"Eh? No way—Master actually pulled it off?!"
"Armament Haki?"
Carina and Nami crowded around, staring at Yami's fist wrapped in Armament Haki. Nami said in disbelief, "Master couldn't awaken Observation Haki for months, and in less than a day he mastered Armament Haki? That can't be real!"
"Pff!"
At that, Perona, who'd been shocked a moment before, couldn't help laughing.
"Ara ara… it should be because they're different types," Robin said with a hand over her lips.
Yami didn't mind the laughter. The corner of his mouth lifted. "Looks like my talent for Armament Haki is as good as my physique."
Mastering Armament Haki in a single day is unbelievable.
But it isn't unique.
Portgas D. Ace, the Pirate King's son, learned Armament Haki in one day.
In the anime we only see young Ace awaken Conqueror's Haki; there's no scene of him training Armament, and the manga doesn't show it either.
But in official side materials it's stated Ace learned Armament in just one day.
Of course, Yami didn't read the full novel—he only picked up the point from supplemental sources.
Learning Armament in a day didn't make Yami giddy about his "talent." It made him exhale in relief.
As Nami said, ever since he got Observation methods from Enel, Yami had been trying to awaken it.
Months passed, and still no Observation.
At first he thought his willpower wasn't tempered enough, so he proactively fought Aokiji and then killed Shiki, one of the four legends of the previous era.
He gained confidence and honed his will.
Yet he still didn't awaken Haki.
A faint chill crept into him.
Could there really be some "will of the world" that says only natives can awaken Haki?
So mastering Armament in a day first brought relief, not pride.
As long as he could learn Haki at all, the timing didn't matter to Yami.
After grasping Armament, Yami passed all of his training experience to Carina and Nami.
Whether for lack of talent, insufficient conditioning, or will not yet tempered enough, neither could yet turn that unseen aura and intent into a tangible weapon.
Yami wasn't disappointed.
Cases like his or Ace's are the minority.
If someone can awaken Haki within a year or two, they count as a genius.
And in the Grand Line there are two places full of such geniuses.
Amazon Lily and Wano Country.
Both are famed Haki nations with well-developed systems.
At that thought, Yami's mind stirred.
Hyogoro taught Luffy Armament Haki's internal destruction, which proves Wano possesses advanced Haki methods.
If Wano has them, then Amazon Lily likely does too.
Compared to Wano, the Kuja's style seems even better suited to Carina and Nami.
If he could drop them on Amazon Lily for a year or two of training, they'd absolutely master the two colors.
If the former Rocks Pirate and Amazon Lily's long-ago Empress Gloriosa would personally teach them, they might even reach advanced applications.
But sending them there, and getting Gloriosa to pass down higher techniques, wouldn't be easy.
Yami's first step was Boa Hancock.
If Amazon Lily truly has advanced methods, then as Empress, Hancock would have them in hand.
If she didn't, she could ask Gloriosa to teach.
Win Hancock's favor—or win over the Pirate Empress herself—and Yami wouldn't only be able to send the two girls to train; he could turn Amazon Lily into his back garden.
As a transmigrator, Yami knew Hancock's bleak past and had several ways to earn her goodwill.
There was also a simpler, cruder route.
Force.
Expose the Float-Float Fruit and park a floating island over Amazon Lily; with an annihilation crisis overhead, Gloriosa would choose to hand over advanced Haki methods.
But he discarded that plan.
Not because he didn't dare, but because it would be stupid and wasteful.
As a world-renowned Haki power, Amazon Lily's Empress becoming a Warlord primarily hinged on her very first bounty of 80 million beli.
An all-female nation no one dares to underestimate.
Its warriors all wield both colors of Haki, and they're terrifyingly young.
If Amazon Lily were situated in the New World, the Kuja Pirates would be one of the strongest crews below the Yonko, and even Emperors would tread carefully—trying to bite down would cost a chunk of flesh.
If he could bring such a nation under his sway, Yami wouldn't need to move personally to challenge any power.
He felt even more tempted, and made up his mind on the spot.
After seizing the Teleport-Teleport Fruit, the next goal would be turning Amazon Lily into his back garden.
Once he'd stabilized his Armament Haki and could use it freely, Yami opened the New World map and power-distribution charts Doflamingo had provided.
On the map, many zones were circled, large and small, each marked with sea names, islands, and the sigil of the power that held them.
Within those zones, Yami quickly found Beehive Island, under Wang Zhi's crew.
Then he located Dressrosa, compared their positions, and steered the Pegasus toward a certain heading.
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