Difficulties

After a brutal beating, the three of them lay sprawled on the ground, aching all over.

Zephyr stood before them with his arms folded, neither flushed nor out of breath.

"Good. I now have a rough idea of your strength.

So let me tell you what I have planned for you.

Randall, next I'll train your Observation Haki.

Milers and Aequus, your first priority will be learning Armament Haki!

If there's still time after you've learned it, I'll train your Observation Haki too!

That concludes today's assessment. Wait for me here at seven tomorrow morning!

The same goes for every day after that!"

"Yes, sir!" ×3

Zephyr left after that.

Teaching wasn't easy. He needed to properly organize his plans for their training.

Zephyr's quarters were in a small, detached building with its own courtyard.

He pushed open the courtyard gate, only to find an old man already sitting inside.

"Hey~ You're back!"

Sengoku held a cup of tea, leisurely taking small sips.

When he saw Zephyr return, he greeted him warmly.

"You old bastard, here to mooch my tea again!"

"Oh, how can you say that? I just didn't want you getting lonely!"

"Heh, I've got my adorable students. I'm not lonely at all!

If you've got business, get to it. Otherwise, get lost!"

Zephyr shot back without a shred of courtesy.

Despite telling him to leave, he sat down opposite Sengoku and joined him for tea.

"Ah, speaking of students...

How's that Randall doing, anyway?

You were the one who insisted on bringing him in.

Well? Can he keep up?"

Sengoku asked casually.

He wasn't expecting much of an answer. After all, Randall had only joined the Elite Camp a month ago.

What could change in a month...?

Zephyr gave him a mysterious smile.

"Take a guess. Aim high!"

Sengoku paused. From the sound of it, Randall had made considerable progress this past month.

"Could he already be stronger than that boy—Pietro, was it? Has he surpassed him?"

Although Pietro had ended up unconscious when the two fought back then,

Sengoku's discerning eye had still recognized that Randall was weaker than Pietro.

Surpassing Pietro in a month would be quite an improvement.

At the mention of Pietro's name, Zephyr couldn't help rolling his eyes.

But he said nothing about it and merely continued,

"Guess again. Aim even higher!"

Sengoku paused again. Even higher?

Had he improved even more than that?

After some thought, Sengoku ventured,

"Don't tell me he can already hold his own against those three monsters?"

Honestly, even he found that guess hard to believe.

Yet Zephyr still wore that mysterious expression after hearing it.

"Heh heh, guess again! Guess again!"

Sengoku lost his patience.

"Hey, you old bastard! Quit acting all mysterious!

Guess, my ass! I'm not guessing! Just tell me!"

Zephyr didn't mind. He had whetted Sengoku's appetite enough already.

Ignoring Sengoku's increasingly dark expression, he said leisurely,

"That's what I mean. Your imagination is too limited.

Randall's strength has already completely surpassed Milers!"

"What?!"

Sengoku looked stunned.

"Are you sure? Do you realize what you're saying?"

Zephyr was very satisfied with Sengoku's reaction.

So I wasn't overreacting. Randall was just that inhuman.

"So how did he do it? It's only been a month! One month!

If I remember correctly, you told me Milers was on the verge of becoming a swordmaster!"

Sengoku said, still stunned.

Zephyr sighed in amazement.

"Yes, I was shocked too!

But it's the truth!

In just one month, Randall went from a nobody in terms of strength to someone who can easily defeat Milers.

And what shocked me even more was that he learned Armament Haki without any instruction from me!

His talent might be even greater than I imagined!"

Sengoku said, "Learning Armament Haki in a month certainly takes talent."

Zephyr said, "No. To be precise, he learned Armament Haki within a single day..."

Then Zephyr recounted how Randall had learned Armament Haki.

Sure enough, Sengoku was stunned again.

He remained silent for several full seconds before uttering one word.

"Monster!"

At the same time, he thought to himself that a monster like this really had to be kept in the Navy.

"All right, enough about him. Come on, tell me what you came here for."

Zephyr said.

"Can't I just have missed you...?"

"All right, all right, all right! Stop making me sick! Get on with it!"

Sengoku gave an awkward smile and said,

"Fine. Actually, that old bastard Garp has taken an extended leave.

He was all secretive about it. I have no idea what he's gone off to do.

I just wanted to ask if he'd told you anything."

Zephyr shook his head. "No. I didn't even know he'd taken leave!"

Sengoku hadn't held out much hope to begin with. Hearing that, he simply let out a long sigh while silently cursing Garp for being unreliable!

Early the next morning, Zephyr brought his student Shuzo over.

He would be the one to introduce Milers and Aequus to Armament Haki.

Come to think of it, Aequus and Shuzo really did look like quite a pair standing together...

Meanwhile, Zephyr also began Randall's Observation Haki training.

But learning Observation Haki did not go smoothly.

"You're saying that this so-called Qi inside you can serve the same purpose as Observation Haki, so this training is completely useless?"

Zephyr stroked his chin.

Randall nodded with a wry smile.

He hadn't expected his first stumbling block to be Observation Haki.

His cheat really was both his blessing and his curse.

Because Qi had let him enjoy the benefits of Observation Haki ahead of time, it had also dulled his sensitivity to it.

That made awakening his Observation Haki exceptionally difficult.

After some thought, Zephyr said, "Actually, that's easy enough to fix!"

Randall's eyes lit up at those words, and he stared wide-eyed at Zephyr.

Zephyr smiled and said, "Since your Qi is getting in the way, you just need to use it all up!"

For some reason, a bad feeling welled up inside Randall when he heard that.

He asked tentatively, "So, the method would be...?"

Zephyr grinned, revealing stark white teeth, and said,

"Getting beaten up, of course!

You won't be allowed to use Armament Haki. You'll defend yourself with Qi instead. I'm sure it'll run out soon enough!

There's nothing a good beating can't solve!

And if there is, then make it two!"

Cold sweat beaded on Randall's forehead as he said,

"Instructor Zephyr, what a coincidence! I just thought of a great way to use up my Qi!

I'll go try it out first!"

With that, he made to run.

But how could his speed compare to Zephyr's?

Zephyr simply reached out and caught him as easily as grabbing a baby chick.

"No rush. Take your beating first!"