Three hours after the battle ended, the sun had completely slipped beneath the horizon.
The Oro Jackson dragged five still seaworthy enemy ships behind her, carving a long wake across the darkening ocean.
Bullet sat alone on the aft deck, back against the rail, eyes closed.
He was feeling.
Feeling the newborn Conqueror's Haki coursing through him.
It flowed through his whole body like blood, yet it was different from blood. It was lighter, more agile, and carried a definite "will" of its own.
With a single thought, he could call it up and turn it into a domain of pure pressure.
But this power was difficult to control with precision.
On his way back to the ship earlier, a casual leak of his Conqueror's had accidentally knocked out two young hands who were repairing the sails.
They had only been out for a short while and woke up quickly, but the incident was a clear reminder. This freshly awakened force needed time to be tamed.
"Controlling it is harder than having it."
Rayleigh's voice came from beside him.
The first mate had walked over at some point, two bottles of alcohol in hand.
He passed one to Bullet and sat down next to him.
"Thanks."
Bullet took the bottle but did not drink yet.
"How do I train Conqueror's Haki?"
"You do not."
Rayleigh took a swig and wiped the corner of his mouth.
"Or rather, you do not train it the way you train the others."
"Armament and Observation can be strengthened by repetition, by drilling for more power and finer control."
"But Conqueror's Haki grows through 'experience'."
He looked out toward the dark line of the horizon.
"You grow it by fighting. By choosing. By facing despair and hope. By losing and gaining."
"Every time you break past a limit, every time you hold to your own will, every time you make the choice of a king in a hopeless situation."
"Those are the nutrients that feed Conqueror's Haki."
Bullet was quiet for a moment.
"How did Captain Roger raise his Conqueror's to this level?"
Rayleigh smiled.
"That guy?"
"He never 'trained' it."
"His Conqueror's just grew on its own, the way breathing does."
"He sees injustice and gets angry. Sees the weak and protects them. Sees the strong and challenges them."
"That is all."
Simple?
Bullet did not think so.
Roger's will, pure and free to that extreme, was precisely the hardest thing to imitate.
"Your Conqueror's is not the same as Roger's," Rayleigh said suddenly.
"Roger's is 'embracing'."
"Wide like the sea, free like the sky."
"But yours..."
He paused, searching for the right word.
"It is 'plundering'."
"Like a black hole that devours everything. Like an abyss with no bottom."
"When your Conqueror's knocked those pirates out, it did more than just intimidate them. I could feel it pulling something out of them."
A flicker passed through Bullet's mind.
"Pulling what?" he asked, testing.
"Do not know," Rayleigh shook his head.
"Not life force. Not Haki. Not soul either."
"Whatever it is, be careful."
"Use it the wrong way or too much, and it might bite back."
Bullet stored the warning away.
They drank in silence for a while.
From a distance came the noisy voices of the crew, counting loot and occasionally breaking into cheers.
The spoils of a hard fight always helped wash away the stink of blood.
"Right," Rayleigh said suddenly, as if remembering something.
"In Karl's fleet, those three armored ships... you pulled their plating off on purpose, did you not?"
Bullet nodded.
"I need high quality metal to harden my scales."
"How did it work?"
"Scale hardness went up by 0.9 percent. I gained metal resistance and cracked their alloy structure," Bullet said plainly.
"If I can devour more special metals, my defense will keep climbing."
Rayleigh stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"There are a few underground markets that specialize in rare metals and contraband materials."
"If you need them, I can take you for a look."
"I do," Bullet answered without hesitation.
"And... I want intel on Devil Fruit users."
"Especially Ancient Zoans and Mythical Zoans."
"Big appetite, huh."
Rayleigh laughed.
"Alright, I will see what I can dig up."
"But do not expect too much. At that level, information is not something you can just buy with money."
They talked a while longer about training plans.
Rayleigh advised Bullet to focus the next stretch on mastering Conqueror's and digesting the energy he had devoured, while staying out of high intensity battles for a bit.
Gravity training could continue, but at half strength.
When night was fully settled, Rayleigh stood and headed off.
Bullet remained at the stern, sitting in the same spot, consciously guiding the restless forces inside him.
First, he sank his awareness into his heart.
The LV.2 black core beat steadily, feeding refined energy through every part of his body.
Most of the faith energy he had taken in was already smelted down. What remained was a small amount of residue being slowly broken apart by the core.
Then there was Armament.
The heavy type Haki traits he had taken from Karl were fully merged now, raising the quality of his Armament by roughly fifteen percent and notably boosting its defensive edge.
Black Scale Armament had grown stronger with it.
In terms of Observation, Mental Devour Specialization had opened a whole new door.
He could now sense not only the physical world, but also lightly "touch" the spiritual plane.
Finally, he turned his attention to Conqueror's Haki.
He tried triggering it, not fully releasing it, only letting it circulate through his body.
He began to see the "aura" around the crew.
Shanks burned like a flame.
Rayleigh was calm and deep like the sea.
And Roger...
Roger was like the sun.
Too brilliant to look at directly.