Whitebeard: You're Truly a Genius

The air suddenly fell silent.

Shiki the Golden Lion and Whitebeard turned their heads toward Ares's arm in unison. Their eyes widened dramatically.

"Huh?!!"

"Nani?!!"

Shiki the Golden Lion's face was filled with shock. He opened his mouth wide and exclaimed, "You've already learned to use Armament Haki?!"

At that moment.

As his mouth hung open, the cigar fell onto the tatami.

He hurriedly reached down to pick it up, then blew on it repeatedly, sending the ash flying off.

Whitebeard also reached out and lifted Ares's arm—which had become "bigger and blacker" and "thicker and sturdier"—in front of himself. That huge arm was as thick and solid as an elephant's leg.

"It really is Armament Haki hardening!!!"

Whitebeard looked as though he had seen a ghost. His gaze shifted from the arm to Ares's face, where he saw an utterly unmoving expression.

The corner of his mouth twitched unnaturally, and his heart ached. What a show-off. He's already learned to use Armament Haki!

He reached out and patted Ares on the shoulder, saying with immense emotion, "Ares, you may be a little slow-witted, but you're truly a once-in-a-million genius!!"

If Captain Rocks hadn't assigned this fellow to Ochoku's command, Whitebeard would have been willing to throw away all his dignity to recruit Ares into his own division.

What a pity...

Whitebeard was now filled with boundless regret!

Shiki the Golden Lion took a deep drag from his cigar, calming the heart that Ares had deeply shaken. He exclaimed, "You learned Armament Haki as easily as drinking water."

"I've never seen anyone with such an incredible capacity for learning. You're definitely more of a 'monster' than Linlin!!"

The Rocks Pirates had no shortage of "monsters." In fact, every single one of them was a monster.

But even monsters differed from one another.

This was the first time he had ever seen a "monster among monsters" like Ares!

A freak among freaks!

Ares suddenly furrowed his brow and said, "This Armament Haki..."

"Strange..."

"Why do I feel like my body is resisting it?!"

"..."

Ares's murmuring and muttering left Shiki the Golden Lion and Whitebeard completely bewildered.

"There really is something a little off about this guy's mind..." Shiki the Golden Lion looked at Ares strangely.

Whitebeard's expression changed as well. He said, "Indeed. He's always been different from everyone else. Do you remember when Ares challenged the captain?"

"That guy's persistence is beyond ordinary!"

Shiki the Golden Lion removed the cigar from his mouth and exhaled a cloud of smoke. "That old man already said Ares hasn't been normal for several years."

"I have no idea what caused it. Maybe it's even a good thing!"

He felt that in this world, all one needed was strength.

The two of them continued talking.

Meanwhile, fragments of memories seemed to flash through Ares's mind. They were pieces of the "drunken state" that had occurred not long ago. The hazy, chaotic fragments caused his mind to descend into confusion once more.

Following his body's instincts,

he used "Reverse Armament Haki"!

His pitch-black arm instantly turned red and hot, and wisps of white smoke began to rise from it.

Whitebeard, who was holding Ares's arm up, suddenly felt a searing pain spread through his hand. His nerves instinctively made him let go.

He hurriedly shook his hand.

Whitebeard opened his mouth and cried out in surprise, "This is the state Ares was in when he got drunk before!!"

Ares's arm dropped with a bang, smashing the small table on the tatami in front of him to pieces.

Seeing this, the swelling around Shiki the Golden Lion's eye began to ache faintly again. He asked in amazement, "Ares, is this state some kind of special combat technique unique to you?!"

As a member of the Rocks Pirates, Shiki the Golden Lion had seen many strange individuals from different races.

There were even quite a few aboard the Rocks Pirates' ship, such as the Minks, who could unleash the power of lightning and transform into Sulong on the night of the full moon.

There was also the Fish-Man Race, which could manipulate seawater into weapons and bullets.

Whitebeard stared at Ares as well, his eyes filled with questions. He said, "Exactly. When you were drunk before, this state increased your strength tremendously!"

"I've never seen this kind of power before, either."

"It's powerful!"

The two "powerfuls" spoken by Whitebeard, the captain of Division Two of the Rocks Pirates, naturally meant that it was powerful in no ordinary sense.

"This is... the power of Armament Haki!" Ares looked at his red-hot arm, his face filled with intense delight.

This "Armament Haki" possessed a scorching attribute and was even harder!

The boost it provided was greater than that of "Armament Haki hardening."

Ares's eyes shone brightly. He said excitedly, "I like this feeling!!"

"It feels as though a chunk of iron has been placed into a furnace, repeatedly refined and melted down to remove its impurities!!"

Memories from his childhood also surfaced in his mind.

Ares's father had been a famous master swordsmith who had once forged a Famous Sword of the Great Grade Swords.

Having grown up surrounded by it, Ares naturally had a deep impression of the various aspects of sword forging.

The forging process naturally included melting down the iron.

And his usual acts of "self-abuse" were also one of the steps involved in forging a sword.

Shiki the Golden Lion raised an eyebrow, deeply astonished. "You're saying this is... Armament Haki?!!"

"I don't believe it!!"

"I've never seen Armament Haki like this!"

Looking at Ares's red-hot arm, which was even emitting white smoke, his heart trembled violently.

Could this really be Armament Haki?

This damn thing looked more like a Devil Fruit ability!

Whitebeard thought of the same possibility and immediately asked excitedly, "Ares, have you ever eaten a very strange-looking fruit before?"

"I mean one whose color was very different from ordinary fruit, with spiral patterns on it!"

"A fruit that tasted extremely awful, so awful that it made people want to vomit after eating it!"

"Think carefully. Have you ever eaten a fruit like that?"

Remembering the taste of Devil Fruits, Whitebeard's face instantly turned the color of a grassland.

His eyes remained fixed nervously on Ares, because with Ares's "mind," he might genuinely have no idea that he had once eaten a Devil Fruit.

He might not even know that he possessed an exceptionally special Devil Fruit ability!

Perhaps he had accidentally eaten one yesterday or today.

After all, Ares had still been training in the sea before this. It was possible that it had happened within the past two days.

Ares's expression became blank. He furrowed his brow and began struggling to recall his past.

The more he tried to remember, the more the fragments in his mind intertwined, causing his head to ache.

"Ah!!!"

He clutched his head, his fingers digging into his hair, and actually pulled out clumps of black hair.

It was the pain caused by the chaotic state of his neural system.

It was inhuman torment and agony, as though his soul were being torn apart!

Even Ares's extraordinarily sturdy nerves and resistance to pain could not stop him from howling.

Shiki the Golden Lion shouted at Ares anxiously and worriedly, "Hey, hey!!"

"Ares, what's wrong with you?!!"