Chapter 55: 055. Hegemony Experiment!

"Then there's Observation Haki. Although its quality hasn't broken through like Breath, the characteristic of 'Sense Perception' has been significantly enhanced."

"It's no longer limited to the introspective effect of 'sight' alone but has also gained slight interaction with the Spirit Body in terms of 'perception.'"

Observation Haki has become more comprehensive, edging closer to the aspect of "Divine Perception."

Previously, it could only sense the aura of the physical body, but now it can even perceive the aura of the Spirit Body.

Moses thought to himself: "With continuous accumulation over time, as Breath keeps affecting my body, the interaction between my Spirit Body and physical body will grow stronger. Once Armament Haki awakens in the future, will it also carry traits of the Spirit Body?"

"For example, could the most basic Armament Haki attack the Spirit Body? No—better to test it first before drawing conclusions."

At that moment, Perona on the bed began trembling. Moses suppressed his scattered thoughts and swiftly removed the silver needles from her body with precise movements.

His left hand supported the back of her head while his right pinched her chin, pressing hard on her philtrum with his thumb.

A few seconds later.

Perona's eyes snapped open, and she coughed violently.

Tears, snot, and saliva—it was a mess.

Moses flicked his hand in disgust, wiping it on her blanket.

He patted her back, helping her steady her breathing.

A few minutes passed.

"Feeling better? If you are, start breathing properly to solidify the foundational memory effect."

Perona glared at Moses with reddened eyes. "You didn't say it would be this awful! You liar."

"There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Every gain has its price secretly marked."

"Letting you memorize the breathing rhythm quickly only costs you a bit of physical discomfort—hardly a big deal."

She took a deep breath, trying to adjust, but immediately started coughing like a consumptive patient.

Moses glanced at the sweat soaking her nightgown and curled his lip. "I'm heading out. Go take a bath—and remember, don't mess up your breathing."

He opened the window and leaped out.

"Damn it! Da Bao, you screwed me over!"

His attempt at a cool exit failed. Staring at the sea surface over ten meters below, Moses twitched his mouth.

He barely had time to take off his shirt before—splash!—a spray of water erupted.

The shirt drifting midair was snatched by Crow Dabao in a dive, followed by a mocking "Caw~!"

In the sea.

Moses lay on his back, sinking downward.

Above him, the undulating waves and the barnacles clinging to the hull of a distant warship came into view.

He flipped his body, swinging his arms and legs to swim deeper.

The water pressure around him steadily increased.

Spotting the island's seabed about a hundred meters below, Moses paddled downward.

Soon, his sandal-clad feet touched the sandy ocean floor.

His black hair floated in the water as tiny bubbles escaped his lips. He walked in the slightly weightless underwater environment.

The surrounding pressure bore down on his body.

No breathing.

All sorts of strange and colorful fish swam past.

The seabed had reefs.

Seaweed.

And plenty of shellfish and crabs.

Moses scanned the area before kicking off, stirring up sand as he swam toward a large millstone-sized boulder nearby.

Reaching it,

he clamped his legs around the rock, anchoring himself to the ocean floor.

Sinking his center of gravity and clenching his fists, he began throwing punches in the seawater.

Each strike sent out rippling undercurrents.

The surrounding water flow grew chaotic, seaweed swayed wildly, and the pressure intensified.

As he continued punching, Moses could feel the oxygen in his body depleting. The rising sense of suffocation paradoxically sharpened his focus instead.

A thought struck Moses.

He concentrated solely on throwing punches.

After over ten minutes.

Moses surfaced.

Gasping for air.

He wiped seawater from his face, took a deep breath, and dove back down.

This cycle repeated.

...

The sun shone warmly overhead as Moses floated on the sea's surface, his arms and legs moving deftly beneath the water.

His body drifted and swam around the warship.

At one point.

Hearing a loud laugh, Moses flipped underwater and emerged near the shore seconds later with a splash! right in front of the person who'd made the sound.

Seeing Moses suddenly appear from the water, Garp's eye twitched. Observing Moses' outstretched arm, he said dryly:

"Weeks without seeing you, and the first thing you do is scare me? Such filial piety."

Grabbing Moses' wrist firmly, Garp yanked him upward with a spray of water, lifting Moses into the air.

Shaking seawater from his hair, Moses noticed another person nearby and grinned:

"Yo? Kuzan, done watching those two fight? Who won?"

"Ara ara, it's just you. You startled me—thought some sea king was surfacing," Kuzan waved away the water Moses had shaken off. "Since when do you care about those two?"

"They shouldn't have anything to do with you, right?"

"Can't a guy be curious?"

Moses chuckled.

Kuzan smirked: "Not telling. Ask your grandpa if you're so curious."

Moses pouted and looked up at Garp: "Mind putting me down? Your arm must be tired."

Garp's eye twitched again—the brat was using honorifics, which always meant trouble. Opening his hand, he let Moses drop to the ground and muttered:

"Those two idiots were evenly matched, didn't last long before quitting. Happy now?"

Accepting Garp's dismissive answer, Moses nodded and tugged his sleeve: "Grandpa, I want to try an experiment. Help me out?"

Garp raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "What experiment?"

Moses smiled and waved at Crow Dabao perched on the deck railing. The bird flapped over.

"Take us to my room," Moses said.

Crow Dabao let out a "Caw!"

A ripple formed around its body, generating a pulling force.

Moses told Garp: "Don't resist, Grandpa."

As Garp watched curiously, both their bodies shrank and vanished. Crow Dabao glanced at the equally puzzled Kuzan.

With a wingbeat, it swiftly flew to the warship's mast top.

Left standing alone, Kuzan blinked in confusion at the distant crow:

"Did they just forget about me?"

...

「Castle Space. Residential Area」

Garp stood by the window, marveling at the visually enlarged warship outside. "Remarkable," he murmured.

Footsteps approached from behind. Turning, he eyed Crow Dabao perched on Moses' shoulder with amusement:

"Fine bird you've got there. Does this mean you can make the four seas your home now?"

Crow Dabao croaked hoarsely, "Flying nonstop is exhausting for a crow."

At that moment, a pink-haired head emerged from Moses' chest.

Garp's eye twitched at this bizarre sight. "Is this spirit girl also a Devil Fruit user?"

After a moment's thought, recognition dawned on him.

"Paramecia-Type... Hollow-Hollow Fruit?"

Moses' eyes lit up. "From the way you said that, Grandpa, have you encountered it before?"

"Mn. There was a user over a decade ago. Annoying ability, but got crushed in the end anyway."

"Now, why'd you call me here?" Garp's expression turned peculiar. "Don't tell me it's just to introduce someone?"

"If that's the case, you're in for a world of hurt today."

Seeing Garp's half-smirking face, Moses' lips twitched. This old bastard probably felt something was missing if he didn't bully his grandson daily.

Suppressing a sigh, Moses explained, "I wanted you to test something—how effective Armament Haki is at grasping spirit bodies and its suppression potency."

Garp's interest was piqued. He hadn't interacted with the previous user, so this was his chance to experiment.

He beckoned Perona, who obediently approached. Faced with the bear-like Garp, she was visibly intimidated.

Her spirit body resumed normal proportions as she stood before Garp.

Narrowing his eyes, Garp plopped onto the floor. Intangible Armament Haki materialized in his right hand as he attempted to grip Perona's arm—only for it to phase through.

Undeterred, Garp concentrated, refining his Haki. Upon reaching a certain threshold, he successfully seized the spirit body.

Perona stared in shock. "You... you actually caught me?!"

But Garp was equally surprised. Armament Haki's nature as a manifestation of vitality and vigor theoretically allowed interaction with intangible entities, yet this confirmed it.

"Tsk tsk, quite the troublesome fruit," Garp mused. "Downright cheating—can't even touch it without sufficient Haki mastery."

"What level qualifies as 'sufficient'?" Moses inquired.

"Hmm... Warlord-tier, and not the weaker ones. Probably anyone one tier below me. Kuzan could manage it now too, I reckon."

From Garp's roundabout explanation, Moses pieced together the benchmark. Having previously appraised Garp's strength as A+, this implied Armament Haki below B- grade would be ineffective against spirit bodies.

"I see..." A glint flashed in Moses' eyes. "Then Grandpa, why not test Perona's ability next?"

Garp's gaze sparkled with amusement. "Oh? Let's give it a shot."

At Moses' meaningful glance, Perona bit her lip defiantly. A translucent white ghost doll erupted from her palm, shooting toward Garp's chest.

Trusting Moses, Garp didn't resist as the Negative Spirit phased through him.

Instantly, overwhelming despair erupted in his heart.

His face crumpled as he assumed an orz position, forehead thudding against the floor. A despondent murmur escaped him:

"Dreaming daily about beating up my grandson makes me utterly worthless. If there were a crevice, I'd crawl into it right now."

"I'm so sorry for being born as a human. If there's a next life, I want to be a monkey."

Moses' eye twitched, torn between amusement and a sense of impending danger, his face contorting strangely.

Moses reacted this way because he understood Garp, but Perona had no such reservations. The stark contrast in Garp's demeanor was downright hilarious to her.

"Hahahaha, Moses Moses, your grandpa is so adorable! This is too funny!"

Moses' eye twitched again. He knew all too well the effects of the Negative Spirit ability—it was time-limited.

Stealthily distancing himself from Perona's Spirit Body, he suddenly saw a dark fist lightly tap the spirit's head.

Instantly, a steaming hot bump appeared, emitting translucent white vapor.

Did he just punch a spirit so hard it started smoking?

Moses froze, unsure how to react, when a heart-wrenching wail pierced his ears.

"WAAAAAH!!! Moses~ It hurts so bad! My head's splitting! My Spirit Body's cracking! Waaahhh!!!"

Watching Perona roll around on the ground, howling with impressive vigor, Moses sighed in relief. He'd been worried Garp might have actually damaged her Spirit Body.

Glaring at Garp, Moses suddenly clutched his own head and crouched down, hissing in pain.

Garp's face flushed red with embarrassment. To be caught off guard like this, even if he'd let his guard down, was downright humiliating.

Humiliated in front of his own grandson.

At the same time, his competitive spirit flared up.

Glowering at Perona, Garp growled, "Spirit girl, wanna try that again?"

The spirit Perona clutched her head, tearfully looking up at Garp and whimpered:

"If you fall for it again, are you gonna hit me back?"

Garp's face darkened further, thoroughly embarrassed. "That was a mistake! I thought you were Moses! Don't worry, even if I fall for it again, I won't hit you."

Hearing Moses' name, Perona's eyes gleamed with mischief. She glanced back at Moses before darting straight into his chest.

A tiny hand emerged.

A small, white-transparent ghostly doll with a trailing tail rushed toward Garp.

This time, watching the Negative Spirit approach, Garp's expression turned serious. His right hand darkened with Armament Haki as he grabbed at the spirit.

CRACK!

The air exploded between his fingers as the Negative Spirit shattered into nothingness. Garp grinned triumphantly:

"Haki reigns supreme over all. No matter how flashy the trick, one punch is all it takes."

Moses blinked, staring at Garp's uncharacteristically arrogant expression—nothing like the Garp he remembered.

Realization dawned on him.

This was why he'd sensed that particular power within Garp.

Suddenly, Moses asked, "Grandpa, what about Conqueror's Haki?"

"Can Conqueror's Haki affect Pepe's Spirit Body?"

"Conqueror's Haki?" Perona's voice echoed in Moses' mind. "Is that another type of Haki?"

Moses nodded, then realized with a twitch of his lips that the girl had somehow moved into his head again.

Entering the state of Unity of Heaven and Man, Garp sensed the fluctuations in Perona's Spirit Body Breath frequency, synchronizing his own spiritual aura with hers. Using Observation Haki as a medium, he extended his Observation Haki outward, feeling a slight tugging sensation.

Moses watched as Perona slowly emerged from his head, his face flushing red with an overwhelming sense of powerlessness.

At that moment, a towering figure suddenly appeared before him, fingers entwined with quiet black-red arcs of electricity.

The figure grabbed Perona's exposed ankle and pulled.

An incredibly smooth sensation flooded his mind.

Perona's Spirit Body was yanked out by the ankle.

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[C+ Rank Blessing: Observation Haki] (Capable of natural growth)

[Blessing Effect: An innate perceptual ability—the power of "awareness." It grants intense sensitivity to surrounding auras, bestowing the special effect of "Sight-Sense," and permanently accelerating growth in Perception/Agility/Mystery attributes up to C+ rank or below.]

[Blessing Evaluation: Among the "Three Treasures of Essence, Energy, and Spirit," this belongs to the "Spirit" aspect of perception—awareness is the fou

ndation of all things!]

Garp's current strength is at its peak in his prime, hence set at A+ rank, not the weakened state of his 78-year-old self.

The Hollow-Hollow Fruit's Spirit Body effect, like a Logia-Type's elementalization, is affected by Armament Haki, but weaker Hegemony naturally has no effect. The original work never clarified whether Perona's Spirit Body is immune to Armament Haki suppression, so this book's setting makes it immune to Armament Haki below B- rank.