Sea Currents



A Sea Current (海流) is a directed movement that determines the way water acts on a sea. They are forces of major importance in the World. Since the world is predominantly covered with water, and with little in the way of air travel, currents are used to propel ships to certain destinations at greater speed.

Currents are usually created by changes of temperature in the water, differences in salinity levels (the concentration of salt), tides, wind and the continuous break and mixing of waves, though there are some exceptions. In the World of One Piece, it is even possible to use currents created by massive sea life. The only place where one cannot find sea currents are in the Calm Belts.

Surface Currents


Surface currents are currents found in the warmer waters closer to the surface, and are quite fast moving.

Deep Currents
Deep currents are currents found in the cooler waters closer to the sea floor, and are quite slow moving. They are larger than the currents at the surface and their flow is independent from that of higher waters. It is said that if a coated ship enters the wrong deep current, it can be trapped in the current for over two thousand years before it can reach the sunlight again.

Whirlpools


Whirlpools are natural forces of disasters that form a sinkhole in the water which can draw nearly anything into its depths. In One Piece, there are two ways for a whirlpool to form.

The first is when a strong current encounters an obstacle, forcing the current to turn in on itself. Such examples are shown with the Arlong Pirates forming a whirlpool to sink Commander Pudding Pudding and his ship, the Long Whirlpool at Long Ring Long Land, and with the whirlpool formed by the Tarai Current in front of the Gates of Justice at Enies Lobby.

The second is caused in cases of extreme differences between hot and cool water, which causes the water to rotate in order to find a constant temperature. Such examples are shown with the Knock Up Stream and with the eruption that took place when the Straw Hat Pirates were descending to Fish-Man Island.

Reverse Mountain


Reverse Mountain (リヴァース・マウンテン) is a place where the currents of the four Blue Seas converge and flow giving an entrance to the Grand Line. The currents are extremely powerful as they are able to pull ships up a steep slope. This is due to the fact that the mountain, being a "Winter Island" using Grand Line terminology, is much colder than the surrounding sea in the four Blue Seas, but not colder than the Grand Line. However, the mighty currents also cause many ships to crash onto the mountain side due to difficulty in steering into the mountain's opening.

Knock Up Stream


The Knock Up Stream is considered as a natural disaster by most, but some like Nami describe it as an extremely powerful current going straight up. It is created when water gets trapped in an underwater cave, where it is super-heated by lava beneath it, until pressure gets too high, causing the sea to explode upwards. The torrent may vary in location and power from time to time, but was once powerful enough to send a portion of an island up into the Sky Island.

Milky Road


The Milky Road is an artificial river manufactured from Sea Clouds. Because of the atmospheric conditions required for their construction, they are only able to exist in the White Sea (although Nami is capable of manifesting a small, temporary one thanks to her knowledge and use of Weatheria technology). There are two of them present in Skypiea, one connecting the Heaven's Gate in the lower White Sea to the upper White-White Sea and another flowing through the Upper Yard from Angel Island.

Long Whirlpool
On Long Ring Long Land, around one of the ten islands that make up the whole, is a large whirlpool. The Long Whirlpool (ロングワールプール) forms between a 'forest' of Long Corals and the Long Gap, and as its name suggests, it is a long oval shaped whirlpool. This phenomena creates a series of currents amongst the Long Coral forest. If one enters the forest through the wrong current, they will find themselves being turned back, though the correct one will accelerate them towards the whirlpool.

Tarai Current


The Tarai Current (タライ海流) is a massive whirlpool that connects the three major World Government facilities. Its flow is controlled by the three Gates of Justice, and will either flow or cease based on how much of any of the three gates are opened. The current goes in a circle within the three gates, and is faster for ships to travel using this current than going around the perimeters of the gates to reach any of the three Government facilities. However, this only works if the Government is willing to open the gates for the said passengers. Marines can travel peacefully through this current coating the hulls of their ships with Seastone.

Serpent Currents
The Serpent Currents (遊蛇海流) are found on the way to Fish-Man Island, somewhere between the Florian Triangle and the Red Line. These are a series of currents that tend to leap out of the water. They differ between the anime and manga.

In the manga, they form arches and the Straw Hats are briefly seen riding one.

In the anime, they act more like geysers, shooting straight up, but then bending and coming back down. The Straw Hats had to battle through them before they could proceed any further.

Downward Plume


The Downward Plume (下向きプルーム) is described as a massive underwater waterfall. The only one seen in the series is located near a Winter Island that forms part of the Red Line. It goes under the Red Line and is used to get to Fish-Man Island more quickly. It functions slightly similarly to Reverse Mountain although in the opposite direction, the cold water coming into contact with the Red Line is blasted down towards the ocean floor, moving hot water upwards. A "plume" is the hydrodynamics term for a column of fluid (gas, liquid, plasma, etc.) moving through another and, usually, following its flow. Attaining to the explanation on the series and the scientific term, this is where the "plume" of the name is taken from.

The Grand Fall
The Grand Fall (グランドフォール) appears on Hannabal Island, an island with several rivers that lead to the peak of a mountain. There, a phenomenon occurs once every few years, where both the sea and wind currents reverses, heading uphill to the peak of the mountain. The name Grand Fall comes from the sheer waterfall at the peak, which the currents lead to. This current is used by pirates in an event known as the Dead End Race as the starting line.

White Strom
White Strom is a giant white whirlpool that appears without any warning on the sea floor, usually on the Grand Line. It said that ships that get caught up in this stream are usually found after days without the crew on board. The name is a portmanteau of the English words "white" and "maelstrom".

Sea Slope


A common phenomenon in the New World, a Sea Slope (海坂) is a current that goes "downhill" in the open sea. Ships make great time if they slide down, though presumably go much slower if they were to climb up.

Rabbit Wave
The Rabbit Wave (うさぎ なみ) is a wave with rabbit faces appearing on its curl. The Thousand Sunny sailed on it on the Straw Hat Pirates' way to Dressrosa from Punk Hazard. In the anime, this current was created by a large number of Sea Lapahns in order to inhibit the Thousand Sunny. After they were freed from their master, the Sea Lapahns used it again to reunite the Straw Hats.

Thrust Up Stream
The Thrust Up Stream (突き上げストリーム) appears in the Maubeugemour Sea near the Red Line, and can be best described as a scaled-down version of the Knock Up Stream. Its power is enough to lift up and destroy a warship, and though it appears briefly, it has a high frequency of appearances in a given area. Once it starts, even skilled navigators will have no way of knowing where it will pop up next. Unlike with the Knock Up Stream, no whirlpools are created during its formation.

Mixed Juice Current
A current found in the waters of Totto Land, the Mixed Juice Current (混合ジュースの流れ) appears at the intersection of three juice seas, a watermelon juice sea, a peach juice sea, and an orange juice sea. Dangerous creatures, such as the Fruit Footballfish, are caught up in these currents, making them quite dangerous.

Climbing Koi Waterfall
The Climbing Koi Waterfall (鯉の滝を登る) is a special waterfall that flows from Wano Country into the New World. It is one of only two known ways to access the country by ship, which is achieved through the help of gigantic koi that swim upstream periodically. It is possible to sail up the waterfall by tying the swimming koi to one's ship through ropes, letting them pull it along as they climb. Doing so successfully allows access to Wano Country's surrounding seas. However, the currents around this waterfall are rather strange, as at its base is a river with a powerful current that goes towards the waterfall, while at the top is a massive whirlpool. That which is pulled in by this whirlpool usually ends up getting washed up on Kuri Beach.

Whirling Waves
The Whirling Waves were a series of whirlpools that surrounded where Onigashima used to be. Due to there being several of them, they generated powerful waves, making sailing through them virtually problem. These currents, along with the sheer cliffs bordering Onigashima made entering the island in anyway except through the main entrance nearly impossible. Seemingly the only way to bypass the whirlpools and the waves is with a decent submarine, though even underwater, the currents are still strong.

Warm Eddy
Found in the climate zone of Egghead in the New World, the Warm Eddy is a massive version of a real-world current, created when a mass of warm sea water gets heated, causing the currents to loop around and making the ocean surface slightly yet perceptibly rise. These currents are known to trap fauna within it. In the New World, the Eddy is greatly exaggerated, causing a massive water ball the size of a ship to rise, supported by a thin stem of water.

Trivia

 * Despite not being a sea current, the Sandora River is noted to be losing strength and letting the ocean slowly overtake it with seawater, to the point marine animals like the Kung-Fu Dugongs can comfortably live upstream.

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