One Piece: I Am King Luffy

"Luffy, focus when you're studying! Otherwise, you won't even be able to read a newspaper properly!"

Uta grabbed Luffy's cheeks and stretched them to the sides.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch..."

Luffy didn't have the Gum-Gum Fruit to numb the pain, so he cradled his chubby face in distress.

"Uta, are you sleepy?"Luffy asked.

She shook her head blankly. "Not really, I'm not that tired."

"Well, when you do get sleepy, make sure to tell me!" Luffy said seriously.

"Why?"Uta tilted her head in confusion—looking a little cute.

"Because I want to use my Conqueror's Haki!"

Luffy spoke as if it were obvious.

"Just think about it. Having a superpower and not being able to use it—how frustrating is that?"

"Besides, my Conqueror's Haki just awakened. I need to train it a lot to master it."

After thinking for a moment, Uta realized why Luffy had asked if she was sleepy.

On this pirate ship, she was the only one affected by Luffy's Conqueror's Haki.

If she were about to sleep, the Haki would have no effect on her—if anything, it would help her fall asleep faster.

"Luffy, you're so sneaky!"

Uta puffed up her cheeks angrily.

"I can't help it! I'm so uncomfortable holding it in!" Luffy whined, rolling around on the ground beside Uta, making her speechless.

"Really that bad?"

Uta bit her lip.

Luffy nodded frantically.

"Superpowers and stuff are hard for me to imagine... but... that time we ran into those two mountain bandits, you used Conqueror's Haki too, didn't you?" Uta gave him a helpless look.

"My memory is a bit hazy…" she thought. Did Luffy save me back then?

She strained to recall what happened.

She remembered encountering the bandits with Luffy, then him saying something... and then everything went black until she woke up the next morning.

"Yep, and then Shanks showed up and took care of the bandits," Luffy filled in the blanks.

"So that's what happened. Luffy protected me... but I also saved you once. I guess we're even now." Uta looked a little disappointed.

I'm supposed to be the big sister, yet I was saved by my little brother who's two years younger…

The power hidden inside her—Haki?

Usually uninterested in combat, Uta seriously began thinking about Haki.

She glanced over at Luffy rolling around on the floor. "You really leave me no choice. Alright, I'll get ready for bed, Luffy."

Uta pulled Luffy up from the floor, shoved him outside, changed into her pajamas, and curled up under the blanket.

"I'm ready, Luffy."

"Here I come!" Luffy's eyes lit up—Conqueror's Haki, activate!

A gust of wind swept across the sea.

"Whoa, Conqueror's Haki!"

"Whose is it?!"

On Shanks' ship, the pirates were in an uproar. Moments later, they burst into the room and found Luffy grinning from ear to ear.

"Luffy, didn't we agree that you wouldn't use that power until you could control it?" Shanks said as he picked him up.

"Uta was going to sleep, and I used it to help her sleep better. It's fine!" Luffy was prepared for this.

"Hey, look! Tons of fish are floating belly-up!" one pirate pointed out.

"Start hauling them in!" the crew jumped into small boats and began collecting the stunned sea life.

"Whoa, Conqueror's Haki can be used to fish too?" Luffy was shocked.

After a good night's sleep, Uta woke up in her bed to find Luffy already waiting by her bedside.

"Luffy! What are you doing at my bedside?!"

"Good morning, Uta! Want to go back to sleep for a bit?"

"…!"

Uta was speechless. Remembering what happened the night before, she realized Luffy had knocked her out with Haki again.

She guessed his intentions right away. "You're trying to use Conqueror's Haki again, aren't you?!" she thumped his head.

"Go away! I'm changing!"

"Beckman, I want to learn Haki too!"Uta said during breakfast.

"Oh? What made you think of that?" Beckman asked, surprised.

Uta usually had no interest in combat training. As the crew's musician, she wasn't expected to fight. The pirates were confident they could protect her.

"I just want some ability to protect myself," she explained.

"Awakening Haki isn't easy," Beckman said, glancing at Luffy—clearly suspecting he was the reason behind her change.

Still, he started explaining Haki to them:

"Haki is a latent power that everyone possesses. It's a natural ability that stems from presence, killing intent, and the spirit of battle.Most people go their whole lives without ever realizing or using it."

Observation Haki allows you to sense another's presence, their location and actions, even beyond your field of vision.Armament Haki strengthens defense like an invisible armor, and can evolve into a powerful offensive weapon.

Luffy listened intently as Beckman explained Haki training methods.

Sensing Haki within the body is extremely difficult. Most strong individuals naturally activate it through intense physical training.

That's how "wild-type" fighters awaken Haki.

Once these veterans understand it, they pass it on to others—making training far easier. That's how places like Amazon Lily ended up with entire populations who can use Haki.

After the explanation, Luffy went to train—physical conditioning first, then practice in the shooting range.

Uta, however, was much more lost. She tried to quiet her mind and sense the "energy" in her body—but failed.

"Luffy... am I a little stupid?"

She sat by the door to the shooting range, listening to the gunfire, feeling discouraged.

"Why would you say that?"

Luffy paused, surprised by her question. He walked over to sit beside her, still smelling like gunpowder.

"Because... I can't beat you at chess, I can't help in a crisis, and now I can't even learn Haki…"

Uta buried her head in her arms, nose twitching.

Luffy didn't really understand this kind of emotion. In his view, losing a game didn't mean you were dumb. As for Haki—most pirates in the first half of the Grand Line didn't even know it existed.

Not knowing Haki was totally normal—and besides, Uta hadn't even started physical training yet.

(End of Chapter)