Early the next morning, before the thin mist over the sea had fully dispersed, Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami climbed alone to the upper deck and found the man leaning against the railing while casually biting into an apple.
"Captain Roger… please teach me Armament Haki."
Roger paused mid-chew. He turned his head and sized Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami up from top to bottom before grinning.
"Oh? In that much of a hurry?"
Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami nodded, his gaze drifting toward the faint silhouette of Water Seven emerging through the morning fog.
"There isn't much time left. In a few hours, we'll arrive at Water Seven. I thought… if I could receive some guidance from you, maybe I'd be able to grasp it faster."
Roger casually tossed the apple core into the sea and turned to face him directly.
"Teaching you is fine. But before that—"
He pointed at Sami's empty right sleeve, then tapped near his own eye.
"You think you've never used Armament Haki before?"
"…What?"
Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami froze slightly.
"When you blocked my Divine Departure yesterday," Roger said with absolute certainty, "you already used it."
"It was probably just newly awakened and too weak. Or maybe your emotions were running so high at the time that you didn't even notice it yourself."
He scratched his chin.
"If you think back carefully, you should realize it too. Without even that tiny bit of Armament coating your fist, forget deflecting my slash—you'd have been sliced clean in half like a sheet of paper."
"It was precisely because of that trace of Haki that you gained even the slightest possibility of altering its trajectory."
Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami felt as if struck by lightning.
Yesterday's scene replayed through his mind in flashes.
At the instant he unleashed Wrist Tentacle: Heavy Hammer, there really had been a strange sensation coating his fist—something completely different from his usual powers.
But immediately afterward came overwhelming destruction and unbearable pain.
So… it hadn't been an illusion?
"So yeah," Roger grinned and slapped Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami on the left shoulder, "it's not that you can't use it. You just didn't know you were using it."
"As for systematic teaching, I'm probably not the best at explaining grand theories. Rayleigh's better at that sort of thing. But if you insist on me giving pointers…"
He rolled his wrists, making his joints crack loudly.
"The training room? Or here?"
Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil in his chest as his eyes sharpened again.
"The training room."
Inside the empty training room, the two stood facing each other.
Roger didn't draw his sword. He simply took up a loose stance with his bare hands.
"Come on," he said with a grin. "Attack me with everything you've got."
"But let me warn you first—my teaching style only has one method."
He clenched his fist lightly.
"Hands-on experience."
The moment the final word fell, Roger's figure blurred.
Sami's pupils contracted violently as his Observation Haki screamed a warning.
Instinctively, he raised his left arm across his chest to block.
Bang!
A fist wrapped in invisible armor slammed squarely into his torso.
Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami felt as though he'd been hit head-on by a medium-sized sailing ship charging at full speed.
His body flew backward without any flourish, crashing hard into the cabin wall and making the wooden structure hum violently.
"Ghk—!"
The impact blackened his vision, his internal organs feeling as though they had all shifted out of place.
"Feel that?" Roger's voice rang out. "That's Armament Haki."
"Using your body to remember the feeling of being hit by it is far more useful than hearing ten thousand explanations."
"Here comes the next one!"
Almost simultaneously with the final word, Roger closed the distance again, his fist already roaring toward Sami's face.
Grinding his teeth, Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami endured the violent churning in his chest and abdomen and rolled sideways.
Crack!
Wood chips exploded outward as Roger's fist smashed a deep dent into the wall where Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami had been a split second earlier.
"You won't learn anything just by dodging!" Roger barked as his attacks followed relentlessly.
Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami was forced into direct combat.
He pushed his Observation Haki to its absolute limit—predict, block, predict, block.
Roger's punches appeared simple and straightforward, yet they always arrived from the most vicious angles at the most impossible moments.
More terrifying still was the invisible, indestructible armor coating each strike. Every collision sent numbing agony through Sami's arms.
Bang! Crack!
Another direct clash.
This time, the clear sound of bone fracturing came from Sami's left forearm.
A piercing pain instantly drenched his back in cold sweat.
But instead of falling, the agony sharpened his concentration to the extreme.
His unwillingness to lose exploded inside his chest.
Block it! I have to block it! With my own fists!
As Roger's next punch crashed toward him with suffocating pressure, Sami's eyes widened furiously.
He poured every ounce of willpower into his left fist and punched forward to meet it head-on!
CLANG—!!!
A sharp metallic impact, completely different from ordinary flesh-on-flesh collision, exploded through the training room.
The two fists met midair and trembled against one another.
For the first time, clear surprise appeared in Roger's eyes.
Sami's left fist was now coated in an uneven layer of blackened color.
Thin.
Unstable.
Flickering.
But it was unmistakably Armament Haki.
"Oh?"
Roger eased off his strength, the grin on his face widening.
"You touched the threshold this quickly? Not bad, kid!"
Panting heavily, Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami stared in disbelief at his own blackened fist.
A sensation unlike anything he had ever experienced spread from it through his entire arm—solid, powerful, unshakable.
So this… was what manifested Armament Haki felt like.
"Hah! You learn fast!"
Roger burst into laughter and fully withdrew his fist, openly admiring Sami's still-clumsy Haki coating.
"Could it be you're actually some kind of genius?"
Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami slowly dispersed the black coating around his fist. Pain surged back through his injured arm, yet his heart overflowed with excitement.
"You taught well," he said sincerely.
Roger's expression grew more serious.
"From now on," he said while pointing at Sami's fist, "you need to train it constantly."
"Try using it on different parts of your body. Learn to gather it, control it, shape it."
"And most importantly—"
He paused, his gaze turning deep and forceful.
"You need to believe that there's nothing a fist coated in Armament Haki cannot break."
"You need that kind of conviction."
"The stronger your body becomes, and the firmer your will grows…"
"…the stronger your Armament Haki will become."
"It isn't just armor. It's an extension of your spirit."
Just as Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami was still immersed in the shock and realization of successfully manifesting Armament Haki for the first time—
The training room door suddenly opened.
"Captain! We've arrived at Water Seven!"
Both Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami and Roger turned simultaneously.
Through the open doorway and the round side window, the outline of the unique sea city had already become clearly visible in the distance.
"Captain Roger," Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami said, "the timing's perfect. I'll take you to meet Tom."
"Hahaha! Great!"
Roger laughed loudly.
"I've been waiting to hear that! I can't wait to meet the shipwright capable of building such an incredible vessel!"
The two walked side by side out of the training room and onto the deck.
At this moment, the Flame Fang had already begun slowing down as it gradually approached its berth in Water Seven's harbor.
"Come on, Captain Roger."
Riberra Riberra Riberra Sami stepped aside and gestured invitingly.
"Tom-san's shipyard is just ahead."
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