Vito chuckled as he reached out and gently rubbed Hancock's head. Her long, silky hair felt like fine satin beneath his fingers, so soft and smooth that even he found it hard to let go.
"Hey, hey! You jerk!"
Hancock kicked him lightly, clearly annoyed.
"Wow… sister and Vito sure get along well, huh…"
Sandersonia and Marigold exchanged looks, sighing in unison at the scene.
"What do you mean get along?! Why would I ever get along with this idiot?!"
Hancock immediately protested, puffing up in indignation.
Sandersonia and Marigold simply shared a knowing smile. As the saying goes, no one knows an older sister better than her younger sisters. Hancock's reaction was, in their eyes, the clearest sign of acknowledgment, and respect.
Ever since she was young, Hancock had been worshiped like a star among the Kuja. Everyone adored her, everyone protected her, and all other girls her age were treated as nothing more than her background scenery.
Because of this, the difference in status was far too great for her to develop normal friendships. And on top of that, Hancock was a prodigy.
In Amazon Lily, where strength determines beauty and status, Hancock was born a natural queen. The people lifted her so high that she had only ever been close to her two sisters. Even in the original timeline, aside from Luffy, Hancock never formed any genuine friendships.
The citizens were more like fanatical believers, they couldn't possibly become true companions. Hancock's lonely pride was something shaped by the world around her.
But if there was another person her age… someone with comparable strength…
Then becoming friends would not be strange at all.
So Sandersonia and Marigold were genuinely happy that their sister had finally found someone she could treat as an equal.
Vito had his tiger bring over the fruit he'd prepared earlier. On Rusukaina Island, food was never an issue. With its extreme seasonal shifts, forty‑eight seasons a year, the plants on this island had evolved to mature at terrifying speed.
After all, the animals weren't the only ones competing; the plants had to keep up, or the entire ecosystem would have collapsed long ago.
The group sat on the ground, eating fruit. As the tension softened, Vito brought up the question he'd been holding.
"Hancock, that Armament Haki you used earlier, how did you make it flow like that?"
"Huh? Isn't that super basic…?"
She tilted her head.
"Vito, do you mean this?"
Sandersonia raised her hand, letting Armament Haki wrap around it. Vito could clearly feel how liquid-like her Haki was, smooth, flowing, alive.
"Yes, that. The name may differ, but I have a very important reason for learning this flowing Armament Haki."
Vito spoke sincerely. It wasn't just for strength, he had preparations to make for the future he intended to change.
"In that case, Vito, you'll need to learn archery first, and start training your Observation Haki. 'Air Strike', what you call Armament Flow, is one of Amazon Lily's more advanced techniques, and something every warrior who protects the nation must learn…"
Sandersonia explained patiently.
Vito nodded in understanding, though he still questioned the difficulty. After all… if Sandersonia had already learned it, surely he couldn't be worse than Hancock's younger sister, right?
He also recalled how Hancock's arrows had exploded on impact. With Sandersonia's explanation, he finally confirmed it, Hancock had been using flowing Armament Haki.
"No wonder nobody dares to invade the Kuja. Not just because it's in the Calm Belt, there's also a whole group of warriors who can use flowing Armament. Yeah… that's pretty terrifying…"
Vito muttered internally.
According to the Wano arc, Ryuo wasn't exclusive to Wano. It was simply a different name for the same principle, flowing Armament Haki.
"If that's the case, then there are plenty of examples… The three Admirals blocking Whitebeard's quake shockwave in Marineford, that barrier of Haki they used? That must've been flowing Armament too."
Vito immediately recalled all the confirmed Haki monsters. At the very least, Shanks definitely had mastery over this. Otherwise, he wouldn't deserve the title of the fourth Emperor.
Following Sandersonia's suggestion, Vito decided to start by training Observation Haki. The Kuja had a complete system for Haki training, far more reliable than fumbling around on his own.
He borrowed Rayleigh's method of training Luffy: covering his eyes with a blindfold and handing Hancock and her sisters wooden sticks, then attempting to evade their strikes without relying on sight.
Hancock looked at blindfolded Vito with sparkling eyes, a mischievous grin creeping onto her face.
Thunk!
Hancock swung without holding back, hitting him squarely. Vito didn't even flinch, yet the wooden stick shattered as though it had hit a cast-iron statue.
"Heh, too light, way too light. At this level, it doesn't even tickle."
He was basically asking to be beaten. Hancock had never heard such a bizarre request, but she was happy to oblige. Her stick turned black with Armament Haki.
As expected, Vito was soon beaten into a swollen, lump-covered mess.
Being pummeled half to death by one's own allies was, in a sense, a One Piece tradition.
He held out at first using his own Armament Haki, but Hancock's quality far outclassed his. Once he ran out of Haki, he could only accept the beating.
Luffy got battered by Rayleigh alone.
Vito was dealing with three of them.
Naturally, he looked absolutely miserable.
"Let's end today's training here…"
Once they stopped, the injuries covering Vito's body began shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye, then vanished entirely.
The three sisters stared at him in shock.
"Vito… are you a Devil Fruit user? Your ability makes you heal super fast?"
Marigold asked curiously.
"Yup! Smart girl."
Vito grinned, flashing white teeth, relieved he didn't have to explain further.
According to Luffy's early experiences, most normal Kuja citizens didn't know what Devil Fruits were. But Hancock and her sisters were different. Because Hancock longed to see the world beyond the Calm Belt, Gloriosa had taught her some outside knowledge.
"By the way, Sandersonia, Marigold, how would you describe what Observation Haki feels like?"
Vito recalled Rayleigh's explanation to Luffy:
The power that lets you sense another's presence, their "feel", is called Observation Haki.
Strengthen it, and you can sense enemies beyond sight, determine their numbers, and even predict their next movements.
But it depends heavily on one's mental state. You must stay calm, anger or losing control will shut down Observation Haki completely.