Whitebeard Lulls Him to Sleep

Seeing the boy before him say something much like what he himself had said in his youth, Whitebeard smiled. He looked at Rune with approval, and the pressure bearing down on him abruptly vanished.

"You thinking that way makes your old man very happy... But for you right now, getting off the ship to make your own way is still too soon."

Whitebeard did not agree to Rune's request to leave the ship. "When you've mastered Conqueror's Coating, then you can face danger on your own."

In truth, the Whitebeard Pirates did not restrict their crew's comings and goings. When Roger had borrowed Kozuki Oden back then, Whitebeard had been unhappy, but he had ultimately respected Kozuki Oden's decision.

But now, Whitebeard refused to let Rune leave the ship purely because, in his eyes, Rune was too weak.

His children were all safe under his protection, but if they left the Whitebeard Pirates...

Perhaps most people would give him some face and would not make things difficult for Rune.

But this world was never short on people who wanted to rise to prominence by stepping on someone else's reputation.

If someone learned that Rune belonged to the Whitebeard Pirates, there might well be those who wanted to make a name for themselves across the seas by hunting him down.

If Rune learned Conqueror's Coating, then even in the perilous second half of the Grand Line, he would have enough strength to protect himself.

"Starting tomorrow, I'll teach you myself."

Whitebeard rose to his feet. His towering figure blocked out the light, his shadow enveloping Rune, just as he had always sheltered his children.

"My child has lofty dreams and ambitions. As his old man, of course all I can do is support him! Hahaha!"

His hearty laughter rang out, and quite a few crew members outside the cabin were inexplicably knocked unconscious. Feeling Whitebeard's Haki, Rune's heart surged with excitement.

In the future, Rune would become an absolute powerhouse like Whitebeard, possessing a top-tier Devil Fruit and the top-tier Three Types of Haki! Only then would he have the strength to defeat anyone he faced!

Devil Fruits and the Three Types of Haki were necessary conditions for standing at the pinnacle of the world!

The next day.

A large number of crew members had gathered on the deck of the Moby Dick. Everyone had heard that Pops would personally teach Rune, so anyone without urgent business had come to watch.

Sailing the seas was incredibly dull and tedious. For most of the Whitebeard Pirates, seeing Pops make a move was extremely enticing.

"Yo, you're back, Ace."

Marco greeted Ace, while Ace looked toward Rune on the deck.

"Rune... Pops is going to teach him himself?"

"Yeah."

Marco smiled. "I heard Rune thought his strength was improving too slowly and wanted to leave the ship to train himself, so Pops decided to teach him personally."

As the two spoke, Rune had already moved. Armament Haki covered his fist as he charged fiercely toward Whitebeard.

At the sight alone, quite a few crew members looked at Rune with admiration. Facing the strongest man in the world, having the courage to throw a punch was already no small thing.

But Rune was, after all, a wielder of Conqueror's Haki. If he lacked even that much courage, he would not possess the potential for Conqueror's Haki.

As Rune charged forward and saw Whitebeard move, he immediately became highly alert. His punch did not change; he still went all out.

However, in the next instant.

A punch so fast that Rune could not even react came crashing down. The last thing Rune saw was the Conqueror's Haki wrapped around that fist.

"Rune, you're awake? Want something to eat?"

The next day, when Rune woke up and saw Thatch taking care of him beside the bed, he could not help feeling a little dazed.

He sat on the bed blankly for quite a while before he understood what had happened.

Yesterday, while sparring with Whitebeard, Whitebeard had lulled him to sleep with one punch.

And he had not woken up until a full day later.

Young people really did sleep well!

"Yes, I'm starving to death."

Rune took the food Thatch handed him, warmth filling his heart. As he ate, he saw an apologetic expression appear on Thatch's face.

"Rune, that fruit..."

"Brother Thatch, I asked you for that fruit and ate it myself. No matter what kind of ability it gave me, that was my choice."

Rune could tell why Thatch felt sorry. Thatch was probably thinking that if he had not given the fruit to Rune, Rune would not have ended up with such a lousy ability.

And gained an extra weakness to water.

"Our agreement still stands. In the future, I'll definitely find another Devil Fruit for you, Brother Thatch! And don't think I'll blame you. You gave the Devil Fruit to me. If I blamed you just because the ability was bad, I'd be less than human."

Rune stuffed his mouth with food and smiled at Thatch. "No matter what, I see you as my brother."

"You brat... As long as you think that way, I'm relieved."

Thatch smiled. He truly had worried that Rune might resent him over the Devil Fruit. But now, it seemed his worries had been entirely unnecessary.

Rune truly regarded everyone on the ship as family.

After finishing his meal, Rune checked his physical condition and found that he seemed completely fine. It looked like Marco had treated him after he fell asleep yesterday.

"Brother Thatch, I'm full. I'm going to find Pops and train!"

After eating and digesting for a while, Rune went to the captain's quarters and found Whitebeard again.

Seeing that Rune was still enthusiastically challenging him, Whitebeard could not help smiling happily. When Rune charged at him, Whitebeard threw a punch and once again lulled Rune to sleep with a single blow.

Marco shook his head and walked over to carry Rune on his back. He knew this kind of "teaching" would continue for some time.

Either Rune gave up, or he truly mastered the advanced techniques of Conqueror's Haki under such immense pressure and became strong.

Otherwise, this one-sided beating would not stop.

Every day after that, Rune eagerly went to Whitebeard to be lulled to sleep. At first, Rune was defeated instantly without any suspense.

But each day, he woke up a little sooner than before.

Half a month later, Rune finally endured one of Whitebeard's casual punches without fainting on the spot.

Then Whitebeard followed up with a serious punch and lulled Rune to sleep again.

Still, although he was getting beaten every day, Rune's Haki improved noticeably. Perhaps under the pressure of Whitebeard's overwhelming Haki, Rune's Conqueror's Haki had reached the stage where he could release it voluntarily.

He simply could not yet fully control his Conqueror's Haki and wrap it around himself.

His Armament Haki and Observation Haki had also improved to some extent. By Rune's own estimation, his Armament Haki was now no weaker than someone at Vergo's level.

As for his Observation Haki, its growth was limited.

After all, Rune could predict Whitebeard's attack path every day through Observation Haki, but because of the gap in strength, he simply could not dodge.

Many times, Observation Haki foresaw the opponent's attack, but due to the difference in overall strength, even foreseeing it did not mean he could evade it, much less block it.