Chapter 7: Haki Training
(I totally didn't forget about this at all hahahahaha… Don't kill me. Life happened, work sucks and keeps me busy, you know the drill. Also, I haven't been reading all that much and haven't been that into writing lately either. But I remembered this story the other day and said "fuck it. Let's go for a chapter".
With all the things happening now in the manga and with how much is about to happen, I realized I'll have to sort out a few things. I don't know if I want to pin point when Luffy comes from (before Whole Cake, After Wano, etc) or if I want to say 'fuck it' and figure it out as I go. I mean, I can't fuck up the timeline more than I already have right? ….Right?
Edit: *8 Months Later* oh god it's more fucked than i thought)
Side note/Warning/AN/whatever it's called: I no words good aka I'm dumb. I don't own One Piece and I'm losing any sense of English I once had.
They were laughing. Almost everyone was having a good time. Which was great and all except for one thing. One very small, minor point. They were supposed to be training and instead Marco's migraine had elected to move in permanently because of them.
Shanks had shown up four days ago to train Luffy's Conqueror's haki and help him regain any memories they might have shared. Instead, they were acting like children; playing pranks, making jokes and playing games all day. One "game" they played almost everyday was an eating versus drinking contest. Shanks would have many pints of booze and Luffy many plates of food. They'd start at the same time and see who finished first.
Every time, it led to a drunk and inevitably hungover Shanks. While drunk, he just wanted to joke and play pranks, which Thatch and the brothers were happy to join in on. While hungover, Shanks woke up near noon and was snappy until he took painkillers.
The last four days had been like this with Marco being the main target of the pranks. Hence his never fading, only growing migraine. At this point, he was convinced pulling his own teeth would be less painful than letting Shanks stay much longer.
Marco rubbed his temples in hopes of alleviating the sharp ache in his skull; however, the constant laughing around him only canceled out any relief he received from the motion. Shanks had been telling old stories again for the last hour since the painkillers kicked in, and while Marco was happy to see Luffy acting like a little kid - constantly amazed by the stories and laughing freely - Marco was about ready to strangle Shanks. The feeling multiplied when he heard Shanks ask for a drink.
"No! I've had enough, yoi!" Marco shouted as he stopped Thatch from going to pour Shanks a pint. He turned to face Shanks who had stopped laughing and was watching him with wide eyes. "You were asked to come here to help Luffy remember both memories and haki and all you've done is act like you've been invited to a party, yoi! Are you going to do something or not?!"
The joking atmosphere had vanished as everyone around stopped to look between Marco and Shanks. It was silent for a while and slowly grew more tense until Shanks finally let out a sigh. Shanks' large, happy grin that had been in place until Marco's outburst slowly faded to a small smile as he stood from his seat. Shanks smiled at Luffy, "Stay here a minute okay? Feather brain and I need to talk." Before Luffy could say anything, Shanks pushed the hat further onto Luffy's head, covering his eyes and nudging him towards his brothers in a silent wish for them to keep him there.
Without another word, Shanks walked out of the dining hall with Marco close behind. They walked for a moment in silence before Shanks found a more or less empty spot along the railing on the upper deck. Anybody nearby could immediately sense the atmosphere around the two and quickly left the area. After a moment to make sure the brothers hadn't followed, Shanks spoke up. "You're right. I know why I was asked to come here and how important it is. But I can't help it." The red haired captain paused for a moment as he looked to the ocean. The waves clapped against the hull a few times before he continued. "The last time I saw him, he was only five years old. A small child with the world before him. That boy in there, however…" Shanks hesitated and frowned before shaking his head sadly, "He's barely a man and yet the world has left its mark on him. He doesn't remember any of those stories he loved as a kid, he doesn't remember making up half those stories. He doesn't remember the brothers who sought me out to brag about how amazing he was becoming and how much of a threat he would one day be…"
Marco didn't realize he was also looking out to sea until he heard a small crack. He automatically looked over to see Shanks' sole hand gripping the wooden railing tight enough to make it crack. It wasn't broken but he knew his shipwright brothers would be annoyed to have another thing they had to fix.
"Now… Now he has that scar on his chest, and so many others… He has Conqueror's haki that I'm certain didn't come from anything good. On top of that, all I've heard from anyone besides those boys are his nightmares and mostly bad memories. That child was the most free spirited person I had met and now he doesn't want to go more than a few feet from either of his brothers. I'm pissed that this world was able to tear him down like this but I can't do anything about that..!" Shanks paused and took a breath to calm down. Realizing he was crushing the railing, he slowly let go before continuing, "I was hoping telling him those stories would trigger something from that happy child I knew. I haven't seen him and don't know him well enough to trigger any current or recent memories so I was aiming for his childhood. But you're right. He needs haki training before another nightmare - or worse - happens."
Marco could only stare before looking to the sea below, feeling almost embarrassed for his previous outburst. He hadn't thought about that. Hadn't thought Shanks was retelling old memories. He also hadn't realized the last time Shanks had seen the youngest brother was when he was an actual child. Now that he had stopped to think about it, how many times had their rather large family come together for a purpose, only for it to be postponed because of a reunion party? Four days to reunite with someone you hadn't seen in over ten years suddenly felt too short. Marco couldn't help but feel like an ass for shouting.
"I'm sorry, yoi…"
Shanks smiled, amusement in his eyes. "Don't worry about it birdbrain. You get too stressed too fast. Try removing the stick from your ass sometimes."
Marco really hated this man.
"But when you're right, you're right." Shanks said, snapping Marco out of his thoughts. "You have training rooms onboard right? I'll let Luffy get a snack in before we start on his haki." Without another word to the blonde, Shanks started his way back to the dining room where he knew a bouncing rubber ball would be waiting for him. The last thing Marco heard before the redhead was out of range was Shanks mumbling under his breath about how to train Luffy. The words 'Rayleigh', 'stick' and 'worked on me' followed by a half shrug worried the blonde.
-x-
One meal fit for a small army later, Luffy was ready and excited for this training Shanks had mentioned. Ace and Sabo said they'd help if Shanks needed extra hands - Ace received a few groans and side eyes for that one - but were told he'd be fine on his own.
"Alright, we'll start at basic. Has anyone explained Haki to you?" At Luffy's shake of his head, Shanks continued. "There's three forms; Observation, Armament, and Conqueror's. Observation is like a sixth sense, being able to see and feel something before it happens. It's kinda like your instincts but sharper." Shanks paused to gauge if what he was saying was heard and that Luffy understood it. When he didn't see Luffy's face go red in the way it does when the boy thinks too hard, he figured that was a good sign to continue.
"Armament is like armor. It can be a shield to protect you, or a weapon to make your attack stronger." While explaining, Shanks demonstrated. He coated his arm in Armament haki and showed the blackened appendage to the boy. "Try to hit me. I won't dodge." With zero hesitance, Luffy launched a punch at Shanks who blocked it easily with just his arm. Luffy launched a few more punches, all of which Shanks easily blocked - occasionally moving his arm before Luffy had sent out his fist, demonstrating Observation haki in the process. Before Luffy could launch another assault, Shanks flicked him in the forehead, sending the boy recoiling back.
"Ow! Why'd that hurt?" Luffy whined while holding his forehead, a small red mark poking out from between his fingers.
"That's Armament. Like I said, it can be a weapon, especially to devil fruit users like yourself. Armament is especially useful against logias who are hard to touch, like Ace." Ace could feel the side eye but couldn't bring himself to look at the redhead. Sabo's quiet chuckles didn't help.
Pleasantly amused, Shanks turned back to Luffy and continued with his explanation. "Observation and Armament can be learned by anybody with some practice and training. Conqueror's you have to be born with. Essentially, it's using your own will to dominate others. It has a lot of different uses but the easiest to understand are basically making people afraid of you, or knocking them unconscious." Shanks could see Luffy lose focus after those words and paused, waiting for Luffy to focus again.
"...The Lord of the Coast…" Luffy said under his breath as he looked at Shanks and his missing arm. "You made him run away when you saved me…"
The redhead had a bittersweet smile as he realized Luffy remembered a bit of his past. He was happy he could help the kid remember something, he just wished it wasn't that memory in particular. It took far too long for Luffy to stop blaming himself when he was younger and Shanks really didn't want him to feel guilty all over again. "Exactly. And Luffy?" He waited for Luffy to acknowledge him before continuing softly. "What happened wasn't your fault. Do you understand me? It was just an accident."
When Luffy hesitated, Shanks started to worry they'd have to go through everything all over again. It had taken Makino and himself weeks of constant reassurance before Luffy could look at him for more than a few seconds. Even then, when Shanks would return from an adventure, he'd seen Luffy flinch or hesitate before running to him. The boy had only been able to accept the truth right before Shanks left for the last time. He was willing to help Luffy through his trauma again, no matter how long it took. He just didn't want to add onto Luffy's growing list of negative memories.
Before the captain could worry too much, Luffy looked at him with resolute eyes and nodded. Shanks couldn't help but smile in relief. That was the same face and reaction Luffy gave him when he accepted what Shanks and everyone else had been telling him back then. In response, Shanks gave the same reaction he had back then. He raised his hand and pushed the straw hat on Luffy's head far enough down that the boy couldn't see. Before Luffy could say anything about it, Shanks turned to the brothers on the sidelines with a grin. "Sabo! Give me your pipe!"
-x-
Dinner came around and everyone was staring at the bruised trio and grinning redhead. Many stories and rumors had circulated in the short hour since their training. Among them was Shanks having gone crazy and deciding to attack the boys, which left a few pirates on edge. The primary story being spread around was the most truthful however. The moment Shanks got Sabo's pipe, he had hit Luffy in the head with it. Ace and Sabo's over protectiveness kicked in and they had jumped in to defend Luffy. Shanks took this as the both of them volunteering for haki training as well, effectively ending with all three brothers covered in minor bruising and one brother with hurt pride. Shanks may or may not have gone a little harder on Ace, his excuse being the oldest should set an example for his younger brothers.
They had spent most of the day training and - much to Marco's confusion - all three had come out with a better understanding and control over their haki. When Ace's narcolepsy had kicked in, Sabo took it as a chance to take a break and Shanks had used the chance to train Luffy's Conqueror's haki. Luffy had been confused at first but seemed to understand it to an extent after enough explanation from the very patient red haired captain. Nobody believed Shanks had patience, but after seeing him with Luffy, they assumed the raven was the exception.
When Marco had found the four at dinner, he heavily scolded Shanks until the captain looked like a pouting puppy. "Look, you wanted me to train one and I trained all three! I don't see why I'm getting yelled at!"
"I told you to train Luffy and instead you treated the three of them like piñatas! How do you call that training, yoi?!" Marco could feel a blood vessel would burst if this man stayed around much longer. He was already considering who else he could ask to train Luffy.
"Wait, is that not how haki training is supposed to go?" Luffy asked with wide and confused eyes, head tilting to the side when everyone but Shanks gave a resounding 'no'. "But that's what Rayleigh did."
"Luffy, just because it's easier for you to train physically, doesn't mean all of us need to be hit with a stick for 8 hours." Ace mumbled with his face pressed to the table, clearly tired and fighting off another narcolepsy attack.
"What's that supposed to mean!?"
"Luffy," Shanks called before the brothers could get into an argument. "Did you just say 'Rayleigh'?" At the boy's nod, he continued his question. "Where'd you hear that name?"
"Wait, you didn't blame your bad teaching on Rayleigh, yoi?"
"Hey, that's exactly how Ray taught me!"
"I can see why, yoi…"
"What's that supposed to mean!?"
"Quit arguing!" Sabo shouted, exhausted after the long day and definitely not wanting to hear two grown men argue like children. If he wanted to hear children argue, he'd ask Ace and Luffy who had the cooler fruit. "Why would it be weird for Luffy to know that name? Couldn't he have just picked it up from overhearing someone's conversation?"
Shanks shook his head slowly, a serious and thoughtful expression on his face as he tried to remember if he ever mentioned the man. "No, it's rare for anyone to talk about him nowadays." He turned to Luffy before asking again, "where'd you hear that name?"
"Rayleigh? He taught me haki. Why? Is he important?" At Luffy's question, all veteran pirates who had been listening stopped what they were doing. All eyes had turned to Luffy before most looked away, reactions varying from disbelief to unquestioning acceptance. Some continued to stare in something similar to awe as he continued to look at Shanks in confusion.
"Silvers Rayleigh, the Dark King, taught you haki, yoi?" Marco asked after a calming breath. At Luffy's simple nod and 'yeah?' followed by Shanks' loud laughter, Marco decided he needed to stop questioning their youngest guest. A stress induced heart attack was becoming a real worry to him. He contemplated going to the infirmary to get something to reduce stress and his coming migraine as Shanks' laughter seemed to echo around him.
-x-
(Sorry if this chapter feels a little rushed, especially for how long it's taken. I finally have a full plan for this and what I already had written didn't really flow well so I just tried to make it work. I'd been making up one chapter at a time with no real timeline for most of it and half of it doesn't make sense to me, so I scrapped half of it and rewrote the ending. So now there's a planned ending and even a path to get there. I've never done that before! Maybe now that I have an idea what I'm doing, this thing will get worked on!
Not to sound like everyone else (I think I already do) but reviews, faves and follows actually do help, even when you think it's abandoned. I get the emails almost everyday of people reading my old stories so yes this stuff is always on my mind. Most of the time, not updating is simply me losing track of time. It's not me losing interest. I'm gonna try really hard not to let this one die. I really do like it.
Also, I was asked why I don't break up the chapter over a few days rather than doing it all in one day. I think the timeline says it for me.)
Started: 12/5/2022 10:29 PM - 12/6/2022 12:51 AM
Continued: 08/19/2023 11:45 PM - 08/20/2023 4:04 AM
