The Fourth Person

Ruidio endured the pain, his face taut.

How could he describe this feeling...

He couldn't help thinking of Linghu Chong from The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. After all those different kinds of true qi invaded Brother Chong's body, he'd been tortured so badly he'd wished he were dead...

In the pirate world, everyone was born with Haki. It was just a question of whether they knew how to use it.

As soon as Hancock's Haki entered Ruidio's hand, it clashed violently with the Haki latent within him, which rose up in resistance as though reacting to a threat.

It was like a pebble dropping into a still, deep pool, stirring up small ripples.

It's working!

Ruidio gritted his teeth inwardly and smiled at Hancock, nodding to encourage her.

What's wrong with an attack? Over in Hunter, can't you awaken someone's Nen by attacking them directly? We pirates can't lose face when we "awaken Haki," either! Tom!

"..."

Hancock freed her left hand and wiped the fine beads of cold sweat from his forehead. She sighed softly, closed her eyes, and focused even harder on channeling Armament Haki into his left hand.

Her Haki might not have been as powerful as a first-rate expert's, but as the empress of Kuja, where she had been born, her skill in wielding it was unquestionably among the very best. Back when she competed for the position of Snake Princess, she had already reached the 9 Snake Realm.

Hancock controlled her Haki with even greater precision. Flowing like water wasn't enough; it needed to be gentle as a breeze, like a feather...

She entered a state of flow, losing awareness of herself and everything around her as she immersed herself in this special training.

How could my Haki hurt Ruidio? I absolutely won't allow it!

Moved by her sincere feelings, Hancock gradually... seemed able to pour all the tenderness and love in her heart into the Haki winding around her fingers. A smile appeared on her lips without her noticing.

[Mastered: Armament Haki (first glimpse)]

Ruidio only came to his senses when the system notification appeared.

He suddenly realized—when had the Haki Hancock was channeling into his hand and wrapping around his arm stopped causing that piercing pain and started feeling like a gentle caress instead?

"How is it?" Hancock sat facing him, holding both his hands and gazing at him affectionately. "Can you feel it?"

"A little..." Ruidio said in surprise. "It worked that well? And your Haki doesn't hurt much anymore. Have I gotten used to it, or did you do something?"

"I'm glad it worked." Hancock smiled without answering, a sweet feeling rising in her heart.

"Hancock, how long have we been sitting here?" Ruidio suddenly asked.

"Let's see..." The empress looked up at the sun and said in surprise, "It's already past noon. At least four or five hours, I think? That went by so fast..."

"Several hours..."

Ruidio murmured to himself. He really had never been in continuous physical contact with someone for that long before.

Did that mean the more detailed system notification he was looking at now only appeared after the first contact lasted several hours or more?

[Name: Boa Hancock]

[Overall strength: ★★★★★ (Fruit: 5 stars, Haki: 4 stars, muscular strength: 2 stars)]

[Mastered: Love-Love Fruit (ultimate), Kuja Archery (ultimate), Armament Haki (proficient), Kuja Body Technique (proficient), Observation Haki (beginner), Conqueror's Haki (beginner)]

Chapter 61: The Fourth Person

[Cover serial: Executive Vice President Miss All Sunday 11: "Civil War"]

[In the countryside, the king's army and the rebels are fighting each other. But the cannons are firing into the sky, the muskets are shooting at the ground, and the king's soldiers and rebels are moving slowly as they fight, chatting and laughing while they swing their weapons.]

[Name: Ruidio]

[Overall strength: ★★★ (Muscular strength: 3 stars)]

[Mastered: Transform into Satoru Gojo (1 minute), Armament Haki (first glimpse), Basic Body Technique (skilled), Six Powers: Soru (skilled), Playful Cloud Staff Technique (beginner), Shimotsuki Swordsmanship (beginner), Running (proficient), Swimming (skilled)]

[Hired: Nami (approximately 18 days remaining), Nico Robin (approximately 2 days remaining), Boa Hancock (approximately 10 days remaining)]

"..."

Ruidio opened his own information and saw that a more detailed breakdown of his current abilities had appeared after his overall strength rating.

Sure enough, the system's previous ratings for those abilities were like Kuja's three-snake, six-snake, and nine-snake realms: they distinguished levels of skill and did not account for numerical strength.

The newly appeared [Muscular strength: 3 stars] was his actual numerical rating.

Nothing fancy, just pure strength.

Why wasn't there a numerical rating for his Haki?

Was it because his first-glimpse Armament Haki only worked intermittently and didn't count as truly mastered, so it had no measurable strength and wasn't included in the calculation?

"Ahh~~"

Deep in Amazon Lily's forest, a blanket with Kuja patterns lay spread on the ground. Ruidio had produced a huge spread of food, and Hancock picked up a fragrant piece of fried meat with one hand, cupped the other beneath it, and offered it to his mouth.

"..." Ruidio ate it in one bite and looked at Hancock's flowerlike face.

The empress could use her Armament Haki at close range or from a distance, and her control was so precise that it could enter his body without provoking any reaction at all! Yet the system had only rated that level of skill [proficient]???

Then what kind of realm was [ultimate] Haki, which stood even above that?

Could it be... the supreme realm that could only be reached by possessing both power and skill?

After a simple lunch and some tidying up, Ruidio and Hancock continued training in the forest.

The two sat facing each other, their four palms pressed together.

Hancock tenderly wound her Armament Haki around Ruidio's hands, extending more and more of it along his arms and toward his body...

Ruidio used the stimulation to sense his own Haki.

Although Hancock had removed the destructive force of her invading Haki, that didn't mean he felt nothing—who said a caress wasn't a sensation? In a way, the stimulation it gave his body was no less than the effect of a destructive one!

The sun overhead gradually shifted westward...

Several hours passed, and toward evening, Ruidio opened his eyes. Although the system still rated him [Armament Haki (first glimpse)], he felt he had gained a slightly clearer sense of it.

As long as he was making progress, that was something to be glad about.

Even without Satoru Gojo Mode, I can still amount to something! I just need a tiny bit of help from the empress, that's all. No big deal. Mm.

[Searching mission radar...]

"Let's stop here for today. I need to head back first."

Ruidio got up and stretched, his joints crackling like beans popping. After sitting all day, he really wasn't used to it, accustomed as he was to intense activity.

He glanced at the three missions the radar had found. None of them were very interesting, so he couldn't be bothered with them.

"Are you leaving?" Hancock was a little reluctant to see him go.

Ruidio smiled. "Didn't I tell you? I have a crew member. I'll go pick him up, and we'll come train together tomorrow. He won't need to use this method, though. We should be staying for a few more days."

Only then did Hancock break into a smile. The warm light of dusk fell across her face, making her as beautiful as a goddess.

East Blue, Mount Colubo—

The transparent prism spiraled away, and Ruidio returned once more to the deep mountains where wild beasts lurked. The empress's breathtaking smile in the sunset still lingered before his eyes...

"..."

He patted his face. That woman is too terrifying! I'm starting to understand why so many people fanatically pursued the supreme Succubus Shakky decades ago... Is this really not some kind of charm aura?

It's practically as effective as Jango's Hypnosis!

Ruidio said, "Not going to ambush me this time?"

Ace sat with his back to Ruidio, looking into the distance from the starting point of the long trench Ruidio had blasted into the ground with Hollow Purple. He fell silent for a moment at the question. Rumbles came from the nearby woods, mixed with Luffy's high-pitched battle cry of "Gum-Gum..." He was training alone, but he was still pretty fired up.

"This morning, you said there were a lot of people on the seas," Ace said, turning to look at Ruidio, "who could surpass that move of yours?"

"..."

Ruidio walked over and sat down. "Do you know Edward 'Whitebeard' Newgate? He's a quake man who ate the Paramecia-type Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Forget a little trench like this—one punch from him could overturn this entire island!

"There are several other pirates as strong as him in the second half of the Grand Line. That's the level of the Four Emperors of the Sea! It means their strength and forces are so formidable that even the World Government doesn't want to provoke them, and has acknowledged that they effectively rule their own territories as kings.

"And Pirate King Roger and Whitebeard were the twin giants of their era, so evenly matched it was hard to tell who was stronger!"

Ruidio hooked an arm around Ace's shoulders and smiled. "I'm guessing that's what you wanted to know, right?"

Ace curled his lip. "I didn't ask about him." He fell silent again.

"All right!"

Ruidio got up and dusted off his backside. "Hey—Luffy! I'm leaving! Take me to the shore!" he shouted toward the noisy woods.

"Huh? Oh."

Luffy soon came running over, covered in dirt. "Huh, when did you get back?"

Luffy had followed his two older brothers, Ace and Sabo, around this mountain since he was little, and knew it as well as his own backyard. He could have led Ruidio to the sea with his eyes closed. Before long, the three of them emerged from the deep forest onto a deserted shore, where the sound of the waves rose and fell.

The setting sun shone from afar, turning the sea red and gold like wine.

Ace followed at the rear and said mildly, "Once you leave this time, don't come back looking for Luffy again. That kind of joke isn't funny at all."

"What are you talking about?"

Ruidio waved a hand in the fading light, and the Black Cat Ship, its pirate flag removed, appeared out of thin air and crashed onto the sea. Waves struck the shore, splashing across Luffy's face as his eyes lit up, and across Ace's surprised face. Ruidio looked back and said, "Aren't you coming aboard? I'll take you there!"

"Where?" Ace asked instinctively.

Ruidio raised his index finger toward the sky and smiled faintly. "To the top of the world."

"..." Ace stared blankly. Beside him, Luffy put his hands on his hips and grinned. "Go on, Ace! Go surpass the Pirate King!—Then I'll surpass you! Hee-hee."

Ace smiled and sighed, adjusted the orange-red hat on his head with its laughing and crying faces, and stepped forward. "I'll come aboard, but I'm going to be captain."

"Dream on!" Ruidio kicked at him.

"Oh, right!"

Before setting sail, Ruidio called out to Luffy, who was about to leave. He took a pocket watch from inside his clothes, swung it back and forth in front of Luffy, and chanted, "When I say 'one, two, Ruidio,' you'll run to Makino's tavern as fast as you can and eat three bowls of egg fried rice in a row.—One, two, Ruidio!"

"..."

Nothing happened. Ace on the deck, Luffy on the shore, and Ruidio himself all tilted their heads in unison, huge question marks appearing over them.

Damn, it doesn't even work on Luffy, the perfect target for hypnosis?

Looks like I'm not a little hypnosis prodigy after all.

Ruidio silently put away the pocket watch, boarded the ship, and left. Luffy kept waving from the shore, seeing his sworn brother off on a sea voyage for the second time.