Chapter 71: Across Four Seas: Foundations for the Grand Line

“Awooo! Awooo!”

White Tiger rushed back to Karl right after everything wrapped up to report in.

Karl got the gist of things from White Tiger but soon realized Sparrow wasn’t heading their way, instead going off in another direction.

From the looks of it, Karl figured Sparrow didn’t think he’d make it, so he was probably searching for a quiet place to spend his last moments.

Karl stood up without hesitation. No way was he letting that happen—he’d already given Sparrow a Devil Fruit and the Great Rejuvenation Pill. If Sparrow died now, all that investment would go right down the drain.

“Let’s go. Take me to him.”

Karl lightly hopped onto White Tiger’s back and, without missing a beat, White Tiger dashed off in Sparrow’s direction.

Deep in the woods on the manor’s right side, Sparrow was busy digging a pit to bury his mother’s keepsakes.

By the time Karl arrived, Sparrow had already covered the hole.

He left no marker—not wanting anyone disturbing his mother’s final resting place.

“So, finished all your business at home?”

Sparrow heard the voice and spun around, recognizing the mysterious young man who’d helped him.

“I’m sorry, sir. If I could, I’d want to always follow at your side… But I don’t think I can be any help to you now.”

Sparrow’s face was drained of color and his shirt was completely drenched in blood. His breathing was barely there.

“Relax. You’re not dying.”

“Just remember what you promised me.”

As Karl stepped closer, he saw Sparrow had already fainted.

Karl didn’t panic. He calmly scraped out a small fragment of a Rejuvenation Pill.

“Honestly, giving this to you almost feels like a waste. You know that, right?”

Even so, Karl carefully fed him the pill fragment.

Afterward, he carried Sparrow off to the cabin he’d built earlier at End Station.

“Still a bit early, I guess.”

Karl’s real reason for coming to East Blue was to contact certain key people connected to the original story, laying down pawns for the future.

But since that wasn’t an option right now, he decided to build up a few organizations to help gather intel. When the main players eventually appeared, he could step back in.

East Blue already had a mafia and a Pirate Hunter Guild. He’d just have to see how things developed.

…

“I’m alive!”

“Thank you, sir!”

The morning after, the first thing Sparrow noticed when he woke up was that he was still breathing.

He scrambled over to thank Karl.

“Just call me Karl from now on.”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to stick by my side? Get up—it’s time to move.”

Seeing Sparrow’s color had returned, Karl knew even a tiny fragment of the Rejuvenation Pill packed a punch.

“Got it, Captain Karl!”

Now that he knew there was still time before characters from the original story made their appearance,

he didn’t bother hanging around the Four Seas too much longer.

With Sparrow tagging along, he took a tour of East Blue. Along the way, they met the well-known sharpshooter Davis and helped the Bartow Family wipe out several East Blue mafia groups, letting the mafia’s reach spread across the entire sea.

The Bartow Family was still on the weaker side, but with most of the other mafias gone, their path for growth in East Blue would be far smoother.

Karl figured this was the perfect chance to recruit a few loyal followers. On a merchant ship, he ran into the navigator Thompson who wanted to brave the Grand Line.

Since East Blue didn’t have many dangerous pirates—and even the underground mafia had been almost wiped out by Karl—Thompson had no chance of reaching the Grand Line on his own.

After some persuasion from Karl, he agreed to join without much hesitation.

Then, under the stunned gazes of the others, they flew straight across the Calm Belt and landed in South Blue.

There, Karl set up another mafia branch and formed an assassin group called Heaven’s Net. Most of its members were people he’d saved from slaver ships in South Blue. That’s also how they picked up their adorable ship doctor, Jennifer.

While Karl was launching attacks on slaver ships across South Blue, fear spread among the human traffickers. Even Karl himself had to dodge Navy pursuit time and again.

But if he really fought back, his strength would be revealed and Navy Headquarters would take notice. Instead, he focused on running and never clashed head-on with the Navy branch.

He left each group with a full-strength Great Rejuvenation Pill and ten smaller ones (the big pill evenly divided into ten pieces).

Onward to West Blue!

There, he set up a group called the Tongtian Chamber of Commerce—named for its boundless wealth. He spent a fortune to buy herb manuals, as well as blueprints for steelmaking and cement, from the System and handed them over to the Chamber of Commerce.

He also supported another mafia group. Coincidentally, this family’s name was Capone—the same as Capone Bege, one of the Eleven Supernovas from the story. The System registered this move as having altered the world’s side-plot, rewarding Karl with two thousand points. Not a ton, but at least it was something.

North Blue!

There, Karl brought several groups under his control. He formed an arms-dealing team called Tongbao Arsenal and linked them to the Tongtian Chamber of Commerce. He also supported a native mafia group. But with so many mafias in North Blue, he didn’t have time to wipe them all out, so who knows if his group will hold out.

He gave each organization a unique fist technique to boost their strength while making sure nobody mistook them for members of the same school or group.

During his travels throughout the Four Seas, Karl recruited some crew members and taught them both Armament and Observation Haki.

He also gave special guidance to Sparrow on how to use and develop the Rain-Rain Fruit.

Tricks: Increase each raindrop’s gravity and speed, or use them to form defensive rain curtains.

Attributes: Added corrosion. When passing through Flevance, he got a new idea: he could mix heavy metals like uranium or plutonium into raindrops. It was a pity he hadn’t found the real materials yet, but it was a direction for development. He made sure Sparrow would keep an eye out for related info.

Just like that, eight months passed. Because the crew he’d gathered was strong, everyone except Sparrow had already mastered both Haki types—Sparrow still couldn’t quite grasp Armament Haki. The next step was just increasing their proficiency. Unfortunately, with their level of power, fighting all-out in the Four Seas would draw attention from Navy Headquarters, so they had nowhere to really hone their skills.

Right then, Charlotte Linlin called to say their child was due in less than a month.

Karl hurried to tie up all his business in North Blue, then rounded up the nine new crew members and rushed toward Beehive Island in the New World. There was no way he’d miss his child’s birth.

A massive ship sailed steadily toward Reverse Mountain.

“Captain, we’ve reached Reverse Mountain!”

The speaker was Notty, a four-meter-tall little giant known as the Tiny Titan. Karl had met him on an uninhabited island in West Blue—as the story goes, Notty ate too much, got kicked out of his homeland, and ended up surviving there for a while.

Notty hadn’t eaten a Devil Fruit, but his raw power was a match for any Vice Admiral.

“So this is Reverse Mountain?”

“It’s incredible!”

That was Hunter from North Blue, the ship’s helmsman. He’d never seen the grandeur of Reverse Mountain before.

“Heh, country bumpkin.”

Swordsman Brown had been to the front half of the New World with his master, so this was hardly his first time at Reverse Mountain.

But ever since they boarded, he and Hunter never got along—constantly at odds, always arguing over the smallest things.

“Who are you calling a bumpkin?”

Hunter glared at Brown, shouting in anger.

“Whoever’s yelling the loudest—that’s who!”

“You’re the real country hick!”

Brown looked at Hunter with a mocking smirk. Hunter’s temper flared, but he only snorted. He had to keep his focus on steering and avoid crashing into the mountain.

“Just you wait ‘til I’m free.”

“Ha! Who’s afraid now? Come at me if you’ve got the guts!”

“Come on, guys, cut it out!”

Jennifer, the ship doctor, rushed over to break things up. This petite, sweet-faced woman barely topped out at 1.6 meters and was the crew’s beloved caretaker.

“Yeah, you two, knock it off! Keep your eyes on the road—I still don’t even know how we’re supposed to get up there.”

“Relax. Up ahead is an indicator light, and that’s where the upward current is.”

“Once we catch that upward current, we’ll be on the Grand Line!”

Navigator Thompson already knew all the details. He’d figured the day would come when they hit the Grand Line, so he’d learned all the routes inside and out.

“It’s wild—rivers that run uphill?”

“Now that I get it, I can relax.”

This was Nicole Fields, whom Karl had found in Ohara, West Blue. With a surname suspiciously similar to Nico Robin’s, Karl thought they might be related. Strong enough to barely reach Vice Admiral level, Nicole was quickly brought on board.

Alongside them were Chef Johnson, sharpshooter Davis from East Blue, Sparrow, and with Karl it made ten—plus White Tiger.

“We’re heading for Skypiea first.”

Karl wasn’t interested in sightseeing the first half of the Grand Line. With time limited, Skypiea was his first target—he wanted to see if the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was there. If so, he’d grab it. If not, Skypiea would be a handy fallback base.

“After that, it’s straight to Beehive Island in the New World.”

“Skypiea? You mean an island in the clouds?”

“That’s so cool!”

Visiting unique islands was the dream that drove Thompson to sea.

“But none of us know how to fly—how are we getting up there?”

Hunter kept his right hand on the wheel while scratching his head, completely lost.

“Yeah, we don’t even know where Skypiea actually is!”

“Never heard of it either.”

Brown had roamed all over the front half of the Grand Line with his master, but Skypiea wasn’t anywhere in his memory.

“First we make for Jaya Island. Once we’re there, I’ll reveal the secret.”

Karl figured he’d just fly everyone up when the time came.

“I see something, I see it!”

“That’s the Knock Up Stream, isn’t it?”

It was Jennifer’s first time seeing a river shoot straight up into the sky. Hearing about it was one thing—witnessing it was something else entirely.

“Alright, let’s head straight for it!”

“Here we go!”

……