One Piece: Who still has dreams?

Reddio smiled inwardly and followed Hancock into the dense forest behind the mountain. Every time they encountered a Guardian Warrior along the way, Hancock would reintroduce him.

“You could just call all the people in charge over and give them a talk. Why bother?” Redio said.

Hancock blushed and said shyly, "I just feel... even just saying it more makes me feel closer to you..."

Fairy!

Reddio inwardly cried out that he couldn't take it anymore, and it took a lot of willpower to keep it in place.

"Roar……"

Several lions and tigers emerged from the jungle ahead, their mouths drooling and their eyes gleaming with ferocity.

"How dare you!"

Hancock's eyes narrowed, and an invisible aura of Conqueror's Haki swept out, causing the surrounding beasts to roll their eyes, foam at the mouth, and collapse unconscious.

"Lady Snake Princess!" A warrior with short golden hair rushed over and apologized repeatedly.

“Margaret, he is…” Hancock gave another command, as if she were the emperor herself, and finally said calmly, “For the next period of time, don’t let anyone approach the ‘Trial Grounds’ casually. I need to train my Haki here with Redio.”

"Yes!" Margaret accepted the order and left.

"Then..." Hancock turned around, her eyes sparkling, her cheeks flushed, and she gently bit her lip, "Shall we begin?"

Reddio: "..." Teacher Boa, is what you're going to teach serious?

Chapter 59 Armament Haki

[Section Header Serialized: Executive Vice President Miss Quan, Sundays 9:00 PM - 'Prison Ship']

[Robin and Olvia are on the tortoise, their backs to the warship. The naval prison ship slowly passes by them; in the lower deck cells, Buggy is loudly cursing something.]

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"'Domineering' is a kind of 'potential' that everyone is born with."

In the dense forest of Isle of Women, Hancock, as Reddio had requested, began explaining things to him as if he were a complete beginner.

"Haki is divided into three types: 'Observation Haki,' which is an extension of the senses such as sight and hearing; 'Armament Haki,' which is like an invisible armor worn on the body; and the third and rarest type, 'Conqueror's Haki,' is a tangible sense of oppression and intimidation..."

"To cultivate Haki, the first step is naturally to be able to sense your own Haki. Therefore, the first step in our Kuja warriors' training begins with 'Observation Haki'."

As she said this, the Empress delivered an elegant spinning kick to the giant tree beside her, and with a "thud!", leaves and fruits fell to the ground.

With her eyes closed, she swayed and, in a few quick movements, easily caught every fallen leaf in her hand and flicked every tree fruit away.

"Once you get the hang of Observation Haki, you can master Armament Haki much faster."

Hancock opened her eyes and casually tossed aside the leaves. "The training of Armament Haki is divided into three stages. First, you sense the Haki within your body and then wrap it around your fist like this."

As she spoke, she raised her hand, and a ball of Armament Haki tightly wrapped around her slender, fair hand, forming a peculiar jet-black color.

“When we reach this stage, we call it the ‘3-Snake Realm’.”

Hancock walked to a rock, raised her black palm, and forcefully cleaved the boulder in two. "The wrapped Armament Haki can arm your fists and feet, increase their hardness, and strengthen your defense. In addition, as you should already know, Armament Haki is also the only way to counter Devil Fruit abilities."

As for seawater and seastone, they are effective against Devil Fruit users, not against the effects of the abilities themselves.

Only Armament Haki! Strong enough Armament Haki can even forcibly deactivate a Devil Fruit ability that has already taken effect.

"And this step is the 'Six Serpents Realm'."

The blackness on the Empress's hand faded, and she pressed down on the left half of the cracked rock. The next instant, despite the approximately 10-centimeter gap between the right half of the rock and the crack, a handprint appeared on the upper half of the rock with a "bang".

"By controlling Armament Haki within the body like water, not only can it flow and increase its power, but it can also directly destroy the interior of a target from a distance without damaging its outer shell."

Then, Hancock picked up a fallen leaf and casually tossed it. The light leaf flew like a dart towards the intact half of the boulder, exploding with a loud "boom" and creating a crater half a meter in diameter on the stone.

In the center of the circular crater, the leaf remained intact, firmly embedded in the tree trunk.

"To wrap Haki around an arrow or something else and then throw it a long distance while ensuring that the Haki wrapped around it remains powerful, that is the highest level of 'Nine Serpents Realm'."

Hancock smiled at Reddio and said, "Only by cultivating to the level of the Nine Serpents can one serve as a guardian warrior of the nation and an archer of the Kuja Pirates."

"Oh……"

Redio listened quietly, nodded, and asked curiously, "Yesterday on that island, I exchanged a few blows with the female warriors of your Kuja tribe. They said... 'Haki' and 'arm strength' are two different things. What does that mean?"

"Isn't Armament Haki supposed to be armor? I thought that to cultivate Armament Haki, you had to train your body to its limit first, and then extract Haki from your powerful physique!"

Hancock chuckled upon hearing this and shook her head, saying, "Many of the Kuja warriors started training in Haki when they were just a few years old—starting with Observation Haki. Those with talent can fully master Armament Haki before the age of 10. Many of them have never trained, so where do they get their strong physiques? Strength is strength, and Haki is Haki; they are indeed not the same thing."

She thought for a moment, then reached out her hand to Redio, who was listening attentively, and explained, "Different people, different races, have their own limits when it comes to physical strength training."

"For example, the arm strength of the fish-men is naturally 10 times that of us humans. This is determined by their different bloodlines and no one can change it. No matter how much humans train, this gap will not disappear out of thin air."

"But there are ways to make up for it."

The Empress rolled up her sleeve, revealing her fair and smooth forearm. Armament Haki quickly enveloped her, slowly turning her slender hand and jade-like arm black.

"When Armament Haki is applied, muscles and bones are greatly enhanced due to the hardening effect of Haki. As a result, even the human body can withstand explosive power that exceeds the limits of bloodline, increasing by several times, tens of times, hundreds of times, thousands of times, or even tens of thousands of times."

She clenched her fist, her black-dyed forearm muscles twitching. "In short, for human experts to compete with fish-men of the same level, the only options besides eating a Zoan-type Devil Fruit to change their physique are to strengthen their bodies with Armament Haki."

"Your muscle explosiveness is stronger than most Kuja warriors on this island, but if they calmly use Armament Haki to enhance their bodies, they might not necessarily lose to you in a mere physical contest."

"Redio, you may be disappointed, but that's the reality. The first step in cultivation is to understand the right direction to become stronger, and not waste time on an impossible path."

"If you enjoy training your physique and martial arts, that's fine too, but remember that after training to your physical limits, all that's left is to maintain your physical condition for as long as possible, and then focus more on cultivating your domineering aura."

"..."

Redio's mouth dropped open as he recalled the awe-inspiring scene he witnessed in the "Ohara instance" where Saul lifted a massive warship... Now he completely understood the fundamental reason why the World Government and the Marine Headquarters were so eager to pursue the power of the giants.

Fishmen are naturally 10 times stronger than humans, but what about giants?

hundred times?

A thousand times?

The sheer power that humans cultivate through a lifetime of arduous training, the exponentially enhanced physique, and the brute force they unleash... could probably rival that of any random giant child with a simple, light punch.

The starting point of someone else's muscles is the equivalent endpoint that you try your best to reach.

What if the giants also cultivated Haki?

It would be strange if I didn't drool with envy!

Did I go too far?

Hancock pouted and gently stroked Redio's face, "I don't want you to dislike me..."

"That's not true."

Redio held her hands and muttered to himself, "But since Armament Haki amplifies strength so significantly, even enough to allow humans to overtake giants with their innate superhuman strength, doesn't that mean... there's absolutely no need to train one's physique?"

Hancock smiled: "Stronger physical skills are indeed more advantageous in battle. Moreover, 'Armament Haki' is condensed from a person's 'strong belief.' The process of tempering the body through countless trials is also a process of honing this belief, which will naturally greatly help to improve the strength of Armament Haki."

Reddio thought for a moment, then chuckled and said, "But the premise is that this person genuinely believes that 'physical training' is an important part of 'strengthening one's beliefs.' Right?"

"You understand very quickly~"

Hancock couldn't resist kissing him on the cheek, but the kiss made her face burn. She smiled shyly and said...

"The difference between 3-snake, 6-snake, and 9-snake that I just mentioned is only the level of Armament Haki application, and does not necessarily equal the strength of Haki. There are countless examples of warriors at the 3-snake level defeating those at the 9-snake level."

"Everyone has a different personality and different experiences, so they will have different methods and habits for enhancing their domineering aura. Some people prefer a stable environment and can become stronger by training alone, but for most people, the intensity of their domineering aura can only be significantly improved in tense and exciting actual combat..."

Oh, the difference between the levels of snakes is in terms of mechanics, while the difference between domineering strength and weakness is in terms of numerical values.

Redio finally understood.

He felt a surge of joy, grabbed the Empress's waist, lifted her high, and spun her around. Watching her long hair flutter and her eyes brimming with smiles, he laughed loudly, "Then what are we waiting for, Snake Princess? Let's begin our formal training!"

Chapter 60 A Different Kind of Cultivation

[Chapter Introduction Series: Executive Vice President Miss Quan, Sundays 10: 'Target 2']

[Robin and Olvia arrived at their next destination. As soon as they landed on the island, they faintly heard the sounds of gunfire.]

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"Tell me, what's wrong with you?"

Half an hour later, on the beach of Isle of Women, Redeo and Hancock sat side by side, gazing at the boundless, calm, and vast sea before them.

"You don't even have the strength to hit someone? Is this still the arrogant Snake Princess?"

Hancock hugged his arm, rested her head on his shoulder and swayed it, saying in a spoiled tone, "When I really had to do it, I realized I wouldn't be able to bring myself to do it... What could I do..."

The best, simplest, and most direct way to cultivate Observation Haki is, of course, to launch a sneak attack.

If Reddio can blindfold himself, plug his ears, and accurately dodge Hancock's randomly thrown sticks, he'll basically have mastered the basics of Observation Haki.

But when it came to actual training, Hancock suddenly became timid.

The light, non-hostile attack failed to stimulate Redio's senses or trigger his Observation Haki.

"boom……"

Suddenly, a wave broke through the sea, and a large sea king that looked like a long-necked dinosaur emerged. It didn't shout or make a sound, and seemed to have a very docile personality. It glanced "wisely" at Redio and the Empress on the shore, and lazily.

Redio had an idea, took out a Poké Ball, and threw it at it with all his might.