The Importance of Sea Charts and Log Poses

Grand Line, City of Queen Spring

The harbor.

A steamship slowly pulled into port, and the passengers filed ashore. Amid the crowd, an unnoticed patch of shadow moved along with the flow of people. The shadow enveloped a tall figure, yet everyone around it turned a blind eye, as though it did not exist at all.

Dawn took a deep breath within the shadows, drawing the harbor's clamor into his lungs. He had lurked on Drum Island for a full half month before finally waiting for this passenger ship bound for the City of Queen Spring.

Using the power of the Yami Yami no Mi, he had successfully boarded in secret. Along the way, he had also thrown Wapol's corpse into the vast sea.

Dawn ignored the cheerful atmosphere hanging in the air. His aqua-blue eyes calmly swept over the crowds and the maze-like streets.

Like a silent ghost, he weaved through the bustling crowd before finally turning into an empty alley darkened by the tall buildings on either side.

Dawn carefully sensed his surroundings. After confirming that there was not another breath nearby, the darkness enveloping him receded like a tide and swiftly withdrew into his body. His tall figure was fully exposed to the air, and sunlight streamed in through the mouth of the alley, illuminating his handsome face.

He stepped out of the alley and merged into the crowd on the main street. Immediately, quite a few girls were drawn to him. His exceptional height, strikingly handsome features, and distinctive aura made him stand out like a crane among chickens.

They whispered among themselves, their eyes gleaming with amazement and curiosity. The men, however, looked at him far more complicatedly. Envy, jealousy, and even faint, barely perceptible hostility intertwined into an invisible net, trying to bind this overly dazzling outsider.

Dawn ignored those varied gazes. His objective was clear, and he had no interest in such irrelevant emotions right now. He moved between broad streets and narrow alleys, his sharp eyes searching the signs of every shop.

He needed to find a store selling Log Poses, or preferably, Eternal Poses. To sail safely across the unpredictable Grand Line, a compass that could guide his direction was absolutely essential.

He could not rely on irregular passenger ships forever. Ordinary passenger ships would never travel to places that truly hid secrets or danger.

Stopping a passerby who looked like a local, Dawn asked where he could find a shop selling poses.

After receiving the answer he wanted, he nodded his thanks and promptly headed in the indicated direction.

A quarter of an hour later, he stood before a pose shop that appeared quite legitimate. Without hesitation, he stepped inside. Various Log Poses and Eternal Poses for certain islands were displayed throughout the store.

He walked straight to the counter and directly stated his purpose to the elderly man behind it, who wore glasses and was polishing a pose.

"I need an Eternal Pose to Ohara, or a detailed sea chart. Do you have either?"

In this world, sea charts and poses were both indispensable for sailing. Although Dawn retained all sorts of place-name information from another world, he had no idea where those places actually were or which routes led to them. The original story had never explained the specific sailing routes in detail.

No matter what he intended to do on these seas in the future, detailed sea charts were his highest-priority necessity.

But he knew very well that an ordinary shop could never provide such things. Only Ohara, with the world's largest library and countless texts accumulated over more than five thousand years, might contain everything he needed.

Moreover, according to his memories, there were still several years before the Buster Call. There was still time.

The shop owner looked up, pushed up his glasses, and shook his head decisively without much thought.

"Ohara? I'm sorry, sir. I don't have one here. That place... I've heard it doesn't welcome outsiders, and its route is rather unusual."

At that answer, a trace of undisguised disappointment flashed through Dawn's eyes. He said nothing more, merely bought an ordinary pose for navigation, then turned and left the shop.

Standing at the entrance, he let the bright sunlight fall over him, but it could not dispel the gloom in his heart. Where could he find a pose for Ohara?

Other than these legitimate stores, what other places were most likely to have something like that?

He fell into thought, rapidly analyzing every possibility in his mind. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he spotted squads of Marines in white uniforms carrying out routine patrols along the streets.

Dawn abruptly slapped his forehead with a soft smack and silently cursed his own stupidity. How had he forgotten that? He had only considered obtaining it through legal means and instinctively overlooked the illegal route.

It seemed the ingrained habits of his previous life were still influencing him without his realizing it.

Having found a new direction, Dawn no longer hesitated. He stopped another passerby and asked for the location of the Marine Base.

After getting his answer, he swiftly slipped into another deserted alley. Once he confirmed it was safe, that profound darkness enveloped him again, and his figure completely vanished from the real world.

Concealed, Dawn avoided the streams of pedestrians along the way, moving swiftly and silently.

In a little over ten minutes, he arrived at the gates of the Marine Base on the outskirts of the city.

The base was heavily guarded, with armed Marines standing stiffly at the entrance. Yet these ordinary soldiers clearly had not mastered the advanced technique known as Observation Haki. They were completely unaware of this uninvited visitor before them.

Dawn was actually cautious as well. He had not come here without reservations. Ordinarily, a Marine branch stationed in Paradise had an extremely low chance of having members who had mastered Haki.

But that was merely a matter of probability. What if his luck was bad and he happened to run into an expert temporarily transferred from headquarters?

Fortunately, the worst-case scenario he had anticipated did not occur.

Dawn harbored deep disgust for the Marines, an organization that claimed to uphold "justice" but was, to a great extent, merely an instrument of rule for the world nobles, the Celestial Dragons.

In his view, aside from the very few members who still retained their original convictions and conscience, most of this organization consisted of obstacles that would have to be eliminated in the future. The Marines had likely played the role of accomplices in his own tragic past as well.

At the same time, however, he clearly understood that confronting such a colossal force head-on before he had sufficient strength would only bring about his own destruction.

At present, he had only begun developing the powers of the Yami Yami no Mi. Though his physical abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people, he had yet to systematically master Haki. He was nowhere near the point where he could act without restraint.

For one thing, if the Marines reacted and launched saturated fire coverage against him, his current level of mastery over the Yami Yami no Mi might not be enough to completely absorb and neutralize it.

The Yami Yami no Mi could indeed absorb and break down attacks, but its range and limits depended on the user's strength. Faced with dense firepower from every direction, he would likely be unable to cope and end up blasted to pieces.

The enemies he had encountered in the past had possessed nothing close to the Marines' level of organization and firepower.

Carrying that vigilance and his thirst for power, Dawn entered the Marine Base openly, like a true ghost.

He crossed the drill yard and passed the barracks. Neither the ordinary Marines nor the occasional low-ranking officers noticed anything unusual. He moved freely through the vast base, carefully searching for his target.

Half an hour later, he finally found a room in a relatively secluded office building with a sign that read, "Records Archive (Restricted)."

He observed carefully. The corridor outside was empty, and through the gap in the door, he saw no one inside either.

After confirming it was safe, he crept closer and used the darkness to subtly manipulate the lock's internal mechanism. He gently pushed open the door, slipped inside, and closed it behind him.

TO BE CONTINUED