Chapter 9: Haki!

Author's Notes: Before you start reading, I just wanted to clarify a few things. This is a fanfic of One Piece where the MC would follow Luffy till the end, as noted in the synopsis, you can read this while reading the manga because I myself write this with the manga on the other side of the screen. There are already a lot of fanfics out there where the MC basically sidelines Luffy and sometimes even steal his crewmates. As a fan of One Piece myself, I want to see Luffy become the Pirate King and the MC here is the same. Rather than stealing his spotlight, he would accompany him by his side and watch him become the Pirate King. So it's gonna be more like Sherlock Holmes with Watson telling the story, something like that. If this is not what you're into, then I advise you to stop reading now.

With that, if you still want to read, here is Chapter 9.

Chapter 9: Haki!

“Jaya”

Nami read the word written on the Eternal Log Pose.

“...It must be their headquarters.”

“Jaya? Are we going there?”

Luffy asked while eating takoyaki that seemed to come from nowhere…

Wait, did they already eat the octopus they found?

Lucas can only laugh wryly at how relaxed these guys are.

Nami was also angered as she shouted.

“Shouldn’t that be for you to decide!?”

“Ooookay, turn toward Jaya full speed!”

Luffy was easy to talk to and immediately gave the order as the captain without thinking too much about it.

“To Jaya! Full speed turn!”

Though Luffy shouted, the others had no idea where to go.

Lucas laughed and added on while looking at the Eternal Log Pose.

“Turn left.”

“Ou, Chopper, a hand here.”

“Ok.”

“To Jaya! Full speed ahead!”

Luffy did not mind anyone and continued to shout as if it meant something…

Suddenly, Usopp noticed.

“Ah! Hey, wait a second...if we just go directly to Jaya...won’t the ‘record’ be overwritten when we’re there? In other words, we wouldn't be able to get to the Sky Island!”

“Ah!”

“Stop moving toward Jaya!”

Realizing what Usopp said, both Chopper and Luffy panicked and stopped his order.

Luffy turned to Nami for an explanation.

“Hey Nami! What’s going on here!?”

“Going to Jaya was your decision right?”

“Yeah, that’s right, but I didn’t think that the situation would turn out like this!”

“You didn’t think, it’s your fault then. The log pose has always been like that.”

“Yeah, you're right.”

Luffy was silent, then nodded.

“Alright! Listen, I’m the captain. So I’ll decide where we go. I want to go to the Sky Island!”

Nami shrugged.

“Sure, how will you get there?”

“The fastest way is to just ask around for info.”

Usopp also seemed to be thinking.

Then, Luffy decided.

“Right, we can ask around in Jaya.”

“Well then, head for Jaya…”

“Alright! To Jaya, full speed!”

“Hey! We just went back to where we were!”

Seeing them, Lucas laughed. These guys, are they doing stand up comedy or what!?

Robin finally calmed them down by suggesting that they can just leave before the record is set. In the meantime, they can ask around the island.

“Alright me mateys! Let’s go! To the Kingdom of Meat!”

“Don’t daydream!”

Lucas laughed again. This Luffy sure has wild imaginations…

As the ship began to travel to Jaya, Lucas finally had some time to train with Zoro.

Zoro also remembered what Lucas told him and came to look for him.

“You mentioned earlier about training that Observation Haki thing?”

“Nn, the idea is being able to see without seeing, and predicting the opponent’s attack ahead of time. I have some ideas on how this may be trained.”

“Good, let’s get to it.”

Lucas nodded and took out a piece of cloth and covered his eyes.

“Basically, one side will be hitting, the other side will be dodging or receiving while blindfolded. Have you tried this before?”

“...Yeah, but it’s a bit annoying and cumbersome.”

“Well, I’ll start first. Zoro, just use one sword for now.”

Lucas smiled and picked up a piece of wood and held it forwards, readying for Zoro’s attack.

“Here goes…!”

With the blindfold, Lucas was unable to see so he used his other senses. Mainly his hearing and touch.

Hearing a brush of wind above him, Lucas held the wooden stick horizontally and parried the attack.

“Ah, I got it right!”

“Well, I slowed down for you. Next!”

Zoro began to quicken his pace!

Though Lucas could parry some of his strikes, he was unable to dodge or defend most of the time!

It can’t be helped. Prior to this, Lucas doesn’t even have any fighting experience!

The two of them decided to switch per hour. When the hour was almost over, Lucas felt a warm sensation flow through his body again like before!

Suddenly...he felt like he can see again!

Confused, Lucas touched his face and found that the blindfold is still there.

Before he can think of anything else, Zoro’s swords flashed and were about to strike him!

...Wait, swords!?

“Damn! I said use one sword first! Why are you using two!?”

“Huh, you know?”

Zoro didn’t strike his swords at the same time so as to create an illusion that he was only using one sword.

But he didn’t expect that Lucas would figure it out.

“...Again, one last time. You can use both...I won’t parry, just dodge.”

Lucas felt something so he dropped the wooden stick and stood there calmly.

Zoro was silent before lunging towards Lucas!

However...it was as if Lucas already knew where he would attack, his body swayed left and right, dodging his strikes by a hair’s breadth!

Zoro grimaced and took out his third sword!

Oni...Giri!

As he launched his signature move, Lucas picked up the wooden stick again and extended it forwards, accurately hitting on the meeting point of all three swords!

Lucas...actually stopped his swords!

While Zoro was still shocked, Lucas grinned and removed his blindfold.

“So this is Haki...what a fascinating feeling…”

It was absurd! To think that he had already awakened Observation Haki in just an hour of training...even Luffy had spent several months to master it!

Zoro, watching Lucas stop his swords, trembled in excitement!

This is it! If he can have this power as well...his swordsmanship would go through leaps and bounds!

He...can still get even stronger!

“It’s my turn!”

“Un, Zoro, let’s change the times. From now on, your turn would be 5 hours while I would have an hour.”

“No need. I’ll master this fast!”

“It’s not as easy as it looks like.”

Lucas smiled wryly, he knew what Zoro was thinking.

“Really? Looked pretty easy to me.”

“Well, just try it then.”

Seeing Zoro so stubborn, Lucas can only give in and accompany him to train.

He wasn’t like Zoro who just simply swung wildly earlier and even cheated by adding another sword. Instead, he was patient and more like a teacher.

“Memorize this sound and the feeling. I’ll do 10 strikes overhead at different speeds.”

“Just get to it.”

Since Lucas had said so beforehand, Zoro was able to parry the strikes easily but was still not used to the varying speeds of the strike.

After 10 strikes, Lucas swung to the left this time.

Then the right, diagonal, front, and back. Only after completing this set that he began to wildly hit Zoro!

In truth, Lucas wanted to continue those simple and basic strikes, but he knows Zoro, he’s stubborn and didn’t have the patience for something so repetitive and boring.

Zoro can repeatedly do push-ups or other exercises himself but this was different. He saw Lucas achieve it immediately so he wanted to do so fast as well!

In terms of sword sense, Zoro was better than Lucas. And with the warm-up he gave him before, Lucas was only able to land a handful of strikes.

But this is only due to experience. Zoro was still unable to sense the mysterious power of Haki!

“You’re used to fighting with swords, but this has also limited your own vision! Let’s step it up a notch!”

Lucas thinks that Zoro is relying heavily on his experience with swords to judge where the strike would be, but this makes him vulnerable to anything else. Else, with his talent, he would’ve already mastered Haki even before the 2 year time skip!

Only when he was so badly bruised and fought against those crazy monkeys at Hawkeye’s island for nearly 2 years did he master it!

That’s why, Lucas decided to stop using weapons and instead, use his power!

He controlled the water outside and shot it towards Zoro.

Completely caught unawares, his whole body was drenched!

Zoro’s face twitched and he took off his blindfold angrily.

“What was that for!?”

“What? You were the one who used two swords when I only said one! Also, you can’t just get used to swords! You need to predict the unexpected!”

“How the hell are you supposed to predict the unexpected!?”

Actually, even Lucas wasn't sure how the Haki training is supposed to be...

“That’s what we’re learning here! Sigh, nevermind. You said that it’s easy so I thought you can do it faster, it seems I overestimated…”

Hearing that, Zoro’s face twitched again and picked the blindfold once again!

“Come at me with all you got you bastard!”

“You said it!”

Lucas grinned and began attacking Zoro with water pillars!

At the side, Luffy and the rest looked at them curiously.

“What’re you guys doing?”

“Hm? Oh...we’re playing a game.”

After thinking for a bit, Lucas decided to fool Luffy.

“Game? Looks fun! Lemme join!”

“Really? This is a hard game you know~ You need to have a blindfold and I’ll be attacking you with seawater. You'd lose immediately.”

“What’s that!? You dare make fun of your captain! Usopp! Get me a blindfold!”

Lucas showed another grin as he tricked Luffy into training Observation Haki!

He saw Sanji sneer and laugh at Zoro getting drenched.

“Zoro, you lasted 5 minutes now with me attacking from all sides, that’s good, I think no one can do any better.”

When Sanji heard that, he stopped laughing and tossed his cigarette!

“Oi! Get me a blindfold too! I’ll definitely last longer than this mosshead!”

“Heh, someone like you wouldn't last a second, curly brows!”

“Bastard! I’ll show you!”

As the two of them started to fight while dodging and defending from the water pillars while blindfolded, Luffy was busy getting hit by the water, then being weak, then unable to dodge the next, then repeat…

Lucas knew that Luffy’s an idiot and he won’t get it immediately so he just let him continue at his own pace.

Nami saw Lucas grin while torturing the three strongest members of their crew and cold sweat appeared on her temple, it was unknown what she was imagining…

Meanwhile, Robin looked at Lucas curiously, seemingly understanding something…

The training/game/torture continued on for an hour. At this moment, Zoro seemed to have felt something and unconsciously moved his head to the side, dodging the water pillar in the nick of time!

Lucas’ eyes gleamed as well as he felt that Zoro’s dodge at that time was different from before.

He was about to test the waters more but then Sanji’s leg kicked over to Zoro!

Zoro, who was still trying to recall that feeling before, was caught unprepared by Sanji’s kick and was struck!

“Damn cook!”

Pissed, he took off his blindfold and began to hit Sanji!

Seeing the two of them begin fighting again, Lucas was dumbfounded.

...Did he imagine it?

Lucas began to regret dragging Sanji into this…

Both Zoro and Sanji were knocked out by each other as they fell. Lucas turned to look at Luffy who was the only one left standing...though he looked even weaker than the other two...but he was still standing!

Figuring it was a good time to end the training, Lucas cleared his throat and spoke to Luffy.

“Well, congrats captain. You won!”

“Ah? I won!? Woohoo!”

Luffy took off his blindfold and celebrated, completely not reading the mood.

He went over to Zoro and Sanji who were both exhausted and started to make stupid faces on them.

Both pissed, they dragged Luffy and began their 3-way brawl!

Lucas just ignored them and walked over to Nami who was busy relaxing at the deck.

He saw a glass of orange juice at her side and took a sip.

“Whoo, really makes me thirsty…”

The next moment, he saw an orange-haired demon raise her fist and smacked his head!

Lucas rolled on the ground while clutching his head painfully.

Dammit! I really will turn to water next time! This demon! You’re lucky I don’t turn into water and sneak into your bath!

...Wait a sec...this seems...to be a good idea!?

While Lucas was thinking about this seriously, Nami saw that he was still not getting up and thought he was still sulking.

She knew that if he wanted, her fists would just go through him. But Lucas still respects her and didn’t want to make things harder between them so he still solidified even if he knew he would be hurt.

Nami sighed in her heart and spoke softly.

“Does it hurt?”

“Huh? Oh, no...not much really. I’m fine.”

Surprised at her sudden question and behavior, Lucas stuttered a bit before answering.

“Hmph, that’s what you get for...hey! Your nose is bleeding!”

“Ah?”

Lucas let out a confused sound and touched his nose. Sure enough, there was blood flowing out. But this wasn’t because Nami hit him, instead, this is due to blood rushing to his head as he kept of all sorts of things earlier…

Fully aware of his own thoughts, Lucas blushed and quickly wiped off the blood.

“Ah, t-this is...uh, I am probably too fatigued from earlier, hence my body is weak. Yep, that’s it!”

“You…”

Nami was about to say something when Lucas jumped off the ship in a desperate attempt on washing the blood off!

“...”

Stupefied, Nami’s fist clenched and glared at Lucas hatefully.

In the sea, Lucas sighed in his mind and wondered what to do with Nami…he is a selfish guy, he may like Nami but he also likes Vivi and Robin and a bunch of One Piece girls…

It can’t be helped, who told Oda to draw them all so sexily! Of course, with the exception of other characters like Lola or Big Mom…

Actually, Big Mom can be considered as the one true...Harem Queen. She has a bunch of sons and daughters from different races! This is the dream of all men! And she accomplished it as a woman!

It’s too bad she looks like an old witch hag now, maybe she was hot back in the day, but definitely not anymore…

Well, that three-eyed daughter of hers is pretty but Lucas thinks her character is a bit annoying…

Anyway, after some reflecting and ‘meditating’ under the sea, Lucas came back up to the deck cautiously.

Looking around, he didn’t see Nami but saw Robin sitting at the side.

“Nami’s back in the room?”

“Oh, you're back. Yes, she just went back and slammed on her door while cursing about a pervert.”

“...”

Robin is as frank as ever…

With another sigh, Lucas leaned on the rails and looked at the sky, wondering how he suddenly became a pervert in her eyes when he hasn’t even done anything to her yet!

Robin just watched him with her ever-curious eyes. Lucas noticed her looking and felt weird.

She had a look as if he’s looking at an animal inside the zoo!

“What?”

“Nothing...I’m just very curious about you.”

“Heh, careful there, you might just fall in love with me.”

Lucas laughed jokingly bur Robin only smiled slyly.

“Oh, what if I did fall in love? Are you going to stop pursuing Nami? You know...with my powers, I have hundreds of ways to make you feel...satisfied.”

Hearing Robin’s soft and seductive talk, Lucas froze before laughing weakly.

“Ha...haha...I bet you do...Uhh, good talk.”

Lucas felt that it would be bad to continue this conversation so he quickly fled!

While looking at the fleeing Lucas, Robin giggled and turned to a corner of the ship.

“You can come out now, Nami.”

Sorry for the rant at the start of the chapter, I just feel like pointing this out now since this novel may not be what you expect it to be. Also, I am on 4 kinds of meds due to asthma, fever, headache, and uhh...body ache(?) and am high as f- XD so I may have kinda been impulsive in writing that...

Anyway...Lucas had scratched the surface of Observation Haki. Was it too fast? Or is there another reason how he can achieve it immediately?

To those who want to continue reading, see you in the next chap!

To those who want to leave, I hope to see you in a new book which I may or may not publish...

Next chap would either be in Wednesday or next weekend due to work and life stuff...

-Imbreak