Rono felt nothing. He sat there motionless. As his consciousness slowly merged with nature through meditation, a strange sensation enveloped him—he felt as if he had become one with the ship, with the very wooden plank beneath him.
Vice Admiral Fireburn casually tossed the half-broken wooden stick he held into the sea, blatantly disregarding any environmental concerns. He turned and walked to the storage room. When he came out, he held a thick wooden stick the width of a bowl in one hand, a cigar clamped between his lips.
"I don't believe this," he muttered.
He twisted his waist and posed like a golfer getting ready to swing. Then—BANG!—Rono's head was sent crashing into a nearby cabin room, only his head stuck inside.
Jolted from his meditation, Rono yanked his head out, tore off the black cloth blindfold, and roared at Fireburn:
"You bastard! Are you trying to kill me?!"
"Ah, come on. That kind of little injury isn't a big deal for you, right?" Fireburn glanced at Rono's already-healed forehead, then at the cracked wooden stick in his hand. He muttered, "Looks like I need to switch to something else."
"Hey! I heard that! You're gonna switch to something bigger?! Aaaah! You're definitely holding a grudge!" Rono bared his teeth.
"I'm not holding a grudge. Without any risk of injury, how are you supposed to awaken your Observation Haki?" Fireburn said righteously. Though in his heart, he was definitely holding a little grudge.
Rono calmed himself. "Fine. Bring it on."
He wore a face of noble sacrifice—but it was better not to comment on that.
"Alright, I'll go prepare. You continue meditating." Fireburn tossed the stick into the sea again and strutted evilly back toward the storage room.
Five minutes later, Fireburn wiped off some imaginary sweat and muttered, "This one should do."
Rono remained in his meditative state. Fireburn pulled out a solid iron rod with a 10 cm diameter from behind his back and smirked as he swung it straight down.
Rono suddenly felt a chill in his heart and instinctively shrank his neck.
Whoosh—! The sound of something slicing the air reached his ears.
BANG! Fireburn, with a reverse swing, smacked Rono and knocked him to the ground.
"Continue," Fireburn said calmly.
Rono gritted his teeth, sat up through the pain, but just as he stood—
"Here I come!"
Reflexively, Rono shrank his neck again—but this time, Fireburn struck upward from below.
WHAM!
Having tested the strength a few times, Fireburn now had a good grasp on just how much force to use to hurt Rono—but not injure him seriously.
"Get up."
"Damn it!"
WHAM!
"Keep going."
Whoosh—!
Dodged it!
WHAM!
"Getting careless now? Just because you dodged once, you're getting cocky?"
"I..."
WHAM!
…
At the dinner table, Rono was shaking his head like it didn't even belong to him. Damn it, all the hits go to my head! Would it kill him to hit somewhere else? What if he breaks my genius brain—can he afford that?!
Grabbing a piece of meat, Rono bit into it with a loud CRACK—the bone inside shattered.
Everyone: "..."
"What? I like eating bones, so what?" Rono spat out the fragments, slapped his head, and glared at everyone.
"…."
The man in sunglasses ignored him and continued eating elegantly. If not for the stack of empty plates beside him, he would have looked like a nobleman straight out of a painting.
The others followed suit, quietly eating their dinner. The dining hall fell into an awkward silence.
Feeling snubbed, Rono pouted and stuffed the meat—bone and all—into his mouth.
That night, Rono returned to his room to continue his afternoon meditation.
---
Out on the deck, Sunglasses Man blocked Vice Admiral Fireburn.
"He's my man now. Watch yourself."
It wasn't a request—it was a command.
"Ah, come on, things are always rough at the beginning," Fireburn replied, lighting a cigar. "With his recovery speed, he'll be bouncing around like new by morning anyway." He blew out a smoke ring. "You planning to bring him into CP0?"
"He's not ready yet." Sunglasses Man scoffed.
"Haha, so I was right." Fireburn laughed and flicked the ash from his cigar. "I'm out."
"Mind your own business, Navy."
Fireburn shrugged, walked around Sunglasses Man, and returned to his quarters.
Only after Fireburn left did Sunglasses Man clutch his chest. The faint pain in his heart reminded him that his remaining time was running out.
"Damn Whitebeard… I'll kill you one day."
With that, he turned and returned to his room.
---
Rono opened his eyes and came out of meditation.
"System, this meditation is amazing—I don't even feel tired."
"Of course! Do you know who I am? This is a system BUFF!" the system boasted proudly.
It activated the usual character panel. No changes in stats.
It was time for the nightly simulation training.
Once again, Rono entered the pitch-black void. But this time, there were no sudden environmental shifts—only a black stick, almost indistinguishable from the darkness, appeared.
> "Ding! Observation Haki training begins."
As the voice fell, the black stick smashed into Rono's head.
Rono winced, gritting his teeth—it hurt just like that iron rod earlier.
> "Ding! First attempt—failed."
A cold robotic voice echoed.
> "Second attempt begins."
In the pitch dark, he couldn't see, couldn't hear—Rono had no way to fight back.
The black stick didn't just aim for his head.
Neck, stomach, arms, thighs, back, waist…
Everywhere except his little buddy—all got hit.
> "Ding! Attempt #176—failed."
"Ding! Attempt #266—failed."
"Ding! Attempt #537—failed."
"Ding! Training time over. Returning host to main space."
> "Ding! Host mental fatigue detected. Beginning electrotherapy."
"… What the hell?! Electrotherapy?! System, were you made by Yang Yongxin?! Definitely were! It's all electricity! You used to shock me, now it's electrotherapy?!"
The multiple exclamation marks conveyed just how outraged Rono was.
But it was useless.
The system "dutifully" began electrotherapy mode.
"AAAAAHHHH~" Rono cried out, as if in pure agony—
"Wait, huh? It doesn't hurt… it feels kinda tingly… it's actually… really nice…"
System: "WTF. That sounded so real, I almost believed you."
The electrotherapy felt like a pair of soft hands gently massaging Rono's body, with a soothing tingle. He felt completely blissed out—and drifted off to sleep.
When Rono began snoring, the system popped up again.
> "Observation Haki parsing… Parsing progress: 1%… Recording to database… Done."
---
The next morning, Rono was lively and full of energy, jumping into training.
His loud yelling woke up half the ship.
The other half were either on night shift—or hadn't even gone to bed yet.
"WOLF RONO! You bastard! One day I'll cut you down!"
A swordsman sergeant roared.
In an instant, a chaotic chorus of cursing erupted all over the ship.
"Ah la la~ Early bird catches the worm, right?"
Rono cheerfully called back.
"Alright, back to bed everyone!"
Vice Admiral Fireburn stepped in, and no one dared disobey.
One by one, they crawled back into bed for some extra sleep.
"You brat—keep it down!" Fireburn scolded, slamming the door shut.
---
"Caw! Caw!"
A News Coo flew over and landed beside the food box specially prepared for it on the battleship. It began eating cheerfully.
Rono's eyes lit up. He walked over and gently stroked its soft neck feathers.
The News Coo didn't seem to mind.
Rono reflexively pulled it into a hug, preparing to unleash his long-lost Bird Hug Finisher—when suddenly, a voice rang out:
"Hey, you like animals too?"
Rono froze, switching to stroking its feathers instead.
Turning his head, he smiled,
"Of course! I'm the famously kind-hearted Rono, protector of all animals!"
"Sugoi~ I love animals too! But they're all scared of me…"