He has even mastered Haki, and you say this is Naruto?

When Zabuza woke up again, the sky was already bright.

Dragging his weak and exhausted body, he followed the smell of grilled fish and finally made his way back to the lakeside after what felt like half a day.

From afar, he could see Shanks waving at him. At that moment, Zabuza suddenly let down his guard.

A bit of warmth appeared on his otherwise cold and expressionless face.

"Oh, you're back, Zabuza!"

Shanks waved cheerfully, flashing his signature harmless-looking smile.

Zabuza sat down beside Shanks without hesitation and started devouring the grilled fish.

"So hungry... How long was I gone?" he asked, not even sure how long he'd been asleep. What surprised him was that Shanks hadn't even gone looking for him.

"It's been three days. I thought you just went off to handle something,"

Shanks scratched his head awkwardly.

That morning, when he woke up, he'd found himself alone. And because something had gone wrong during his training, he couldn't move far and had to stay put and recover.

He didn't expect Zabuza to return today.

"It was just a small mishap during sword training,"

Zabuza explained. The bandage on his chest had split open; the wound hadn't completely healed. Fortunately, Jiraiya's chakra had protected the injury these past few days, preventing infection.

"You stabbed yourself?!"

Shanks looked at Zabuza in disbelief. What kind of insane sword training was this? The guy stabbed himself nearly to death with nothing but a hilt?

Yep, people from the pirate world were all pretty unhinged. Who knew what kind of lunatic this ex-navy assassin really was.

"…"

Zabuza caught Shanks' gaze and felt confused at first. Then, a moment later, he understood.

"You're the idiot!!"

Zabuza barked.

"Compared to me stabbing myself, your training method is way more dangerous!"

"Hahaha, I didn't mean it that way,"

Shanks laughed awkwardly. His eyes still clearly said, 'What kind of moron stabs himself?'

"But I had no choice! No one's teaching me anything. By the way, Zabuza, you do know what I've been training, right?"

"You totally know about Armament Haki, don't you?"

Shanks wasn't dumb. From Zabuza's reaction, it was obvious he knew something about the "Armament Haki" Shanks had been cultivating.

If he could squeeze some useful info out of Zabuza, that'd be great. After all, that training nearly got him killed the other night.

Zabuza, hearing Shanks' words, didn't bother to nitpick his terminology.

Honestly, he didn't know what that energy really was either. If Shanks called it "Armament Haki," then fine — let it be called that.

Considering the Uzumaki Clan's heritage, Shanks surely knew more than he did.

"I don't know much. All I've heard is that this kind of power is considered forbidden. Many powerful warriors are said to have died from trying to use it."

"That's all I know."

Zabuza's knowledge of Sage Mode was vague at best.

There had been people throughout history who tried to explore it on their own — and they all died. Except for that one legendary "Sage of Six Paths."

"Forbidden power, huh…"

Shanks nodded thoughtfully.

Seemed like this was still the beta version of the world. Roger had just died, and the Great Pirate Era hadn't truly begun.

So it made sense that this power, one capable of suppressing Devil Fruits, was still considered taboo.

And many powerful people dying from it? That was understandable too. Most powerhouses at sea were Devil Fruit users — without Armament Haki, how could you even fight them?

"Looks like you know a lot, Zabuza. But the Navy and World Government must still be hiding stuff right now. So this isn't the 'Luffy sails out' era yet — it's still the test server, huh?"

Thinking that way, it all made sense to Shanks.

Roger's death was like a key that unlocked hidden parts of the world, including these "taboos."

Roger wasn't even the scariest threat — for the World Government, the truly dark era was the time of Rocks D. Xebec. Perhaps his influence led the Celestial Dragons and World Government to seal these powers away.

Now, before the Great Pirate Era fully began, the pirate world was still in its beta. And Shanks — who came from the release version — had no idea how this test version worked.

"What a headache… Forbidden power is really hard to train."

"You're lucky to still be alive. Even if you're a genius, Shanks, it's better not to mess with this kind of thing,"

Zabuza warned.

He didn't want to run into Jiraiya again — one of the Legendary Sannin, the so-called "Toad Sage." Whether that man could actually use Sage Mode or not, Zabuza wasn't eager to find out.

"I'm going to rest for a bit."

After eating, Zabuza looked completely deflated. He was just too weak.

If it were anyone else around, he'd try to tough it out. As a ninja, showing weakness was dangerous.

But around Shanks, he let his guard down. For some reason, he could relax around this loud, reckless guy.

"Oh, okay. I guess I'll train my Conqueror's Haki for a bit then."

Shanks replied casually.

Armament Haki was just too hard. He might as well focus on Conqueror's Haki. Everyone had their own talents, and his were clearly in Conqueror's and Observation Haki.

"Conqueror's Haki? What the hell is that now?"

Zabuza looked dumbfounded. What had this guy come up with now?

"Well, it's… Conqueror's, obviously."

"Three days ago, when I was training Armament Haki, something went wrong… and I had to forcibly cut off that power."

"Oh right — I also mastered Divine Evasion. I used that to sever the energy."

Shanks lifted his katana — black and red lightning instantly surged around it, the Conqueror's Haki radiating pure menace.

BOOM!!

A fierce wind howled. Heaven and earth changed color.

The crashing sound of mountains and skies breaking apart — at this moment, Shanks stood like a god among mortals. His terrifying pressure shook the very sky.

Zabuza felt his soul tremble. A vast, boundless aura crushed down on him.

Buzz!!

Crack!

Shanks sheathed his sword, and the overwhelming pressure of Conqueror's Haki vanished instantly.

"Zabuza, want to test out my Divine Evasion?"