Chapter 195: I am the Strongest (1)
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"So… Can you explain this strange feeling in the air?" Raki asked, looking around the massive training hall.
Other than herself and the other 5 sins, only Amon and Aisa were present there. But what was strange was the drawings all around them. Black, White, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Purple, and Rainbow. All these colours were used to paint different symbols on small sheets of paper that were glued to the walls all around the training hall.
Raki was curious at what they meant, but she was quite sure the colours are the reason why she was feeling stranger than normal.
Amon was standing topless, showing his stacked and rocky muscles. He heard Raki's question and nodded. "You don't need to worry about that. Basically, they affect your will and mould it accordingly." Wyper frowned hearing him, but he continued regardless. "Currently they are working to boost your attention and fighting spirit. That's all, they are doing, and as for why – you'd soon find out."
Raki was still curious as to where he learned to make these symbols, but she didn't pry too much.
On the other hand, Amon noted everyone's expression at the revelation that their will is being meddled with. While most didn't care, Wyper had frowned before. But after realising that it's just his fighting spirit and attention, he also calmed down.
This was an advanced application of Marianne's 'Colours Trap'. He learned it from Marianne herself, which took a generous amount of his time. Though at least he has reached the advanced level.
Normally reaching this level would take someone at least 10 years of training, since one has to memorise the effect of every colour. Along with the mix of each colour, and also what 10 of this variant, 5 of that variant, 15 of another variant, and so on, would do when mixed.
After entering his top speed, within a slowed-down world, Amon was able to memorize all these in a very short period. Somewhat like a Hyperbolic Timechamber, but not quite the same.
Anyway, Amon smiled at the Sins. "So, everyone, do you know why I called you?"
All of them shook their heads.
"Two reasons, one — I am here to talk about Haki and stuff," Amon said. "All of you have a pretty overpowered Devil Fruit. Except for…" He glanced at Tsumi. "Anyway, the point is, Devil fruit powers become useless when you're against a Master, or even Advanced level Haki users. You guys know the basics, but have no idea what Advanced and Master level Haki can achieve."
"It applies to my Goro Goro no Mi, as well," Amon added. "As powerful as my fruit maybe, I can't hurt someone who is covered by super high-level Armament. And I am talking from experience." He glanced at Raki. "Now the best Haki user among you is Hancock and Raki, obviously, since Raki was taught Haki by myself on the moon."
Hancock was caught off guard because of the sudden compliment but maintained her indifferent expression.
Amon continued. "While Raki has achieved Advanced Armament, she can only use the repulsion force part of it — as she is yet to learn the External Projection that is called 'Ryou'. Meanwhile," Amon paused. "Hancock has both the repulsion and external projection part of the Advanced Armament. She was taught by the Pirate King's right-hand man, after all."
Hancock didn't mean to, but her lips automatically curled upwards. Knowing that she has better Haki than Raki was one thing, but being told that out loud made her proud. Hancock revealed all her secrets to Amon, such as what she went through when she was a slave, what happened after she escaped, and even the part where Rayleigh used to teach her Haki every now and then.
The reason why Wyper couldn't coat himself in Conqueror's Haki but Hancock could, lay in the fact that she is pretty good at Advanced Armament already.
It was when Wyper opened his mouth. "So there are more steps to Haki? Why are you telling this to us now? I am sure it would have helped to know them before."
Amon shook his head at that. "Not necessarily. While it may seem like 'Advanced' should be better than the 'Primary' application of Haki, you would need a good enough foundation for it to be true." He continued. "Let's take the Boa Sisters for example. Those two have weak Armament, yet they can use the
"Generally speaking, Advanced Armament is better than Primary Armament, but if your Primary Armament is weak, the Advanced form would be weak too." He continued. "Take this, for example, suppose Wyper's Primary Armament is '10' and Raki's is '30'. So when Wyper uses Advanced Arm, he would get a 2-time boost at power, meaning he would reach '20', still weaker than Raki, no? In a similar case, when Raki would use her Advanced Armament, she would get a 2-time boost too, meaning she would reach power-level '60'. Right? So ask yourself, which is better?"
Everyone was silent for a second. That was a good way to put things. Now it was clearer than water why Amon didn't tell them about Advanced applications of Haki before. Since for sure, they would have tried to learn it and waste time that could have been used to increase their base.
"Of course, even though I did use a 2-times boost as an example, that's just an example, don't forget that. Something like that doesn't exist in real-life applications." Amon added. "So, back to square one, now can anyone guess why I have called you here?"
"To teach us the Advanced form of Armament?" Wyper was the one to answer.
"Right. 10 points to Wyper. That's the second reason why I called you guys here. I would teach you all the Advanced Armament in the roughest way, by fighting." While Wyper scoffed, Raki frowned.
"And how do you want the fight to happen? We can't seriously win against you." Seeing Amon laugh, she growled. "Ugh."
Amon shook his head and said, "Either way, at first I didn't want to make this a battle of Devil fruits. Since if it was, it would destroy the whole island, which I don't want to happen. But there is a catch, Haki is user-friendly, also user-devil-fruit-friendly."
This caused them to get curious, excluding Raki.
"Suppose, Wyper. He can clad his arms in Haki and then heat it up. Normally, if he can reach, let's say, 2000° C, he would be able to reach more as the Armament clad arm would act as some kind of heat conductive material and boost it." Amon continued. "Same goes with my fruit. I can clad my hands with Armament and it would be a super electricity conductive material that can't be made by normal means."
Amon smirked. "But there is a catch. While my own Armament would be Amon-Friendly, my enemy's Armament would be he-friendly. Like Kaido for example, if he covers himself in Armament, he would be able to recreate a Faraday Cage, which would send my lightning bolts reflecting away from his body. That's the reason I had lost to him a few years ago. Anyway, the point is, I want you to learn Haki but also learn to mix Haki with your fruit, so you can use your fruits."
After a short silence from everybody, Amon released a fake cough. "Ahem, then… wear these please." He slid his hands in his pockets and took out 6 grey coloured rings and threw them to the Sins who caught them.
"And these are?" Tsumi asked.
"Sea Stone Rings. But unlike the normal Seastones, it wouldn't render you to lose your strength, and would rather only block your devil fruit, though not completely. You would only be able to use 10% of your powers." This caused Hancock, who had the most knowledge about the Blue Sea among the people here, to gasp.
Amon continued. "I would wear one too, but mine is different. It blocks me from using my fruit power at all. And before you say I am overestimating myself, wait until the end of the match." Amon smirked, causing Raki and Wyper to groan.
Meanwhile, Hancock questioned, "But how did you get these rings? Is making sea stone with these types of custom rules even possible?" Hancock asked as she checked the ring. Indeed, even though she was touching it, she didn't feel her strength depart away.
Amon nodded at her. He got the idea after recalling Wano Arc. There, Luffy was put on a collar made of Seastone yet he could exert enough strength to not only use Haki, but even reach the advanced form. That collar was surely sea stone, but a modified one.
But as Hancock said, making something like that was hard as fuck. But with a Supercomputer that has been strengthened with Germa technology, it wasn't impossible to create. And since he was one of the Underworld Overlords in his Mr. Fool persona, he didn't have any lack of sea stone.
The current Amon is rich. The ownership of Gran Tesoro has been officially changed to Amon's name. He had enough influence on the world to really be called an Emperor, unlike before.
Many things have happened in the past two years, one of those things is Amon's influence even surpassing most of the Emperors. Though currently, he is more of a famous businessman than an infamous Monster. 'Well… That can be changed after the War of the Best. I wonder how the title of Strongest Man Alive would feel like.'
Amon laughed coldly as he watched everyone put on the rings.
….
"So, is everyone ready?" Amon asked as everyone nodded. They had worn the rings that Amon had worn as well.
10% Devil Fruit power… not enough to be a hindrance in learning Advanced Haki.
Soon, the Sins surrounded him, but he smirked and cracked his knuckles. "Since my little sister is watching…" he glanced at a far corner where Aisa was sitting with a bag of chips in her hand. "I am going to show off a little."
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Author's Note:
At first, I wanted to show Amon's different techniques that he made with his devil fruits, but that would have been too generic and a turn-off. Even the Emperors won't be able to beat Amon if he doesn't want them to since nobody can hurt him if he doesn't want to because of his speed. So I would rather show his other techniques such as Martial Arts and stuff… a Base Amon vs Seven individuals close to Yonko Commander level.
Anyway, reference of the day: "My little sister is watching, so I am going to show off a little."