"So this is Haki."
Natasha looked with great interest at the golden, dark-purple-tinted particle floating above Matthew's palm.
Even without physically touching it, she could feel an indescribable pulse coming from it.
As though it possessed life itself.
"That's right. It isn't rely willpower. It also contains vitality. It's a seemingly simple yet extrely complex combination."
Haki was often described as the power of will, but that was only a broad explanation.
It unquestionably contained life force as well.
The best evidence of this was when Zoro gripped Enma and had his Haki forcefully drained by the blade, causing his arm to instantly wither. This alone was sufficient proof.
For Matthew to help Natasha and the others awaken Haki, verbal instruction and personal demonstration were not enough.
What he intended to do was implant the Haki seed he had extracted into Natasha's body.
Through that, Natasha would personally experience the power of Haki. At the sa ti, Matthew had also embedded a specific magical program into the seed.
That program would allow her to simulate and attempt to use it herself.
This required Natasha's physical strength to be sufficient, along with her prior mastery of Iron Body (Tekkai) and Paper Arts (Kami-e) from the Six Powers, which had already brought her control over her own body to a passing level.
Combined together, they would see whether awakening Haki was truly possible.
If it worked, the strength of both warbands would experience another explosive increase.
"Here it cos." Matthew flicked his finger lightly.
The golden particle turned into a streak of light and entered Natasha's mind—or rather, her consciousness.
After the Haki seed entered her body, Natasha didn't feel anything unusual.
She only sensed that sothing unfamiliar had appeared within her consciousness.
It was intangible and formless. She couldn't see it, but she could clearly feel it.
And the seed seed to radiate a strange pulling force, gently guiding her will, as though teaching her what to do.
Natasha understood imdiately. So she accepted the guidance.
Following that guidance, she began her first simulation attempt.
anwhile, Matthew stood before Natasha and watched closely. If anything went wrong midway, he could imdiately intervene and stop it.
Of course, the likelihood of an accident was very low.
He was certain the Haki seed was extrely gentle and would not harm Natasha.
As it turned out, Natasha's initial experience with the Haki seed went very smoothly. For an entire day, she remained imrsed in detailed comprehension and acceptance. However, because the duration was too short, she didn't achieve any major breakthroughs for the ti being.
When evening arrived, Natasha actively brought her ditation to an end.
"Any progress?"
"It's going smoothly, but the feeling still isn't strong enough."
Natasha shook her head slightly, her brows faintly furrowed.
This kind of subtle, silent guidance required more ti for her to fully comprehend.
"Not strong enough? Looks like we'll need to speed things up." Matthew instantly flashed a bright, sunny smile, though for so reason, this cheerful expression caused Natasha's heart to skip a beat.
By the next day, Natasha understood exactly why her Boss had smiled so brightly.
Inside the Mirror Dinsion, besides Matthew and Natasha, there was now a third person: Needy.
She had long since joined the Raven Warband.
Back then, her best friend Jennifer had been possessed by a demon and bitten her, causing her body to mutate and granting her superhuman strength as well as telekinesis.
After being recruited by Matthew later on, she had remained in the laboratory ever since.
After repeated physical examinations confird that her mutation was developing in a positive direction, Needy had been brought to the island base for training.
Unlike the other soldiers who had injected the Super Soldier Gene Serum, Needy had never received the serum.
Because she didn't need it.
The serum's primary purpose was to alter the fragile underlying genetic code of ordinary humans, but Needy had already been transford by demonic influence. Her fundantal genetic structure was completely different from that of a normal person.
Injecting the serum carried a high probability of disrupting her original genetic code.
That could lead to irreversible errors and potentially make her even more dangerous.
Fortunately, her growth potential was no weaker than that of the soldiers who had received the serum. In terms of improvent speed, she wasn't slower than the other mbers of the Raven Warband at all.
In fact, she consistently ranked among the upper-middle tier.
The reason Matthew had called her over was mainly because she had eaten the Heal-Heal Fruit.
Compared to the others, Needy was especially suited for the Heal-Heal Fruit because she had a natural aptitude for learning magic.
There was energy within her body.
It likely originated from the female demon from back then.
Having energy ant she bypassed one of the major barriers to learning magic, similar to Matthew himself.
In the future, once the magic warband was established, Needy would definitely beco one of its mbers.
Of course, she hadn't started learning yet.
But for now, this was enough.
At the mont, Needy stood in the distance with a stunned expression on her beautiful face as she watched the Boss brutally beating Natasha in a one-sided fight.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Natasha, use your body to feel the impact of Haki. Feel the erosion of Haki against every inch of your body."
"Rember the pain brought by every impact."
Wearing training clothes, Matthew showed absolutely no rcy. His fists, coated in Armant Haki, slamd into Natasha again and again.
There wasn't the slightest trace of tenderness toward a woman.
And Natasha refused to back down as well.
She didn't dodge.
Instead, she fought Matthew head-on in the purest exchange of fists.
Every collision between their punches forced Natasha to stagger backward a large step, while intense pain spread through her arms and body.
Yet Natasha remained expressionless in the face of the pain. The mont she stabilized herself, she imdiately stepped forward again to continue exchanging blows.
"Uh... has Boss completely snapped?" Needy stared blankly at the scene. Even Jennifer inside her mind was radiating fear.
What was this? Why was he beating Natasha? Was he really this much of a pervert?
Jennifer even began wondering whether Needy might have to experience this herself soday.
It was terrifying.
"No, wait. The Boss ntioned sothing called Haki... Jennifer, look at his fists." Needy had misunderstood at first as well, but she quickly noticed the blackened fists covering Matthew's hands.
The beating was real.
When Natasha failed to keep up during the clash of punches, Matthew would ruthlessly drive a punch directly into her body and send her flying.
But combined with what Matthew was saying, it felt less like a beating and more like so kind of instruction.
Instruction in what? Was he teaching that thing called Haki?
"I rember this!" Jennifer suddenly cried out. Back in Devil's Kettle Town, when she had been possessed and Matthew fought against her, he had used that sa power.
Although back then, it had felt even more overbearing.
"It looks like Boss is trying to teach Natasha that power called Haki through this thod."
After hearing Jennifer's explanation, Needy beca completely certain.
Then her eyes lit up with excitent.
"This power seems really strong."
"It's extrely strong, Needy," Jennifer answered firmly.
"If Natasha learns it, then we'll definitely learn it too eventually. Hehe." Needy imdiately beca delighted.
Ever since joining the Raven Warband, she had visibly grown stronger. She had even eaten that unbelievably awful-tasting fruit and gained incredibly strange abilities.
And now she would be able to learn even more new powers afterward.
It felt amazing.
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