The Growth of Observation Haki

"Ohayou, Gray-sama!"

"Ohayou!"

After greeting Gray, Baby-5, who had grown even more radiant and now carried a hint of quiet grace, sat on Gray's lap of her own accord, letting him carry her to the family mess hall.

After a year of living together, the shadows in the heart of this abandoned girl had faded significantly, thanks to Gray's efforts.

For Baby-5 now, Gray was the person she would spend her entire life with, and her needs would only ever be directed toward him.

"Ohayou, Auntie Jora!" ×2

"Ohayou, little Gray, Baby-5." Jora was busy not only with the meals for the family executives but also with looking after Dellinger.

There was no helping it; Dellinger was far too young. As a half-fishman, he wasn't accepted by ordinary humans, which was likely the reason he had been abandoned in the first place.

Had he not been lucky enough to encounter the Donquixote Family, he might have already died in some nameless corner by the next day.

"Help me keep an eye on Dellinger, there are still some dishes in the kitchen that need finishing!"

"No problem, leave it to us!" The two arrived at the cradle, where Dellinger stared at them with his large, round eyes.

"Ah~ Kawaii!" Dellinger was indeed adorable as a child, and Baby-5 couldn't help but rub his little cheeks.

However, Gray didn't know that Baby-5 had fallen into a lovesick trance: Ah~ The child I have with Gray-sama will surely be this cute too.

No, it will be even cuter than this! As she thought about it, Baby-5's face began to steam, and Dellinger, beneath her hands, felt it most clearly.

Because it hurt!

"Waa~"

"Oh my! What happened!" Baby-5 felt guilty, like a thief caught in the act, and quickly let go, gently rocking the cradle.

Seeing the red marks on Dellinger's face, Gray's silence at that moment was deafening.

However, seeing Baby-5's "burying one's head to steal a bell" attitude, Gray didn't say a word.

It's her first time taking care of a child; it's normal to be inexperienced.

Using Dellinger to grind some experience is even less of a problem! Thinking this, Gray—whose heart was pitch black—instantly felt justified and emboldened.

They didn't let Dellinger endure their "training" for long before Doflamingo arrived with the others.

"Let's eat!" In the early morning, even if he wanted to say something, Doflamingo would wait until after the meal.

"Oh~"

No matter how much time passed, Gray's enthusiasm for Sea King meat never waned.

To Gray, vegetables and fruits were his life, while Sea King meat was his enemy.

If the enemy arrived, he wouldn't even care about his own life.

Gray, who was stuffing his face, suddenly froze, just like Doflamingo.

The two locked eyes and turned their heads toward the harbor. Even with the buildings blocking their view, nothing could obstruct their perception.

Through their Observation Haki, both clearly sensed a powerful aura rushing toward them.

"Fufufu... Gray, congratulations~ I didn't expect your Observation Haki to have reached such a level!"

Gray: "Isn't that obvious?"

"I never hid it when I was training my Observation Haki."

"Fufufu, very good! You truly gave me a surprise. I thought you were excellent, but I didn't expect you to be even better than I imagined."

Biting off the last piece of meat, Gray wiped the corner of his mouth: "I really do like hearing such honest words from you."

"However, don't be so honest next time; it's easy to get silenced by others!" After cracking a joke, Gray pointed his finger toward the harbor.

"Look! Isn't that them?"

"The malice they hold for this place is completely undisguised!"

"Fufufu..." Supporting his forehead, Doflamingo was currently in a state of duality.

Affection and anger were intertwined!

Affection for the fact that the family had produced a talent like Gray, who was even more suited to be his right-hand man than Law, whom he had planned for.

And anger, directed at the incoming enemy: "It seems that because the Donquixote Family hasn't made a move in a long time, people have forgotten the fear we inspire."

Unaware of the enemy and having never seen truly powerful people, Doflamingo, who was content with being a king in the North Blue, was filled with the same arrogance and inflated ego as Kid in the original story.

"Na na na! Doffy, have enemies arrived?" After Gray and Doflamingo finished their exchange, the confused crowd finally understood the situation.

Ignoring their shock at Gray's Observation Haki, Trebol, Diamante, and Pica hurriedly unleashed their own.

Among the three, Trebol's mastery of Observation Haki was the lowest, barely at the stage of having just awakened and being able to use it proficiently.

As for him strengthening his Observation Haki—that was simply impossible.

In the original story, it was only after Trebol failed to challenge the Grand Line that he gathered Diamante and the others to find their king, asking him to lead them to challenge the Grand Line once more.

Haki is the power of the will; that he still had any Observation Haki left at all, given his mindset and state, was a testament to his remaining spirit, unlike the decadent Moria who had become a shut-in.

The remaining two, Diamante and Pica, possessed Observation Haki that was no stronger than Trebol's.

Diamante was obsessed with his juggling act, insisting on developing a hybrid of his trashy Devil Fruit and swordsmanship.

These two pursuits sapped a massive amount of his energy, and as could be seen in the original story, he ultimately fused them into nothing but a joke.

As for Pica, he focused entirely on his Devil Fruit abilities and Armament Haki; training his Observation Haki was simply not his strong suit.

Gray, however, had been training his Observation Haki for half a year since he first awakened it. He spent every day either exhausting himself or recovering, so wasn't it only natural that such extreme training would lead to immense growth?

By now, Gray could encompass a radius of one thousand meters just by spreading his soul's magnetic field through his Observation Haki.

Once he further developed his ability and integrated it into the magnetic field of the world, the range covered by his Observation Haki grew even larger.

The principle behind this method was Gray's belief that the world itself was a massive magnetic field. While he couldn't cover the entire world—nor could he grow to that level in this lifetime—he could certainly intercept a smaller "world" instead.

The area of a room was a small world; the area of an island was a slightly larger small world; and extending that to the island's surrounding seas was yet another small world.

With this as the foundation for his development, Gray's exclusive Observation Haki could be considered perfected.

The reason he and Doflamingo had sensed the powerful aura approaching from afar earlier was that Gray had been conducting his daily Observation Haki training when he woke up that morning.

Even now, while eating, Gray's eyes remained closed behind his sunglasses.

Gray's current Observation Haki training wasn't just about performing a wide-area circular scan; he would also project his Haki in a single direction, pushing it to its limit to perform an ultra-long-range scan, much like a radar.

He went to such lengths for two reasons: first, to exhaust his Observation Haki as quickly as possible so he wouldn't have to wait an hour for it to replenish.

The second reason was to facilitate the development of an ability Gray had envisioned.

It wasn't exactly an ability, but rather a technique. Developing this move required the foundation of an even more far-reaching Observation Haki.

Thanks to Yi Qi Hua San Xiao Bai for the 100-point coin tip.

Thanks to Ma Bu Fei for the 333-point coin tip.

Love you guys! Mwah!