Chapter 121: Joint Training
Chapter 121: Joint Training
Even as Luffy dodged Haki-infused arrows, sending moderately powerful bolts of lightning back at the Kuja who’d shot them, he idly mused that he never thought he’d been playing Pretend Admiral. It made sense completely, of course. He was, by far and away, the closest stand-in they had for Borsalino, after all. He could come at least close to matching the Admiral’s speed and attacks with his Lightning, allowing the combined Kuja and Strawhat crew to practice ‘repelling attacks’ from him.
He wasn’t the only one that they did so against, of course. Nojiko could, at this point, come at least close to mimicking Kuzan’s general abilities with ice as well. Even if doing so at the same scale pushed her. Honestly, that fact was only a bonus, as it was forcing Nojiko to stretch her Devil Fruit’s brute power in a way she normally didn’t. Likewise, as far as others went, Yamato could mimic some of the Giant Admirals, and Zoro and Kuina could stand in for a few of the more famous swordsmen among the Marines.
Since arriving on Amazon Lily and working out how to handle joint training, they’d cycled who acted as an ‘assailant’ and who helped the defenders. Mostly, they’d been focusing on getting the Kuja Pirate Crew and the mid-tier Kuja who weren’t part of that crew, to work together with the slightly-less powerful members of Luffy’s own crew. Individuals like Perona, who could grant a major tactical advantage by forcing most fighters to dodge her Hollows, or Nojiko who could act as a very mobile shield. Working out tactics that could be deployed with each crewmate who was likely to be part of the general defense, as it were.
Which notably didn’t include Luffy, Yamato, Kuina or Zoro.
The four of them were the major ‘heavy hitters’ of their own crew. If they were called in to help defend their allies, they would likely be locked into one-on-one fights against enemy officers. Which wasn’t to say that they weren’t training among themselves. It was just that for the four of them, they were only really likely to fight alongside Hancock and her sisters. Possibly Ran, as well, who was the next-highest ranking member of the Kuja Pirates. Since the pirate crew made up the Elite of the Kuja in general, considering anyone outside of the Kuja officers was mostly pointless.
It was thus that most of their ‘joint training’ took the form of two-on-two or two-on-one skirmishes. It was unlikely that they’d get to gang up on targets more than that, so simply making sure they were familiar with each other’s basic combat styles was enough. At their level, specific team tactics weren’t that useful, leaving it mostly a case of ‘don’t get in each other’s way.’
As he dodged another volley of Haki arrows, he idly reflected that even just those spars/skirmishes had been…enlightening. Neither of Hancock’s sisters could legitimately match him or Yamato, though two on one they could give either of them some trouble. The Empress herself, though, had been a wake-up call, of sorts. Even excluding her bullshit Devil Fruit, the brutal truth was she was legitimately as tough an opponent as Borsalino. Probably. At least one on one. He and Yamato had tag teamed Borsalino, so it was a little hard to compare. Doubly so as they were considerably stronger now than they had been when they’d fought him.
In reality, even excluding her Devil Fruit, Luffy legitimately didn’t think he could have taken Hancock before training with Rayleigh for three months. Yamato might have been able to, possibly. At least if she didn’t get caught by Boa’s Devil Fruit at the wrong moment. Even now, after they’d both gained so much with over a year of intense training, she could keep up with them. He was fairly sure in an all-out-fight, he or Yamato would best her now. But it would be close, and he wasn’t actually certain.
It was an unpleasant reminder that, no matter how dangerous the World Government and its minions were, there remained other powers that were just as potentially lethal to them. Hancock admitted, privately, that she genuinely didn’t know where she stacked up against any of the current Yonko. She’d avoided any direct confrontations with them, and the Kuja crew as a whole didn’t venture too often into the New World. She did have enough familiarity with New World strengths to give them a good idea where they stood, at least.
Thankfully, she currently rated them at a level similar in strength to the various Yonko’s top officers, a few of which from the Beast Pirates and Big Mom pirates she had clashed with. It was a relief to know that, while there were still major dangers out there, he and Yamato were at least within shouting distance of the top of the food chain. Well, the known top of the food chain at least.
Rayliegh, when he’d eventually explained what he knew about the God’s Knights, had flat out told them that Luffy and Yamato would need to work together to take one down, even as they were after he’d finished with their Hell Training months. Though if Luffy could finish refining his Awakened state, he’d admitted that would likely let him take one of them on one-on-one, with the Elders also being on a similar level. According to Rayleigh, the Elders were technically more powerful, but rarely saw direct combat, meaning the God’s Knights tended to make up that power gap with experience.
Jerking in surprise as his Observation warned him he needed to move, Luffy just barely got clear of an arrow that was far sharper than it should have been and laced with more than just Haki. Ah, his opponents were trying something more clever than just arrows now, after luring him into a false sense of security. Unless he missed his guess, Kaya must be with this group, this time. That arrow had been invisible and coated in spiritual energy instead of Haki. Not to mention he hadn’t sensed the source, and only Kaya could hide from his Haki like that.
Time to get a little bit more serious, in that case…
… … …
Luffy grimaced as he felt his careful mix of Haki and Spiritual Energy fight the power of Hancock’s Devil Fruit. It was something they’d needed to test, if they were going to fight together at any point, and the first attempt had been unpleasant. As in, he’d failed to resist being turned to stone at all, and there’d just been a blank for a minute or two before she’d reversed her power. He had not liked the fact that he’d been vulnerable to something like that. Less because of Hancock herself, who was steadily becoming more than just an ally, and more because of what it implied about other Devil Fruits with similar effects. He had, in fact, exhaustively gone over all the Devil Fruits his System provided summaries of after his fuck up in not realizing the Gomu Gomu no Mi was actually the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika.
The results of his research had honestly been fairly thoroughly horrifying.
Things like the Hobi Hobi no Mi were a special sort of nightmare fuel, given that it could apparently not just turn you into a toy and mind control you, but also erase any memory you’d existed in the first place from others. Nor was it the only example of something arguably far worse than Hancock’s own fruit. Big Mom’s Soru Soru no Mi was disturbing enough on its own, but going over the other Devil Fruits known to be associated with her crew had been just as alarming. The ability to wring all liquid out of a living person, memory alteration, and more. All in the hands of a crew of deranged psychopaths as far as Luffy could tell. Nor were their fruits even remotely the end of the list. Frankly, Luffy didn’t like thinking about some of the ones he’d read about and marked as particularly dangerous, and did his best not to dwell on them.
It had, however, driven him to try finding a solution, which meant experimenting with the one Devil Fruit in allied hands that fell into much the same category. Thankfully, after that first failed attempt, there had been progress. Specifically, Kaya had been observing and had taken note that the hooks for those types of Devil Fruit abilities seemed to be latching onto a person’s Spirit. Which is why Haki, which was a subset ability focused on Will rather than the Spirit as a while, offered little protection from Devil Fruit abilities like Hancock’s. She might well not have made the leap of logic and observation if not for the way they’d tracked down Vader Decken, but she had, and that had made all the difference.
It had taken a lot of careful observation and even more careful experimentation, but they’d eventually figured out how to take principles from Haki Infusion in order to add raw spiritual energy to Armament Haki. Now, Luffy had just effectively ‘walked off’ getting hit by Hancock’s beam, with little more than an unpleasant stiffness that lasted for a few seconds. Shaking his head as he sped that up, purging the last of the effects with a manipulation of his internal spiritual energy, he spoke up.
“That was still unpleasant, and it’s going to take serious work to make it a reflex. It’s proof of concept, though. Even if I think only seven of the crew will be able to learn it.”
Hancock, looking a bit incredulous, muttered ‘only seven, he says,’ which caused Luffy’s lips to twitch. Though her next question was one that made him wince.
“Can you teach me how to do this? Obviously, I don’t need protection from my own Fruit, but there are others out there with effects that are concerning, and Haki is known to be an unpredictable defense against some of them. Big Mom’s Devil Fruit, just for starters.”
Thankfully for Luffy, Kaya was the one to answer, with a considering look.
“I’m not sure we could teach just anybody. They need at least some measure of Spiritual Sensitivity. Yet, I’d wager we might be able to teach you specifically enough to defend yourself, by using the feel of your own Devil Fruit as a shortcut.”
Luffy blinked, then frowned as he thought that over. Slowly, he nodded.
“There has to be some level of feedback, doesn’t there? Just like Robin and her body parts. Hancock, can you feel the people you’ve turned into statues?”
The Empress blinked, pursing her lips to consider that question, before nodding slowly.
“I’ve never thought about it before, simply attributing it to my Haki and the knowledge they were technically still alive, but yes. I do get a general sense of those frozen, until they are shattered at least.”
Well, that was both disturbing and potentially promising.
“In that case, Kaya might be right. It’s possible we can work backwards from that feeling to gaining some general awareness. Enough to defend against similar vectors of attack, at least. I assume you’re going to want that to be a major focus for training with us, going forward?”
The Pirate Empress’s nod at that was firm, just as expected. Well, that was fair enough, since he intended to use her Devil Fruit to train those of his crew that could learn the trick to resist such influence. This way, both sides would be getting something out of the exchange…
… … …
Luffy watched with a critical eye as Kuina and Zoro dueled the hybrid forms of Marigold and Sandersonia. The two pairs had become a routine match up, as they were fairly evenly matched in both teamwork and raw power. Despite the Hell Training Rayliegh had put them all through to improve their Haki, the Boa sisters were still the more skilled with Armament and Observation. The pair of them had been using Haki since they were children, after all. On the flip side, Kuina and Zoro had reached the point where they edged the sisters out in raw skill, making the overall matchup one that routinely went either way. That said…
“I think this is paying off for your sisters quite well. They’ve been noticeably improving, enough to keep up with Kuina and Zoro’s own ridiculous growth rates.”
Hancock hummed next to him, nodding with a satisfied look on her face.
“Yes. I hadn’t realized how much having no other strong opponents, aside from me, to properly train against had caused them to plateau. The various matchups have pushed them in new ways. This joint training was unquestionably a good idea. Enough so that I may try to schedule one with Fishman Island as well.”
Luffy nodded at that, even as he looked over a handful of other pairings. Sanji was being forced by Hina to at least defend himself from a group of Kuja, the blonde still having some lingering issues with his ability to fight women. Though he’d gotten at least somewhat better under Hina’s influence. Ran was dueling at range with Usopp…and Usopp was legitimately struggling. Ran was next in line for skill and power after the sisters on the Kuja crew, so even restricting herself to her arrows and snake-bow, she was making Usopp work to hit her. Something he wasn’t used to, with very few people normally being able to compete with him at mid-to-long range. Other pairs were scattered around, some working with Kuja Pirates, others dueling against them, all working out kinks and stretching their abilities.
“Not a bad idea, though I’m unsure how many truly strong fighters Neptune can field at this point. Jinbe would come, of course, and if he brought the rest of the Sun Pirates it would be a decent combined showing. I wasn’t overly impressed with any of the King’s actual army, though, or the Royal family either. Neptune was clearly a powerful fighter once, but has declined. Fukaboshi showed signs of basic Haki, too. But aside from him…”
Hancock responded with a nod of her own, obviously having noticed the same thing. If not for the physical power and speed that most fishmen and mermaids had, Fishman Island would blatantly be the weakest link in their little alliance. As it was, that greater physical power, raw numbers, and Fishman Karate being a force multiplier in the water let them hold their own.
“Any worthwhile training would have to be held down in their territory. That might not be a bad idea anyway, given we might have to fight there if they summon us for aid.”
Ah, she did have a point, actually. He might need to consider setting up at least some basic training exercises with them as well so his crew could fight under those conditions better. He said as much, getting a smirk from Hancock as he acceded it was a good idea, and they moved on to discussing who to pair up for the next round. She had a good eye for possible pairings, while Luffy had a better one for spotting new ways individuals could leverage existing talents. Together, they were seeing more progress than expected, and both fully intended to make use of the gains to strengthen both their crews and the Alliance as a whole…
… … …
The island shook as Shichiseiken clashed directly with Salome, deflecting the large Haki-infused snake as Handcock whipped him around like a giant urumi of all things. Luffy was barely familiar with that style of weapon, having only ever looked into it as a possible replacement for Vivi’s Peacock slashers, which neither he nor Vivi were truly happy with. They’d given up on the idea at the simple realization that they had no idea how to train her to use the exotic whip-swords. Something Luffy was forced to reevaluate now, as Hancock engaged, using both Salome’s tail and head as if they were two separate urumi.
Frankly, until this clash, he hadn’t even known she actually used her overlarge snake companion like a weapon, as many Kuja did.
Something he was now realizing was because she very rarely needed to. All their previous exchanges had been under restricted conditions, not wanting to destroy their environment. This time, however, they’d moved the entire fight to the far side of Sixis. It was a section of the island well away from the Strawhat Base here that had been selected early on for ‘serious sparring between Luffy and Yamato.’ Something that had expanded later to also include Zoro and Kuina when they started developing their new styles. To say that the area was already devastated was a horrific understatement, making it a good place to take a fight when he and Hancock had decided they wanted to genuinely see who was stronger.
So far, Luffy’s expectations had been utterly shattered.
He’d known that, out of the seven warlords, there had truly only been four that were genuinely the sorts of monsters that had given the group its reputation. Crocodile, Moria, and Kuma had been the lower rung of the Warlords, in that specific order. Of the others, the truth was that no one knew who was the strongest. Mihawk had, until his loss to Shanks just before the Whitebeard War, been the one considered to be at the ‘top.’ But even that had been mostly a guess, with Doflamingo, Jinbe, and Hancock herself known to each be powerful enough to make it genuinely difficult to determine any sort of standings. Luffy had been fully aware that they’d gotten insanely lucky, killing Doflamingo the way they did, given both what he’d already known of the man then and what he’d found out since.
Even so, until this fight Luffy hadn’t quite thought Hancock was on Jinbe and Mihawk’s level. He’d known she was strong, able to go head-to-head with either himself or Yamato in their spars until now. But there was a big difference in doing so in a place where they were both trying not to break their surroundings and fighting somewhere that didn’t matter. Something he’d discovered when, after he’d managed to more-or-less best her in an initial hand-to-hand exchange using his Stormtiger form, she’d broken out Salome and proven she was a bloody Boss Battle with multiple stages!
Now, even with Shichiseiken, he was genuinely unsure how the hell this was going to end. While his blade had serious powers of its own, it turned out that the bloody snake could use Haki on its own. Meaning that it was effectively doubling down with its own Haki and Hancock’s layers on top of it. He’d made the mistake of trying to block without Haki just once, and had felt the risk of Shichiseiken breaking!
Now, as they pushed away from each other, both breathing heavily, with wild grins on their faces…Luffy had no fucking clue which of them was going to come out on top. He had more power than her and a greater variety of tricks, but between her and the snake they had a deeper pool of Haki to call on. Plus he’d never fought anything quite like the ‘swords’ she was turning the snake into. Add in the fact that any mistake on his part was punished with a blow that carried her Devil Fruit power, taking deep chunks out of his spiritual energy reserves to shield from being turn to stone? There was a very good chance she could outlast him.
Not to mention her clothes were pretty much a wreck at this point, which was very distracting.
Pushing that thought aside, again, he launched himself at her just as she did the same. Another shockwave rolled over the island, and this time it didn’t stop, dozens more bursting out from between them as fist, sword, foot, and snake all impacted each other again and again. Luffy pressed hard, doubling down as he decided it was now or never. Dipping just a little into his Awakened state, which he’d only just recently gotten reliable and partial control over, he pushed Hancock hard with the extra power. He could see it in her body language, the moment she realized something had changed, but he also could read that she wasn’t going to back down.
That was fine with him. Time to see for sure which of them was stronger. Hopefully, they didn’t kill each other in the process…
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It was half an hour later when a barely conscious Luffy stared down at a nude and battered Boa Hancock, too tired even to appreciate the view. Knowing he’d only just barely eked out a win, he stumbled over to her, his own clothes barely hanging on, and pulled a blanket out from his Inventory. He collapsed next to her and threw it over the both of them. The part of him that was still vaguely thinking clearly was sure whichever one of them woke up first was probably going to be embarrassed as hell by their position. The rest of him had no fucks at all left to give as Hancock instinctively curled into his warmth and the healing energy he was radiating blindly off his body with the last of his strength.
Given the last thing he saw before he passed out was the dazed-but-awake eyes of Salome looking over them both, he wasn’t even sure this counted as a win for him. The snake could probably have finished him off, if it hadn’t stopped fighting when Hancock finally went down…
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A/N 1: So, I kinda consider it bullshit that there isn't a way to block some Devil Fruit effects. It kinda seems like Haki ought to do it, but there's clear evidence that it doesn't in some cases. Like with Hancock or Sugar. I took advantage of the fact I've fleshed out the underlying system of how the world works to let them create something that will do the job, though only some of the crew will be able to use it. Nor will it be easy to learn or cheap to use.
A/N 2: Hancock's strength. I looked into this and was legitimately as surprised as Luffy. Even Blackbeard, POST timeskip Blackbeard, takes her dead seriously when he normally fucks around and underestimates people. She gave him an extremely serious fight too. Implying she's legitimately somewhere close to Yonko level and just never pushed to be one. As such, she serves as a good measuring stick here. Luffy isn't QUITE to the point where he could handle any of the Yonko one on one, but he's closing in on being able to take on Big Mom or Kaidou.