Chapter 16 - On the way to start the Hunt

Shank's Pov : While sparring daily with Rayleigh, i attempted to use conquerors coating multiple times with little to no success. I did get close though as my conqueror's haki grew in intensity. Seems like one way to get conquerors coating is to have a higher quality of conquerors haki then normal which i suppose made sense and would explain the increase in damage when using it. Anyways, I feel like if I continue with my current training , I can unlock it which would drastically increase my attack power and output. I daresay, I could even fight an admiral and at least injure them if I can unlock it. Anyways,besides training during the whole month, I was also taking lessons on Navigation,Ship Writing and cooking. Those lessons were enlightening for me as I easily noticed the cultural differences in this world compared to my original Earth. It was a real shocker when Rayleigh unknowingly confirmed that the estimated number of islands in the world was in the millions, twenty million to be exact. The one piece world is 2.7 times larger than my earth. This would honestly explain the diversity of animals,people and the food. Heck, even the wine and rum had a whole list of variations which I couldn't even finish reading in one day. These kinds of details honestly ignited my adventurous spirit as I wanted to explore the different and unique things this world had to offer and this world had a lot to offer compared to my previous one.  While training the whole month, Rayleigh decided that we should stay on Ruskaina for the rest of my three months of training and i completely agreed with him. He also decided to teach me how to coat ships and it was a bizarre experience to say the least.  The whole thing is a process that requires a ship to be coated with special resin from the Yarukiman Mangroves, enabling it to sail underwater and survive the crushing depths of the ocean. Rayleigh was pretty skilled at it and I could see why he became a well sought after ship coater in the future. Besides learning about coating, Rayleigh decided to teach me conquerors haki. Well, after i told him about my thoughts about and the feeling that i was closer to unlocking conquerors coating. He decided to use the remaining three months to focus completely on conqueror's haki.  Anyways, since the third  month has come to an end, the start of the remaining three months starts today.  :3 Months Time skip;  Shanks Pov: I woke up to the roosters morning cry. I looked around for a moment before I went back to sleep for five more minutes. Five minutes later, I was up and about as I did my morning rituals. Ten minutes later and I was out of the hut I had built during the last three months after I got tired of sleeping in trees and caves everyday. I sported a straw hat with a white shirt along with short brown pants. I wore some wooden sandals as they felt right compared to the plastic ones. I sported my sheathed saber and its guard on my right while a gun holster was strapped to my hip through a red sash that I had created when I was bored and had nothing to do besides train and train some more. Throughout the three months, I had grown in height to a considerable 6''4 which was a good height in my opinion. I have also made astounding progress and my strength and skill have grown considerably. I mean, not to toot my own horn ,but I grew in strength and skill to the point Rayleigh had to fight me full power at a 100% . And I gotta tell you,when Rayleigh goes all out , he does not hold back at all. I experienced that for two months straight until I could go blow for blow against him in the first week of the 5th month. Our fights after that were always a tie no matter what. The first time he went all out, I almost got my third scar. The only thing that saved me from that was my future sight that  had evolved from letting me see four seconds into the future to ten seconds at maximum. This was fast growth and I attribute it all to the constant battles with Rayleigh which always felt like life and death situations as even though he doesn't show it , Rayleigh is a sadist and can be extremely petty when he wants to. Sometimes when he got annoyed, he imbued conqueror's haki in his every attack until the fight ended. He can also see 12 seconds into the future with his future sight at max.  Anyways ,back to my growth in height. While not extreme,it was good enough in my opinion as I didn't plan to be a giant like most strong humans in this world. Especially compared to the freakish heights that people could grow to in this world. I mean Katakuri was at least over 10 feet tall and that guy was a human . Don't even get me started on giants.They  were just different breeds when it comes to height and overall size comparison. Just the thought of a natural giant eating a devil fruit that could increase their size had me having AOT flashbacks . At least the giants  weren't as ugly as the titans in AOT,now those were some ugly motherfuckers. I do not know what the author was smoking when he came with their concept art. As i thought about that, i got out my thoughts as i saw Rayleigh sitting on the deck of the small ship we sailed on when we came here. I quickened my steps and was soon on board the ship next to him. He looked at me before his gaze focused on the island that became smaller as the ship moved further from it. He then asked " Are you gonna miss it?" I gazed at him before I turned my gaze to  the  fading island. I turned back as I said " No,it was boring as hell. Besides ,now I get to challenge the pirates in the New world ". As I said that , my fighting intent flared for a moment and a manic grin emerged on my face before it quickly faded as I jumped up to the small lookout . I took a look at the clear sky with a blazing sun before i laid on the built-in hammock and pulled the straw hat over my face to get some sleep.