"Enough! Kuina, you're Zoro's friend, and that's why I won't criticise you for how weak and flimsy your motives are." Luffy interrupted, as Kuina just looked miserable.
"But you still know too much about us, and that's why I cannot allow you to remain on this ship. But first tell me, do you a Devil Fruit?" Luffy asked after the ridiculous claim he made, that shocked everyone in the ship.
"I-what?"
"I said, do you have a Devil Fruit?" Luffy asked once more.
"Um-I...no, I don't." Kuina regained her composure and decided to lie to Luffy. Zoro was confused. Why would Kuina lie to Luffy? In all the years he had known Kuina, she never lied to him; all things apart from swordsmanship were a trivial matter. Was she scared that Luffy was going to throw her overboard if she did?
"Throw her overboard." Luffy calmly stated. He then turned around so he didn't have to see it happen. He then adjusted his Straw Hat to cover his eyes.
Everybody was shocked at this.
Everybody except Zoro.
He picked up Kuina in a swift motion and whispered into her ear.
"Use your water fruit to create a barrier so you don't drown. Don't ever come back here, or Luffy will be pissed." Zoro muttered before he unceremoniously chucked Kuina into the deep blue water. And †hat was the last that Zoro saw of her.
For now...
-
"So why are we doing this again?" Usopp questioned. He and Luffy were up on Zoro's training deck, while the rest of the crew were watching from a bench.
"I'm training you all to get Nami back. Club and his army of Lunarian's are strong. Very strong; do not underestimate them. That's why me and Zoro are teaching you Armament Haki." Luffy declared, pacing around the green circled mat that was laid on the ground, as he pointed towards Zoro, who was confused at what Luffy had proclaimed.
"Me?" Zoro questioned, as he started to sweat.
"Yes you, Zoro." Luffy affirmed, much to Sanji's delight, who took every opportunity to tease him.
"What's the problem, marimo? You scared of teaching? Feel like you're going to make a fool of yourself?"
"Big talk for somebody who can't even use Conqueror's Haki, curlybrows." Zoro replied. Sanji grew an irk mark as he then fumed through his nose and then turned back to Luffy.
"Since everybody on this crew knows how to use Basic or Advanced Observation Haki, we aren't going to be practicing that today. We're going to go straight to Armament Haki, as Club's army may have Lunarian's with Logia's, and we need to be prepared for that." Luffy then pointed to Zoro.
"Zoro, go down to the cabin with Sanji to try to awaken his Conqueror's Haki." Luffy wildly ordered.
"Okay." Zoro grunted, after a few seconds of hesitation. Everybody was shocked because of this proclamation; nobody could awaken Conqueror's Haki by command, it had to be awoken as you were born with it. The only other way that you could awaken it is if you possessed the kingly ambitions to awaken it. Once Zoro reached the cabin's below the training yard with Sanji, he understood where Luffy was coming from.
Sanji had the kingly ambitions. Sanji was even a prince of the Germa Kingdom. He had the qualities of a king too. Zoro led Sanji to a dense, dark room, to start his training. There was absolutely no light inside, so once Zoro locked the door, Sanji couldn't see his crewmember.
Once they were both inside the room, Zoro bolted the door, to lock both the men in.
"Curlybrows, I have a dare."
"What is it, marimo?" Sanji responded.
"Whoever stays inside this room the longest, wins. There is to be absolutely no talking or interaction. Just sit still for as long as you can."
"Is there a prize for the winner?" Sanji asked.
"The winner gets to choose what the other has to do for a day."
"DONE."
"Alright, time starts now." Zoro declared.
"What? But-"
"This is a special order from the captain, Sanji. Luffy ordered me to train you, so that's what I'm going to do. I'm trying to awaken your Conqueror's Haki, if you even had any. But then again, you're a big wuss, so you probably don't even have it."
"What did you say? I'll do this dare, and then I'll make you regret your words."
"NO TALKING." Zoro firmly stated once again.
"Hmph." Zoro smirked.
"Stage one is in commence." He thought.
-
"You've got it now, I presume?" Luffy asked Chopper, a few hours after Sanji and Zoro had gotten down to the empty cabin to try and awaken Sanji's Conqueror's Haki.
"Yeah." Chopper replied confidently, in his Monster Point state.
"So if I call Akainu to bring teleport himself here, do you think you can punch through him?" Luffy had the audacity to ask such a chancy question.
Well, he was Luffy...
"Um...um..." Chopper stuttered.
"AGAIN! Punch through this dummy using Armament Haki, and Armament Haki only!" Luffy commanded. Chopper channeled his Haki into his fist. It turned greyish - black on the hint of having death permanently written on it. Chopper striked the dummy as a hole appeared through the dummy, but no excess straw or wood had been found on the floor beneath the dummy.
A clean hit.
Luffy nodded in affirmation.
He pointed to Robin come stand up and show her Armament Haki training. The same result was in order. As was the same for Franky. And Brook. The only one that struggled was Usopp.
"Wrong, wrong, WRONG! Usopp, do you need me to teach you again?" Luffy sighed as Usopp flinched.
"No, Luffy, I just need some time to learn this. These things take time. I just-"
"We don't have time. We need to get to Nami as soon as possible. Did you hear what Sanji narrated about Club said to him when he left? He said that she'd become her SLAVE."
"I can see that, but-"
"You need to learn Armament Haki as soon as possible. There's no other way around it." Luffy kept interrupting him. He was really dead - set on getting Nami back from Club's clutches.
"I will, but-"
"No but's. You need to get the hang of it as soon as possible." Luffy ordered. He then left to go check on Zoro and Sanji's Conqueror's Haki training.
-
Silence.
That was one way to describe the mood in the room that Sanji and Zoro had been for the past 10 minutes.
Not a word had been spoken.
Not an iota of sound had come out of their mouth.
This meant a lot to them; a very hefty price had been put on their heads for this challenge, if SANJI won then he would pick Zoro's punishment, and Zoro, vice versa.
This all stopped when Luffy stormed into the confined room and screamed.
"Have you finished?! If you haven't noticed, we're in a compromising situation, Usopp can't even learn Armament Haki!" Luffy exclaimed. He then looked at Zoro and Sanji. He could see the silhouette of his two wings.
They were just sitting there.
"Has it happened yet, Zoro?" Luffy asked.
"Give it time, Luffy. I haven't started yet." Zoro suddenly answered out of the blue, as Sanji started thinking.
"Does this count as him losing? He did talk, so-"
"This doesn't count, cook. I'm speaking to the captain." Zoro pointed at Luffy, even though Sanji couldn't see anything.
"So, when are you going to start?" Luffy asked.
"What the hell are they talking about?" Sanji thought.
"About now. Can you leave now?" Zoro asked politely.
"Fine. Tell me when it happens." Luffy commanded before he shut the door.
"Challenge starts again. Now." Zoro told Sanji.
"What were you-"
"Do you want to walk around the Thousand Sunny naked?" Zoro suddenly questioned.
So that was his dare.
"Hmph."
"Good. I just have to say one more thing. Picture this situation in your head." Zoro continued. Sanji kept quiet to let Zoro's question out.
"Kaido has everybody in our crew strapped to a chair. He's about to kill us with his club. The only one that's free and isn't strapped to a chair is you. You have one key that can unlock the handcuffs that are trapping us on the chair. Who do you save? You can only save one person, mind you. Think hard about this, as when you answer this question, I'll know how you think, how you act, and I'll have a good suggestion on how your brain works." Zoro said. At this point, Sanji was pretty shocked on what Zoro had told him.
But if he wanted an answer...
He would get an answer.
Sanji took a deep breath in...
And spoke.