Chapter 28: Conqueror’s Haki
Obei saw Aoxi again three hours later.
After washing up and preparing to go to bed to sleep, she glanced at Aoxi blankly using her head to push open the door, holding a bag in her arms, swaying back to the room.
“You’re back, Aoxi.” Obei greeted her.
“Aba aba aba…”
Without any response, Aoxi just kept mumbling unclear words from her mouth.
Obei rubbed her eyes; she seemed to see Aoxi’s pale soul floating out from her mouth.
『Hiss~ What exactly did Sister La do?』
Looking in horror at Aoxi, who was usually lively and bouncing around, now turned into a zombie that hadn’t eaten brains, Obei didn’t dare imagine what La had done to her.
Just as she was about to step forward to pacify her with a few words, she was suddenly attracted by the paper bag clutched in Aoxi’s arms, from which the aroma of snacks faintly emanated.
Obei’s gaze sharpened; she had already noticed some unknown crumbs at the corner of the enemy’s mouth.
“Aoxi, what’s in your hand?”
“Mille-feuille, left for us by Sister La.”
Aoxi suddenly seemed to return to normal like a last burst of energy, but after handing the paper bag to Obei, she fell back into ‘aba aba’ mode.
“Left by Big Sister… Hey! How come there’s only this little left inside!”
Obei looked at the less than half mouthful of mille-feuille left in the bag in her hand, remembering how her university roommate would toss the remaining tiny bit of snacks along with the packaging bag to her when too lazy to throw out the trash.
The key point was that half of what was originally in there should have been hers; this brat Aoxi had not only eaten her share but also made her deal with the trash.
“Aoxi!”
“Aba aba aba…”
“Don’t play dumb with me!”
……
At night, after educating Aoxi, La came again to the front of Kaido’s residence; she sensed that Kaido had already woken up just now.
“Knock knock knock~”
“Come in.”
Reaching out to lightly knock on the door, Kaido’s somewhat lazy voice came from inside.
“Hm? It’s you. Learned Haki yet? Glug glug glug~”
Kaido, who had just woken up, was sprawled out on the chair but had already started drinking again.
“I’ve already gotten an initial glimpse of Observation Haki and Armament Haki. I came to see you tonight to learn about Conqueror’s Haki.”
“Also, Captain Kaido, drinking right after waking up is bad for the body.”
Probably because of Aoxi’s influence, La involuntarily slipped into lecture mode while speaking.
“Uro-ro-ro-ro~ This little girl sure is nosy; you’re clearly not even as tall as my wine gourd yet!”
“Fine, since you want to witness Conqueror’s Haki, watch closely!” With that, Kaido set down the gourd, and an invisible aura burst from him, rushing straight toward La.
Even though the other party made no movements and there was no wind in the room, La’s clothes and hair were blown back.
This illusory thing called aura was at this moment tangibly impacting the real world.
In La’s vision, Kaido at this moment seemed like a massive radiation source, layers of energy far more violent than Armament Haki emanating from his body.
This energy didn’t assault the surroundings but all impacted toward where La was.
『Precise control』
With energy perception activated, she couldn’t help but marvel inwardly while seizing the time to carefully observe this energy.
『Energy completely different from Armament Haki. This feeling is the same as when on the island making Aoxi and Obei faint—not like life energy from the body, more like…』
Closing her eyes, La relaxed and felt the most real, subtle feedback from her body.
『This feeling is the soul… the soul vibrating.』
The first time she met Kaido, the special aura he burst out had immediately made Aoxi and the others, whose souls were still unstable, lose resistance. La had shown no reaction on the surface back then, but inwardly she had felt clear discomfort.
Now, after several days, the afterpain period from the three’s soul division had passed, so they shouldn’t be affected anymore, but La still felt a slight tremor originating from the soul.
『No doubt about it, it’s energy from the soul, able to sense the soul’s vibration.』
After truly experiencing the process of her soul being split into three, La had a more real, profound feeling for this originally somewhat ethereal word.
Souls exist and possess energy.
Naturally then, people with higher soul intensity can more easily affect those with weaker souls, just like how a high-density black hole forcibly pulls a low-density planet from its original orbit.
The consequence of a soul being tugged can be light like fainting, or heavy like death on the spot.
However, while perceiving the essence of this power, another question began to linger in La’s mind.
『Don’t souls exist in everyone? Logically, it should be similar to Armament Haki that relies on life energy, so why did Burufaruto say people with Conqueror’s Haki are rare?』
According to La’s thinking, theoretically anyone whose soul reaches a certain intensity should have Conqueror’s Haki.
Just as her thoughts hit a deadlock, that strange yet deafening laughter came.
“Uro-ro-ro! How’s that, La brat! That’s Conqueror’s Haki! Haki possessed only by kings born to rule everything.”
Kaido began boasting about himself. Though he didn’t think Conqueror’s Haki was anything remarkable—most of his ‘seniors’ on Rocks’s ship had it too—this didn’t stop him from wanting to build an image of a qualified leader in front of La.
But to Kaido’s disappointment, La remained as usual, her expression showing no fluctuation, still pondering with lowered brows.
And just as Kaido wanted to say more, La spoke up.
“Captain Kaido, can you tell me about the scene when you first awakened Conqueror’s Haki?”
When in doubt, ask; that’s a good habit.
“What are you asking that for?” Kaido was a bit puzzled why she suddenly thought of this but still answered truthfully.
“That was when I was about ten-something years old. Once, a bunch of blind fools pissed me off, and somehow it came out.”
“Ten-something years old?”
“Yeah! Those other old guys also awakened Conqueror’s around that age; some even awakened at a few years old.”
『A few years old… so the so-called awakening of Conqueror’s Haki has little to do with soul intensity.』
After all, you can’t expect a few-year-old child’s soul intensity to be higher than that of an old Navy officer who’s been in the military for decades and seen countless blades and swords.
There aren’t many Navy officers known to have Conqueror’s Haki either.
『Haki, Conqueror’s, Overlord, King…』
As the previous hypothesis was overturned, a bolder idea gradually formed in La’s mind.
So, is the so-called Conqueror’s Haki aptitude actually a talent for actively releasing the energy in one’s soul?
And people without this talent can’t affect the outside world or others no matter how high their soul intensity is.
“Captain Kaido, are there people who are very strong but don’t have Conqueror’s Haki?”
“Of course there are, just not many.” Figures immediately came to Kaido’s mind.
『It matches.』
『Conqueror’s Haki has nothing to do with soul intensity; it’s a talent skill for actively projecting soul energy outward.』
But since people with Conqueror’s Haki can release their soul energy, then they should also be able to…
“Captain, besides bursting out as aura like just now, Conqueror’s Haki should also be able to infuse the body and even weapons like Armament Haki, right?”
After all, it’s energy too; no reason Armament Haki can and Conqueror’s can’t.
Almost the instant he heard this, Kaido stood up from the chair and took a few steps to stand in front of La.
Under the dim light, Kaido’s huge shadow completely engulfed La, making his current expression unclear.
“La, how did you know?”
“A guess.” La showed no panic whatsoever.
“Looks like I guessed right.”
……
Silence.
Continued silence.
Prolonged silence.
Then, loud laughter.
“Ro-ro-ro-ro-ro-ro-ro-ro-ro!”
“La! You guy! You’re just too great! No, the greatest! Uro-ro-ro-ro!”
To be honest, this was the most hearty, hysterical time La had seen Kaido laugh.
The laughter held no mockery or teasing; instead, it was like the confidence and heroism of someone about to raise troops in rebellion who suddenly picked up the imperial seal by the roadside and felt heaven’s mandate was upon him.
……
Finally, just as La suspected whether this guy’s lung capacity had any limit, Kaido’s laughter stopped.
“Exactly! As you said, Conqueror’s Haki can also be infused, and Conqueror’s Haki Infusion is precisely the most powerful force on this sea!”
“But right now, I’m only barely getting an initial glimpse of Conqueror’s Haki Infusion; still a ways from full mastery.” Before La could speak, Kaido said it himself.
“Many of my ‘seniors’ on Rocks’s ship should have already mastered it; really looking forward to clashing with them in the future…”
“Is that so? Then I wish you martial prosperity. I won’t disturb you further, Captain Kaido.”
Having gotten the answer she wanted, La said no more; having delayed this long, it was time for her to leave.
“Wait! Since I’m awake, let me see how your Haki training is going.”
Seeming to be in the mood, Kaido picked up the still-unrepaired wolf fang club, showing no intention of letting La go easily.
“Could we do it tomorrow daytime, Captain Kaido? Everyone’s asleep at night; not suitable for battle.”
La felt Kaido was a bit too enthusiastic about battle, somewhat helpless.
“Pirate battles don’t care if it’s day or night!”
“But those townsfolk need rest; they’re an important force sustaining the pirate crew’s activities.”
“Tch! Fine. Then I’ll go grab something to eat first.”
Kaido clicked his tongue, didn’t press further, put away the wolf fang club, and headed to the canteen.
It had to be said that Kaido at this time was still quite reasonable, or rather, he was always very tolerant toward people he took a liking to.
“I’ll go with you; I haven’t had dinner either due to some matters.” La followed Kaido.
………..
PS: Garp has been confirmed to possess Conqueror’s Haki.
Wanting a suitable setting for Conqueror’s Haki is so hard~
