21 Chapter 20

We reached the Baratie by night time, so we docked the ship next to it. Everyone had gone to bed in the new rooms by this point, and I continued training with my clones.

Early in the morning, Zeff came to greet us on our ship, while my crew was still sleeping.

"So how has the progress been, anything you would want to share with me, haha." He looked in a good mood, despite it being so early.

"I've been trying my hardest to learn Haki, but I don't think I made any real progress there. On the other hand, I almost feel like I am close enough to..." I couldn't continue since he interrupted me.

"Hahahaha, I'm not talking about that boy. I asked if you made any progress with the girl, hahaha." That slightly ticked me off and I punched him, or at least I tried to.

"You seem full of energy boy, that means we can get some training done before the others wake up." For the next two hours, I regretted my actions. Zeff pushes me to the limits every time we train, but I have to agree that he is an incredible teacher.

When he started teaching me Observation Haki, I thought that I was getting the hang of pretty fast and making real progress. Unfortunately, Zeff shot me down, saying that I am using my enhanced senses and I am cheating. He told me that I would have to feel the people around me rather than sensing them.

Armament Haki, on the other hand, I have had no success with using it. I have no idea, how am I supposed to use my spirit to attack someone or to create a spirit armor with it. Zeff said that there is no specific way to train it, you have to feel it and there is no other way around it, due to that, he has been hitting me with his Haki infused kicks for training to help me feel it better. All in all, he just wanted to torture me.

Regarding Conqueror's Haki, he was unable to provide me any guidance whatsoever, and the only thing he advised me is that even if I have it, I would first need to unlock it.

We stayed for the whole day at the Baratie, and everyone got tortured by Zeff. This time even Aisha was not excluded, and I have to admit, despite her having a Zoan Devil Fruit, I never thought she would be strong.

Boy, was I wrong, her physical abilities were incredible. Aisha was physically stronger than everyone besides me, Zoro and Sanji. Her arm strength is, in fact, higher than the cook's, granted that the guy never misses leg day and uses his hands only for cooking. I wanted to see her transformation, but she refused to show it to us no matter what.

Aisha has also opened up to us after she made up with her mother. She has had a few conversations with the men from the crew and started to smile more often, which enhances her beauty. Sanji has been trying to keep her away from me as much as possible while trying to please her by presenting her with incredibly tasty dishes. That wasn't working for him since she shared almost all of them with me.

The next day, we started our journey towards Amarok Island, which was a few hours away from the Baratie. The island is in the shape of a crescent moon. The capital of the kingdom sits on the ocean-side in the middle of the island, and it's surrounded by both ends of the crescent moon.

3rd POV:

At Takahiro, the capital of Asena Kingdom, the king was sitting on his throne. He had black hair with a few traces of gray, and a very sharp appearance. The king currently had a worried look on his face and was sweating.

"Dolphus, I can feel her coming in our directions. She is of utmost importance, and you better make sure, she is here by the end of the month." A menacing voice was heard, despite there being no one in the throne room, besides the king.

"There are two more days, and I promise you, we will have her prepared. I have already sent another group after them with our best men." Trembling, the king responded.

"She better be alive, or you will suffer the consequences." The voice wasn't heard any more after that, but Dolphus couldn't stop himself from trembling and had a few new grey hairs.

Luffy POV:

A couple of hours after starting our journey, we were attacked by four ships with the Asena Kingdom symbol. I didn't want to take part in fighting them and wanted to observe how my crew will deal with them.

Sanji flew using Geppo to one of the ships and destroyed it using Rankyaku. The wind blades he was able to generate with his legs almost rivaled Zoro's with a sword.

Johnny and Yosaku were unable to use Geppo, nor were they able to jump to the ships, so they swam to one of them. Both of them use dadao swords with red handle and a circular tsuba, and they have seriously been practicing with Zoro. They mostly favor using strength rather than skill, but Zoro has been trying to fix that. They might not be able to send wind blades or cut steel, but they have made a lot of improvements. Johnny and Yosaku were able to sink the ship they boarded within a few minutes. They have the best teamwork from the crew and move as one while fighting, perfectly covering each other.

One of the ships started firing arrows at us, but Nojiko was able to stop all of them with her control over wood. She gathered them all in a giant wooden ball, which she threw back at them, and sank their ship.

I wanted Nami and Ussop to go after the last ship, but Zoro destroyed with a few wind blades before I ordered them. He still has only one sword, but he has been improving at a monstrous rate. I have sparred with him using swords quite a few times and yet I have never even been close to beating him. Despite being trained on how to use a blade to kill when I was in the underground facility, Zoro schools me every time we fight. I can beat him if I use my Devil Fruits abilities, but just using a sword, I stand no chance.

Ahmya was amazed at how easily my crew dealt with the enemy ships. She knew we were strong, but seeing five people destroy four ships was incredible in her eyes. Something like this is simply unheard of in East Blue.

It took us another hour to reach Amarok Island. We docked our ship on a beach far away from any towns. Since we have a lot of inventory on it, we couldn't leave it without protection. Zoro volunteered to stay, saying that the enemy is too weak for his liking.

With the rest of the crew alongside Ahmya, we made our way towards the capital. We were trying to be discreet about it and, we moved through unpopulated areas. Nonetheless, we got swarmed by the residents of the kingdom, both young and old were running at us, like a moth drawn to a flame. And every single one had a mad look on their faces, while constantly muttering about their sacrifice. Ussop and Nami dealt with everyone, by knocking them out as lightly as possible. The journey to the capital should not have taken more than a couple of hours, but due to the number of people coming after us, it took us around four hours to reach there.

The capital has giant stone walls encircling it, and archers were lined up on them. The moment we got close enough, and all hell broke loose. We heard wolves howling, and the gates of the capital burst open, thousands of citizens rushed out from them with a mad look on their faces. Following them behind them were just as many wolves.

I decided to take this more seriously and immediately created four clones. Unfortunately, they were useless since Nojiko walked in front of us, placed her hands on the ground and produced a small forest in front of us. The trees captured anyone within their vicinity and kept them bound. I was astonished at Nojikos power to create an entire forest area in mere moments. While the people on the ground were dealt with by her, Sanji knocked out those on the walls.

Within a dozen minutes, everyone got captured by the trees or got knocked out. We entered the capital and made our way towards the Royal Palace.