Bogard stared at the pitch-black arm, the careful teaching plan in his head falling apart into scrap paper.
Three minutes?
No, even counting his rambling from earlier, it had been five minutes at most.
He spent three years at the Elite Training Camp grinding to reach this level of coating!
"Instructor, it feels a bit weird," Zaraki said, clenching his pitch-black fist as he frowned, feeling the strange mix of hardness and sensitivity on his skin.
"It's like wearing a heavy glove. It's tough, but it feels like it's draining my energy fast. Does this count as the basics?"
The word "Instructor" grated on Bogard's ears even worse than the cracking wood from earlier.
'The basics?'
If this was just the basics, what did that make the officers at Marine Headquarters who trained for ten years and still struggled to harden their Haki?
Bogard opened his mouth, wanting to say it still needed work just to save his own pride.
But when he met Zaraki's eager gaze, the words rolled around on his tongue before he swallowed them back down.
He felt totally crushed!
This wasn't a rough gemstone, it was a finished diamond and he actually thought about using sandpaper on it!
"...Not bad," Bogard managed to squeeze out through gritted teeth after a long silence, his voice dry as a bone.
He sheathed his sword, his movements stiff like a rusty puppet.
"That's all for today. This technique is heavy on the body, so you should take a breather and let it sink in."
With that, the Marine Headquarters commander turned and walked away without looking back.
His straight back now gave off the vibe of a guy making a fast retreat, and even the way his justice coat flapped in the wind looked defeated.
Zaraki watched Bogard walk off, scratching his head.
'Did I overdo it?'
He looked down at his active Armament Haki, then back at Bogard's retreating figure.
The Insight Token's effect was strong.
The feeling of turning theory straight into instinct made it hard to hold back.
In a world that cared so much about hard work and experience, this instant mastery was a heavy mental blow for a practical guy like Bogard.
If the Observation Haki training went the same way, the future instructor might actually get some real trauma and start questioning his life choices.
"That's a bit unfair," Zaraki muttered, letting the Haki fade from his arm.
The empty feeling from the power draining made him sway a bit, but he still felt pumped.
'Got to leave the guy some pride.'
Since his Armament Haki already showed his hand, he needed a different game plan for Observation Haki.
He'd have to act a bit slower, struggle a bit, and give the instructor some room to actually teach so he could feel useful.
With that in mind, Zaraki focused his thoughts.
[System, use the Awakening Token.]
A cool stream of energy didn't just rush through his veins this time, but pulled together deep in the center of his mind.
Even if he planned to play dumb in front of Bogard, learning this skill was important.
With no one around, now was the perfect time to use the item and build up a feel for Observation Haki.
Zaraki closed his eyes, sinking into a deep focus right there on the noisy coast.
...
Meanwhile, on the path to Partys Bar, Bogard walked with heavy steps toward the small building marked with a windmill sign, where Garp's loud voice and the clinking of glasses were already echoing.
Bogard pushed open the old wooden door, getting hit with a wave of heat carrying the smell of cheap tobacco, grilled meat, and rum that wiped out the salty sea breeze.
The tavern buzzed with loud chatter as villagers clinked their wooden mugs.
Right in the middle of it all, Garp stood with one foot on a bar stool, holding a handful of rice crackers with crumbs on his face as he laughed out loud.
"Hahahaha! Drink up! It's on me!" Garp's booming voice made the hanging lights rattle. "Let me tell you, my adopted grandson is a natural-born genius! He just needs a little polish, and he'll become a monster that makes pirates shake in their boots!"
At the other end of the bar, Luffy held a glass of juice.
The bump on his head was still swollen, making him look top-heavy.
He puffed out his cheeks, chewing on his straw and muttering, "Zaraki-nii won't arrest me... He's my crewmate... We're going together..."
Bonk!
Without even looking, Garp threw a backhand punch right onto Luffy's swollen bump, making it twice as big.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!"
"Shut your mouth! You need to learn from Zaraki! Look at his drive!"
After yelling at his grandson, Garp looked up and spotted Bogard standing in the doorway looking grim, and flashed a big grin.
"Yo! Bogard! What brings you back? Where's the kid? Did the Haki lesson scare him off, or did he just pass out from being tired? Hahaha! No worries! Go carry him back, and I'll give him some extra meat tonight to help him recover!"
Bogard didn't laugh.
He pulled down the brim of his hat and walked right through the crowd, heading straight for the bar.
He didn't order a drink, just standing there watching Garp stuff crackers in his mouth with a serious look on his face.
"Vice Admiral," Bogard's voice shook a little. "I can teach him basic physical training and the Six Powers, but I can't teach him Armament Haki."
The loud tavern kept buzzing, but Garp stopped chewing right away.
The old man raised an eyebrow, swallowed his food, and picked his ear with his pinky, looking confused.
"Huh? What are you talking about? You're my own guy, the elite of the elite at Headquarters. Do you really think you can't teach some East Blue brat the basics of Haki?"
Garp figured Bogard was just trying to get out of the work, or that Zaraki's wild swings were too hard to fix.
"It's not about if I'm qualified," Bogard said, taking a deep breath to calm down.
He looked up, his usual calm eyes looking a bit lost.
"Vice Admiral, when you taught me, how long did it take for me to cover my whole arm with Armament Haki?"
"You?" Garp rubbed his chin. "You were pretty sharp. Three months to go from feeling the energy to getting your first hardening. Covering your whole arm took about a year, right? What, are you trying to say that brat is too thick-headed and might drive you crazy?"
"Three months..." Bogard shook his head with a weak smile. "I used to be called a genius."
He looked up, locking eyes with Garp's chill face, speaking slow and clear.
"Just now, from the second I explained the theory to him getting Armament Haki hardening on his arm, it took less than five minutes. And he got it on the first try."
Crack.
A sharp sound cut through the bar.
The thick beer mug in Garp's hand shattered into powder.
Brown liquor mixed with glass shards dripped from his rough hand, staining the clean table Makino just wiped.
The bar went dead quiet.
Luffy's eyes went wide, forgetting his pain for a second as he stared at his grandfather's dripping hand.
"Bogard," Garp said, ignoring the mess on his hand.
His face went dark, and a heavy pressure rolled off him, making the air feel tight.
"This isn't funny. Five minutes? Even the kids of those monsters in the New World couldn't break common sense like that."
Armament Haki was the physical form of willpower, meaning you had to train your body and mind to the limit every single day.
Learning it from just a quick look?
That was some fairy tale stuff!
"I wish I was joking," Bogard said, sounding defeated. "But he stood right there looking at me like, 'Is this really that hard?' and asked if he even got the basics down. Vice Admiral, that's not talent... that's a monster."
Garp stared right into Bogard's eyes for three seconds.
Seeing that his guy wasn't crazy or drunk, the old man stood up hard, the wooden stool groaning under him.
"Makino! Save the booze!"
Garp flicked the glass off his hand and charged for the door, his justice coat snapping behind him.
"I'm gonna see for myself if the East Blue can really grow a freak like this!"
(He forgot that he's a freak himself and also come from Eastblue.)
...
Back out on the wooden pier, Zaraki sat cross-legged right at the edge, having no idea about the mess happening in the tavern.
The sea breeze was chill, and waves splashed against the rocks.
In his head, the golden Awakening Token turned to dust and merged right into his mind.
The Insight Token gave him control over his own physical energy, but this Awakening Token pushed his senses through the roof.
With his eyes closed, the world didn't go dark.
Instead, a messy but clear stream of data flooded his brain.
He could feel the shape of the wind cutting through the rocks, hear the tiny bubbles popping under the waves, and even lock onto the life signals of creatures swimming deep in the ocean.
"So this is Observation Haki?"
A smirk pulled at Zaraki's mouth.
In his mind, everything around him came alive, turning into clear lines of emotion and intent.
Thirty meters underwater to his left, a fat fish was chasing a small shrimp.
Zaraki could actually "hear" the fish planning to speed up and flick its tail to the right.
The feeling was crazy, like he could see what was going to happen before it even did.
Without opening his eyes, Zaraki reached into the pile of broken rocks next to him, grabbing a small pebble.
He didn't even need to aim.
The second the intent popped up, the target's spot locked in like radar.
"Go."
With a quick flick of his wrist, Zaraki threw the pebble.
It cut through the air with a soft whistle and dove straight into the water.
A tiny splash followed, and a small red stain spread in the sea.
The fish floated to the surface with a hole in its side.
"Not done yet."
Zaraki didn't change his expression, picking up three more pebbles.
In his mind's eye, the smell of blood drifted in the water, pulling in a few hungry predators.
Forty-five degrees to the right, two meters deep, a tiger shark was picking up speed.
Right below, a school of small fish scattered in a panic.
All the movement paths and variables tied together in his head like a moving web.
'This is way more than just good hearing, it's seeing the next move.'
Zaraki's fighting instincts, now boosted by this new trick, got even sharper.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Three pebbles shot out, and not a single one missed.
Small splashes popped up, and a few more dead fish bobbed to the surface.
Each rock hit right at the gills or fins—the weakest spots for their movement.
"Huff..."
Zaraki let out a slow breath, a bit of sweat on his forehead.
Keeping up this wide radar view was tough, draining his brain way faster than moving around did, but the hype in his eyes didn't drop.
In just ten minutes, thanks to the System's items, he crossed a line that usually took years of hard grinding.
Armament and Observation Haki were now carved right into his instincts.
The sea breeze blew through his messy hair.
Right then, his sharp senses picked up a wild, heavy aura rushing toward him on the path.
The pressure was huge.
On the path leading back from the tavern, the blurry red energy signal in his head was now charging forward like a cannonball, smashing through the air currents.
Without even looking, Zaraki could picture it: heavy military boots kicking up dust with every step, and the Marine coat pulled tight from running so fast that the flapping sound drowned out the ocean waves.
'Too fast.'
And the aura was heavy!
Feeling the fish earlier was like a quiet stream, but Garp's incoming presence felt like a volcano blowing up.
The raw force mixed with Haki made Zaraki's head buzz from hundreds of meters out, feeling like his senses were going to pop.
"So this is what a top-tier fighter feels like..." Zaraki felt his temples throbbing.
But he didn't cut off his haki.
Instead, he licked his dry lips—a Kenpachi Zaraki instinct kicking in when facing a strong enemy!
He didn't have to wait long.
A minute later, the giant figure showed up at the end of the wooden pier, bringing a cloud of dust and the smell of booze with him.
Garp didn't yell out his usual loud greeting.
He just stopped, keeping his hands in his pockets. His eyes, which were usually smiling, now burned sharp, locked onto the young guy sitting cross-legged at the edge.
The old man looked at the rocks around Zaraki, then at the dead fish floating in the water, before looking back at the kid's pale, intense face.
The air between them got heavy.
Zaraki could feel Garp's wild aura pulling back, tightening up and hiding just under the surface.
He let out a long breath, settling the restless adrenaline pumping in his chest.
Inside his head, the golden energy from the Insight Token hadn't faded out.
Instead, hitting Garp's massive aura seemed to trigger it, making it vibrate on a deeper level.
The Observation Haki radar that only let him feel intent and location suddenly brushed up against a deeper wall.
Through that wall, he caught a quick glimpse of something looking like weak points and blind spots flashing inside Garp's rock-solid aura.
'Was this a high-level trick? Or the real power of the Insight Token waking up?'
Finally, Zaraki slowly opened his eyes as a faint flash showing deep in his black pupils.