Disclaimer: See disclaimer from Chapter 2.
~ Witch on the Waves ~
Chapter 3: Haki, Part 1
"So remind me, how did they say Reverse Mountain works again?" asked Nojiko.
"Well," said Nami doubtfully, "according to the explanations I heard, the currents from the four Blues are so strong that they flow up the mountain, collide at the top, and flow down into the Grand Line."
"Gravity doesn't work that way! And how could the currents be THAT strong? If water was flowing THAT fast, it would be spraying way up into the sky wherever the currents hit the cliff, not just flowing up the canal."
"Exactly", Nami agreed, "Even if the currents got that strong, it should only squirt water to the top once in a while, and then the sea level would rise against the Red Line in the local area in a sea swell, not produce four constantly flowing rivers to the top."
"And if the currents were that strong, slamming against the Red Line should produce a ridiculous amount of waves, not the merely stormy waters we're seeing now," added Nojiko.
"So basically, the explanations we've heard so far are useless."
Nojiko nodded and said, "For all intents and purposes, it's a mystery mountain."
"Actually, I have some theories on how it really works. In any case, we'd better get ready. If the boat can't handle the wild water, we're going to have to jump it and water-run this thing. Or maybe even just climb the mountain."
All of their belongings were comfortably packed in small, expanded-space knapsacks, rather than leaving anything in the boat itself. They had exchanged the rudder for a strong steel one for this trip, and added several stiffening cross-beams on the inside in order to keep any turbulence from flexing the boat and loosening joints. But it was still a small, open boat, only about 5 meters long.
As they approached Reverse Mountain, the skies darkened and it began to rain heavily. A tall vertical crack in the cliffside soon became visible, and the boat was caught in a strong current. When they got close enough, a series of man-made water gates became visible in the crack, evenly spaced with one pillar on each side of the canal and a beam across the top. Nami and Nojiko expertly read the current's flow and forcefully adjusted their course to aim dead center, and let the incredibly strange river of water take them up the mountain.
Before they entered, Nami carefully memorized the location of the first water gate, so she could teleport atop it later to get a closer look.
"Those water gates feel magical!" shouted Nami as they passed through them. "Bet you ten thousand Beri that they're responsible for shooting the water up the mountain!"
"No bet!" returned Nojiko. "You're the expert with magical stuff!"
"Take a look at the water in the bottom of the boat!" said Nami. Nojiko looked, and the water accumulating in the boat from rain and splashes was literally flowing towards the higher front of the boat, and pooling towards the bow.
"Yup, that's definitely not physics!"
They quickly approached the top.
"Now for the dangerous part!", hollered Nojiko, grinning. Since Nami had the rudder and Nojiko was further forward in the boat, she grabbed the one oar they had left in the boat, and prepared to assist in steering in case the rudder wasn't enough to orient the boat correctly.
As they hit the top, the boat actually went flying, and landed atop the wild spot where the four currents collided. Nojiko immediately stuck her oar in on the starboard side and paddled frantically to point their prow at the stream flowing downhill into the Grand Line, as Nami likewise worked the rudder to do the same. With skill, strength, and a good deal of luck, they were able to set their boat almost in the middle of the current, which Nami soon corrected until they were dead center.
The two girls screamed in joy as they coasted at speed down the side of the mountain, this time going faster than the water.
When they hit the almost calm waters at the bottom, the boat hydroplaned, skipping a few times before it settled in the water. Nojiko turned around and faced Nami, both of them grinning wildly.
"We are SO doing that again!"
~ Witch on the Waves ~
Crocus enjoyed watching ships coming down off of Reverse Mountain. He would always think about the people aboard, wonder if they were excited or terrified by the wild trip, and muse over what kind of people they were. Some of them were Marines, and those would always sail right on by, boring as always. Some of them were nondescript merchants and various other vessels. And some of them were pirates, and he would wonder if perhaps one of these crews of bright-eyed rookies would be captained by Roger's heir.
Occasionally a ship would stop by his lighthouse and greet him, or if Laboon was in the immediate area, there would be an amusing encounter between the island whale and the ship, occasionally ending up with the ship in Laboon's stomach (in which case Crocus would rush down the passage-ways he had given Laboon so he could greet the sailors in the stomach, which was even more amusing.)
Sometimes a half-destroyed wreck would come down the mountain, in which case almost no one ever survived. Sometimes a ship was fortunate enough to be merely sinking, and not disintegrating, and in those cases Crocus would find himself host to a stranded shipful of sailors for a few days.
But never, in the 48 years that he had lived at the Twin Cape lighthouses, had he seen anyone come down Reverse Mountain in a little open boat with a single mast. Especially not a pair of teenage girls, screaming in joy. And then shouting in unison that they would do it again, obviously just for fun. It took him a full flabbergasted minute to realize that yes, it was possible to navigate the wild currents of Reverse Mountain in an open boat, and that yes, these girls had done it.
When he realized that the two, after looking around, had immediately started paddling straight towards his lighthouse, he raised his newspaper again and pretended he had not been staring at them.
~ Witch on the Waves ~
"Mr. Crocus?"
Crocus lowered his newspaper and stared at the one who spoke, a sixteen-year-old girl with orange hair, wearing a tank top and capris, and sporting a bluish black tattoo on her left shoulder whose design he could not make out from this angle. She had a developing hourglass figure, and was wearing a small brown leather knapsack. Most of all, her brown eyes shone with hope.
The other one, he could see from the corner of his eye, had blue hair, wore a similar tank top and calf-length jeans, and had a much larger tattoo covering her right shoulder and sprawling across her upper chest. She had a similar developing hourglass figure, and wore an identical knapsack. And her dark blue eyes shone with excitement and eagerness.
"Mr. Crocus?" said Nami again.
Stare.
"Maybe he's using Observation Haki to… observe us?" suggested Nojiko.
That got a reaction. Crocus blinked, changed to look at Nojiko, and asked, "How do you know about Haki?"
Nojiko and Nami glanced at each other and Nami responded, "We heard about it from some pirates. That's actually why we're here. Would you happen to know Haki?"
"You two are the most unusual visitors I've had in many years," said Crocus cannily.
The two girls looked at each other again, and grinned.
"I'm Nami and this is Nojiko. Will you please teach us Haki, Mr. Crocus?" And both of them bowed as they would to a sensei.
Stare.
Stare.
Stare.
"Oh, come on," said Nojiko with a bit of annoyance. "What's with the staring?"
"No," said Crocus, more out of curiosity to see what they would do than because he really didn't want to teach them.
To his surprise, Nami immediately bounced happily and said, "C'mon sis, let's go ride the giant water flume again! Maybe he'll change his mind when we get back."
Nojiko burst into a grin at that, and was about to respond when –
WHOOOOOOOSHH!
An absolutely massive whale breached the surface of the water behind them, and –
BWOOOOOOOOOH!
– it released a deep, bone-shaking bellow.
"Huuuuuuuge!" exclaimed Nojiko. "Do you think it's friendly?"
Nami shrugged, glancing at Crocus. "Let's go find out!"
And they dashed away, running on top of the water, their sandals producing wide splashes. Finally they stopped in front of one of the whales eyes, hopping in place.
"HIIIII! I'M NOJIKO AND THIS IS NAMI! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?!"
BwoooOOOOOOOOOH!
"I don't think he speaks human, Nojiko."
"IT'S NICE TO MEET YOU TOO! HOW'S FISHING?"
BWOOOOoooooOOOOH!
"REALLY, IT'S THAT GOOD? WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE KIND OF FISH?"
"Alright, I think you'd better quit before you accidentally insult Laboon and he decides to eat you." Crocus was suddenly sitting cross-legged on top of the now named Laboon's head.
"Does that mean you'll teach us Haki?" chirped Nami.
Crocus rolled his eyes; he'd known a few children years ago and this arguing tactic was nothing new to him. But he answered in the affirmative.
"Fine, I'll teach you two what I know of Haki."
"HOOORAAAAY!" "BYE LABOOOON!"
~ Witch on the Waves ~
The next morning, Crocus awoke to the sound of screaming.
"EEEEEEEEEE!"
When he looked out the window, sure enough, there were Nami and Nojiko, riding down Reverse Mountain in their boat, this time Nojiko on the tiller and Nami holding an oar above her head. He noticed that they had removed the mast and stays, probably to make the boat a bit less likely to capsize.
"Okay, I'll bite," said Crocus when the two girls moored their boat to his little dock. "How did you get over to the other side of Reverse Mountain that fast?"
Fortunately, they had already talked about this. "Nami can teleport," explained Nojiko.
"Devil Fruit? But no, you're standing in the water."
"Can you keep a secret?" asked Nami, who was indeed standing in the shallow water while tying the boat to the dock. She was soaked anyway from the rain on the way up the mountain.
"I can keep a secret."
So she told him about magic.
~ Witch on the Waves ~
The girls would spend a full year, off and on, training with Crocus to unlock their Haki and learn to use it. Crocus himself couldn't use much Armament Haki, but he was a very good teacher despite that and knew how it should be trained, having learned alongside all his former crewmates years ago. And he was quite good with Observation Haki.
Surprisingly, Nojiko awakened both types of Haki first. Crocus had them training to awaken both Armament and Observation Haki, sparring intensely with them to awaken Armament, and using blindfolds and trying to feel the presence of others.
So when Nojiko solidly blocked a roundhouse kick with a raised forearm, and returned with a punch to Crocus's gut that blew him off his feet, he congratulated her.
"That's basic Armament Haki," he said, repeating his explanation from a few weeks ago. "Hold on to that feeling. By infusing your body with your will, your spiritual energy, you greatly enhance your power and durability. Of course…" he broke off expectantly.
Nojiko gasped and slumped.
"… it takes a lot of spiritual energy, and eventually you run out."
"I can train to increase that, right?"
"Yes. We'll have to if you're going to get into the more advanced uses of Armament like Hardening or Imbuement. Like I told you in the beginning, I'm unable to effectively use anything more than the basic Enhancement, I just don't have the talent for Armament and don't have enough spiritual energy to go further. But I know the training techniques."
"So just to get this right," interjected Nami curiously, "Armament is powered by your spiritual energy and your will is the focus? It's not actually powered by your will?"
"Ehhh? I dunno. The guys who trained me talked like they were the same thing."
"But if it was actually powered by your willpower, then you could hold Armament indefinitely as long as you stayed in the correct state of mind. So there must be more to it."
"That said, congratulations!" Nami grabbed her sister in a hug. "My sister is gonna be such a badass!"
A week later, Nojiko also awoke Observation Haki. Wearing a blindfold and earplugs, she successfully pointed her fingers at Crocus and Nami as they stood a short distance away, occasionally changing their positions silently.
When asked, Crocus stated that he couldn't feel anything unusual about the girls' knapsacks with his Observation Haki.
"Most peoples' Observation doesn't work like that. The only one I know of who could sense anything about objects was Gol D. Roger. He called it the Voice of All Things, and I'm not actually sure if it's an extension of Observation Haki or something else entirely. For everyone else, Observation is all about sensing other people. The advanced uses of Observation are reading the strength, emotion and intent of the people you're sensing, and if you're really advanced, you can read the future to an extent. As far as I can tell, reading the future is still based on reading the intended actions of all the people around you."
Further testing revealed that Crocus could predict and dodge magical attacks when Nami threw spells at him, even when she teleported instantly behind him.
Nami's problem with trying to unlock Haki was her magic. Not that it was a weakness, but that she kept accidentally using magic instead of Haki in a fight. She could also spread her magic around her like an instinctive Hominum Revelio spell, sensing peoples' locations, but this method was incapable of reading someone's emotions or intentions. Clearly she needed to differentiate between magic and spiritual energy.
Nami actually came up with her own training method for Armament Haki in order to unlock it. She meditated in front of a boulder and focused, trying to sense another internal energy besides her magic, which was centered in her chest where the magical core was near the heart. She focused her will on trying to destroy the boulder.
After bloodying her knuckles, switching to palm-strikes, and many, many failed attempts due to fooling her mind into thinking she could do it, Nami finally figured it out. She sensed another source of energy coming from her brain, and she used her will to channel it into her hand and strike the boulder. It instantly shattered with a loud CRACK.
From there, she actually figured out Observation Haki on the same day, realizing that it worked because your spiritual aura intermingled with other peoples' auras, making it possible for people to sense each other. Willpower was still the focus, requiring concentration and focus of will to actually use it.
Meanwhile, they still watched the newspapers and occasionally vanished to attack a pirate ship in the East Blue. They had quickly changed to hunting mid-level bounties (for the East Blue, of course), because the low-level ones weren't even proper exercise.
~ Witch on the Waves ~
"It happened at high noon on a Saturday," said a sailor-looking man with a scar running down his cheek. He was somewhere between 'buzzed' and 'three sheets to the wind', spinning his tale in a bar with a bottle in his hand and a few interested listeners nearby.
"The Silver Sword Pirates were in high spirits, throwing a party after we'd attacked and sunk a merchantman and stole the shipment of spirits they were carrying. Now the Captain was a smart man, always made sure to have a lookout scanning the seas, even when the men were a-partying. So when we heard the feller in the crow's nest sing out, 'Bogey off the port side!', we all rushed to the railing to see what was happenin'.
"And blimey, if it warn't a sight for sore eyes. There, dancing atop the waves with smiles on their faces, were two women. One of 'em had orange hair, t'other had blue hair, and they were the most beautiful girls I'd a'seen in years. Not many ladies aboard a pirate ship, y'know.
"We all saw that they were running toward us, and one of the men voiced the thought that we'd been blessed by the gods of the deep Blue to be visited by a pair of sea sprites in that happy hour.
"Nuthin' could be further from the truth.
"As soon as them two got a half-dozen paces from the side of the ship, they both took a flying leap towards the bow of the ship. And that was when we realized that our happy hour was at an end, because as they jumped, the two girls drew swords from behind their backs, and pistols from their belts. I still remember that moment, clear as day. The one with the orange hair fired her pistol and kneecapped the bo'sun, an' the other one slashed her sword and cut down another man. From there it was a wild melee.
"We were fifty-three men strong and our captain had a bounty of nine million Beri. And we all got our asses kicked by them two girls. They fought with sword and gun and fist and foot, they danced between our bullets and knocked us about, cut us down and slashed our rigging. And by the end of the fight, neither of 'em had a scratch, we were all moaning on the deck, and the Captain was tied and gagged near the helm.
"They bandaged those of us that were bleedin' out, and then they grabbed our Captain, jumped over the side, and they were gone, quick as thinking. One of the fellers found the strength to hoist himself up on the gunwale, and he swears he heard them laughing as they disappeared over the horizon, running away the same as they 'ad come, only this time carryin' our Captain.
"That was the end of the Silver Sword Pirates. We were lucky that our doctor had passed out drunk before the fight. When he woke up, he was in a right mood from havin' to fix us up through his hangover, but he patched us enough that we were able to to jury-rig a couple'a sails before the Marines got there. An' after that? We foun' out that we were dead broke. The money was gone from the Captain's safe, and every last man had his pockets emptied. There wasn't a single Beri left aboard. So with the crew's spirit broke, no one to lead us, and no money to buy supplies when we made port, the only thing we had was a dozen barrels o' stolen booze. When that ran out, the crew broke up.
"Last thing we did as a crew was agree that them two must'a been real sea sprites. Fightin' sea sprites, they were. Kicked our asses an' emptied our pockets, but damn if they didn't look real cute doin' it."
As he finished his tale, the patrons of the bar were nearly silent in contemplation, quietly drinking.
Then the front door creaked open. "Well it's nice to hear that we made an impression," said a clear female voice from behind the storyteller.
The man turned about, frowning in confusion. Until he saw the owner of the voice and her companion.
"GAAAAAAAAH!"
His eyes nearly popped out, he dropped his bottle, ran straight through the wall of the building and pell-mell through the streets.
Smirking, Nojiko turned to the barkeeper and said, "A whiskey on the rocks."
"And a screwdriver," finished Nami, each of them slapping down a 1000 Beri bill.
"To the Silver Sword Pirates." "Long may they pay for our drinks."
~ Witch on the Waves ~
Once she had awakened her Haki, Nami quickly caught up to and surpassed Nojiko, being far more used to manipulating a mystical energy and having more spiritual power to begin with.
"So Armament: Hardening is covering your skin with a concentrated layer of Haki, spiritual energy focused by will." Nami held up a fist and scrunched up her face, and the fist started to darken before she released it.
"And Armament: Imbuement is filling and coating an object with Haki in pretty much the same way." She pulled out her sword and focused until it began to blacken in a flame-like pattern starting from the hilt.
"Imbuement is most often used with weapons," she continued, repeating what Crocus had said, "but it can technically be used with any object. Are there some materials that take to imbuement better than others? Is there anything that will react badly to spiritual energy or start deteriorating?"
Crocus shrugged. "Dunno, never thought of it."
Nami sighed. "Experimentation it is, then." And she smirked, getting up and walking down to the water.
Five minutes later, Nami was standing on the water, having imbued its surface around her with just enough strength to hold her weight.
"So cool!" shouted Nojiko, and she quickly stepped out from the dock to join Nami on the water.
Then Nami ran out of energy, and they both splashed down into the ocean.
Amused, Crocus stated, "When you've got your energy back we'll start using Observation and Armament at the same time."
~ Witch on the Waves ~
It was actually Nojiko who brought up Conqueror's Haki first, and it was in a way that utterly surprised Crocus.
"Hey Crocus-sensei," she asked, "if you can sense other peoples' intentions and emotions with Observation Haki, what about using your spiritual energy to influence them?"
"Can't be done."
"But what about Conqueror's Haki? Nami said that Conqueror's can be used to knock people out, doesn't that require influencing them in some way?"
Crocus stopped and stared at Nojiko.
"Huh. I never thought about it that way," he said at last. "I'm not sure. There are only a very small number of people born with the ability to use Conqueror's Haki. From what I remember, it's possible to either dominate or knock out people… and I guess animals, with Conqueror's. It does seem a lot like a mental attack."
"Well," said Nami, adding her thoughts, "everything about Haki seems to be powered by spiritual energy, so by extrapolation, Conqueror's should be powered by the same thing. You said dominate?"
"Yes, dominate. It's good for taming animals. It's more like intimidation when used on people. My understanding is that the whole knocking people unconscious and foaming at the mouth is just a stronger version of domination."
"Hey Nojiko. You can feel your spiritual energy when you focus like I told you, right?" asked Nami.
Nojiko nodded.
"And if you want to, you can put yourself in a mindset of a 'will to dominate', like when you're in a fight and you want to take out all of your opponents, right?"
"Yes."
Crocus grinned, "Question everything, huh? Let's see where this goes."
"So," continued Nami, "try focusing on your 'will to dominate', or maybe even 'will to conquer', and releasing a burst of spiritual energy through that focus."
Nojiko sat down and focused, while the other two used their Observation Haki to watch for changes in her aura. The first thing she managed to do was sort of expand her aura.
"Hmm, might be useful for expanding the range of Observation," said Nami calmly.
Next, she managed to gather some spiritual energy and release it in a sort of pulse.
"Eh, not sure what that would do. Maybe we could use it for Morse code? Kinda pointless if the enemy has a Haki user though," said Nami.
Dominate, conquer, thought Nojiko, I want to defeat my enemies and utterly destroy them. She used this thought to focus a pulse of spiritual energy and release it.
"Weak," said Nami. "I don't think you could even get a mouse to tremble with something like that."
Nojiko's eyebrow twitched. "Will you SHUT UP!" And she released a burst of energy with those words.
"EEP! Shutting up now."
Nojiko smirked. Very smugly.
"I don't believe it," said Crocus, unaffected by the burst, "You've found a way to train Conqueror's Haki. In fact, I think that burst would be strong enough to dominate most ordinary animals outside of the Grand Line. Now the question is, can anybody unlock it with this method or were you just born with it? Your turn, Nami."
"So what was it exactly you did? The burst of spiritual energy was part of it, but I know there was annoyance, anything else?"
"Yeah, will to dominate, conquer, destroy, defeat… subjugate."
"Hmm…" Nami thought of the similarities between this and the role of emotion in magic. "So basically, think of Arlong and how I felt about him?"
Nojiko blinked and nodded. "Um, Nami? Maybe I should hold your knapsack while you do this?"
Nami rolled her eyes but handed it over.
"Arlong?" asked Crocus. "Wasn't that one of the Sun Pirates? Why would Nami want to do something to him?"
"He was the strongest pirate in the East Blue for a while. Six years ago he attacked our village with his crew, built a base nearby and kind of ruled our island for awhile, killed some people we were very close to. The reason I asked for Nami's knapsack is because I'm worried about what will happen when she imagines dealing with Arlong."
"And you're speaking of him in the past tense because…?"
"Nami killed him. With these." And Nojiko reached in and pulled out Nami's Gatling guns.
Crocus whistled. "Sweet weaponry."
"Yup," said Nami, "Now imagine what will happen if I imbue the bullets with Armament. Then be quiet and let me concentrate."
"Shoe's on the other foot, sis!" chirped Nojiko. Then, as Nami closed her eyes and sank into meditation, she gulped, and took a step back. And another. Then she backed off about 10 meters and stood rigidly, bracing for whatever Nami was going to do.
Nami focused on Arlong and his crew. The insults. The forced map-making. The demands. The deception, taking the village hostage and trying to swindle Nami into making him a windfall. The arrogance and racism. She would have looked further back towards the Dursleys, but she was long over those feelings from her previous life, and Arlong was enough. Then Nami focused her will to conquer Arlong, gathered as much spiritual energy as she could, and released it in a burst.
The world seemed to ripple, and Nojiko swayed on her feet and sweated as the adrenaline hit. Fish in the nearby ocean passed out and turned belly-up.
"Scaaary," said Nojiko. She took a deep breath and said, "That was awesome, sis! My turn again!"
"Gonna think of Arlong yourself this time, right?" asked Crocus.
"Uh-huh."
This time, Nojiko also produced the ripple effect, though it didn't go as far as Nami's did.
"One question," said Nami, "Crocus-sensei, why weren't you affected?"
"Eh, I've fought both alongside and against a few Conqueror's Haki users in my time."
"A few? What the heck kind of crew were you on? You said you were a ship's doctor…"
"Not important! And it's my turn!"
Crocus didn't sit down. He just concentrated, narrowed his eyes and glared out to sea. It took him about five minutes before anything happened. When it came, the pulse went only about as far as Nojiko's, but it was intense. Nami and Nojiko barely stayed on their feet.
"Damn, Crocus-sensei!" "That was strong!"
"Hah! Take that, Rayleigh!" shouted Crocus, pumping his fist.
"Who's Rayleigh?" asked Nojiko.
"Just an old friend."
"Is he one of your old crewmates?" asked Nami.
"Can he use Conqueror's Haki?" asked Nojiko.
"Alright, time for more combined Armament/Observation training! Get ready, here I come!" And he grabbed his harpoon.
"Should we start looking up bounty posters from a hundred years ago?" asked Nami. "Yipes!" And she had to dodge the pointy end of Crocus's weapon.
~ Witch on the Waves ~
Crocus also helped them make friends with Laboon properly ("Use Observation Haki to understand his emotions and intent, and you'll figure out what he's talking about.") and showed them the passageways he had made in Laboon's body to heal him when he injured himself against the Red Line.
The girls laughed their heads off when they saw the painted inside of the whale's stomach.
"Now imagine what happens when a pirate ship comes down Reverse Mountain and gets swallowed by Laboon because they made him angry. They sail into his stomach, and… you should see their faces!"
That set off another fit of laughter.
After hearing the story about Laboon and the Rumbar Pirates, Nojiko asked, "Isn't he big enough to travel the Grand Line now?"
Crocus stumbled and fell flat on his face.
"And," added Nami, "if he wants to get back into the West Blue, is it possible for him to dive under the Red Line at Fish-Man Island? He's bigger than any Sea Kings I've heard of, so he should be able to cross the Calm Belt."
"I can't believe I never thought of that," said Crocus. "Let's go tell Laboon."
"HEY LABOON!" hollered Nojiko.
"BWOOOOOH?" (What's up?)
"Did you know there's a hole under the Red Line?" asked Nami, rhetorically.
"BwoooOOOOOH?!" (Really? Where?)
"Yes, if you travel from this end of the Grand Line all the way to the other, staying between the Calm Belts, you'll eventually hit the Red Line again! And in that area, there's a great big hole where you can swim under it!" explained Nami.
"BWOOoooooOOOH!" (What are we waiting for? Let's go!)
"Sorry boy, I'm too old and not strong enough to go with you. Maybe we can find you a nice pirate crew to help you navigate," said Crocus, sadly.
"Bwooooooh?" (Are you sure?)
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Bwooooo-WOOOOOH!" (Then I'm staying here!)
"You're staying here? But what about the Rumbar Pirates? They're your friends!"
"BWOOOOOOOOOH." (You're my friend too.)
"Well," said Nojiko, "then it looks like there's only one option. We have to teach Laboon Haki so he can actually smash through the Red Line!"
"Mmm-hmm! Good plan," declared Nami.
"BwoooOOOOH?" (What's Haki?)
Crocus gaped. "You're both crazy, you know that? Utterly nuts."
"What are you talking about? This is the Grand Line."