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"You want to teach me Haki?"
In the living room, Kyoma looked at Rayleigh in surprise, his voice filled with excitement and disbelief.
While the three of them had been drinking and chatting, Rayleigh had learned that Kyoma had promised Uncle Neil he would go to Dressrosa to rescue his wife and daughter.
He'd suddenly proposed teaching Kyoma how to use Haki.
"Haki? What is that? Why do you need this old gambler to teach you?"
Uncle Neil's eyes flickered with curiosity.
Although he'd traveled to the New World several times as a shipwright, he'd never fought anyone, so he had no knowledge of Haki whatsoever.
But looking at Kyoma's serious expression, it was obvious that "Haki" was no simple matter.
Moreover, Kyoma actually needed Rayleigh's guidance.
Could this old drunkard, who always lost money at the casino, actually be a strong person?
"You can think of it as a fundamental ability required in the New World. With it, you can better fight against Devil Fruit users."
Kyoma tried to explain it as simply as possible, though his eager eyes remained focused intently on Rayleigh.
As everyone knew, the protagonist Luffy in the original story had learned his Haki from this very man.
It was also the solid training established by Rayleigh that had allowed Luffy's strength to grow exponentially every time he encountered a "new enemy boss" after entering the New World.
Of course, plot armor might account for most of that growth, but Kyoma had absolute confidence in the teaching abilities of the protagonist's teacher from the original work.
Rayleigh didn't respond immediately.
He simply raised his wine glass to his lips and took a slow sip.
After a moment, when he set the glass back down on the table, a red light flashed across his eyes.
Kyoma's body trembled suddenly.
An inexplicable pressure burst from Rayleigh's body like a powerful gale striking his face.
It caused cracks to appear in the wooden window frames and made the furniture shake violently.
Uncle Neil noticed the trembling scene throughout the house.
Thinking a window had been left open and wind was blowing in, he complained and rushed to close it.
He wasn't affected by the pressure at all.
But Kyoma, who had been looking directly at Rayleigh, was completely enveloped by this overwhelming force.
Or rather, this pressure was directed specifically at him.
It felt like facing a king who stood above all living beings, someone before whom others couldn't help but kneel in worship.
In an instant, Kyoma felt his mind receive a heavy blow.
His soul seemed to wail, as if he might faint at any moment.
'This is [Conqueror's Haki].'
The [Conqueror's Haki] of the Right Hand of the Pirate King, "Dark King" Silvers Rayleigh.
After recognizing what was happening, Kyoma clenched his teeth hard.
His eyes grew firm as he used all his strength to prevent his body from collapsing under this fierce pressure.
As if sensing Kyoma's unyielding will, a powerful aura suddenly burst from his own eyes.
Under the pressure of Rayleigh's presence, it rose steadily.
With the two auras constantly clashing against each other, Kyoma finally regained control of his body.
He didn't speak to end the test Rayleigh had initiated.
Instead, under Rayleigh's admiring gaze, he withstood the pressure and slowly stretched out his hand.
With considerable difficulty, he grabbed the wine bottle on the table and poured it into Rayleigh's glass.
A full glass.
Not too much, not too little.
Not a drop missing, not a drop spilled.
Kyoma returned the bottle to its place and smiled with effort.
"Rayleigh-san, am I qualified?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Rayleigh laughed.
"Hahaha, Kyoma, you really have awakened this power!"
Rayleigh suddenly picked up the wine Kyoma had poured, drinking it down with satisfaction.
The room suddenly returned to normal, as if nothing had happened, though the cracked window frames and slightly shifted furniture highlighted how extraordinary the moment had been.
At least Uncle Neil finally noticed.
"This... this is Haki?" His mouth trembled as he stared at the altered environment with horror.
He couldn't imagine that two people sitting perfectly still could affect the windows more than ten meters away and even crack their frames.
If that pressure had been directed at a person, wouldn't it have been able to shock them to death directly?
"To be precise, that was one of the three types of Haki: [Conqueror's Haki]. It's an ability that only one in a million of people can awaken."
Rayleigh explained with a smile, though a hint of nostalgia flickered in his eyes.
'Another young person who's mastered [Conqueror's Haki].'
'It seems the seas now are truly as you wished, Roger.'
He then spoke up.
"Kyoma, your [Conqueror's Haki] is still in its initial awakening stage. You haven't yet reached the point of using it at will, but don't worry. From now on, just practice with me once a day as we did just now, and you'll be able to master it rapidly."
"Every day?" Kyoma, who was lying sprawled in his chair and breathing heavily, showed a look of despair.
After the [Conqueror's Haki] clash with Rayleigh, he felt as if his body was completely exhausted.
He didn't even have the strength to stand.
The physical exhaustion was manageable.
The most painful part was that his spirit had also been drained after the confrontation.
This feeling was like pulling an all-nighter at an internet cafe in high school, then returning to the classroom early in the morning to sit through four consecutive math classes.
He suspected that if he closed his eyes now, he'd fall asleep in less than a minute.
If he had to do this every single day, Kyoma would be in agony.
"Yes, every day."
Seeing Kyoma's distress, Rayleigh's smile grew even brighter.
In his eyes, the two most talented young people he'd encountered in recent years were Luffy and Kyoma.
Their completely different personalities reminded him of his crew's two former apprentices, Shanks and Buggy.
However, setting Luffy aside for now, Buggy's talent was far inferior to Kyoma's.
Rayleigh, lost in reminiscence, looked particularly peaceful.
A smile played at his lips like that of an ordinary gray-haired old man sipping wine and recalling the past.
But in Kyoma's eyes, this scene looked more like a scheming old man thinking of ways to torture his future student.
Kyoma's heart sank.
Just as he opened his mouth to protest, Rayleigh said something that made him even more desperate.
"After the daily practice of [Conqueror's Haki], the next step will be [Armament Haki] and [Observation Haki]. [Armament Haki] mainly depends on you finding opponents to practice against, preferably wild beasts in the mountains. As for [Observation Haki], that will require a little help from me."
"What kind of help do you mean?" Kyoma swallowed hard.
He remembered the scene from the anime when Rayleigh had taught Luffy Haki.
'No way. He's not going to take out a stick and make me cover my eyes while sitting on the ground trying to dodge his attacks, is he?'
'Hey, hey, hey, I'm not Luffy with his ridiculous pain tolerance!'
"You'll find out soon enough…" Rayleigh smiled mischievously.
****
Klee knew she was in trouble again.
When she and Kagura had arrived at the beach and thrown all the bombs from her backpack into the sea, a very fast ship had rushed over and happened to enter the minefield they'd set up.
Klee's bombs weren't ordinary explosives.
To show off in front of her new friend, she'd taken out her most prized creation and even poured all the Pyro elemental power she could control into it.
And when Klee had used her ability, she'd discovered that in this world, perhaps because of the abundant fire elemental energy, her ability to guide the fire element in the air was even stronger.
So these bombs were definitely the most powerful ones she'd ever made.
BOOM!!!
The sound was as loud as thunder.
The entire Sabaody Archipelago shook twice from the impact.
The seawater boiled and created a massive wave dozens of meters wide and high.
The slave ship that had been blown to pieces also flew into the sky.
As the water splashed down, the tens-of-meters-high seawater transformed into a torrential downpour that suddenly rushed toward the entire harbor, submerging many ships docked at the edge of the sea.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
The people from the slave ship finally landed at that moment.
After recovering their senses and realizing their ship had been destroyed, the guards aboard shouted in panic.
The slaves bound by chains seized this opportunity to escape.
They crawled to shore and fled into the island.
The people who had been at the harbor first heard a deafening explosion, followed by the invasion of the sea.
Then they opened their eyes to see a large group of people rushing toward them.
Suddenly, convinced that pirates were invading again, they didn't care about anything else.
They threw away their belongings and ran.
For a while, the entire port descended into chaos, and the turmoil continued expanding into the city.