"In the beginning, it works like this: you have to constantly pay close attention to your own spirit. Every single time you feel that unique sensation welling up, you must actively try to grasp it. After failing and trying enough times, you'll eventually learn how to retract and release it on command," Bardock explained patiently.
"However, that is merely the first step. At the start, Conqueror's Haki is an indiscriminate, area-of-effect blast that suppresses everyone around you. Your next goal is to train your focus. You need to learn how to consciously control the aura—to suppress only the specific targets you want, leaving everyone else untouched.
"Once you achieve that level of absolute control, you'll be ready for the final stage of training: Advanced Conqueror's Haki Infusion. When the time comes, I'll make sure you get plenty of hands-on experience."
As Bardock finished his lecture, a terrifyingly dangerous, wicked smile crept across his face.
A sudden, violent chill ran down Kid's spine. Without another word, the redhead hurriedly excused himself and practically sprinted away to the other side of the deck.
The subsequent voyage was unusually, almost suspiciously, peaceful. Bardock honestly couldn't understand it. Was the Navy completely blind? Why hadn't they dispatched any heavily armed fleets to deliver free experience points and high-grade Marine equipment to them? Couldn't they see how much Kid absolutely loved Captain Andy's premium weapons arsenal?
Surely the Navy couldn't be entirely ignorant of their movements, right?
And so, sailing without interruption, the crew gracefully passed the final days of the year 1509. The calendar officially turned to the year 1510.
They spent this highly significant New Year's Day anchored at a very specific location: Baterilla Island in the South Blue.
To the vast majority of people sailing the seas, this island was completely ordinary and unremarkable. But Bardock knew the hidden truth: this was the hometown of Portgas D. Rouge, the wife of the late Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. It was the exact island where Roger had spent the final, peaceful year of his life before turning himself in, and the birthplace of his only son.
"Captain, did the Pirate King really live on this boring rock for an entire year?" Kid asked, leaning against the railing and looking at the mundane port town. He couldn't spot a single thing that made the island special.
Naturally, Kid couldn't see the significance, because the person who made the island truly extraordinary had already passed away. Portgas D. Rouge—a woman who utilized sheer, unfathomable willpower to delay her own childbirth, carrying a baby for a full twenty months just to protect him from the World Government. She was an absolute legend in her own right. What other woman in history could actively force her body to halt childbirth through sheer love and determination?
"Kid, would the Captain ever lie to you?" Galdino sneered sarcastically, adjusting his glasses.
Galdino hadn't actively targeted Kid from the very beginning, but he had a very good reason to be completely fed up with the rookie. Ever since Kid awakened his Conqueror's Haki, the redhead had been aggressively trying to 'grasp the feeling' by randomly releasing untargeted blasts of King's Haki at all hours of the day.
As one of the crew members with the weakest baseline willpower, Galdino had been caught in the crossfire and violently knocked unconscious multiple times while just trying to drink his tea. On one particularly humiliating occasion, he had passed out while leaning over the railing and nearly plummeted into the ocean!
After that incident, Bardock explicitly banned Kid from practicing his Conqueror's Haki during the day, strictly limiting his training to the dead of night until he learned how to aim it.
"Bardock, are you really going to keep it a secret?" Perona floated over, pouting playfully. "Who is Roger's son?"
"The truth is so incredibly bizarre that just blurting it out would completely ruin the fun," Bardock chuckled, refusing to budge. "You'll all find out when we eventually run into him."
Internally, Bardock couldn't help but sigh. The entire situation was absolutely baffling. The Pirate King had a fiercely loyal crew, including absolute monsters like Silvers Rayleigh and Scopper Gaban, yet he chose to entrust his unborn child to his greatest enemy, Marine Hero Garp? It was an insanely massive gamble.
Did Roger actually want his son to become a Marine?
And to make matters worse, Garp's method of 'raising' Ace wasn't exactly stellar. He basically just dumped the kid with some mountain bandits and completely let him run wild.
"Hmph! Fine, be boring! I didn't want to know anyway!" Perona huffed, floating away in a huff since she couldn't pry the spoiler out of him.
That evening, the crew threw a massive, festive banquet on Baterilla Island, inviting many of the friendly locals to join in the celebration.
During the festivities, Robin quietly mingled with some of the older, heavily intoxicated villagers. Listening to their hushed, terrified whispers, she learned the horrifying truth of what the World Government had done to this island and the surrounding archipelago twenty years ago.
A chilling realization washed over her. The World Government's cruelty truly knew no bounds. In their frantic, paranoid hunt to eradicate Roger's bloodline, they hadn't even spared the innocent. They ruthlessly slaughtered pregnant women and executed newborn babies without a shred of hesitation.
Bombarding civilian evacuation ships on Ohara... systematically executing infants in the South Blue... hearing these atrocities only cemented Robin's ironclad resolve. She was more determined than ever to uncover the absolute truth of the Void Century. She had to expose the dark secrets this tyrannical organization was so desperately trying to hide.
A few days after departing Baterilla Island, Bardock finally realized exactly why the Navy had been completely ignoring them.
The World Government had been entirely preoccupied with a much more massive, politically catastrophic event.
"The Captain of the Sun Pirates... the Hero of the Fish-Men, Fisher Tiger... is dead," Robin announced, her voice heavy with sorrow as she handed Bardock the latest edition of the World Economy News Paper.
Bardock took the paper, his eyes scanning the grim headline. As he read the tragic details, he nodded slowly.
It happened exactly as he remembered.