Watching that ship disappear completely, Dawn finally relaxed his taut nerves and let out a soft breath. He had truly been worried that Shanks might be the kind of hypocrite some dark conspiracy theories from his previous life had imagined, someone willing to do anything to achieve his goals.
Thankfully, the worst-case scenario had not happened. The current Shanks was forthright, loyal, and valued his companions deeply, no different from the image Dawn remembered.
After that brief yet extremely dangerous clash, he understood even more clearly the gap between himself and the world's top geniuses.
The Press-Press Fruit ability he had thought had repeatedly achieved remarkable results and could handle most situations seemed far less effective against Shanks's concentrated, powerful, and abundant Armament Haki. Many of its intricate applications appeared somewhat feeble, not to mention the opponent's bug-like Future Sight Observation Haki.
As for his other trump card—the Yami Yami no Mi—it was even more lackluster against a top-tier physical combatant and Haki user like Shanks, who was not an ability user.
An invisible ambush? Before Future Sight, it was practically a joke. Compressing water currents or air for attacks?
The power might have been considerable, but they could just as easily be predicted and cut apart. And the Yami Yami no Mi's signature pulling power was greatly diminished when Armament Haki could counteract the Devil Fruit's rule-based effects.
Dawn even doubted whether, even if he managed to grab Shanks, he could successfully pull him into the alternate space and inflict crushing damage.
Most likely, he would fail.
"Haki application techniques really are my current weakness."
It was not as though Dawn had never tried to apply Armament Haki to his Devil Fruit abilities. But during the long voyage, despite spending a long time figuring it out alone, he had