Three days after setting sail, Kyle was still bothered by his bounty. He was carefully wiping his crude naginata with a soft cloth, muttering to himself, "One and a half million… one and a half million… I'm not even worth as much as a small Sea King. Do those Marine guys think my 'Exploding Phoenix Cry' was just some cheap special effect? They have no taste, they're blind!"
"Still worrying about that?" Rayleigh's voice came from beside him. He was leaning against the mast holding a book, but his gaze was clearly not on the pages.
"I'm not!" Kyle retorted automatically, before his shoulders slumped. "I just feel… my true worth and my handsome face are severely mismatched."
"Kuhahaha! So how much do you think you're worth?" Roger asked, walking over from the kitchen area. He was carrying a huge fishbone, having apparently just finished his breakfast.
Kyle puffed out his chest and held up three fingers. "At least thirty million Berries to start!"
Roger and Rayleigh exchanged a glance and then laughed in unison. Roger's laughter was loud and unrestrained, while Rayleigh's was a mix of helplessness and amusement.
"You've got big ambitions, kid," Rayleigh said, closing his book. He pushed his glasses up, and his expression became a little more serious. "However, a bounty is just the World Government's assessment of your threat level; it doesn't fully represent your strength. That attack of yours was indeed flashy, and its power was enough to scare off ordinary pirates."
He paused, and his tone sharpened. "But if your opponent is a true powerhouse, you might be defeated before you even get the chance to swing that weapon. In fact, your precious shockwave might not even be able to touch certain forces."
Kyle stopped wiping his naginata, a frown creasing his brow. "Certain forces?"
"Haki."
Rayleigh spoke the word, and the very air on the deck seemed to grow heavier.
"Every human in the world possesses this hidden power: 'aura,' 'presence,' 'willpower'… It's innate, but most people never become aware of it or learn how to draw it out. Haki is roughly divided into two types—no, it should be three."
He held up one finger. "The first is 'Observation Haki,' which is the power to strongly sense the aura of others. It allows you to perceive enemies outside your line of sight and even predict an opponent's next move. In fact, during your 'Loving Feeding' training, you were already unconsciously touching the edge of this power."
Kyle's heart tightened as he remembered the impossibly precise dodges he'd managed to pull off near the end of that training.
Rayleigh extended a second finger. "The other is 'Armament Haki,' which is what Roger tried to demonstrate a few days ago. It enhances your defense and offense, like wearing a suit of invisible armor. More importantly, it is the most effective way to counter Devil Fruit users. It doesn't matter if you have a Logia or a Paramecia ability; against a user with powerful Armament Haki, the advantage of your fruit will mean nothing."
Kyle's pupils contracted. He had known about the importance of Haki from his past life, but hearing it explained directly by the future "Dark King" Rayleigh gave him a completely different sense of gravity.
"As for the third type…" Rayleigh paused, glancing at the grinning, simple-minded Roger beside him. "That's the 'Conqueror's Haki.' Only one in a million people are born with it. It is the innate quality of a king, something that cannot be learned through training, only awakened by one's own will. So, you don't need to worry about that for now." 1
"Kuhahaha! Did you get all that, little Kyle?" Roger tossed the fishbone into the sea and strode in front of Kyle, his large frame casting a shadow like a mountain. "Want to add another zero to your bounty? Then you'd better learn how to take a beating first!"
Before Kyle could react, Roger's large hand produced a strip of black cloth from somewhere. "Here, put this on."
"What's this for?" Kyle asked, looking at the sweat-scented cloth with disgust.
"To train your Observation Haki!" Roger said, his tone leaving no room for argument as he tied the cloth firmly over Kyle's eyes, blindfolding him. "If your eyes and ears can be deceived, then don't use them! Use your 'heart' to see and to hear!"
Darkness instantly enveloped him, and Kyle's sense of security vanished. "Hey, hey, hey, you damn Captain, don't mess around!"
"Kuhahaha! Rayleigh, are you ready?"
"Anytime."
In the next second, Kyle's sixth sense screamed a warning! He could feel something rapidly approaching from both his left and right, accompanied by the sound of rushing wind. A surprise attack! Without a second thought, he instinctively leaned back, his body bending like a bridge.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
A piece of broken wood and a wine bottle flew past, almost grazing his nose.
"Oh?" Rayleigh's voice held a hint of surprise.
"Not bad!" Roger's tone was filled with excitement. "Then let's up the dosage!"
Kyle had just straightened up, not even having time to catch his breath, when the sound of objects cutting through the air came at him from all directions, like a sudden downpour.
"Hey! Hey! This isn't fair!"
He could only rely on that vague premonition of danger, dodging and weaving clumsily on the deck.
Bang!
He took a solid hit to his back that felt like being struck by a sledgehammer. It was a piece of the ship's anchor that Roger had thrown.
Thud!
His forehead was struck by a round object that bounced off—an apple from Rayleigh.
"You idiots! Are you trying to kill me?!" Kyle wailed, clutching his head.
"Kuhahaha! If you die from something like this, you've got no business being on my crew!" Roger's laughter was completely without sympathy.
"Concentrate, Kyle," Rayleigh's voice was as calm as ever. "Don't use your ears to track the sound, don't use your skin to feel the airflow, and don't use your Devil Fruit. You need to 'capture' their intention to attack you. That is an aura that cannot be hidden."
Intention? Aura?
Gritting his teeth in the darkness, Kyle forced himself to calm down. He stopped moving, standing as still as a wooden post, and tried to immerse his mind in the environment around him. The sound of the wind, the crash of the waves, Roger's breathing, the faint rustle of Rayleigh turning a page… none of those were what he was looking for. He was searching for that "killing intent," that aura with a clear direction.
There!
Back right!
Kyle suddenly took a sharp step to his front left. A wooden board crashed down with a whoosh right where he had just been standing, shattering into pieces.
"Very good," Rayleigh's voice sounded again.
A surge of joy shot through Kyle, but he didn't dare to relax. He could feel more "killing intents" lighting up all around him, like scattered sparks in the night, each one clear and deadly.
Left side, two of them!
Front, three!
And one right above my head!
Kyle took a deep breath, and his body began to twist and move in ways that would seem impossible to an ordinary person. He was like a piece of seaweed swaying in a strong current, avoiding every single attack with the smallest possible movements at the most extreme angles.
When the last orange grazed his ear and landed on the deck with a soft splat, the attacks finally stopped. Kyle was panting and covered in sweat, but a wide grin spread across his face. He ripped off the blindfold and looked at the messy deck, then at Roger and Rayleigh standing not far away, one carrying a barrel and the other holding a book. His eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Again!"
This feeling was incredible. The Observation Haki training lasted for the entire morning, only ending when Kyle was so exhausted he could barely stand. In the afternoon, just as he thought he could finally rest, the "teaching" of Armament Haki began.
"Armament Haki, simply put, is the materialization of your willpower, which you use to cover your body or weapon," Rayleigh explained, once again taking the role of the theoretical instructor. "It comes from a strong spirit and body. You use your will to mobilize and condense it. Imagine your body is a sword, and Haki is an invisible sheath that can both protect the blade and make your strikes sharper."
"Why waste time with all this talk?!" Roger interrupted impatiently, clenching his fist with a crisp crack. "Practice is the only way to learn! Come on, little Kyle, punch me right here!" He patted his arm, which was now covered in pitch-black Armament Haki.
Kyle looked at the arm, which looked harder than steel, and his mouth twitched. "No thanks. I'm afraid my hand would break."
"Kuhahaha! Then it's my turn!" Roger grinned sinisterly and threw a punch!
Shocked, Kyle instinctively brought his practice naginata up horizontally across his chest to block.
CLANG—!
A loud crash echoed across the ship. Kyle felt an irresistible force slam into the weapon. His entire body was sent flying back more than ten meters as if he'd been hit by a battering ram, and he smashed through the wooden door of the ship's cabin.
"Pfft—" A sweet, metallic taste filled his mouth, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. The webbing between the thumb and forefinger on both of his hands was completely torn and bleeding profusely. A clear crack had appeared on the shaft of the sturdy naginata.
"Did you feel it?" Roger asked, retracting his fist and grinning. "Your shockwave can break a ship, but it couldn't even push me back when I used Haki."
"Are you trying to kill me, you bastard?" Kyle struggled to crawl out of the wreckage, spitting out a mouthful of bloody foam. But his eyes were unusually bright. "Again!"
"That's the spirit!"
For the next hour, the deck was a scene of continuous, one-sided beatings. Roger wasn't using his full strength, but each punch was perfectly timed to make Kyle feel the piercing pain of Haki bypassing his defenses and striking his body directly.
"Armament Haki is often used on weapons," said Rayleigh, who had drawn his sword at some point. He instantly coated the blade in a layer of black Haki. He made no flashy movements, simply thrusting his sword forward in a simple, unremarkable way. The sword wasn't moving particularly fast, but Kyle felt every hair on his body stand on end. That blade held a sharpness that felt like it could cut through anything.
Kyle's pupils constricted. It was too late to dodge. He poured all of his spirit, all of his will, into the naginata in his hands, imitating Rayleigh, trying to imagine and condense that invisible armor!
"Harden… for me, damn it!" he roared, bringing his naginata up to meet the tip of Rayleigh's sword.
Clink—!
A crisp, almost ethereal sound of metal clashing rang out. Sparks flew.
The naginata in Kyle's hand… did not break. A few more cracks appeared on the blade, but it had successfully blocked Rayleigh's sword.
Kyle was stunned. He looked down at his naginata, then at Rayleigh, who had a calm expression on his face.
"In that instant," Rayleigh said slowly, withdrawing his sword, "you succeeded. It was very faint, but your will did indeed cover the weapon."
Kyle felt the blade humming in his hands and a strange sensation in his arms, as if he had become one with his weapon. His heart pounded uncontrollably.
"This… is Armament Haki?"
"Kuhahaha! Well done, Kyle!" Roger's large hand slapped him hard on the back, almost making him spit out more blood.
Kyle stumbled but managed to grin back, his smile probably looking uglier than a grimace of pain. At that moment, his entire body ached and his bones felt like they were about to fall apart, but an unprecedented sense of satisfaction and excitement surged from the deepest part of his soul.