Section 1: The Bewitched Navigator
“Hey, Carina?”
Moge quickly noticed something was wrong.
Carina was holding the treasure map, her expression unusually blank.
Her eyes stared straight at the parchment without even blinking.
She repeatedly muttered words like “treasure,” “gold,” and “riches,” completely failing to hear him.
His heart tightened.
He reached out and gently patted her shoulder, calling her name again with a louder voice.
But Carina still didn’t respond, acting as if she had lost her soul.
All her attention was completely sucked in by that yellowed treasure map.
Her muttering grew quieter, and her eyes became increasingly hollow.
Moge didn’t hesitate any longer.
He reached out and snatched the treasure map directly from her hands.
“Huh?
What’s wrong, Moge?
Is something the matter?”
The moment the treasure map was taken away, Carina suddenly snapped back to her senses.
Her eyes gradually regained their clarity.
Looking at Moge’s serious expression, a hint of confusion appeared on her face.
She asked naturally, as if her recent lapse in concentration had never even happened.
Moge frowned, clutching the map tightly.
He asked gravely, “Don’t you remember what just happened?
You were staring intently at the map and muttering to yourself.
I called you several times, but you didn’t respond at all.
You looked like you lost your soul.”
“Really?
I didn’t feel anything strange.” Carina scratched her head and thought back carefully.
“Just now, when you gave me the map, I looked at it for a bit.
Suddenly, a lot of glittering treasures appeared in my mind.
A blurry voice kept telling me to come quickly and get the riches.
I must have zoned out without realizing it.”
“Just like that?” Moge’s brow furrowed even deeper.
“Or does it only affect the person looking at it?”
He didn’t think about it further.
He turned and handed the map to Kuro beside him, instructing seriously, “Kuro, take a look at this map.
Be careful and watch for anything unusual.”
Hearing this, Kuro nodded solemnly.
He took the map and began to examine it.
Being cautious and meticulous by nature, he deliberately slowed down, keeping a constant eye on his own state.
But after looking for only a few seconds, he was completely immersed in it.
Moge confirmed that there was indeed something strange about this treasure map.
Kuro’s eyes instantly became hollow, and his lips twitched slightly as he began to mutter, as if responding to something.
His expression was exactly the same as Carina’s earlier.
Even when Moge patted him and called his name, he didn’t respond at all.
His entire being was trapped inside the map.
Seeing this, Moge immediately reached out and snatched the treasure map from Kuro’s hand.
Section 2: The Power of Haki
It wasn’t until the map was pulled away that Kuro suddenly snapped back to his senses, taking quite a while to regain his composure.
He looked at Moge and said seriously, “Captain, there’s something wrong with this map.
While I was looking at it, a blurry voice appeared in my mind too.
It kept urging me to go treasure hunting and mentioned something about lost riches.
I fell into it without realizing.
That voice is full of enchantment.”
Moge thought for a moment and said, “Both of you fell into it, yet I don’t see any problem when I look at it.
This thing must be the creation of a Devil Fruit ability user.
The reason I’m unaffected is because of Haki.”
Toniel asked in confusion, “A creation of a Devil Fruit ability?
Does having Haki mean you won’t be affected by those kinds of powers?”
Seeing everyone looking at him with confusion, Kuro’s eyes were also full of bewilderment.
Clearly, he didn’t even know what Haki was.
Moge then explained Haki to them, finally concluding, “To put it simply, strong Haki can ignore the influence of Devil Fruit abilities to a certain extent.” He paused and added, his tone becoming a bit more serious, “But this isn’t absolute.
The stronger your Haki, the better you can resist Devil Fruit abilities.
Otherwise, you’ll still be affected.
You must remember, Haki is the foundation of everything.
There are many strange types of Devil Fruits in the sea.
Only by possessing powerful Haki can you truly ignore everything.”
Everyone nodded seriously upon hearing this.
Especially Kuro, a look of realization dawned on his face as he silently took Moge’s words to heart.
His interest in Haki grew, and he decided he must learn it from Moge later.
Section 3: The Nature of Devil Fruits
Moge said no more and placed the treasure map directly into the seawater.
To everyone’s surprise, the map remained completely intact.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of it being soaked or damaged, and even the markings on it remained perfectly clear.
“It’s confirmed.
This is definitely the creation of a Devil Fruit ability.
If it were ordinary parchment, it would have rotted long ago after being soaked in seawater.
How could it be perfectly fine?”
“Can’t even the sea dispel this ability?” Carina was still a bit confused.
“Aren’t ability users afraid of seawater?
Why is this okay?”
Moge explained, “Ability users are afraid of seawater because it makes them lose their strength and turns them into hammers who can’t use their powers.
But that doesn’t mean their active abilities disappear.”
Whether it’s the sea or Sea Stone, the effect is the same.
They can’t turn an ability user back into a normal person, nor can they dispel an ability that has already been activated.
They only make the ability user feel weak and restrict them from actively using their powers.
Just like a Spring-Spring Fruit user, even if they fall into the sea, their body is still a spring.
They just can’t actively contract, expand, or activate their movements.
Of course, there are also powerful people who can ignore this situation.
In the grand scheme of things, strong users can still stretch their limbs in the sea without any problem.
Furthermore, objects created or infused with powers by many ability users aren’t easily dispelled by seawater.
Some ability creations can even last for ages.
Even if the user dies, the power left on the object won’t disappear and will remain exactly as it is.
Section 4: Heading for the Grand Line
“I see!” Carina nodded and then said, “Then what’s the point of the ability user who made this map?
Why make something just to trap people in that state and urge them to find it?”
Kuro said in a low voice, “No matter what their purpose is, this map is too dangerous.
Let the Captain keep it for now.
No one else should touch or look at it.
I just took a quick glance, and many of the characters on the map are ones I’ve never seen before.
They look like they’re from some ancient country or an ancient script that once existed in history, which makes it impossible to decipher.
If others see it, they’ll still fall into the state we were just in.
It’s too dangerous.
If no one is around to wake them up in time, they might really lose their souls forever.”
Moge nodded in agreement.
“Indeed, I’ll keep it for now.
Also, I took a rough look at the markings on the treasure map.
The location should be in the Grand Line.
Once we sail to the Grand Line, we’ll go check that place out.”
There has never been an ability on the sea that can absolutely control people.
If there really is, it only means one’s own Haki isn’t strong enough.
Just like the absolute legends of the world, even with powerful abilities, they couldn’t control the strongest warriors of the past.
In the final analysis, it’s because their Haki was ridiculously strong, enough to resist the influence of all abilities.
And the ability user who made this treasure map is clearly not that strong.
His ability can at most confuse and induce people; it can’t truly achieve total control.
The danger level is actually not that high.
“With my own Haki, I can completely be immune to this kind of confusion, so there’s naturally nothing to worry about.”