43 Chapter 043

"Devil Fruit defenses," Luffy stated, and Zoro nodded, giving him the floor. "Sometimes you'll run into Devil Fruit users who can change the nature of their very bodies. Sanji, you might kick someone only for your leg to go right through them and burn in the process when they turn into fire itself. Armament Haki allows you to bypass Devil Fruit defenses and attack the dormant human body. I'm actually a pretty good example. When Nami masters Armament Haki, I'll be in deep shit." Usopp snickered at this while Nami looked at him indignantly.

"So, that's Haki," Luffy finished. "During our journey, Zoro and I will be teaching it to you guys so you can learn it early. If you master it soon, it will be a huge advantage in the early stages, but once we get further into the Grand Line, it will be an absolute must. Most people who enter the second half of the Grand Line and survive either know Haki or learn it sink or swim. Most people specialize in one of the two types."

"Um, Luffy," Nami began hesitantly, "is there any reason why you're teaching this to all of us?" Luffy smiled at her reassuringly.

"If you're worried that you don't have what it takes, don't be. I've seen what you guys are made of firsthand. You can do it." Nami smiled softly back at him after hearing this. "But as for the reason, I won't lie to you. Our journey is going to get dangerous. There will come a time when every member of our crew will need to be able to defend themselves against powerful opponents. I can't be everywhere." Nami and Usopp's eyes widened at this revelation, and they both adopted focused expressions.

"So, then, when do we start?" Sanji asked.

Luffy thought he detected a hint of eagerness in his voice. He grinned. "Now."

It was an interesting training session. Nami checked the Log Pose every now and then, but most of their time was dedicated to getting the concepts down. Basic Observation Haki training involved putting on a blindfold and trying to move out of the way of an approaching object. Luffy decided to get creative and have them play tag with each other with blindfolds on. That was the most hilarious disaster he'd ever had the pleasure of directly causing. By the time Zoro called for them to stop, they were all pretty pissed off. Especially Nami.

Armament Haki training usually involved taking blows from a sparring partner head on without dodging until you build up a resistance to them, but Sanji would never agree to Zoro hitting Nami, so they basically set up training dummies and had the three punch them with their bare hands. Eventually their fists would build up a resistance to the hard material…eventually.

By the end of the day they were all mentally exhausted, the result being…absolutely nothing. But Luffy had expected that. No one had a breakthrough on his or her first day of training. It simply didn't happen, unless the power was already awakened on the battlefield.

"Good first day, everyone," Luffy commented. "And don't be discouraged. I felt like I was making zero progress when I first started, but this practice will pay off soon enough." He smiled cheerfully and he walked away along with Zoro, leaving the three in an exhausted heap on the deck of the ship.

Luffy frantically jumped behind his cover, analyzing his surroundings and options at speeds that made his brain want to go on strike. He could jump out and try to land a hit before he was hit himself, but he knew his opponent would be waiting for him. That was asking for trouble. He considered his other options. Armament Haki would do him no good. If he took one more hit he was done. Using his Devil Fruit was out of the question right now, so he couldn't even stretch. What did he have left? A plan quickly formed in his mind and he smiled vindictively. I've got you now. He only had one shot at this. His opponent was in almost as bad a shape as he was in right now. He would have to slow him down long enough to land the first hit.

He rose up from behind his cover, and saw the sign of his opponent's assault, the tensing of his arm muscles. He quickly let out a burst of Conqueror's Haki. It wouldn't be enough to stop him, but it would slow him down long enough for him to dodge and end this. His opponent faltered, and Luffy sidestepped the threatening projectile that came a second too late. He coated his own weapon of choice in Armament Haki and hurled it at his opponent. Only the man's face was visible over his cover, but the hardened projectile shot straight through his defense and hit him right in the chest, stunning him long enough for Luffy to get two more shots to his face. The man's eyes widened as he realized it was over.

"Hah! Take that!" Luffy shouted. "That's 10-9 Usopp. You lose!" Usopp stood up and pointed accusingly at him.

"You cheated, you bastard! You used that Conqueror whatever thing on me!" he shouted indignantly.

"Oh, come on, Usopp," Luffy said in annoyance. "You banned me from using Soru, Geppo, Observation Haki, and my Devil Fruit. You have to give me something to work with here."

"Do I look like I have any of those things at my disposal?" Usopp grumbled. Luffy and Usopp's snowman making contest had quickly led to a snowman vandalizing contest, which in turn had escalated to an all out snowball fight in which Usopp had the advantage due to his higher ground, sniping skills, and discipline to save up his ammo rather than randomly chucking snow all over the place and yelling Snow Gatling like Luffy. "I still say you cheated," Usopp complained. "Best two out of three."

"You're on! I'll beat you three out of four if I have to!" Luffy yelled.

"You mean three out of five," Usopp corrected.

"Oh, yeah? Well, guess what?

"What?" Usopp asked lazily.

Nami watched from inside the ship in exasperation as Luffy tackled Usopp into a pile of snow. "How can those two have so much energy in this weather? Hell, how can the weather even be like this? It was sunny 10 minutes ago." Suddenly a large hunk of snow hit the window, rattling it and startling her. Annoyed, she opened the door. "If you two have time to play in the snow, why don't you make yourselves useful?

"Oh, yeah? Well, what about you?" Luffy said with a pout. "Shouldn't you be checking the Log Pose?"

"I checked it two minutes ago!" Nami yelled.

"A lot can happen in two minutes," Luffy replied. "Usopp just lost his 2 point lead in two seconds. Something like our ship getting turned around isn't anywhere near as miraculous as that." Nami looked at him as if he was an idiot and walked back inside to check the Log Pose before shrieking.

"Turn our ship around 180 degrees! We're going the wrong way!" Usopp looked at her skeptically, but Sanji just shrugged and obliged. "How did that even happen? The waves have been completely steady. For our ship to get turned around like that…"

"The Grand Line sure is interesting," Luffy commented. As if to challenge his nonchalance, the wind suddenly picked up, and a storm seemed to brew out of nowhere. Nami quickly took command and the crew took action, closing the sails and constantly changing their course to account for the supernatural waves that seemed to throw them off at every turn.

"Iceberg, dead ahead!" Usopp shouted.

"I got it! Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy's punch shattered the iceberg and the ship sailed through without a scratch, only to be taken off course again. After moving the rudder a few more times and then supervising it to make sure their course was steady, they finally unfurled the sails again. The storm left as spontaneously as it had come, and all but Luffy and Zoro collapsed to the deck, Luffy having laughed through it all, and Zoro having slept through it all despite Nami's several shouts for him to wake the hell up. Finally, he yawned tiredly and opened his eyes. He took a look around and frowned.

"What, sleeping on the job? Look alive, guys." Nami slowly turned her head towards the hypocritical and borderline narcoleptic swordsman and stomped her way over to him. There was a large splash behind the Going Merry.

"Man overboard!" Usopp shrieked, and Luffy started laughing again. Zoro climbed back onto the ship as Nami stomped away angrily.

"What's her problem? She eat some bad meat or something?" he asked, yawning again.

"Impossible. No such thing," Luffy said firmly.

"Land ho!" Usopp's shout brought everyone to the front of the ship, where they all stared out over the horizon at their stop in the Grand Line.

Luffy grinned in excitement. "This is gonna be fun."

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