When Conqueror's Haki was still at Level 1, it could only be passively triggered—usually during intense emotional fluctuations or moments of overwhelming desire.
It would activate uncontrollably!
But now that it had reached Level 2—
Klein could activate it at will. He still couldn't precisely control Conqueror's Haki, though.
It would strike indiscriminately, friend or foe alike!
This round…
Yet again—yet again, a huge, huge power-up!!
Klein's mouth curled into a wide grin, his whole face lighting up like a "great macaque."
So satisfying!
Conqueror's Haki was a legendary gold-tier skill, and notoriously hard to level up. Now, thanks to a level-up scroll, it had jumped straight to Level 2.
Saved him a ton of effort.
Once Conqueror's Haki was strong enough, and he mastered Infusion, that would be another massive boost!
Klein was overjoyed, all thoughts of money thrown to the wind. His eyes now burned with anticipation as they locked onto the "Random Gold Legendary Chest" in his inventory.
He pressed his hands together. "Spirits of heaven and earth…"
A sincere prayer.
He knew it was all superstition, but still—superstition had to be honored!
After all, even shouting "Marge, help me!" didn't work in this game.
If he could play background music, he'd probably go with something like Good Luck Is Coming or Miracle Returns.
Mysterious ritual complete.
Klein, trembling with anticipation, clicked open the chest.
[You have obtained a Random Gold Skill Chest!]
"Nice!"
"Holy—!"
"Niceee!!"
Klein clenched his fists, face flushed with excitement, thrilled beyond words.
Only words like "Holy shit" and "Nice" could express his boiling emotions—true classics.
"Divine Evasion? Thunder Bagua? Conquest of Nations?" Klein rattled off a bunch of legendary gold-tier skills.
Whichever one it was—
For Klein, it would be a tremendous power-up!!
These were all top-tier combat techniques in the One Piece world!
Of course—
What he hoped for the most was Divine Evasion. He wanted to see: faced with Divine Evasion, who the hell wouldn't dodge!?
Is your head just that hard?
Or is my Divine Evasion just that sharp?
One more "ritual," and he opened the chest. The skill icons inside flashed past like a slideshow.
Then stopped.
[You have obtained the Full Iron Fist Skill Set.]
[Includes: Fist Bone Meteor, Fist Bone Meteor Shower, Fist Bone Impact, Abyssal Drop, Fist Bone Smash…]
Fist Bone Smash!
"Iron Fist??"
"Wait a second… isn't that my buddy Garp's move??"*
Klein blinked, stunned by the dramatic result.
This… this was not what he expected.
But his lips curled into a sly grin. "Honestly, Garp's moves? They're no joke."
"And right now, Garp hasn't even developed these yet. But me…"
"I can use Garp's moves against Garp. He'll be so confused!"
"Wait…"
A thought hit Klein. "I could teach these to Garp. Charging him, say, 88.88 million Berries wouldn't be unreasonable, right? I mean, this is a legendary gold skill set!"
"Think how many years of detours he could skip!"
"No one else qualifies for this kind of treatment. Honestly, he should be thanking me!"
He claimed the skill.
Klein felt like he became Garp. His mind flooded with visions of training Iron Fist, developing techniques, fighting with nothing but fists—all of it felt like his memories.
As if he had personally trained in Iron Fist for years.
The sensation was surreal!
Once the memory transfer was done, Klein realized he could now summon his inner "fist power"—to unleash maximum damage!
Just clenching his hand gave him the sense that even without Tekkai, his body felt like steel. And from deep within, a strange force began surging, gathering in his fists.
Klein grinned mischievously.
"Heh heh—what would it feel like to bust open Garp's dumb head with his own Iron Fist?"
Just imagining it, he heard footsteps outside—and quickly exited the game.
Looks like the Training Trio was back.
Bang!
Garp kicked open the door like a man on a mission. "Ponytail Guy, I'm here to challenge you!"
Seeing Garp's confident face, Klein couldn't help but be impressed. This guy just didn't know how to give up.
"What's wrong?"
"Losing once wasn't enough? You want a second helping?"
Garp marched right up to Klein, chest out, bandaged fists raised, and grinned: "Heh! Ponytail Guy, I've developed a new move!"
"A perfect fusion of Tekkai and Iron Fist. This time…"
"I won't lose to you!"
Dude's overflowing with confidence!
"Oh?" Klein smirked. "Feeling that bold? How about we place a little wager—just to spice things up?"
As soon as money was mentioned, Garp deflated like a balloon, then exploded in rage: "You bastard Ponytail Guy! Can you not bring up money!?"
He had long since lost track of how many IOUs he owed Klein. He was sure it wasn't a small amount.
Right now…
Garp was extremely sensitive to "money."
Thankfully, some student points had helped ease the debt pressure.
But still…
Klein wasn't exactly a collections agency. He wasn't going to break kneecaps to get repaid.
"No money?"
"Then should we bet on dreams instead?"
Klein shrugged. "Weren't you super confident just now!? If you're really that confident, throw in a wager and challenge me properly!"
"Ponytail bastard!" Garp growled through gritted teeth.
On the side, Sengoku quickly wrapped his arms around Garp's waist.
"Garp, calm down!!"
"You just sparred with Klein. Your injuries haven't even healed yet. Sparring now won't do you any good—give it a little more time."
Klein nodded at Sengoku's sensible words. "We've got dozens of students in the training program. I don't have time to spar with you guys every day, right?"
"And if we spar too often, the audience will get bored. Who's gonna pay for tickets then!?"
Garp slumped onto Klein's bed, opened a snack bag, and munched loudly on donuts.
Meanwhile, Klein turned to Sengoku. "Hey Sengoku, I think you and I sparring would get the students really hyped. Want to give it a go?"
"Ticket sales: 60/40. Your cut can go toward paying off your debt."
That suggestion made Garp's eyes light up. "Yeah! Afro Guy, you fight the Ponytail!"
"..." Sengoku's brow twitched. This idiot. Didn't he just tell him not to spar with Klein?
"Klein, I'm not confident I could beat you. I'll pass for now."
Sengoku made the rational choice.
"Ahhh—such a great opportunity to make money, and it's wasted. What a shame."
Making money wasn't easy. Klein sighed. "Swanny Swanny, want a massage?"
"Yes!" ×3.
The trio answered in perfect sync.
Next Day.
"Today, I'll be teaching you a new advanced combat technique: Kami-e!"
The instructor's sharp gaze swept across the class. Normally, he wouldn't introduce the second form of Rokushiki this soon.
But some students had improved too quickly and were just too capable.
Introducing another Rokushiki form early was a special exception.
As his voice rang out—
Pop!
The snot bubble on Garp's nose burst. He snapped awake, eyes sparkling. "Eh!? We're learning another Rokushiki technique?"
Training had ramped up lately. With the occasional all-nighter, Garp wasn't getting much sleep.
So…
He kept dozing off during class.
On the other side—
At that moment—
Klein felt the instructor's gaze, full of expectations and trust.
His heart bloomed. 'Teaching Kami-e? What a coincidence, I happen to know that one.'
'I'll show off a little later and plug my own training program…'
'Perfect!'
Next moment, the instructor barked, "Klein! Step forward!"
Klein snapped out of his daze and walked from the back of the group to stand before the instructor, still a bit confused, when the order came:
"Klein. Attack me with everything you've got!"
"Use your strongest move!"