Painted Three Sisters, Part Two

"Okay, Teacher Ra~"

Oshi replied in a deliberately drawn-out tone, just like a real kindergartener in the senior class.

"I'm ready, Big Sis."

Obe did not fool around like Oshi, but she still felt somewhat uneasy.

She was afraid that her Armament Haki talent would be like her Observation Haki, requiring Ra to teach her face-to-face. If that happened, Oshi would laugh at her for ages.

Thinking of that, she unconsciously began twirling her hair around her fingers.

Ra saw Obe's nervousness and gently reassured her, "Armament Haki isn't as complicated as you think. You should both be able to grasp it in the little time left this morning. Now, hold out your hands."

"R-Really?" Obe was doubtful, but she still held out her small hand.

"If Sister Ra says we can do it, then we definitely can!" Oshi trusted Ra completely and directly offered both hands in front of her.

Ra said nothing. She simply took their hands gently, and golden Armament Haki emerged from her arms before spreading directly onto theirs, dyeing both of their arms gold as well.

Ra had already poured her energy into them several times before, so she was thoroughly familiar with the process.

"This is...? This energy is Armament Haki?" Obe immediately felt the energy coming from her arm.

"That's right. Armament Haki is made up of life energy and a special kind of energy, and this special energy should be unique to the people of this world.

But we can simply use divine power to imitate that energy. The effect is roughly the same. I'm transmitting the replicated energy to you now, so feel it carefully."

"Mhm, I see. So this is the energy's amplitude and frequency, as well as its radiation intensity..."

Carefully analyzing Ra's Haki on her arm, Obe muttered to herself as she continuously adjusted the divine power within her body.

When it came to understanding and reconstructing this kind of energy, she was confident that this time, she would definitely be faster than Oshi. No! Faster by several steps!

Just wait, Oshi! Let's see who the little dummy is this time! Hehe~

Just as Obe began imagining herself far ahead, leaving Oshi at her side—

"Done! Is it like this?"

Obe turned her little blue head toward Oshi in disbelief. The gold on Oshi's arm slowly shifted into crimson, threaded with wisps of golden lightning patterns that looked incredibly flashy.

"Oh! Oh!! Oh!!! My Haki is red! So cool! Then yours must be blue, Obe."

Oshi was obviously very pleased with the appearance of her Armament Haki. She then looked expectantly at Obe, only to find Obe staring back at her.

"Obe?"

"I'm here. If you don't mind me asking, Oshi, how did you do it so quickly?"

For the first time ever, Obe asked Oshi for advice. She truly could not understand why this girl had beaten her again. She already understood the principles this time, yet she still could not keep up.

"Huh? You just do this, then that, then that other thing, and finally go 'crackle,' and that's it. It's super easy~"

Obe:...

I finally got serious for once, and you still crushed me completely.gif

"What's wrong, Obe? Why aren't you saying anything?" Oshi waved her now-red arm in front of Obe's eyes.

"Nothing. Just a few hardships, that's all."

Obe gave up dwelling on something so meaningless and focused on adjusting her divine power.

Before long, Obe's arm also turned indigo blue, with a few black patterns running through it.

Oshi poked Obe's transformed arm beside her. "Hoho~ Now all three of us have fancy tattoo sleeves. The Phantom God Three Sisters have become the Year Beast Three Sisters."

The painted-looking arms reminded her of a four-character game she had played before.

Because they used their own divine power in place of the special energy within Haki, the Armament Haki that would normally be invisible had become as clear as ordinary body paint on the three of them, even without using Observation Haki.

"Our Armament Haki looks a little different from Kaido's and King's. Is it because we used our own divine power to replace that strange energy? Still, it kind of feels like an exclusive skin."

Obe looked at her large blue tattoo sleeve as she spoke.

"Isn't it great? I think it looks much better than their dull black Haki."

Oshi was very satisfied with the look and kept playing around with her red Armament Haki.

"Hey~ Obe, look at my Magnetic Battle Mark!"

Several unusual patterns suddenly emerged on Oshi's forehead and cheeks. Crimson and gold intertwined, giving her an exceptionally enchanting appearance.

She was already imagining how cool it would be to suddenly activate her battle marks during a fight and stun her opponents to death with sheer style.

Obe ignored Oshi and instead asked Ra, "Sister Ra, what exactly can Armament Haki do? Is it only used to deal with those Logia Type ability users?"

"For now, there should be two other uses." Ra did not keep them in suspense and told them directly.

"First, once the body is coated in Armament Haki, both its defense and attack power are significantly enhanced, much like putting on a layer of armor.

"Second, when I practiced with Captain Kaido before, he demonstrated another use of Armament Haki. It could flow like liquid and directly invade the opponent's body to cause damage. It could even attack from a distance without making contact."

Ra recalled Kaido's Thunder Bagua—an attack that was nearly impossible to defend against without using the same technique.

"That doesn't sound hard. You just make the energy move, right? That's easy~"

Oshi once again tried it first, and unsurprisingly, she succeeded immediately. The Haki coating her entire arm flowed into her fist.

Taking it a step further, Oshi gathered it all around her thumb and index finger. At that moment, her Haki faintly began to glow.

"Heh, watch my Bullet Flash!" Oshi flicked her fingers, instantly blasting a neat, round crater into the ground beneath her feet.

"Indeed, making energy flow is no difficulty at all for us." Obe had clearly succeeded as well—or rather, it was a technique they had already mastered.

"As expected~ For a genius like me, something like Haki is effortless. Sigh~ I really don't know what in this world could possibly stump me."

"Life truly is lonely as snow~"

Oshi clasped her hands behind her back and sighed toward the sky at a forty-five-degree angle.

Mastering the two types of Haki that Burufatt and the others had called extremely difficult in just one morning made her feel a little carried away.

"Hmph↑ Not bad." Though Obe did not show it, she felt rather pleased with herself too.

I really want to see the expression on that gloomy masked man King's face when the time comes~

Smack~

Ra clapped her hands together, interrupting the little dramas playing out in their minds.

"That concludes your study of the two types of Haki for now. You'll have to gradually adapt to using Haki in battle on your own.

"This afternoon, we'll try something a little more difficult. You're free to do as you please for now. Gather here again after lunch."

"Yay!"

"Got it."

P.S.

Armament Haki was most likely related to "Substance P" within the bodies of people in the Pirate World—the substance found in both seawater and Seastone that could nullify an ability user's powers.

So, like chakra, Armament Haki should be an ability unique to the people of this world.