Chapter 9: Noelle and the Mysterious Expert
Eventually, I missed the opening time of the marine station and had no choice but to stay the night here in the Haven Island. On the positive side, there was beauty here beside me, walking along the shoreline with me.
"Wa ha ha… So that's how I was able to shoot you at the end."
Her chin was elevated as she pridefully talked about her marksmanship. I nodded at her display, impressed by her performance in battle.
"Yup that was awesome! You totally had me there for a second…'
"You now know everything about my skills Cross! Are you really going to keep secrets on how those shots went through you from a cute girl any longer?"
A coy smile formed on Noelle's face. She had been asking this question non-stop for the last 2 hours since I'd met her.
"Mwah ha ha… Okay, but you have you to kiss me right here!"
An evil grin formed on my face as I pointed towards my lips.
"Okay!"
My jaw gaped from surprise as she started bringing her lips close to mine. I completely didn't expect her to kiss me just to satisfy her curiosity. I could smell her perfume, and her warm breath was on me as she came closer.
Right before Noelle was about to kiss me, I pushed her away out of panic.
"You idiot! Be a little more reserved! Girls are supposed to say something like 'B-Baka~… You're a pervert' and then go on to hit me"
I was going to give her more examples on how a girl should act, when I suddenly caught the glimpse of something Noelle didn't want me to see.
While I had pushed her, I unwittingly tossed her hair up that revealed another eye. Just like Charlotte Pudding, the 35th daughter of Big Mom, Noelle had a third eye that was covered by her side-swept bangs in the front.
"Sigh… Are you going to call me a monster too now?"
Noelle stared at her toes, sure that I would react negatively at her.
"Why the hell would you say that Noelle, you cutie!"
I went up to Noelle and pinched her cheeks gently. It blew my mind how such cute girls like Charlotte Pudding and Noelle can have an inferiority complex like this, especially in the One Piece world.
"W-What… y-you don't find my eye ugly?!"
Noelle said, her voice stuttering a little now.
"Mwah ha ha… I know too many perverts out there like me who'd think you're one of the cutest girls ever!"
I closed my eyes as I remembered these perverts like Sanji and literally almost everyone who watched the anime. Tears started falling from Noelle's eyes, and she had a smile that reached her eyes.
"Okay… I'm going to finally show you a true monster! These are my powers that you wanted to know about all day." I said.
Noelle's gaze was too unfocused to react to my words. I carried her and made her sit down before I started my show.
"Watch how I avoided your bullets!" I yelled.
Buzz... My hand disappeared and got replaced by lightning.
Soon my entire body disappeared from Noelle's sight and then teleported right back, a little to the side from my original spot. I had just travelled at lightning speed, which looked like teleportation in a normal person's eye.
Noelle's jaws dropped. She just silently stared at me and didn't say anything for a while.
I didn't mind showing Noelle my devil-fruit powers and broadening her horizons a bit. I doubted she would be able to reveal this to many people anyway.
…. another 1 hour went by…
I gave Noelle a long explanation about Devil-Fruit Powers and their types and a little bit of information about my fruit as well. She adapted quickly and slowly started to regain her previous composure.
"So… aren't you like completely invincible?"
"Nah… attacks with insulated materials and sea-prism stones could be a deadly counter to me!"
I answered… I mean people who can defeat me would figure this information out anyway.
"Wow, but you're still pretty strong… Hey, it's about time I head back though… my uncle Zeff would be worrying about me. Why don't you stay the night at my place today?"
Noelle winked at me, speeding up my heart a little bit.
"I already told you be a little bit more reserved young woman!"
I berated her. While I wasn't the best role-model at preaching women how to behave, but a little bit of Tsundere~ acting won't hurt this woman.
"Wa ha ha… But seriously… I think my Uncle Zeff would love to meet you! You need to come!"
She forcefully pulled my sleeve and dragged me along happily. I didn't resist because I would be the biggest idiot in the world to resist the invite of someone this beautiful.
**
We finally reached Noelle's house, which was at an isolated part of the island. It was a simple house with a shooting range at the back for Noelle's practice.
In front of me, there was an elderly man named Zeff of average height and muscular built having a conversation with Noelle. He had a thick beard and long hair, and he wore a large red hooded cloak with a large rifle on his back.
Along the way, Noelle had informed me a little bit about this elderly gentleman. Zeff was a former pirate that used this island as a retired destination. He had taken in Noelle and saved her from slavers 4 years ago. He was also the one who trained Noelle to be a sniper.
Apparently, the members of the Three-Eye tribe can be sold at a very high price to slavers. Zeff had advised Noelle to hide her eye from the public for that reason. She seemed to heavily trust and rely on the man and took his advice seriously.
Currently, Zeff was sizing me up with a curious gaze. Noelle had given an explanation on recent events and my powers too.
"Hmmm… I see that you're a logia-type user. I never expected to meet a devil-fruit user here in East-Blue in the first place. Well… I'm more interested in your ability to predict the trajectory of Noelle's bullets."
Zeff had a quizzical smile on his face. My ability to block a bullet with nothing but a trident was interesting as it was something only a Haki user could usually do.
"Mwah ha ha… With my devil-fruit powers… I can see the electrical vibrations in the air to pinpoint movement of objects."
I held my chin high with pride.
"I see that you're a proud person… You're strong but there's still a lot for you to learn. If you're willing, I'm ready to impart you some training that can be of some help to you."
Zeff looked me in the eye and grinned.
'Don't tell me… is this the random mysterious expert that pops out of nowhere to train you,' I thought inwardly.
"I'm ready to accept your training… but how would you train me."
"Good, we can start tomorrow morning if you like what you see."
Zeff stood up and jumped right in front of me.
"Okay kid, I'm going to close my eyes and you need to try your best to punch me in the next 10 seconds while I just dodge."
When Zeff finished speaking, he closed his eyes and waited for me to begin
'Ohhh yeaaah, Is this guy an expert at Kenbunshoku Haki. I'm going to be OP if I can learn it and use it with the powers of my Rumble Rumble fruit', my face flushed with excitement.
Swoosh... Swoosh, I sent in a flurry of punches without any mercy. Though Zeff was an elderly man, I really wanted to test my ability against him.
Zeff dodged my punches with minimal movement with his eyes closed.
The time was about to finish when I sent one of my last punch towards Zeff. I had gotten him into a corner and made sure he had no escape from this hit.
Chinn
Suddenly, my mind picked up a few random electric vibrations in the air. It formed into a majestic image of Zeff performing an action that he had clearly not done before. This appeared to me as an image of brief "premonition" of what he would do.
It was difficult for me to make sense of what the image looked like, but I could sense Zeff's intentions to attack me in some way.
At the current moment, the cornered Zeff changed from defence to attack suddenly. Luckily, I had already foreseen his actions.
Glok… an unexpected kick landed on his shoulders, just before he could deliver a frightening punch towards to me.
'Ohh fuck… his punch would have hurt bad. He really needs to learn to hold back', beads of sweat trickled down my forehead.
While my own kick didn't look like it hurt Zeff at all, it nonetheless won me the challenge he had set. He stared at me with wide eyes, shocked that I managed to land a hit on him in the given time. The last kick especially got him, as even his Haki didn't see it coming.
"I said only punches… you cheated with a kick and hence you lose. It was a good attempt for your first try though… Ha ha ha"
A forceful laugh came from Zeff's mouth as he claimed his victory shamelessly.
'But you're the one attacked first,' I wanted to berate, but I just smiled wryly.
"Well moving on to my point, what you saw was called Kenbunshoku Haki. With it, you can sense the presence of others around you and have limited precognitive abilities…. Kind of like how you saw me dodge and predict your moves, even with my eyes closed."
Zeff started lecturing me on Haki, and a curious Noelle chimed in.
"This is unfair! Why aren't you teaching me Haki too Zeff uncle?!" She asked.
"It's because I can detect that Cross here has already awakened at least one form of the Haki and can accept my training. You on the other hand haven't and would probably only be able to do so if you go and adventure in the bigger world out there."
Noelle pouted with a cute expression and left the area.
Zeff went on to explain about the what Haki is, and how other forms of Haki exist. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to use Armament Haki or Conqueror's Haki.
'Jeez, I've already read the spoilers on Haki, just teach me how to do it, I listened to him with half-closed eyes for the rest of the time.
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Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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