Becoming Usopp

A/N: Updates gonna be slow for a while as my semester exams are starting on the 25th of this month.

It took them three days to reach Logue town and during this time Usopp had been continuing on with his Haki training. Now that he was able to quickly form a mental image of the room (though not very accurately) the moment he closed his eyes. He could sense how each object changed its position with the rolling and pitching of the ship and was able to identify the sources of the sounds that were entering his ears.

The theory behind this he found out was that, since he was depriving himself of one of his senses his other senses needed to force themselves to become stronger to complete the task, which in this case was to create the accurate mental image of the room.

It was during the second day of their voyage that Usopp finally concluded that he had warmed up his senses enough and it was time for him to actively improve his observation Haki and the only way to do that was through unpleasant experiences.

Luffy and the rest of the lot had been wondering about what Usopp had been doing for so many hours in his room these days and when he was suddenly out it was natural for them to fill him up with their questions.

Usopp was very open about the existence of Haki and told them that he had learnt about its existence from his father who had told him about it before he set sail. Even though the existence of something like Haki felt unreal to all of them at the moment but the mention of Usopp’s father who was one of the main officers of the Red Hair pirates forced them to believe in Usopp’s words even though how false they sounded.

“This Haki thing…can we all learn it aswell?” Luffy asked with excitation clearly written over his face.

“Yes, anyone could with enough training. There are even people who learn it without any training but instead through their battle experiences.” Usopp said.

“Sugoiii…” Luffy worded out clearly amazed by the existence of such people.

“But even I’m not very sure about the procedures to learn it in a sound manner so I’m just experimenting at the moment and that’s why requested your help,” Usopp said.

“You just want me to punch you randomly, right? Leave it to me hehe,” Luffy said with a cheerful smile as he waited for Usopp to wear his blindfolds while rotating his arms in an attempt to warm them up.

“I’m ready, remember to start a bit slo-“ Usopp had not even finished when he was met with a punch right in his abdomen which made him fly back until his back hit the wooden wall behind. If not for his body absorbing most of the impact the wall would have gotten broken.

Seeing this Zoro who was observing this whacked Luffy’s head with the handle of his katana and said “Didn’t you hear him earlier? Who told you to hit him with so much power?!” Zoro admonished Luffy.

“My bad I lost control hehe…” Luffy said while scratching the back of his head. Looking at this Usopp who was gasping for his breath on the ground couldn’t help but shake his head.

“Zoro how about you do this instead of Luffy? I think I would feel much more relieved that way,” Usopp requested Zoro.

“I was about to suggest that as well,” Zoro said as he readily took Luffy’s place which made Luffy puff his cheeks in displeasure.

“I’m ready,” Usopp said as he put back his blindfolds.

“I’ll be telling where I’ll be hitting you beforehand to make you used to it,” Zoro said as he started swinging his Katana’s sheath towards Usopp’s waist, as he shouted ‘left waist’.

Hearing Zoro’s words it became much more manageable for Usopp to block the attack with his arm and the series of attacks continued on which Zoro changing the area of attack each time while making his attacks quicker to make things difficult for Usopp.

The initial hour was gruesome for Usopp as he had thought that he would be able to dodge all of them since Zoro was calling out the place where he was attacking him but that was not so the case. The time he was given to process Zoro’s words was too short as a result he was hit quite a lot of times which made him all bruised up.

When it was approaching an hour and a half mark, Usopp started showing some improvements in defending and seeing this Zoro further increased the difficulty by shouting ‘left shoulder’ when in reality he was about to hit his left leg.

This forced Usopp to focus on not just his Zoro’s words but also his surroundings to get the gist of where he would be getting attacked first.

This continued on for three more hours until it was time for dinner and the smell of the food Sanji was preparing inside was making it difficult for them to continue on with their practice.

By now, Usopp was able to dodge or block Zoro’s attack four out of ten times and hence wanted to practice for a few more hours after finishing the dinner as they would be arriving at Loguetown by tomorrow morning according to Nami.

“You look all bruised up Usopp, why don’t you rest instead of practising this haki thing?” Nami suggested to Usopp who was on his way to practice on the deck with Zoro’s help after finishing the sumptuous dinner.

“Nah, I’ll be good as new after a good night’s rest,” Usopp said which Nami took as just words but little did she know that he was telling the truth.

Zoro continued to hit the blindfolded Usopp again and again while trying to fool him by calling out the wrong targets for his next strikes. Usopp was quite familiar with this pattern by now and was steadily adapting to it after each hit that he received.

The pace of Usopp’s improvement had awed Zoro as he couldn’t imagine how he was able to get familiar with being able to dodge his attacks after only a few hours of practising. Even without blindfolds a normal man would take at least two or three days to adapt to his strikes but here he was, standing all bruised up in front of him ready to take on his next strike.

“Just what the hell are you even?” Zoro commented in frustration as he strikes towards Usopp’s thigh. In his frustration, Zoro had forgotten to remind Usopp that he was going to hit him but to his surprise, Usopp was already in a position to defend his strike that was about to land on his thigh and a few milliseconds later he successfully blocked it.

Guessing that it was just a coincidence, Zoro continued on with his next strike expecting Usopp to be unable to dodge it and get hit as a result. With an even greater velocity than before the sheath was now aimed towards Usopp’s right armpit.

Sensing the shifting of the wind, Usopp moved his body as per his needs on dodged the strike that was about to hit his armpits. Seeing this Zoro was flabbergasted while a smile could be seen on Usopp’s face as he felt that he had comprehended something.

“Quick, attack me more intensely,” Usopp said as he entered a defensive stance.

Hearing Usopp’s words Zoro shook himself off his stupor and proceeded to attack Usopp more decisively than before but to his surprise Usopp was able to dodge each and every one of his attacks. It was not only that, he was visibly becoming better and better with each strike.

“Are you a monster you bastard?” Zoro said while gritting his teeth while he continued on with his strikes but he realized that Usopp was not at all responding to his words.

‘Is he in a state of epiphany?’ Zoro thought to himself as he remembered about this mental state that he had only heard of by his master once. During this state, a person can gain years of enlightenment within just a few minutes.

“I’m changing to my Katana,” Zoro commented not wanting Usopp’s encounter to go to waste. As if sensing that the thing attacking him was a sharp object Usopp dodged all of Zoro’s strikes before they even reached him.

Just like this, two men kept on moving on the deck of Going Merry from one place to another in the middle of the night. Usopp’s motion soon start to resemble that of a light leaf which would any strike that was targeted towards it and seeing such smooth movements right in front of his eyes Zoro’s eyes lit with excitation as a new possibility was unlocked right in front of his eyes tonight.

Another hour passed and just when Zoro was thinking that he might go down from exhaustion Usopp opened his eyes which made Zoro stop his attacks and ask, “You’re done?”

“Yep, Observation Haki is in my grasp now,” Usopp said with a victorious smile.

“So, what does entering an Epiphany phase feels like?” Zoro asked Usopp so that he could share his experience with him.

“It’s called that? No wonder I felt that things were different than how they should have gone naturally,” Usopp said as he continued after a pause, “It feels as if your mind has become the clearest it has ever been in your life and anything you do, you’ll grasp it within just a few attempts…time also seems to get slowed down for you,”

“So, this is observation Haki…what level are you at?” Zoro asked wanting to know Usopp’s progress during this epiphany phase.

“Would you believe me if I say that I can sense everything that’s happening in this ship at the moment?” Usopp countered Zoro’s question with his. Hearing Usopp’s words Zoro couldn’t help but widen his eyes in shock as he gazed at the smirk that had formed on Usopp’s face.

_____

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