Chapter 89: Observation Haki and Lightning-Nature Chakra
In the scorching prison cell, two skeletal prisoners stared at Pirate Ren Arakawa's back, their shock mingled with a fair bit of curiosity.
After Magellan left, the two immediately sidled closer.
"Kid, do you not even know how you got in here?"
Ren Arakawa had no intention of dealing with them. He walked straight to a corner, planning to recover some strength before figuring out a plan.
"What a pitiful guy," the more emaciated, skin-and-bones prisoner said, shaking his head. "Tossed in here for no reason. Once you're in, it's for life. Your best years will be spent right here."
The slightly less skeletal prisoner pursed his lips. "That's just how this world is. Who cares what you did? As long as the people up top are happy, they'll lock you up."
As they spoke, Ren Arakawa grew a little curious himself. "Then how did you two get in here?"
This question opened the floodgates. The healthier-looking skeleton pointed at his own nose. "I'm a great pirate with a bounty of sixty-three million seven hundred thousand Berry! They call me U'er Bennett, Lord of the Evil Seas!"
The other, more haggard-looking one also introduced himself with great pride, "Heh heh, I am Hake Carlson, the King of Extreme Evil—bounty eighty million Berry!"
"We were both kings in our own seas! The World Government had to expend a great deal of effort just to capture us!"
Hake Carlson looked at Ren Arakawa.
"What about you, little brat?"
"Zero Berry bounty, Duobaozhun Ren."
"What kind of shitty name is that?" Hake Carlson immediately retorted. "You really don't have a bounty? Thrown in here at seven years old?"
"Mhm."
"Strange, truly strange. Oh, I know." Hake Carlson stroked his chin, thinking. "You must have gotten tangled up in a case involving the Celestial Dragons! The moment the Celestial Dragons are involved, the World Government shows no mercy!"
U'er Bennett nodded. "When I first got to this cell three years ago, there was another cellmate. He was also locked up for twenty-three years because of the Celestial Dragons. He died last year. Because of that, the warden in charge of this area had three years of his bonus deducted and his vacation for a year cancelled!"
Ren Arakawa found this strange. "Why punish the warden? Isn't it perfectly normal for a prisoner to die?"
"No, no, no," U'er Bennett explained. "Level 1, the Crimson Hell, and Level 2, the Wild Beast Hell, are both for dealing with small-fry prisoners."
"The deaths of such inmates are of no consequence. To the World Government, they're nothing more than extra fish feed."
"But the Starvation Hell is different!"
"The inmates who come to the Starvation Hell are all either extremely vicious Devil Fruit users or useful people who have committed major crimes and hold secrets to treasures and the like."
"Any death of a prisoner on Level 3 is a great loss to those above."
"Like that cellmate from before who offended the Celestial Dragons. After he died, the Celestial Dragons were furious! They wanted to torture that guy for a hundred years!"
Ren Arakawa let out a mirthless laugh. "So you're saying, I was shown no mercy because of an incident with the Celestial Dragons, but because I'm young, I was thrown into the Crimson Hell, which means the World Government, Impel Down, and the Celestial Dragons are actually going easy on me?"
U'er Bennett nodded. "Although I hate to say it, that's probably the truth."
Ren Arakawa said nothing, his fists clenching so hard they audibly cracked.
Hake Carlson pressed again, "That poison-man just said you escaped to this level. Did you get lost? Why were you running in the wrong direction?"
Ren Arakawa couldn't be bothered to reveal the secret of Level 5.5 and simply closed his eyes to rest.
The two prisoners, who had been eagerly anticipating a newcomer, both leaned in. "Tell us, tell us, how did you survive? How did you just dodge my Stump Kick?"
Hearing the words "Stump Kick," Ren Arakawa opened his eyes. "I wanted to dodge, so I dodged."
Hake Carlson's face was full of disbelief. "Your talent is incredible! If you just had a qualified teacher, you could probably become a master of Observation Haki!"
U'er Bennett, however, was dismissive. "It took me six years to learn Observation Haki. On what grounds could a little brat like him learn it without a teacher?"
"Then explain how he dodged my Stump Kick!"
"How should I know?! You must be getting old, your movements are too slow!"
"Bullshit! My movements are slow?! Have you forgotten how I used my Stump Kick to smash your face in when we first met?"
"You son of a bitch!"
The two skeletons grabbed each other by the collar and began to scuffle.
Ren Arakawa stood up. "Stop arguing! What's the point of fighting over this? Since you're both idle anyway, why don't you just teach me Observation Haki and we can see if I can learn it!"
The two skeletons turned their heads in unison. "Fine! Let's give it a try!"
---
By the waterfall at the lake's edge, a figure leaped down from the top.
Just as he was about to plunge into the lake, feathered wings suddenly unfurled from his back.
After adjusting his posture, he actually landed right on the surface of the water!
By the lake, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Killer B, who was practicing the rap song "Chaotianmen" from a small notebook, glanced over. "Still no good, still no good. Your Chakra control is terrible! I really don't know how you learned the Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu. How on earth did your teacher teach you?"
"With Chakra control like this, you're nowhere near the level required to learn 'Thunder Pencil'! It's a total waste of your lightning-nature Chakra, check it, check it!"
Uchiha Ren, a little indignant, flapped his wings and shot a black feather at Killer B!
The feather whistled through the air!
Its speed surpassed that of a handgun bullet.
However...
Killer B simply raised his arm, and a pencil, glowing with blue Chakra, shot out.
In what was almost an instant, the pencil pierced right through Uchiha Ren's feather!
With two soft "plops," the feather fell into the lake.
"So fast!"
Even with his Three Tomoe Sharingan active, Uchiha Ren hadn't been able to track the Thunder Pencil's trajectory. He only sensed a fleeting afterimage before his own feather, harder than iron, fell into the lake.
"Hmph, you're still far too green! In terms of the skills needed to learn Thunder Pencil, you still need to write five more songs for me! I'm not just stalling when I say five songs~ Yo~"
As Killer B spoke, he took out another pencil he carried with him, sharpened it with a kunai, and started scribbling in his notebook again.
Uchiha Ren plucked another feather and tried to infuse Chakra into it as well.
But the moment he had the thought, the Chakra was like sand held in his hand, slipping through the cracks of his fingers, completely unable to gather on the feather.
Killer B looked up at Uchiha Ren. "Young man, don't be so eager for results. Thunder Pencil isn't as simple as you imagine. This represents the deepest understanding of Chakra control! Yoyo, the most difficult secret technique~!"
Uchiha Ren couldn't stand Killer B's attitude any longer. He yelled at him, "I'll write ten more for you, enough to complete your entire concert setlist! Just tell me the trick! I want to sign up for the crash course!"
"Ten songs!?" The moment Killer B heard the number, he immediately jumped up. "I'll teach you right now!"
(end of chapter)