raised his head and said, "Has anyone entered the Grand Line again? That flag is..."
Brooke could no longer hold back, and without even saying hello to Kurokas, he jumped off the boat, landed lightly on the shore, and ran towards Lab.
Crocus had always believed that the Rumbar Pirates had been wiped out, or had escaped the Grand Line and would never come back, so he failed to recognize Brook for a moment and thought that he was going to harm Lab, so he hurriedly shouted, "Hey! What are you doing?"
"Labo! I'm back!" Brooke shouted Labo's name loudly. The tears that had just stopped welled up again. He knelt on the ground and shouted with apology, "I'm sorry! We kept you waiting for a long time! Really, really, I'm sorry!"
Kurokas, who was about to take the harpoon, was stunned. This voice sounded familiar... Could it be?
Lab's huge eyeballs moved, and Brook's figure came into his sight, and then gradually overlapped with a person in his memory. This person... this person is... Lab's heart was excited.
He wanted to shout out, but he wanted to hear the man continue speaking even more. This voice couldn't be wrong, it couldn't be wrong. He was back, they were back!
"I know it's hard for you to recognize me now. But...but do you still remember this afro?" Brooke burst into tears, and the scene of Lab playing with everyone when he was a child emerged in his mind.
A companion pointed at Lab and said, "Look, Brooke's hairstyle is exactly the same as Lab's head!" Although it has been 40 years, such a voice still seems to ring in Brooke's ears. He sobbed and then shouted at the top of his lungs: "Don't people say that my afro is exactly the same as yours? I am... I am Brooke!!!"
"Woo~Woo~Woo-ang~~~~~~" Lab tried hard to make the childish sound of his childhood, happily diving into the water and then surfacing, and when he got close to the shore, he stared at Brooke with his big eyes, his voice full of joy and grievance.
Brooke, are you stupid? How could I not recognize you? I can recognize your voice right away! Your afro is also a precious memory of mine! Why did you think I couldn't recognize you? Although it has been a long, long time, my longing for you has not diminished at all!
And... why did you make me wait so long? Why didn't you come back to see me earlier? But you must have your own reasons, right? Tell me clearly...
Most importantly, it's great to have you back! Is everyone... okay?
