He sat with one leg crossed over the other, leisurely reading the newspaper in his hands.
Seeing Reno and the others approach, the old man raised an eyebrow.
"Who are you people?!"
He spoke without expression.
Even faced with the strange combination of one man and six women, the old man showed no reaction whatsoever.
Having weathered countless storms, there was little left that could surprise him.
Gentle Kaya took the initiative to step forward.
"Hello, sir. We're from the East—"
"My name is Crocas."
Interrupted, Kaya looked a little embarrassed, but she still nodded politely.
She continued, "Grandpa Crocas, may I ask where this place is?!"
At that, Crocas's voice suddenly rose several notches. "Before someone answers your question, shouldn't you introduce yourself first?!"
"You youngsters are getting more and more rude these days."
Nami's temper flared instantly. She stepped forward. "We're the Reno Pirates from the East Blue. I—"
"This place is called Twin Cape, and I'm the Lighthouse Keeper here."
Interrupted again, Nami immediately bared her sharp white teeth and snapped, "You stinky old man, aren't you the rude one here? Can you let people finish talking?!"
Seeing silver Electric Arcs beginning to flicker around Nami, Crocas finally fell silent.
Reno, who had been watching the show, smiled and finally stepped forward.
"I'm Reno, captain of the Reno Pirates."
"I've heard of your name, Crocas."
Hmm?!
Only then did Crocas shift his gaze to Reno.
Reno walked over with a smile. "If I remember correctly, there was also a ship's doctor named Crocas aboard Pirate King Roger's ship back then."
"More importantly..." Reno glanced at Crocas's head. "The two of you even have exactly the same hairstyle."
What?!!
Pirate King Roger?!
Ship's Doctor Crocas?!
All the women froze.
This infuriating old man was actually the doctor from Pirate King Roger's crew?!
Hearing Reno accurately identify him, Crocas, who had been expressionless until then, suddenly smiled.
"To think there are still youngsters who can recognize me. Looks like you came prepared."
"Come on. Let's talk in my cabin."
Roar, roar.
Roar, roar.
Just then, a deep, low cry suddenly rang out.
"What was that sound?!" The women's expressions changed slightly.
Crocas, who had been calm just moments ago, suddenly tensed and sprang to his feet.
"It's Island Whale Laboon," Reno said casually.
"It's that huge?!!"
The women all looked toward the source of the roar, and then they saw an enormous whale over four hundred meters long.
Even the small portion exposed above the water was as large as a mountain.
Then they watched as the massive whale began violently ramming the Red Line.
This strange behavior aroused everyone's curiosity.
"Does it have so many wounds on its forehead because of this?!!"
"That's right." Crocas nodded with a grave expression.
He then returned to the cabin, took out a powerful tranquilizer, and quickly entered Laboon's body.
Whenever Laboon became emotionally unstable, he used this method to calm him down.
Although it only treated the symptoms rather than the root cause, it minimized the harm Laboon inflicted on his own body.
Once the injection entered his body, Laboon slowly calmed down.
Although he stopped moving, mournful cries and sorrowful wails still echoed from his mouth.
"What happened to Laboon?!!"
Seeing Crocas return, Makino asked with concern.
What could have driven Laboon to keep ramming the Red Line despite the pain in his body?
Crocas sat down again and told everyone a story about Laboon's Past Events.
"So that's what happened."
After learning the whole story, the women all sighed. They had not expected Laboon to be so loyal and devoted.
But the outcome was truly heartbreaking.
"It's already been so many years. The Rumbar Pirates are probably long since..." Nami's words came to an abrupt stop, but everyone understood what she meant.
More than fifty years had passed. If those people were still alive, they would have returned long ago.
"Sigh..." Crocas sighed helplessly. How could he not understand that?
"So, as you just saw, whenever Laboon is about to ram the Red Line, I inject him with tranquilizers to calm him down."
"But even so, it only delays the inevitable."
Everyone looked again at the scars crisscrossing Laboon's head. The sight was truly painful.
"Actually, someone from the Rumbar Pirates is still alive."
Healing Power Shows Its Might! A Thief Discovered! (Please Support with Data)
Roar.
Laboon let out another roar, as if he had understood Reno's words.
His round eyes rolled as he looked toward Reno.
"Someone from the Rumbar Pirates is still alive? Is that true?!" Crocas was astonished.
He had once used his network of connections to investigate, but he had found nothing.
In the end, he could only let the matter go.
"That's right." Reno nodded firmly. "But before I tell that story, Nami, Kaya, go heal Laboon's wounds first."
Nami immediately created a small Island Cloud and carried Kaya to the front of Laboon's head.
Looking down from above, they saw densely packed, crisscrossing scars everywhere. Old and new wounds overlapped, and some places were even still bleeding.
Kaya's eyes reddened. How much must that have hurt?
Nami controlled the Island Cloud as it slowly approached until it was right against Laboon's head.
Kaya stretched out her small hands toward Laboon's head, her voice exceptionally gentle. "Be good, Laboon. It won't hurt anymore soon."
A gentle force surged from Kaya's palms, enveloping an injured area atop Laboon's head.
There was no helping it. Laboon was simply too large.
Under the Healing Power, the scars in that area visibly shrank until they disappeared completely.
It looked exactly the same as the skin on the rest of Laboon's body.
"This is!!"
Crocas sprang to his feet at the sight. For the first time in decades, ripples appeared in his long-calm heart.
He stared in disbelief at the flawless patch of skin atop Laboon's head.
"Kaya is a Devil Fruit User," Reno explained from beside him.
Crocas nodded. It was roughly what he had guessed.
Only a Devil Fruit could possess such miraculous power.
He seemed to think of something and continued asking, "Can her Devil Fruit Ability cure any disease?!!"
"That's right. Any disease." Reno had already guessed why Crocas was asking.
"Good." Crocas nodded heavily.
"If I had possessed this power back then, the captain wouldn't have died."
Reno did not respond. He knew Crocas was unwilling to accept that someone like Roger had died from illness.
But there were no ifs in life.
(Roger had turned himself in to the Marines because he had an incurable disease, so it wasn't entirely wrong to put it that way.)
"Reno, could you heal Laboon completely before you leave this place?!"
Reno was taken aback. "Wasn't that the plan?!"
"It may delay your journey. With that little girl's stamina, it will probably take several days to completely heal Laboon." Crocas looked somewhat troubled. After all, he and Reno had only just met and had no real relationship.
Reno's expression turned strange. "Why don't you take another careful look?"
Confused, Crocas looked at Kaya again.
At that moment, Kaya was disregarding the drain on her strength in order to ease Laboon's pain sooner. Fine beads of sweat had already formed on her forehead.
But suddenly, a white light enveloped Kaya's body.
The next second, Crocas discovered in amazement that Kaya's stamina had actually recovered.
Her energetic appearance was completely different from how drenched in sweat she had been a second ago.
"Damn!!!"
For the first time, this well-traveled old man cursed.
What kind of Devil Fruit was this overpowered?!
It could even remove the body's negative effects?!
"Heh." Crocas immediately laughed at himself. "It seems I was the ignorant one."
"Reno, tell me about the Rumbar Pirates."
Laboon, who had been enjoying the Healing Power all this time, responded as well.
Reno nodded and slowly recounted what had happened back then.
More than fifty years ago, the Rumbar Pirates had just entered the Grand Line. But because the path ahead was perilous and unpredictable, they left Laboon at Twin Cape to avoid any accidents.
They also promised Laboon that they would definitely return in three years and take him with them to travel around the world.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.
During their voyage, the captain of the Rumbar Pirates unfortunately died of illness. The other crew members were ambushed by enemies in Thriller Bark and were ultimately wiped out.
Only Brook, who had eaten the Revive-Revive Fruit, was able to bring his soul back through his Devil Fruit Ability.
Unfortunately, by the time he returned, his body had already become a pile of bones.
And now, for certain reasons, Brook was trapped in Thriller Bark and unable to leave.
After hearing Reno's account, Laboon let out an excited low roar for the first time.
It turned out that his former companions had not abandoned him. An accident had happened, and they simply had no way to return.