When I woke up, I was lying in a familiar room.
Wait, this is the ship's infirmary.
"You're awake..."
"Captain!"
Daz and Robin's voices came from beside me.
Actually, they weren't speaking, for some reason, Perona's ghost was right next to me.
Is she out of her body?
I try to look over there, but...
"Hm? ... Hm, oh?"
Wait, my body won't move at all. Just trying to move my neck feels like my body weighs a ton.
My eyes can move, so I glance sideways to check the situation. It's not just Robin and Daz, Amis and Hack are there too...
"After maintaining such a high-speed battle for so long, you won't be able to move for a while."
..........
"Mihawk. You were on board?"
I was so scared I thought my heart was going to stop! What the hell are you doing here?!
"I couldn't keep one promise I made to you. I'm accompanying you to repay my debt."
"Promise?"
"Despite saying I'd spare your subordinates, I ended up injuring Robin, even if it was only lightly."
Looking closely, I saw that Robin had a bandage wrapped around her arm.
(...He must have lightly cut the arm Robin extended to attack, to stop her...)
"And there's something I want to ask you."
Saying that, Mihawk smiled.
...
You bastard! You're using Robin's injury as an excuse, aren't you?!
Look! Robin's onto you and glaring at you!!
"What are you talking about?"
"About what you did at the end."
Oh... I finally managed to do it too. By accident, though.
"Unfortunately, at that time, I was using all my focus on controlling my movements and tracking you, so I don't remember much."
"But you've been training to wrap yourself in Haki all this time. Otherwise, it would be impossible to start wrapping yourself in it, even vaguely, at your age."
"…Well, I have been."
Ugh, this is going to be a bit embarrassing.
It's going to be like I was practicing something I vaguely remembered from a manga.
"Everyone, can you step out for a moment?"
"As first mate, I refuse."
"..."
Daz, never mind him.
Robin, is it really okay to cut off the captain's words with just one word, or even one letter? Don't cry. Please stop tearing up.
It makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong.
Everyone else is shaking their heads too...
"Um, Captain. Leaving you here alone with this person, unable to even stand up or move a finger..."
He's not the kind of guy who would do that...
If Amis says so, then I guess there's no choice.
No, wait... then...
'Mihawk'
"What is it?"
"If you want to repay your debt, I have a request. That's the condition for me to speak."
If you're going to go out of your way to hear me out, you must see some value in me.
If that's the case, you should be willing to accept a small condition.
"...Depends on what it is."
"Teach my fighters how to use a sword."
If possible, teach them how to use Haki as well.
I still can't activate it properly yet.
"...Do you really think your crew would want to learn from the man who cut you down?"
"I figured you're not in a position to be making such demands anymore."
I was planning to gather at least a minimum group of allies in the West Blue before heading to the Grand Line, but then I ended up fighting the Worst Generation and the Seven Warlords, battling the naval regional headquarters, and challenging the World Government. Now I'm facing the world's greatest swordsman, someone like Zoro, who could easily be a Yonko-class final boss. The difficulty adjustment of my fate seems to be completely broken.
In a game, this would be game over by now. In a TRPG, even if you cornered the GM, it wouldn't be surprising.
Plus, there's Robin, and we need the strength to hold off any group that comes at us at any time.
"My fighting style is all self-taught from what I've observed. I don't have enough experience to train my own subordinates."
"So it's up to me?"
"What do you think?"
The Eagle's Eye, though he hasn't yet donned the distinctive cross-shaped sword or hat, is indeed the man who will one day stand at the pinnacle of swordsmanship. He glances at Daz and Amis, who are on guard.
I send him a look, and everyone nods in agreement.
"Alright. As for Haki, others are teaching you, so there shouldn't be any issues."
......
Wait, there's a Haki user on this ship right now?
I wouldn't be surprised if Hack knew about it, but he didn't seem to be using it.
So, could it be someone else who was captured along with the fishmen back then?
"So, what is it you want to ask?"
Never mind.
I can just ask Daz or someone else later.
Saying that, Mihawk slowly draws the sword from its sheath at his waist and shows the blade to me.
Daz and Amis reflexively go on guard, but Mihawk stops them with a gesture.
"...?"
Didn't you say in the original story that even a nicked blade is a swordsman's shame?
"It was from your final strike. If I hadn't deflected the tip, it would have broken."
.......
Me!!?
"As a result, your wound is shallow. It should have been deeper."
I'll beat you to a pulp!!?
"And that strike. My sword didn't even touch the Haki-wrapped blade. Yet it definitely collided. ...No, it was almost deflected."
What the hell is that?
I've seen Haki users clash before, like Doflamingo and Katakuri. They collided head-on, didn't they?
"…I don't know if that's related, but there's something I've been conscious of while practicing to master Haki."
Hm…
There's only one thing that comes to mind, something that feels similar.
"For you, who already uses Haki, this is probably old news, but Haki is ki. Especially Armament Haki."
Considering what lies ahead, we need Daz to master Haki at the very least, or the battle will be tough.
It's probably best to review it as an explanation.
"Imagine ki as armor wrapping your body, greatly enhancing your physical and weapon's offensive and defensive capabilities. No matter how much a Devil Fruit user changes their body, it can be perceived as a tangible entity. Is that correct so far?"
"Yeah."
Alright, I'll have to talk to the Haki user who's supposed to be on the ship later, but is that correct so far?
"That's why I'm incompatible with Haki. Fatally so."
Mihawk narrows his eyes.
Yeah, this was the part I was most worried about when it came to mastering Haki, Armament Haki.
"Haki, where believing in oneself directly becomes power, is utterly incompatible with me, who constantly doubts my own abilities. That's why I believed a clearer image was necessary to master Armament Haki."
"What kind of image?"
"Hmm... how should I put it?"
The balance adjustment between offense and defense in Hunter × Hunter, which was serialized in the same magazine... no, that's not it.
What I had in mind was—
"Imagine that Haki is flowing throughout your entire body, and then channel all the Haki from the parts you're not using into the areas where it's needed."
That's it. It's like the pinpoint barrier punch from that certain anime where a transformed spaceship saves the world with a song.
Even if your Haki is weak, you can imagine it piercing through an enemy's Haki defense.
So, the first thing that came to mind was a one-point-focus finishing move.
Basically, techniques like single-point concentration or armor-piercing moves are considered reliable against powerful enemies.
"So, was that the case back then too?"
"I wasn't even aware of it, but I probably was. That's the kind of training I've been doing."
At that, Mihawk burst into laughter, "Ha ha ha ha ha!"
What's wrong with you? A man laughing like that... I remember Zoro laughing like that when he decided to train with you.
"Perhaps you should be the one teaching them about ki? Why didn't you even tell your subordinates about its existence in the first place?"
"Everyone was still a novice in combat. Including how to handle their abilities. I judged that it was better to prioritize that first."
Saying that, Mihawk started laughing again.
But I couldn't even master ki myself and was still experimenting. How could I teach others with such incomplete knowledge?
And if I sent them into battle with only vague training, they might die before they even got started.
So it's more important to teach them survival skills before combat skills.
At least, that's how it is here.
"Ha ha ha. Alright... That was more interesting than I expected. Ah, leave the conditions to me. I don't know how many will be able to follow."
"I'll teach you everything I know about swordsmanship."
By the way, after returning to the island, for some reason I started training once a week.
Before I knew it, I was fighting Mihawk with all my strength every three days.
Why, why did this happen...?
Help me, please help me.