Blindfolded Observation Haki Training

"The sharpest 'eyes'?"

When Lorne heard those words, his distinctive beast ears twitched almost imperceptibly.

He raised his head, met the scrutiny and expectation in Zephyr's lone eye, and grinned, revealing a mouthful of gleaming white teeth.

"Sounds... kind of interesting."

There was not a trace of awe in that smile, only pure curiosity and an eagerness to fight.

Of course he knew what Zephyr meant.

Observation Haki, also called "Mantra," was an essential skill for the strong on the seas.

Sensing, predicting, detecting presences.

It was a concept he had known inside out in his previous life.

But he had to pretend he had never heard of it.

How could a boy raised on a small island in the East Blue by a former female Marine lieutenant commander know about an advanced technique that was only widespread in the New World?

He could not break character.

So Lorne put on just the right look of confusion, tilted his head, and asked, "Teacher, by 'eyes,' do you mean eyesight? My eyesight has always been good. I can make out the patterns on a seagull's wings from hundreds of meters away."

Watching his feigned innocence, Zephyr felt the vein that had only just subsided on his forehead threatening to bulge again.

"Idiot!"

He scolded him without mercy. "The 'eyes' I'm talking about have nothing to do with those two balls of flesh you use to look at things!"

"They're a higher level of perception! The true 'eyes' that let you stroll through a hail of bullets and seize that single chance of survival in an unpredictable future!"

"Oh, that." Lorne nodded in apparent realization, his smile widening. "Sounds much more interesting than Armament Haki. When do we start?"

Seeing his impatience, Zephyr found the worry brought on by the boy's monstrous talent inexplicably easing a little.

This kid was a pure battle maniac. He seemed utterly uninterested in anything other than getting stronger.

That... was fine, too.

"Tomorrow. Same place." Zephyr turned to leave after those words. "Go back and get some proper rest today. Don't go torturing yourself in the gravity chamber again! If I see you looking worn out tomorrow, I'll personally beat you until you're refreshed!"

"Yes, Teacher!" Lorne grinned and gave him a sloppy military salute.

The next day.

It was the same special training ground on the third underground floor, but the atmosphere was entirely different.

There was no clashing of metal, nor any heavy sounds of impact.

Zephyr handed Lorne a strip of black cloth.

"Put it on."

"Getting this wild, Teacher?" Lorne took the cloth and tossed it in his hand. Though he teased, his hands covered his eyes without hesitation.

Darkness descended instantly.

Deprived of his primary source of vision, Lorne's hearing and sense of smell were instantly amplified several times over.

He could hear Zephyr's steady breathing, smell the faint scent of gunpowder smoke and rust on him, and even feel the heat radiating from his body.

"Very good." Zephyr seemed pleased with his response. "Your physical instincts far exceed those of ordinary people. Those ears in particular let you adapt faster after losing your sight. But that's still not enough."

"Observation Haki is commonly called 'Mantra.' At its core, it's about sensing, about listening."

"Listening?" Lorne repeated.

"Yes, listening." Zephyr paced slowly. His footsteps echoed through the empty training ground, yet seemed to shift unpredictably between near and far. "Listening to the presence of all things. People, animals, even... inanimate objects."

"The reason you grasped the basics of Armament Haki so quickly is that your will is domineering enough and focused enough. You're accustomed to imposing your own strength on the world around you. But Observation Haki is precisely the opposite."

Zephyr's voice suddenly became elusive.

"It requires you to empty yourself and rein in that porcupine-like aggression of yours. You need to still your heart, like a calm lake, before you can clearly reflect everything around you."

"Now, try to sense where I am."

Lorne held his breath, his beast ears trembling rapidly as he tried to pinpoint Zephyr.

But he discovered that Zephyr's footsteps had vanished completely.

His breathing and heartbeat had disappeared, too.

It was as though the man had evaporated into thin air.

"Sense with your heart, not your ears!" Zephyr's icy voice seemed to come from every direction at once. "Your heart is too noisy, Lorne! Your fighting spirit, your arrogance, that boiling blood of yours-they're too loud! Loud enough to drown out everything around you!"

Lorne's brows knitted tightly.

He tried hard to calm his heart, but the more deliberately he tried, the more stray thoughts filled his mind.

Garp's iron fists, Ace's sour face, Luffy's goofy grin, and his own insatiable desire to fight churned like a pot of boiling water, impossible to still.

"Can't calm down?" Zephyr seemed to "see" his predicament, a hint of mockery entering his tone. "Looks like a beast that only knows how to charge headlong has finally found something it's no good at."

At the very instant Lorne's attention wavered.

A fierce rush of air struck from his left without warning!

Startled, Lorne jerked his head to the right, relying almost entirely on battle instincts honed through countless trials.

Smack!

With a light snap, Zephyr's palm skimmed past his cheek, the pressure of its passing wind making his skin sting slightly.

"Good reaction. But that's physical instinct, not Observation Haki." Having missed, Zephyr's voice drifted to another direction. "If you could 'hear' my intent to attack beforehand, you wouldn't even need to dodge, because I can easily change the trajectory of my attack."

"Again!"

Whoosh!

Another fierce rush of air, this time from behind him to the right!

Lorne sharply twisted at the waist and turned, barely evading it.

"Too slow!"

Thud!

With a dull impact, a knife-hand strike landed squarely on Lorne's back. He staggered, nearly falling.

"Your body can't keep up with my speed, Lorne." Zephyr's voice was ghostlike. "Against someone truly strong, your head will already be gone by the time you feel the wind. What you need to do is predict it the moment I 'think' of attacking you!"

After that, Lorne was forced entirely onto the defensive.

Zephyr's attacks were like phantoms, silent and soundless, coming from all sorts of unbelievable angles.

He was like a monkey being toyed with, barely dodging through his outstanding physique and combat instincts, yet taking more and more blows.

"Damn it!"

Frustration burned inside Lorne.

This feeling of having something in sight yet beyond reach, of having strength he could not use, was a hundred times worse than taking Garp's iron fists head-on during sparring!

Calm down... calm down...

He forced himself to stop resisting, letting Zephyr's punches and kicks land on his body.

He shifted all his attention away from physical confrontation and toward mental perception.

He began recalling the unique experiences his beast ears had given him.

In the jungle, he could hear the hissing of venomous snakes lurking in the grass ahead of time and distinguish the heartbeat rhythms of different wild beasts.

That feeling was not simply "hearing," but a more three-dimensional kind of "perception."

Yes! Perception!

Teacher Zephyr said Observation Haki was "Mantra"-a net of the mind.

Then my ears are the best receivers for that net!

Lorne's thoughts suddenly cleared.

He no longer insisted on entering that vague, elusive "sage-like" state of mind. That belonged to lazy fellows like Aokiji.

His path was the path of battle!

Even if he needed stillness, he would find that sliver of absolute tranquility amid the raging storm of combat!

"Hah..."

Lorne slowly exhaled a stale breath.