Hiroto listened with great interest. Although he knew the general situation of Haki, he didn't know the more detailed specifics. And now, Koushirou was teaching them Armament Haki from a professional perspective.
The so-called Armament Haki is born from human potential, it is a latent power that everyone possesses. But not everyone can awaken Armament Haki. Only when an individual's physical and mental attributes reach a certain level can they truly manifest that potential as a special power.
That is, Haki.
Armament Haki is one type of Haki. There are also Observation Haki and Conqueror's Haki.
This power also has strict requirements for one's state of mind: believing in oneself, believing in one's Haki, believing that one will continue to move forward, and believing that one's fighting spirit will never crumble.
Only when conviction and self-will are highly unified can one advance step by step. Otherwise, due to an imbalance in mindset and loss of self-belief, the Haki will continue to decline.
In other words, it is the product of the combination of the physical body and spiritual will.
The extremely high threshold requirements are the reason why Armament Haki is almost unseen in the four blues but is everywhere in the second half of the Grand Line.
If the basic stats aren't high enough, wanting to awaken Haki is just a fantasy. Without self-confidence and fighting spirit, wanting to master Haki is a pipe dream.
If one cannot maintain the continuous unification of conviction and will, even if they possess Haki, it will only stagnate. Crocodile in Alabasta is a vivid example.
"In addition, there is Observation Haki, Conqueror's Haki..."
Koushirou patiently provided detailed answers one by one.
The explanations for Armament Haki and Observation Haki were the most detailed, while Conqueror's Haki only had a simple summary. After all, he didn't have Conqueror's Haki. Conqueror's Haki, found in only one in several million people, was too rare.
Over the next few days, Hiroto and Zoro both learned the two types of Haki under Koushirou's guidance.
During this time, the sloop sailed alongside Binmock's ship toward the island where Syrup Village was located.
It's worth mentioning that Koushirou also gave Hiroto extra lessons on flying slashes, essentially giving him a crash course.
At this point, [Effort King] began to show its power.
Because Koushirou wouldn't be traveling with them for very long, Hiroto focused most of his core energy during this period on the training of the two types of Haki, to the point of forgetting to eat and sleep.
After all, when others work hard for a day, it's just a day. When he works hard for a day, it's like two hundred days for others.
As always, today's training was multiplied by 200 times. Images of a full two hundred days of training surfaced and then instantly merged into Hiroto's mind.
Together with his past experience, a qualitative change was completed.
"Is this... Armament Haki?"
Hiroto reached out and clenched his hand into a fist. A pitch-black, iron-like color suddenly appeared on the back of his hand. But then, like ink running out on a pen, it gradually faded and disappeared. Following that was a sense of emptiness from overexertion.
(Note: In cannon, haki is invisible.)
Hiroto's physical strength wasn't enough to support it. Physique and stamina are like the materials and foundation for building a swimming pool. The more and larger they are, the more Haki they can nurture. It's just like how a large pool and a small pool must have a difference in water capacity.
'My current physique can only support such a brief use of Armament Haki.'
Hiroto summarized his thoughts, and having a general idea of his progress, he continued his training.
Two hundred days and nights condensed into this single day brought about a terrifying speed of progress.
His innate talent actually wasn't that great. Most of the time, it was the foundation brought by [Gluttony] that supported his progress.
After becoming a cheater, his growth speed was even more exaggerated than Zoro's.
The night before arriving at Syrup Village, a message popped up in front of Hiroto as he finished his day's training.
[Entry: Elementary Armament Haki (Blue) acquired!]
[Panel Updated]
[Name: Hiroto]
[Age: 21]
[Strength: D (Level of a 10 million bounty.)]
[Agility: E++ (Level of nearly a 10 million bounty)]
[Constitution: E++ (A monstrous physique within the East Blue, even a Fishman cannot compare with you.)]
[Perception: D- (Able to sense obvious potential crises)]
[Held Entries: Transmigrator (Rainbow), Gluttony (Orange), Incoming Chaos (Purple), Fiery Heart (Purple)...]
[Remark: You can go anywhere in the East Blue, but you'll still have to watch your step in the Grand Line.]
The combination of practicing swordsmanship previously and practicing the two types of Haki recently, multiplied by 200, caused Hiroto's attributes to surge once again.
Strength improved because the practice of Armament Haki drove the progress of physical power.
Perception improved because of the 'Breath of All Things'.
His constitution, which was a weak point, reached the E++ level without any extra buffs.
If the buffs from various entries were included, Hiroto was confident he could fight an opponent with a bounty of tens of millions.
This wasn't considered low.
Keep in mind, Luffy only had a bounty of 30 million berries during the Alabasta arc.
Observation Haki training was much slower, as all his energy was focused on Armament Haki.
According to Hiroto's estimation, he could encounter the most troublesome Marine in the East Blue at any time next.
Logia type: Smoke-Smoke Fruit User, Smoker.
As a rare Logia user, Smoker's advantage in the East Blue was huge.
Without Armament Haki, one couldn't hurt him. The only possible way was the Sea Stone at the tip of his jitte. However, such a weapon that could restrain him would certainly be strictly guarded.
'I just don't know when I'll run into him.'
Hiroto was somewhat expectant. He knew very well that the goodwill he released at Marine Base 153 would not receive a response.
Because he was too weak and lacked value, defeating Smoker was the inevitable second step he had to take.
'But before that, let's deal with Kuro first.'
...
On the undulating sea, a Marine Warship was braving the wind and waves.
At the bow of the warship, a burly man with white hair combed back, chewing on two cigars, was staring at the sea. He seemed to be thinking about something.
At this moment, the sound of brisk footsteps rang out.
Tashigi, holding a den den mushi, walked up quickly and then saluted to report, "Report, Captain Smoker. We have tracked the Hiroto Pirates, they are heading toward Syrup Village and seem to want to do something there."
"Source of information?"
Tashigi said, "It was provided by the people on the island where they resupplied. And according to the details, it's confirmed that Hiroto's group isn't flying a pirate flag at all. This makes them very hard to identify while sailing on the sea."
Speaking of this, Tashigi still felt awkward in her heart, because pirates who didn't fly a pirate flag at all were extremely rare. Even if there were some, most of them only did it to sneak into ports with defensive forces. Pirates like this who didn't fly a pirate flag at all were almost a unique case.
"Go to Syrup Village." Smoker, with cigars in his mouth, gave the order expressionlessly.
"Yes."
Tashigi saluted and then went to convey the order, but before leaving, she couldn't help but glance at her superior.
She had heard that the hunt for Hiroto's crew was an order from above, and also an opportunity for Smoker to be promoted to a position at Headquarters. But for some reason, her superior didn't seem happy at all.
Clearly, going to Headquarters meant being able to hunt down even stronger pirates.
Tashigi was puzzled, but she didn't stop walking.
She was thinking about one thing. According to intelligence, the Pirate Hunter had also joined the ranks of Head-Chopping Swordsman Hiroto.
She wondered if these two famous swordsmen possessed any Famous Swords?
Far away, Hiroto obviously didn't know that someone was eyeing his sword before they even met, just as he was eyeing Tashigi's Shigure.