Explain to Me What the Hell "I Just Learned It" Means!

"Iron Body!"

Seeing the huge foot hurtling toward him, Aequus hurriedly braced himself.

Then, with a bang, tremendous force slammed into him and sent him flying.

He flew a full seven or eight meters before landing, then slid several more meters across the ground before coming to a stop.

He rubbed his aching chest, looking a little dazed.

The gap was a little too big...

He remembered having the advantage in raw strength before.

Yet in just three short days, Randall had caught up to him and even seemed to have surpassed him.

This was simply...

So damn exciting!

He knocked his fists together and flashed a savage grin.

He was completely fired up!

Beside them, Milers was also startled to see Aequus lose out in strength.

But strength had never been his forte!

His sword was already out of its sheath. In an instant, he appeared on Randall's left and swung it down.

Yet even faced with that gleaming blade, Randall still did not dodge.

Instead, just as before, he held out a hand.

He actually intended to meet a swordsman's blade head-on with his bare palm!

Milers's eyes flickered, and he instinctively held back some of his strength.

But the next moment, a clang rang out. His blade struck Randall's palm, yet it felt as though it had struck hardened steel.

The recoil traveling through the hilt even left the web of his hand tingling.

Startled, he hurriedly withdrew his sword and retreated.

Then emotion broke through his expressionless face.

"Iron Body? No, Iron Body shouldn't be this powerful!"

He stared at the palm that had taken his sword without so much as a pale mark, his mind reeling.

This was no flying slash!

It was a direct strike from a swordsman wielding his own blade!

That was no joke!

Aequus was equally shocked.

He knew better than anyone how sharp Milers's sword was.

Even with Iron Body, while it should not have severed the hand outright, cutting a wound should have been easy!

Randall chuckled, withdrew his palm, and said to the two stunned men:

"Weren't you curious about how I defeated the red-level Ferocious Beasts?

Then watch closely!"

With that, Randall held out a hand for them to see.

At this, the two set aside their surprise and watched intently.

Yet the next moment, they saw a patch of pitch-black color suddenly appear on Randall's previously fair fingers.

Once that blackness appeared, it quickly spread upward.

It coated his entire hand in black.

"Th-this is...!"

Aequus could barely get his tongue to work.

Miland stared at that color, as deep as the night, his pupils contracting sharply.

Both men were knowledgeable enough to recognize what it was.

But precisely because they knew, they could not accept it.

Randall waved that hand and said:

"That's right. You didn't guess wrong, and your eyes aren't deceiving you.

It's Armament Haki!"

With Randall confirming it himself, they had to believe it, however impossible it seemed.

Shock was no longer enough to describe what they felt.

It was horror!

Utter astonishment!

(Twisting)(Rolling)(Roaring)(Intense heat)(Blinding light)(Contamination)(Destroying the world)(Creation)(More rolling)

It was as though a thunderous bomb had exploded inside their heads, leaving their minds completely blank.

They stood stunned for several long seconds before finally accepting reality.

Aequus said with mixed feelings:

"How... how did you do that...?"

He could not help reaching out to touch Randall's hand, coated in Armament Haki, then giving it a firm squeeze.

Rock-solid!

Harder than stone!

Harder than steel!

Just what he would expect from Armament Haki!

No wonder Randall could catch Milers's blade without a scratch.

This was Armament Haki!

Meanwhile, Milers looked at Randall as though a lifetime had passed.

The scene of his first meeting with Randall suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Back then, Randall had still been so inexperienced. A casual slash from Milers had been enough to exhaust him.

Yet even in that sorry state, his eyes had remained bright.

Now, however, he could laugh and chat while taking Milers's full-strength strike without injury.

He was utterly composed, utterly confident, and those eyes were still just as bright.

For a moment, the two figures in Milers's mind crossed time and space, slowly merging into one.

Randall said:

"Ah, honestly, it was luck.

I couldn't do it originally, either.

But those red-level Ferocious Beasts actually knew Armament Haki!

I was pretty shocked at the time, too!

Then I learned it."

Hearing that the Ferocious Beasts actually knew Armament Haki, both Milers and Aequus were startled.

First came relief. Thank goodness they had not recklessly gone looking for death.

But then a trace of disappointment and regret crept in.

Next, upon hearing Randall's casual words, both were left utterly speechless.

What do you mean, 'I just learned it'?

Explain it to me. What the fuck does 'I just fucking learned it' mean?

Is there any causal relationship between a Ferocious Beast knowing Armament Haki and you learning it?!

'I just learned it,' my ass!

What a refreshingly original way to show off!

Seeing how worked up they were, Randall could not help explaining:

"What happened was, I wandered into a Ferocious Beast's territory by mistake.

But I was weak back then, so I couldn't take it head-on.

I ran, and it chased me, until we ended up in another Ferocious Beast's territory.

Then the two Ferocious Beasts forgot about me and started fighting each other.

I was furious! How dare those two animals insult me like that!"

Seeing their increasingly unfriendly expressions, Randall hurriedly steered the conversation back on track.

"Then, as those two Ferocious Beasts kept fighting, they got worked up and really started going at it.

What were they going to do? Pull out their trump cards, of course!

So they used Armament Haki.

I was pretty shocked at the time, too.

Then I carefully observed how the two Ferocious Beasts used Armament Haki.

And then I learned it.

You know what happened next.

Once I learned Armament Haki, my strength skyrocketed, and I beat up those two animals that had dared to ignore me right then and there."

Randall spread his hands, wearing an expression that practically begged for a beating.

Honestly, if he could, he would have liked to tell them how to train their Armament Haki, too.

But he was not Zephyr.

He could not break down all the crucial points of training into easy-to-understand pieces and teach them to someone else.

Aequus and Milers understood that as well, so despite being full of frustration, they had nowhere to vent it.

Aequus sighed and said:

"Ugh, then there's no way we can have this fight.

There's a qualitative difference between having Armament Haki and not having it.

Your strength is on a completely different level from ours now."

Milers did not disagree with Aequus.

Yet Randall suddenly grinned, baring a mouthful of stark white teeth:

"Who says we can't fight? You might not be able to win, but you can still take a beating!"