Journey to One Piece

19. Conqueror’s Haki

Sabo even looked at Ken who was sitting leisurely at the nearby cliff and almost hinting at Ken to come and save the old man Naguri but Ken just gave a cheeky smile. Sabo, seeing no end way out, took out two shuriken from his bag and inserted the vacuum style enhancements at the sides of the shuriken in order to throw at the charging bear. 

But doing this took time!!

While Ace was running towards the old man and Luffy doing hand signs to do the only ninjutsu he had practiced. But it was already late. The bear had already taken a swipe at the old man and before any of the three could even land a punch or hurt the bear, the old man did something that was unimaginable by their standards. 

The old man just spoke to the bear in a very low tone and asked the bear to go away. The bear was shaking in fear after this and then after a few seconds it walked away slowly. Seeing this the jaws dropped. They couldn't even understand how this old man convinced an enraging bear to stop and even walk away. 

"What the hell! Did you feel the power?" Sabo whispered to Luffy.

"Yes. When he talked there was a power emitting from this ossan." The only reason the three could feel the power unlike the original story was because they now had experience of a lifetime with them. Living a ninja life they had to pay attention to the minute details. And the fact that they could feel the power was just one of the observations. 

The bear later walked away from the clearing towards the forest. The way it came from. Naguri looked back at the three with gentle eyes. Naguri looked really old. Almost as old as Yamamoto Genryusai. With overextending eyebrows and wrinkled face.

"Kids you shouldn't be here. The bear might have killed you." 

"It was you that we were worried about." The three raised their hands and shouted in unison at the old man. The three were really scared about the old man. Especially Sabo, who had seen him on the Gray Terminal quite a few times. 

"Eh!! Me? Why? I can handle myself. You kids can't....." And before Naguri could finish he looked up because he could feel someone was approaching from the air. And then he saw a small kid, covered in lightning sparks flying through the air and landing straight between the three and Naguri. 

Naguri was amazed by how a young kid just flew. 

"A devil fruit?" Naguri thought. 

"Naguri-ossan, it's nice to meet you. My name is Ken. And I am with them." Ken, who had just arrived, forwarded his hands to greet Naguri. The only person who could make Ken interested other than the trio in the Goa Kingdom was this old man.

The old man with the Conqueror's Haki!!!

"I am Naguri. Nice to meet you too! I live in Gray Terminal." Naguri was still a little amazed by this kid's flying and the hammer in his hand. The hammer was still emitting sparks of lightning.

"Oi Ken!! Why didn't you save this ossan? You could have easily come fast and resolved this bear." Sabo complained.

"Ossan here never needed my help. This small incident made you realize your shortcomings. Didn't it? You three are too slow to react and by the time you use your attack, someone could easily sneak on and do the damage. Thus you three need to practice and make it fast." Ken lectured. Naguri was taken aback. From the words of these kids it seemed like this encounter with the bear was just a practice. 

And this bear was the victim. 

He basically had stepped in the middle of the training and ruined it instead of being a hero!! He was a little embarrassed now. From the looks of it, Ken could really take down the bear. 

The three too hung their heads in shame. They have been daydreaming too much and what Ken said made sense. Even Luffy who used ninjutsu was late doing hand signs. This was shameful!! Seeing their disappointment Ken laughed and said.

"Don't be too harsh on yourself! Your journey has just started. We will reach the top as time goes by. Ossan, thanks for helping us we will treat you. Want to join?" Ken asked.

"Uhh... Sure." Naguri agreed. He was curious about these 4 kids which had popped out of nowhere. 

They went to the nearby beach while following the stream. It was there Naguri was surprised about the things that these kids did. Ace walked on water and caught two giant fishes. He walked on water!! What the hell is this new technique? 

But being an old man he was just surprised for a bit and didn't ask. The three brothers were happy that another person had joined and even nobody who had even 'rescued' them. Though it was a waste of a training day, they didn't mind.

By evening, the 5 people sat near a bonfire and roasted the fishes that they caught in the river and had a great time. It was here that Naguri talked about his past and his fight against Roger. Hearing the name Roger, Ace stiffened and slowly got up. 

He didn't want anything to hear about Roger and as he started walking away Ken got up and stopped him. 

"Sit down. It's rude to leave a gathering without saying goodbye." 

"I don't want to hear anything about him." Ace hinted. Ace always had hatred towards Roger for making his life miserable. But Ken was having none of it.

"Listen to the words of the old man. Maybe you will be surprised." 

Naguri didn't listen to the small conversation between Ace and Ken and continued talking about his past and his fights. Sabo and Luffy were fascinated by this. Luffy as usual spoke of his heroics with Shanks and the thought that he would be the Pirate King just like Roger. 

Ace, after much reluctance, listened to the words of Ken and continued listening to Naguri. Ken could see that after initial resentment, later he too was engrossed by the words of Naguri and heard his stories.