The defeat of the Marine's rising star, Kuzan, caused a significant drop in the Marines' morale.
The members of the Roger Pirates began to push back, driving the Marines who had boarded the Oro Jackson back onto their own ships.
In the sky, Roger's Observation Haki picked up on the shift in the battle on the ship.
"Wahaha, Garp, my intern is grateful for your student's... hospitality."
Amidst the thunder, Roger's hearty laughter rang out.
His famed sword, clad in Conqueror's Haki, clashed with Garp's fist. Roger used the force of Garp's counterattack to propel himself back onto the Oro Jackson.
"Hehe, crew, time to make our escape!!!"
"Oh!"
Sunbell, who had been lurking in the water, executed a Fish-Man Jujutsu: Sea Current Lifter on the sea current towards the Oro Jackson.
A current infused with Haki roared and surged, propelling the large ship skyward at high speed!
"Roger! You bastard, don't run!!!"
Garp, unwilling to let them go, wanted to pursue but received reports from his Marines about Kuzan falling into the water.
The man countless pirates called a demon glared fiercely at the retreating Roger, tore off his cloak, and dove towards where Kuzan had fallen.
This scene was witnessed by Sakura through Buggy's telescope from the crow's nest.
Confirming that Garp and the others had given up the chase, she waved a signal flag to her companions below, indicating the all-clear.
Hanging the telescope around her neck, Sakura shot out of the crow's nest, grabbed a swinging rope, and slid down to the deck.
"Well done, Sakura-chan."
Sheathing his long sword, Roger reached out and ruffled Sakura's hair.
"Hehe, I didn't really do much. Buggy helped the most."
Sakura lowered her head, her toes hooking back to point at the ground as she spun in a circle.
Buggy, who is sitting on a barrel in the distance, choked on the bread in his mouth upon hearing his name, his eyes rolling back.
"Haruno Sakura, you bas...!!!"
Buggy could swear to the god that beneath that harmless exterior lay a heart blackened through and through.
"Is that so? Then you did well too, Buggy!"
Hearing Sakura's modest words, Roger waved to Buggy in the distance.
"Of course! This victory was all thanks to this Great Me!"
Buoyed by Roger's praise, Buggy began to get carried away, swiping his thumb across his nose.
"Wahaha, you idiot, Buggy."
Shanks laughed and punched Buggy playfully.
"Yosh! Since we've shaken off Garp, let's have a banquet!!!"
Roger cheered, raising his arms, not caring in the slightest that their last banquet had ended less than three days ago.
Yet it was this willful captain, issuing willful commands, who could make the world move according to his will.
-As if all creation was in his hands.
"That's right, I also want to..."
Watching Roger laugh heartily, Sakura couldn't help but join in his joyful laughter.
She raised her arm, wanting to touch the king who shimmered with flowing light, and the clear, manifest universe in his eyes.
"So, Roger is quite charismatic, isn't he?"
A voice snapped Sakura back to her senses.
Turning her head, she saw Rayleigh standing beside her, his arms crossed.
Seeing her captivated state, the vice-captain of the Roger Pirates showed a teasing expression.
"Yes, no wonder even a man like Uncle Rayleigh fell for him~"
Sakura wasn't annoyed either. Covering her mouth in a very girlish manner, she retorted.
"The he… cough cough. What are kids these days thinking about?"
Rayleigh sighed helplessly and, as if playing a prank, picked Sakura up and carried her towards where everyone was gathering.
With the meritorious hero joining, the atmosphere of the party grew even more lively.
The feast lasted all night, until dawn.
The rising sun illuminated the mermaid figurehead of the Oro Jackson and gently brushed over the pirates sprawled haphazardly across the deck.
Sakura, holding a standard-issue Marine longsword left behind, picked her way through the crowd towards the platform behind the sterncastle to practice her swordsmanship.
Creak!
Behind Sakura, the wooden floor of the deck groaned under someone's step.
The longsword in the girl's hand spun, supported by her elbow, its blade pointing directly towards the source of the sound.
Bang!
The person startled by Sakura's sudden move fell onto their backside, dragging the person behind them down as well.
"Buggy? Shanks? What are you two doing here?"
Sakura's emerald-green eyes recognized the two familiar figures, and she called out their names.
"I... I was just coming to see the view!"
Buggy stammered, steam rising from his red nose as he turned his head away.
"Buggy and I actually wanted to see how you train!"
The straightforward Shanks directly revealed their intention.
This made Buggy beside him bristle. He jumped up, grabbing Shanks by the collar and shaking him violently.
"Tsundere? Must be tough for you, Shanks."
"Yeah."
Shanks broke free from Buggy and shrugged at Sakura.
"Want to do some training to get stronger? How about accepting my guidance?"
A slightly drunken voice interrupted the three kids' conversation, ending with a hiccup.
They looked up to see a man sitting on the sail support beam.
"Uncle Rayleigh!"
The three identified the newcomer simultaneously.
Rayleigh leaped lightly from the beam, landing in front of Sakura and the others.
"So, how about my proposal?"
Rayleigh repeated his offer, but the expressions of Buggy and Shanks beside Sakura changed drastically.
While the girl wasn't looking, they retreated to a corner of the platform as if avoiding a flood or a ferocious beast.
"Hmm..." Sakura rested her chin on her hand, thinking, "Can you teach me Haki?"
"Not that." Rayleigh refused sternly, "Although you have Conqueror's Haki, using Haki for combat too early isn't good for your development."
"Why not?"
Sakura's small face scrunched up, her mouth forming a pout.
Rayleigh adjusted his glasses, causing it to lit up for a moment, and began a detailed explanation of Haki for the three present.
"Conqueror's Haki represents your goal, Armament Haki represents the self, and Observation Haki represents communication. The power of Haki, simply put, is the power of will."
"A clash of Haki between powerful individuals is a contest of their wills. In most cases, it doesn't stop until a victor is decided."
"But a child's will is tender, and their physical strength is inferior to an adult's."
"If you are defeated in such a struggle, it could deal an irrecoverable blow to your mind and body."
Rayleigh's gaze turned severe. He raised a finger, a jet-black sheen coating it, reflecting an oily darkness.
He motioned for Sakura to come closer, then gently flicked her forehead.
"Ow, that hurts!" Sakura, a large bump swelling on her forehead, yelled at Rayleigh, "Uncle Rayleigh, what was that for?"
"To let you experience the feeling of having your will crushed."
Rayleigh grinned mischievously, slowly retracting his finger.
"If you can't withstand a defeat of will, there's a high chance you could fall into despair from then on, causing the loser's strength to stagnate, or even regress in severe cases."
"What if someone grew up under that kind of will-based struggle from childhood?"
Suddenly thinking of a certain rubber man who was frequently subjected to Fists of Love, Sakura asked.
"Someone like that, if they didn't succumb to despair, would undoubtedly become a powerhouse standing at the pinnacle of the seas in the future."
Rayleigh looked at Sakura with a thoughtful expression on his face.
'The idea Sakura proposed, if executed by a powerful individual with fine control over their Haki, seemed like it could actually work?'
"So, Sakura-chan..."
Rayleigh suddenly broke into a 'kindly' smile.
"Observation Haki doesn't have these issues. Do you want to learn it? Will you accept my training?"
His words whispered like a devil's temptation in Sakura's ear, constantly luring her towards corruption.
'Learn it, learn it, would the vice-captain ever harm you?'
'This is a time-limited, Rayleigh's teaching! You won't afford to suffer any loss, nor will you be cheated!'
'He's a famous powerhouse on these seas! His teaching must be better than others, right?'
"I'll learn it!"
Sakura, sitting on the deck, placed her hands on her hips, straightened her upper body, and bowed to Rayleigh.
"Good!"
Rayleigh's smile widened. Then, with a sweep of his arm-
Sakura instantly felt as if she'd been hit by a category 8 hurricane.
She spun through the air before crashing heavily into the blue sea.
"Stinky old man, what are you doing?!"
Sakura, with her mouth and nose filled with seawater, flailed her arms and legs desperately to stay afloat.
"This is my unique training method… swimming!"
Rayleigh, standing on the ship's stern, cheered her on from above.
"Go on, start swimming! If you fall too far behind, you'll get eaten by a Sea King, you know."
Realizing she'd been tricked, Sakura could only roar and swim with all her might. Her long, angry howl woke up everyone on the boat.
"Damn it-!"
…