A clear morning sun rose over the Grand Line, and the deck of the Moby Dick buzzed with energy. Yuta and Maki stood side by side, both swapped into some more casual clothes for their upcoming activities, sweat already running down their foreheads. Their training had officially begun.
Learning Haki and the Tremor Fruit ability was Yuta's goal from the very beginning. His ability to use shock due to reversing the power Rika's scarf gave him was very basic at best.
For some reason, while Rika was gone, the scarf still had her powers. Yuta could even reverse that power and use the shock power.
Whenever he thought about it, he had nothing but resentment towards himself for not acting sooner. He hesitated. He should have stabbed himself faster. He shouldn't have completely used up his Hero Time like that.
Even though he didn't show it, this was eating him away internally. Rika was dead, technically. She was already dead in a way.
But the important thing was that she wasn't with him, and this alone was making him disheartened. He didn't let it show, or else others would pick it up.
So, to forget her absence, he threw himself into training. Rika left behind this scarf, this power, and he'd be damned if he didn't master it.
Currently, he can't do anything more than just punch with the shock power. Whitebeard, on the other hand, could bring tsunamis, shift tectonic plates, shatter the very space itself. He had mastered this shock power to the very end.
As for Haki, that was something he wasn't sure about. In this world, technically, anyone with strong will and training could use Haki. However, they weren't from this world. Both he and Maki may very well be governed by some otherworldly rules, and thus he did not wish to put too much stake into whether they could learn Haki, but he was going to try nonetheless.
They were not alone. The captains of the Whitebeard Pirates had stepped up as their teachers. Each had mastered Haki in their own way, and now they were passing that knowledge on. Though it was primarily Marco who took it upon himself to teach them.
He wasn't the only one again; many wished to do that. Yuta helped the entirety of the Whitebeard Pirates. Everyone knew that if it wasn't for Yuta, then Whitebeard was ready to give up his life to safeguard a retreat for his sons. It was only because of Yuta's intervention that Whitebeard was with them. They were grateful.
However, there might be no one more grateful than Ace himself. He was there—swinging punches, focusing his energy, sharpening his instincts. After being defeated by Blackbeard, Ace had taken his loss to heart. He had realized how dependent he was on his devil fruit. If he knew Haki well, then perhaps he wouldn't have lost to Blackbeard. And thus, even before Yuta and Maki came, he had been grinding, learning Haki, and overall getting stronger.
Observation Haki was the first focus. It was all about sensing others—feeling their presence, predicting their next move, almost reading their mind. Marco guided them through it.
"Close your eyes," Marco said, standing in front of them. "Don't rely on what you see. Feel. Sense my movement."
Yuta took a deep breath, calming his thoughts. Suddenly Marco moved, lightning quick. Yuta flinched, but Maki reacted first, blocking a hit just before it landed.
Maki's heavenly restricted body had insane senses. She didn't have to rely on her eyes to know what was happening around her. Yuta, on the other hand, was more dependent on his eyes. Not completely, since his Spider Sense told him about any danger, but still he needed time.
In fact, learning Observation Haki would be hard for both Yuta and Maki since they were already used to relying on their other senses too heavily.
"Good," Marco nodded at her. "You're used to reading people in battle. That helps."
Yuta grinned. "Yup, she's one of the few battle maniacs we got back home."
"Says the one who punched Gojo Satoru, defeated Sukuna two times, one-hit knocked out Mahoraga, and single-handedly ruined the world GDP and population problem for another few decades," she replied, with a much-so-obvious eye roll.
"Hey, that last one is not true. I did no such thing. As for the others, it only says how good I am, not that I like fighting," Yuta replied begrudgingly.
"You don't?" Maki asked, her brow raising up in question. She didn't even bother about the world pandemic Yuta might have caused; she too had way too little knowledge to explain it to him. Let alone him, who didn't know anything. Yuta was knocked out all the time.
They spent days like that. Dodging strikes blindfolded, focusing their minds, trusting their instincts. Slowly, they began to feel it—the presence of others, the slight shift in the air when someone moved.
Then came Armament Haki. Jozu took over the training part in this case. He was their main instructor this time. He was known for his tough body and raw power. Now, the man had eaten the Diamond Fruit, so it's hard to say how much of his toughness was his Haki and how much was his devil fruit, but they didn't care. As long as he could teach them, it was fine.
"Armament is about hardening your spirit," Jozu told them. "You're turning your will into armor."
He demonstrated by coating his arm in black Haki. It looked like obsidian steel.
"Now, hit me," he said.
Yuta tried. His punch bounced off harmlessly.
"Again."
It was brutal. Over and over, they struck and got struck. Their arms ached. Their bodies screamed in pain. But day by day, they started to get it. A faint black coating started to appear. First for Maki, since she had an incredibly strong body.
Yuta took some time doing this though. His base body was strong, but not so strong that he could start using Haki immediately.
At least Maki using both kinds of Haki ensured Yuta that it should be possible for him to learn as well. And that was enough for him.
"You're catching on fast," Jozu said.
One evening, after the day's training was done, Yuta was alone near the ship's edge, staring at the sea, his arms still sore. That's when Ace approached.
"Hey," Ace said.
Yuta turned. "What's up?"
Ace scratched the back of his head. "Just… wanted to say thanks."
Yuta blinked. "For what?"
"For everything," Ace said, more serious now. "For saving me. For saving Pops. For saving the crew. And for helping Luffy."
Yuta gave a small smile. "You don't need to thank me. I wanted to do it and nothing else. Besides, I also had to learn from Whitebeard. Just forget it."
"No," Ace said firmly. "I do. You changed everything. If it weren't for you, I'd be dead. And Pops too. That war would've ended badly."
Yuta looked down. "I just did what I wanted to. Nothing much."
Ace nodded. "Still. I owe you. Big time. If you ever need my help, no matter what it is, I'll be there."
Yuta looked at him. "Thanks. Means a lot."
They stood there for a while, the waves quietly rocking the ship.
Training continued for months. Yuta wasn't sure how to go back, but he did know that by progressing in the story he might have the chance. Even then, he stayed back and decided to invest time to get stronger over quickly going through the story.
There was also some time before Luffy's crew gathered again, so this was the best time to get stronger.
Both Yuta and Maki were getting stronger. They started to block incoming attacks before they even saw them. Their fists glowed with Haki, their strikes landing harder.
Maki was especially focused. Haki suited her more than it suited Yuta. She knew she had no cursed energy, so Haki was something she could truly master. And she was. Her Armament Haki became strong quickly. Yuta was keeping up too; it's just that he was not any kind of heaven-defying prodigy or anything. Even though he missed Rika and still didn't have all his old powers, he was getting better—learning new ways to fight, to grow.
With each passing day, the bond between them and the Whitebeard crew deepened. The group was more friendly and relaxed than Yuta thought they would be.
But that doesn't mean he planned to join the Whitebeard Pirates anytime soon. He firmly refused Whitebeard's offer back then, and he wasn't planning on joining in the future either.
Part of the reason was again that he wasn't going to stay in this world for long. Another reason might be because he didn't wish to get affiliated with anyone here if possible.
xxx
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