Hey everyone ! This the third chapter of the Haki Training story. This time we will get Sanji's training. This chapter and the ones after that will be a lot more fight oriented so I hoped that I managed to depict the battles clearly !
I also did a lot of thinking and back and forth in this chapter and the following to have a more or less accurate power scaling, strategies, attacks... that exist or would be possible to exist in the manga. I hope that you will like my take on this.
Hope you'll enjoy it !
Haki Training Part 3 : Sanji's training
"So next, will be my training "Ordeal of love for the lovely ladies of the Straw hats pirates"," Sanji said by smirking, proud of the name of his training.
"So are we even needed for this ?" Usopp asked dumbfounded with a small drop dripping on the back of his head.
"Oï, let's forget about this idiot and get on with my training !" Zoro said already irritated by the behavior of the cook.
"Moss head, if we go on your training, we would not even get to the location point of the training."
While the rest of the crew burst out laughing at the clever remark from Sanji, Nami calmed herself and interrupted the crew to have more explanation.
"Could you maybe elaborate a little Sanji-kun ?" Nami asked him a little unsure of what the cook had in store.
"Of course, Nami-swaaan ! I will try to reproduce some conditions that I had during my two years training. It will be a hide and seek training of sort and you will all have to run as preys while I will be the hunter chasing you down. The location is the entire forest. The goal will be not to let me catch you. You have four ways of winning this : either knock me out, restrain me, make me give up or wait until the 1 hour time limit runs out. Of course, you are free to attack me. If I manage to restrain you, make you give up or knock you out it's my win. You may all cooperate or act independently this is your choice. You can all use all kinds of weapons or traps I don't care. I will let you go into the forest in advance for ten minutes before going after you. Is that clear ?"
"But Sanji," Robin interrupted recalling the events of Wano. "You are still not able to fight against women, don't you ?"
"Don't worry Robin-chan" said Sanji unusually serious with a smile. "Even a pathetic man like me can learn from his mistakes. There are other ways to win even if I don't hit you or put you in danger. And I think that you are intelligent enough to understand the purpose of this training."
Robin smiled at the cook. She understood what the cook meant. The option to give up was essentially a sportsmanship rule. In all likelihood a single serious strike from Sanji would knock out Nami and Robin both. All Sanji had to do was recreate a situation where an eventual hit could not be discussed. Even if it would not work on an enemy, she was happy that Sanji trusted her enough to call for her help or that he was willing to partake in training with Nami and her.
The real question was Carrot. She was not someone that Sanji could knock out with one hit that easily so he must have had some other plans for her.
"But for the rest of you bastards I will not hold back so don't stand in my way !"
"So again, is there any point in us being here ?" Usopp asked still dumbfounded by the antics of the cook.
"The purpose of this training is to replicate real situations," explained Jinbei. "As I said before, Haki blooms in difficult battles or situations. This training gives the possibility of battle training, strategy, anticipating your opponent's moved, cooperation and so on. This is a great training that can train both your Observation and Armament Haki and overall a great battle and strategic training. Sanji thought this one up himself," finished the fishman complimenting the cook.
After the supplementary explanation from Jinbei, Sanji moved a little to stand in front of the trainees.
"Now, RUN AND FIGHT FOR YOUR LIVES !" Sanji shouted loudly by kicking the ground, breaking the rocks near him and giving the start signal abruptly.
While all the trainees ran and disappeared towards the forest, Sanji returned to the table, sat and grabbed his cup of coffee.
"Isn't that too much of an handicap, Sanji ?" Yamato said one eyebrow curved up wondering what the cook was doing. "The forest is huge and has a lot of hiding places, in one hour you might not find everyone."
"Don't worry Yamato-san. I have to give them a head start, right ? Besides, nothing beats a coffee when it's at the right temperature. Would you do me the honor of joining me ?"
"Don't worry Yamato, Sanji's range of observation Haki is pretty impressive ! He will be able to chase them through the whole forest !" Luffy explained sitting as well and drinking his orange juice.
"Tch, at least challenge yourself a little, always giving challenges that you are sure not to lose" Zoro said, without realizing he was also complimenting his rival.
"Oh I see !" said Yamato impressed by the compliment and eager to see what Sanji can do. "Then I would rather have a cup of tea if you don't mind !" Yamato replied.
"Of couuurse my lady !"
Sanji made Yamato's tea and finished his cup of coffee. He now lit a cigarette up and looked at the forest eyeing different directions as if he was marking locations in his heads.
"Over there, over there and over there huh ?"
After a few seconds, he closed his eyes remembering the locations and deciding on his next course of actions. Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at the forest with a menacing smile.
The ten minutes had passed.
"Now, let's begin the hunt !"
In the forest, Nami was running alongside Usopp and Carrot searching for some place to hide and trap Sanji. They had full knowledge of the speed and strength of their companion and had given up on trying to hide until the time limit.
The Straw hats had decided to separate into small groups as they would all stand out otherwise. Nami and Usopp were used to work together, but this time they decided to take Carrot along with them.
"Nami, what do you think of that place ?" Usopp asked bringing his hands to his mouth in a way to show that he is whispering.
"Nice, it is a big open area so we will be able to plant some traps, and prepare the ground for my thunder attacks ! The goal will be to anticipate his arrival ! Now let's try to sense his presence !" Nami answered, mimicking his gestures.
"And if it doesn't work, I'll have the space to launch an attack against Sanji !" Carrot yelled, earning herself a quiet sign from Nami and Usopp.
The traps were all set and the three were hidden and doing their best to try to sense Sanji in an attempt to surprise him and train their Observation Haki as well. All three were positioned not far from each other, but in a way that trees and plants covered for their positions in case someone was detected or if they needed to change their hiding spot quickly.
Nami and Usopp's plan was simple : the three of them stayed with each other because they knew that losing Sanji was impossible. Winning in a straight on fight was even less realistic. So their only option was to restrain him. With the duo's cleverness and knowledge of traps they might be able to pull it off. And in case something goes wrong, Carrot could always buy some time by engaging in a head on battle.
Usopp and Nami might have been unfair but they knew that Sanji could not attack women. He was not an idiot so some countermeasures must have been taken but with Carrot's strength he will have his hands (or feet) tied.
"I see that you came well prepared, but this is not enough." A familiar voice lurking behind Usopp said. Usopp did not have time to react before being kicked in the gut and sent away several meters ahead. However, he did not get knocked out as Sanji held back enough.
"You must have think things thoroughly, but this is all meaningless if I can sense you before you do Usopp, Nami-san, Carrot-chan," Sanji said by looking at the direction of both women, forcing them to come out of their hiding spot.
"Well, it is a training so I guess I should give you a chance. Hey, Usopp I know you are not knocked down so get up and try to hit me with all the traps you have !" Sanji said by looking down at the sharpshooter.
Usopp then got up with a little difficulty still feeling the kick.
"Well, to knock down this monster we should go all out, don't you think guys ?" Usopp said by arming his weapon and looking at the cook who hadn't moved from his position.
Suddenly, giants plants were sprouting from the ground trying to hit Sanji who evaded them with ease. Then, a thunderbolt came his way which he also evaded but a flying Carrot charged at him with her gauntlet which Sanji had to to take on as he did not want to guard against Carrot with Armament Haki afraid of hurting her.
"Well, you took me by surprise, didn't think you would launch this many attacks like that," Sanji said a little taken aback by Carrot's attack. She did not stop there as she was continuing her attack by a series of electric strikes from her gauntlets, forcing Sanji to move from his spot to evade her barrage of attacks. "You are not Pedro's student for nothing, Carrot-chan !" Sanji said impressed by the speed and strength behind her movements.
"Hehe thanks Sanji !" said the lovely mink while continuing her terrific barrage of electric attacks.
Suddenly Sanji sensed something hooked on his feet. These were humanoid plants that jumped on his feet and arms to slow him down.
"Midori Boshi : Humandrake ! Your greatest weapon is your speed so if we take that away you will be in a bind !"
"You think that is enough ?!"
Even slowed down, Sanji managed to barely evade Carrot's attack. While he was busy taking care of the plants slowing him down. Another huge attack came towards him.
"Ninpo : Raitei !"
Nami who had created a large dark cloud above Sanji and Carrot launched her thunder. Carrot expecting that quickly got away.
"… !"
Sanji felt that the attack could damage him so he upped his speed and used a powerful Sky Walk to get away from the attack.
However as he barely got away he was off balance and while he saw it coming he could not evade the dash attack from Carrot electrical gloves. Instead he decided to take it on without Armament Haki or counterattacking to avoid hurting her.
"Eleclaw !"
He was still pushed by the blow and while he felt the power and the electrical current going through his body, he managed to stay on his feet.
"His skin is so hard !" said Carrot in disbelief about the sturdiness of Sanji's body.
"Not bad, your team play is impressive. Slowing me down was the right idea. You even used the fact that I won't attack a woman to get a hit on me.
"You're not gonna call us cowards for using this tactic, are you ?"
"Of course not, taking advantage of your opponent's weaknesses is part of a fight. But now that I am prepared for this trick, you are out of options."
"Don't underestimate us, Sanji-kun this is just the beginning !" Nami said smiling at the cook while Usopp shot other plants around Sanji's feet that quickly grew into large plants that were willing to tie him up and Nami created a black cloud above Sanji's head, ready to fire a lightning to block any escape route.
"This is useless !" Sanji said before changing directions midair by utilizing Sky Walk, thus evading the thunder that hit and fried some of the plants launched at him. Sanji jumped towards the rest of the plants and began kicking them.
"Now Carrot !"
"Ninpo : Ectoplasm Thunder!"
Nami and Carrot used their combined electricity not towards Sanji, but towards the group of plants attacking Sanji. However the great magnitude of the thunder propagated between the plants and reached Sanji.
Rather than trying to escape, Sanji endured the attack a bit and quickly coated his right leg in fire.
"Diable Jambe : Extra Hachi !"
His leg quickly kicked through all the plants who were destroyed rapidly due to the fire and sheer force of the kicks.
"Not a bad plan, but it does not work if you do not completely overwhelm your enemy with your attack."
"No way ! Even his decision making is top-tier rather than trying to escape the attack, he immediately decided to destroy the source of it !" yelled Ussop, upset that their plan did not deal more damage.
"What's next ?"
"You are in for a surprise…" said Usopp picking some munitions from his bag. " Run guys ! Midori Boshi : Rafflesia !"
Usopp launched a pop green on the ground which exploded into a thick red smokescreen with a foul scent. Sanji was slightly blinded and jumped backwards to avoid being caught in the smokescreen. When the air dissipated, the three of them were gone.
He quickly looked for the three of them who were retreating in the forest probably in their next hiding spot. "I see they were just gaining time before retreating. But this is way too soft to stop the passion in my heart !" Sanji said by using Sky walk to catch up to them.
"Shit, he is way too fast !" Usopp said by trying to shoot some plants at him but Sanji evaded all of them.
Usopp was by no means a close range fighter. It is even safe to say that if the enemy closes the distance between them, he was beaten. Therefore, Usopp bet it all on hiring and slowing Sanji down right now as he was approaching very quickly. He might have been running and breathing hard but his concentration was at his apex.
Suddenly, Ussop's vision darkened. Or it was more precise to say that everything but the people around him darkened. It was a very strange sensation, it's not like he was blind to everything else but more like he could distinguish people's aura more specifically. And in this state, he was able to track down Sanji more precisely.
"Again, it's like that time," He already felt this sensation, back in Dressrosa when he had to shoot Sugar. However, Sanji was way too fast for him. So he tried to send his munitions to the three or four directions Sanji seemed to have evaded the most as well as the one that he seemed to be evading by reading his aura, to close all escape routes.
"Midori bodhi : Shuriken !"
By sensing Sanji's movements, Usopp could quickly change the trajectory of his shots to close off Sanji's escape route. Some shurikens even managed to reach the cook as he had to kick them off, slowing him down a little.
"Oh, I did not expect that," Sanji said genuinely impressed at Usopp who was most likely able to sense his movements even if it was for a short while. "Time to speed up a bit then !"
Seeing that his escape routes had been closed, Sanji sped up his pace and then run to his first escape route before Ussop's plant could hit and quickly shifted his body to avoid the plant. After evading the blow, he kicked up another gear and went after Usopp.
Sensing Sanji approaching, Usopp panicked and launch a great number of munitions, but neither of those were close to reach their targets as Sanji evaded them once again.
"Remember this sensation. You make great use of Observation Haki but you are far too unskilled right now. Remember what Yamato-chan said ? You need to have a calm mind to efficiently use it," Sanji shouted just before kicking Usopp in the gut and making him fly towards a tree.
"This… this was Observation Haki ?" said Usopp not knocked out as Sanji held back but not in a state to get up or continue the fight.
"Yes congratulations. I suspect you might have awakened it before but now we will be able to train you to master it," said Sanji with a smirk as he was actually proud and happy for Usopp.
"Hehe, I beat you to it Nami !" said Usopp weakly but with a great smile on his face.
After Usopp fell down accepting his defeat, the cook turned towards Nami and Carrot.
"Now then…"
"We give up !" Nami and Carrot both said by lifting both of their hands in a defeat sign. "At this distance we can't escape you so it is our loss."
This was not because of cowardice that Nami and Carrot had given up. They knew that with Usopp out, Sanji would have an much easier time cornering them if they were only two at this distance. And they did not want to take advantage of the fact that Sanji could not hit them to restrain him, using Carrot to tie his hands was one thing but this would defeat the purpose of the training.
To know when to give up is also a sign of growth.
"I see, you have analysed the situation pretty well Nami-san, Carrot-cha'." said Sanji while relaxing. "Indeed, at this distance you could not have escaped me."
"But Sanji, I gave up because you were way faster than me and I could not even hit you. The only time I was able to, you were so tough that I did not even hurt you ! But what was your plan to restrain me without hitting me ?" asked Carrot genuinely curious.
"I actually let you hit me on purpose Carrot-chan. Knowing how prideful you are, I knew that by taking one of your hits and by evading all the others I could prove my superiority to you and if I managed to catch you, you would give up on your own."
"Wouah so you planned that far ahead ? That's awesome !" said Carrot impressed by the cook foreseeing.
"In time you will be able to do that, you have insane potential Carrot-chan," said Sanji smiling at the mink.
Sanji then suddenly turned around sensing something.
"Oi, don't go relaxing ! " the voice of a familiar blue-haired cyborg yelled approaching. Sanji saw Franky, Brook and Chopper coming to him prepared to fight and not to hide.
"It would be meaningless to just hide as it is training so don't hold back Sanji !" Chopper said transforming into his kung-fu point form. He expected some sort of reaction from Sanji but he just shook his head in all directions as if looking for something.
"Isn't Robin-chan with you ?" Sanji asked abruptly, tears in his eyes.
"Robin-san said that she would take you down with her own way, yohohoho." Brook said while taking his sword out, chilling the air around the weapon.
"Argh, why am I always on the losing side !? Come at me, I'll make short mince of you !" Sanji said by sighing and waiting for the three of them to launch their attack. He did not need to go easy on those guys so he prepared himself.
"Yohohoho how harsh Sanji-san !"
It was Brook who came first and tried to deliver an attack by diving very fast towards Sanji, his sword pointing at him. Sanji could see what Brook was trying to do, as he saw Chopper running around him looking for an opening. Therefore, he coated both of his legs in Armament Haki and lifted his left leg up in order to counter Brook's attack. This allowed him to push Brook away and to turn around to kick Chopper who was trying to hit him with a flying kick. This did not seem to bother them as they got up again and Sanji could sense many flying projectiles coming at him. It was Franky who launched many missiles at him and even with his speed he could not find an angle to evade the missiles and had to kicked some, creating a dust cloud, making them lose sight of Sanji.
Chopper jumped into the air in his Heavy Point and threw Brook who came flying with his sword pointing at Sanji still in the dust at full speed. Even Sanji was thrown away by this combination and could barely dodge the attack as he was still recovering and getting up from the shock of the missiles. He could see a light from Franky's hands.
"Radical Beam !'
He could barely dodge by twitching his body. As he lost his balance, Chopper and Brook cornered the cook by coming from his two sides and were launching a barrage of attacks at him. Sanji had no other choice but to endure while Franky ran towards him.
"Strong Right !"
He finished with a very strong right that made Sanji fly several meters ahead even if he partially blocked it . As they knew that the cook was very fast, they all jumped on him to deal as most damage as they could without him retailing.
Sanji took a deep breath before the three could jump him. He did not take the three of them lightly. But he still did not expect them to work together so well.
(That's to be expected I guess.)
They went through all kinds of battles together so he was not the only one who grew stronger. He would have to kick things up another gear.
Suddenly, Franky was the first to run towards Sanji despite being the slowest out of the three.
"Heavy Boxing !"
Franky used a series of punch that were heavy and powerful but nothing too much for Sanji to block with his legs. Then he quickly gave a big kick to Franky to push him away before the others joined the fray.
"Kakuho : Elf !"
Sanji suddenly felt something coming from the ground and jumped to the side to evade the attack. Emerging was Chopper in Horn point who dug a tunnel to attack from below the ground. However, even Sanji who had top tier speed and reflexes barely avoided the attack.
"Ekakiuta : Hitoyorigiri !"
Three ice horizontal cuts came at Sanji who had to coat himself in Armament Haki to receive the full brunt of the attack.
He was pushed away but quickly got back in a fighting stance. As he saw that the three opponents quickly tried to jump and pummel him with another barrage of attacks he decided to act quickly.
"Not bad at all, I can't let my guard down against you ! Try to resist this, you dumbass !" The cook said, igniting his leg in a red flame. "Diable jambe : Jarret !" The cook put his hands on the ground and let his kicks rotate, blowing away Brook and Chopper who were going to attack him.
What he did not expect was that Franky managed to catch his feet even if he suffered and gasped from the swift impact. Sanji then spinned around himself to get free and eject Franky.
When he was free, he noticed that Chopper and Brook were already on the offensive again. As he did not have time to deal with the three of them, he kicked Franky towards Chopper to disrupt his timing and attacked Brook first as he was the fastest of the three.
Seeing Franky flying at Chopper as they both fell on the ground, Brook was surprised and reacted at the last moment and managed to protect himself with his sword but was still blown away.
But Brook protected himself by lowering the temperature of the fire of the kick with his ice sword. While still flying because of Sanji's kick, he managed to put his sword on the ground to stop his course. But rather than gathering himself, Brook used his low weight to spin around his sword, not losing any momentum and then propelled himself sword in hand towards Sanji again.
"Gavotte bond en avant !"
Sanji who was surprised by the movements of the skeleton managed to evade the attack just barely.
"Shit !"
He managed to sense Chopper who was already in his Kung fu form but could not evade as he landed a devastating combo on him.
"Kung fu combo one !"
Sanji managed to defend but the awkward position he had from evading Brook's attack just now made him fly back a few meters. Sanji was now panting slighty feeling the accumulated damage from the attacks.
"We were expecting this ! You might deal some damage, but you'll need more to beat us Sanji !" said Chopper while going into his Kung-fu stance and getting up.
"Oh I see you all took the hit, well done. Then how about…"
Sanji began concentrating his Haki in his right leg before spinning very fast, causing very hot friction. His leg turned blue and the three opponents could only gasp as they could feel the heat coming out from the leg.
"Sanji, what the heck is this ? How are you turning your leg blue ?!" Chopper asked both impressed and curious. "Is this fire or is this something else entirely ?!"
"This is… the fire of love !" They didn't even have time to react as Sanji sprinted towards them really quickly. Brook tried to guard with his sword, Franky by guarding with his arms while Chopper instantly switched to his guard point.
Suddenly, Sanji disappeared from their sight and all they felt was a gust of wind before being trashed head first to the ground. The three of them just had the time to regroup themselves and lean on Chopper's Guard Point to lessen the damage given by the cook. Even then, the three of them were almost down and already on their last legs.
"Oh, I did not expect you to be able to withstand my Ifrit jambe," Sanji stopped impressed by the feat of the trio even if he did hold back as he had trouble controlling the full strength of his Ifrit jambe.
" I still have some trouble adjusting the strength of this, so sorry if it hurts !"
"WAIT, SANJI SAN IF WE SOLVE THIS PEACEFULLY I MIGHT AGREE TO TELL YOU THE COLOR OF YAMATO SAN PANT…" He did not have time to finish his sentence that a blue kick came towards them at full speed.
"Ifrit Jambe : Boeuf Burst !" Sanji yelled while kicking the center of the gut of each of his three opponent really quickly.
His three opponents got sent flying against three trees before falling down. He then looked at them to see if he managed to knock them out and they seemed to be fine but unable to continue the battle.
"Man, when did you learn these things ? And also your body seems as tough as mine !" yelled the cyborg as he was lying on the floor.
"Sanji, is that because of the evolution you told me about ?" Chopper asked having already witnessed the toughness of Sanji's body back against Queen.
"Yeah but I'm not too fond of it," said Sanji by clicking his tongue a little thinking about his family. "But now I can't do anything about it. I am still myself and I won't rely more on these bastards powers but if I can help us I will gladly accept this part of myself."
"Bwahahaha you are SUPER awesome Sanji" said Franky while bawling his eyes out.
"Anyway, are you still up to fight ?"" said Sanji a little dumbfounded by the cyborg.
"Yohohoho I give up Sanji-san. You gave me us good hit and there is no way we can beat you right now."
"Same for us !" said Franky and Chopper lying on their back exhausted from the fight.
"Honestly, you were stronger than I expected. Especially the combination attacks. Had I not known your fight style I might have been in more trouble."
"Now you're just praising us you bastard !" said Chopper and Franky happy but embarrassed about the compliment.
"Now then… for some reason I had trouble locating Robin-chan but..."
"You can locate people using your Observation Haki, Sanji ?" asked Chopper.
"Yes that's right…" said Sanji before looking over his crewmates. All of them were present and listening. "This might be a good occasion so listen all of you. Robin-chan you are here right ?"
"Eh ?"
"Impressive as always Sanji."
Suddenly, Robin appeared from behind a tree and showed no sign of running away or fighting stance.
"Thank you Robin-chwan !" said Sanji. "Now back to the matter at hand. Observation Haki does not magically notice the presence of people. It's like when someone is attacking you, somehow you can sense their intent right ? It's the same with Observation Haki, people who are emanating strong intent like when they are fighting are easier to notice. Combined with the ability to sense other people presences, this is the basis of Observation Haki. In time, you will be able to use it in battle."
Everyone was paying attention to Sanji's explanation, especially the sniper who had regrouped with Nami and Carrot while the fight unfolded. He thought about something he already experienced.
(I had a hunch but this aura thing I sensed back then is really Observation Haki huh ?...)
"In the same way, some skilled people are able to hide their presence and intent very well. While all of you were running in the forest or hiding, I was able to easily pick up your presence. The only one I was not able to notice was you Robin-chan".
Robin smiled at the genuine compliment from the cook.
"Being on the run for twenty years and training 2 years with the Revolutionaries helped a little."
"And the fact that you appeared before me like this is because you are probably a clone right ?"
"Correct. I can't beat you in a straight on fight and any amount of traps will do me no good. So how about a game of hide and seek ? If you manage to catch me I won't fight back and will surrender immediately."
"Interesting. In these conditions, I won't lose even against you Robin-chan !" said Sanji smirking uncharacteristically serious in front of the women of this crew.
"I look forward to it."
The archeologist's double then disappeared in a smile of petals.
"Do you think Robin will be able to outrun Sanji ? There is only 10 minutes left."
The Straw hats had returned to their camp where Luffy, Zoro, Yamato and Jinbei were. After the bet given by Robin, the others who had already lost went back to treat their light injuries and wait for the results.
"This cook is only good for one thing, how useless would he be if he failed that ?"
"But I did not expect Robin to be so good. I guess training under your Dad must have been incredible Luffy," said Nami impressed by the growth of her companion.
"Yeah ! But she told me that my father seemed very strict and mysterious and never trained her himself. He left it to people like Sabo or Koala ! He did give her missions and talked with her a lot though."
"Hummm, between your father, grandfather and brothers, you really have an outrageous and yet outstanding family."
"You are kinda bad news yourself Nami !" said Luffy thinking about the bad temper and snickering personality of her navigator.
"Guess we both are one of a kind," said the navigator looking at her goofy captain.
"Ah, I think they are done !"
Robin was running through the woods. She just had to stay hidden for fifteen more minutes before the time limit. She could not make any mistake. If she lost her temper or made any unnecessary movements, Sanji was likely to notice and catch her within seconds.
She looked at her surroundings and let out a small sight sensing no one. While she might have not managed to actively awaken her Observation Haki she somehow has a sixth sense that avoided her to get caught. It was further enhanced by the missions and advice given by the members of the Revolutionary army. That's why she learnt to relax as soon as she could in places secure enough.
She crunched behind a bush to conceal her presence before switching hiding place if she senses any kind of danger.
(I think that he will catch up to me nonetheless. I still have one final card to play but…)
"I caught you Robin-chan."
The shivers that usually indicates that she is pursued or in danger did not even activate. Or rather it did not even have the time to activate as she was caught before that. She then sensed a hand on her back indicating that the chase was over.
But being a good player and feeling at ease that the one who found her was her crewmate, she put both hands in the air as a sign of surrendering.
"I surrender," said Robin satisfied. "How did you sneak up on me like this ? I'm pretty confident in my ability to go unnoticed and to notice danger."
"Even if I don't compare to you, I have some stealth skills myself. I had to run away from crazy people for two years after all. But even then, I knew you would notice me if I was approaching so when I entered your perimeter I just waited for the moment you settled down before going full speed to catch you."
"So you managed to notice my presence after all. And here I think I was doing pretty well."
"I would not have been in normal circumstances. This is thanks to the power of love !"
"…"
"…"
"Would you mind explaining it to me more clearly ?" said the archeologist a little bothered by the lack of serious from her crewmate.
"I'm not making things up ! I was always able to notice women's presence and intent easier even from far away. And you gave me a hint at the beginning when you used your clone to give the bet."
"You mean you were able to distinguish my clone and myself ?"
"I wondered why you came to propose this bet in such a straightforward way. You were trying to trap me weren't you ? Even your clone had a weak presence when you came. And the only reason someone as cautious as you would do that is to lure me. If afterwards, you used your clone and intentionally gave off strong intent even if I noticed a small presence and intent from your main body I would be inclined to think that this is a clone and lost time by chasing the wrong target."
"That surmises my plan perfectly. So you were able to distinguish between my clone and my main body ?"
"This is the power of love. I would never mistake my Robin-chan even with herself ! While it is very difficult, when you create your clone and when it disappears, I can faintly sense the presence of your main body. That's how I was able to pin down the area you were in after you proposed the bet."
"It is my complete defeat," said Robin satisfied by the result and the explanation from the cook.
That's it for this chapter ! I hoped you liked the fight and chase scenes.
Next chapter will be about Zoro's training and you can expect an even more fight oriented chapter !
