Observation Haki!

Since Will had gotten into One Piece relatively late,

he had skipped through most of the early East Blue chapters.

That was why he had held a little hope for Clown Buggy, the future Four Emperors, a man some people suspected of deliberately hiding his true strength.

Unfortunately, after interacting with him,

Will decided that Clown Buggy really was weak.

The man had been wrongly accused. There was no such thing as him hiding his strength.

Rather than believe Buggy was concealing his abilities for no reason,

Will would sooner believe he had some kind of extraordinary luck that let him escape danger at critical moments.

"If he really is lucky,"

"then Buggy, who was just blasted away, might survive after all."

Will turned to look in the direction Clown Buggy had flown, deep in thought.

Still, he wasn't particularly concerned about it.

He already knew exactly how much of a Buggy Clown Buggy was, so there was no need to investigate further.

Setting those thoughts aside,

Will turned to look toward the stairwell.

Carina and Nami, who should have been standing there, had already vanished.

All that remained was one of Buggy's hands, tied up with rope and unable to move.

Will wasn't surprised.

He had already noticed the two women slipping away while he was distracted during the fight.

He hadn't stopped them because everything was still under his control.

Will strolled to the edge of the rooftop and raised his voice, calling out to the area around him:

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

With that, he turned and walked to the stairwell, picked up Buggy's bound hand and hung it from his waist, then headed downstairs at an unhurried pace.

He looked as if he didn't care whether the two women had heard him or would do as he said.

Meanwhile, in the shadows beside the wall of another building next to the tavern,

Nami and Carina were standing cautiously with their backs to the wall.

At Will's words, they instinctively exchanged glances, both astonished.

"That's strange. How did he know we were standing by the wall, hiding in the shadows?!"

Nami was baffled. She couldn't figure out how he had found them.

Carina, however, seemed to have thought of something. Her expression turned uncertain:

"I can think of one possibility."

"But if I'm right, 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 keep them guessing. She considered it for a moment, then explained:

"I'm not completely sure. I only heard about it once."

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

"That ability is called Haki."

"Haki is divided into three types. One of them is called Observation Haki, and it lets you sense the exact positions and distances of enemies around you."

"I've even heard that Observation Haki lets you sense and dodge every attack before it happens, making you practically invincible."

"Considering the abilities Will showed earlier, I can't help thinking he's probably already mastered this power called Observation Haki."

"Observation Haki?!"

The idea of something as legendary as a Devil Fruit made Nami feel as if it couldn't be real.

She had roamed the East Blue for years and had never met or even heard of anyone with an ability like Haki.

But she had already seen a Devil Fruit with her own eyes, even though that sounded even less believable, so it wasn't all that strange that a special ability like Haki existed too.

"Sigh..."

After weighing her options, Nami couldn't help letting out a sigh. Her tone was complicated as she said:

"Fine. If he's probably already found us, then let's do as he says and find the Sea Chart to the Grand Line first."

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

Nami had gotten a rough idea of Will's personality, and she didn't think he was the sort of man who would go easy on women.

"Yeah. For now, that's our only option."

Carina nodded slightly, having reached the same decision. Then she turned with a smile:

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

"You told me so much about the Buggy Pirates earlier. You must know more about the Sea Chart than I do."

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

Nami gave a little snort but didn't argue. She stepped out of the shadows and headed toward another building nearby.

Knowing there were bound to be plenty of treasures inside, she quickened her pace.

Carina followed behind at an unhurried pace, a hint of amusement in her eyes.

A short while later,

Will emerged from the tavern with a large bag of clean food and drinks from the kitchen, carrying it over his shoulder and dragging it along with one hand.

He happened to see Nami and Carina walking toward the tavern.

Each of them was carrying a bag bigger than herself.

The bags bulged all over, their uneven surfaces giving way to several strings of jeweled gold chains poking out of the openings and gleaming in the sunlight.

They also had several small bags tied around their waists, which were clearly filled with all sorts of treasures too.

Seeing them, Will couldn't help marveling once again at how strong people in the One Piece world were.

The two girls could easily carry things that looked incredibly heavy.

And neither of them seemed to be struggling much.

"Let's go. Back to the ship."

Seeing the two women approach with delighted expressions, Will didn't ask whether they had found the Sea Chart to the Grand Line. He simply turned and started walking as he spoke.

"Sure." Carina and Nami hurried to catch up.

The three of them strode openly through the town's streets, as if they weren't worried that any pirates would dare come out and stop them.

Woof—woof, woof!!!

But just then,

a loud, clear bark suddenly rang out from nearby.

The three stopped and looked together in the direction of the sound.

A little dog, covered in dust and looking rather ordinary, came running around the corner.

After getting a little closer, the dog stopped and kept barking at them from where it stood, its gaze firm.

"Huh? Why is there a dog here?" Nami looked surprised.

Carina speculated, "Maybe its owner was in such a hurry to flee town that they forgot to take it along."

Will said nothing. He simply listened quietly to the dog's barks.

He seemed to sense a strong feeling of gratitude from it.

He remembered feeling something similar around certain beasts in the past.

Like that lion just now, which had beaten up one of its companions to curry favor with him.