Genius and Monster: Part 1

"Mr. Kaido wants the two of us to help them master Haki in the shortest possible time."

The newcomer was King, who had just finished reporting on the operation to Kaido and had brought back Kaido's new orders.

"Huh? Boss Kaido wants such young children to learn Haki? And in the shortest time?" Burufatt found the order a bit ridiculous.

"How short? Three years? Or one year? They can't possibly master Haki in two or three months, can they? Hiss..."

As he spoke, Burufatt remembered the scene where Oshi had suddenly learned Observation Haki, and his voice gradually quieted down.

"[These three brats are no ordinary people, just go ahead and mess with them!] Those were Mr. Kaido's exact words." King was also sizing up the three at the moment, as if trying to see what made them different.

"Hey, who exactly are you three brats? You're not from ordinary races, are you?" Burufatt thought of Oshi's monstrous strength and didn't hold back, directly asking about their race.

There were many races in this world, some of which looked very different from ordinary people, like the Mink tribe and the Fish-Man tribe.

While others had no obvious differences at first glance, like the Longarm tribe and the Longleg tribe.

These special races often possessed their own unique racial talents, and some of the more powerful races could easily possess strength that crushed ordinary people even in childhood.

For example, King, who only appeared to have an extra pair of wings compared to an ordinary person, but his exceptional physical fitness and his ability to manipulate flames allowed him to achieve strength that ordinary people could not reach even after a lifetime of training.

His race was even called the "Race of Gods" in ancient times.

And now Burufatt suspected that Ra and the other two were also from special races.

"Huh? What are you talking about? Of course, we are... Uh~ Sister Ra, are we even considered human anymore?" Oshi suddenly remembered that her current body was no longer the ordinary human body she had before.

Ra couldn't answer the question for a moment, because strictly speaking, she was no longer human, only having a human appearance.

Having additionally inherited Heliopolis's power, her inner being was actually gradually becoming energized over time, and she might eventually become some kind of higher-dimensional being.

This was not a bad thing; on the contrary, her current body far surpassed her previous ordinary human body in every aspect: abundant strength, keen senses, excellent thinking ability, and a lifespan that seemed to have no end...

And all of this was just the beginning; as her body continued to develop, these abilities were still growing at a terrifying rate.

Ra currently couldn't see the end of her own potential...

Thus, in Ra's silence, Obe was the first to give her answer.

"Strictly speaking, probably not. Theoretically, our current race should be the Phantom Beast Race, or 'Phantom God Race' would be more appropriate."

After all, with a human soul as the main driver, calling themselves 'Beast' was a bit inappropriate.

"Phantom Beast Race? Never heard of such a race. And 'God'..." This particular word reminded King of his own race.

"So you really aren't ordinary humans? Gods and beasts, sounds like a pretty formidable race!"

Hearing that Ra and the others were not purely human like himself, Burufatt's attitude seemed to become friendlier.

Being carefree, he didn't ask any further questions, simply finished the rest of the wine in his bottle, and stood up to walk outside.

"Alright, let's go. Since it's Boss Kaido's order, I'll make an exception and teach you three brats!"

"Yay!"

Upon hearing this, Oshi immediately trotted after him.

In a clearing far from the residential area, King and Burufatt stood casually, each holding a sheathed long sword, while the three little ones sat cross-legged on the ground at their feet, blindfolded.

Seeing this bizarre scene, anyone who didn't know the truth would likely think it was an execution at first glance.

"The method of training Haki is very simple, just two words: 'Take a beating!' The more you get beaten, the faster you awaken! The harder you get beaten, the stronger your Haki becomes."

"And what you need to do now is dodge our attacks. How simple is that?" Burufatt flicked his sheathed sword, as if testing its feel.

Hearing the whistling sound of wind cutting through the air, Oshi raised her hand and asked, "Report, Uncle Teacher, I can already use that Observation Haki, so why do I still need to be blindfolded?"

"Hmm. That's right, take off the blindfold."

"You just take the beating, no need to dodge." Burufatt nodded, affirming Oshi's level of Observation Haki.

"Ah?!"

"Ouch! That hurts." Before Oshi could say anything else, King unexpectedly hit Oshi with a stick from behind.

"You still can't dodge while distracted, you need to keep practicing."

"Okay~"

Oshi obediently put the blindfold back on. After all, sitting still and watching herself get beaten was such a stupid thing to think about that she'd put it off as long as possible.

"Don't be discouraged. I've just thought of a new idea, you try it first." Burufatt suddenly had an inspiration, revealing a mischievous smile.

"1000 minus 7, 40 minus 25, 266 minus 155..." Burufatt attacked Oshi with his sheathed sword while loudly shouting out calculations like a chant.

"993, 15, Ouch!"

"Louder! Don't stop! If you speak so softly, do you expect to learn Haki!"

"Yes! 111..."

Under the intensified training of multitasking, performing mental arithmetic while dodging attacks, Oshi's Observation Haki rapidly improved...

And on the other side—

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

Oshi dodged left and right, but each time she accurately caught King's scabbard.

"Don't rely on hearing, don't rely on guessing, rely on your own feeling!" King's hands didn't slow down at all, lecturing as he struck.

"I know! But relying on feeling, that kind of mystical stuff, I really..."

For Oshi, who was accustomed to acting based on rational thought, the concept of "feeling" was too broad and vague.

King raised the scabbard again, the sound of the wooden sheath cutting through the air clearly audible to Oshi.

[Left? No, the sound is from the right. The angle of impact should be...]

"Bang~" another dull thud interrupted Oshi's thoughts.

"You just think too much," King pointed out Oshi's problem in one sentence.

There was no helping it; Oshi's excellent physical abilities allowed her to handle most dangerous situations with just her untrained five senses and swift thinking.

This was a talent that was difficult for ordinary people to reach, but in the awakening of Observation Haki, overly excellent senses would instead become a cage that bound herself.

She was trapped by her own talent.

Oshi was also trying to use the energy observation method that Ra had taught her, but for some reason, every time she heard the sound of the scabbard swinging, she would involuntarily interrupt her perception of energy and instead analyze the trajectory of the scabbard's movement in her mind, followed by her body reacting.

This was even with her vision sealed; if there were no restrictions, she would definitely calculate the opponent's attack path accurately like a precision machine.

But this clearly had nothing to do with the direct sensing of the opponent's presence and subsequent prediction that Observation Haki entailed, as she had never heard of any robot using Observation Haki.

Moreover, compared to the almost intuitive reaction speed of Observation Haki, on-the-spot calculation took significantly longer and was easily affected by other factors, which was fatal in combat.

[As expected, that empty-headed idiot is better at this kind of thing.]

Oshi sighed inwardly, even feeling a little envious of Ossi.