Not long after finishing his meeting with the Great Elder, a servant led Sami to a quiet clearing near the edge of the village.
The cloud ground there was flat and open, with a wide field of view. In the distance stood the strange forests unique to Bika.
In the clearing, a young Sky Island man with rather long earlobes was already waiting.
"Mr. Sami, I am Velandel, a newly appointed elder of the council. By order of the Great Elder, I will be responsible for guiding your Heart Net cultivation from now on."
Velandel gave Sami a slight nod. Though his tone was calm, Sami could still sense a certain distance in it.
Deep down, Velandel had little enthusiasm for teaching these Blue Sea outsiders whose motives were unclear. But in order to help this troublesome group leave Bika as soon as possible, he could only focus on completing the Great Elder's assignment quickly.
"My thanks, Elder Velandel."
"Before we begin, Mr. Sami," Velandel asked directly, "how much do you know about the Heart Net? Or rather, what do you think it is?"
"I heard your island's guards mention it. They said it's an ability that uses the heart to sense surrounding things—perhaps even to hear sounds or distinguish good from evil?"
"That's not entirely wrong, but it's still incomplete."
Velandel nodded first, then shook his head.
"The so-called Heart Net can be simply described as an ability that surpasses the five senses. Without relying on the eyes to see or the ears to hear, one can perceive the surrounding environment and the movements of living beings, even predicting their next action. When cultivated to a high level, it can develop special abilities—like those possessed by our Great Elder. It relies on the fluctuations of the heart, on listening to the voice of existence itself."
Sami nodded.
This sounded almost identical to what Dongli had once told him about Observation Haki.
"I see. Then how do we begin training it?"
Velandel did not answer immediately. Instead, he picked up a long wooden staff that had been prepared nearby.
"The method is simple." He gestured for Sami to stand in the center of the clearing. "Close your eyes. For someone of your strength, it's best if you also block your ears. I will attack you, and you must try to sense and evade the wooden staff."
Sami's heart stirred slightly.
This method… isn't it exactly how Dongli trained my Observation Haki before?
Could it be that, despite being in different regions, the training methods were essentially the same?
It seemed there truly were no shortcuts.
Without voicing his doubts, Sami followed Velandel's instructions. He covered his eyes with a specially prepared blindfold and inserted earplugs.
Instantly, both sight and hearing were greatly deprived.
"Are you ready?"
"…"
Relying on the vague instincts developed from his previous training, Sami subconsciously dodged to the right.
The staff swept past his body.
Velandel's movement paused slightly, a trace of surprise flashing across his eyes.
Hm? He dodged the very first strike? Could he have encountered similar training before?
Without asking, he continued attacking.
At first, Sami successfully avoided several more strikes. But soon that vague instinct began to fail him.
The staff struck him again and again—third hit, fourth hit…
Velandel nodded.
So the earlier dodges had simply been luck.
This one-sided assault continued for over an hour. For Sami, the injuries caused by the wooden staff were insignificant, and the stamina expenditure was negligible.
Still, Velandel stepped forward and removed Sami's earplugs and blindfold.
Blinking as the light returned, Sami saw Velandel's expressionless face.
"Mr. Sami," Velandel said, looking directly at him, "your heart became restless. For beginners, that is a major taboo. The prerequisite for activating the Heart Net is calmness. Only when the heart settles can it listen. You must not rely on combat instinct to guess. And you were doubting the effectiveness of this method, weren't you? As a beginner, you must believe the method will work. Otherwise, you will never learn the Heart Net."
Sami was slightly startled.
Velandel was right.
Subconsciously, he had been comparing this training method with what he had learned before. And when things didn't go smoothly, doubts had indeed arisen.
"Calm the heart… I understand."
Sami took a deep breath.
"Let's continue."
Training began again.
This time, Sami tried to empty his mind. He stopped trying to predict anything or recall the giants' teachings. Instead, he attempted to truly sink into the darkness and silence.
He focused all his attention on that elusive sixth sense.
Blindfolded, Sami could no longer feel the passage of time. Gradually, however, a strange sensation began to emerge.
It wasn't something he saw or heard.
Rather, an image suddenly appeared in his mind.
But the sensation came and went. Sometimes he could sidestep perfectly before the strike arrived; other times the feeling vanished abruptly, and he took a solid hit.
"Stop for a moment."
Sami removed the blindfold again, still immersed in the strange experience he had just felt.
"Elder Velandel, I think… I've grasped a bit of the idea. I'd like to sit quietly for a while and experience that feeling again."
"Very well."
Velandel stepped back several paces.
This guy… surely not…
It's only his first official training session.
At that moment, Aldo and the others returned from the direction of the forest, their faces showing clear disappointment—they had found nothing.
They immediately noticed the scene in the clearing.
"Yo, Boss training again? You never take a break!"
They shook their heads at Sami, who immediately understood that nothing special had been discovered in the forest.
"Rest over there for a while," Sami told his returning subordinates. "I think I've found a bit of a feeling. I need to sort it out."
"Huh? You already got the hang of something that fast?"
Aldo's eyes widened. He looked at Sami, then at Velandel holding the staff, and suddenly became interested.
He strode over to Velandel in a few steps and slapped a massive hand onto the elder's shoulder.
"Hey brother, look—teaching one person is teaching, teaching two is also teaching. Why not teach me too? I want to learn this Heart Net of yours!"
Velandel glanced at Aldo, then at Sami sitting with his eyes closed not far away.
The Great Elder had warned him not to offend them.
Besides…
Velandel looked at Aldo again.
With a face that foolish… how could he possibly learn it?
So he nodded.
"Very well. Close your eyes and block your ears."
"Alright!"
Aldo eagerly put on another blindfold and pair of earplugs.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Ow! Wait! I wasn't ready! Start over!"
"Hey! Over here!"
"Tsk—why did it come from behind again?!"
Like a headless fly, Aldo staggered around while repeatedly getting knocked on the head by the wooden staff. It didn't hurt much, but it was certainly embarrassing.
In less than ten minutes, he ripped off the blindfold and earplugs.
"I quit, I quit! I can't sense anything at all! I'm just getting beaten up! This thing is way too hard!"
Seeing this, the corner of Velandel's mouth curved upward almost imperceptibly.
"The cultivation of the Heart Net is inherently difficult. Even for me, who was recognized within the clan as having excellent talent, it still took more than four years before I first grasped the basics. For ordinary people, spending their entire lives without ever entering the gate is quite common."
"Four years?!"
Aldo and the other watching crew members all gasped, their eyes shifting toward Sami, who was still meditating with his eyes closed.
Seeing both their captain and Aldo working so hard, the rest of the crew felt awkward just standing around.
Someone made a suggestion, and soon they began pairing up, using wooden staffs to practice dodging drills with each other. The clearing quickly became lively.
Among them, Hiriluk and Hans were paired together.
"D-do we have to train this too?"
Hans adjusted his glasses, looking somewhat helplessly at the wooden staff in his hand.
"Come on, Hans, let's practice. We're just standing around anyway—consider it stretching. I'll go easy!"
Hiriluk was surprisingly enthusiastic. He carefully wrapped several layers of soft cloth around the tip of the staff before handing Hans a blindfold.
"Here, put this on."
Hans sighed and obediently put on the blindfold.
"Alright… go easy!"
Hiriluk raised the staff and swung it toward Hans's shoulder.
"Wait! I'm not ready yet!"
Just before the staff reached him, Hans suddenly threw himself sideways.
Hiriluk stared at the staff that had missed its mark.
"Huh? What happened? Lucky coincidence? Let me try again!"
"Wait, I haven't gotten up yet… wait…"
Hiriluk swung the staff seven or eight more times in succession, yet Hans somehow avoided every strike with various clumsy, awkward movements.
"Haah… stop, stop… haah… I'm out of strength…"
"Huh?"
Even Velandel—who had been guiding the others in their chaotic practice—turned his attention to the commotion. For the first time, a look of astonishment appeared on his usually calm face.
What's going on…
This Blue Sea man…
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