One Piece: I Could See Proficiency and Became a Legend

"Vice Admiral Garp! How am I supposed to..."

Aokiji's face darkened at Garp's offhand remark. How was he supposed to guess that?

"A little girl named Nico Robin! Hahaha!" (Sure enough, the man in the dog-head cap was craftier than he looked!)

The Path Forward, the Peerless Sword Case

"Sir, where are we going?"

"Jaya Island!"

"There don't seem to be any famous pirates nearby."

"We're not after pirates. We're after the Knock Up Stream!"

"Are you planning to go surfing, sir?"

"(⊙o⊙)... The Knock Up Stream can launch you seven thousand meters into the air. Playing with that thing would kill you!"

(A certain Strongest Creature: Kill me? I'll stand right here. Come at me. If I so much as move, I lose!)

Robin blinked at Dongze, her clear eyes fluttering twice. "Then why are we going?"

Looking at Robin's innocent face and remembering what she had just said, Dongze gave her another look.

"Hmm. Now that's more like it!"

(She was starting to show her devious side!)

"All right. Once we get there, you're not allowed to go."

Something in Dongze's tone made Robin uneasy. "Is there something else there, sir?"

Dongze chuckled and waved a hand. "No, nothing. Just a Poneglyph!"

"..."

Robin glanced cautiously at Dongze and asked quietly, "Can I take back what I said?"

Dongze kept a straight face. "A gentleman's word is his bond!"

Robin's eyes darted. She scratched her head. "Uh... I don't understand."

Dongze glanced at her. "What's done can't be undone!"

Robin lowered her head and deliberately avoided his gaze. She could guess what he meant from the words alone, even the first time. But the Poneglyph she had always dreamed of seeing was there, so she feigned ignorance. "That's fine. I'll get you another bowl!"

Dongze sighed softly. Wanting to tease the beauty before him, he changed tack without warning. "I cultivate immortality. I live on wind and dew!"

Robin puffed out her cheeks. "You're not human!"

Dongze's mouth twitched. "You have no shame!"

"What would I need shame for?"

"..."

(There she is. That's Robin, all right!)

Dongze ultimately lost their war of words. When it came to arguing, he was no match for Robin.

Their banter made the voyage across the sea far less dull. With a capable housekeeper who had the Flower-Flower Fruit aboard, Dongze had much more time to train than when he had sailed alone.

The sea breeze lifted a lock of hair beside his face.

Gazing at the calm sea, Dongze began to reflect. What had caused his proficiency to stop increasing earlier?

Then there was the skill that had dropped after his fight with Garp. It made him grit his teeth. What the hell was that?

Did he have to beat his opponents to get anything good?

(The author: You've got it, Dongze. You took a beating and still want a good reward? Are you awake and dreaming, or asleep and unable to wake up? As stingy as I am, why would I give you anything good?)

Sleeping: 1/100000

Dongze nearly broke down at the sight of that skill. If he maxed it out, he might fall asleep while swinging his sword.

Ace and Luffy had both inherited this special talent from Garp. Whenever and wherever they wanted to sleep, they could.

Luffy had even surpassed his predecessor. Eating meat in his sleep was a downright broken ability.

Dongze did not dare train this skill, but he had no choice. He could manage a day or two without sleep, but staying awake for seven days and nights like Blackbeard? In Robin's words, "He wouldn't be human."

The skill was innate and bound to max out eventually, but its effect made his scalp tingle.

More importantly, why had the proficiency of his two types of Haki stopped at 500,000? For him, that was the most pressing question.

Dongze turned his attention to his status panel.

Iron Head Skill: max (fusion available!)

Mantra: max (fusion available!)

Iron Crotch Skill: max (fusion available!)

Abdominal Breathing: max

Basic Meditation: 500/1000

Water-Walking: max

Sleeping: 1/100000

Basic Swordsmanship: max

Sword Forging: max

Hundred-Pace Flying Sword: max (Sword Intent not activated)

Crossing the Eight Directions: max (Sword Intent not activated)

Sword-Draw Technique: max

Heavenly Flying Immortal: max (Sword Intent not activated)

Hidden Light, Sitting in Forgetfulness: max (Sword Intent activated)

One Sword Across the Ages: max (Sword Intent not activated)

Taiji Swordsmanship: max (Sword Intent not activated)

Spear Technique: 1200/1000000

Six Powers—Shave: max

Six Powers—Geppo: max

Armament Haki (activated): 500000/1000000 (fusion available!)

Observation Haki (activated): 500000/1000000 (fusion available!)

Conqueror's Haki (activated): 25000/1000000

Sword Intent (unlocked): 2/100

Erosion Sword Intent (activated): 420000/1000000

Non-Contention Sword Intent (activated): 350000/1000000

World Will (unlocked): 1/10

Swordsmanship (Minor World locked): 1/10 Peerless Sword Case (awaiting unlock) Divine Weapon Storage: 0/13

He would never have noticed without looking. That fight had brought him far more than one ridiculous-looking skill.

A whole series of changes had appeared on his panel.

First, there was now an option to fuse skills.

He suspected that fusing those skills would give him a good chance of breaking through the bottleneck in his two types of Haki.

He reasoned further that advancement in Armament Haki probably began with one part of the body.

Take Garp. Besides being called a Marine hero, he was known as Iron Fist Garp. If that was how it worked, Garp must have chosen his hands to break through.

The same went for Black Arm Zephyr, Chinjao, and other Armament Haki experts. They had chosen their arms, their heads, and so on.

But remembering his Iron Head Skill made Dongze blush. Was his head going to be the first thing he advanced too?

He shuddered at the thought of someday coating his whole body in Armament Haki, only to have rainbow-colored Ryuo blazing around his head.

Good grief. If he ended up wearing a hat like that, he would be too embarrassed to face anyone.

The other option was no less mortifying. Was he supposed to strip before every fight and compare sizes—and whose glowed?

He had no intention of running around naked under the moon. At the time, he had simply wanted to protect himself and eliminate a vulnerable spot, so he had trained that area first. Looking back, he had to admire his own nerve.

Neither option would do. He did not want to become a thickheaded gourd boy or put himself on display by moonlight. He would have to train a different part of his body.

Mantra, on the other hand, could be fused with Observation Haki. He suspected it would unlock a major path of advancement: the Voice of All Things.

That ability was extraordinary. Pirate King Roger, who had conquered the seas, had possessed it. Luffy, the current bearer of the Straw Hat, seemed to have it too.

Truthfully, Dongze liked the sound of that ability. He preferred it to Katakuri's Future Sight.

Then there were five unactivated forms of Sword Intent. That was a huge opportunity. If he activated all five, his fighting strength would soar.

But he had no idea how to do it. Non-Contention Sword Intent had activated during his fight with Garp, when the old man had nearly beaten him into the ground. He had used plenty of other sword techniques too, yet only one Sword Intent had awakened. If combat alone were the trigger, that made no sense.

Increasing his mental strength was another major problem. Even if he unlocked all five forms of Sword Intent, what good would they do if he could only swing his sword three times before he was left helpless?

The monsters of this world had absurd stamina. Akainu and Aokiji had fought for an entire week.

Just thinking about it made his skin crawl. That was far harder than going a week without sleep.

As for the Peerless Sword Case, it probably came from the world of The Blood of Youth.

Thirteen divine weapons made up that world-famous armament. Yet unlocking just a tenth of the World Will had revealed this next step. No matter how he looked at it, it hardly seemed real.

"Forget it. I'll try it and see!"

Choices and Observation, Planning the Road Ahead

As a precaution, Dongze first swept the surrounding waters with Observation Haki. Once he confirmed there was no danger, he let Robin know and began this attempt to advance.

Sitting cross-legged on the deck, he activated Mantra and Observation Haki, then chose to fuse them.

After a moment of disorientation, Dongze felt as though the world around him had changed. Even his eyesight had sharpened considerably. If it had been 5.0 before, it had to be at least 5.3 now.

Everywhere he looked, things seemed to come alive, as though the world itself had been given a voice.

The sea breeze, the ocean, the sailboat beneath him, the fish in the water, even the sea beasts far below all seemed to be whispering.

"Ugh, the sun's drained all my strength! I can't even stir up the waves. This is no fun!"

"Ugh, that giant worm down on the seafloor is taking a dump! Disgusting! This is my territory. I'm going to give him hell!"

"Nice! I get to carry a beautiful woman! She's a pleasure to look at. But that guy's strange. He has a beauty right there, and he's off doing who knows what. Is he even a man?"

"There's a sea beast down below. Don't go near it! I heard there was an explosion over by Pallas Island, and loads of tasty things fell into the sea. Want to head over there?"

"Mmm... Ahh... That feels good! What a relief!"

Dongze could not help smiling. The Voice of All Things truly lived up to its name.

The experiment confirmed his earlier guess: fusing the skills marked on his panel with Haki could indeed break through its bottlenecks and set him on a path forward.

The other advancements, however, were beyond him for now. Both the Peerless Sword Case and a further breakthrough in Armament Haki would take considerable money and time.

He had already decided what to fuse with Armament Haki: his hands. As a swordsman, he could channel Haki through the swords he held more easily if he advanced them.

His hands were also more versatile than most other parts of his body in hand-to-hand combat. He needed to unlock a skill involving them as soon as possible.

Iron-Sand Palm was the first that came to mind. It was simple to train, but it required iron sand. He had none aboard and would have to buy some ashore.

As for the Peerless Sword Case and its divine blades, he would have to forge them himself. He had already maxed out Sword Forging, so if he could find suitable materials, progress on the case should not be slow.

He remembered that Sky Island had vast quantities of gold. It was a decent material for making weapons, though he could not use it for all thirteen divine blades.

He remembered the thirteen names: Cloud Shuttle, Blue Frost, Phoenix Flute, Red Leaf, Butterfly, Shadowless, Calamity Breaker, Life-Taker, Jade Ruyi, Finger-Wrapping Softness, Cang, Mang, and Great Ming Vermilion Bird.

Recreating them exactly as they appeared in the original story would be difficult. He knew their names but not how they had been made. Forging thirteen divine weapons from the names alone would be next to impossible.

If he captured their spirit rather than copied their form, though, he had some confidence he could do it!