Chapter 46: End of the trip
Dragon sat on a cloud of wind, observing the Island. It had been 3 months since Dragon left them all stranded on the island, so imagine his shock when he came back to check on them and discover they had all learnt Haki.
It was truly amazing how they all managed to learn such an important power in such a short timeframe. Then again, he guessed that's what this island did to you when you were pushed to the extremes everyday.
When he originally took them to the Island, he had a plan in mind. These beasts were dangerous with their superior physical abilities and instincts, so they would be forced to adapt to the current situation and experience a breakthrough or die somewhere along the way.
If attacked, then they needed to dodge. If they couldn't dodge, then they needed to endure. It was the perfect way to awaken and train both types of Haki.
There was no use for blindfolds, it was just counter productive. Observation Haki needed to work with all of your senses, including your sight, so awakening it by blocking your sight was a big no. He learnt that the hard way, instinctively closing his eyes when he used observation haki for some time.
It pained him to even think about it, but if they couldn't survive this, then they surely wouldn't survive the challenges they would face in the future. It was better to let them die now if they couldn't do this.
In the event one of them did die, he would use their deaths not as a setback, but as motivation for the others to get stronger. He had grown fond of the kids, but if he could use the death of one pawn to promote 2 others, then he would.
He shook his head, it was a bad analogy. He didn't see his members as pawns but like actual people, but in the event any of his people died, he would use it to his advantage.
When Dragon watched the group momentarily team up to get out of a sticky situation he silently praised their group for their intellect and humbleness.
His already looming smile widened when they decided to split off and venture on their own. If they stayed together then the chances they would have awakened haki in a couple months would have been reduced to zero.
August had the worst by far. While the other two quickly found areas of shelter and much safer environments to start in, August wasn't so lucky.
His heart ached, he wanted nothing more than to step in and help his student, but he stopped himself before he would regret the action.
Dragon was putting many of his eggs in one basket and the possibility of the basket being destroyed any moment gave him some anxiety, but only with high risk came high reward, and he could clearly see the rewards.
He abstained from doing anything, and the rewards paid off. August fought through his challenging position and managed to learn Haki in only a month. It was awakened during his flight with the Dragon, something he was lucky to witness in this monthly checkup.
Liam and Sabo quickly followed roughly one month later, awakening both types of Haki. Liam, who Dragon had given the Cut-Cut fruit recently saw many improvements in his swordsmanship.
With the addition of Haki he had become much more of a threat to his future enemies.
Sabo spent his time utilising his Ryusoken to pass the defences of the durable creatures he faced. Now that he had awakened Haki, his claws became much more lethal.
After only 3 months, all 3 of them had managed to take a huge leap in strength. Now the World Government would finally see them for the threats they are if they shared more than one brain between them.
The time until they declared war decreased day by day, and this only sped it up.
It was only a matter of time.
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"Centre of the Island, 12pm" August read the note which he recognised was his teacher's handwriting before turning it to dust.
'Looks like training is done.'
Ever since he awakened Haki in his infamous fight with the Dragon, he spent the rest of his stay on the Island training his Haki to a credible degree as well as learning to incorporate it into his fighting style.
He had to stay, hitting someone with a Shatter enhanced Haki coated fist was great.
Aside from that, his control over the Shatter-Shatter fruit had improvised, but the thing that stood out the most to him was his body.
As the hard days passed, he slowly found his physical strength and stamina increasing by leaps and bounds. If the current August fought Lucci or Crocodile now, he believed they would have no chance. All of his underlying problems in his last fight were removed, and he was much stronger because of it.
"Looks like I'm going back." He smiled thinking about his friends, he wondered how they were doing and how much they progressed.
His Observation Haki sensed something, and a moment later a Lion made its way out of the bushes with a loud growl.
A couple of months ago this Lion would have posed a threat, but now all it was just a minor convenience to August.
He narrowed his eyes, glaring at the Lion with an intimidating look. Sweat trickled down it's forehead as it began whimpering on the spot.
August looked away, allowing the Lion to scamper off.
Looking at the position of the sun he said, "It should be around early morning, let's get there soon."
After a few hours of running through the all too familiar terrain, he finally saw both Liam and Sabo for what seemed like the first time in years.
They glanced at each other, sharing a knowing look as they prepared for battle.
August fist turned black, the same with Liam's scissor blade and Sabo's claws.
And with that, they closed the distance until they were metres apart.
*BOOOOOM*
An unholy sound resounded through the air as each of their attacks clashed. Now closer to each other, they looked at eachother again and shared a smile between them.
After a moment, they each withdrew their attacks as their respective weapons lost their black hue.
"Looks like you've gotten stronger." August pointed out, breaking the silence between them.
"I could say the same to you." Both Sabo and Liam said.
The three of them sat down and began talking about their experiences the past month. All their fights, hardships, and experiences were shared as each of them were glad to speak to someone who had been through similar trials.
One thing they all knew for certain was that they were much stronger.
"I see you're all doing ok." Dragon appeared above the group, floating on a platform of wind. He observed each of them, and if August wasn't mistaken he saw the hint of a smirk on his face.
August sent a burst of King's Haki directly at Dragon, prompting him to raise an eyebrow.
"Hm?" Dragon sent a questioning gaze towards August, shrugging the attack off like it wasnt there. "What was that for?"
"Maybe for throwing us on an Island full of monsters for 3 months without any warning! We could have died any second!" Liam exclaimed.
Summoning a Dragon made of wind he said, "Well you survived didn't you? It paid off in the end. Get on…"
"We're going back to Baltigo."
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Question: Do you guys think Marco could go toe to toe with the Admirals after seeing his performance at Wano?
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