【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Is it okay? Kid, choose Whiskey Peak for these two guys." Crocus reminded, "You can only choose the route at the starting point."

"No problem. If you don't like this route, we can just go around it." Luffy said with a smile. He stood up from the table and walked towards Merry.

"I see..." Crocus had a gentle smile on his face.

"Goodbye, Uncle Hana." Luffy waved to the uncle on the Twin Cape while standing on the boat, and then said goodbye to Laboon.

Crocus stood there, watching the Straw Hat Pirates slowly disappear on the horizon. "Maybe... they are the pirates we've been waiting for... Roger."

……

On the other side, after more than half a month of sailing, Lucci and Ace docked on an island in the first half of the Grand Line. There were three huge mirror balls on the island, which were made of glass of various colors. The locals were also very welcoming. Although it was because they concealed their pirate identities, they still decided to rest here for a night.

Even though they were rushing on the road, trying to catch up with Teach, they eventually lost him. Teach was very careful and kept his whereabouts secret. He even called himself Blackbeard from the beginning. He and Ace learned about his current title, Blackbeard, from the island he destroyed while tracking him.

In the pub downstairs from the hotel, Ace turned to look at Lucci who was sitting next to him and asked with concern, "Are you feeling better, Lucci?"

"I think you've asked this question many times, Ace." Lucci said helplessly, "It was a long time ago."

"Hahaha, really?" Ace laughed and scratched the back of his head "Okay, then where do you think Blackbeard will be?"

Lucci thought about the information he had collected in the past two days and replied, "I don't know where he is now, but when we infiltrated the navy yesterday, I found some information. He appeared in Alabasta. We can go there and maybe get some information."

"Yeah." Ace nodded, then thought of Luffy should have entered the Grand Line, and couldn't help but grinned, "Maybe we still have a chance to see my brother."

"How to do it?" Luffy asked with a smile.

"Maybe we can leave a message on the islands we pass by?" Ace said, "He may pass by those islands at some point. According to his sailing time, he should be in the first half of the Grand Line now."

"Maybe you can leave a message telling him that your next stop will be Alabasta," Lucci said with a smile.

"But I'm not sure if his route will pass through Alabasta." Ace sighed.

"But it's worth a try, isn't it?" Lucci said with a smile, "You should know your brother very well, so this method is very feasible."

"Right!" Ace was happy and grinned, "I know Luffy, he won't miss any adventure."

"In that case, let's set off for Alabasta tomorrow." Lucci said with a smile.

After a few days of travel, they arrived at Drum Island first. On their way to Alabasta, they heard that Blackbeard had appeared here, so they decided to go to Drum Island first.

Drum Island has an impressive drum-shaped mountain range and it snows all year round, so it's so cold that it makes you want to curse.

But when they talked with the local villagers, they learned that Blackbeard had indeed stayed on the island and destroyed the Drum Kingdom, but they were too late. After Ace left a message for his brother, they quickly set off again for Alabasta.

……

A pirate ship with a sheep's head is sailing quietly on the calm sea, heading towards Whiskey Mountain.

"Ah!" Screams were heard from the moving boat.

Qi was helping Usopp awaken his Observation Haki and kept hitting the blindfolded Usopp with a wooden stick.

"Will this really work? Qi!" Usopp was about to collapse. During the voyage, Qi had been making them cover their eyes to avoid sudden attacks.

"Luffy awakened in the same way." Qi said with a smile, "This is very simple for a great sniper like you."

Zoro and Sanji can basically dodge most attacks. With more training, they should be able to awaken their Observation Haki. However, it will take some time to awaken their Armament Haki.

Nami's main responsibility is to be a navigator, and the practice of Observation Haki and Armament Haki is secondary. Usopp mainly wants him to awaken Observation Haki. After all, as a sniper, awakening Observation Haki will be more beneficial to him. As for Armament Haki, it can only be said that there is still a long way to go.

However, if you want to awaken faster, it is best to have a life-and-death battle. Fighting is the best way to stimulate people's potential. It is even possible to suddenly awaken Armament Haki or Observation Haki during the battle.

……

"Why do I have a bad feeling?" Nami murmured to herself while looking at the bright sky outside. Sure enough, her feeling was right. After a while, heavy snow suddenly began to fall from the sky and the temperature dropped instantly.

"Hey, is it snowing?" Usopp asked. If it snowed, would he not have to practice? He was glad in his heart because the training was too strict and he really didn't want to be lazy.

"Yes, it's snowing." He looked at the sky in surprise. It was sunny just now, but now it suddenly started snowing heavily. In just a few minutes, the deck was covered with a thick layer of snow.

"boom!"

"What? Who is it? A sneak attack!" Usopp turned his head left and right and shouted angrily. He just felt someone throwing a snowball at him. Although it didn't hurt, he was still in training, and the person who attacked him was taking advantage of his misfortune.

"It's snowing, take a rest first, Usopp." Qi said helplessly. Luffy was obviously eager to play in the snow with Usopp.

"Great." As soon as Usopp heard what Qi said, he immediately took off his eye mask and looked around, trying to find the person who attacked him. He looked at Luffy who was making a snowman and immediately threw the snowball in his hand at him. "It's you, Luffy!"

"what!!"

The people who were shoveling snow and playing snowball fights stopped what they were doing and looked at Nami who rushed out of the kitchen in confusion.

"Hurry, turn the boat 180 degrees!" Nami shouted in horror.

"What's wrong?" Luffy and Usopp asked confusedly, holding snowballs in their hands, "Why are we going back?"

"I don't know when our ship turned around and went back. I clearly didn't even glance at the record pointer." Nami said in disbelief.

"It seems that you have been fooled by the waves." Mr9 said gloatingly.

"The sea here is like this. No matter the wind, the sky or the waves, nothing is trustworthy. The only thing that can be trusted is the unchanging direction of the recording needle." Ms. Wednesday joked.