Cover Serial: Heart Pirates, Part 7 - "The Lead Poisoning Returns"
The Marines had left, and Giorno and Jolyne Cujoh were aboard their warship...
Rosinante, currently in Law's body, watched the warship disappear across the sea. He was about to ask why Corazon, being a Marine, hadn't left with them, but when he turned, he saw Law in Rosinante's body, curled up on the ground in agony.
Rosinante knew those symptoms all too well. The lead poisoning had flared up again, bringing pain so unbearable that death would have felt like a mercy.
"We need to reach Seagull Island as soon as possible," Law managed to say through gritted teeth, his face drenched in cold sweat. "There's a town there... We can find the tools we need for the operation..."
...
After a major battle came a major meal.
Dawn had only just broken, but the members of the Happo Navy were already bustling about in high spirits. Some gathered ingredients from the storehouse, while others headed into the mountains to hunt.
They needed to prepare a feast for their Warlord guests, and celebrate the restoration of Chinjao's drill and his return to former glory.
Plain old "Chinjao" had finally become "Chinjao the Drill" once again.
The old man was so overwhelmed with joy that he looked ready to pick Giorno up and kiss him.
Once everyone sat down, Giorno repeated what Rayleigh had told him. Chinjao fell silent for a long moment.
"I see. You believe all forms of Haki are fundamentally the same. Armament Haki is its direct application, while Observation Haki senses the world around you. From that, you theorized that Conqueror's Haki combines the two, sensing an external presence while precisely releasing your Haki to strike without making contact..."
Chinjao instinctively reached up to rub his head. His hand touched the towering drill rising from his skull, and he suddenly remembered that he was no longer a flat-headed old man.
He had returned to the mighty drill-headed warrior he once was.
His eyes immediately filled with tears again. It was real. This wasn't a dream...
"Could you save the crying for later?" Liam asked helplessly.
"Waaah... Forgive me, my young benefactor..." Chinjao sniffled and wiped the corners of his eyes. Then his expression turned serious. "If I understand correctly, this Rayleigh only guessed that Hasshoken might help someone develop Conqueror's Haki after hearing your theory. Is that right?"
"Just tell me whether it can or not."
"That... I'm afraid I can't say for certain." Chinjao frowned. "Please be patient, young benefactor, and let me explain. I can't simply say it's impossible. When I think about it carefully, it isn't only the Happo Navy. Throughout history, the Pillars of the Kano Country's various navies do seem to have awakened Conqueror's Haki more often than people in the outside world. However, if you hadn't come here and brought this up, even I would never have noticed the pattern."
"You mean..." Robin said in surprise. "None of you ever realized, or deliberately pursued, the possibility that Hasshoken could help awaken Conqueror's Haki. But in practice, the Pillars of the Kano Country's navies do have an unusually high chance of possessing it. You simply can't be sure whether Hasshoken is responsible or whether it's only a coincidence."
Chinjao slapped his thigh and nodded. "Exactly!"
"I see..." Liam rubbed his chin.
Just then, the Happo Navy members cheerfully carried over a lavish outdoor feast. The aroma of the food drifted through the air long before the tables arrived.
"I'm leaving." Tian abruptly stood, stretched, dusted off his backside, and walked away.
"What's with Dad?" Sai asked. He helped set the breakfast feast in front of his grandfather, Giorno, and the others, then glanced back at Tian's retreating figure. His father had snapped a twig from a tree and was chewing on it while humming a rustic tune. "He always disappears whenever there's a big feast. Seriously, what's his problem?"
Chinjao's expression immediately darkened.
Sai, who had never been particularly concerned with etiquette, reached for the food. Chinjao slapped his hand away.
"The guests haven't started eating yet! Have you no manners?"
"Then hurry up and eat!" Sai complained, clutching his hand as he urged Liam and Robin to begin.
Robin lifted her morning tea and took a sip; it seemed to have been scented with jasmine. Liam grabbed a roasted chunk of meat from an unidentifiable animal and started eating. Seeing that, Sai eagerly dug in as well.
"Does this have anything to do with why you refuse to pass the position of Pillar on to Dad?" With his fingers covered in grease, Sai pointed in the direction Tian had gone.
Chinjao remained silent for a moment. He gazed at the table overflowing with food and wine, then let out a heavy sigh.
"Your father is an exceptional man. But... I'm afraid that if I give him the position, the Happo Navy, after surviving for so many generations, will be ruined by him within a few years. I refuse to let our branch of the navy end with my son and me."
"Huh?" Sai stared at him in confusion, his mouth stuffed with food. "What are you talking about, Grandpa?"
If his father was so exceptional, shouldn't the Happo Navy become even more prosperous under his leadership? Why did Grandpa believe handing it over to him would lead to its destruction?
Chinjao shook his head. He picked up a bowl almost as large as a washbasin and began eating, unwilling to say anything more on the subject. "You need to grow stronger quickly. Then I can pass the position of Pillar on to you instead."
Robin continued eating in small, ladylike bites. Liam had no interest in another family's private affairs, so he changed the subject.
"Let's put Conqueror's Haki aside for now. Earlier, you said that the very fact I asked why you kept using headbutts showed I didn't understand Hasshoken, that Hasshoken isn't any specific set of techniques. What did you mean by that?"
Chinjao had been wondering how he could repay his debt to Liam. Hearing the question, he stroked his thick beard and began to explain.
"Hasshoken has been passed down in this land for thousands of years. Many people know how to use it. Some inherit it through their families, while others learn a move or two from a teacher. But those who only possess a shallow understanding of Hasshoken mistake it for a fixed style of martial arts. They imitate its movements and learn nothing but the outward form. Only those of us in the Happo Navy, who have inherited it from generation to generation, understand its true essence. Hasshoken lies in the force behind the technique, not in the form it takes. Amateurs train the form. Experts train the force!"
Robin murmured, "You mean the core of Hasshoken isn't any particular set of moves. It's about strengthening the body and refining one's Haki?"
"Well..." Chinjao frowned, struggling to find the right words. "Yes, but also no. How should I put it...? It certainly trains the body and Haki, but there's more to it than that."
There was only so much he could explain with words. Chinjao set down his washbasin-sized bowl and looked over the table, now littered with empty plates and cups. He selected a suitable bowl from the towering pile in front of Liam.
"Hold this," he said, handing it to Sai.
Sai placed Liam's empty bowl on top of Chinjao's enormous one and held them both up.
"Watch carefully, young benefactor. This is the true nature of Hasshoken..." Chinjao raised his fist, gave a low shout, and struck the upper bowl, the one taken from Liam's pile.
To Robin's surprise, the bowl he hit remained completely intact. Instead, Chinjao's huge bowl underneath it shattered with a loud bang, smashed apart by an invisible force.
Striking the target through an obstacle?
Liam suddenly remembered that in the Dressrosa arc, Sai and the other Kano Country fighters had used Hasshoken to shatter their opponents' armor through swords and shields.
"No..." Liam frowned, carefully recalling the sensation he had felt when Chinjao threw that punch. "There was something strangely familiar about it..."
"You fought him all night," Robin said. "Of course it felt familiar."
"That's not what I mean..." Liam shook his head. "Give me a moment to think."
As Liam sank into thought, Chinjao reached up and touched his pointed head again, immediately howling with joy once more. It was real! His drill had truly returned!
Robin suddenly asked, "Mr. Chinjao, have you ever heard of the Burial Flower Valley or the Humble Bamboo Alliance?"
"Huh?" Sai wiped his mouth, looking completely lost.
Chinjao, however, reacted as though he had been struck by lightning. His face turned ashen as he stared at Robin. After taking two deep breaths, he forced out a question. "Where did you hear that name...?"
Before Robin could answer, Chinjao raised a hand to stop her. "No. Don't tell me. I don't want to know!" He stared at her solemnly and warned her one word at a time. "Never mention that name again. At least, never mention it while you're in the Kano Country..."
Robin was surprised, but she nodded and let the matter drop.
Sai was even more shocked than she was. He had never seen his grandfather look so frightened; it was as though the "Humble Bamboo Alliance" Jolyne Cujoh had mentioned was some forbidden phrase. He had heard of the "Demon Alliance," an evil organization accused of spreading dangerous lies and ruthlessly hunted by the king, but he had never heard of the Humble Bamboo Alliance.
Could the two be connected? Sai's thoughts stalled for several seconds before it finally hit him: 'Holy crap, the Humble Bamboo Alliance is the Demon Alliance!'
"Damn!" Liam suddenly shouted, smacking a fist into his palm. "That's it! I remember now!"
Robin found that strange. If there was something he couldn't remember, couldn't he simply summon B.I.B. and ask?
Liam shook his head. This wasn't a problem with his memory; it was a vague sense of déjà vu. If he didn't even know what he was looking for, searching through B.I.B.'s records wouldn't help.
He raised a fist and coated it in Armament Haki, then positioned his hands in the usual stance for the Rokuogan.
Robin watched him, realization dawning as she put the pieces together. Back in the North Blue, when Liam fought Doflamingo's crew, he had once forgotten to remove the Armament Haki coating his hands. Despite that, he successfully used the Rokuogan, a Life Return technique he normally couldn't perform on his own while simultaneously using Haki.
The sensation from Chinjao's Hasshoken strike, the one that shattered the lower bowl without damaging the upper one, felt exactly like what Liam had experienced back then. It was completely different from using B.I.B. to cheat his way into combining Haki with Life Return.
"How are you two having an entire conversation just by looking at each other?" Sai asked, utterly confused.
Robin snapped out of her thoughts and laughed.
Just then, a Happo Navy member came rushing over. "Leader Chinjao!" he shouted from a distance. "The king has sent an envoy..."
He ran all the way to them, then bent over with his hands on his knees, panting as he wiped sweat from his forehead.
Chinjao's expression, already grave after Robin's question, hardened further. "Calm down and explain properly. Why has the king sent an envoy?"
"They... They came..." The Happo Navy member caught his breath and looked toward Liam and Robin. "They came for the Warlords!"
Sai stared in surprise. "The king wants to see those two?"
Chinjao touched his drill but said nothing, merely turning to Liam and Robin.
Robin had expected Liam to have no interest in dealing with a king. Instead, Liam rose with a smile.
"All right. Let's go meet this king."
(End of Chapter)
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