Observation Haki!

Since he got into One Piece relatively late, Will had skipped through most of the early East Blue arc.

That was why he still held a sliver of hope for the future Four Emperors, Clown Buggy—a guy some speculated was deliberately hiding his true strength.

But after a bit of contact, Will concluded that Clown Buggy was genuinely weak.

The guy was really being wronged; there was no such thing as hidden power.

Rather than believe he was hiding his strength for no reason, Will would rather believe Buggy had some kind of freakish luck that saved him at critical moments.

"If it really is just luck,"

"then Buggy, who got blown away, might actually survive."

Will turned his head toward the direction Buggy had flown off in, lost in thought.

Still, he wasn't all that concerned.

Since he'd already figured out Buggy's true caliber, there was no need to dig any deeper.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Will looked toward the stairwell.

Carina and Nami, who should have been standing there, were long gone.

All that remained was Buggy's hand, tied up and unable to move.

Will wasn't surprised.

He'd noticed the two women slipping away while he was distracted during the fight.

He hadn't bothered to stop them because everything was still under his control.

Unhurried, Will walked to the edge of the rooftop and raised his voice, calling out to the surroundings:

"You two, stop wasting time hiding in the shadows by the wall. Go find me Clown Buggy's Sea Chart."

With that, he turned, walked back to the stairwell, picked up the bound Buggy's hand, hooked it onto his belt, and leisurely headed downstairs.

He didn't seem to care whether the two women had heard him or would follow his orders.

Meanwhile, in the shadow of a wall beside another building near the tavern, Nami and Carina were standing cautiously against the wall.

Hearing Will's words, they exchanged a glance, both stunned.

"Strange, how did that guy know we were standing by the wall, hiding in the shadows?!"

Nami was baffled, completely unable to figure out how he'd noticed.

But Carina seemed to think of something, her expression turning uncertain:

"I can think of one possibility."

"But if it's what I'm thinking, then we can pretty much forget about escaping from him."

"Huh?" Nami asked curiously, "Why do you say that? What did you think of?"

Carina didn't play coy or speak in riddles. She thought for a moment and said:

"I'm not sure either, but I've heard about it before."

"Out on the seas, some talented people can master another special ability besides Devil Fruits."

"That ability is called Haki."

"Haki is further divided into three types, and one of them is called Observation Haki, which lets you sense the exact position and distance of enemies around you."

"I've even heard that Observation Haki can let you predict and dodge all enemy attacks, making you unbeatable."

"Combined with the abilities Will showed earlier, I have to think it's very likely he's already mastered this power called Observation Haki."

"Observation Haki?!"

This legendary existence, much like Devil Fruits, immediately struck Nami as unreal.

In all her years sailing the East Blue, she'd never encountered or even heard of anyone with a power like Haki.

But now that she'd seen Devil Fruits—which sounded even more unbelievable—with her own eyes, it wasn't so strange that Haki existed too.

"Ah..."

Nami weighed her options, couldn't help sighing, and said with a complicated tone:

"Forget it. Since he's probably already spotted us, we might as well listen to him and go find the Grand Line Sea Chart first."

"After all, I don't want him to find me and just toss me into the sea."

Having gotten a sense of Will's personality, Nami didn't think he was the type to go easy on women.

"Yeah, for now, that's all we can do."

Carina nodded slightly, having made the same decision in her heart, then turned with a smile on her face:

"Then you lead the way, Little Thief Cat~."

"After hearing you talk so much about the Buggy Pirates earlier, you should know more than I do about the Sea Chart's whereabouts."

"Hmph, Female Fox, follow me. The Sea Chart should be hidden in that warehouse over there, along with the treasure."

Nami gave a light snort without arguing, stepped out from the shadow of the wall, and walked toward the neighboring building.

Thinking there was still plenty of treasure inside, her pace quickened a few more steps.

Carina followed unhurriedly behind, a hint of a smile flickering in her eyes.

A moment later.

Will emerged from the tavern's back kitchen, carrying a large bag of clean food and drink slung over his shoulder, dragging it out with one hand.

He ran straight into Nami and Carina walking toward the tavern.

Both of them were also carrying bags bigger than themselves.

The bags were lumpy and bulging in places, with a few gold chains and jewels poking out from the openings, glinting in the sunlight.

And both had several smaller pouches tied at their waists, clearly also stuffed with various treasures.

Seeing this, Will couldn't help but marvel again at the average physical strength of people in the Pirate King world.

These things, which looked extremely heavy, two young girls could easily carry.

And they didn't even seem to be struggling much.

"Let's go, back to the ship."

Seeing the two women approach with joyful expressions, Will didn't ask whether they'd gotten the Grand Line's Sea Chart. He simply turned and started walking, speaking as he went.

"Yes." Carina and Nami quickly hurried to catch up.

The three of them strolled boldly down the town's streets, as if they had no fear of any pirates daring to block their way.

Woof—woof woof—!!!

But just then.

A clear, loud dog bark suddenly rang out from not far away.

The three stopped in their tracks and looked toward the source of the sound.

They spotted an unremarkable little dog, covered in dust, running out from a nearby corner.

After getting a bit closer, the dog stopped, stood its ground, and kept barking at them, its gaze looking very determined.

"Huh? How is there a little dog here?" Nami's expression was surprised.

Carina speculated thoughtfully, "Maybe its owner fled the town in a hurry and forgot to take it along."

Will said nothing, just silently listened to the dog's barks.

From them, he seemed to sense a clear feeling of gratitude.

He remembered having a similar feeling before when encountering certain wild beasts.

Like that lion earlier, which had beaten up its companion to curry favor with him.