Laughter immediately sprang from Shanks' lips at the sight of the boy's face: "LOOK AT YOUR FACE! IT'S SO WRINKLED! THAT'S TOO GOOD, ANCHOR!"
Luffy could only kick the laughing man who was on the ground at that moment holding his stomach.
Finally, Shanks caught his breath and sat up. Before answering, he studied the boy in front of him. He couldn't help but notice the similarities between his former captain and the young man. After several seconds, he made a decision. Who was he kidding? He'd never made a decision before.
"Alright, alright! I'll tell you, but listen, Luffy, this is very important. The power I'm about to tell you about doesn't exist in this ocean, and there are people out there who will hurt you to keep it that way," he warned. Part of Shanks was worried that Luffy would be targeted, mainly by the government. However, as long as the boy could keep a secret, he figured he'd probably be fine. So he justified it as always. He was a pirate. Pirates did what they wanted. Therefore…
"The black substance you saw on my head earlier and what you did to that bandit are different versions of the same power, Haki. The version I used basically involves using your spirit to harden something, and it's invoked through willpower. So far?" Shanks asked. He thought he had explained it as simply as possible, but when Luffy looked up at the boy's head, he saw smoke rising.
"...So it's a mysterious power..." Luffy replied, staring intently at the red-haired man.
"YOU DAMN BRAT! OF COURSE NOT!" Shanks shouted loudly. He took another deep breath and realized that explaining Haki to a seven-year-old might be more difficult than he expected. Shanks continued, pointing at his arm: "Alright, Luffy, what do you see?"
Confused, the boy took a closer look at Shanks's arm. It didn't look any different, but before he could step back and say that, he touched it... It felt strange, like it was harder than it should be. There was something there, but he had no idea what it was. "Why the hell does your arm feel like that?" he asked.
"Well, Luffy, this is called Armament Haki, and this version is called Enhancement. Using Enhancement on your body allows you to hit harder and, conversely, take more hits. As you said before, when using this version, most people won't even notice because your skin doesn't change. Also, as I said before, it's summoned with willpower, and the stronger your willpower, the easier it is to use," Shanks explained.
The amount of smoke billowing from Luffy's head began to increase due to the overload in his brain. He was definitely going to need the information repeated at some point. However, Shanks had said it was important, so he strained to listen. Yet one thing lingered in his mind above all else. "But Shanks, your arm isn't black like your head was," he pointed out, waiting for an explanation.
In response, Shanks' arm began to glow red, creating a strange vibrating sound. The red glow vanished suddenly, leaving the entire limb, from the elbow down, covered in a midnight-black metallic sheen. "Good that you noticed, Luffy."
"WOW!" shouted the seven-year-old boy with stars in his eyes, "HOW COOL! What did you do that time? Can you show me?"
"Relax, kid," Shanks chuckled. He should have expected the boy to be very excited. He was a little older than Luffy when he first started learning Haki, but he remembered the wonder of seeing it for the first time as a child. "I suppose I'll have to teach you the basics of the weaponry now, as well as the other form you used. But only the basics, and I'm not going to teach you the final form either. What would be the point of that?" he joked.
The words made Luffy frown. "You lame old man..." he muttered under his breath.
"OLD? OLD?! I'M ONLY 27! I'M NOT AN OLD MAN! Hmm, maybe I shouldn't even teach you if you're going to be ungrateful," the older man pouted, crossing his arms.
"NOOOOO! SHANKS, I'LL BE GOOD! I PROMISE!" begged the young boy.
"Yeah, yeah, I know you will, Anchor. I'm just kidding!" Shanks laughed before continuing with the impromptu lesson. "First of all, the difference between the upgrade and the other version is that the upgrade would be like covering your arm with a sheet of metal. It hardens it, but only on the outside. Can you guess what the other version would do?" he asked.
Luffy thought hard, but his seven-year-old brain couldn't come up with a good answer. What could be better than covering his skin in metal? Just when he was about to give up and ask Shanks, it hit him. The only thing better than being covered in metal... is being metal! "Does the other version also make the inside metal?" Luffy asked excitedly, as visions of cyborgs and robots flashed through his mind.
"I honestly didn't think I'd get that far ," Shanks thought, somewhat impressed. Although technically it wasn't metal, if it seemed logical to Luffy, then it worked.
"Alright, Luffy! Before we talk more about weaponry, we need to discuss the type of Haki you used. This type is called... Conqueror's Haki," he said in a threatening tone. The man took a deep breath, thinking about the best way to approach the conversation before, metaphorically, taking the plunge.
"Alright, Luffy," he began, "I know you don't want anything like tonight to happen again, so I need you to listen carefully." Shanks would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous about teaching Conqueror's Haki to a seven-year-old. He was essentially giving a child a loaded weapon... or a bomb. But at this point, what other choice did he have? He couldn't just leave the boy unattended, especially now that he knew the little anchor boy. He figured what he felt for Luffy was similar to what his captain had felt for him.
With that in mind, the man continued, "It's okay if you don't fully understand it right now, I'll make sure it's engraved in that empty head of yours, very well before I go."
Too excited to learn about the mysterious and awesome power, Luffy didn't even register the insult and nodded enthusiastically.
Very few people can do what you did tonight, Luffy. In fact, probably only one in a million. Essentially, those who use Conqueror's Haki can impose their will on others. This will affect those others according to their willpower compared to yours.
Just as Luffy was about to interrupt, Shanks raised his hand and stopped him: "I know you'll have questions, Luffy, but try to wait until I'm finished and then I'll answer everything you ask."
The ensuing conversation made Luffy fume again, but he paid attention because he knew it was important and remained silent until Shanks finished explaining. After the explanation, the man answered all of the boy's questions until his curiosity was satisfied.
With their conversation paused for the moment, the two walked in silence until just before heading back to the bar. Before Luffy could reach the doors, Shanks stopped, and the seven-year-old boy turned around curiously. "Luffy, I need you to promise me something... Can you do that?" the redhead asked earnestly.
"Of course I can, Shanks!" Luffy replied.
"This won't matter as much with Armament Haki because the enhancement is easy to conceal. It could be a problem if you learn the other form later, but we'll leave that for later," Shanks began. He wasn't overly concerned about the Navy discovering that Luffy could use the power he was about to teach him. As he'd already said, the enhancement was easy to hide, and Luffy would need a special talent for Haki to achieve hardening before reaching the Grand Line, especially if he didn't leave the island beforehand. While not impossible, Shanks didn't think it was likely. The only real problem, in Shanks's mind, was Conqueror's Haki.
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