Return to HQ

Alex returned in the promised timeframe of about half an hour, allowing his tense comrades to sigh in relief and finally set sail back to Marine HQ.

"Man, this was one hell of a workout," Alex said to nobody in particular as he lay in his room on his marine ship. He accessed his system with a mental command and viewed his reward once again: 

"You are allowed to upgrade any two types of Haki once or choose to upgrade one Haki type twice."

He had the initial stages of Observation Haki (2/10) and Armament Haki (2/10), and his Conqueror's Haki was at stage 3 out of 10. There came the dilemma: would he want to get better at Conqueror's Haki or go for a balanced build?

But then a thought struck him: Why the hell did he think that he couldn't train Haki by himself?

He could put his upgrades into his Conqueror's Haki, and he poured through his memories to find the best way to train both his Haki types and maybe progress more with his swordsmanship. Maybe he could request to go to Wano and meet up with Ryuma, or was his shadow already in Thriller Bark? Nah, Gecko Moriah wasn't even born yet, so he had a chance to do it, get there, and become a better swordsman. But first came the report, though.

With the thought of reporting to HQ in his mind, he picked up a transponder snail with the Marine logo on its shell and dialed a number. The call rang a couple of times, the buruburu sound filling the room, and then it clicked as a powerful voice echoed through Alex's quarters:

"Marine HQ, Fleet Admiral Kong speaking."

"Hello, sir, Alex here to report on Mission Ope-Ope no Mi."

"I am listening."

"Yes, we successfully procured the Devil Fruit. During the mission, I have executed the slave traders who held the fruit along with its apparent buyer, an informant of the Rocks pirates. I killed the informant because he held the fruit already, meaning we might face some trouble from the Rocks pirate crew in the near future."

"That is astounding. The Rocks pirates shouldn't be of concern to you; the marines will make sure of it, Rear Admiral Alex."

"Understood. May I ask to be taught more extensively in swordsmanship?"

"Why?"

"That would be because I seem to have hit a bottleneck in my solitary training. If I were to train with somebody of superior skill and strength, I could grow further beyond, and since I recently awakened my Haki, it would be good to have a great instructor on both things at once, which is available often when one talks about a skilled swordsman of superior strength to a rear admiral."

"Very well, I shall arrange for that."

"I thank you with all my heart, Fleet Admiral."

"No need. Goodbye, Rear Admiral."

"Goodbye, Fleet Admiral."

With the call finished and the training secured, Alex had to train some in order to prepare for the training, and for that they will have a joint training session after Alex allocates his upgrade points to his already Lv 3/10 Conqueror's Haki.

[Notice:]

Conqueror's Haki level up

3/10 -> 4/10

4/10 -> 5/10

Conqueror's Haki has reached 50%

Current capabilities similar to Luffy post Timeskip Vs 100,000 fishmen knockout scene

[Notice end]

This information stunned Alex, because that was quite the accomplishment. Luffy was able to knock out about 50,000 Fishmen with but a single burst of his Haki, a result attained after training for 2 years under Rayleigh, the Dark King and the Vice Captain of the Pirate King's crew.

Though it's likely that he will still need to get control of that level of Haki, so he will do that mixed into the training he had planned to do while they returned to Marine HQ.

Alex exited onto the deck and gathered the attention of his crew. They were going to go to the artificial current soon, so they would have a ton of free time on their hands.

"We will train in Haki. I have figured out how to train observation and armament Haki. Each of us will get a partner, and the partner will chuck pellets at us, which we have to dodge blindfolded, trying to sense the intent behind the attack. As for armament, we will spar. You have to 'will' yourself to hit as hard as possible. Haki is the strength of will; the stronger your will, the better your Haki, understood?"

"Yes!"

"Then get to it, Sei, you're with me."

Sei nodded and ran over to grab tons of pellets and a blindfold, then he returned to Alex.

"Hey Sei, while we spar, please teach me the fundamentals behind Fishman Karate, if that isn't a problem."

"Sure, it isn't."

Over the next two days of travel, Alex trained relentlessly—honing Observation and Armament Haki, learning to control his Conqueror's Haki bursts, and grinding through daily sword drills. He pushed his sword mastery to 29%, but no further. Because he couldn't.

Alex was really getting frustrated with the lack of progress, but training could only do so much and get you so far, so he simply went for exercising his body to get more muscle, and of course, he didn't neglect to stretch; flexibility was key when it came to combat.

They docked at the port, and everybody left to do their thing.

Alex was told to go to the office of the fleet admiral, so he just did so. Walking through the grand halls of Marineford, he just let his mind reflect a bit on who his new teacher could be and what his training/sparring might look like.

Nothing could've prepared him for seeing Ryuuma in there, though. Who the hell could've told him that one of the most skilled swordsmen known to One Piece would greet him with a kind smile and Shusui at his hip?