Chapter 164

164

Another few days passed this way,

Even with Momoo pulling the Going Merry it would take a long time before they could reach the next island. Depending on the weather, theoretically, it should take around a month and a half to navigate from Little Garden to Drum Island.

The distance wasn't that long, but the weather was the main challenge in the Grand Line.

Still, with Momoo's speed, the time needed should have been less than half. Even when Momoo wasn't actively pulling the ship, because of Nami the time needed was reduced by a lot. With the added help from the log book of the Black Moon pirates.

Nami was able to use the safe routes where the weather isn't as shifty as others, the navigator of the straw hat pirates was really thankful for that.

Nami was thrilled and very happy with the help that the log book provided. It gave her valuable information on the most secure routes one can take from one Island to another. Nami would never admit it, but this was more than just a simple treasure to her.

It also made her wonder how such a skilled Navigator ended up like that. But she threw her thoughts to the side, she hoped nothing like that happened to her crew. Her short time here, she really enjoyed how things were going.

Nami stopped her musing and started focusing on drawing her map. The logbook helped with that as well.

While the orange-haired navigator was busy with her duties, outside on the deck almost all of the members of the Straw Hat pirates were discussing something.

It was after their usual sparring session. Almost all of them looked worse for wear. Even Usopp was a bit bruised from the training. Yet, all of them would get all patched up after a few hours of napping. The world worked weirdly that way.

With Luffy's work ethic, almost all of the members of the crew threw their everything into training. More so when it brought results. Now almost all of the crew knew at least one of the Rokushiki techniques.

And that was saying something as even experienced marines weren't able to learn even one of the techniques.

While people might throw the word 'talent' in there, and call it a day. Luffy didn't, he believed that with actual proper training, constant fights, and good nutrition it should be possible for anyone to grow strong, if they were willing to put in the work.

After the brutal training session, all of them were sitting on the deck, trying to catch their breath or listen to the inputs given by Sabo. Luffy was also listening in.

Sabo scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Well, what you said about Haki is right to a point, but… it's wrong as well."

Luffy tilted his head. "But it worked for me, though… when I was able to gain enough strength and willpower, I was able to unlock Haki or at least the armament aspect of it. Even if I was only able to use it for a few seconds, though. Even when I started my journey, I could only use armament haki to coat one of my fists for around five minutes or so, before I got drained. That time was even more reduced if I wanted to coat my naginata with it. Now, well. I can do much more."

Luffy's armament haki improved a lot, he was nowhere near using Ryo. But with Sabo's help he was getting there. Sabo really had a knack for Armament Haki and with each sparring session Luffy was able to feel his haki get stronger.

Now, Luffy was trying to learn Gear Fourth with it. Or at least the snake variant of it. He was very close to learning it, but it wasn't easy in that regard.

Sabo nodded and held up one finger. "But, you forgot something… you unlocked your Conqueror's way before you unlocked Armament or Observation. And after Conqueror's you were able to learn Observation, not armament. So your case isn't the optimal one. Let me ask you a question… do you think everyone's strength is the same? Like, let's compare between a normal human and a Fishman."

Luffy humored his brother. "Of course, a Fishman would be ten times stronger than a regular man. The genetics, their heritage, and the fact that most of them live near the sea floor most of their lives, give them a greater aspect to gaining strength."

"Now replace Fishman with Giants, they are even stronger than a normal human," Sabo said. "Well, that's the thing… see that's why I think Kuina, Zoro and Sanji aren't able to awaken their haki. All of them are strong enough, compared to normal humans. And I'm sure they could even beat up weak pirates in New World who can use haki, but unlocking that for them will take something that they must believe in. Haki for the most part has two aspects to it, the physical part and the supernatural will part. The latter can't be controlled, only the former one."

The others nodded.