Chapter 6: An Outsider's Over-the-Top Method
Talking with Shanks made Zabuza realize something. His past as an executioner had led him onto a certain path.
Compared to Shanks's purity, his own heart was far too tangled.
"Shanks longs for freedom. What about my goal?"
Zabuza could feel himself improving, but it was nowhere near enough. Because he was beside Shanks, he could see Shanks's growth even more clearly. Shanks was already strong, yet he was still improving every single day.
"Truly a terrifying guy. Completely different from shinobi like us."
Of course it was different. From the beginning, Shanks's whole style was different. Right now, Shanks was studying his own body.
As he trained Armament Haki and practiced swordsmanship, Shanks discovered something strange. His stamina and recovery speed were absurdly fast, and he could clearly sense that recovery happening.
"People in this world have strong physiques, but my recovery is way too strong. Zan hasn't even touched Haki. He's basically an early boss, but his body toughness can't compare to mine at all."
Considering how power scaling shifted over time, Shanks compared Zabuza's current strength and felt that Zabuza seemed stronger than Smoker.
Even though later developments brought all kinds of Haki mastery and ability awakenings, the current era was different. In Shanks's eyes, Zabuza was definitely not weak.
And with a physique this strong, it meant that before those later developments, Shanks himself was not weak either.
He started linking it to abilities related to physical condition.
"Could it be Life Return? My control isn't as outrageous as that, but all aspects of my body are enhanced. That should be Life Return, right?"
Shanks thought about the traits of Life Return. In this world, it was a technique that let people control their bodies, even their organs, and strengthen specific parts.
Sometimes that enhancement happened unconsciously. In certain situations, Luffy could eat a huge amount of food and immediately recover injuries and stamina. That was also a form of Life Return.
It likely strengthened digestion and recovery.
"Thinking about it, even if top fighters don't train Life Return specifically, as long as they're strong, they'll still grasp some of it.
Life Return just makes that ability more refined, turning a passive trait into an active skill."
Shanks finally understood where the problem was.
"At the core, my control over this body isn't deep enough. I don't understand my body well enough.
Once I develop my body to a certain level, Armament Haki should come naturally."
If Shanks wanted to explore his body, there was a more convenient method besides training.
He could use his existing Observation Haki to examine his body's condition.
As Shanks's Observation Haki surged, Zabuza was startled awake.
That spine-chilling chakra jolted him, but then he realized there was no enemy intrusion. Shanks was at it again.
"What is Shanks doing? A sensory shinobi's chakra method? But using that much chakra, he'll be detected before he detects anyone."
Zabuza couldn't understand what Shanks was doing. To be safe, he stepped outside.
Because Shanks's chakra was so terrifying, distorted chakra energy appeared outside Shanks's cabin. This wasn't for detecting enemies, but for sensing his own body and the surrounding environment.
Zabuza stared at the scene, feeling like he had seen something similar in forbidden texts, but he couldn't recall it right away.
As the sensory power grew stronger and stronger, Shanks discovered something he had never noticed before.
"I get it now!
Of course. Without anyone teaching it, a normal person would never find this. Good thing I'm not normal."
For the first time, Shanks gave himself the most accurate evaluation.
"So there's a power in nature that's similar to Haki. Elemental ability users draw on the power of natural elements, and only a power that comes from the same source, nature itself, can restrain them.
That power is Armament Haki!"
"Hahaha, I really am a genius. So that's how Armament Haki works. No wonder without a teacher, normal people would have a hard time discovering it."
Shanks couldn't help sighing. If he had the original owner's memories, it wouldn't have been this hard.
Then Shanks began drawing that power out to make contact with the force that existed in nature.
Outside, Zabuza felt something that made every hair on his body stand on end. It was as if a certain force in the air was gathering.
Zabuza couldn't truly sense it. It was purely his instinct screaming at him, his strongest biological warning telling him to flee this place or he would die.
"Natural energy… Shanks…"
In that instant, Zabuza finally remembered.
Hakim power.
"Using the Uzumaki Clan's massive chakra reserves to concentrate all chakra for sensing… and then reaching out to nature's natural energy?"
Once again, Zabuza was stunned beyond belief.
His eyes were dull as he stared at Shanks's cabin. He didn't even need to look inside. He already knew that room was gathering a terrifying, taboo power that could destroy both him and Shanks.
Hakim arts, a power said to be mastered only by the three great sacred lands.
Hakim chakra was formed by adding natural energy on top of physical energy and spiritual energy.
For ordinary shinobi, even sensing natural energy was impossible.
And in reality, that was true. Even Jiraiya and Naruto needed to rely on toad oil to sense natural energy.
Shanks, a complete outsider, had not only learned sensory techniques, he had treated them as Observation Haki.
And now he was using sensory techniques and his immense chakra to forcibly break through the limit and sense natural energy.
To a formally trained shinobi like Zabuza, it was horrifying. Forcing a breakthrough of the body's limits through sheer power alone?
Don't even talk about doing it. He wouldn't even dare imagine it. In that moment, Zabuza's worldview finally formed, and then immediately collapsed again.
Because as a normal person, he simply couldn't accept something like this.
At the same time, more than twenty kilometers upstream along a river, a toad jumped out of the water.
"Gwah!"
It croaked once, but the sound cut off abruptly.
A hand stretched out of the fist-sized toad's mouth. A palm covered with countless old scars pressed against the ground, and a man climbed out from inside the toad's body.
"Gwah! Gwah! Gwah!"
The toad croaked dumbly twice, then hopped back into the river.
Under the moonlight, the man's appearance gradually became clear.
A veteran of the Second Shinobi World War and the Third Shinobi World War, one of the Legendary Sannin, and currently the only shinobi in the world to have mastered Hakim Mode.
The Toad Hakim, Jiraiya.