Observation Haki Awakening

One hour.

Two hours.

Three. There was no third hour, because Gray's legs had gone numb!

"Phew~" Gray opened his eyes, his expression hard to read.

As he stood and stretched, Gray thought back over his Magnetic Field Rotation just now. He planned to take a closer look and figure out exactly where he'd gone wrong.

This time, Gray's Soul Magnetic Field Rotation had succeeded—or maybe it hadn't.

To be precise, his Soul Magnetic Field had started rotating, but it hadn't had the effect he'd expected: absorbing energy from the outside world to strengthen the field.

It was a complete failure!

Although it hadn't strengthened his field, rotating his Soul Magnetic Field had brought him a huge gain in another way.

His already powerful mental strength had spread outward along with the rotating field.

Even though his eyes had been closed, he'd clearly seen the scene outside the courtyard.

That was how, after testing it several times, Gray had finally confirmed that he'd awakened Observation Haki.

Awakening Observation Haki meant this attempt at developing his ability hadn't been a total loss. He could work on developing his ability anytime. If it didn't work this time, he could keep at it next time.

After all, failure was success's mom!

And the sooner he awakened Observation Haki, the better.

In this world, as Teacher Kaido liked to say, Haki was the power that stood above everything else.

There were three types of Haki:

First: Armament Haki, which could touch Logia users and strengthen both attacks and defense.

Second: Observation Haki, which let you anticipate your opponent's moves.

Third: Conqueror's Haki, which only one person in a million could awaken.

He'd heard that Conqueror's Haki was innate, and that only people with firm convictions and unyielding wills could awaken it.

Gray wasn't delusional enough to think about Conqueror's Haki just yet. But he knew one thing: if he kept developing Magnetic Field Rotation, he could punch right through this world.

He'd be the first ever to break through everything with an ability.

"Damn it!" He didn't show it, but just thinking about how cool Conqueror's Haki was made Gray green with envy.

Soon, Gray got his emotions under control. "Well, now that I've awakened Observation Haki, I should make Haki training a priority."

"At the very least, I should be able to switch it on and off freely without using my ability." Since he wasn't familiar with the feeling of releasing Observation Haki yet, Gray could only spread it passively while rotating his Soul Magnetic Field.

"If I want to train Observation Haki, the first thing I need to do is use it!"

"Use it as much as possible! I'll get used to it naturally as I wear it out and recover."

"For the second step, I can take a page from Fujitora." Of course, Gray wasn't foolish enough to gouge his own eyes out. He planned to cover them instead and use Observation Haki to go about his life.

If he made Observation Haki a part of daily life, he might not reach the pinnacle of Future Sight, but he could at least reach the top tier and be as strong as the Three Admirals.

Gray put his plan into action at once. He closed his eyes and kept his Soul Magnetic Field rotating, letting Observation Haki spread passively.

He used his mental strength to observe a different world.

Gray didn't know what things looked like to other people's Observation Haki. His own, though, was a little unusual.

Since his Soul Magnetic Field Rotation was what drove his Observation Haki, he could already consider it his own unique form of Observation Haki.

Just like Enel, who combined his Observation Haki with the electromagnetic waves of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to cover the entire Sky Island.

Gray's Observation Haki let him clearly see magnetic fields that had once been blurry, whether they belonged to rocks, animals, or the island itself.

This not only let Gray gauge the strength of the magnetic fields around him, but also helped him avoid getting caught off guard by Devil Fruit Users pretending to be weak.

There was another important point, too. Gray felt he could let his Observation Haki blend into the magnetic field, expanding or shrinking its range as needed.

For example, his own Soul Magnetic Field let him clearly see a colorful image within a hundred meters.

But once it blended into the island's magnetic field, all he saw was static-filled TV snow, flickering in and out. It was irritating, and it took a lot out of him.

Observation Haki was like a camera. Right now, Gray had a hundred cameras installed in his own hundred-square-meter house, so of course he could clearly see everything happening inside.

But if he installed those same hundred cameras across the whole town, how could he see everything clearly?

"Ah! That short?" Gray had been maintaining his Observation Haki for less than half an hour when he began to feel mentally exhausted.

"Not much volume, and it doesn't last long. Well, a man's like that when he's just starting out~" After making an excuse for himself, Gray switched his wheelchair into a single bed and prepared to take a nap, hoping sleep would help him recover his Observation Haki.

"Gray-sama! Gray-sama!"

Half-asleep, Gray heard Baby-5 calling him. "Ah! What is it, Baby-5?"

"It's time for dinner!"

Gray: Huh?

Gray looked up at the sky. The sun had already dipped below the horizon, and dusk was settling in.

"All right! I didn't realize I'd slept until evening." He lifted the little girl onto his lap and wheeled himself toward the cafeteria.

As soon as he arrived, Gray noticed that Law was looking at Corazon differently.

Of course, it wasn't a friendly look. Just like in the original story, Corazon had beaten Law to stop him from joining the Donquixote Family, and Law had come to resent him for it.

After all, who'd get beaten up and then thank the person who did it? So Law had spent the entire afternoon fighting.

When he lost once, he'd fight again. When he lost a second time, he'd fight a third. He was constantly in battle.

He kept losing, but he kept getting back up.

As a result, Trafalgar Law probably didn't even realize it yet, but destroying the world was now only his second goal. His first was to kill Corazon.

"Interesting!" Seeing it happen in person was much more fun than watching it on a screen.

As a man who loved a good spectacle, Gray had a natural taste for watching the drama unfold. It was practically part of his soul.

After training until his whole body was exhausted each day, watching amusing things like this to unwind was a great pleasure.

Gray wasn't interested in Trafalgar Law. He wasn't going to be like some protagonists and befriend him in advance so he could recruit him later.

As far as Gray was concerned, there was no place for another man on his ship. One pervert was enough.

He'd try to collect the beautiful girls from the original story for his own crew. As for the men he valued, he'd make them division commanders.

As for Law, they weren't on the same path, so there was no need to invite him. People who wanted Law on their side were drawn not only to his talent, but more importantly, to the Op-Op Fruit.

Law, along with other powerful Devil Fruit Users, would be one of Gray's future hunting targets.

Before he perfected his Devil Fruit reincarnation experiment, Devil Fruit Users with powerful abilities were just caretakers holding on to the fruits for him.

Wouldn't it be better to use those Devil Fruits to power up his crew later?

For example: Nojiko with the Slippery-Slippery Fruit, Nami with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and Kaya with the Op-Op Fruit.

Then he could abduct Yamato, win Hancock over, and bring them both aboard. Add Baby-5, whom he'd raised from childhood, and he'd have the Three Sweet Commanders and the All-Stars, wouldn't he?

His crew alone could rival a Four Emperor. If he added a few powerful division commanders—

For example: Bullet! Zoro and the others. One Four Emperor might not even be enough to take them on.

Please keep reading! Please keep reading! Please keep reading!

I completely understand that everyone wants to save up chapters and read them all in one go, but that's just how it is for new authors. I can only post two chapters a day, and I need enough readers to qualify for a recommendation.

So, this humble author prostrates himself before you esteemed readers with a 360-degree spinning free-fall kowtow. orz.