In the days that followed, Gern began his first Haki training under the alternating tutelage of Zephyr and Garp...
At 3:50 AM, Marineford’s port was still shrouded in deep darkness.
Gern stood on the warship’s deck, his hands and feet bound by heavy chains, the cold metal pressed tightly against his skin.
The sea breeze carried a salty smell, and a faint glimmer of light appeared on the distant horizon—the boundary of the Calm Belt.
“Scared, kid?” Garp, chewing on a large meat bun, asked indistinctly beside him.
“Scared?” Gern twitched his mouth. “I’m afraid you won’t be able to keep up with me later.”
“Hahaha!” Garp burst into laughter, slapping him on the back so hard it nearly sent him into the sea. “That’s spirit! Then let’s go straight to high intensity!”
“I’m used to high intensity, but why do I have to wear chains for running? This is just…”
“Because now is the real objective!” Before he finished speaking, Garp suddenly yanked Gern’s chains, flinging him violently towards the sea like a sandbag!
“Splash!” The cold seawater instantly submerged Gern’s head.
The suppression of the seawater made it almost impossible for him to activate his Devil Fruit ability; his limbs felt as heavy as if filled with lead.
“Didn’t you say we were running?!” He struggled to surface, gasping for air, only to hear Garp roaring from the ship’s bow:
“I don’t like wasting time. You’ve been training for a while now.
If you can demonstrate Armament Haki now, I’ll pull you up. If not… then you’ll be fed to the Sea Kings!”
“Damn it…” Gern gritted his teeth, starting to paddle desperately.
However, Devil Fruit users truly cannot resist the sea.
Ten minutes later, Gern felt his muscles weakening and his breathing becoming rapid.
Just then, a massive shadow suddenly emerged from beneath the sea.
Gern’s pupils sharply contracted. It was a Sea King, its size comparable to a warship, slowly approaching him!
“Hey! Vice Admiral Garp!!” He suddenly looked up at the warship, only to find Garp leisurely pouring something into the sea.
Blood.
A thick smell of blood instantly spread, the Sea King’s eyes turned crimson, and it suddenly accelerated its charge!
“Damn it!!” Gern cursed loudly. The Sea King’s massive maw was already open, its fangs menacing, and a putrid smell assaulted him.
Death was imminent.
At the critical moment, a searing power erupted from within him. Dark red Armament Haki coiled around his legs like flames!
The Sea King’s sharp teeth bit down hard, but it was like biting steel, producing a grating metallic sound!
“Oh?” Garp raised an eyebrow, a grin spreading across his face. “So you can use it after all!”
With that, Garp leaped off the warship, punched the Sea King away, then picked up the half-dead Gern, laughing as he shouted to the recording officer:
“Write this down! This kid awakened Armament Haki in 17 days, 2 hours faster than Kuzan!”
“Throwing a Devil Fruit user into the sea, Vice Admiral Garp, isn’t that wrong?!” Gern lay sprawled on the deck, soaked and gasping for breath.
“You’ll end up in a court-martial like this! I’m going to complain to Vice Admiral Sengoku!”
“Heh heh, you’ve already awakened Armament Haki.” Garp squatted down, patting his face. “So don’t waste time, okay~”
Gern: “.......”
........
The scorching sun beat down on the training ground of the volcanic island.
Gern, shirtless, his muscles taut, pressed his hands against a ten-ton granite boulder, attempting to push it up a steep slope.
Sweat rolled down his back, evaporating into white mist on the hot rock.
“Too slow!” Garp stood at the top of the mountain, a blade of grass in his mouth, shouting impatiently, “Where’s your Haki? Use it!”
Gern gritted his teeth, trying to coat his arms with Armament Haki, but the newly awakened Haki was extremely unstable, fluctuating in strength.
The weight of the rock nearly crushed his spine, and his knees trembled from the exertion.
Just then, a whistling sound cut through the air.
“Bang!!” A cannonball accurately struck the rock, and the explosion’s shockwave directly sent Gern flying!
“Cough!” He crashed heavily to the ground, his chest tight, a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth.
“Unacceptable!” Garp instantly appeared before him, his fist wrapped in black Armament Haki. “What kind of special training is it if your bones aren’t completely broken? Again!”
“Boom!” Another punch, and Gern was embedded in the rock wall, shattered stones flying.
He coughed up a mouthful of blood but let out a low laugh, slowly getting up.
“Again… then again.”
......
Marine Special Training Ground.
Gern held a wooden sword with both hands, facing a thick steel shield. His tiger’s mouth had long been raw and bloody from repeated strikes.
“Your breathing is erratic.” Zephyr’s voice suddenly sounded behind him.
“Teacher Zephyr.” Gern sharply turned his head, only to see Zephyr had appeared behind him at some point, his gaze under his sunglasses as sharp as a blade.
“Haki is not brute force.” Zephyr approached, his finger touching Gern’s trembling wrist. “It is precise will.”
He took Gern’s hand, and Armament Haki spread over the wooden sword like ink.
“Feel it.” Zephyr’s voice was deep and firm. “It’s not ‘smashing it,’ but ‘letting the blade pass through the material’s gaps.’”
Gern held his breath, concentrating, following Zephyr’s guidance. His Armament Haki covered the wooden sword, and then he gently slid it across the steel shield.
“Swish.” There was no grating sound of metal colliding. The steel shield was silently cut open like tofu, the cross section as smooth as a mirror.
“So that’s how it is…” Gern stared at the cut surface, a flash of understanding in his eyes.
“Tomorrow, add 20,000 extra repetitions.” Zephyr released his hand, turning to leave. “If the error exceeds 1 millimeter, redo it.”
“Armament Haki is the ‘will to protect,’ not a weapon of slaughter!
Control is more important than strength, and precision is more lethal than wildness!”
.......
Months later.....
Gern, blindfolded, stood at the entrance of a narrow metal passage, its walls lined with sharp spikes.
At the end of the passage was the sea, and Garp stood on the warship’s deck, weighing a cannonball in his hand, a grin on his face.
“The rules are simple.” Garp’s voice was exceptionally clear in the sea breeze. “Blindfolded, pass through this passage, and don’t get hit by my cannonballs—one graze, ten extra repetitions.”
Gern swallowed, his gaze sweeping over the sharp iron spikes.
This was not training; it was torture.
“Ready?” Garp’s smile widened. “Start!”
“Boom!” The first one whistled in, a searing flame tracing a crimson arc through the air.
Gern sharply ducked, the cannonball grazing his back as it struck the iron spikes, the explosion’s blast throwing him off his feet.
“Too slow!” Garp roared, already grabbing a second cannonball. “Where’s your Armament Haki?! Where’s your Observation Haki? Use them!”
Gern gritted his teeth and got up, his arms instantly covered in Armament Haki, while he simultaneously calmed his mind to perceive.
Soon after, the second cannonball arrived. This time, Gern dodged sideways, but he was still thrown against the wall by the explosion’s shockwave.
“Hiss!” A sharp pain came from his right shoulder. An iron spike had cut his skin, and blood immediately soaked his sleeve.
“Ten extra repetitions!” Garp’s voice was like a pronouncement. “Continue!”
Gern gasped for breath, steadying himself, and nodded.
When the third cannonball flew in, he no longer dodged but violently threw a punch.
“Bang!” His Haki-clad fist collided head-on with the burning cannonball. The cannonball exploded in mid-air, sparks flying.
Garp raised an eyebrow, then burst into laughter: “Now that’s more like it! But don’t celebrate too soon!”
In the days that followed, Gern traversed a hell of fire and steel.
His body was covered in scrapes, but his movements became faster and faster, and the range of his Armament Haki coverage and Observation Haki perception became increasingly precise.
When the last cannonball was deflected by his knee, Garp finally put down the cannonball in his hand.
“Barely passable.” Garp jumped off the warship, walking up to the panting Gern. “Do you know why you have to train like this?”
Gern wiped the blood from his forehead and shook his head.
“In the New World,” Garp’s expression was uncharacteristically serious, “sometimes, even if you know you’ll get hurt, you must advance.
Pain will slow your movements, and Haki…” He pointed to Gern’s healing wounds.
“Is the armor that makes you forget pain and the ability to predict and dodge all harm!”