Observation Haki

[Hm? That energy again.]

Ra keenly sensed the energy radiating from Armament Haki. Its nature was exactly the same as the energy Kaido had used before.

"Ribbit! That hurt! What kind of power was that?"

Oshi covered her nose and looked through the tears welling up involuntarily at Burufatt's calves and arms. She had clearly noticed the Haki as well.

"Hmm? Kid, you don't know about Haki?"

"Was I supposed to?"

Oshi rubbed her slightly reddened little nose, sounding somewhat aggrieved.

"Ho~ In that case, let this senior teach you a thing or two!"

"Fish-Man Karate, One Thousand Brick Fist Barrage!"

Having roughly figured out her physical toughness, Burufatt showed no intention of going easy on Oshi.

In an instant, countless fists wrapped in Armament Haki flew at Oshi, but she dodged every one of them with her astonishing dynamic vision and reflexes.

"Don't dodge! Taking hits is the fastest way to awaken Armament Haki! Feel my Haki attacks with your body!"

"Who are you trying to fool?! Only an idiot wouldn't dodge!"

"You think you can trick me into taking a beating with that? You're twenty thousand years too early, Minotaur uncle!"

Oshi leaped left and right, barely avoiding every fist.

"You little brat! Fine then—Fish-Man Karate: Mist Veil Fist!"

Seeing that ordinary attacks simply could not reach her, Burufatt decisively used the Fish-Man Karate technique he had been practicing.

Droplets seeped from between his broad palms and instantly turned into mist with his high-speed punches, completely concealing Burufatt's punching path.

"Ribbit! How shameless!"

Unable to see where his punches were coming from, Oshi was immediately beaten into yelping cries and could only flail her arms about to block at random.

Watching Oshi get knocked around like a lump of dough, Obe took a step forward, unable to stop herself from rushing in, but Ra reached out and stopped her.

"Big Sis? You..."

"Don't worry. Attacks like that can't hurt Oshi." Ra was still very confident in Oshi's physical defenses.

"It's rare to get an opportunity like this. Let her properly experience what fighting feels like. She'll have plenty of this in the future."

"Uh... even so, it's not a solution for her to keep getting beaten up like this."

Though she often bickered with Oshi, Obe still found it hard to bear seeing her get treated like a punching bag by a stranger.

"That's true."

Ra thought about it and felt that merely taking hits would not be very effective, so she reminded her:

"Oshi, don't use your eyes to catch his attacks. Use your awareness to sense his energy."

This was the method she had worked out while fighting Kaido: predicting an opponent's movements by sensing the flow of energy within their body.

Now, this body with divine power flowing through it possessed extremely strong resistance and adaptability toward external energy.

High resistance meant reduced damage from energy attacks, or even outright immunity. For example, Ra was completely immune to flames as well as other high- and low-temperature attacks.

High adaptability, meanwhile, meant that in terms of energy control and perception, the three of them could easily accomplish things ordinary people could neither do nor even imagine.

Just as a Flame-Flame Fruit user could never weave flames into a garment like Ra did, one that looked perfectly normal on the outside.

This was a difference of entire orders of magnitude in the precision of their control over their own energy.

Back to the matter at hand, Ra had Oshi sense Burufatt because she wanted her to make use of this body's extreme sensitivity to changes in energy and directly grasp her opponent's movements without relying on her eyes.

But Oshi, who was currently getting pummeled, had no spare attention to carefully comprehend what Ra meant.

"What energy? How am I supposed to sense it?"

"People, animals, stones... every object possesses energy.

You can't see or touch it, but like the divine power within our bodies, it can be sensed."

"Can't you already sense the flow of energy inside your body? Try using the same method to sense the energy outside.

Don't rush. Close your eyes first and trust what your body feels. It isn't difficult."

To help Oshi understand more accurately, Ra spoke that passage in Chinese, so Burufatt did not understand what she was saying.

Otherwise, he would have immediately realized that what Ra was describing was precisely the method for awakening Observation Haki.

Ra had merely replaced the vague term "aura," used to describe sensing all things, with the more concrete term "energy."

Ra carefully explained the principles of perception to Oshi, patiently guiding her step by step to master the ability to sense external energy. It felt rather like teaching a baby to walk.

That was, if one ignored Oshi's pained screams in the background.

"Close my eyes and trust my feelings? Sister Ra, are you telling a joke?"

Such a manga-like response made Oshi wonder whether she had somehow offended Ra without realizing it.

"Fine. I can't dodge even with my eyes open anyway. I'll give it a try."

With a give-up-and-see-what-happens attitude, Oshi closed her eyes, only to clearly feel that the punches hitting her hurt even more.

One punch, two punches, three punches... shoulder, cheek, forehead...

[Sense, energy, feeling.]

Gradually, after taking an unknown number of hits and becoming accustomed to the pain, Oshi began to notice faint points of light on the fists striking her.

[Is that the energy Sister Ra said was on him?]

Having finally found the way in, Oshi immediately concentrated.

More points of light appeared from Burufatt's body, gradually spreading from his fists to his entire body.

In Oshi's awareness, Burufatt's figure gradually became clear.

[No wonder his fists became so hard. He was wrapping them in some kind of special energy~]

Noticing that the glow on Burufatt's fists differed from that on the rest of his body, Oshi immediately discovered the secret of Armament Haki.

Having mastered energy perception in such a short time, she could not wait to sound the horn of her counterattack.

"Haha! Your moves are useless against me now. Next, it's my turn!"

"Take my Thunder Cannon!"

Oshi tilted her head to evade Burufatt's fist, then immediately fired a miniature Thunder Cannon from her left hand, striking his abdomen with precision.

"What...?!"

Burufatt had not expected it at all and was sent flying.

However, with his extensive combat experience, he nimbly twisted himself around in midair and landed steadily. Wisps of white smoke still rose from his stomach.

"Ho~ Did you defend in time?"

Oshi sensed that he had gathered energy in his abdomen before being hit.

That instinctive action was also something Burufatt had honed through countless battles.

[She awakened Observation Haki first?]

Burufatt straightened up again and rubbed his slightly aching stomach, surprise on his face.

[*I thought I could beat Armament Haki out of her.

Unbelievable. What a gifted little brat. No wonder Boss Kaido recruited these little girls.*]

"Hey! Uncle Buru-whatever, are we still fighting?" Oshi said as she blew on her little fist.

"No need. I have a rough idea of your strength now. You really are worthy of officer positions."

"But you still can't use Armament Haki. It's too early for you to go onto a battlefield."

Now that he had roughly tested their abilities, Burufatt no longer had any interest in continuing the fight.

"By the way, are you a Devil Fruit user? That lightning just now..."

Oshi answered him with an innocent face full of question marks.

"So what have you been talking about this whole time, Uncle? What Haki? What Devil Fruit user?"

"Could you please explain them to us, Mr. Burufatt?

The three of us lived on an isolated island before, so we are truly unfamiliar with these terms."

Seeing the two stop fighting, Ra stepped forward at the right moment and asked him about Haki and Devil Fruit users.

After all, this seemed to concern the world's power system, making it fairly important.

"All right. Judging by your clothes and your age, you really don't look like you'd know this stuff. Come with me first."

With that, Burufatt led them toward his residence, though before leaving, he did not forget to remind the dumbfounded Deke nearby that he could leave.