For the next two or three days, Ortoren didn't leave Whole Cake Island and never saw Charlotte Linlin again.
In fact, aside from Perospero and Katakuri, he didn't see any of his other "siblings" by blood—not even Cracker made an appearance. It was as if Charlotte Linlin had no intention of introducing him to the rest of the family. From what Katakuri had told him, it seemed only a handful of people even knew who he really was.
But Ortoren didn't find anything odd about Charlotte Linlin staying out of sight.
The Big Mom Pirates seemed pretty busy at the moment. With Shiki's looming threat of war, she had her hands full.
And unlike most pirate crews with their rough, chaotic ways, the Big Mom Pirates were moving toward becoming a nation. As the Queen of Totto Land, Charlotte Linlin had countless responsibilities to handle each day.
Not that Ortoren wanted to see her anyway. He was completely hooked on the massive library inside the castle!
Most of his knowledge about this world came from what he remembered from his past life and some of the stories his old man had shared since he got here. He never thought much of it, but after a few conversations with Katakuri during their travels, he realized he was clueless about a lot of the basic stuff.
For example, he knew the seas were divided into the four cardinal directions—East Blue, West Blue, South Blue, and North Blue—along with the Grand Line, which was split in two by the Calm Belt. The first half was called "Paradise," and the second half was the "New World."
But that was about it. He knew the names of a few islands and which seas they were in, but he had no clue about their actual locations.
So the moment he found out that Charlotte Linlin had a massive library stocked with all kinds of knowledge, Ortoren moved right in!
Now, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of a bookshelf, surrounded by stacks of books, Ortoren was fully immersed in one of them, reading intently.
He had even set up a small square table in front of him, with a notebook on top. Whenever he came across something important, he'd jot it down.
From the front, you could see the title of the book in his hands: Haki: From Beginner to Burial.
The title was sketchy, and the content was all over the place. It started with the basics of Haki and progressed to more advanced levels, covering Armament Haki, Observation Haki, and even Conqueror's Haki, with some surprisingly insightful takes.
By all rights, it should've been an incredible book. But it was also riddled with completely unrelated nonsense—like "Whitebeard's secret lover," "Kaidou probably has a crush on Linlin," "That bastard Shiki always wants to crap on my head," "I suspect Captain John's treasure is buried somewhere around here," "How to change Katakuri's diapers," "Linlin's fourth husband has a bad temper," "Could Gloriosa be convinced to make me the son-in-law of Amazon Lily," and more.
The reason it was such a mess?
The author wasn't some professional scholar—it was the legendary pirate, Rocks D. Xebec.
Yes, that Rocks D. Xebec. The leader of the Rocks Pirates...
Ortoren had stumbled upon the book that morning and, driven by his curiosity about the infamous and mysterious Rocks—and his own obsession with mastering Haki—decided to open it.
And just like that, the image he had in his head of Rocks as a mysterious, powerful, cold-blooded, cruel tyrant was completely shattered.
Judging by how much gossip he spilled, the fact he had the free time to write a book, and that he actually included all that gossip in it, Rocks might have been powerful—but deep down, he was probably just a clown!
"Is there no one normal in the D clan?" Ortoren muttered after finishing the in-depth section titled How to Change Katakuri's Diaper.
Once he skimmed past all the random nonsense, the book finally returned to its main topic—an explanation of Haki.
To be fair, Ortoren wasn't unfamiliar with Haki. He'd had some exposure to it already. In fact, he currently wielded both Armament Haki and Observation Haki. As for the so-called Conqueror's Haki, he wasn't sure whether he had it or not. At the very least, it hadn't awakened.
That kind of power came down to fate—if you had it, it was innate and would awaken naturally. If you didn't, there was no begging or training your way into it.
The reason Ortoren had learned two types of Haki was thanks to his old man—a pirate with a bounty over 100 million, active in the New World!
It was common knowledge that Haki might be rare outside the New World, but within the fiercest seas, anyone daring to sail those waters likely had at least some command of it. Even Marine grunts stationed in the New World could generally use Armament Haki.
But Ortoren's father wasn't exactly book-smart, nor did he have the patience or skill to be a proper teacher. He also wasn't among the top-tier fighters and certainly wasn't known for Haki mastery. So the Haki training he gave Ortoren was only slightly above the basics.
Because of that, Ortoren knew how to use Haki but lacked real proficiency. Now, reading Rocks' insights—someone at the top of the food chain—truly opened his eyes. Every few minutes, he'd find himself thinking, So that's how it works? or You can do that with Haki?
According to Rocks, the mastery of Haki was "30% destiny, 70% effort."
Although anyone could train in Armament and Observation Haki, Rocks argued that, in essence, they were still somewhat linked to Conqueror's Haki, which was purely talent-based.
Some people were simply born highly attuned to Armament Haki. They could grasp it easily and improve rapidly. The same went for Observation Haki.
Ortoren gave it some thought and recalled a few examples—one being the legendary pirate Red the Aloof, also known as Red Count Patrick Redfield. His Observation Haki was said to be so advanced that he could hear the voices of people's hearts. And it wasn't something he developed over time—it was innate. Even Rocks praised Redfield's Observation Haki highly in the book.
Ortoren had never met Redfield, but he did know someone else with innate talent—Katakuri.
According to Katakuri, he had been extraordinarily perceptive since childhood. Now, his Observation Haki was on the verge of evolving to the next level.
These days, Katakuri could occasionally use it to "glimpse the future," and Ortoren knew well that, eventually, Katakuri would make that ability a constant—able to predict the future through Observation Haki as a matter of course.
As for Armament Haki, one of the talents Rocks admired was Marine Admiral Zephyr. He might not have been as famous in Ortoren's previous life as Garp or Sengoku, but in this book, Rocks held Zephyr in high regard.
After all, Zephyr earned the title "Black Arm" and rose to the rank of Admiral—known as one of the "highest combat powers"—purely through martial prowess and Haki, without relying on any Devil Fruit abilities. That kind of talent in Armament Haki was no joke.
He was even called the "Admiral Who Doesn't Kill," subduing enemies without ever taking their lives. That level of control and power only further proved how formidable he truly was.
A few pages later, Rocks elaborated on the "70% effort" part.
While it was true that Armament and Observation Haki had certain talent thresholds, they weren't high. Rocks believed that even someone with average talent could push past their limits through relentless daily training and eventually catch up with the so-called "gifted."
That's what he meant by "70% effort." In Rocks' own words:
'Haki is the fairest power the sea gives to everyone. Whether you're born with brilliance or as ordinary as they come, to reach the peak of this path, you need patience and unwavering focus. The starting points may differ, but the destination—anyone can get there.'
...
(50 Chapters Ahead)
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