//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 - Introducing Haki // Story: Luffy in Equestria // by SparkStone //------------------------------// Zoro and Chopper were traveling on a caravan pulled by ponies. They were discussing certain problems. "I sure hope everyone else is okay…" Chopper sighed. "The bastard got away after he sent Luffy flying." Zoro growled. "But what the hell was that ability? If we knew what it was, then maybe we can find a way to beat him." "Do you think Luffy's alright?" Chopper asked. "Do you think he'd really die like that?" Chopper huffed and said, "No! Of course not! Luffy's gonna be the King of the Pirates one day!" "Exactly, so Luffy's probably just fooling around somewhere." Zoro guessed. "I just hope he stays put. If what the news about yesterday was true, then Luffy should be in that town, Ponyville." Zoro leaned over to the ponies and asked, "But are you sure this guy wasn't like me? A human?" "I'm sure sir! Absolutely positive!" The stallion claimed. "The papers said the famous, Straw Hat Luffy took down an Ursa Major just by staring at it!" "He must have used Haoshoku Haki." Chopper hypothesized. "If the others find the news on Luffy's whereabouts." Zoro began. "We might be able to meet up there." "Um… I hate to say this, but it'll be a while before we reach Ponyville sir." the stallion informed him. "It's fine. We're used to this by now." Zoro said as he lied on his back and relaxed. "You can still take us there, right?" "Of course!" the stallion said with gusto. "You saved my town from an incurable disease! It's the least I can do!" As they stopped by town, Chopped noticed many ponies sick like before. Concerned, he get's Zoro's attention. "Don't even need to say it." Zoro told him. "Hey, can we stop here for a while? My friend wants to help this place out." "But, then it'll take us longer to get to your destination!" The stallion warned him. "We're in no rush. Besides, if we know our captain, he'll stay where he is as long as there's something to eat." Luffy was gorging down a banquet as Mayor Mare held a party for Luffy's heroic actions. Luffy scolded them for calling him hero, but only took it as modesty from Luffy. As Luffy continued to eat everything during the party, Twilight and the others were sitting by the table next to him. "He has no manners whatsoever!" Rarity pointed out. "That's what your concerned about?" Applejack retorted. Twilight was deep in thought about something. Luffy was able to take down the Ursa Major by just staring at it! Fluttershy is the only one we know who can do something like that. Not only that, but Rainbow also mentioned that Luffy was able to harden his body to a strong substance and can also predict her moves. Perhaps my analysis on Luffy only scratched the surface of this subject. "I wonder…" Fluttershy spoke. "What is it Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked. "I wonder if I can be like Luffy…" She finished. The mares spat out their drinks at that. "Why the hay would you want to be like him!?" Rainbow questioned. "I'm sorry, but… Luffy was able to use the stare to tame the Ursa Major. I was never able to do something like that." Applejack held Fluttershy's shoulder and said, "Listen Flutters, you don't have to prove anything. So what if Luffy was able to take down the thing? You don't have to be like Luffy." "But as an animal caretaker, don't you think I should?" Fluttershy asked. She had a fair point. The use of the stare was only useful on some creatures. The cockatrice was a fair start, but to an Ursa Major? She can't even use it on the Ursa Minor! Fluttershy became tempted to learn from Luffy how he was able to acquire this feat. Meanwhile, nearby the party were two griffons. They were watching from afar as they looked back to the papers. "This is Straw Hat Luffy?" The dark shaded griffon made sure. "It must be." the other replied. "A pony who can take down a massive creature like that." "One with his caliber shouldn't be wasted on this townsfolk." he sneered. "We can make better use of his abilities in our domain." The two nodded to each other and left through the alleyways, unseen by the public. Luffy was relaxing next to the apple tree. Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to play with Applebloom, Sweetiebelle, or Scootaloo until further notice on their punishment. Pinkie was working, and everyone else weren't as interesting or fun. As he slept the day away, Fluttershy came by. She quietly walked up to him, but hesitated to get any closer. He's sleeping… Maybe I shouldn't bother him… Oh! but he might just be relaxing… but I don't want to interrupt… But I really want to know about how to use my stare… But then again, he hates me… Losing the confidence to even speak, she just stood there until Luffy happened to look up. "Oh, hi Fluttershy. What are you doing here?" She jumped and looked back to Luffy. Hiding behind her mane, she said, "Oh! Um… I was just walking by, and uh… I was wondering if…" Trying her best to spit out the words, Luffy continued to stare at her until she spoke. "I was wondering if you could teach me how to use the stare! Um… that is if you don't mind…" Luffy tilted his head in confusion. "The stare?" "Y-You know, the same thing you did with the Ursa Major yesterday. You were able to stare at it and make it go unconscious." Fluttershy explained."I'm able to do it too, but not as well as you." Luffy was a bit surprised to hear this. "You have Haoshoku Haki?" "Haoshoku Haki?" Fluttershy repeated. "Is that what it's called?" "Yeah, it is." Luffy replied. "But I can't help you use it better." Fluttershy's ears dropped hearing this. "Oh… I'm sorry…" As she begins to leave, she stopped and turned back. "B-But!" "What?" Luffy asked. She looked down and said, "I-I know you hate me, but please!" She then bowed and asked, "Teach me how to use it better!" Luffy sighs and says, "I never hated you. I just didn't like you since you were a cry baby and a coward." "Wait, so… you don't hate me?" She asked. "Well, I might not know everything, but I know now that you're not a total coward." He claimed. "Seeing how you protected Rainbow yesterday made me realize you're not totally timid." Fluttershy blushed hearing this. Luffy then continued. "But the reason why I can't train you to use Haoshoku Haki is because you have to be stronger on your own." "Stronger?" Fluttershy asked. "You have to have a lot of will." Luffy explained. "That's what Rayleigh taught me." "So, Rayleigh is the one who showed you how to use… Haki?" "Yeah. I think you can use Haki too." Luffy grinned. Fluttershy panicked at the thought of Haki. "But, I don't want to hurt anypony…" "It's up to you on what you wanna do." Luffy said as he was falling into slumber again. "I don't really care that much." Fluttershy was in deep thought of this. The use of Haoshoku Haki is dangerous, and she knew that. But hers is so weak and so hard to control. She is dangerous if she doesn't learn to control it. It doesn't have to be used to hurt others, but she should master it to avoid it ever being a problem. "I…!" She yelped. "I want to learn how to use Haki!" Luffy awoke and looked at her with a blank expression. He grinned and said, "I'm not good at teaching you know." "Can we at least try?" She asked. "I-If you don't mind that is…" "Sure, why not?" Luffy replied. "But I'm not gonna stay here that long, and it took me two years to learn it." "Two years!?" Fluttershy squealed. "Yeah, so I'll just do what I can." Rainbow was flying around training. The only thing on her mind was the blow that actually hurt Luffy. She continued to fly until she saw Fluttershy's cottage with her and Luffy outside of it. Deciding to play it smart, Rainbow hides behind a cloud and flies closer to eavesdrop. "So… you're saying I can predict when something is about to happen?" Fluttershy wondered. "Yeah, it's called Kenbunshoku Haki." Luffy explained. "It can let you sense everyone nearby. You can tell what they are about to do before it happens." Doesn't Pinkie have this ability? Fluttershy thought. "It can also let you know how strong others are or even what they're feeling." Luffy added before looking up to the cloud. Rainbow hid behind the cloud, but Luffy knew someone was up there. "Is this the same ability you used to dodge Rainbow from before?" Fluttershy asked. "Yep!" "Amazing…" Fluttershy thought. Rainbow who was on the cloud became interested. So that's how he was able to dodge me from back then! "Another ability is called Busoshoku Haki." Luffy told as he raised his hoof. It then hardened to a black steel like state, amazing Fluttershy. "What's wrong with your hoof?" Fluttershy asked. "There's nothing wrong. Busoshoku Haki is an invisible shield. It can be used to strengthen your body and your weapons. When you hit a Devil Fruit user like me, it'll actually hurt me even though I'm made of rubber." Luffy explained. "You can also make it harder like what I'm doing right now." Fluttershy shivered at the description. "Weapons? I don't think I need this ability as much as I need Kenbunshoku Haki and Haoshoku Haki." "You might want to work on all of them." Luffy recommended. "Rayleigh told me that it's be better for you and would be easier to work on Haoshoku Haki." Fluttershy looked down and said, "I-I don't know… I don't like fighting Luffy…" "That's okay. It's your choice on how you want to do this." Luffy replied. "But if you really want to work on it, then you'll have to work really hard then." Fluttershy nodded and tried her hoof at Busoshoku Haki. After a minute or two of concentrating, a speck of the black metal sprouted on the tip of Fluttershy's hoof. Luffy and Fluttershy stared at it, seeing how small it was. Rainbow wasn't very impressed at all either. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it." Luffy assured her. "No I won't… I'm just not used to this… Haki…" Fluttershy said solemnly. Luffy placed his hooves on his ears and said, "You can't just give up Fluttershy. If you do, it'll take longer to work on your Haki." "How come?" Fluttershy asked. "Haki is formed not just from strength but willpower too." Luffy explained. "If you keep giving up, you won't get anywhere." Fluttershy nodded slowly, understanding the situation. She looked to the side and mentioned, "You know… I think some of my friends have Haki too." "Really?" Luffy asked. "See, Pinkie was able to tell when things are about to fall using her Pinkie sense." "Hmm…" Luffy thought as he held his chin. "Now that you mention it, I think Rainbow had Busoshoku Haki when she hit me with that really cool rainbow explosion attack." "I did?" Rainbow muttered to herself. "Wait, are you talking about the Sonic Rainboom?" Fluttershy asked. "Yeah! I think that's what it was called." Luffy replied. "Rainbow hit you with that!?" Fluttershy squealed. "Yeah, yesterday at the forest." Luffy answered. "Are you… well, angry?" "I get annoyed sometimes, but I don't really care." "You never seem to stay mad at anypony Luffy." Fluttershy pointed out. "How come?" "It's nothing to angry about." Luffy claimed as he held onto his hat. From that point, Fluttershy was able to use her Kenbunshoku Haki to sense a dreadful memory screaming. It was faint however as if Luffy had dealt with it already and moved on. It was still obvious. Luffy's been through more than what meets the eye. Keeping quiet about it, she smiled a bit after managing to use her ability for the first time. However, she was curious about the back story of Luffy. Luffy was having a stroll out in town. Along the way, he sees two things he's never seen before. Griffons. He runs up to them and asks, "Whoa! What are you!?" The griffon with a shade of black and gray replies with a devious smile. "We're griffons. I'm Shade and this is Brightly." Brightly was an average looking griffon but with golden bangs. "You must be the famous hero, Luffy." "I'm not a hero!" Luffy scolded them. "My, such modesty!" Brightly told Shade. "We've been hearing many things about you Luffy, especially this ongoing rumor about you craving, meat." "Yeah? What about it?" Luffy asked with curiosity. "You may not know this, but the griffon kingdom has an abundance of meat!" Shade informed him. "Why, we can take you there if you'd like!" "Griffon Kingdom?" Luffy repeated. "Sounds fun! When are you going?" "Right now if you want." Shade offered. "We'll tell the mayor about your whereabouts." "Alright then!" Luffy said as he followed the two. As the two escorted Luffy to a chariot, Rainbow flew nearby spying on Luffy. Seeing him leave, she begins to grow suspicious and follow them. Little does everyone know, there was a mistake somewhere along the way.