"Mr. Kaido wants the two of us to have them master the power of Haki in the shortest possible time."
The one who had arrived was King, who had just reported the results of this operation to Kaido. He had also brought back Kaido's new orders.
"Huh? Boss Kaido wants children this small to learn Haki? And in the shortest time possible?" Burufatt felt that order was rather absurd.
"How short are we talking? Three years? Or one year? It can't possibly mean mastering Haki in two or three months, right? Hiss..."
As he spoke, Burufatt recalled the scene of Oshi suddenly learning Observation Haki. His voice gradually trailed off.
"'These three brats aren't ordinary. Go ahead and put them through hell!' Those were Mr. Kaido's exact words." King studied the three of them as though trying to see what made them different.
"Hey, you three brats, what exactly are you? You're not some ordinary race, are you?" Thinking of Oshi's monstrous strength, Burufatt bluntly asked about their race without any reservations.
There were countless races in this world. Some looked vastly different from ordinary humans, such as the Minks and Fish-Men.
Others could not be readily distinguished at a glance, such as the Longarm Tribe and the Longleg Tribe.
These special races often possessed unique racial talents. Some particularly powerful races could easily gain strength that crushed ordinary people while they were still children.
Take King, for example. Aside from a pair of wings, he looked little different from an ordinary person. Yet his outstanding physical abilities and his power over flames meant that with training, he could attain strength that ordinary people could never reach even after a lifetime of cultivation.
His race had even been called the "Race of Gods" in ancient times.
And now, Burufatt suspected that Ra and the others belonged to some special race as well.
"Huh? What nonsense are you talking about? Of course we're... Uh, Sister Ra, do we even count as humans now?" Halfway through her words, Oshi suddenly remembered that her current body was no longer that of an ordinary human.
Ra could not answer that question for the moment either. Strictly speaking, she was no longer human, merely possessing a human appearance.
Having additionally inherited Heliopolis's power, her inner nature was gradually becoming energy-based as time passed. Perhaps she would eventually become some sort of higher-dimensional being.
That was not a bad thing. Rather, her current body surpassed her former ordinary human body in every respect: abundant strength, keen senses, exceptional thinking ability, and a lifespan that seemed to have no end...
And all that was merely the beginning. As her body continued to develop, those abilities were still growing at a terrifying rate.
Even now, Ra could not see where her limits lay...
Thus, amid Ra's silence, Obe was the first to give her answer.
"Strictly speaking, probably not. In theory, our race should now be the Phantom Beast Race, though 'Phantom God Race' would be more appropriate."
After all, human souls were now in control. Calling them "beasts" no longer seemed quite suitable.
"Phantom Beast Race? I've never heard of such a race. And 'gods'..." That unusual word made King think of his own race.
"So you really aren't ordinary humans? Gods and beasts, huh? That sounds like an incredibly powerful race!"
Upon hearing that Ra and the others, like himself, were not purely human, Burufatt seemed to become friendlier.
Easygoing as he was, he did not press for any further details. He drained the remaining liquor from his bottle in one gulp, then rose and headed outside.
"Alright, let's go. Since it's Boss Kaido's order, I'll make an exception and teach you three brats!"
"Yay!"
Oshi immediately scampered after him.
In an open area far from the residential district, King and Burufatt stood casually with a sheathed long blade in each hand. At their feet, the three little ones sat cross-legged on the ground with their eyes blindfolded.
Anyone unaware of the truth would probably assume at first glance that this bizarre scene was an execution.
"The method for training Haki is simple. Just two words: 'Get beaten!' The more beatings you take, the faster you awaken it! The harder the beatings, the stronger your Haki becomes."
"And right now, all you need to do is dodge our attacks. Simple, right?" Burufatt swung the sheath in his hand as though getting a feel for it.
Listening to the whooshing sounds beside her ear, Oshi raised a hand and asked, "Reporting, Uncle Teacher. I already know that Observation Haki thing, so why do I still have to wear a blindfold?"
"Hmm. Good point. Take the cloth off."
"You can just take the hits. No need to dodge anymore." Burufatt nodded, acknowledging Oshi's level of Observation Haki.
"Huh?!"
"Ow! That hurt." Before Oshi could say anything else, King unexpectedly smacked her with the sheath from behind.
"You still can't dodge attacks while distracted. You need more practice."
"Alright..."
Oshi obediently covered her eyes again. After all, sitting still and watching herself get beaten sounded idiotic no matter how she thought about it, so she might as well stall for as long as she could.
"Don't get discouraged either. I just came up with a new idea. You can try it first." A flash of inspiration struck Burufatt, and he revealed an ill-intentioned grin.
"1,000 minus 7, 40 minus 25, 266 minus 155..." Burufatt shouted questions like military cadence while swinging his sheath at Oshi.
"993, 15, ow!"
"Louder! Don't stop! You think you can learn Haki speaking that quietly?"
"Yes! 111..."
Under this intensified training, where she had to calculate math problems in her head while dodging attacks, Oshi's Observation Haki improved rapidly...
Meanwhile, on the other side—
Bang! Bang! Bang...
Obe's head darted left and right, but every strike from King's sheath landed precisely on her.
"Don't rely on hearing, and don't rely on guessing. Rely on your own instincts!" King's hands did not slow in the slightest as he struck and lectured her.
"I know! But relying on instincts and all that... that kind of vague, mystical stuff is really..."
For Obe, who was accustomed to relying on rational thought, something as nebulous and indistinct as instinct was difficult to grasp.
King raised his sheath again. The sound of the wooden sheath cutting through the air rang clearly in Obe's ears.
Left? No, that sound is coming from the right. The angle of impact should be...
Bang— Another dull strike interrupted Obe's thoughts.
"You think too much." King pinpointed Obe's problem in a single sentence.
It could not be helped. Obe's exceptional physical abilities allowed her to handle most dangers using nothing more than her untrained five senses and quick thinking.
It was a talent beyond the reach of ordinary people, yet while awakening Observation Haki, her overly capable senses instead became a cage that bound her.
She was trapped by her own talent.
Obe had also tried using the energy observation method Ra had taught her before. Yet for some reason, every time she heard the sheath swing, she instinctively interrupted her perception of energy and began analyzing the sheath's trajectory in her mind. Her body would then immediately react.
That was with her vision sealed. Without restrictions, she would undoubtedly calculate the opponent's attack path with perfect accuracy like a precision machine.
But that clearly had little to do with Observation Haki's method of directly sensing an opponent's presence to predict their actions. After all, no one had ever heard of a robot using Observation Haki.
Moreover, compared to the near-instinctive reaction speed of Observation Haki, on-the-spot calculations obviously took longer and were easily affected by other factors. In battle, that could be fatal.
As expected, this sort of thing is better suited to that empty-headed idiot.
Obe sighed inwardly, finding herself somewhat envious of Oshi.
Before you continue