"Armament Tekkai."
The coating was thin and the color a little pale, and it covered only a patch of his abdomen, but there was no mistaking that sheen or that density.
Everyone saw it. Doll, who fought almost purely with body techniques herself, lit up, eyes glued to her "master teacher," Ozz. So he had not lied yesterday. He said he would teach Haki, and he was teaching Haki.
"Not bad, one of mine. I am satisfied, Vergo."
He pitched it for Vergo's ears alone. The praise made Vergo almost glow. To be commended by Ozz himself was an honor.
"My honor, Lord Ozz."
The answer was soft. The kick was not. Ozz's foot thudded into the newly hardened abdomen, power and hardness piled together. The first bloom of Armament kept Vergo from the brink, but he still went limp and out cold.
Liking a student did not spare him a goodnight kick. It was tradition.
Even so, it was enough to change how people looked at him. That rookie Vergo had survived Ozz. Even with Ozz holding back, that was a badge of pride.
No one called Vergo weak. They marveled at how fast Haki had come.
Officers who had crossed fists with him only weeks ago stared, rattled. That Vergo had grasped the power of Haki. The same Vergo who had arrived here at Marineford shoulder to shoulder with them.
In the Navy, anyone who truly grasps Haki rises to rear admiral at minimum. Work a little harder, push Haki to the next tier, and you belong among the vice admirals, the ones sent to hold entire seas.
Some officers never cross that threshold in a lifetime. Today they watched a miracle.
Five kicks, and Armament was in hand.
What could be more outrageous. The road to a general officer's strength ran right before them.
Doubt felt like a dream, but facts sat on the floor with Vergo's crumpled form. Ozz's "get hit" method worked.
"Next."
He waved a medic over to bandage Vergo and smiled the calm smile of a famous teacher. Satisfaction warmed his chest. It felt good to play instructor, to watch students glow with excitement even as they got beaten half to death.
Hands shot up everywhere. They were ready to risk it all to grow stronger.
Ozz had only asked for show. He had already promised Doll he would help her awaken Haki.
"You."
Doll snapped a salute and stepped out.
Facing her, all brisk poise and clean lines, Ozz softened a shade and crooked a finger.
"Come."
She locked onto him, this man who was almost a friend, and did not allow herself to relax.
"Do not you dare go easy on me just because I am a woman, Ozz."
She vanished with Soru rather than circle to his back, choosing a straight, blistering rush.
"Sonic Burst."
A flurry of lightning jabs and snaps aimed to overwhelm. It was Doll's own body-arts sequence, famous for speed and bite.
"Do not worry, Doll, it is the same for everyone."
Ozz used only bodywork and Observation, no fruit at all, and slid through the storm as if it were rain. At the last beat, his hand closed around her fist.
"Nani."
She tried to rip free. It felt like a hundred-ton chain. He did not move. He simply stood there, and the man in front of her loomed like a mountain.
Not only in height, in presence.
"Your bodywork is good, Doll. Your grasp of the Six Powers and your live hands are both solid. But."
Black-red lacquer wrapped his knuckles. There was no leering appreciation, only a teacher's severity.
"Only Haki sits above everything else."
He did not knock her out. The punch to the gut still turned her eyes white. A bitter splash wet Ozz's cheek.
She staggered back three steps, clutching her stomach, staring at the man who had shared easy jokes with her an hour ago. Now she felt the trench between them, deep as a trench at sea.
Ozz did not give her air. Pressure piled on. He slid, arrived, and swept a patient kick across.
Doll dropped into a backbend and barely slipped it. He had not fully opened Observation, and even so her reflex earned a nod.
She seized the beat. From that deep bend she planted both palms, shot both long legs straight up for a split-jaw counter aimed at his chin.
He slipped that too. Her legs flowed on, looped his neck, and clamped down in a tight scissor.
"What a tempting pose."
He read her intent at once. The neck is fragile, the legs are strong. Catch, twist, dump. Against most people it ends the fight in a breath.
Not against Ozz. Doll did not know that his monstrous strength could meet a scissor with a neck alone.
He did not budge. Her thighs carved and tightened. Nothing. He even had room to lift his foot, Armament crawling over it, and send a clean, mean kick her way.
A cold spike ran up her spine. She released, rolled hard on landing, and slipped the kick by a hair.
"This feeling."
"Useful, right."
"There you go. Observation Haki."
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