I'm Also Chinjao's Direct Disciple!!

It was not until the sun was high in the sky that Jogo staggered back to his quarters, carrying a bucket and a mop.

Creak—

The wooden door opened, and the shell overhead cast a cold light down the stairs.

"No place to stay?"

"What a pathetic little brat!"

Familiar voices came from outside.

Jogo had no interest in talking. Carrying the bucket and mop, he walked down the stairs.

As the wooden door closed behind him, the room fell completely dark.

Jogo felt his way around, set the mop and bucket in a corner, then sat cross-legged. After adjusting to the darkness and catching his breath, he looked ahead.

And found himself staring face-to-face with Hina in her cage...

To avenge the humiliation he had suffered on deck, Abu had assigned Jogo's resting place to the most humiliating spot on the entire ship—the prison.

Thus,

"The Youngest Historian in History" met the "Navy's Most Promising Recruit" once again!

All one could say was that fate worked in mysterious ways.

"Nice to meet you. I am the youngest Historian in history—"

Jogo reached his hand through the bars, intending to shake hands, but Hina slapped it away irritably.

"Didn't you say you were leaving? Why did you come back?"

Jogo sighed with the composed air of an old master.

"Sai and Abu were overwhelmed by my world-shaking talent."

"They knelt on the ground and begged me for two days. They said that if I didn't come back, they would eat shit every day until they died. I took pity on them, fearing there would be no shit left for the other pirates to eat, so I came back."

"You came back wrapped in bandages and carrying a mop?"

Hina blinked her large eyes at him, a hint of sly amusement in her smile.

"Hina heard about it. Sai carried you back! You were unconscious for days!"

Jogo rolled his eyes.

"You knew, yet you still asked."

"Hina wanted to ask whether you did what Hina asked you to do."

"I did, I did~"

"That's good~"

The two chatted for a while, discussing Jogo's experiences after leaving the ship, his battle with Daz Bones, and the rumors Hina had heard during the days he was unconscious.

This was not their first day sharing a room.

Even though they had moved to a rather undignified location, the atmosphere was unexpectedly harmonious.

After a while, the prison fell quiet.

Hina was tired from talking, so she leaned against the cage and closed her eyes to rest.

With Seastone handcuffs on her wrists, she was weak every day.

Before long, she heard faint sounds of wind breaking and footsteps coming from the room.

She opened her eyes and moved closer to the cage in confusion.

"You... are practicing boxing?"

Squinting, Hina finally saw what Jogo was doing.

"Mm-hm~"

Jogo lowered into a horse stance, sank his center of gravity, switching between punches and palms as he weaved and turned through the prison.

Come to think of it, he had Abu to thank.

Though this prison had no beds, it was spacious.

It seemed that from the start, it had been designed to hold a large number of prisoners.

Any other pirate ship would never make such a wasteful use of space.

But beyond being pirates, the Happo Navy was also an important maritime force of the Flower Country.

They could be called upon at any time to join the Flower Country's wars against other nations.

So reserving a large prison was understandable.

Now that the prison was empty, Jogo was the one benefiting from it.

Hina watched by the side of her cage for a while.

She could tell that Jogo's movements were extremely awkward. It seemed he had only just begun learning this fighting style. After every punch, he had to pause for several seconds before continuing.

Sometimes, when he made a mistake, he would start all over again.

Yet he seemed to be enjoying himself.

"If Hina isn't mistaken, you're trying to learn Hasshoken, aren't you?"

Hina suddenly asked.

"Mm-hm~"

Jogo threw punch after punch as he moved toward the cage, his movements gradually becoming more practiced.

But Hina, inside the cage, sighed.

"You really are something else. Hina doesn't know what you're so anxious about."

When Jogo had asked her how to awaken Haki, she had already noticed how impatient he was.

At his age, having his level of strength was already impressive.

In the Navy, he would be a rising star second only to her.

Calling him a genius would not be an exaggeration.

Yet for some reason, he was always in a hurry, as if some massive crisis were looming over him and waiting for him to resolve it.

It forced him to seize every second to improve his strength.

And now, he had somehow learned the Happo Navy's Hasshoken.

In Hina's eyes, he was simply grasping at straws.

"Give up. You can't possibly learn Hasshoken."

Jogo's movements paused slightly.

"Why?"

Hina leaned against the cage and looked at him.

"You don't actually think the boxing those pirates practice with Sai is Hasshoken, do you?"

"Isn't it?"

"Yes and no."

Hina did not keep him in suspense and explained.

"Hasshoken is the Chinjao Family's secret art. It is only passed down to direct descendants."

"As for the boxing those pirates learn, according to Navy intelligence, it merely originated from Hasshoken. It is no different from ordinary boxing."

"Practicing that can certainly strengthen your body, but don't even dream of mastering the power of 'vibration' in your lifetime."

"Otherwise, why do you think no one in the Navy knows such a powerful fighting style as Hasshoken?"

The West Blue Navy had captured who knew how many Happo Navy prisoners. How could they not know this much?

Jogo clicked his tongue softly.

"That's so underhanded?"

"They said everyone was a Hasshoken disciple. I knew something felt wrong about this style when I practiced it."

"Even if it felt right, it would be useless."

Hina mercilessly crushed his hopes.

"Even if the real Hasshoken were placed right in front of you, do you think you could learn it in a day or two?"

"Such a powerful technique naturally has an extremely high threshold."

"According to Navy estimates, without more than ten years of hard training, you couldn't even get started with Hasshoken."

Her expression turned serious.

"There are no shortcuts to becoming stronger."

"Hina has reminded you many times already, hasn't she? Why won't you listen?"

"What are you babbling about... I think Hasshoken is pretty simple."

Jogo did not stop practicing.

Hina watched for a while and realized that Jogo would not turn back until he hit a wall. Pouting, she gave a huff and could no longer be bothered to persuade him.

Yet after leaning against the cage, she did not close her eyes. Instead, she seemed to be considering something. Her beautiful eyes kept darting toward Jogo, her lips lightly bitten, conflict showing between her brows.

Jogo did not notice Hina's strange behavior.

He focused wholeheartedly on adjusting his breathing, punching, and moving.

At that moment, three recordings kept replaying over and over in his mind.

The first recording,

Sai stood on the bow deck. The sky behind him was faintly brightening as he held a horse stance and led the pirates below through the fighting forms move by move, occasionally explaining key points.

As the viewpoint drew closer, Jogo could sense the heat radiating from the sweat-drenched pirates.

The second recording,

A towering wall of people cast its shadow over the scene. Abu ran around the area like a headless fly, waving his fists in frustration.

In the morning light, dust in the air could vaguely be seen trembling.

The viewpoint rotated around Abu from every angle without a single blind spot.

It recorded every movement, every breath, every tremor of his muscles, even every heartbeat...

The third recording,

Behind the swirling smoke and dust, Sai wore a cold expression. A black iron-like coating covered his foot as he swept up a violent gale and came roaring toward Jogo, obvious ripples spreading through the air.

The viewpoint likewise rotated around Sai from every angle without a single blind spot, recording every movement, every breath, and every detail of his exertion.

Only, the recording occasionally blurred.

That was the "data corruption" caused when Jogo had been driven into a desperate situation and lost his concentration.

—"Historian" could record all information within the range of Observation Haki.

And when Observation Haki concentrated its perception on a single person, information about the surroundings would automatically blur, making the information about the focused target more prominent and detailed.

Combined with the terrifying precision of "Otherworldly Soul," the result was this kind of all-round recording without any blind spots!

"The boxing taught to the pirates really does have flaws... but what does that have to do with me?"

Jogo thought,

"I learned my boxing from Sai and Abu!"

By that logic, I'm also Chinjao's direct disciple!!

Of course, he knew that even with such detailed recordings in hand, reverse-engineering the cultivation method for Eight Extremes Fist from these moves would still be a time-consuming task.

"Besides, Hina is right. There are no shortcuts in cultivation."

"Even if I truly grasped the cultivation method for Hasshoken someday, it would still be impossible to master it in a short time."

"But... why do I have to honestly follow the original path of training?"

Jogo looked at the [Haki Panel], the corners of his mouth lifting.

Trait switch!

[...

Observation Haki (Awakened)

Traits Equipped: "Historian (Blue)" "Spy (Blue)"

...]

[Trait Effect: Can more easily distinguish people from different factions within the perception range of Observation Haki, and can rapidly imitate everything about the observed target.]

I'll just skip straight to the finish line!