Mastering Conqueror's Haki Coating

"Put out bounties for them. Those two are members of the Whitebeard Pirates. We can't go to war with one of the Four Emperors' crews yet."

Marine Headquarters had actually confirmed Kuma's death before Rune publicly announced that he had killed him. The self-destruct device controlled by the Five Elders had already lost contact beforehand.

Only Kuma's death could have caused those monitoring devices to stop functioning.

That was how the Marines had confirmed Kuma's "death."

The request was rejected, but Kizaru still decided that he would find those two brats when he had the time. As a Marine, there were some things beyond his control.

Still, Kizaru, Kuma, Vegapunk, and the others could at least be considered "friends."

"Rune, you have a bounty now too!"

"Captain Ace's bounty went up too! Hahaha, that's amazing!"

The newspaper had already published Rune and Ace's new bounty posters. Ace's bounty had risen from 550 million Beli to 710 million Beli.

Rune's very first bounty was as high as 450 million Beli!

Such a high bounty was naturally because the two of them had joined forces to kill Bartholomew Kuma. Although Kuma's bounty had only been 296 million Beli, that was because it had been frozen after he became one of the Seven Warlords.

Had Kuma not been a Seven Warlord, his strength would have warranted a bounty of at least close to one billion.

Since Rune and Ace had killed Kuma together, they naturally received corresponding bounty amounts!

On top of that, Rune was a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, so his bounty was naturally higher as well.

Of course, a bounty of 450 million could not represent Rune's true strength. With the full power of his Dark-Dark Fruit and Three Types of Haki, he was probably around the level of 700 million.

"Rune is so diligent. He's sparring with Pops again."

At that moment, Rune had yet to see his own bounty. He was using his Conqueror's Haki to fight Whitebeard as hard as he could under the suppression of Whitebeard's Conqueror's Haki.

After regaining the ability to use Haki freely, Whitebeard possessed at least seventy to eighty percent of the strength he had at his peak.

And because Rune had found Kuma, helped heal his injuries, and borne that pain for him...

Whitebeard now intended to teach Rune with everything he had, striving to bring Rune up to Jozu and Vista's level in a short time.

Under Whitebeard's intense training, Rune's strength was growing rapidly as well.

Rune's Conqueror's Haki now had roughly twenty percent of the oppressive force of Whitebeard's Conqueror's Haki at his peak. Even in the New World, that was considered formidable.

"Try to control the Haki you release. If you can't control it, your Conqueror's Haki will only be useful against fodder."

Whitebeard taught Rune seriously, but he had no way to help Rune directly skip the stage of comprehending how to use Conqueror's Haki. All he could do was apply pressure and see whether Rune could gain that realization under extreme pressure.

As Rune used his own Conqueror's Haki to resist Whitebeard's, he also tried to control that difficult-to-master power.

Within that immense mass of Haki, Rune exerted tremendous effort before finally separating out a single thread.

He coated that thread of Conqueror's Haki around his right fist.

Enduring Whitebeard's Haki pressure, Rune threw that punch with all his strength. Seeing this change from nothing into something, Whitebeard burst into laughter.

Whitebeard threw a punch as well, Haki coiling around his fist like black lightning. Facing that punch head-on, Rune was immediately punched to sleep.

Even so, a smile remained on Rune's face.

Because he had comprehended the path to becoming strong.

He could now control his Conqueror's Haki!

"Ugh... it hurts..."

After an unknown amount of time, Rune woke aboard the Thousand Sunny and rubbed his head with a frown. A small, adorable figure was lying beside his bed.

Bonney, in her childlike form, had been watching over him in his room.

"You're awake? I'll go get Dad."

The moment Bonney saw Rune awake, she ran out.

Perhaps because she had found Kuma and reunited with her father, Bonney had become increasingly lively lately.

That was a good thing.

Before long, Kuma, Bonney, and Luffy entered the room together. Rune had already gotten up and was sitting on the bed, waiting for them.

"Don't worry. This is just part of my daily training with Pops. At first, Pops punched me to sleep every day."

"You were obviously unconscious..."

Bonney muttered softly, and Rune could not be bothered to explain. He stretched his body and released his Conqueror's Haki.

Everyone present felt the pressure, but they were all fairly strong, and Luffy possessed Conqueror's Haki himself.

No one fainted.

Rune controlled the Haki he had released, separating one thread after another from it. Before long, his fist was completely coated in Conqueror's Haki!

That punch could directly knock the current Luffy unconscious!

"All those days of hard training weren't wasted after all."

Rune felt that he had quite a talent for training Haki, though perhaps it was also because Whitebeard had been teaching him. Whitebeard's Three Types of Haki were all at the highest level of strength.

Now that he could control Conqueror's Haki, Rune's attacks would become far more destructive!

And many people did not know this.

Conqueror's Haki could not only be used to attack; it could also be used for defense.

All he needed to do next was continue training and strengthen his Conqueror's Haki. Perhaps before long, he would possess Haki as powerful as Whitebeard's at his peak!

However, if he wanted to achieve his ultimate goal and defeat Imu, the current ruler of the world...

Haki alone would not be enough.

Rocks's Haki had already been extremely powerful. Among the current generation's strong fighters, the only ones who could likely compare with Rocks in Haki were Red-Hair, Whitebeard, and Garp.

Yet even Rocks had possessed little ability to resist before Imu.

He still had to train Luffy. Then, when the time came, Luffy could become Joy Boy and deal with Imu.

Rune planned to unlock Gear Fifth within these two years, before Luffy reunited with his companions!

But for now, he should prepare Gear Fourth first.

Rune jumped off the bed and beckoned to Luffy.

"Come on, Luffy. Let's spar!"

Luffy did not hesitate and gladly accepted Rune's invitation to fight.

The result...

"Rune! You're just beating him up!"

Even Bonney could not stand watching anymore. Though she disliked Luffy somewhat, he was still a temporary companion. Seeing Rune punch Luffy to sleep with a single blow, Bonney almost wanted to speak up for him.

This was outright bullying!

"Hahaha, you all still have a long way to go!"

Rune was in high spirits. As Kuma carried the future Pirate King, Luffy, back into the room, Rune gazed into the distance.

Who would the next crew member be?