This was the first time anyone had shown Yemu the power and process of Conqueror's Haki coating so clearly.
There was no helping it. Compared to Armament Haki, Conqueror's Haki was simply far too rare.
Clearly, what Chinjao had once said, back when he fought Enel at Water 7, about Conqueror's Haki being "as numerous as the hairs on an ox" in the New World, had to be wrong.
Or perhaps his understanding of "hairs on an ox" was the problem.
At least in the current era, among the people Yemu had encountered, those who had displayed Conqueror's Haki were only Roger, Rayleigh, Sengoku, Shiki, Charlotte Linlin, Kaidou, Enel, Chinjao, Katakuri, and Doflamingo. Even counting Yemu himself, the number had only just passed ten.
Even among the Yonkō pirate crews that would one day dominate the New World, aside from the still-unknown Red-Haired Pirates, only the BIG MOM Pirates had a slightly higher number, with two Conqueror's Haki users. There were no more than that.
Clearly, that number could not be described as "as numerous as the hairs on an ox."
And among those powerful figures, the ones who could master Conqueror's Haki coating were even fewer.
At least among the young people of Yemu's generation, there were none.
Of all the powerful figures of the previous generation he had encountered so far, only Sengoku and Shiki had displayed the power of Conqueror's Haki coating.
However, Sengoku stood on the opposite side, so he obviously would never teach Yemu the technique. That meant the opportunity Shiki was giving him now was one he could not afford to miss.
But when Yemu calmed his mind, used Observation Haki, and focused completely on sensing the changes in the Conqueror's Haki around Shiki, his brow furrowed.
The reason was simple. Yemu did not sense anything new.
In Yemu's perception, Shiki's process of controlling Conqueror's Haki seemed no different from Armament Haki.
Both involved controlling the flow and gathering of Haki.
This left Yemu puzzled.
Having awakened Conqueror's Haki very early on, after mastering Armament Haki coating, he had naturally tried to use the same technique to control Conqueror's Haki and obtain the power of Conqueror's Haki coating.
But every attempt had ended in failure.
Although they were both Haki, Conqueror's Haki was like its own nature of being impossible to cultivate after birth. It simply could not be controlled or trained the same way as Armament Haki. That was why Yemu had still not obtained the ability to use Conqueror's Haki coating.
Yet now, in Yemu's perception, Shiki's control over Conqueror's Haki was no different from ordinary Armament Haki.
Why?
At that moment, Yemu's mind was filled with doubt.
If Conqueror's Haki coating were really this simple, then it could never have become a supreme technique mastered only by a tiny number of powerful people.
With Shiki's pride, Yemu did not believe he would deliberately hide anything. Then there was only one possibility.
There had to be something he had overlooked.
What was it?
Floating in midair, Shiki watched the confusion on Yemu's face, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
Shiki truly was not holding anything back. What he was showing at that moment was indeed Conqueror's Haki coating. And to help Yemu grasp it, he had even slowed the process down.
But sometimes, the understanding of power and technique came down to a single instant.
And to deepen the impact of that instant, it absolutely could not be explained by someone else's mouth. It had to come from one's own realization.
"Shihahaha… Let me see whether you can really reach this step."
This was another test from Shiki.
If Yemu truly could reach this point today, then even Shiki would have to admit that perhaps this was what a true Child of Destiny looked like.
But if he failed…
Then the so-called Child of Destiny was nothing special.
At that moment, within the non-material world of perception, Shiki's once wild and roaring Conqueror's Haki began to flow in an orderly pattern.
Guided by that force, it gradually gathered. As the Haki converged, a familiar scene appeared.
In the world Yemu perceived, that Conqueror's Haki gradually condensed into a colossal lion, just like the Lion God.
If Yemu could not clearly sense at that moment that Shiki was using Conqueror's Haki rather than Armament Haki, he would have suspected he had fallen into an illusion.
Wait… Lion God! Could it be!
In that instant, a flash of understanding lit up Yemu's previously chaotic thoughts like a lamp in the dark.
He thought of something else.
Logia Devil Fruit users.
To ordinary people, the reason Logia users seemed invincible was because of their elusive elemental bodies.
Without Armament Haki, the elements created by Logia users were, like Conqueror's Haki, extremely difficult to control.
By that same logic, since Armament Haki could catch the natural elements of a Logia user, could it also catch Conqueror's Haki?
Then, through the power of Armament Haki, could one control Conqueror's Haki, which was otherwise impossible to train and command?
The moment that realization came to him, Yemu's perception caught sight of something that confirmed his guess.
Hidden inside Shiki's Conqueror's Haki was an extremely subtle trace of Armament Haki.
So this was the truth behind Conqueror's Haki coating?
The control of Armament Haki, plus the power of Conqueror's Haki.
That was Conqueror's Haki coating!
So that's how it is!
As realization dawned on Yemu, the Conqueror's Haki around his body began to change, then started to flow.
And with that change, the whole world changed too.
With the two of them as the center, the raging sea beneath their feet rose into waves hundreds of meters high, roaring toward each other. The dark clouds in the sky seemed to be sliced open by something. As the thick clouds churned, the moon that had been hidden finally revealed a narrow sliver of light again, illuminating the world below them.
The moment that moonlight appeared, even people a hundred kilometers away could see two phantom-like beasts roaring at each other on the horizon.
One was a giant dragon wrapped in black-red lightning.
The other was a mighty lion wrapped in purple lightning.
Seeing this, Shiki was both excited and shocked.
"You've got to be kidding me… He actually understood it…"