So in the days that followed, Aus focused most of his training on physical conditioning.
Though he couldn't compare to certain geniuses who worked two hundred times harder, he could master sniping techniques, swordsmanship, and combat arts at twice the efficiency of genius-level talents like Shanks. That was already monster territory.
So getting his body strength and Haki developed early beat everything else.
Time flew by.
Two months had passed since leaving home. Aus's life was fulfilling but routine.
Just after dawn, Buggy and Shanks dragged him up to clean. Last night, because Captain Roger's bounty ticked up again, the ship threw yet another party.
Everyone got shitfaced and happy—except The Three Stooges Under the King.
Fuck!
Who doesn't get mentally drained from daily parties?!
Aus was helpless dealing with these hot-blooded idiots and Roger, who had some serious Luffy vibes. Not that he didn't want to join in—that rum just tasted like ass. Without a drinking problem, Aus couldn't appreciate it.
This wasn't the passionate Pirate King adventure he'd imagined. Besides occasional storms, lightning, hail, and hurricanes, there were zero so-called thrilling adventure plots.
Turns out the so-called magnificent Pirate King journey was just a bunch of top-tier badasses having an elite drinking club.
They cleaned until almost lunch before Aus and the others finally cleared all the bottles and garbage.
Just as they were about to grab some food then hit training—
Suddenly, Aus sensed something and froze, staring toward the distant sky.
Something was flying their way!
Aus heard it first through his Observation Haki.
Buggy ran to the ship's rail and squinted—looked like a cannonball!
Holy shit!
Glancing toward the distance, white sails appeared on the horizon.
What cannonball travels that far?
A fucking missile?
Aus had a pretty good guess who it was.
No time for warnings. Under Shanks and Buggy's tense stares, Aus immediately drew the long gun from his back and aimed at the black dot in the sky.
At the same time, Captain Roger's figure materialized at the bow, watching Aus line up his shot.
"Kid, that guy's cannonballs are pretty damn fast. Think you can nail it?"
Roger flashed his trademark grin, watching Aus still finding his aim.
Who the hell are you underestimating?
I might not beat the guy throwing it, but I can't handle one cannonball?
Aus smirked, aligned his crosshairs with the black dot, backed by Observation Haki.
"Nailed it!"
In his Haki perception, the cannonball got tagged by his bullet dozens of meters from the ship, hit dead center.
But...
He hit it, but not really.
Under Aus's what-the-fuck expression, this cannonball didn't explode mid-air like expected. Instead, acting like nothing happened, it bounced his bullet off and kept its original trajectory.
666, this cannonball was fucking cheating!
Wait, this was definitely a Haki-infused cannonball!
Seeing he couldn't handle it, Aus smartly holstered his gun and retreated behind Buggy and Shanks.
He wasn't sweating it—when the sky falls, tall people hold it up. Wasn't the three little guys' problem.
Right on cue—
"Divine Departure!!!"
With Captain Roger's battle roar, his blade wrapped in black-red lightning sent a slash screaming across the sky.
The fucking sky looked ready to split in half!
Besides the one Aus targeted, several trailing cannonballs exploded violently in mid-air before impact.
Aus got his mind blown by this insanely powerful strike.
Though he knew this move was ridiculous from the anime, witnessing it live hit completely different.
One slash splitting the goddamn sky?
Divine Departure was incredible! He absolutely had to learn Divine Departure!
Aus watched with his scalp tingling, practically drooling. His Observation Haki carefully absorbed every detail of Captain Roger's execution.
But maybe he was still too weak—he could only sense some massive force circulating through Roger's body. Clearer details escaped him.
Aus felt bummed.
Probably like how Sharingan couldn't copy forbidden jutsu—too low level to copy-paste it over.
But before he could process more, Shanks and Buggy yanked him back behind the crew members rushing over.
"Hahahaha!!! Boys, time to throw down with the Marines!" Roger drew his sword and laughed like a maniac.
"This rabid dog—we finally ditched him, how'd he track us down again after just two months?" Gaban in his vest gripped twin axes, pissed off.
"Then let's send our own greeting." Rayleigh went straight for it, unleashing a massive sword slash that split the ocean surface.
Of course, exactly as Aus expected, it did jack shit—got smashed apart by a black fist from the warship!
Aus moved fast, scrambling up the lookout and greeting his sniper mentor: "Yo, Uncle Bitam!"
Though Bitam was chunky, his reflexes and moves weren't slow. Seeing Aus climb up too, he grinned: "Oh, it's Aus. Stay sharp—this time we're not dealing with small fry."
"I'll watch my ass." Aus smiled, peering through his gun scope toward the figure on the distant warship.
A burly short-haired guy with stubble, wearing a Marine Vice Admiral coat and black suit, casually juggling several cannonballs.
The cannonballs that left Aus helpless were getting hand-thrown by this bastard.
If you asked Aus, modern cannons were still garbage—automatic couldn't even beat manual.
"Gotta hand it to the Marine Hero..."
"Hey hey hey! You hearing me, Roger? Just surrender already!"
From way off, they could see Garp holding a giant megaphone, shouting.
"Hahahaha, not happening, Garp!"
Roger shot back with the same smile. The two old rivals started their long-distance trash talk.
Both spouting their usual bromance-loaded opening routine.
Next came the standard chase scene and Haki-enhanced projectile volleyball.
Since the Roger Pirates packed multiple experts with high mobility, Garp alone couldn't realistically bag them all.
And Roger's crew didn't want to death-match Garp—this tough-as-nails bastard—on open ocean.
After all, if either side's Haki coating leaked out even a little, the result would be ship destruction with everyone swimming to the next island.
Occasionally some suicidal Marines tried Moon Walking toward the Oro Jackson, only to get dunked by Rayleigh and crew or sniped by Aus.
Among these gung-ho Marines, Aus spotted something unusual through his scope—
A curly-haired string bean.
"Hey hey hey, this guy mixing with regular Marines is definitely up to no good!"
If Aus didn't recognize him, this young punk really would've slipped through.
An opposing Ice-Ice Fruit user wanting to get close to their ship—no matter how you looked at it, that spelled trouble.
Silently pulling out the single Seastone bullet he'd finally sweet-talked from Bitam, Aus started aiming, his mouth curling into a smirk.
Consider this a welcome gift—
Young sea ice, Kuzan.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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