Chapter 4: Glimpse

For a split second he could almost feel it. The slight shift in the atmosphere, the noise of the dirt rotating as he prepared to pivot out of the way of the strike, However just as soon as he felt it, the sensation became a fleeting memory. His concentration broke, rewarding him with a bruise on the side of his cheek as the monkey pushed its weight into its fist.

For the last six years after the departure of the pirates. Luffy worked his body to the bone. What the boy lacked in discipline more than made up for it with his tenacity. Often long scorching hours of daylight would bleed into evening, and that would soon take him to night where only the sight of star's would compel him to return to the village.

Ever since he witnessed Shank's demonstration of Haki, his fists would bruise until his muscles were sore, his body would only fall when night began to do so, and even then his eyes would only open at the first arrival of light. Working hard was an understatement, the child had continued to push himself for the last six years, reminding himself of the small glimpse of strength shanks had revealed to the boy.

Yet for all his persistence he could only catch teasing glimpses of his Haki. His bruises began to recede as he continued to train, though whether that meant he could coat himself in armament Haki or if it was his body adapting to the stress of his rigorous routine, he didn't know. Either way progress was progress, but it didn't mean he was happy about it.

Luffy stumbled back from the recoil as his back met the jungle floor. Despite the pain and his aching body he jumped back up not a moment later, thankful for his monstrous genetics and harsh grandfather. Training with animals wasn't new to him; Garp had ensured that when he was younger.

Training his senses however was a completely different story, in the past Luffy would typically rely on just his five senses; predominantly eyesight and brute strength to spar with the monkeys Garp found for him, but shanks had told him that wasn't enough, there were monsters out at sea stronger by hundred folds, really stressing the importance of Haki.

Right now he had to trust his instincts and leave his body to its mercy, Shanks had disclosed to him that observation Haki was like a sixth sense, you needed to listen to your opponents intentions, the sound of the changing air, the opponents presence and their will behind every movement; You only move when you can read their intentions. The ability required large amounts of concentration and practice.

The monkey charged at him once again, tail fully coiled to catch his opponent on the side of the head. Luffy scrunched his brows in deep focus, allowing his body to relax, one again. He anchored his breaths, breathing through measured breaths as his eyes remained shut, anticipating the blow. Rough outlines of an aura manifested itself in his mind, as he began to illustrate a definitive presence ahead of him, The next intention of the monkey became clear to him, its tail would release itself from its coiled position, whipping Luffy's on the side of the head.

Not a second later, He found his instincts dominating his body as he ducked below the path of the swinging tail, his opponent's expression etched in surprise. He had used it successfully, This time he managed to fully read his opponents' intention. The tail flew above his head, retreating back to its owner.

Caught up in his excitement of his proper usage of observation Haki, he failed to notice the follow up uppercut from the monkey. His body too slow to reposition itself from his previous duck had one last thought before it fell limp.

'Shit'

XxX

Author's Note: First of all: Thank you all for I know i said that this chapter was going to be longer or would've been 2 chapters but i felt lazy and had other things to do, so here's the next one... for now. I do keep my promises though and i assure you the next chpater is almost done as im writing this, the reason why i havent uploaded yet is beacuse i'm making adjustments to the writing, whilst staying true to characters and setting, whilst also ensuring the powerscaling for luffy isnt all messed up, all while making sure the plot makes sense too. So yea, busy times. I think i forgot to adress a couple of things last chapter so ill do it now.

1. no pairings unless i think it goes along nicely and with the flow of the story

2. Luffy's haki is mainly self taught/trained. The only thing shanks taught him was the different applications and forms of haki, along with pointers to unlocking his haki/training it. Nothing more.

3. i don't do requests UNLESS I like them AND ONLY IF they fit in the story without altering too much of what i have planned.

4. paradoxreader: yes i always did wonder if sabo's awakening would be blue flames, also i dont think I'll even keep the gomu gomu no mi in this story, but i might decide to change that later on, who knows?

5. crimsonStarBlade: I dont think ill be making OOC's, mainly beacuse im not creative enough also it would take a lot of time, but that dosent mean a definitive no, so again who knows? Also Luffy's not going to take up a weapon (maybe) I dont know, it depends on what devil fruit i choose to give him.

6. (promise its the last one) Yonko Mugiwarano luffy, I don't really get what you're saying but i upload depending on how busy i am and if i feel like it, so the update time will vary a lot, and i personally don't care about the likes/favourites on my story (though i do appreciate it! thanks! :)) as i just wanted to write a GOOD one piece fanfic, with decent writing and actual plot, unlike the ones i've seen (do feel free to prove me wrong, i always like a well written fanfic).

thanks! to be continued.