Chapter Eighty-Six: Guidance

Starting tomorrow, Saul had decided on the spur of the moment, he would begin teaching Haki.

The reason was that he had watched Mord’s battle that night from the sidelines.

As far as the outcome went, there was nothing especially wrong with it.

But the way the fight had been conducted left Saul far from satisfied.

It was downright rough.

Most crucial of all, the weapon that had made Mord’s revenge possible was not a gun, but a knife.

And maddeningly enough, Mord was actually quite skilled with a blade; at least in that situation, it had worked far better than a firearm.

That left Saul with a simmering frustration of his own.

Still, he was reasonable enough to understand that at this stage, firearms truly could not bring down a foe head-on for Mord.

Only by mastering Haki could that situation be changed.

Of course, for any kind of combat style, the benefits of Haki were obvious.

It was just that, compared with swordsmanship and hand-to-hand fighting, marksmanship depended even more on the transformative power Haki provided.

This was not merely an across-the-board enhancement, but a fundamental change that would allow gunfighting methods to become more varied.

It was for precisely that reason that Saul changed his mind at the last minute.

In his original plan, it would have taken at least another three months before he would formally teach Mord Haki.

But considering the talent Mord had shown, moving that date forward was not impossible.

Besides, Sunny was also just about ready recently, so he might as well teach them together.

The only thing Saul was somewhat worried about was that, during the process of teaching Haki, Sunny might end up feeling discouraged by Mord.

"It shouldn’t come to that," Saul thought silently.

Seeing Saul suddenly fall into thought, Mord and Sunny exchanged a glance and quietly left, leaving Saul alone in the shop.

Before turning in for the night, Sunny still helped Mord tend his injuries.

"No getting it wet for a week," she reminded him after applying the medicine and bandaging him up.

"Got it."

Mord nodded.

The injuries he had taken that night were not serious; there were just quite a lot of them.

With his current physique, and aided by medicine, he should be well enough in ten days or half a month.

After that, the two of them returned to their rooms separately.

Both were eagerly looking forward to the next day.

Early the next morning, Mord woke and went downstairs first thing.

In the kitchen, Sunny was preparing breakfast.

Mord washed up first, then went to the dining room.

He pushed aside Belry, who had occupied two seats all by himself, and sat down.

By the time Sunny had finished breakfast, half an hour had passed.

And Saul arrived at the dining room right on time, as though he had measured the moment precisely.

Starting today, he would no longer be able to go for his morning training.

After breakfast, the three of them went into the shop.

Before the formal training began, Saul removed the counter and shelves, clearing the entire floor of the store.

Mord and Sunny sat upright, full of anticipation.

Saul sat on a stool with one leg crossed over the other, holding a gilded pipe in his hand.

"About Haki, I shouldn’t need to explain it again, should I?"

"Mm."

Mord and Sunny each nodded.

They could not use Haki themselves, but they already had a basic understanding of its existence and categories.

Saul tapped the pipe lightly, his tone calm.

"For a gunman, Observation Haki is the prerequisite for formally stepping through the threshold, but that is all. If you want to go further, you must master Armament Haki."

"But everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, more or less. Haki is the same."

"You two have excellent aptitude for Observation. With proper guidance, getting started won’t be difficult."

"As for Armament, let’s wait until you’ve mastered Observation."

At this, Saul glanced toward the corridor.

"Little one, bring the thing over."

At Saul’s voice, Belry immediately carried a basket of lead bullets over beside him.

Saul hopped down from the stool, set the pipe on it, then scooped up a handful of lead bullets from the basket with a dangerous smile.

"No amount of theory beats practice."

"Saul, by proper guidance, you don’t mean... dodging bullets, do you?" Mord asked, his mouth twitching as he looked at the brimming basket of lead shots.

"Why, is there a problem?" Saul tossed the lead bullets in his hand and said seriously, "Let me say this first: this is training, yes, but these are real lead bullets. If you can’t avoid the vital spots..."

He gave a cold laugh.

"Then I’ll have no choice but to ask Arthur to make a trip."

Realizing Saul was serious, Mord and Sunny’s expressions changed slightly.

If it was only training, they could have used something else in place of the lead bullets.

At the very least, there would be no accidents.

After a while, Sunny asked, "Is it really necessary to go this far?"

Saul looked at her and said blandly, "Bleeding now is better than losing your life later."

"Understood."

Sunny nodded.

After a pause, she asked in confusion, "Then what if we lose our lives now?"

Mord gave Sunny a speechless look.

Saul, however, remained expressionless.

"Then it can only mean you’re nothing special."

"Oh."

Sunny nodded again.

The strange conversation came to an end there.

Soon after, training officially began.

Mord and Sunny stood apart before the wall on either side, while Saul held a handful of lead bullets in each hand.

Only then did the two realize that Saul did not intend to use a gun.

In that case...

Their tense expressions eased somewhat.

And when the training began...

Whoosh, whoosh!

Mord and Sunny only heard the sound of something tearing through the air. By the time they reacted, a bullet hole had appeared in the wall beside them.

How the hell were they supposed to dodge that?

The two of them froze.

"Hm."

Saul looked at the bullet hole, from which wisps of smoke were still curling upward, and sighed.

"Ah, I really am rusty. I overdid it without meaning to."

"!"

The two of them stared at him gloomily.

If that lead bullet had been aimed at the forehead...

"Don’t worry. My control has always been excellent."

Saul extended the index finger of each hand straight forward, while curling the thumbs downward, making the shape of a pistol.

"Begin."

As soon as he spoke, Saul’s right index finger pointed at Mord, and the downward-curled thumb snapped.

The lead bullet shot out with a crack.

This time, the bullet was nowhere near as absurdly fast as the first one; in fact, it was slower than an ordinary flintlock shot.

"I can see it..."

Mord dodged to the right just in time. A bullet hole appeared in the wall only a few centimeters from his left arm.

Immediately after, Saul fired two more times in quick succession, and both were successfully evaded by Mord.

Then Saul turned and "fired" at Sunny, who also dodged the lead bullets with ease.

After firing several dozen shots in a row, Saul finally began to speed up little by little.

Mord and Sunny gradually felt the pressure.

Not ordinary pressure, but the pressure of life and death.

If they could not dodge, they would either be injured or die...

..............................

Mad Hatter Town, Ale Street.

The great events of the previous night had already spread.

Almost every tavern was talking about Mord.

"Not only the Abel Pirate Crew, but even the bandits got taken down..."

Inside one tavern, the crowd was buzzing.

The name Ussop had suddenly surged past Lafayette in notoriety.

At a table inside the tavern, Kid and Killer drank in silence.

All they could hear around them were discussions about Ussop.

"That bastard..."

Kid snorted coldly.