He listened to the sea breeze blowing around him, the waves crashing, and the Sea King roaring.
Suddenly.
Ages felt as though the world had fallen silent, as though everything had slowed to a crawl, countless times slower than before. His heart, too, grew as calm as a still lake.
"Phew..."
Ages breathed slowly and listened.
All at once!
Ages felt as though everything around him had come alive. The sea breeze, the waves, the seawater... all of them gave off a "sound" that ordinary people could not perceive.
It was a sound Ages had never been able to sense before.
Ages's face was calm as still water as he murmured.
"Is this the sound Pops was talking about?"
As Ages's words fell, a brilliant light flashed through his eyes!!
Observation Haki awakened!!
The corners of Ages's mouth rose. He could feel that, even with his eyes closed, he could now sense the movements of everything around him.
"Phew..."
Ages let out another deep breath.
Then he returned the katana in his hand to its sheath and assumed a stance to draw it.
Roar!!
The Sea King roared as it charged at him.
As the Sea King was about to reach Ages, he moved, having stood motionless in his sword-drawing stance until then.
Ages burst forward.
A faint glimmer flashed.
The Sea King and Ages passed each other...
Behind the Sea King, Ages remained in the same stance, except that he was no longer poised to draw his sword. Instead, he was slowly sheathing it.
The Sea King was just as motionless, like an entirely different creature from the one that had been raging a moment ago.
Click...
As Ages slid the katana fully into its sheath with a faint click.
"One flash!"
Roar!!
Pfft!!
As the click sounded, the Sea King roared, its head splitting open at the center of its brow. A column of blood spurted skyward.
Crack...
The sound of bones tearing apart rang out...
The Sea King's head split in two, and its enormous body crashed down onto the sea, sending countless sprays and waves into the air.
Ages turned to look at the thoroughly dead Sea King, a smile playing on his lips as he murmured.
"Mission complete."
As evening came, a veil of red gradually spread across the azure sky, and night slowly descended.
Ages had just completed his task for the day and was heading toward Zephyr's private training ground.
When Ages saw that Zephyr was already waiting at the training ground, he hurried over and told him what had happened that day.
After listening to Ages's account, Zephyr's eyes widened, his face filled with shock.
"Ages, I never expected you to awaken Observation Haki. Incredible."
"I thought it would take you a long time to awaken it."
Zephyr was filled with emotion. What kind of monster had he taken on as a student? He was even more monstrous than Sakazuki and the other two!
"Hehe, so that's what Observation Haki is. I never thought I'd awaken Haki before even learning the Six Powers."
Ages spoke in amazement after learning that the reason he had been able to sense the "sounds" of all things and slay the turtle-shaped Sea King with skin as hard as steel was that he had awakened Observation Haki.
Ages did not know that he had just become even more important in Zephyr's eyes...
After marveling over it, Zephyr cleared his throat, composed himself, and spoke.
"By the way, let's test your Doriki Value today."
Then Zephyr held out his palm to receive Ages's punch, just as he always did.
Ages nodded, stepped back several paces, and closed his eyes.
"Phew..."
The instant Ages breathed out!
"Hah!"
Ages's eyes snapped open, and an aura as sharp as a blade erupted from him. He clenched his hand into a fist and punched at Zephyr.
Boom!
When Ages's fist struck Zephyr's palm, rings of force spread outward from the point of impact, instantly sending dust flying...
Clap! Clap! Clap...
Zephyr clapped his hands, his eyes full of satisfaction and admiration, and burst into hearty laughter.
"Hahaha, Ages, congratulations on reaching 500 Doriki!"
At those words, Ages's face filled with wild joy, and he spoke eagerly.
"Teacher Zephyr, hurry and teach me the Navy. I can't wait anymore."
Zephyr nodded with a smile.
"Ages, tomorrow I'll start teaching you Soru, one of the Six Powers. First, I'll explain exactly how it works."
"The principle behind Soru is to kick off the ground more than ten times in an instant-0.36 seconds-and use the explosive speed generated by the reaction force to move, too fast for the naked eye to see."
Zephyr patiently explained it to Ages...
Winter passed and spring came, and time flew by.
Another year later...
Somewhere on the Grand Line...
The blue sea had long since been dyed bright red with blood, gleaming a vivid crimson under the sunlight...
More than a dozen enormous Sea King corpses floated on the blood-red water.
Strangely, every one of the Sea King corpses had been cut in half, and the cuts were smooth and even.
Above the sea stained with the Sea Kings' blood stood a twelve-year-old boy with delicate features, dressed in a Navy uniform and wearing a katana at his waist.
The boy was leisurely reading a newspaper dropped by a News Coo, murmuring to himself.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Sengoku really did become Fleet Admiral after all, and Kuzan, Sakazuki, and Borsalino all became Admirals too. What a shame. If only I'd been born a few years earlier."
The complaining boy was none other than Ages, who dreamed of becoming Fleet Admiral.
After complaining, Ages glanced at the sea where more than a dozen Sea Kings floated and spoke.
"Forget it. I'd better finish today's training task first. Looks like I still have to kill ten more Sea Kings"...
(P.S. Please send flowers, tips, favorites, ten-point ratings, monthly votes-I'm begging for everything, begging on my knees through tears.)