The small boat sails on a quiet sea. For the first time in a week, the sky is clear and birds are singing in the air. Sonic is on the deck, his arm resting on the railings. He shifts the position of his hand multiple times before finally lying down on the railing. He looks at the sky, watching the birds flying past the boat, and feels jealous. Rayleigh walks towards him.
"Something wrong? Looks like you don't really enjoy traveling at sea. Do you have seasickness?"
"No. I have slow-sickness. Can't this boat go any faster? Feels like we've been sailing for ten years." The old man laughs.
"We've only been at sea for thirty minutes. We'll arrive in a few hours. Besides, how fast is your boat anyway?"
"My boat? I don't have a boat."
"Then how did you get here?" Rayleigh lifts an eyebrow.
"I ran."
"You ran?"
"Yeah. It's so much better than… this." Sonic sighs.
"Sounds like you need to learn something important."
"A secret haki technique that I can use to defeat Blackbeard?" he says, jumping to his feet
"Patience." Sonic immediately lays back down. "Since this journey will take a while, why don't you talk about yourself? I want to learn more about you." Sonic sits on the railing, facing the man.
"I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. I like chili dogs and adventure. Do y'all have chili dogs here?"
"Don't think we do, unfortunately."
"At least there's some adventure in this world." Sonic looks at Rayleigh, whose expression doesn't change. "I thought you'd be surprised that I didn't come from here."
"I already knew."
"You knew?"
"Well, you and Amy don't look like the average mink. You're also pretty ignorant about the basic stuff of this world." Sonic nods in agreement. "You're from somewhere called Mobius, right? Guessed from you calling yourself the hero of Mobius."
"Yeah, there are a bunch of people like us there. Minks for you. There's this mad scientist called Eggman. He keeps trying to take over the world with weird machines. Unfortunately for him, I'm always there to stop him. But this time I… failed." Sonic looks at the ground.
"He took over your world?"
"No. He created a machine called the Eggrift that allowed him to open portals to other worlds. As we were fighting him, the machine exploded and brought us here because of me. I tried to stop it by destroying it. Looks like I made things worse. My friends are now in a foreign world, being hunted by dangerous pirates."
"This is why you're so focused on learning haki."
"I have to repair my mistake and save them," Sonic says, clenching his fist. Rayleigh smiles.
"Let's try something." Rayleigh makes a hand gesture for Sonic to come closer. "Sit down and cross your legs." Sonic does it, looking confused. "Now close your eyes and try to see and hear the voices around you."
"You want me to close my eyes and see?"
"Yes."
"Well, okay. Can't promise any good results. Try to see what exactly?"
"Raise your hand every time you sense a bird." Sonic tries to cheat and half-opens his eyes. A wooden baton crashes on his head.
"Eyes closed."
"How exactly am I supposed to see with my eyes closed?"
"Use your spiritual energy to sense everything around you." Sonic crosses his arms and sighs.
"Okay, let's do this. Bird, bird, where are you, bird?" he thinks to himself. "I think there are no birds—"
"Missed two." Sonic concentrates harder. Come on, let me sense a bird.
"Missed one."
Focus, Sonic, just focus.
"Missed three."
This challenge is impossible, he's gotta be lying.
"Missed two."
Sonic jumps to his feet. "There are no birds in the—" He suddenly sees two birds flying away. He turns to Rayleigh and sees him blindfolded, legs crossed on the ground. Sonic blinks multiple times.
"It's called Observation Haki. It allows you to unlock a sixth sense and perceive far more than with your eyes." Sonic stares at him, impressed.
"Missed four."
He turns and sees four birds in the sky. Man, this guy is no joke, Sonic thinks. He sits back down, crosses his legs, and tries again. Come on, Sonic, you can do this.
The wind caresses his body. The heat warms his skin. He feels the waves crashing against the boat. His friends are somewhere in this world he tries to sense them. There's something close. Real close. A giant body around 14.6 kilometers away. There's something else too. Something light in the sky, moving relatively fast.
"I think I got one," Sonic says, raising his hand. Rayleigh smiles.
"You're a pretty fast learner, but you still need practice." Sonic opens his eyes and sees three birds.
"Observation Haki, huh. Pretty cool."
"This type of haki can do a lot more than that. Just wait until we get there."
"We're close, aren't we? I felt it."
"You're a talented young man. Looks like I judged you right. A week will be enough for you to learn the basics of haki." Sonic grins, then wipes his nose with his thumb.
Hours later, they arrive at the island. Sonic jumps down from the boat. He looks at the small island with giant trees shaped like mushrooms. In the middle, three active volcanoes rise high.
"Welcome to Rusukaina Island. This place is completely uninhabited. No one will bother us," Rayleigh says, walking down the ramp.
"Cool."
"Except for the beasts roaming the island."
"Is it safe?"
"No. It's part of the training."
"So… do we start now?" Sonic asks, still looking at the environment.
"Patience, kid. First, you need to learn about the three types of haki." The old man starts walking into the jungle. "Follow me." Sonic quickly gets behind him. As they enter, savage eyes stalk their steps. The hedgehog looks around, feeling danger everywhere. He glances back and sees the boat slowly disappearing between the trees.
"As you learned before, there's Observation Haki. It allows you to sense things around you like a sixth sense, but also grants you the ability to feel the strength and emotions of people. Advanced users of this haki can briefly see the future."
"Woah, no way. Can you do that?"
"Yes. But it takes a lot of practice. If you manage to learn it, you could become a dangerous warrior. Combined with your speed, you could become nearly untouchable. So our training will be more focused on that."
"I can't wait!" Sonic says, doing a frontflip.
"The second type is Armament Haki. This allows you to create an invisible armor around yourself, increasing both your defense and your offense. With this haki, you'll be able to damage Logia devil fruit users like Kizaru." Sonic clenches his fists and grins.
"Finally," he says.
"The final type is extremely rare. It's called the Haki of the Supreme King." Sonic raises an eyebrow, intrigued. "Only one in a million people have this haki. You either have it or you don't. There's no training that can unlock it."
"What does it do?"
"It allows the user to assert their will over another person or animal. With a strong enough will, you can paralyze people or even put them to sleep."
"That's the thing you used on me."
"Yes."
"Do you think I have it?"
"I don't know, but we'll find out during the training process. So… are you ready to start?"
"More than ready," Sonic says with a grin.
"Good. Put this blindfold on."