After a year of training, Albert touched the eight-pack abs on his abdomen and couldn't help but reveal a smug smile. Finally, he was no longer a fat slob, (ˊωˋ*) .
It had been a year of day-after-day training without a master's guidance, but that didn't matter either way.
Don't forget that Albert was a homebody. He had read countless manga, martial arts novels, and web novels. Albert imitated Goku's training methods from Dragon Ball to improve his physical fitness and used Garp's training methods with Luffy to gain actual combat experience against wild beasts in the forest. He practiced swordsmanship using the method of Yang Guo with the Heavy Sword in the sea. Initially, Albert used a wooden sword for practice because he had no money for a real one.
Albert's favorite activity was swordsmanship training. One reason was that his predecessor had also aspired to become a great swordsman. The second reason was that swords inflict more damage than fists, and the most important point was that it was cool to cut people with a sword.
In this world, the realm of swordsmanship can be divided into five stages.
The first stage involves becoming familiar with the learned swordsmanship through systematic training and initially mastering the basic use of the sword.
The second stage is understanding the breath of all things, which allows one to cut steel but not leaves. In Albert's opinion, this realm is about comprehending the core and texture of the object being cut. It's akin to a chef cutting meat, who can shape it according to its texture.
The third stage allows one to slash out sword aura, and this stage can also be referred to as the Sword Master realm.
The fourth stage involves condensing one's beliefs to build a sword domain, within which one is invincible.
The fifth stage is about cutting off everything in the world, shattering the void, and wielding a sword that can cut the sky and destroy the earth.
Hawkeye is at the peak of the fourth stage. As for the fifth stage, no one in the world has reached it. Perhaps someone will in the future, but Albert has not seen it in the manga. After all, the One Piece manga wasn't finished when he died!
There is also the practice of Haki: Observation Haki, Armament Haki, and Conqueror's Haki. Except for Conqueror's Haki, which cannot be trained, the other two can be awakened through training.
In Albert's view, Observation Haki is akin to having a still mind, perceiving everything around you. This method is also present in Dragon Ball. In essence, it involves abandoning the five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—and using the heart to perceive all things. In a certain sense, it is an alternative breath of all things, and to practice Observation Haki, one must have no distracting thoughts.
Armament Haki acts like armor covering one's body and weapons. As for how to practice it, Albert doesn't know; after all, Oda didn't explain it either. It seems he will need to meet someone who can use Armament Haki in the future to understand it better.
Conqueror's Haki requires vision and one's own aura. It can be described as a form of spiritual suppression. Regarding the manga's claim that it requires the qualification of a king, Albert scoffed.
In his opinion, Conqueror's Haki requires a lifelong belief, vision, and knowledge to elevate the spirit and achieve the realm of spiritual externalization. But how many people in the world can truly follow their beliefs? Most people's convictions are not very firm. Even if they are, they may not awaken due to their own vision and aura. This is why the notion of needing the qualification of a king exists.
Albert believes he will definitely awaken Conqueror's Haki in the future. As for why he is so confident—well! If he doesn't have this confidence, then he will never awaken Conqueror's Haki in this lifetime.
As for the Six Styles of the Navy, he hasn't seen them, let alone practiced them.
Then there are Devil Fruits. Albert decided not to eat them. If he did, he would be too restricted—not only would he be unable to go into the water, but he would also be vulnerable to Sea-stone, a significant weakness.
Every day, Albert practiced swordsmanship in the sea. Initially, he worried that he didn't have a heavy sword and could only use a wooden one, but as he practiced, he found that this had the same effect as using a heavy sword.
The wooden sword has buoyancy in the water. Although it is easy to swing in the sea, the accuracy is greatly reduced. This led Albert to exert all his strength with each swing to improve his precision.
Albert also enhanced his physical training through this method. He crafted several wooden props and used them for practice in the sea every day. The buoyancy of the wood, combined with the impact of the waves, took Albert a long time to master standing in the sea. Once he could stand, his lower body skills improved significantly.
Thus, Albert practiced swordsmanship for half a year.
One day, while punching in the sea as usual to exercise his physical fitness, he suddenly recalled a plot he had read in novels about a protagonist who traveled to another world and practiced martial arts in the sea. Inspired by this, Albert immediately wanted to experiment.
Speaking of martial arts, Albert was very grateful for his reading habit in college. It was this habit that compelled him to learn martial arts. Otherwise, even if he knew about this method, he wouldn't have understood martial arts, rendering it useless.
With repeated practice, Albert felt that his understanding of swordsmanship had deepened. In fact, all of this could be considered fate. While practicing sword swings in the sea, he realized that the essence of swordsmanship is to use slowness to defeat speed and softness to overcome strength. Water is the softest yet strongest element in the world. It is said that the highest good is like water, which benefits all things without contention and resides in places that everyone despises, thus aligning with the Tao.
Every time Albert practiced swordsmanship, he felt that his technique became more refined. After a day of practice, he felt stronger than he had after several days of previous training. Albert was overjoyed; it seemed that martial arts could also accelerate the absorption of the power of heaven and earth. This was excellent news.
From then on, Albert made martial arts a compulsory part of his daily routine.
Through this, he also conceived a new sword technique, which transformed his swordsmanship from its previous fierceness to a harmonious blend of strength and softness. It was at this moment that Albert suddenly understood what the breath of all things was and how to cut through steel.
Half a year later...
In his room, Albert sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, free of distracting thoughts, using his heart to feel everything outside.
Gradually, the surroundings became pitch black, and he couldn't sense anything. Suddenly, a light appeared in his mind, and more lights gradually emerged, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle filling in. Finally, the last piece lit up, and in an instant, everything in the room became clear to Albert: the table, the chair, the bed, the flies buzzing in the air, the leaves falling outside—everything was vivid.
At that moment, a figure appeared in Albert's mind. It was Sister Rika, holding roasted meat in her hand, trying to sneak in cautiously.
Just as Rika was about to enter, Albert suddenly said, "Sister Rika, take out the roasted meat behind you!"
Startled, Rika, who was still outside the room, wondered, 'How did Albert know it was her and that she was holding roasted meat?' She walked in, puzzled.
"Albert, how did you know I was outside and about the roasted meat?"
Albert smiled mysteriously. "Well, it's a secret."
Rika's mouth twitched as she smiled. "Oh, is that so? Then I'll eat this roasted meat myself."
"No, Sister Rika, I will tell you!" Albert hurriedly clasped his hands together in a pleading gesture.
Rika pretended to be angry. "Well, how can I be angry? If it's your secret, you should keep it to yourself."
Albert quickly shook his head. "It's not a secret worth keeping from you, Sister Rika. Please don't take the meat away."
Rika looked triumphant and smiled. "Okay, since you said so, I'll leave the roasted meat for you. Hurry up and tell me how you knew just now."
"That..." Albert deliberately dragged out his voice, and when he saw Rika becoming a bit impatient, he said, "That's something called Observation Haki."
"Observation... Haki? What is that?" Rika asked, puzzled.
Looking at Sister Rika, who was full of curiosity, Albert pretended to be knowledgeable and said, "Haki is an essential skill for the second half of the Grand Line. Haki can restrain Devil Fruit users, and Observation Haki allows you to perceive the enemy's next move."
Then Albert, like a proud bird, waited for Sister Rika's praise, but...
The admiration he had imagined did not appear. Instead, Sister Rika looked panicked.
"Eh! Doesn't that mean you can see me when I'm taking a bath?"
Albert's forehead was covered in black lines as he silently roared, 'Sister Rika, how can you not follow the plot? What happened to the praise? The admiration? The worship? Where did they all go?'
"Sister Rika, I won't do that. I'm not a pervert."
Rika looked unconvinced. "You won't do it? You've been caught by people in the village several times for peeking at girls taking a bath."
Albert scratched his head awkwardly. "Cough, cough. Sister Rika, I just saw it by accident."
But Rika genuinely seemed to believe Albert was up to no good.
'It seems there is a problem with trust between people,' Albert thought, scratching his head.
T/N : Throw some powerstones and add it to the library