Chapter 255: Conqueror’s Coating, Progress and Setting Off
_________ POV Narration _________
Enel's arm glowed as he closed his fist tightly.
He was wearing a tightly fitting t-shirt, and a pair of short loose pants paired with some metallic boots.
He had stored all of his metals within his earrings and boots, as he wanted his hands free for the training he had been undertaking.
"Huuuh~" Compressed air shot out like a cannon as the emperor exhaled.
He was not using his devil fruit, but Blue Lightning was still constantly rolling off of his hand.
Conqueror's coating was a rather strange concept, hard to grasp, but at the same time, it also felt very basic.
A conqueror would obviously be able to infuse his will into his attacks right?
Those were the basic principles of Armament after all.
But a Conqueror's will was inherently different to that of a regular person. It was grasping that difference that made it difficult for people to actually master it.
Enel had been aiming for it, and training his Haki for longer than Luffy. But he was still struggling with it slightly.
It felt like he was learning to walk for the first time. But he had thankfully already taken his first steps.
The broken rocks and stones around him were the proof of his hard work. The damage to his surroundings was done using nothing other than his Conquror's Haki.
With a smile on his face, he lashed out at his surroundings one more. Blue light sprouted out of his body as his will took the shape of deep blue lightning, which went on to wreck more and more of his surroundings.
His actions immediately raised a thick cloud of dust in his surroundings.
"Tsk, stop playing around you bastard!" An angry voice shouted from the side, Enel then smiled as he heard a booming sound, before all of the dust was blown away, revealing the figure of none other than Wyper.
Currently shirtless and barefoot, wearing a pair of loose pants that were rolled up to his ankles. On his back was his spear, secured tightly by a bunch of leather straps.
The Tribal Warrior had also been training nearby, his progress had been quite staggering in Enel's eyes, but it was still not quite enough to make a difference during the upcoming war.
Despite being almost as talented as Luffy, Wyper lacked one crucial aspect... And that was the fact that he didn't really have a Devil Fruit to grant him the power to alter reality.
He did have a few good points though... Like the fact that his spear, the 'Wild Fang' which Francisco had gifted him, was one of the strongest blades that Enel's army had.
Its quality was on par with Xebec's Saber after all. Both being part of the 12 Supreme Grade Blades.
This meant that, even though he wasn't as strong as the others, he still had a chance at injuring people like the Elders.
The Navy was thankfully able to give Enel and the others a very basic understanding of the strength of a few of the elders.
It wasn't enough to make a proper judgment on how they'd fair against all elders, but at least they learned of the fact that they each had quite powerful awakened devil fruits.
Enel was confident that Wyper was going to prove himself useful one way or another. He was already stronger than Zoro and most of Luffy's crew after all.
Granted, he had also been training earnestly in haki for longer than them and was insanely talented.
"I am not playing around Wyper, I am just celebrating my success." Enel smiled as he spoke, his Will vanishing back into his body.
"Bah, celebrate it a bit quieter! You know, people still live in the islands nearby!"
Wyper shouted while waving his hand dismissively at Enel.
He was also not exactly wrong, Enel's training made a lot of noise in the form of a constant storm underneath their islands.
The Emperor's Haki still affected the world around them. And its effects were only really sensed by those who lived near his training island.
Like Wyper, who had moved somewhat nearby for his own training.
The Sky Guards were also somewhat affected by it, but they could power through it and continue with thier training, it was even helping them with thier training as it applied some extra pressure on them.
"Well, I admit that I've been a bit careless in that regard, but I believe I've not hurt anyone, so you'll have to live with being mildly inconvenienced by me Wyper..." Enel crossed his arms and gave the Tribal Warrior a cheeky smile.
"Hoh? You're picking a fight are you?" The God Guard slowly reached for his back, taking his spear and twirling it in the air for a few seconds before pointing it at Enel.
"Heh... It's been a while since the two of us sparred, hasn't it? I think it's time I checked how strong you've grown." Enel tapped his foot on the ground, and a line of mixed metals crawled on the ground and out of his boot, forming a large staff.
"You aren't going to be winning as easily now. Unless you use that devil fruit of yours..." Wyper flashed a crazed smile towards Enel before vanishing completely.
The Emperor immediately turned to the side, sidestepping the blackened tip of Wyper's spear.
Enel's gaze met Wyper's. Red lighting trailed the corners of Wyper's eyes as his muscles contracted and flexed.
Enel immediately hammered his staff into the ground, forcing Wyper's spear to stop the moment it started.
An explosion of dust boomed upon the barren battlefield, and Enel smiled as he closed his eyes and focused.
In an instant, he felt the resistance in his staff disappear, and he immediately tilted his head to the side, feeling Wyper's bone spear piercing where it had been previously.
He felt sharp air brushing against his cheek as he formed a fist.
Before Wyper could even react, the Emperor took a horse stance and punched him straight in the chest.
The Emperor's fist was completely black, making Wyper realize that he couldn't block it even if he had the time to put his guard up.
Wyper only managed to concentrate some of his armament haki on his chest and hop backwards slightly on instinct, he managed to kill off some of the impact that way, but he was still sent flying and flipping into the air.
"Close but no cigar..." Enel muttered as he brushed his cheek with his palm. He felt a slight scratch on it, but it wasn't even deep enough to draw blood.
"Tsk! Cheeky bastard!" Wyper stopped himself in midair using a mixture of MoonWalk and piercing his spear into the ground.
He panted a bit as he swiped some of the dust on his bruised chest.
"Garp's training does continue paying off it seems..." Enel shook his fist a bit as he tilted his head and slowly started twirling his staff in his hand.
"Tsk, I'll wipe that smirk off your face!" Wype's spear immediately turned completely black once more, this time red lightning started rolling off of it violently.
Enel smiled as his staff also turned black, with blue Conqueror's Haki infused into it.
"We'll see about that!" Enel smiled as he stepped heavily on the ground at the exact same time as Wyper.
In a split second, the two of them met in the middle, Wyper's spear thrust forward, aiming to pierce a hole through the emperor.
Enel's staff pierced forward as well, aiming straight for the tip of Wyper's blade.
Their weapons didn't touch at first, they stopped milliseconds before contact, as the world around the two of them slowed down completely.
Wyper sweated a bit as he felt his will being somewhat matched by Enel's, which was something he hadn't expected.
His talent had been above that of Enel when it came to Conquror's Haki, right? So why hadn't he already surpassed Enel?
He had worked so hard, and yet he couldn't even force his rival to use a slither of his real power.
'Is this yet another side effect of his awakening? How was he able to grow this much?!'
Wyper's mind was filled with questions and insecurities. He had no way of knowing what was going on inside Enel's mind.
He had only a vague idea of the responsibilities of his rival.
But Enel had already resolved himself to commit to his plans. He was resolved to stake everything to win the upcoming war. And his resolve had strengthened his will as well.
The clash lasted only for a few seconds, but they felt like an eternity for the two warriors.
Their wills clashed and wreaked havoc on thier battered surroundings.
But the clash ultimately ended as Wyper's will faltered.
Enel seemed to feel that and raised an eyebrow, both of them were then pushed back, and Enel's eyes narrowed.
"Odd... You're not one to hesitate usually..." The Emperor muttered as he gripped his staff tighter.
"Shut your trap..." Wyper muttered back, with a bit of spite in his tone.
Enel simply shook his head and narrowed his eyes.
"Fine... But I'm going on the offensive now though..."
Enel didn't even finish that sentence properly, and Wyper had already lost sight of him.
But he wasn't about to let himself get taken by surprise.
Immediately, he spun his spear around at great speeds, forming a circle of flying slashes around him.
"Let's see you getting close now!" Wyper shouted as he continued to spin his Wild Fang around maniacally.
He continued for almost a full minute before he stopped, panting slightly. His spear extended to the side and held by one hand as he was prepared to swing it once again at anything that got too close to him.
But he didn't get that opportunity, unfortunately, as he felt his spear suddenly weighing a bit more than usual.
His eyes then shifted towards the tip of his blade, where the Emperor was simply crouched down and looking at him with a smile.
"Nice defence!"
Was all that Wyper heard before he felt his head being forced to the side, as the tip of Enel's metallic staff hit him square to the cheek.
Enel hopped slightly as he sent Wyper flying further into the distance and crashlanding into a hill, breaking it to pieces and knocking out the Tribal Warrior for good.
Well, he wasn't going to stay down for long. Enel knew how resilient Wyper was. But the spar was essentially over.
'Something odd must've happened during our clash... He seemed to lose his focus all of a sudden. I think it's worth speaking to Francisco about that during the War Tour...'
Enel rolled his stiff shoulders and sighed.
"There's plenty of time left, but the clock is ticking... I guess it's time to set sail, huh..."
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Heya, sorry this took so long.
Honestly, it was really hard to write the chapter for Patr_eon cuz it was an important one, basically revealing the One Piece
I had a lot of ideas for the One Piece, I rewrote that chapter twice tbh :)))
Notable ideas for what I wanted to make the One Piece before this:
1. A piece of Nika's soul
2. Nika's spear
3. Just a message left by Nika, something like a secret to mastering his abilities. I decided against this one though, since his abilities are all about imagination, there shouldn't be any guidelines for it
Won't say what it actually is here tho ;) You'll have to read further to find out
anyway, I'mma go to sleep cuz it is pretty late :))
Story Shoutout : Hell Difficulty Tutorial
Discord, again: https://discord.gg/xQTK8caFEQ
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 15 chapters in advance (or 10/5 depending on tier)