On the Flame Dragon, Julian was deeply troubled. He thought to himself, I've practiced Flesh Fist for so long, yet my Armament Haki still hasn't awakened. Then he suddenly thought of something and said, "Heavens, I'm willing to trade five hundred years of Momonosuke, this little bastard's lifespan for a chance to awaken Armament Haki. If that's not enough, add another five hundred years of Saint Saturn's lifespan. Fool King Kozuki, bless me."
With that, Julian threw a fierce straight punch at the sandbag—Punch Impact. Then he felt waves of power stored within his body flow into his fist. It was the awakening of his physical Armament Haki. His fist gradually turned a faint grayish-black.
Julian immediately laughed. "If I'd known, I would've used that beast Momonosuke's lifespan to exchange for my Armament Haki awakening sooner. Saint Saturn's dog life isn't bad either."
Julian continued to channel his Armament Haki, coating his left hand with it. A faint grayish-black layer of Armament Haki slowly covered his fist. He smashed the sandbag with a fierce bouncing punch—Punch Impact—and the black earthen sandbag shattered into pieces, dust instantly flying everywhere. Julian thought to himself, Awesome. This feels absolutely awesome.
Julian used the Earth-Earth Fruit's power again, gathering the material into another enormous black ore soil sandbag. He said, "I need to upgrade my sandbag. This soil is black, packed with black minerals, and has the properties of iron. It's extremely hard black mineral mud."
Julian had also felt the consequences of being excessively hyped by Morgans. Several pirate crews were preparing to take down Julian's Flame Dragon Pirates. For example, the Blood Claw Pirates from the day before had deliberately brought their ships closer when they spotted the Flame Dragon Pirates' vessel. From a distance, Julian saw six enormous ships closing in