At the royal palace, after the nation's crisis had been resolved, Vivi, as the princess, could finally relax for a while.
"Father said you came here to propose marriage. Is that true?"
Vivi asked with a flushed face. Although Cobra had told her not to bring up something like that, as a young girl, she was still very curious.
As far as Koji's charm went, there was no problem. Because of his Blessings, he was extremely strong. In the One Piece world, he could be considered one of the very best.
"Although I was only joking at the time, if you have no objections, I can find a time to bring over the betrothal gifts," Koji said with a smile.
"Ahem."
Vivi quickly shook her head and said, "I was just curious. Then why did you help us?"
"Just think of it as drawing my blade to help when I saw injustice. I happened to pass by here, so I helped."
In this world, there was no such thing as helping someone for no reason at all, but there were still some people who were simply too idle and would act whenever they felt like it.
"…That's actually a lot like Luffy and the others," Vivi said after thinking for a moment.
Although she had promised to pay Luffy and his crew, that amount of compensation probably would not convince many people to take on a Warlord of the Sea. The reason Luffy and the others came to help was because of the friendship they had formed with one another.
Koji and the others were even stranger. After all, they had never known each other before, yet they still stepped in and drove Crocodile away.
"Still, thank you."
Koji nodded, then asked, "How strong is your father?"
Cobra was a character who appeared early on, and logically speaking, he should not have had much of a role later. But when he met the Five Elders, he somehow ate two of Imu's arrow attacks and could still remain standing. In comparison, Sabo, that young man, collapsed on the ground after one arrow.
Cobra was already in a wheelchair at that time. It was hard not to suspect that he had some hidden strength.
At that point, Sabo's strength was already enough to exchange blows with an admiral. From that, one could imagine just how impressive it was that Cobra could withstand two of Imu's arrows.
"Well… I've never seen Father fight before."
Vivi shook her head. In her impression, her father had never fought. After all, he was a king, and kings rarely fought personally.
"Could he actually be very strong?"
She was a little curious now. But if he really was that strong, then Crocodile would not have needed to play the role of the hero. Cobra himself would have been able to handle many things.
"You can just ask him yourself," Koji said with a shrug.
He used a Blessing to sense Cobra slightly. This Cobra was not as frail as he appeared. He was hiding something.
"Have you been comfortable staying in the palace these past few days?" Vivi asked.
"It's been fine."
At night, Koji and the others went into the Serenitea Pot. As for Beidou and her crew, they stayed on the Alcor. They could not just leave the ship there unattended. If someone sailed it away, that would be unpleasant.
"Then I'll take you around for a look." Vivi decided to fulfill her duties as host.
…
"So after learning Haki, you can attack Logia users like that smoke guy."
After reading some simple introductions to Haki, Luffy thought of Smoker, whom he had encountered last time. Smoker's body could turn into smoke, and physical attacks could not effectively injure him.
If he met an enemy like that again in the future, it really would be troublesome.
"Nami, do you know Haki? Your punches really hurt when you hit people," Luffy asked.
Nami: "…"
You people with monstrous strength don't even know Haki. How could a weakling like me know Haki? That is just a special situation.
"That guy Mihawk probably knows Haki too," Zoro muttered to himself.
If he wanted to surpass Mihawk, he had to learn this power called Haki. Armament Haki seemed a little like that shield of the Sword King.
"Mihawk doesn't just know Haki. He's also a master of it. Zoro, do you know how black blades are forged?" Koji and the others walked over.
"Could it be…?"
A flash of insight appeared in Zoro's mind. He thought of the time Aokiji flicked Luffy, when his finger turned pitch-black like ink.
"To forge a black blade, you have to constantly temper a fine blade with Armament Haki. Once it becomes a black blade in the future, it will no longer need Haki to maintain it. However, not every swordsman can successfully do this," Koji said.
"After coating a weapon with Armament Haki, you can make the weapon more durable, so it won't be damaged or broken as easily."
Zoro fell into deep thought. So Armament Haki actually had this kind of benefit.
He had made up his mind. He definitely had to learn this power called Haki. For a swordsman, a weapon was their second life. If a swordsman could not even protect their own weapon, then that swordsman was far too lacking.
"But how do we learn it?" Luffy scratched his head.
Koji thought of Luffy's teacher, Rayleigh, who was also jokingly called a mediocre teacher.
Although Rayleigh was a powerful Haki user, he had not learned it through systematic instruction. Meanwhile, the reason the Navy had so many people who had mastered Haki was because the Navy had summarized a systematic method for Haki training.
Being able to give Luffy a good foundation in Haki within two years was actually already enough. At Luffy's age, how many people could have that kind of strength?
"Simple. Just call your grandpa directly," Koji said.
"Huh?"
Luffy's eyes widened. Call Garp? Was that right?
He was now a wanted pirate. Garp was definitely furious. If Luffy called him to ask how to train Haki, Garp might rush over and give him a round of loving education on the spot.
"I don't have any way to contact Grandpa."
A Transponder Snail? He did not remember what Garp's number was.
"There should be a Navy branch stationed here in Alabasta, right?" Koji looked at Vivi and asked.
Vivi nodded. How could a major country like Alabasta not have one?
"Luffy, just go there directly and tell them you're Garp's grandson. They'll be able to connect you to Navy Headquarters."
"Forget it."
Luffy shook his head. He could not do that.
He knew what the consequences of doing that would be.
Nami and the others were a little surprised. This was the first time they had seen Luffy be this rational, without even the slightest thought of trying it.
That made them a little curious. Just how had this hero Garp taught Luffy?
Aside from those hellish training sessions, were there even more difficult types of training?
"If you can contact your father, he definitely wouldn't be stingy about teaching you Haki either," Koji said.
Dragon definitely felt guilty toward his son. After all, he had left Luffy alone since childhood, to the point that Luffy did not even know his own father was still alive.
So, if Luffy made that kind of request, Dragon would not refuse.
"There's no way to contact him, right?" Nami said.
The Revolutionary Army was not the Navy, which stood openly in plain sight. Although the Revolutionary Army was very famous, its whereabouts were extremely secretive. If they were that easy to contact, the Navy would have already sent top-level forces to surround and suppress them.
(End of Chapter)
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