A cold stillness filled the conference room on the Steel Club's top floor. Heavy curtains hung down, filtering the sunlight outside into soft, dusky beams.
A handsome young man in a white waiter's uniform gently pushed a half-filled cup of tea toward the burly man seated in the guest's chair.
"Mr. Cai, please wait a moment. Lord Boer will be here shortly." The young waiter's voice was mild. After speaking, he bent forward at precisely fifteen degrees in an impeccable bow, then retreated soundlessly and gently closed the soundproof door, cutting off all sound between the room and the outside.
Caiyi was left alone in the room. The powerfully built Happo Navy pillar from the Flower Country wore a slightly tight martial arts uniform, with bronze skin and a body full of sturdy muscles. His thick fingers rubbed the warm porcelain cup, and he looked somewhat restless.
"Honestly, that old man," he muttered under his breath. "He rushed off without leaving much in the way of instructions. Normally, with young Boer's physique, he should have met the requirements for awakening Armament Haki long ago... But when I awakened mine, the old man pinned me down and beat me within an inch of my life. I literally got it beaten into me!" The muscles in Caiyi's rugged face twitched as he recalled those days he "couldn't bear to look back on."
"How am I supposed to teach that? How do I even explain it? Do I just tell Boer, 'Boer, hold still. Let me string you up and beat you a few more times, and you'll get it'?" Just imagining the scene sent a chill through Caiyi. He quickly shook his short, stiff, hedgehog-like hair, banishing that dangerous thought.
Just then, an extremely faint, almost imperceptible hum of air came from