Golden Lion: How's that? Hard enough?

"Ordinary blades inevitably develop chips when they collide, or even get sliced apart by sharper swords."

Golden Lion Shiki's expression turned solemn as he continued, "A Black Blade is forged by tempering the sword with Armament Haki, making it sharper and tougher."

"As long as your Haki is strong enough, your sword will never break!"

"Even hundreds of years later, it will still cut through iron like mud!"

"That's a Black Blade!!"

Ultimately, the strength of a Black Blade depended on the strength of its wielder's Armament Haki!

As he spoke,

Golden Lion Shiki drew one of the long swords at his waist. His arm suddenly turned as black as metal, reflecting flashes of cold light.

Armament Haki rapidly spread from his arm onto the blade, which had originally gleamed like snow.

The blade quickly turned black as well.

Golden Lion Shiki, cigar clenched between his teeth, said smugly, "This is—a Black Blade!"

"Phew~"

He turned his head pretentiously and exhaled a puff of white smoke.

Ares watched with golden light flashing in his eyes, his heart surging with excitement. "With Armament Haki, my body can become even harder than swords!"

"As long as my Armament Haki is strong enough, I can surpass those Famous Swords!"

"No!"

"Not just Famous Swords, but the Twelve Supreme Great Swords!"

His expression grew excited. Staring eagerly at Golden Lion with his enormous eyes, he urged impatiently, "Quick! Teach me Armament Haki!"

Before they realized it, the three of them had arrived in front of Skull Castle.

Whitebeard laughed and said, "Let's go inside first. With your physical strength, you'll learn Armament Haki in no time!"

They had just entered Skull Castle

when Whitebeard and Golden Lion started arguing again, both demanding that they go to their own rooms.

Whitebeard roared, "Yellow-Haired Lion, your room is already wrecked. You still want to use it to entertain Ares?!"

Golden Lion shot back, "My room is damaged, so why not use one of my men's rooms?"

"Ares is learning Armament Haki from me. What are you, Whitebeard, butting in for?!"

"......"

"If you can teach Ares Haki, why can't I teach him?"

"Whitebeard! Do you know how to forge a Black Blade?"

"......"

The two argued without yielding.

Once again, they stood face-to-face. If Golden Lion had not had a cigar clenched between his teeth, Whitebeard's face might well have been pressed against Golden Lion's.

"All right, we'll go to my room!"

Ares silenced the pair of "old enemies" and offered his own suggestion.

Whitebeard and Golden Lion looked at Ares at the same time. Their faces drew apart, and they stood on either side of him.

Both agreed to the suggestion.

With the issue settled, the three went to Ares's room with their arms around one another's shoulders.

The other pirates who witnessed this scene were all left dumbfounded.

The room contained only the simplest furniture. Whitebeard and Golden Lion did not mind; after all, both of them had the same target: "Ares."

Golden Lion glared fiercely at Whitebeard, then said to Ares, "This Armament Haki is the—energy within the body!"

"To cultivate Armament Haki, you must achieve perfect control over your own body!"

"The body's strength and potential can both be drawn out!"

A powerful anticipation filled his eyes. How far could a monster like Ares take his "Armament Haki" in the future?

He continued excitedly, "Ares, put your hand on my arm and carefully feel how I use Armament Haki!"

Hearing this,

Ares excitedly placed his huge hand on Golden Lion's arm and said, "All right. Let me see what Armament Haki can do."

The next second,

Buzz!

Accompanied by a humming sound, Golden Lion's arm completed its Armament Haki hardening in an instant, becoming like black metal that had been polished to a shine.

"How amazing!"

Ares could not help shouting excitedly. His enormous eyes gleamed as he exclaimed, "So this is Armament Haki. It can actually make the body harder than metal!"

"So hard!!"

"This is exactly what I want!!"

His heart began pounding fiercely. He saw hope that his body could surpass the Twelve Supreme Great Swords.

With Armament Haki, his body would definitely become harder than those Famous Swords!!

Seeing Ares's excitement, Golden Lion's lips curled upward as he proudly asked, "How's that? Hard enough?"

He suddenly recalled the pleasurable moments from last night, as well as MISS. Bagin's high-pitched, sonorous "singing."

Armament Haki was truly hard and powerful. It was incredibly useful!

Golden Lion quickly put those springtime thoughts out of his mind and continued, "Ordinary attacks can't break through the defense of my Armament Haki."

"Ares, Armament Haki is a skill you must cultivate on the path to becoming a powerhouse!"

"It can release your strength several times over!"

Whitebeard grinned beside him and said, "Gurararara... Shiki's right. If you want to become one of the strongest people on these seas, you must possess powerful—Armament Haki!!"

Their booming voices reached Ares's ears, making the blood in his body begin to boil involuntarily.

His mind also recalled that strange sensation from touching Golden Lion's arm moments earlier.

A human body could continuously grow stronger through training.

Repeated blows and collisions had made Ares's skin, muscles, and bones tougher and more resistant to damage, but compared with the transformation brought about by Golden Lion's Armament Haki,

the difference was immediately obvious!

Ares was certain that Armament Haki was the "hardness" he had always pursued!

Moreover, it was a powerful ability that could make his body tougher than the Twelve Supreme Great Swords.

He began recalling the scene of Golden Lion Shiki using Armament Haki. It played through his mind like a slow-motion recording.

Normally, a person only remembered things that left a "deep" impression, while most other things would be "forgotten."

Unless one trained repeatedly and deliberately reinforced the memory, it would eventually fade away.

That was why people said, "A good memory is no substitute for a bad pen!"

But Ares was different. It seemed that as long as he wished,

everything that had happened could replay in his mind. He could even speed it up or slow it down according to his thoughts and will.

It was all because of a certain day several years ago.

From that day onward, his soul and brain seemed to have become extraordinarily "special"!

Now,

Ares replayed the sensation and scene of Golden Lion using Armament Haki over and over in his mind.

He sank into deep thought and recollection.

Golden Lion looked at Ares in surprise and muttered, "This fellow seems to be thinking about how to use Armament Haki. But Armament Haki isn't something you can learn in a day or two."

He then chuckled. "It took me more than a month before I could use Armament Haki proficiently."

"More than a month? Then I was much faster than you. It only took me a little over twenty days!" Whitebeard raised his chin proudly, his voice blowing the mustache above his lips.

That was rather interesting.

Golden Lion looked at Whitebeard with considerable displeasure and replied arrogantly, "That's because your Body Arts are strong, whereas I, Golden Lion..."

"Am a Dual Sword Style—great swordsman!!!"

Just then,

a voice interrupted their argument.

"Um..."

"This is Armament Haki, right?"