120. Haki

On the other side.

Mace and the crew focused fire on the rear ship. The canons kept firing non stop. An average pirate ship couldn't hold a candle against a Navy Warship.

Very soon the rear pirate ship was sunk to the bottom of the sea.

While they were focusing on the rear ship the one on right flank drew near. Several large harpoons were shot out from it and pierced the warship's deck.

Mace yelled, "Cut the ropes!"

Using the harpoons as an anchor the pirate ship got close. Before the crew could cut down the ropes pirates jumped off of their ship and landed on the deck.

"Prepare for battle!"

Mace drew out his sword and pistol. Soon they were engaged in a heated battle.

Shinobu was among the crowd and walked leisurely. A faint mist was starting to spread out from her body.

Mace was expecting a hard battle. He was fighting against a burly man, his opponent was strong. He drew back with each strike from his sword.

Just as he was about to deliver an attack, his opponent fell down face first on the ground.

Mace also felt weak. His knees gave out and he fell down as well. A terrible pain assaulted his mind.

On the ground, he strained his eyes to see what was happening.

Every person on the ship, be it the pirates or the navy, they were laying on the ground like dead fish. Only a single person was standing.

Mistress?

Mace was relieved. He knew this was his Shinobu's doing.

Shinobu walked to him. She took out a bottle and opened the cap. She then opened his mouth and poured out a single drop of amber green liquid.

It slid down his throat. A second later the powerlessness and pain he felt disappeared.

He stood up and checked his body. He was absolutely fine.

Amazing.

Shinobu took out another bottle and handed it to him, "Go help the others."

Mace hurriedly did as he was told. Soon the crew was cured and got up. They immediately cheered.

Just at that moment Leo came back. He stared at the twitching pirates on the ground and asked, "Is this that same paralysing poison?"

Shinobu nodded, "Yeah. But for it to be used on a wide scale I have to increase the potency. However there is a side effect, the muscles will be numbed beyond a point and will start to shrink. This can cause pain."

Leo looked at the pirates and felt pity for them. They were now guinea pigs for her drugs.

The pirates were rounded up after two hours of work.

Leo asked Mace to bring the captain of those pirates, Rhodes to him.

Rhodes was brought to him.

Leo slapped him twice and woke him up.

Rhodes felt his cheeks burn. He groggily woke up to see Leo's face.

His body trembled as he still remembered how this man knocked out his entire crew in seconds.

Leo smiled and asked, "When I was trying to knock you out, you did something. Whatever you did offset a portion of my power. What was it?"

Rhodes developed a fear for Leo, hearing his question he immediately asked, "Haki! It was Haki!"

Haki?

This was the first time Leo was hearing about it.

Mace standing beside him was surprised when he heard Rhodes.

Leo saw his reaction and asked, "You know about this Haki thing?"

Mace nodded. However he was confused, "Captain, did you not check the items list?"

Navy provided a list of items that can be traded for merits.

Leo was startled, he smiled in embarrassment, "Erm... ahaha... I forgot."

Mace sighed, "Haki is a mysterious power that lies dormant in all of the world's creatures. Most people live their entire life not knowing about this power."

"Haki can be trained. However there are some who awaken this power under harsh conditions. Then there are some who are born awakened."

"There are three types of Haki. Observation, Armament and Conquerer."

"Observation Haki grants it's users a sixth sense of the world around them. Users of this Haki can sense people's presence, strength, emotions, and intentions. An advanced level of Observation could even allow it's user to see a short period into the future."

"Armament Haki allows it's user to form an armor to defend against attacks, as well as make their own attacks more potent. A person can apply armament to a section of their body, over their entire body, and even apply it to their weapons."

"An advanced level of Armament allows it's user to emit the armament a short distance without a medium. An even higher grade of advanced Armament allows the user to make the emitted Armament flow into a targets body and destroy it from the inside out."

"The last one, Conquerer Haki, grants the user the ability to overpower the will of others. This results in their opponents being knocked unconscious, or becoming temporarily subservient of the Haki user."

"However Conquerer Haki is a very rare and, only one in several million people maybe be born with it."

"Most people who can use Haki tend to have one type that they are better at, and, as a result, focus on training and fighting with that type primarily. However, a person can improve their abilities with all the types of Haki, it just requires more work."

Leo was very interested to hear about Haki.

To see into the future sounds incredible. A person with such an ability could dominate in battle.

As for Armament, it sounded awfully similar to his proficiency training in 'Breath'. Right now he could barely bring out a piece of his 'Breath' outside his body. This small piece alone increased his attacking power several fold.

If he could incorporate this form of training then he could bring out his 'Breath' at will. Leo couldn't imagine what heights he would reach if he succeeded.

He was excited, "Mace, how many targets are left?"

Mace answered, "Five."

Leo nodded and said, "Transfer the prisoners ASAP! And set course for our next target. I want to return to headquarters in one week!"

Mace stood straight and saluted, "Yes, sir!"