novelhk Chapter 85: Intense ...
Chapter 85: Intense ...
Chapter 85: Intense ...
Half an hour later, the deck was covered with people.
Groans, curses, and the stubborn insistence of some people that "it was just a warm-up" rose and fell.
Steel Hand clapped his hands, stood calmly amidst the wounded lying on the ground.
"In summary: Among you, apart from the two who have already been beaten up on Sky Island, the rest of you have zero Haki level."
She paused for a moment, then grinned.
"But that's okay, there's room for improvement only when you're at zero."
"Starting today, training will begin every morning."
"Swordsmen, martial arts practitioners, and ability users will be divided into groups for a sparring match. The purpose is not the sparring itself, but to force out the hidden domineering spirit within you through the process of being beaten."
Steelhand couldn't possibly beat them up one by one; that would be too exhausting. After retiring, Steelhand no longer wanted to do such strenuous work.
"When I can have a blackened blade like Zoro, that's when I'll graduate," Steel Hand said.
Zoro showed no smugness. He simply lowered his eyes and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Sanosuke, who was lying on the ground, slowly sat up and looked down at his hand. On the back of his hand, an old scar left by a kunai was slightly white.
He clenched his fist.
We must work hard! We can't afford to fall behind!
The real competition began the next morning.
Before dawn, there were already people on the deck.
Zoro was practicing his sword swings; the sound of the blade cutting through the air was rhythmic and steady. Swinging his sword was a daily routine, but this time Zoro wanted to increase the number of swings.
Sanosuke stood at the stern of the ship, facing the faintly bright sky, throwing kunai again and again. The kunai would land on the bullseye thirty meters away, then he would walk over, pull it out, walk back to his original position, and throw again.
The sounds of swords clashing and the silence of bitterness mingled as they engaged in a silent contest.
As Steelhand walked onto the deck yawning, he saw this scene and raised an eyebrow.
Then she saw more...
Ajin was doing weighted squats with his iron crutches, sweating profusely, his eyes lifeless, but he didn't stop moving.
Al held up a spare anchor that had been salvaged from somewhere and weighed a full three tons. His arm muscles bulged, and he growled like a wild beast.
Dalton was meditating, eyes closed, legs crossed, trying to capture the movement of the air around him.
Even Mr. 1 sharpens his knife not with a whetstone, but by slowly and forcefully scraping the blade with his own arm, sparks flying with each stroke.
"A bunch of lunatics," Steel Hand muttered.
The most surprising one was Bucky.
On the morning of the third day, Bucky stood in front of Steel Hand for the first time.
"Hey, woman." Bucky's red nose gleamed in the morning light. "I'm going to learn how to be domineering!"
Steel Hand, who was drinking hot coffee, put down his cup upon hearing this and looked at Bucky with a half-smile: "Hmm? You? Come to think of it, you look kind of familiar."
"I've never seen you before!" Bucky's face turned red.
"And don't look down on me! I am..."
'
But he was someone who had followed Gol D. Roger and seen the top of the world with his own eyes.
These words stuck in Bucky's throat; he couldn't say them.
Steel Hand didn't laugh, but looked into Bucky's eyes and remained silent for a few seconds.
"—You've used it before," Steel Hand said.
Bucky paused for a moment.
"Many years ago, in the New World, you used Haki. Although your Armament Haki wasn't perfect, you had a basic understanding. You also had a foundation in Observation Haki."
Steel Hand's voice wasn't loud, but it was like a needle precisely piercing a corner of Bucky's heart that had been sealed away for many years.
"And then?" Steel Hand asked.
Bucky did not answer.
A domineering presence requires "spirit."
Because of his stay in the East China Sea, Pakistan has lost its spirit in its repeated "safety first" approach.
It's not that I forgot how to use it.
The silence lasted for a long time.
Steel Hand thought Bucky wouldn't say anything.
"I, the Great One—" Bucky's voice was low and hoarse, "want to go back to the New World with Norton! To conquer that ocean, domineering presence is indispensable!"
Bucky looked up, clenched his fists, and dug his nails into his palms. There was something in his eyes that Steel Hand had never seen in this comical clown.
It's not ambition, it's determination.
"Therefore, I need to be domineering."
Steel Hand stood up and slapped Bucky on the back of the head, making him stagger.
"If you had said that earlier, it would have been fine. Just don't cry when you get beaten."
Bucky covered the back of his head, something stirring beneath his red nose.
"Who, who's going to cry!"
After this exchange, Bucky started getting beaten up.
And they suffered terribly.
Steel Hands held back a bit against everyone else, but against Bucky, he went all out. He showed no mercy!
Bucky begged for mercy, but Steel Hand struck even harder.
"You've used it before! Get that feeling back!"
Fists coated in Armament Haki rained down, "Don't think! Surrender your body to your instincts!"
boom!
Bucky was punched into the deck, and the planks cracked like a spiderweb.
Boom!
He was kicked away and rolled seven or eight meters before crashing into the mast base.
Snapped!
A whip kick swept across his forearm, the bones creaking under the strain.
"Do you remember now?!"
"N-nothing—" Bucky's face was bruised and swollen, and his red nose was crooked.
"Then let's continue!"
Day three.
Fourth day.
Day .
Bucky was covered in bandages, walked with a limp, and couldn't hold a fork while eating.
But he showed up on deck every day on time.
Not a single day was missed.
Kabaji once cautiously asked him, "Captain Bucky, why are you working so hard? With King's strength, he could practically do whatever he wants outside the New World—"
They only need to follow behind.
But Bucky didn't answer, gazing at the distant horizon, the direction of the second half of the Grand Line.
Some debts must be repaid.
It's not being returned to someone else.
It's giving it back to yourself.
Pakistan's transformation was like a thorn, piercing the hearts of every junior official.
Paddy was the first to give up.
"Even Bucky is fighting tooth and nail, why should I just lie here and do nothing!"
Then Steel Hand kicked him into the sea. When he climbed out, he was still choking on water and cursing. He went back to work the next day.
Zango is the second one.
His hypnosis was completely ineffective against Steelhand. The woman's willpower was as strong as steel. When the iron ring was swung in front of Steelhand, she didn't even blink.
Then Zango was slapped to the ground, and a bump appeared on the back of his head. After that, he practiced the accuracy of the iron ring every day, trying to combine hypnosis and physical skills.
The cat-men tried to win by speed. Their cat claws were fast enough to tear the air apart, but with Steel Hand's Observation Haki-covered senses, every strike was anticipated perfectly. Butch was thrown into a pile of cables, and Sam was kicked into the sail and hung in mid-air howling for half an hour before being brought down.
Mochi and Liki's combination technique is one of the few techniques that Steel Hands gave a positive evaluation of.
"The animal companions are great, and they work well together."
But the next second she punched Liki in the nose, and the lion screamed and tucked its tail between its legs into its cage. Mochi chased after it and comforted it for a long time.
Kabaji's swordsmanship was described by Steel Hand as "more showy than a circus clown," which hurt his pride, so he secretly practiced on the deck until 3 a.m.
The next day, when Palu brought him breakfast while yawning, she found him sleeping in a pile of cables, clutching his sword.