The sun rose in the east.
Thin strands of light spilled across the land.
Everything began to stir awake.
Inside the Twin-Wheel Pirates' main base, only Kokos remained.
He sat on the main chair draped in tiger fur, twin guns at his waist, drinking as he waited.
Somewhere deep down, he had a feeling—
that brat would come.
And he was right.
The moment Hermes confirmed Kokos was alone, he finally stopped lurking like a ghost. He swaggered straight into the doorway, returned to normal size, and walked into the hall.
"You really came."
Kokos wasn't as furious as Hermes had expected.
Instead, there was only the calm that arrives right before a storm.
In Kokos' eyes, Hermes was already dead—
and he was going to die horribly.
"I was planning to leave this place," Hermes shrugged, looking casual. "But your people didn't know when to stop. So now we're following the script."
"Only one of us leaves here today."
Kokos' reply carried murderous intent. Any talk of peace was long gone.
They both understood—someone dies.
The air thickened.
Neither of them relaxed for even a second.
BANG!
A bullet tore through the air.
Hermes didn't even see Kokos draw.
Pure instinct—Hermes shrank to five millimeters, barely dodging.
The next instant, another bullet ripped past.
Even at five millimeters, Hermes could feel the threat.
He sprinted and leapt wildly, then grabbed a stool and hurled it.
The visual was absurd—
Hermes was basically the size of a speck of filth, like a tiny pellet.
It was like an ant throwing a chair—
and throwing it with real force.
CRACK!
Kokos shot the stool apart.
Then he left his chair and advanced—fast—firing two more bullets as he moved.
Hermes' expression tightened.
He'd assumed a gunman's weakness was getting close.
But Kokos was clearly the type who could fight up close too.
No wonder his bounty was higher than Captain Joya's and Chainman's.
This wasn't hype.
A bullet tore past Hermes' scalp—larger than Hermes' body at that moment.
Then—
A shadow fell over him.
Kokos' huge black boot sole came down with a tearing wind—
from Hermes' perspective it was like the sky collapsing.
In that split-second—
Hermes slammed every ounce of strength into his fingers and suddenly grew to fifty centimeters, firing a Finger Pistol upward.
Blood sprayed. A scream cracked the air.
Kokos was blasted backward—
a deep, ugly hole punched straight into the bottom of his foot.
But a gunman's counterattack was terrifying.
Even while flying back, Kokos fired two shots—one from each gun—timed perfectly as Hermes recovered from his strike.
The angles were vicious.
Damn it.
Hermes' pupils shrank.
Danger hit his nerves so hard his hair practically stood up.
He could dodge one.
The second bullet's path was impossible to predict.
His heart slammed like a drum.
Death was right there.
And then—
Everything vanished.
For a single instant, Hermes' five senses went quiet.
The world stopped.
On pure reflex, Hermes sucked in his stomach and stuck his hips back—
A bullet tore his shirt, dragged a line of blood, and slammed into the wall behind him.
Hermes gasped.
Cold sweat poured down his forehead.
He looked down.
A thin cut on his abdomen leaked blood—
but it wasn't deep.
He'd avoided it.
That ice-cold sensation…
that blurry "line" that flashed in his mind…
Could it be—?
He crushed his excitement down and stared at Kokos with greedy intensity.
A thought ignited:
If he kept putting himself in danger, Kokos might be the perfect training partner.
The surprise was too sudden. Hermes hadn't even been ready for it.
WHOOOSH—!!
Kokos launched another attack without caring about his wounded foot.
"Calm down… calm down…"
Hermes exhaled slowly and loosened his entire body, trying to find that empty, floating sensation again.
But—
Blood burst.
Hermes grunted.
Damn—it hurts.
A bullet grazed his arm, carving a wound so deep bone flashed white beneath the torn flesh.
That feeling didn't come.
He'd twisted away at the last moment—otherwise he'd be finished.
BANG BANG BANG!
Kokos closed the distance and kicked.
Hermes blocked, stumbling back.
Before Hermes could reset, two more bullets snapped toward him.
The pressure never stopped.
Little by little—
Hermes was being forced back.
He barely used his shrinking ability now, almost entirely stuck in defense.
It made Kokos even angrier.
To Kokos, it looked like Hermes was insulting him.
More wounds.
More blood.
No fatal hits—yet—
but the bleeding was stacking up.
Hermes' face turned pale. His body was nearing its limit.
And yet—
Hermes looked more excited than ever.
Then—
The world went silent again.
The bullet paths slowed, crystal-clear, like time itself had thickened.
No mistake.
This was Observation Haki.
Hermes burst into laughter, wild and unhinged.
"Hahahaha—! Keep going!"
He dodged a full burst perfectly, laughing like a madman.
An unbelievable gift.
He'd imagined a hundred ways Haki might awaken—
but not like this.
Not so early.
Not so suddenly.
The only downside was brutal:
He had to gamble his life to trigger it.
If that state didn't keep returning, who knew when it would happen again?
But now that the door had cracked open—
He wasn't letting it close.
"You're pushing it!"
Kokos roared, furious.
His guns fired nonstop, his kicks and strikes chained in, and because Hermes stayed mostly defensive, the pressure became suffocating.
More wounds.
More blood.
Hermes was cornered—
yet Observation kept triggering more and more often.
Then—
THUNK.
A shot landed.
Hermes' body was pierced.
His face went deathly pale.
That one bullet was heavy—
it nearly emptied him out.
He had been dancing on a knife's edge too long—
and finally slipped.
Enough.
If he stayed, he wouldn't master Observation—
he'd die before he learned anything.
Run. Now.
Hermes shrank to five millimeters and vanished instantly.
Kokos' eyes went wide.
"Don't you dare run!"
Kokos' mind shattered.
He'd been right there—right there—about to finish Hermes.
And then Hermes escaped.
With his foot wounded, chasing was impossible.
Kokos could only watch Hermes disappear.
"Damn you…"
"YMIRRRR!!!"
His furious scream tore across the entire base.
Meanwhile—
Hermes ran while coughing blood, one hand clamped over his chest as warm liquid soaked through his fingers.
He moved fast—straight toward the clinic he'd used before.
He could still be saved.
Thankfully, his body wasn't the weak trash it had been in his previous life.
Months of brutal training had improved his toughness and recovery far beyond normal.
Of course—
Compared to the monsters of the sea…
He was still weak.
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