Chapter 26: Awakening Observation Haki

Every morning after that, Karl would rise early and make his way to the small island. He always found a quiet patch of forest, sat cross-legged facing the sun, and settled in.

He regulated his breathing, trying to calm his mind and reach a tranquil state where he could stretch his senses outward, feeling the world around him.

At first he got nothing but over time he started picking up faint impressions of his surroundings—blurry but growing clearer day by day.

Every afternoon, he and Newgate would train Observation Haki together on this very island. They repeated the practice, day after day.

Meanwhile, he kept an eye on Long Yi and Long Er, supervising their progress with the Golden Light Spell.

True to their dragon lineage, both showed incredible talent. In just a few days, they’d already managed to cover their entire bodies with the Golden Light Spell, even projecting the aura outward.

Krell progressed a bit slower—he’d only managed to cover his limbs—but that was still much faster than a typical human.

Karl also handed down the Five Elements Fist from Mount Longhu for them to train.

The Five Elements Fist was a martial art built upon the principles of the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—integrated with the body’s five organs: heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys.

Practicing it regulated the five organs and gradually strengthened the body. Since they all had special bloodlines, there was still plenty of untapped potential inside them.

It was the perfect way to build their foundation. With Krell leading them, their daily training became a serious affair.

He went so far as to have Krell purchase over a hundred orphans between ages five and ten from the island, convinced that children were the easiest to shape. He started them off with the Five Elements Fist from Mount Longhu, laying the groundwork for his future powerbase. Karl never expected that, years later, a few among these hundred kids would grow strong enough to even surprise him.

On Beehive Island, there was no shortage of slaves. There were thousands of orphans alone.

So it took just half a day to round up the needed children.

Every day, Krell would supervise their training. They started by ensuring everyone had enough to eat, then moved on to group sessions for the Five Elements Fist. As for the Golden Light Spell, he taught that only to Krell, Long Yi, and Long Er.

Karl stuck to his daily routine, heading to the small island to train Observation Haki with Newgate, determined to master it as soon as possible.

At first, Karl could only passively take the hits from flying stones. But as his efforts deepened, he gradually started sensing the trees, flowers and grass around him.

Day by day, his ability sharpened. By the tenth day, he could sense subtle shifts—the brush of wind, trembling leaves, insects darting by.

After picking up these shifts, Karl tried gathering all the scattered information and predicting upcoming events. He mapped the possible paths of objects in his head, hoping to anticipate an enemy’s action and intent—this was the most common way to grasp Observation Haki.

On the afternoon of the thirteenth day, there was finally a breakthrough.

“Swish!”

As usual, Newgate flung rocks at him to keep him on guard.

“Huh?”

But this time, Newgate was startled to see Karl twist lightly and dodge the rock with uncanny precision.

A smile curled at the corner of Karl’s mouth—he’d done it.

In the next instant, he tore off the blindfold covering his eyes and shouted with delight, “I felt it!”

“I’ve mastered Observation Haki!”

The moment Newgate threw that stone, Karl could clearly sense it screaming toward his shoulder.

Even with his eyes covered, the sense given by Observation Haki was as vivid as sight itself—dodging the attack was a breeze.

It felt just like a spider’s danger sense. He could instantly tell where the attack came from and which part of his body it would hit. Now he finally understood how Fujitora could move so naturally despite being blind.

So this is what Observation Haki was really like—a living radar scanning everything around. For now, Karl had only just entered the basics and could sense within a fifty-meter radius.

“Gurararara!”

Hearing this, Newgate dropped the rest of the stones. Karl had mastered it—no need to keep throwing any more.

Newgate was pretty shocked. Mastering Observation Haki in only thirteen days? Unheard of.

He remembered it had taken him months to get there himself, even as a prodigy. Karl really was a genius.

“Congratulations, Karl.”

“Thanks for all your help, Newgate.”

Karl knew that without Newgate’s guidance, unlocking Observation Haki would’ve taken him much longer.

“Let’s see how strong you are now.”

Newgate was even more curious to see how much this change had boosted Karl’s abilities.

“All right, bring it on.”

Karl was just as eager to put his new Observation Haki to the test.

Karl struck first. Black-gold light surged around his body, power radiating from him like an ocean—endless, overwhelming, impossible to resist. It swept across the entire island.

He covered himself in both the Golden Light Spell and Armament Haki, then slammed his right foot into the ground, bursting forward like a golden bolt of lightning at Newgate. His armored fist punched out with all his strength.

Newgate reacted instantly, meeting Karl’s blow with a great sword cloaked in Armament Haki.

Golden fist and black blade clashed—the shockwave rattled the whole island.

The impact drew the attention of people on nearby Beehive Island.

“Who’s over there?”

“Hurry, let’s check it out!”

A battle this close to Beehive Island was sure to catch the eye of pirates on the main island.

“Jiehahaha!”

“It’s Karl and Newgate!”

Golden Lion Shiki was the first to float towards the small island.

He’d seen with his Observation Haki that it was indeed Newgate and Karl fighting.

Charlotte Linlin, John, Wang Zhi and the others launched themselves through the air using Moonwalk, racing over fast.

Some pirates wasted no time unfurling their sails, racing their ships to the island.

After all, this was a clash between two division commanders—everyone wanted to see whether Captain Karl or Captain Newgate would come out on top.

Back on the small island,

Karl watched as Newgate blocked his blow.

Newgate’s swordsmanship flared—giant blade flashing like lightning, unleashing wave after wave of sword auras at Karl.

Relying on his freshly awakened Observation Haki, Karl sensed each attack and sidestepped with perfect timing. He weaved around the sweeping sword auras, officially locking into a one-on-one fight with Newgate.

The two traded blows relentlessly, every move more intense than the last.

Before he knew it, they’d exchanged hundreds of moves. Karl started losing ground. Even with his new mastery, both Armament Haki and Observation Haki were still at the beginner stage—he just couldn’t overpower Newgate for now.

The only reason Karl lasted so long was that Newgate was holding back a bit, and because Karl’s monstrous physique recovered his stamina almost instantly—every punch he threw packed the same force as the last.

Their fight left the area in ruins—craters pitted the ground, trees were ripped up at the roots.

Cuts and gashes covered Karl’s body.

Blood streamed from his wounds, but if you looked closely, you could see the injuries healing before your very eyes.