The Pirate Princess Becomes Queen

As the renowned "Black Arm" Zephyr, the old man's title represents his top achievement in Armament Haki. Vivi's question hit the nail on the head, and the old man's professional instincts kicked in, immediately switching into teaching mode.

He snorted and said, "I haven't been to the first half of the Grand Line for many years. Is the situation in Alabasta really that dangerous? Does a princess of a country need to cultivate Haki?"

Zefa pointed at the tall, thin Binz not far away: "You, use an iron block to take a punch from the princess, let me see her skill level."

"Yes, teacher." Binz perfectly fit the role of a tool, nodding at Vivi to indicate that he was ready to attack at any time.

Or is it practical teaching? Wouldn't it be better if everyone sat together, chatted and laughed, and solved the problem?

Vivi had little interest in fighting, and her expression showed some hesitation.

The old man noticed her hesitation and readily pointed to the door: "Since you don't want to practice, then you can leave."

Vivi quickly explained, "No, no, I... I don't have much strength. Lieutenant Binz is so tall, I'm afraid..."

She really wanted to say that she couldn't even open a bottle cap, but those words were too disgusting to say.

Seeing that she had no choice but to take action, she could only roll up her sleeves.

"Lieutenant Binz, watch out!"

Binz didn't really care about Vivi's warning to be "careful." He was already in his twenties, had been in the army for many years, and had risen from a private to a lieutenant in headquarters. He had also received careful instruction from Zephyr and had been punched every now and then. He considered himself a master fighter and didn't take the still-young Vivi too seriously. She was indeed beautiful, but fighting ability had nothing to do with beauty.

Domineering? Do you even know what domineering means? As far as he and Ain are concerned, they have only touched the edge of domineering, not even entered the door yet. Now, a little girl is asking to be taught about domineering. In his opinion, it is too arrogant.

Seeing Vivi assume an attack stance, Binz took a deep breath, accelerated his blood flow, and sped up his muscle activity, making his entire body as hard as steel. Except for a very few exceptions, normal people would be unable to move in this state. In exchange for the sacrifice of mobility, he gained unparalleled defensive power. This move is a skill known as "Six Styles: Iron Body" by World Government agents and many naval officers.

Vivi focused her gaze, clearing her mind of distractions and adjusting the domineering aura within her.

She lowered her center of gravity, placed her right fist at her side, and when she saw Binz's muscles tense up as one, she decisively threw a punch.

After two months of practice, even without finding the relevant light spots, she managed to train her Armament Haki to level 3 (9/100) through hard work.

The overwhelming aura caused the skin to adhere tightly, and the intensity of Armament Haki was at least 30% higher than when it was first mastered.

Although she is still at the basic "hardening" level, she estimates that with more practice, she will definitely be able to achieve the basic weapon "entanglement".

At that moment, she concentrated all her Armament Haki into her right fist. The pitch-black energy covered her fist and spread all the way to her elbow. With a shout, she threw a punch as fast as lightning.

"boom!"

The moment her fist made contact with Binz's lower abdomen, Vivi felt as if she had struck steel with all her might. Her wrist and elbow felt numb, and her shoulders and other bones not covered by Armament Haki emitted a faint cracking sound.

Vivi didn't know that Zephyr beat up students every day; she only knew that Binz's "Iron Body" was really well-trained, but... her domineering aura was even tougher, and her strength was even greater!

Binz, who had imagined easily catching the attack and then enjoying the admiring gazes of the beautiful women, suddenly felt an immense force slam into his lower abdomen.

The defense provided by the Six Powers: Iron Body was instantly shattered. He could feel the hardness emanating from the opponent's Armament Haki even in his abdominal muscles. Then, he felt as if the woman opposite him was some kind of giant beast, and the immense force of her fist sent him flying more than ten meters away...

How can this woman have so much strength?

The reason the defense was broken was due to the hardness of Armament Haki; the reason he was knocked away was simply because of the greater strength.

Old man Zephyr, with his sharp eyes, couldn't help but take a second look. What was going on? Did your Nefertari family have some strange bloodline? This person's power was far greater than that of their peers.

"One more punch!"

Vivi readjusted her stance, while Binz looked grim. After he was knocked away again, the old man called for a stop.

The old man had a wealth of teaching experience. With just two punches, he saw through Weiwei's problem: a lack of confidence, or rather, overthinking.

"What are you doing!" he shouted. "I don't know who you learned Haki from, it's a mess, completely disorganized! Is this your Armament Haki? Don't use it outside, you'll be laughed at. If someone like you comes to Marine Headquarters for special training, I'll only say one thing, and that's get lost!"

Without explaining why, he launched into a tirade, and even though Weiwei possessed the thick-skinned talent of a transmigrator and didn't care about saving face, she was still embarrassed by the scolding.

Ian and Binz, who had been knocked away, were even more embarrassed. Vivi's level was criticized as being completely incompetent, and her words were basically "get lost." The two of them, who didn't even have any domineering presence, seemed even more incompetent, right?

Vivi let it go in one ear and out the other, offering no rebuttal.

He was actually having some doubts. The old man had such a terrible temper and was so stubborn. No wonder Kizaru didn't like him; Kizaru probably got scolded a lot when he was younger...

Zephyr, full of imposing presence, said, "That's not how you use Haki. What is the essence of Haki? It's your own belief! You don't even trust yourself, yet you use it recklessly out of ignorance. You hesitated a lot when using Armament Haki. What were you hesitating about? Armament Haki only requires one thing: to be accompanied by your belief, to be tough enough in defense, and to be able to defeat the enemy in offense. That's enough!"

Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Powerful Kingdom

“There are countless pirates with Devil Fruit abilities in the New World.” Old man Zephyr pointed to Ain and Binz beside him and said to Vivi, “Judging from your age, you are just like these two stupid students of mine, admiring the powerful abilities of Devil Fruits deep down, right? I couldn’t correct you when I was young, and now that I’m older, I have even less energy to correct your thoughts, but I’m going to tell you something.”

He raised his uninjured left hand, and in an instant, his fist was covered by dense Armament Haki.

Ain and Binz couldn't see anything amiss, but Vivi could understand some of it. She knew that the old man's Armament Haki was several levels higher than hers. Even though they were both covering their fists, the old man's Armament Haki looked dozens of times more solid than hers.

"What do we, the Navy, rely on to fight against all sorts of strange Devil Fruits? I've said this for forty years, and I'll say it again now: it's Haki. As long as you train your Haki to the extreme, those messy Devil Fruit abilities won't affect you."

Vivi nodded quickly; she understood the reasoning. Trafalgar Law's Room: Slaughterhouse couldn't move Big Mom because her Haki was too strong. Trying to use something like the Hobby-Hobby Fruit against a Yonko would be a guaranteed failure.

She completely agrees that domineering presence is an essential ability for a strong person.

Zephyr's eyes widened: "Don't just nod blindly, you don't understand what I mean at all. Don't hesitate, don't try to be clever. I just saw you trying to make Haki flow through your fist? What's the use of that? Solid! Solid! Solid is the most important thing! Do you understand?"

Vivi was yelled at by Zefa, and as the old man turned to scold the other two students, she secretly wiped the sweat from her forehead.

She remembered that the "Ryuo" from Wano Country was a high-level technique of Armament Haki, which emphasized fluidity. On the way to the New World with the Landoruff Troupe, she would try to practice it whenever she had a spare moment, but she only accidentally revealed a trace of it, and Zephyr criticized her for being completely useless.

Vivi humbly accepted the criticism. Anyway, she was just practicing blindly. She could worry about whether or not she had Ryuo (a type of advanced weaponry) later. Zephyr's Armament Haki was definitely world-class, so there was no harm in learning from him.

After scolding his two students, the old man turned to Weiwei and continued talking to her. Although he didn't say it explicitly, his words implied that the two students were too arrogant and their learning progress was too slow, which made him, their teacher, lose face!

When teaching, the old man was incredibly professional. He taught his students to master the domineering aura, the six styles, and swordsmanship. He had been doing this for thirty years and was very skilled at it. No matter what questions his students encountered, he could answer them.

Vivi abandoned her wild ideas and focused on learning this seemingly "academic" Armament Haki from Zephyr.

The old man talked to her for an hour, and she was very encouraged. She immediately said goodbye and went back to her room to practice.

Only after Vivi had walked away did Binz lower his voice and ask, "Teacher, didn't you say before..."

He didn't know why his teacher had changed his attitude. Before, it seemed like he was going to refuse, but as soon as he saw him in person, his teacher immediately changed his attitude. Why was that?

Binz looked at the teacher with great confusion.

The female swordsman, Ain, standing to the side, had the same question.

Unfortunately, Zephyr's answer left them somewhat puzzled.

"I could tell the moment that princess entered the room. She possesses a regal bearing that is rarely seen in the world. The appearance of such a person at this time may mean that a new era is about to begin."

The old man's words carried a strong sense of fatalism. He didn't explain further, and the two students, completely bewildered, didn't ask any more questions.

For the next two weeks, Vivi kept asking Zefa for advice on various issues.

While picking up attributes can indeed significantly boost one's combat power in a short period, those memories, experiences, and power-generating methods ultimately belong to others. Learning too many different things in a chaotic way prevents her from forming her own combat system. If she encounters a master and the opponent seizes a weakness, it can be extremely fatal.

Under Zephyr's guidance, Vivi streamlined her skills. She stopped practicing the axe techniques she learned from the giant Brogy, the chain techniques that her predecessor was very good at, and the dual swords, flintlock pistols, daggers, hammers, and other skills used by many pirates. Instead, she focused on swordsmanship and required that her sword be always in her hand.

Vivi casually retorted, "Does the absence of a sword mean one cannot kill? Is a sword such an inconvenient thing?"

Zefa shouted, "Bullshit! Who said that?!"

"...a guy named Miyamoto Musashi."

"Enough with the nonsense! Practice the naval swordsmanship I taught you a hundred more times! Make it second nature!"

While she was practicing her swordsmanship, the old man also commented on her talent: "Your swordsmanship talent is actually quite good, but I suggest you focus your energy on training your domineering aura. As long as your domineering aura is strong enough, no one can defeat you."

Under his tutelage, Vivi has been able to apply Armament Haki to simple weapon wrapping, which is equivalent to effectively combining her swordsmanship and Haki, significantly boosting her overall strength.

The charging time for "Chop Wave" has been shortened again.

The move "Lion. Thousand Cut Valley" made old man Zephyr's eyelids twitch. Golden Lion was also his old rival, so it was impossible for him not to recognize such an obvious move. Vivi explained that she had learned it by stealing it during a battle. Seeing that she could only do "Lion. Nine Cut Valley", the old man didn't say much. This kind of swordsmanship didn't have many tricks. It was all about one word: practice!

If I improve my physical fitness and get a good sword, it's not impossible for me to unleash the power of "Thousand Cuts" in the future.

The only problem was that "Elbaf Spear: Overlord," which even old man Zephyr couldn't solve.

Among his students was a giant general, but those giants did not conquer nations. After Vivi explained the way to exert force and the techniques for using this move, the old man pondered it for several days.

"I reckon... I reckon you absolutely can't use that move unless you grow to the size of a Titan. The Nefertari family doesn't have Titan blood, right?"

Weiwei quickly shook her head.

Zephyr pondered, “This move is too demanding on the body, so it’s not very meaningful. It’s too rigid and clumsy… I once saw one of the Four Emperors, Big Mom Charlotte Linlin, use a move that was very similar to this one. I remember her move was called ‘War of the Titans.’ It must be that Big Mom couldn’t use the Titans’ moves either, so she modified the original one.”

Old man Zefa likes domineering style and likes to fight with his fists. He is not very good at weapons, but he is not ignorant about them. With his guidance, the "Wei Guo" weapon, which was improved from the "Ba Guo" weapon, was born after the power was greatly reduced and the charging time was greatly extended.

After three days of arduous practice, Weiwei was exhausted and felt like her body was falling apart. Finally, the words "Sword Skill. Mighty Nation lv1" appeared on the panel.

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Training (Part One)

During her half-month training at the G2 base, Vivi naturally brought her duck Karu to the training ground. Taking advantage of the opportunity to spar, she picked up "Six Styles: Iron Body" from Binz and "Six Styles: Finger Pistol" from Ain.

Including the "Six Styles - Shave" she picked up from Smoker, she has already mastered three of the "Six Styles".

Binz and Ain are not Devil Fruit users at the moment; their main skills are Rokushiki, swordsmanship, and physical combat.

Having mastered Armament Haki and solidified her foundation, Vivi then set her sights on Observation Haki.

Picking up attributes remains the fastest way to master Observation Haki, bar none.

If she encountered a scene like Luffy fighting Katakuri, she could master Observation Haki in no time. Unfortunately, there isn't such an opportunity right now.

The old man Zeffa does possess Observation Haki, but he is currently in a period of recuperation and has not used Observation Haki in his several attempts. It's also impossible for her to hire a sniper to ambush the old man; that would be a bit unethical.

When they first met, Zephyr would practice hitting the punching bag and doing physical recovery training. But after Vivi, representing Alabasta, extended an olive branch to the old man, he stopped training except when teaching his students...

Knowing the original historical trajectory, Weiwei had some guesses about this.

The old man was probably preparing to go to the New World to continue fighting the Four Emperors and those great pirates, so he needed to regain his fighting strength. After realizing that he could never return to his former "Black Arm", he accepted the advice of the World Government scientists and had a mechanical arm with seastone installed on his disabled right arm so that he could continue to fight pirates.

Now everything has changed. If the old man goes to Alabasta, he won't need to be back to his peak condition to deal with the pirates in the first half of the Grand Line. Vivi won't even look at those pirates with "Big Helmet" or "Executioner" in their eyes, let alone former Marine Admirals. Even if they are seriously injured or missing an arm, the old man, a level 80 character, can easily beat those pirates with his eyes closed.

Vivi was very distressed. Since she couldn't find it, she decided to learn it. She formally asked Zephyr if she could learn Observation Haki.

"You said you don't have Observation Haki?" The old man was a little surprised this time. He could tell during training that Vivi's perception was very sharp. She could always effectively defend against attacks from behind or from blind spots. This perception was far above the highest level of ordinary people.

Strength and speed can be improved through long-term, persistent training, but even with training, the improvement in perception is not significant.

Neither the navy nor the pirates have many ways to enhance their senses; they all rely on their natural talents.

Once you reach a certain level of perception, you will awaken Observation Haki. The old man always thought Vivi would have this kind of Haki.

“I really don’t know…” Vivi didn’t know if Listening to All Things and Observation Haki were related. She felt that she should be able to master this kind of perception-based Haki very easily, but in reality, she hadn’t even gotten close to it yet.

She guessed it was because of her superior perception. Other transmigrators who merged with the original owner's soul would have the advantage of doubled mental strength and perception. She was the same. However, in other people's worlds, one could learn magic and cultivate immortality, which allowed them to expand their advantages and turn them into powerful talents unique to them. Her pirate world was too low-level, advocating that miracles could be achieved through brute force and that one force could overcome ten techniques. There was no way to develop perception. The only thing that was somewhat related to perception was Observation Haki.

The old man thought for a moment, not knowing what the problem was with Vivi, and decided to train her in the most orthodox way: "Haki is a potential power that everyone possesses. The key to Observation Haki is to train our five senses, to perceive the aura of the creatures around us, and to understand their emotional changes. This kind of Haki is more difficult to train than Armament Haki. Are you ready?"