Chapter 15 / Haki

Y/N's POV

I got up with the rising sun today.

Lou had always been in charge of my training plan and pretty much daily routine and now that I had no alibi as to why I couldn't follow that plan she had been drilling me with an iron fist.

Although I always complained about her harshness I could feel that my body was rejoicing over returning to a regular sleeping pattern and routine.

At least I'm not her only victim now.

I grinned at the memory of watching Ace being put through the most recent torturous fitness regiment. The daggers he had stared at Lou where glorious.

As harsh as her methods might've seemed they where unquestionably effective.

Lou was always talking about how annoying it was that she constantly had to develop new training plans for Ace as he was improving at an incredible rate. However although Ace's talent and will played a mayor role in his development Lou's iron training was what truly made it possible.

Smiling I took a deep breath and prepared myself for another exhausting yet fulfilling day. I was excited. Now that I had a training companion, workouts where much more fun and today was the first day where I could train Ace too.

He was finally of good enough health and fitness to teach him some advanced fighting skills that he was obviously lacking. I had promised myself that I would make sure to pound them into him so that something like Marineford would never happen again.

You thought Lou's training is hell? Hah, I'm sorry mystery boy but I am about to show you what true hellish training looks like.

Ace's POV

Something's off.

I stared at Y/N from the other end of the breakfast table.

Something is really off.

The sweet and mischievous doctor I had gotten to know over the past months was currently skipping through the room humming while she was mixing together some kind of smoothie.

What is that girl up to?

Seeing Y/N in a good mood wasn't something unusual. She could often be seen smiling and humming. But never had I seen her this happy. She had practically floated through morning exercise all the while grinning like an idiot.

Did I forget something? Is anything special planned for today?

I dug through my brain for any clue why Y/N was literally performing a happy dance through the dining room when it seemed to be a day like any other, however I couldn't find any reason behind the madness.

She better not be planning any tricks on me.

Y/N and I had found out that we shared a love for pranks and had soon gotten wrapped up in a prank war. However we mostly acted as partners in crime against Lou, who got us back during training.

We are prank pals. She wouldn't cheat on me like that.

Then again now that I thought about it Y/N And Lou had talked for quite the long time after yesterday's training.

I swear Voice if you teamed up with that fairy I will never forgive you.

I gave her a suspicious look.

"Hey, Voice! Did anything good happen?"

"Huh? Oh, mystery boy, didn't I tell you?"

"Tell me what?" My eyes had now gone narrow in a suspicious glare.

"I will be training you today."

Oh, that's it? Wait Y/N will be training me? This is going to be heaven. A day of training outside of the frightening fairy's reign.

"Really? That's awesome I can't wait."

I was hyped.

"Yeah, we're going to have a blast!" Myra grinned at me and I returned the gesture.

Hell yeah, we are! This is going to be fun!

It wasn't.

If I had thought that Lou's training was torture Y/N's training was hell. She was almost on par with old man Garp and he was basically a walking monster.

"Do you know any Haki?" That is how Y/N started her torment.

"Yeah a little. I never really needed it since I had the Mera Mera no Mi."

"How about you give me a taste? Oh, and don't you dare hold back."

I coated my hands with Haki and threw a punch at her. And I regretted it.

"Ouch! Are you made of metal?"

"Nope, just flesh and blood."

I blew at my acking hand watching as it quickly began to swell.

"I think it's broken."

I couldn't believe it. I just threw a punch at her with my strongest coat of Haki and I broke my hand while she hadn't gotten a single scratch.

"Let me see."

Gently Y/N took my hand in between hers and examined it thoroughly.

How does her touch feel so gentle after I just broke my hand on that same skin?

I looked at her intently as she applied pressure to different points of my hand. She seemed like an entirely different person from before.

"Outch, stop that! It hurts!" I gritted my teeth as a piercing pain shot through my hand.

"Don't worry, it's only slightly fractured. I can fix that in a second."

"Only slightly fractured? What the he-"

The rest of my sentence stayed stuck in my throat as Y/N engulfed my hand in hers and a slight glow appeared around them.

Then the pain hit me.

It felt like a thousand needles where piercing my hand. But just as I thought I would rather loose my hand than keep feeling this pain it subsided to be replaced by a warm prickly feeling. It spread through my body making me feel newly energized and refreshed.

Maybe this isn't to bad after all.

"There you go, it's all healed up."

Baffled I stared at my hand slowly moving it. It felt perfectly fine, no pain, no swelling, no nothing.

"How did you do that?" I curiously looked at the girl who had once again healed me.

"Oh that wasn't much really. All elf tribes have their own talents and secret techniques. Healing is what my grandmothers tribe specializes in. I haven't inherited much of that talent though. You should see my sister, she is incredible at it."

"That's super cool! You could have told me you're not the average boring doctor."

I was seriously impressed. Sure I had seen all kinds of insane powers while sailing the seas and Y/N's healing ability might've seem like nothing in comparison. However the fact that the totally normal doctor I had thought I had gotten to know not only suddenly possessed a bone breaking Haki coat but also unusual healing abilities was quite the shock.

What else are you hiding under that normal facade?

I looked at her in curiosity until I noticed her shifting away uncomfortably from my stare.

Get it together Ace! She'll think you're as slow as Luffy. You have seen all kinds of incredible powers. This is nothing.

"I had no idea that elves still existed. They must be a powerful species if they know how to use such powers without devil fruits."

"Oh it really is nothing there are many techniques out there that can earn you devil fruit like powers. Take the Wano kingdom for example. They can do all kinds of cool things with their jutsu."

"True, however those techniques aren't accessible to outsiders and learning them is a whole lot of work. I think I'll just eat another devil fruit. You said the Mera Mera no Mi has left me so I should be save to eat a new one right?"

"Definitely not!"

"What? Why? Isn't it the easiest way to get stronger?"

"That is exactly the problem! You rely to much on devil fruits. If you had concentrated more on building your physical strength and Haki you wouldn't have died at Marineford!"

Y/N was boiling with anger. I looked at her in shock as a scary aura began to radiate from her.

Oh no I definitely just hit a landmine. Change the subject. Actually no, that makes women even madder. How do I get out of this mess?

Women are scary when they are mad and I was not about to test how scary Y/N would get after just recieving a hand-breaking taste of her strength.

"Portgas D Ace! Listen to people when they are talking to you!"

Run. In Panik I searched for the best way to escape however before I could flee Y/N had grabbed me by my shoulder. Her grip was gentle and didn't hurt. But it was still of enough firmness that I knew I was dead if I ran now.

"Will you calm down please. Gosh, you're like a panicky wild animal. Look I'm sorry if I got a little loud there. I hate it when people get hurt for absolutely preventable reasons. So please Ace listen to me when I tell you that you have to work on your Haki. It was obviously not enough when you had your devil fruit powers and it is even weaker now that you have been out for two years."

"Yeah, yeah I know. Seriously Voice are you my mom? Stop acting like I'm some kind of stupid kid."

Now I had done it. I could see the anger boiling under Y/N's skin while my inner Makino was screaming at me for ignoring all her teachings. I hated taking orders. In fact the only person I had ever taken orders from was Pops. Y/N had no right to boss me around like that.

"Your powers might be gone but your temperament is still quite fiery. Not that I'm one to talk though-.

If you don't want to improve your strength then that is fine by me. However I can assure you that you won't survive a single day in the New World if you don't learn Haki. You don't have Eddie to back you up anymore you know."

"The New World, huh?" My thoughts instantly began to wonder of to the sea that had been my home, the sea where my brother was headed.

"That's where you want to right? To your brother?"

Those words dragged me right back to reality. Y/N had completely avoided the topic of my brother and crew since I had woken up. She said that she would only tell me once I was strong enough that if I ran of I wouldn't die.

"Luffy has reached the New World?"

"Yeah, I had been planning on telling you today if the training went well." She looked away and held out a newspaper.

"Luffy!" I immediately grabbed the paper and froze in a stare. The fifth emperor of the sea emerges. Strawhat Luffy defeats Big Mom.

"He didn't actually defeat Big Mom. However he did challenge her, rescue a crew member from her grasp, steal her Poneglyph and get away without any casualties. At least that is what I have heard during my research."

I started crying I couldn't help myself. I was so happy. So happy to hear about my brother. So happy to see that he was being his usual positive self, following his dream and growing stronger.

Hah, it's on Luffy. I won't let you leave me behind. I'm the older brother after all. There is no way I'm going to stand by while you go and surpass me. A happy grin appeared on my face.

"You know what depending on how your progress in Haki is I might teach you a special technique. How does that sound?"

My ears peaked at that. No pirate could resist the offer of learning a strong, cool new move, especially if it was something special like a secret technique.

Also while studying Haki and other techniques was a pain I could see her point.

"Fine, calm down. I never said I wouldn't train my Haki. And what special technique might you be talking about?"

I wrapped my arm around her waste nudging her to tell me more.

But Y/N just laughed.

"That's a secret."

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Explanation of Haki:

Haki is the act of using ones aura. As any person has an aura/spirit/will any person possesses Haki.

The stronger ones spirit is the stronger their Haki becomes.

It can be used in three different ways:

1. Haki of observation: The Haki of observation heightens the user's senses. They become hyper alert to any movement or presence and predict what is about to happen around them.

For example if someone where to shoot at a user of the Haki of observation they would sense the bullet flying towards them and know from which direction it is coming. This gives the user the power to dodge attacks.

Some people with exceptionally strong Haki of observation can even see a few seconds into the future.

2. armament Haki:

The user can coat their body and objects they are touching in Haki and harden it. This hardened layer of Haki acts like armour or in case of object's reinforcement that, depending on it's strength, can shield the body/objects from any attacks/impact.

armament Haki is usually black and visual to the eye however some very strong users can make theirs invisible.

3. conqueror's Haki:

This is the most rare form of Haki. Also called the Haki of kings it makes anyone loose consciousness who's spirit/haki is weak.

It's power again depends on the strength of it's user and their experience with it. The most strong people in the world of One Piece can cause entire army's to faint through using this Haki.