17th Saturday
Leroy currently sat within the living room of the Cabin. The Wooden logs that comprised the walls were covered in a variety of trinkets, Photos, and shelves. It was very rustic, but cozy and warm as well.
He was reading through a curated selection of books given to him by Freddie. Some talked about history, even the most controversial aspects of it, these books specifically were old and worn or looked almost bespoke in nature. As if there were only copy. And for some of these history or political books of theory and philosophy and sociology, they were because of an effort to keep them banned or exclusive only within academic circles.
"A new idea. Of motion and of progress is created through this incompatibility. Without it, every action remains stagnant or only in a state of potential energy." He whispered to himself. Philosophical and Scientific idea that there was always equal and opposite reactions, in chemistry and in society, colliding ideas that form tension and create something new, changed, or different. It explained that all life worked on this fact because nothing existed on their own with out the influences of aspects outside of itself.
"Anything that Humans can Imagine is a potential in Reality." He read more. It explained that there were schools of thought that imagined the mind as primacy. It was what determined all. But there were others, and the one that the author and physicist, Heisen Galilei, explained. This potential for any imagination is not something random or comes from nothing. But has a constant flow of the Environment on the Mind, and then the mind on the environment in the form of the body.
There was also the theory that the mind did play a crucial role. Not just in the social aspects of life based on psychology and sociology. But an actual potential that the mind has to subtly change the world based on the perception and ideas of the persons own perspective.
"Its like Haki…" Leroy muttered to himself. His mind racing as he continued to read.
There were studies dont on people with strange aspects to themselves. Like a man who had grown up and lived all his like with the same sheet of silk. His skills had raised to such a level, that not only did the use of the silk cloth appear superhuman, but he was able to command it in such a way that no one else was able to even one the exact same instructions and steps taken. When a person has such a deep connection, memory, or extension of themselves. It almost became a part of them fundamentally. They could control and utilize it in a way beyond nature.
The rest of the book was filled with similar ideas of theories and philosophies, but also explanations of how the world functioned. Chemistry, Atoms, Weather, Magnetic Polarities of Islands, the Grand Line and how its isolation and vastness caused islands and regions to take on aspects that are beyond nature or supernatural because of their isolation.
They didn't happen from nothingness on their own.. That was certain. But because of the processes outside. Histories. Influences. Random Occurrences that then defined its nature. New islands forming or changing all the time due to people, nature, and strangeness that seems to erupt from aspects unable to be understood. But triggered by the world around.
18th Monday
Leroy sat on the ground. Zeke behind him. Legs crossed just like Leroy. He had his fingers curled, ready to flick a stone at the back of his head.
Flick! There was a miniature snap as the pebble broke sound. Slamming into the back of Leroys head. Just enough Armament Haki imbued into to cause pain and not activate his rubber body.
"Ow!" Leroy said. Pebble clicking off the back of his head. Sting of pain radiating.
Even with his foundations in his usage of Raw Haki aura. It still felt like he was months away from even reaching the basic levels of the Branches!
19th Sunday.
Leroy laid curled in bed. Wrapped in bandages from his fight in the forest against a massive pistol shrimp that took a chunk out of the Earth.
20th Week.
On Monday he practiced basic stances and strikes with Zeke. Practicing the same Jab over and Over again. He did them a thousand time each. His form was getting better and better. He used his imagination to visualize complicated fighters that he had read and gone up against in the past. He attempted a trick.
What if he used Aura in his eyes while focusing on it.
In his minds eyes. He visualized the idea of a wispy fiery energy in head. Focusing into his eyes. The concept of Osu. And then. As he stood in his fighting stance. Hands up, hands loose to go into a fist or grab. Leg back to focus his energy. Back tightened to put it into his punches…
He opened his eyes. That haze of translucent flame coming from his eyes like smoke before dissipating only a few inches from his body.
Before him.
Stood Yashi Barnum
But not the real Barnum. This one looked like a haze. A Projection. A being of painted glass that was Transparent.
Leroy smiled.
It could not be seen by anyone else. It was merely an illusion within Leroys mind granted by the focusing of Aura into the Core of Observation. Teasing against its concepts and abilities. And tied to the perceptions of the self.
Leroy fought slow. Even this imaginary version of his first powerful opponent wasn't able to keep up with him. It allowed him to apply all of the fundamentals he was learning on all the mondays across the past 20 Weeks.
The Application of flaring his aura, and bringing it out.
Before. He had to focus. Tense his body. Take a deep breath, And activate his Sympathic Nerve, forcing his body to shiver.
But right now. As he was getting into a state of flow. The Zone.
He just had to want it. He didn't have to even think 'On' he just had to have the want his mind to do. And it flared.
Zeke simply sat on the side. He had pieced it together what he was doing the moment Leroy Smiled.
26th Week.
A Year and a half into his training.
Leroy and Zeke were out on the Water. Leroy standing on top of it as he focused his Haki into the feet with Osu. Tension was not something that needed to be actively used in its basic forms of interacting with liquids.
"Not bad. But you can save on your Haki if you focus it into only a specific part like the sole of your feet." Zeke lifted up his leg, resting it bent on his knee. There was a minor shimmer and haze to at the heel and ball. "Or maybe one day get so good you can naturally do it at the only points of contact."
Leroy thought about it as he stood there. Dozens of feet of water below him. A forest around the lake. Freddie and Arnie sitting in beach chairs at the shore. One Smoking a pipe and reading a beli novel. The other sipping on a beer.
Leroy focused.
"Tension can be actively used. It just happens by the nature of Haki interacting with Liquids…You explained that it held surface tension. But thats not how you described Tension…You said that it was fusing, binding, connecting to an object…Like air."
"And what else?" Zeke said. "Theres something youre missing."
"Surface Tension…Isn't truly Tension. And the only way to actually bind yourself to the water, not just standing on it. You'd have use Mixture. Osu and then Tension." He looked up to Zeke. Closed his eyes . And suddenly dropped half an inch. Binding to the waters surface. Thats why points of contact would eventually matter.
"Hahaha! I didn't even explain it. I was, but you figured it out your self. And you are correct. The 8 aspects of Standard Haki all have advancements and enhancements. The Aspects related to the placement and growth has advancements because of how it can be used into the body. The others, like Counterweight; Need to be done on contact or to be properly utilized need to be have Osu used, and Gun."
"Sure you could change the texture of your full aura. But what if you wanted to have an attack go off kilter using texture? You'd have to use Osu to focus the Aura into the part, and then apply Texture. And thats the basic use of Mixture itself. But as I said. There is an Advancement, True Combination for something else."
"Heh…" Leroy smirked as he shifted his footing "Yeah. I'm getting the Hang of it!"
He suddenly shot his hands out! They both zipped passed Zeke who didn't even react. Having felt the intention.
And then when Leroy's hands were hundred of meters away in only a few moments. He focused. Aura releasing. And then. Osu. Having it come from his hands rather than flowing it. Then, Gun. The area around his hands surrounded by Aura.
Tightened against the air.
"Gummm Gum!" He released the tension in his feet! Allowing him to go flying forward like an unnotched arrow! "Catapult!"