Chapter 40: The Spirit of a King
Two days later.
It was night.
On the deck of the ship, under the pale moonlight, Mio stood blindfolded, facing Erica. Their silhouettes shifted rapidly with each motion, feet sliding across the wooden planks. Neither of them held weapons—this was pure hand-to-hand training.
Erica lunged forward with a punch. Mio instinctively turned his head, narrowly avoiding the blow. But before he could react again, her second strike landed squarely in his abdomen.
"Ugh..." Mio groaned, his breath forced from his lungs as he stumbled back a step.
After several days of training, he had made some progress in Observation Haki. But it was still far from mastery. At best, it activated only occasionally, and even then, luck played a large part. Becoming proficient would take time—and more beatings.
Luckily, time was something Mio had plenty of while at sea. Sometimes they'd sail for ten or even fifteen days without encountering an island. That downtime was perfect for training and wouldn't hinder their journey.
"Huff..."
Their sparring continued under the starlit sky. More often than not, Mio ended up on the losing end, battered and bruised. But this was the nature of Observation Haki. One had to be hit, over and over again, until their senses sharpened enough to detect and dodge incoming attacks naturally.
Of course, there might be other training methods. On Skypiea, for instance, the "Mantra" or Heart Net technique allowed even untrained residents to develop Observation Haki on their own. But that was 108,000 miles away. Here and now, Mio had to rely on the technique he'd obtained and Erica's cooperation.
An hour later...