My Training Dummy Was A Monkey

My struggles with Armament Haki would come to an end when I was hunting one day. I was looking for some deer to have for dinner when I had spotted a large monkey taking a nap. Its fur was pitch black, its fur was sharp and bone white. It had a crudely fashioned wooden club in its grasp as it was sleeping. I didn't want to pick a fight since I was hunting so I decided to creep silently to avoid it sensing me. I couldn't do much about my scent but I could avoid it making it painfully obvious. However, all my efforts would bear no fruit because the monkey woke up almost immediately. 

As it got up, I managed to see the monkey's full height. Off topic, why are all the animals in this forest so damn big? Like even the bugs are larger than normal. It's to the point I don't even know whether this entire forest is huge, or is it me that's small. Well, I wasn't necessarily as small as I used to be before I ate the devil fruit, I had grown quite tall considering my age. However, not tall enough clearly because I had to cock my head back to look at the monkey's face. The monkey stared at me as if it was sizing me up. Then it snorted, raising its club with the intent of smashing me into a pulp. 

I dodged, obviously, by jumping right under its arm. Drawing out my talons I took a swipe at the monkey's strong arm. It made a yelp of surprise and jumped back before I could scratch off too much flesh of his arm. I clicked in frustration, disarming the monkey was my top priority because with that club. His reach at me was as twice as long as I would like to make it. Once again, we charged at each other. The monkey swung its club at my head and I ducked before I swung my talons at the monkey once again right at the same spot, aiming to make a weakness out of it. The monkey reacted the same way as it did last time. Jumping back before I could tear off too much flesh off of it. 

Getting tired of the same repetetive actions, I decided to aim for the club instead of the arm. Maybe if I just destroyed the club, it would discard it and make it a hands-on-hands fight. However, I would be greeted with a nasty surpise because of how thick this club was! My talons couldn't slice through it! In fact, the claws would stick on the club and the monkey used it to fling me through a couple of trees. Although my physique improved, it didn't mean that flying through trees wasn't painful. Growling in displeasure, I concentrated and channeled what little spiritual energy I could to my arms. It would be a perfect time to practice what I had been training in the last couple of months.

My talons changed color to a lighter shade of black, I lunged at the monkey once more. The monkey snorted and charged at me as well. My talons and his club met, and this time, my claws won the skirmish. I managed to slice through the club, leaving the a small size of it along with the handle in the monkey's possesion. The monkey looked at its club before discarding it, it cracked its knuckles as if the monkey was going to fight with me with its fist. I looked at my talons before turning them back into my regular claws. "To get stronger, I also need to learn how to fight bare handed when I don't have access to my fruit, I'll use my hands as well." I said to the monkey, not caring whether or not it understood what I was saying. Once again, I coated my two fists with haki before I lunged at the monkey.

We met each others fists mid air, creating a shock wave that would shake the trees within the vicinity. 'How the hell is he going this far with me? the monkey doesn't even use Haki! What the fuck?!' The monkey won our first skirmish, pushing me back a couple of meters. The only good thing about this clash was the fact that I landed on my feet and no trees were harmed as a result. We kept fighting all the way into the night. I was gradually losing stamina, and drowsiness began to infect me. The monkey didn't seem to be doing any better, it breathed heavily as it struggled to stay upright. We were both injured and tired, most importantly; we were hungry. However, both of us refused to give in. 

My Haki had made staggering progress while we fought. It's as if all I needed was experience to get more insights as to how to improve my haki. "Thanks a lot, because of you I'm a shitton of progress that would've taken me years to accomplish! I won't forget you!" I cackled in excitement as we both prepared ourselves for our final clash. It was already set in stone that only one of us would leave here alive. I got into my stance and stared at the monkey, waiting for it to catch its breath. Not that I was in a better state to begin with, and once the monkey seemed to have stabilize its condition. I charged at it, haki clad fists met the monkey's fists and to its surprise. my fists managed to break his arms with one last push. I sent the monkey flying back quite the distance.

However, I didn't let up the pressure I dashed at the flying monkey and landed an axe kick right at its stomach. Sending it crashing into the ground, while I was still in the air, I raised my food as high as I could cladding it with Haki before I started descending. Lightning began to channel to my foot, and in an explosive impact. My foot landed on the monkey's face causing the monkey's head to explode like a tick popping under pressure. The ground couldn't brace the impact of the attack, causing the ground at the point of impact and the surrounding area to be destroyed from the impact of the attack. When the smoke cleared, the only living thing in the viscinity was me and me alone. Hell, even the insects were nowhere to be found. "Thank you for the experience, I won't forget it" I muttered under my breath as I looked at the moment. I trudged back home, exhausted, sleepy, hungry and a little bit excited.