Cocoyasi Village, inside the tangerine grove.
Nojiko was carried off by Nami for treatment.
Johnny and Yosaku stayed aboard the ship, fielding thank-you gifts from a steady stream of villagers.
Zoro patrolled the area, hunting for any Fishmen he might have missed—perfect for sharpening his blade.
Carina tallied the Arlong Pirates' spoils, loading the mountain of gold and silver onto their vessel.
Speaking of which, nearly all of it had been extorted from the locals, yet no one stepped forward to demand its return.
Hiroto, meanwhile, rested for a while in Nami's house—on Nami's bed.
Then he prepared to inspect his gains.
Killing Arlong, wiping out the Arlong Pirates, freeing Nami and winning her loyalty—the three feats combined delivered enough Distortion energy for an orange entry.
He opened the panel and three choices surfaced.
This time, Hiroto pressed [Extraction], and the panel blazed with a bright orange light.
'What will it be?' He rubbed his hands in anticipation.
Brilliant orange exploded across his vision.
[Entry – Sit-ups (Orange) acquired!]
[Entry: Sit-ups]
[Quality: Orange]
[Type: Passive]
[Effect: When dealt a fatal wound, forcibly clings to life and drastically lowers enemies' desire to attack.
Greatly erases presence and massively boosts wound-recovery speed.
Upon waking, multiplicatively increases innate talent, and super-charges any known weak spot.
If you perform a full sit-up motion, regain peak condition in 15 seconds and trigger a "Power Surge".
Choose one combat-relevant stat to leap a full tier. For example. Basic Armament Haki → Intermediate Armament Haki.]
[Cost: Willpower]
[Note: 100 SIT-UPS!]
'Insane… even among orange entries.' Hiroto couldn't help but marvel.
Between life and death lies ultimate terror and ultimate opportunity.
To the current Hiroto, holder of [Sit-ups], that saying is gospel.
Just the first effect alone is an overpowered mechanism.
People are born unequal.
Background can, with luck and grind, be bridged. Talent, though, offers no path.
Like advanced calculus: you either get it or you don't—no shortcuts.
Same in the One Piece World, only here the currency is power.
One of the Four Emperors, Charlotte Linlin, entered life with insurmountable gifts, even if she's the weakest among the four.
Remember, only Four Emperors rule the New World, and Charlotte Linlin spent over half her life giving birth, never fully cashing in that monstrous potential.
And now, mediocre-talent Hiroto has a way to patch his talent. From the description, even Conqueror's Haki, found in one among millions, can be awakened via this mechanism.
Hiroto doubts he had Conqueror's Haki—found one-in-millions, inborn quirk, pure destiny.
The sit-up mechanism is more broken: it jumps tiers, forcing evolution without logic.
Basic Armament Haki to Intermediate Armament Haki may sound tame, but swap in Observation's future-sight?
Reach top-tier Observation Haki and you can leap straight to foresight—no talent or grind required.
If that still feels abstract, use Conqueror's Haki as the example. In the later stages, Haki-infusion is basically mandatory for top-tiers.
And one trait of Conqueror's Haki is it can't be trained, only controlled.
Once his Conqueror's Haki is strong enough, Hiroto can skip into Conqueror's Haki infusion—just like Luffy in Wano.
Push it further and he could even add Shanks' "Observation Kill" within known scope—a power rumored to bloom from apex Conqueror's Haki, cloaking one's presence so even future-sight can't catch it.
All of the above can be forcibly tier-skipped, bypassing innate limits.
Fifteen seconds to full recovery is no joke either. Against an equal foe, it's practically a second life.
Of course, the downside is obvious: the risk is colossal.
Luffy enjoys plot armor, Kaido cherishes talent and rarely finishes off worthy foes. That allowed three come-backs, each stronger.
Hiroto didn't count on such luck, nor did he expect other enemies to share Kaido's mercy.
Reduced presence isn't invisibility, you can still be spotted.
It's dancing on a cliff—huge payoff, but slip and it's over.
Even so, in Hiroto's eyes [Sit-ups] is undeniably a major trump card.
'Not bad.' Hiroto's lips curved in delight.
He glanced at the panel: a soft blue glow remained—energy left from this extraction.
After a thought, he saved it as a blue entry was pointless to him now.
Closing the panel, he rose and headed for the open ground in the tangerine grove.
Training awaited.
A cheat is great to lean on, but personal effort must never slack. He refused to fall short by "just a bit" ever again.
Outside, he stepped onto the clearing, drew Shigure, and practiced sword forms with total focus.
Nothing flashy—every move precise.
When sweat soaked him, he stopped and planned the next phase.
Since learning Haki from Koushirou, he'd grasped Armament Haki, but Observation Haki had yet to enter his hands.
Most of his hours had gone to swordsmanship and Armament Haki. Without pouring in more time, Observation Haki couldn't leap forward.
Ultimately, his talent wasn't good enough.
Although he was lucky enough to have the orange entry [Sit-ups] which could increase talent, it was hard to say who could actually beat him to within an inch of his life.
After all, he was currently in the East Blue, the weakest of the four seas.
As for [Genius Trader], no one on the ship was skilled in that path. Even Carina was at most proficient in evasive footwork.
If Zoro learned Armament Haki, it should provide a massive return on investment in Armament Haki.
But Observation Haki... there was no return on investment to speak of yet.
'Do I need to make time for Observation Haki training?' Hiroto pondered.