The Long Talk

Borsalino and Sakazuki were sitting in the vice admiral's office on battleship waiting for their leader to arrive.

"What do you think?" Borsalino asked as they waited.

"About what?"

"You know what."

"Don't wanna talk about it" Sakazuki replied as he ended the conversation. They were both recovering, not just from being physically beaten, but their confidence was shaken. Ever since the both of them ate their logia fruits, outside of Zed their instructor and Percy, they have never suffered so much damage.

The door swung open and Percy walked through. "How does it feel?" Percy started as he stared at the two vice admirals.

"..." they both remained silent.

*sigh* Percy continued, "I was in your shoes once you know?"

The two of them turned and looked at the vice admiral as if saying 'continue'.

Percy pursed his lips, [these little...] "when I first learned haki, I thought I was strong. Strong enough to fight against the bigwig pirates. I'm talking about Kaidou, Bigmom, Whitebeard, Shiki, and Roger. I thought that I could take them all on."

Percy was silent for a moment before he continued, "until I fought one."

For a moment, Borsalino and Sakazuki were quiet listening to Percy narrate his experiences.

"I only exchanged one attack with Shiki, well it was not even an attack, he attacked and I tried not to die hahaha" Percy laughed dryly recalling what happened that fateful day. "He threw a mountain at me, an entire mountain! Do you have any idea how much s*it is in a mountain?"

The two shook their heads, "well it's a lot" Percy answered.

"Shiki tried to crush me with a mountain after fighting Sengoku for 5 hours. That is the level where you need to get in order to stake your claim in the New world."

Sakazuki said "sir, I can destroy a mountain with my devil fruit" and Borsalino also nodded besides his friend, "me too."

"Perhaps" Percy agreed. "What if Shiki kept throwing mountains at you, could you keep up? At that time, I was not able to."

They both fell in silence, both rear admirals in quiet contemplation.

"And that's just Shiki, let's not discuss Whitebeard how literally has the power to destroy the world; Kaidou, the strongest creature; Bigmom whose ability plus her near indestructible body gives admiral Rosati constant headaches; and Rogers who somehow always evades Garp, the hero of the marines."

The two were silent as Percy listed the strongest pirates in the New world.

"Then there are countless other pirate crews just as strong as the Frozen pirates looking to claim their own territory in the New world."

Sakazuki had a solemn look on his face, he of course knew all this. It was taught to him by instructors at Marineford, but experiencing it was different from reading about it.

Percy sighed as he looked at the two future admirals. "Look, right now you are a big fish in a little pond; that being paradise. However, you just experienced what it's like being a small fish in an ocean. Doesn't it make you want to be stronger?"

Sakazuki had a determined look on his face as he nodded his head. Borsalino also nodded but in a more casual tone.

"Okay then, what do you plan to do about it?"

Borsalino and Sakazuki were quiet a moment before they asked

"what are our options?"

"You need haki training" Percy said definitively. "Without it, the same situation will happen over and over again."

"I agree sir" Sakazuki said as he nodded his head.

"Your first choice is head back to Zed and ask for haki training. He should be willing to teach you seeing as you were once his students."

"Mmmm me and Zed sensei disagree a lot" Borsalino said as Percy was listing his options. "He wants to train my body while I want to perfect my abilities."

"That may be, must Zed is a perfect teacher for haki. They don't call him Black Arm Zed for nothing after all. Plus, he is an admiral who is in charge of watching Kaidou's movements. That alone is a testament to his strength."

"Is there another option?" Borsalino asked while not considering the first option.

"The second option is have either Sengoku or Rosati teach you the basics and you try to self improve from there. I warn you though, self teaching can only get you so far. You need a teacher for advanced techniques and that is a requirement for admiral, having mastered as least one form of haki."

Borsalino and Sakazuki were deep in thought weighing their options. On one hand, Zed can teach them everything they need to learn; but they will be conditioned by Zed again and they did not want to go through that hell once more. On the other hand, they could ask an admiral for a foundational start and try to self-improve. But it may take a lot longer to see progress and there will be a time when they will need to seek advice once again.

"I will go to Zed and ask him to train me" Sakazuki announced as he made up his mind.

Borsalino was not surprised, Sakazuki and Zed got along because both of them hated pirates. Sakazuki because of his belief in absolute justice, Zed because pirates almost took away his family.

"Then I will look for another admiral" Borsalino replied as Percy was staring at him. "I don't feel like clashing with admiral Zed everyday again, it made my brain hurt. Which admiral would you recommend?"

"As you know, Rosati is the owner of the poison- poison fruit. As a logia user as well, he would be best for you Borsalino. He would teach you how logia users avoid haki attacks as well as how to hit logia users. The problem is Bigmom has been busy recently. She is constructing her fortress islands of Tottoland and Rosati needs to monitor the situation there."

Percy paused as he let Borsalino absorb all that information. "You're best option is Sengoku. Shiki is planning something big, we all know that. But until more information arrives, Sengoku is only filling out paperwork in his office. I would inquire about Rosati first; and if not, go to Sengoku."

Borsalino nodded, "thank you sir."

Percy smiled, "no problem, you both have a direction, now prepare; because haki training is nothing like rokushiki training HAHAHAHAHA".