Monster Hunter of the One Piece World

"Brother Sherwin, what wrong, meow?" Klee Meow poked Sherwin cheek with her tiny paw, looking puzzled as she curiously asked,

"Why can Klee feel a kind of... aura from you, meow? Like the one Grandma Felyne and the village chief grandpa have, meow?"

"This dummy must've been shocked by you, little Klee Meow, meow!"

Sanji Meow, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation from atop the mast, leapt down to the deck. While mocking Sherwin, he landed neatly and sprang onto Sherwin other shoulder. Imitating Klee Meow, he poked Sherwin other cheek with his little paw.

"Ahem, ahem…" Sherwin quickly snapped out of his daze. He shot a fierce glare at the cheeky Sanji Meow before hurriedly changing the subject.

"Klee, you're amazing! You actually awakened Observation Haki!"

"Really, meow?" The little plushball instantly forgot the previous topic. A bit proud yet a little shy, she nuzzled her tiny head into Sherwin neck.

"Ehehehehe… Klee not as awesome as Brother Sherwin says, meow~"

"No, no, no, you're absolutely the most amazing one among us!" Sherwin pointed at Sanji Meow on the other side and said,

"I still haven't managed to learn Observation Haki after all this time—fine, whatever. But Sanji, that little dummy, is a Felyne just like you, and he even older than you, yet he still hasn't learned Observation Haki. Doesn't that just prove how clever and gifted you are, Klee?"

As he spoke, he raised an eyebrow at Sanji Meow on his shoulder.

Come on, let drag each other down!

"That only because I haven't focused on training my Observation Haki yet, meow!" Dragged into it by Sherwin, Sanji Meow immediately jumped up, flattening his ears like airplane wings as he shouted back, "Unlike you, dummy, who been practicing forever with no results, meow!"

"That not true, meow!" Just as Sherwin and Sanji Meow glared fiercely at each other, Klee Meow suddenly spoke up with a serious look.

"Brother Sherwin trains with the longsword every day and also uses that black-hardening Armament Haki. And Brother Sanji knows how to sail and makes super yummy food. Everyone is really amazing, meow!"

"Klee, you really are a little angel!"

"Klee, you really are a little angel, meow!"

Sherwin scooped the little plushball into his arms and rubbed against her, while Sanji Meow slid down onto Sherwin arm and gave Klee Meow long fur a lick.

"..."

"..."

"Hmph!" ×2

The man and the cat locked eyes and snorted in unison. Then, as if rehearsed, they both yelled at each other at the same time, "Look at Klee (little sister)! You totally don't act like an older brother (meow)!"

And then...

Sherwin and Sanji Meow started brawling.

"Using Armament Haki to block is cheating, meow!"

"Cut the crap! If you've got the guts, then stop using your teeth and claws!"

"My claws and teeth are part of me, why can't I use them?"

"Then Armament Haki is something I trained myself to use. If you can't scratch through it, that your problem!"

"Ah! Klee wants to play too, meow!"

Tossed aside by the two older brothers, the little plushball wasn't having it. With a loud "meow," she pounced into the scuffle too...

After all, in the worldview of Felynes, this level of roughhousing was just a form of daily play. The one human and two Felynes often played this kind of game together.

Once Klee Meow joined in, Sherwin and Sanji Meow immediately lightened up their movements in perfect sync, quickly shifting from an intense brawl to playful roughhousing to include her.

After a good round of play, Sherwin gently scratched Sanji Meow behind the head with one hand, and pinched Klee Meow paw pad with the other, then asked,

"So, Klee, do you remember what made you awaken your Observation Haki? Or maybe around when you first noticed you had it?"

Although being outshined by a Felyne was honestly a bit demoralizing, now that there was a firsthand case, Sherwin naturally wanted to learn from it.

Sanji Meow, sitting to the side with his ears perked, was clearly not planning to fall behind either.

More importantly...

Once I learn Observation Haki before Sanji Meow or Sherwin, I'll be able to properly laugh at that idiot (meow)!

Gotta admit, as the Felyne who spent the most time with Sherwin, Sanji Meow is actually quite similar to him in some ways.

"Umm… let Klee think, meow…"

The little plushie scratched the back of her head with her tiny paw, trying hard to remember.

After a long while, Klee Meow suddenly smacked her soft little paw pad and exclaimed with realization,

"Oh! Klee remembers now, meow! It was back when I was doing experiments on Uncle Cody ship. The moment the experiment failed, I suddenly sensed it was going to explode, and then I got this ability that Brother Sherwin calls Observation Haki, meow!"

Sherwin: "..."

Sanji Meow: "..."

"Meowhahaha! What do you have to say now, meow? You were clearly doing the experiment with little Klee, yet you didn't awaken Observation Haki, meow!" That little bastard Sanji Meow paused for a moment, then quickly mocked Sherwin.

"Oh… alright then…" Sherwin calmly fired back,

"In that case, you can be the one to help Klee with her experiments next time. Since you're so amazing, Sanji, you'll definitely awaken Observation Haki through it, right?"

"...Ahaha, hahaha… W-Well, maybe not, meow…" Sanji Meow expression instantly stiffened. He waved his little paw awkwardly and said,

"I just thought about it… Klee awakening method might not work for me, meow… Yep, that must be it, meow!"

The little yellow cat nodded firmly, as if convinced.

Tch. That shameless, unlucky look on your face—just who did you learn that from?

Sherwin tapped Sanji Meow head in annoyance, not bothering to keep arguing with him. Instead, he turned back to ask Klee Meow more questions about Observation Haki.

Although the manga already gave plenty of information about Observation Haki, as many readers often say, "Oda just a manga artist—what the hell does he know about real pirates?" So maybe there were some special mechanics that the manga hadn't touched on. It was still better to understand everything as thoroughly as possible.

"What kind of feeling do you get when you use Observation Haki?"

That question was a bit abstract, and Klee Meow found it hard to describe right away. She tilted her little head, thinking deeply for a while before answering uncertainly,

"It actually feels kind of like how Klee usually listens to the sounds around her with her ears, meow… but it not really hearing any specific sound. What I 'hear' becomes more detailed—like other people emotions, for example, meow."

She paused to think again, then added, "Also, the things I can 'hear' with that ability aren't just animals, meow. Even things that clearly don't have life—Klee can still 'hear' their presence, and even their upcoming changes, meow."

Based on Klee Meow description so far, it didn't differ much from how it was portrayed in the manga.

Sherwin then asked, "Do you use it often?"

"No, meow," the little plushie shook her head.

"At first, Klee thought it was kind of fun and tried it out a bit, but found that aside from having a smaller range, it was pretty similar to using my ears normally. So I haven't really tried turning it on much since then, meow…"

"And also," Klee Meow pawed at her ears a couple of times, then wrinkled her nose in frustration and continued, "It feels kind of tiring to stay in that state all the time, meow."

That part didn't surprise Sherwin. Just like how excessive use of Armament Haki leaves the body exhausted, Observation Haki probably drains mental energy instead. After all, staying focused constantly is already something that demands a lot of brainpower.

"Then when does it activate on its own? Besides when you were doing experiments."

"And when those bad guys in black clothes tried to buy Klee and Brother Sanji—Klee could 'hear' that they wanted to do something bad, meow!"

Klee Meow answered that question quickly and even explained why she suddenly stopped "behaving" at the Gules Trade Fair.

"Klee wanted to blow up that big guy with the long tongue because I 'heard' he wanted to do something bad to us—really, really bad stuff, meow!"

Sherwin, well-acquainted with Klee Meow personality, glanced at the self-righteous little plushie with a half-smile but didn't call her out.

It wasn't exactly that Klee Meow was lying, but that probably wasn't the only reason. In fact, that reason might not even make up half of it… maybe… a third at most.

Afterward, Sherwin asked a few more detailed questions about Observation Haki. But since Klee Meow hadn't used it much and wasn't the best at explaining things, he wasn't able to get much more useful information out of her.

"Well, since you've already awakened Observation Haki, Klee, you should try to practice it more whenever you have time," Sherwin said gently, scratching the little plushie chin to coax her. "You never know when that ability might come in really handy."

"Mm! Klee will do her best, meow!"

And just like that, the naïve little plushie was tricked by Sherwin into beginning her training to strengthen her Observation Haki.