Nami immediately grasped the key point of what Crocus had revealed.
"So they really are making money from both ends, huh?"
"Speaking of which," Marcus chimed in, "what happens to pirates who enter the Grand Line without getting a Log Pose first?"
He knew the Grand Line had seven different routes you could take. But he'd always wondered, what if Luffy and the crew hadn't run into Laboon at the beginning? Without meeting the whale, they wouldn't have encountered Vivi, and without her, they wouldn't have gotten directions to their first island. So what would've happened then?
Crocus shook his head grimly. "There are plenty of cases like that. Not too long ago, there was a pirate crew, should be from your East Blue, called the Krieg Pirates, I think? They charged in without any preparation. Lucky for them, I had just given Laboon a sedative injection at the time, so the whale was calm. Otherwise, who knows where they would've ended up drifting."
He paused, looking out at the ocean. "Most likely, they either died in a storm or starved to death. The Grand Line doesn't forgive that kind of recklessness."
"Krieg?" Nami looked surprised. "We actually know about him."
"You do?"
"Well, sort of. When we sailed back through the East Blue, all he had left was one broken-down ship," Marcus replied with a laugh. "Guy looked like he'd been through hell and back."
"Then they were really lucky. The odds of an ordinary ship making it through the Calm Belt are basically zero," Crocus said, shaking his head.
"Yeah... in a way, you could definitely call it good luck," Marcus nodded, though he was thinking about how Krieg's crew had run straight into Mihawk right after entering the Grand Line. Talk about bad timing, meeting someone with strength rivaling the Yonko on your very first day.
"From your earlier stories, you must have sailed the seas before, right? And you even tracked down news about that pirate crew?"
"That's right. Why? You thinking about looking for them too?" Crocus asked, raising an eyebrow.
But Marcus shook his head. "You must know some training methods for Haki, right? After all, to anchor down a ship and take out a giant sea king like that, your strength has to be pretty impressive."
Seeing Marcus' curiosity, Crocus stroked his chin thoughtfully, then disappeared into the lighthouse. After rummaging around for a few minutes, he emerged carrying an old, worn book.
"I don't have that kind of energy for teaching anymore. But this is an old journal I kept during my sailing days. It's got what you're looking for."
Marcus accepted the dusty notebook eagerly and flipped it open right away.
The contents weren't quite what he'd expected. The opening chapters were packed with medical knowledge, clearly meant for treating someone with serious health issues.
Looking at the densely packed lists of different pain medications, he couldn't help but ask, "Why did you record so many sedatives and painkillers? Who could possibly need this much medication?"
The question brought back memories for Crocus. Events from over twenty years ago felt as fresh as yesterday. "There was a man who was dying. Without taking painkillers and sedatives every single day, he could barely even move."
"What kind of illness was it? That serious?"
"A lung disease. If it had been discovered just ten years later, it could have been cured easily. But..." Crocus shook his head sadly. "Medical science advances, diseases get conquered one by one, but time waits for no one."
"Lung problems?"
"That's something that happens often during long adventures. Every island you visit has different plants, climates, even different animals. After you've been to enough places, sooner or later you'll encounter something your immune system can't handle. At first, it might just be a minor cold, but over time, the damage becomes irreversible."
"I see..."
Marcus fell quiet. He'd only been asking out of curiosity, but it made sense. Even someone as strong as the Pirate King could fall victim to illness, clearly showing it was an internal, systemic issue. Hell, even Whitebeard, at the height of his power, was plagued by illness in his final years. That was the result of having no proper medical care during decades of adventuring.
Take Garp, for instance, his generation had the Marine's strong medical support backing them up, so even in old age he maintained impressive physical strength.
Marcus quietly turned the pages, and soon he found the content he'd been searching for.
Information about Haki.
But the way it was recorded was different from what he'd expected. It contained detailed descriptions of various training methods, and also sections about how Haki could counter Devil Fruit abilities.
The summary was straightforward: Armament Haki allowed you to touch Logia users, and sufficiently strong Armament Haki could even nullify the negative side effects brought about by Devil Fruits.
This was stuff he already knew from watching the anime, but seeing it written down by someone who'd actually lived through the era was different.
After flipping through a few more pages, he finally came across some real insights about training techniques.
This section was clearly Crocus' personal experience learning Haki, specifically Observation Haki, since enhanced perception could help him better sense the flow of life in his patients.
This part was described in much greater detail, and it was different from what Marcus had understood before.
"Observation Haki... abandoning the five senses and using the 'mind' to feel? That's a pretty abstract concept."
"You could also call it a sixth sense, or intuition," Crocus explained. "It's not sight, hearing, taste, smell, or touch, those are already sensory organs with their own perception abilities. This is something else."
Marcus pondered this. Actually, he had experienced this so-called sixth sense before, back when he was a kid.
He used to walk alone a lot and liked taking shortcuts through small alleys. But one day, for no particular reason, he suddenly didn't feel like taking his usual shortcut. The next day, he overheard from casual conversation that a child's body had been found on that exact path.
At the time, he'd avoided it without any logical reason.
Looking back now, it was almost like he had "sensed" something was wrong.
Further in the notes, there were also records about Armament Haki. But it was clear Crocus had only grasped it at a basic level, not enough to achieve full-body hardening, but coating his fists or weapons wasn't a problem.
He described it as an extension of life force, something that existed within everyone but required specific training to access and control.
"There are even records about training methods?"
"Yeah," Crocus nodded. "When I was younger, I spent some time in Wano Country. They call Armament Haki 'Ryuo' there, and they've got centuries of refined training techniques. These particular exercises help condition the body and mind to feel the flow of Haki within yourself, think of them as foundation work before you can actually use it."
Marcus quietly absorbed this information, filing it away for future reference.
At that moment, Nami, who had been curiously peeking at the notebook for a while, pointed at an abstract diagram of a human figure.
"Is this a basic Ryuo conditioning chart?"
Crocus nodded. "That's right. It's fundamental preparation training from Wano. Helps build the awareness needed to eventually manifest Haki. Most people can't even feel it without this kind of conditioning first."
Hearing that, Nami started imitating the poses on her own, moving through the illustrated positions.
Marcus was a bit surprised. "You're interested in this stuff?"
"Not exactly interested. It's just that when I see Alvida and Kira training every day, I can't just stand around doing nothing," Nami replied, stretching her back as she worked through the movements.
When everyone around you was working hard to improve themselves, the atmosphere naturally pushed even the most reluctant person to get moving.
Thinking about it, Marcus also started moving his body, preparing to give the exercises a try. He was genuinely curious about how this would feel.
After completing one full set of the movements, he felt something stirring inside his body, not quite Haki yet, but like his body was becoming more aware of its own energy. Instead of feeling fatigued from the training exercise, he actually felt more energized and alert.
By contrast, Nami was covered in a light sheen of sweat, her breathing slightly unsteady from the workout. But at that moment, she was staring at her own hands with fascination.
"I can feel... something." She closed her eyes to focus on the sensations. Then her eyebrows furrowed, and she looked toward the horizon.
"There's going to be a hurricane over there."
As soon as the words left her mouth, storm winds and heavy rain erupted in the distance, exactly where she had indicated.