One-Punch Man in the One Piece World

49. 'Granfour'

"Every island on the Grand Line follows a certain law and possesses magnetic energy."

Crocus drew a wavy line on the sand with a twig and then added a few dots on the line.

"In other words... as long as the magnetic connection between the islands is recorded using the log pointer, it is possible to travel along this invisible line to the next island."

He looked up at Norton and the others sitting around him, the branch in his hand stopping at a certain point.

"On this ocean where one's location is uncertain, the only thing one can rely on is the magnetic record indicated by the compass needle. Without it, even the best ship and the most experienced navigator will get lost."

Crocus crouched down again and pointed to the starting point with his finger: "Although you can choose any of the seven magnetic belts extending from this mountain to sail at the beginning, no matter which island you reach first, these magnetic belts will eventually connect to form a route."

"Once a route is chosen, it cannot be changed."

The tree branch slowly glides from the starting point to the finish line.

"We can only follow this route, going from island to island until we reach our destination."

"Speaking of which, Bucky should be your partner, right?"

Crocus suddenly put down the branch and looked at Norton. "He should know these basic things. Didn't he tell you?"

"Bucky?"

Nami was stunned.

Does Bucky know this flower-loving uncle?

She thought back carefully—she had never heard Bucky mention having any acquaintances on the Grand Line.

That red-nosed guy talks about the East Blue all day long. When he occasionally mentions the Grand Line, he just curses and grumbles about some "red-haired bastard".

Crocus dusted the sand off his hands, stood up, and looked at Norton: "The newspapers said Bucky is now your subordinate. Where's he? I thought he would have come with you."

"Want to catch up?"

Norton smiled and turned to look at Sanosuke, who was standing in the shadow of the rock. "Go and call Buggy over."

"Yes, King."

Sanosuke nodded in agreement, then turned and strode quickly toward the parking area.

The fleet was too large, so for convenience, Norton had all the wounded gathered on a hospital ship beforehand.

Bucky was not injured, and his ship, the "Bucky," was positioned in the middle to rear of the fleet, some distance from the shore, making it impossible to see what the people on the shore were doing.

Therefore, Bucky had no idea who Norton and the others were talking to.

When Sanosuke jumped onto the deck of the Buggy, several pirates were repairing a sail.

The deck was wet, clearly having just been rinsed.

"Where's Bucky?"

"Captain Bucky is sleeping!"

A pirate who was twisting a rope looked up.

"Are we about to leave, Lord Sanosuke? Should we wake him?"

"Yes, King needs to speak with him."

The pirate immediately dropped what he was doing and scurried into the cabin.

A moment later, Buggy rubbed his eyes, yawned, and followed Sanosuke out.

His hair was messy, and he was still wearing pajamas, clearly having just been dragged out of bed.

The two walked across the area where the fleet was anchored and stepped onto the makeshift wooden planks to reach the shore.

When Bucky squinted and saw Crocus standing under the lighthouse, he paused for a moment, then his eyes widened.

"Long time no see, Bucky."

Crocus laughed, "I didn't realize you'd grown so much."

"Uncle Crocus! It really is you!"

Bucky quickened his pace, moving closer as if to confirm this wasn't a hallucination. "What are you doing here? I thought you were..."

"I settled down at Twin Peaks after I retired."

Crocus said, "You haven't been back to the Grand Line in a long time, have you? Otherwise you should have known. I've even met Shanks, that kid's doing really well now."

"Don't mention that guy!"

Bucky's face scrunched up, his voice filled with disgust, "That bastard!"

"You two haven't changed at all after all these years."

Crocus shook his head helplessly.

"Bucky, Shanks had his reasons for doing that. He's always actually..."

"I don't care what the reason is!"

Bucky crossed his arms and turned to look at the sea.

"He's a bastard! I'll never forgive him in my life!"

Norton didn't interrupt their reminiscing.

He gestured for Sanosuke to go among the crew and ask who had the Log Pose, then beckoned to Funin, Nami, Crow, and Zeff.

The group walked to a slightly flattened rock and formed a small circle.

"Now that we've entered the Grand Line, we need to rethink our plans."

Norton got straight to the point.

"Wait, Norton!"

Nami quickly interrupted, took out a small ledger from her bosom, and flipped through a few pages.

"There's something I have to tell you—we're almost out of money! The remaining Berry can only last for another two weeks at most."

She pointed to the densely packed numbers in the ledger.

"Supporting a pirate crew of nearly three thousand people is too expensive. Food, fresh water, medicine, daily necessities... it's a huge expense every day."

"The treasure we stole from the Redbeard Pirates, the Noble Traveling Ship, and Arlong Park was almost all used up in Loguetown."

"Ship repairs, resupply, weapon purchases... none of these are cheap."

"We must find new sources of revenue!"

Nami closed the ledger, her expression serious. "Otherwise, let alone continuing the voyage, even eating will become a problem."

"Then rob it!"

Norton spoke so naturally, as if he were simply saying that the weather was nice today.

"Who should we rob? Where should we rob them from?" Fu Ning pointed out the key question.

"We don't even have a clear idea of ​​where we are right now, let alone how to find a target. Uncle Crocus said that the climate and seas of the Grand Line are too unpredictable, and blindly sailing around will only waste time and resources."

Zeff stroked his beard and said slowly, "On the Grand Line, the only thing that can indicate our direction is the Log Pose. Without it, we would really just be drifting aimlessly on the sea, let alone making a clear plan of action."

Zeff paused, then looked at Nami: "And there's something you might not fully understand—once you land on the first island, you can only follow that route; there's no turning back. Unless…"

"Unless what?" Nami pressed.

"Unless you get a permanent pointer."

"That's a permanent compass needle that points to a specific island, not restricted by shipping routes," Zeff said. "With it, you can freely choose your destination at sea."

"Permanent pointer?"

Nami's eyes lit up, then she clenched her fist in annoyance.

"Damn it! How could I, a navigator, only find out about something so important now! I should have asked sooner!"

At that moment, Sanosuke flapped his wings and flew back, landing lightly beside the group.

"King! Found him!"

Sanosuke took a spherical glass instrument out of his pocket and handed it to Norton.

The instrument contained three thin needles, one of which was trembling slightly and pointing in a certain direction.

Nami took the Log Pose, held it carefully in her hands, and examined it closely.

The glass ball has some wear on its surface, but its internal structure is intact.

She gently shook it and saw the trembling needle swing back and forth before stubbornly pointing back in its original direction.

"This is the Log Pose? So this is what it looks like!" Nami looked up at everyone. "We actually have one in our crew!"

"That's not surprising." Zeff stroked his beard. "While these things are rare in the East Blue, it's not unexpected that someone in our group of three thousand would possess them. The Norton Pirates have absorbed the fleets of several pirate crews; someone must have brought something back from the Grand Line."

Norton took the pointer back from Nami and weighed it in his hand: "Now that we have the record pointer, let's make a plan."

He grinned, revealing a smug smile: "My plan is simple: rob pirates, rob the wealthy, rob the navy!"

"First, we'll reach the next island marked by the compass needle, find out the situation, and then rob all the local tycoons and naval bases! If we run into pirates, we'll deal with them too!"

"That's insane!"

Fu Ning couldn't help but say, "They even rob the Navy? Most pirates would be running for their lives..."

"Of course we have to grab it."

Norton tossed the record pointer up and caught it again. "The naval base is full of ready-made weapons, supplies, and maybe even a treasure vault. Robbing them will save us the trouble and expense of procurement."

He gazed at the distant sea, his eyes filled with anticipation: "I actually hope they send some formidable figures to retaliate. It would be best if they sent that Garp too, so I can have some fun."

"There's one more thing..."

Norton turned to Funing, "Can you find a way to build our own intelligence network?"

It doesn't need to be too complicated; let's start with the fleet itself.

The islands along the Grand Line are scattered and information is scarce. If we could obtain some basic information, such as which islands are wealthy, the naval deployment, and the movements of other pirate crews, the operation would be much smoother.

Fu Ning pondered for a moment, her fingers unconsciously twirling the ends of her hair: "I'll give it a try... but it won't be easy. It requires reliable manpower and we need to establish channels for transmitting messages."

"Furthermore, we are too unfamiliar with the Grand Line, so we may not be able to gather any useful information in the early stages."

"Perhaps we could ask the people below."

Zeff suggested, "We have all sorts of people in our fleet. Maybe some of them have experience in intelligence work, or they know a lot about certain islands. Let's get a basic understanding first, and then slowly build the framework."

Norton agreed, then looked at Sanosuke: "Go again. Ask around on each ship if there are any skilled intelligence gatherers or familiar with certain areas of the Grand Line. Bring them over for a chat if they're willing to come."

Sanosuke nodded, turned around, and spread his wings.

After eating the Devil Fruit, his speed increased significantly. He could fly from one place to another in the blink of an eye, making him very suitable for running errands and delivering messages.

Meanwhile, Bucky and Crocus's reminiscing was also nearing its end.

Bucky's voice rose and fell, and occasionally you could hear words like "damn Shanks".

Krocas listened most of the time, occasionally responding with a chuckle.

At that moment, a low, mournful sound came from the sea.

The enormous whale Laboon finally stopped crashing against the red earth and slowly sank into the sea, with only part of its back showing.

It had several new wounds on its body, from which traces of blood were seeping out.

Crocus immediately picked up the medical kit at his feet—a badly worn wooden box filled with medicine bottles, bandages, and instruments.

"Let's stop here for now, Bucky."

Crocus patted Bucky on the shoulder. "I have to go treat Laboon's wound. That kid needs proper care after every bump, otherwise the wound will get infected."

"No problem! Uncle Crocus, need any help?" Bucky looked at the whale, then at the medical kit. "I have some people on my ship who know a little medicine..."

"No."

Crocus chuckled and shook his head, picking up the suitcase and heading towards the small boat moored to the shore. "Labu isn't very friendly to strangers, especially strange men. He learned his lesson when he was a puppy, and now he's very wary. I can go by myself."

He jumped onto the small boat, untied the rope, waved to Bucky, and then rowed towards the area where whales were rising and falling.

Baji stood there for a while before turning around and walking back.

As Bucky passed Norton and the others, he touched his red nose and muttered, "Um... thanks. I didn't expect to run into an old acquaintance here."

Norton simply nodded, his gaze still fixed on the direction Sasuke had left in.

At the rocky edge, Nami was still studying the recording pointer.

She tapped the glass surface lightly with her finger, watching the hands tremble slightly, and murmured to herself, "What will the next island be like?"

The sea breeze blows from both sides of the Twin Capes, carrying a salty and damp scent.

In the distance, Crocus's small boat had approached the whale Labu. He was looking up at the enormous creature and saying something, but his voice was carried by the wind and could not be heard clearly.

...

...

At dawn the next day.

With everything prepared, the Norton Pirates set sail again.

Along the way, we encountered a series of extreme and severe weather conditions!

Blizzard, gale, thunder, whirlpool...

Even if no one is at the helm, even for just a few seconds, the chaos could easily cause them to lose their way!

In this sea where the weak cannot navigate, the only thing one can trust is the logbook.

Everything else—wind direction, weather, clouds, waves…—is unreliable!

Nami, as a navigator, deeply felt this.

The Norton Pirates' twenty-seven ships nearly got separated!

Apart from the White Pearl, the other ships suffered from holes in their hulls multiple times due to their lack of sturdiness.

Nami could only direct the crew of the White Pearl to help on other ships.

Moreover, due to the turbulent waves, it was impossible to build a gangway, so they could only be carried across one by one by Sanosuke, who had the ability to fly.

The journey, which lasted only a day, felt as long as a year!

When everyone was exhausted, the outline of an island finally appeared on the horizon ahead.

"What a huge dead tree!"

"Is this Akishima?"

Norton, Funing, Nami, and the others arrived at the foredeck and looked around.

The island ahead is covered with towering, enormous birch trees, their branches bare, each several tens of meters tall and incredibly thick.

"This is 'Granfour'!"

"King! Should we stop the boat here and take a small boat over to scout out the situation?" Funing suggested.

Given the sheer size of the Norton Pirates, their hasty landing would inevitably cause panic.

"Alright," Norton nodded.

Send a few people to the island first to get a basic understanding of the situation; this will make subsequent actions easier to carry out.

"Wear more clothes! It's cold on the island!" Nami started rummaging through her clothes.

A dozen minutes later, Norton and his staff arrived ashore in a small boat.

Only Zeff and Sanosuke remained to guard the ship.

"Look! There's a town over there!" Nami suddenly pointed ahead.

In a relatively open area, at the foot of a huge withered birch tree, there is a row of Siberian-style buildings.