Chapter 30: Morning Practice (upper)
Although the sun had not yet fully risen above the horizon, for the townsfolk, that unignorable streak of morning light on the horizon announced that a new day had arrived.
The vendors selling breakfast had already set up their stalls early, but unlike before, their hawking voices revealed a subtle fatigue that was hard to detect, and in comparison, the dark circles under their eyes were very conspicuous.
For many townsfolk, the night that had just passed was not a pleasant one.
“Ah~ Ha~”
Gradually, more pedestrians appeared on the streets, but before greeting each other, they couldn’t help but yawn first~
……
Kaido, waking up from the messy floor of the canteen littered with plates, shook his head. He hadn’t slept long, after all, he had slept all day yesterday.
Sweeping aside the plates and wine bottles beside him, Kaido stood up and looked out the window, where the sun had already revealed half of its body.
Though it was also just half, the sunrise and sunset gave completely different feelings; that vitality like new life seemed to wash away all the filth left by the night on people.
Sensing around, Kaido quickly found La, who was trying to make cooking in the kitchen.
“La brat, it’s dawn now, come practice with me! Let me see how your Haki has progressed. Gulp gulp gulp~”
“Wait until I steam these buns first. And don’t drink so early in the morning; you drank all night yesterday, Captain Kaido.”
La didn’t look up, still focused on the task at hand.
Delicate pleats formed on the white dough in her fair and slender hands; because La’s hands were small, these buns were only the size of ordinary small steamed buns.
“Why did you suddenly start making these?”
Hearing this, Kaido stopped drinking and watched curiously from the side as La skillfully pinched each bun and placed them on the steamer tray.
“Just on a whim.”
Ever since discovering that this body lacked some sensibility, La had consciously started trying things she had never experienced before.
Whether learning to eat with knife and fork or kneading dough to make buns herself, she wouldn’t miss any opportunity that might spark her interest, hoping these “whims” could slightly fill that void.
La was consciously expanding the part of herself that belonged to a “human.”
Igniting a cluster of divine flames and controlling the temperature—since sea beast meat doesn’t cook easily, La set it so the fire would extinguish after half an hour.
Turning to wash her hands clean in the sink, La finally said to Kaido, “Alright, it should be done in half an hour. Sorry to keep you waiting, Captain Kaido. Let’s go outside.”
“Finally done? Then follow me, La brat.”
Kaido somehow pulled out his wolf fang club again and slung it over his shoulder, leading La to the place where they trained Haki yesterday; this seemed to be a place specially used by the Beasts Pirates for training.
Because it was still early, Aoxi and Ember and the others hadn’t arrived yet; now the place was empty with no one around.
“Right here, spacious enough and far from the town. Come on, show me your Haki, brat!”
Holding the wolf fang club in hand, Kaido assumed a combat stance.
Knowing La’s true combat power, he wouldn’t treat this battle with a sloppy attitude.
La said nothing more and directly condensed divine power into an obelisk, gripping it in her hand.
This time, the obelisk no longer had that terrifying temperature; instead, its surface was covered with a layer of golden Haki bearing flame patterns, making it look as if it were cast from gold.
“Ho~ Golden Haki!”
This unprecedented Armament Haki naturally piqued the other’s interest.
“This sea is truly vast; you can encounter all sorts of interesting things. Let me see what’s different about your Haki—Thunder Bagua!”
Signature move to start again; purple lightning burst from Kaido’s black wolf fang club, carrying immense force as it struck toward La.
La directly met it with one hand, brute forcing the strike head-on.
The two supreme Armament Haki clashed, emitting a piercing clash of metal.
“What terrifying brute force, but my Thunder Bagua isn’t that simple!”
As Kaido said, while they were locked in stalemate, La suddenly felt the other’s power invading into the obelisk’s interior.
The violent power rampaged wildly, impacting the monument from eight directions, with some even conducting into her own body.
『Thunder Bagua… so it’s not just a simple club swing? What a fitting name.』
La stepped back to create distance; the obelisk in her hand trembled slightly, with faint purple lightning still splashing out from it.
Reinfusing Haki to dispel the lightning above, as the obelisk solidified again, La digested the previous strike in her mind.
“Nice Haki intensity; you’re indeed a genius, brat!”
Seeing his infused Haki easily erased, Kaido laughed heartily and struck again.
This time, La didn’t take it head-on; after activating energy vision, she deftly deflected the wolf fang club with the tip of the obelisk to avoid direct contact, but part of that strange power still impacted her.
Looking at her somewhat stiff hand and recalling Kaido’s power generation principles and Haki flow paths, La dismantled and analyzed this “Thunder Bagua” move bit by bit in her mind.
“Brat, show some true ability, or it’ll be too boring!” Kaido, seeing La seemingly frozen in place, felt some dissatisfaction.
The wolf fang club in his hand swung out with great force again.
La remained silent, merely swinging the obelisk in what seemed like an ordinary counter toward Kaido.
Gold and dark iron clashed once more, but this time, golden thunder erupted from the obelisk!
“This is Thunder Bagua?!”
Several familiar impacts invaded Kaido’s body along the wolf fang club, directly repelling him several steps. Kaido’s eyes widened in shock as he looked at the small golden figure opposite.
『This brat, having seen Thunder Bagua just two… no, three times, actually used it right away?!』
The stinging pain from his body excited him somewhat, and the bloodlust for battle within began to ignite slowly; Kaido’s face uncontrollably showed an excited and ferocious smile.
“A quite exquisite and powerful move. You’re indeed not as rough and hasty as you appear on the surface, Captain Kaido.”
Through two clashes and their time together, La could roughly judge what kind of person Kaido was.
Loose on the outside, tight on the inside; rough but meticulous.
Anyone foolish enough to treat him as a brainless brute would surely suffer greatly!
“Uro-ro-ro-ro-ro~ Monster brat, that’s no way to talk about your own captain. Besides, you still have much to learn! Kongorō!”
The wolf fang club struck the air forcefully, sending a purple impact toward La’s position at speed easily surpassing sound.
『A compressed impact formed by forcefully striking the air… simpler than Thunder Bagua, but much faster.』
La directly swatted away the impact with a wave, then countered with an identical golden impact.
In her fully focused battle state, La’s already terrifying learning ability and analytical skills leaped to another level; she saw through Kaido’s move with just one glance!
“Come at me!” Kaido charged forward rapidly, casually swatting away La’s Kongorō, then instantly closed in on her.
The massive shadow completely enveloped La, exuding a strong sense of oppression.
“Thunder—Bagua!”
Another heavy strike came down; La didn’t dodge, countering with her own Thunder Bagua from below.
This clash’s momentum far surpassed before, with both sides pouring in considerable Haki.
Terrifying lightning spread from the point of impact, surging like tides in all directions.
The earth trembled along the path, soil, rocks, and trees all shattered; the immense blast wave directly leveled the surrounding earth mounds.
“What’s going on, an earthquake?” Some townsfolk who hadn’t gotten up yet shot out of bed in fright.
“Quick, pack your things; watch out for a tsunami soon!”
“Why an earthquake all of a sudden? This isn’t an earthquake zone?”
“Hey, who cares! Run quick!”
The townsfolk who had just set up stalls hurriedly packed them away again, and shops directly sealed their gates.
Not far away, at the executives’ residence—
“This Haki is Boss Kaido! An enemy attack?!” Burufaruto hurriedly pushed out the door, looking toward the battle site.
“No need to worry; the other one is that blonde brat. Mr. Kaido is probably testing her Haki.” Ember also came outside and explained to Burufaruto.
Having witnessed La’s Armament Haki yesterday, Ember quickly analyzed the situation.
“Does testing have to go this far? Boss Kaido is clearly getting carried away!”
“No need to worry; Mr. Kaido knows his limits.”
“Really? I feel like the island is about to sink!”
“Boom!!!” Another earth-shaking tremor.
“…”
Truth be told, Ember was starting to feel uncertain now; this power had clearly affected the island’s safety.
“Forget it, let’s go take a look.” For safety’s sake, Burufaruto decided to go check.
“Alright, let’s go together.”
…………
