"Master" Luo Ya

Warship, Training Room.

Barbells, arm-strength machines, sandbags. It had just about every kind of training equipment, and the Barbell Plates were astonishingly heavy.

Zoro's eyes lit up.

He had always used things like stones for weight training before. It was pretty shabby, and he had never used professional equipment.

Just looking at it made his hands itch.

But before that, there was still a question.

"What is Haki?"

"Haki is a latent power possessed by everyone in this world. It is no different from things like killing intent, presence, or intuition. Put simply, it turns willpower into a weapon!"

Luo Ya began his spiel.

He wanted to see whether Zoro could master Haki. If he could, Luo Ya might be able to learn something from it himself.

And if Zoro could not, that was fine too. They could treat it as training together, grow closer, and lay the groundwork for recruiting him later.

It was like matchmaking. Even if you desperately wanted to marry someone and bring them home, you still needed a brief period to get to know each other. Confessing right away would most likely get you mistaken for a creep.

"Turning willpower into a weapon?"

Zoro frowned. This was the first time he had heard that willpower could become a weapon. If not for Luo Ya's serious expression, he would have thought Luo Ya was messing with him.

How could something like that be possible?!

"You may not understand."

Luo Ya drew his long sword. Looking at its gleaming blade, he asked with a smile, "Zoro, did the master who taught you swordsmanship ever teach you Cutting Steel?"

"He did."

Zoro nodded.

When he was very young, he had asked his master, Koshiro, whether there were swordsmen in this world who could cut through iron like mud.

His master's answer had been yes!

"Tell me about it."

"Mm."

Zoro recalled his master's words. He did not suspect Luo Ya of trying to steal the technique, since his master merely ran a rural dojo and his students were mostly children.

"My master said that there are swordsmen in this world who cut nothing, yet with the same blade, they can cut through iron!"

As he spoke, Zoro seemed to want to imitate Koshiro and demonstrate "No-Cut." He tossed out a sheet of paper, then drew and swung his sword at it as if facing a formidable enemy.

Whoosh!

The paper split in two.

Luo Ya cooperatively put on a "shocked" expression.

"That's No-Cut?"

"Of course not!"

Zoro's face darkened. "No-Cut means that even if you strike something as fragile as paper, you will not cut it."

"Oh, I understand."

Luo Ya picked up a sheet of paper as well, tossed it into the air, and casually slashed at it. At the same time, he explained, "What your master called No-Cut is essentially an application of Haki."

Whoosh.

The paper split in two.

The Training Room fell silent.

It was like two bronze-ranked players seriously discussing how terrible a king-ranked player's techniques were, only to feed disastrously within ten minutes when it was their turn to play.

"I'm not a swordsman."

Luo Ya explained with remarkable calm, naturally moving on to the next topic.

"Zoro, when you used to train, have you ever felt an extraordinary stillness, where every sound around you became crystal clear, to the point that you could even hear your own heartbeat?"

"Yes!"

Zoro's spirits rose.

He had experienced something similar, and more than once. That peculiar sensation was like standing on the brink of death.

"That is the embryonic form of Observation Haki!"

Luo Ya's expression grew much more serious. "Haki is mainly divided into two types: Observation Haki and Armament Haki. Observation Haki is the power of hearing, or rather, perception."

"Plants, earth, rocks—everything in this world has its own unique breath. Even swords and paper are no exception."

"When you can hear their voices and listen to their breaths, you will know how to swing your blade without harming them. You will also know how to cut them down."

"Listening to the breath of all things—this is one manifestation of Observation Haki!"

The Training Room fell silent again.

Zoro's eyes widened.

Compared to Koshiro's explanation, Luo Ya's was more detailed. More importantly, he had genuinely experienced something similar.

"So what exactly should I do?"

"..."

If I knew, would I need to teach you?

A huge part of this information came from you in the first place!

Luo Ya grumbled inwardly.

After considering it for a moment.

"Calm your heart."

Luo Ya wore the kind of expression that suggested it could only be understood, not explained. He had said everything that needed to be said. From here on, Zoro could only rely on his own enlightenment.

Heh, could not figure it out?

That would be Zoro's own problem.

Fortunately, Zoro was not the kind of person who pursued every detail to the bitter end. Luo Ya's words had already inspired him greatly.

"Thank you!"

Zoro bowed gratefully.

He had a strong premonition that there was a thin sheet of paper before him. As long as he pierced through it, he would be able to grasp the power of "No-Cut."

But there was another question.

"Mr. Luo Ya, you said earlier that there is another kind of Haki called Armament Haki. What is that?"

"Observation Haki is the power of No-Cut, while Armament Haki is the power of Cutting Steel!"

Luo Ya felt very strange at that moment.

It looked as though he was guiding Zoro, yet as he explained and summarized, he himself felt as though a fog had suddenly lifted from his mind.

Yes, he believed it.

He believed his own explanation of Haki, and deep down, he felt that Haki ought to work exactly like this!

Could not figure it out?

That only meant he himself was useless!

Luo Ya's mind was a little muddled.

With no one to guide me, was I teaching myself?

Thinking about it carefully, what Rayleigh had said about unwavering belief being strength was also a kind of powerful psychological suggestion.

And his process of guiding Zoro was likewise a way of organizing what he already knew and reaffirming his own understanding.

"Hoo..."

Luo Ya let out a long breath. Looking at the hungry gleam in Zoro's eyes, he did not answer immediately. Instead, he thought seriously.

He thought about the connection between Cutting Steel and Armament Haki, about the essence of Armament Haki, about how to make Zoro understand, and how to make himself understand as well.

After a long while.

"Zoro, have your swords ever broken?"

"They've broken a few times."

Zoro answered honestly.

Other than Wado Ichimonji, the quality of his other swords had been poor. They had broken several times in previous battles and training.

Luo Ya smiled and nodded.

"Even the finest famous blades will wear down and chip or break with use. That is simply common sense."

"But do you know? To a true master swordsman, a chip in a blade is a swordsman's greatest shame, let alone a broken blade."

"A sword is a swordsman's closest companion, an important partner in battle. Yet if you wield them with brute force alone, the end will inevitably be the sword's destruction and your own death!"

A chip in the blade was a swordsman's shame!

It was the first time Zoro had heard such words, yet he agreed with them deeply. As a swordsman, there was no way he could fail to love swords.

Even when an ordinary sword broke in his hands, he would feel sorrow and unwillingness, even shame and guilt.

That was right. That feeling was shame!

Zoro urgently asked, "What should I do to keep my swords from breaking?"

"It's simple."

Luo Ya's voice deepened.

"Attach your powerful will to the blade!"

"Haki is the power of will. You can imagine it as invisible armor protecting yourself, as a sharp spear for attack, or as an indestructible blade!"

"As long as your blade is wrapped in Haki, it will become indestructible. Before your Haki collapses, the blade will absolutely not be harmed or broken!"

"And it will not merely become hard. Your sword will become sharper as well, able to easily cut through steel and cut through all things in this world!"

"If this continues over time, it may even be forged into a legendary Black Blade!"

Black Blade!

Zoro's pupils contracted.

He had heard the legend of Black Blades. Supposedly, even if a dinosaur stepped on one, it would not bend by a single millimeter. They were the hardest swords in the world.

But he had never imagined that a Black Blade could be forged through a person's will!

Zoro could feel the gates of the New World slowly opening before him, allowing him, who had been at the bottom of a well, to see a broader sky.

Just who was this mysterious Marine Second Lieutenant?