Mad Dog Arrives

After one of Rayleigh's brutal experiments, it was ultimately proven that his guess had been correct.

The more serious the injury, the more stamina it took to recover. For ordinary scrapes, the stamina consumption could be completely ignored.

Lying on the floor, Shirakawa had not done any physical labor at all; he had merely been slashed at, yet he was already drenched in sweat. It was hard to tell whether he was exhausted or frightened.

However, the frequent rise and fall of his chest made it clear that he had indeed expended a great deal of stamina.

"I've already decided on your training."

Looking at Shirakawa lying on the floor, Rayleigh took a sip of wine and spoke casually.

"How will I train?" Although Shirakawa was especially tired right now, he could not help feeling excited upon hearing Rayleigh's words. This would be the beginning of his journey to become stronger.

"Very simple. See all this equipment on the ground? You can train however you want. It'll not only build your stamina, but also increase your strength—a win-win."

"And then?" After waiting for a long while without hearing Rayleigh say anything else, Shirakawa asked in confusion.

"And then? What do you mean, and then?"

"That's it? Isn't that way too irresponsible?"

"Irresponsible? Don't worry, I won't be. I'll supervise your training and won't let you slack off. If I catch you slacking off, hehe, you can think about what will be waiting for you."

Demon. Pervert. Shirakawa cursed inwardly.

Just then, Rayleigh pulled a wooden stick from who knew where and mercilessly struck Shirakawa on the head.

"What are you doing? That hurts!"

Although Shirakawa's ability could heal his injuries, he could still feel pain before they recovered.

"Who told you to curse me in your head?"

"I didn't."

"Still talking back?" Rayleigh brought the stick down again.

"Do you think my Observation Haki is for show? I may not know exactly what you're thinking, but I can still tell whether it's good or bad."

"Really?" Shirakawa thought again.

"Of course it's real."

Hearing that, Shirakawa's eyes widened.

"How did you know what I was just thinking?"

"I guessed."

"Impressive." Shirakawa gave him a thumbs-up. When he had watched anime in his Past Life, he had never realized Observation Haki possessed such an ability.

"Heh, of course. Who do you think I am?" Rayleigh was still quite arrogant at this point, unlike the refined and easygoing man he would appear to be twenty years later.

"All right, start training now. For you, any kind of training will be useful right now."

After saying that, Rayleigh brought over a chair, sat down in front of Shirakawa, and watched him.

"What about Shanks?"

"Shanks? Isn't it your fault? That brat is still sleeping."

"Sleeping? Haha!" Shirakawa laughed awkwardly.

"Then shouldn't you also teach me how to control Conqueror's Haki?"

"Of course. Since you've got that thing, it'd be a waste not to use it. Besides, if it erupts again the next time you fight another Pirate Group and injures your own people, then you'd really be guilty of a serious crime."

Over the next two months, it was not only Shirakawa who suffered inhuman torment; even the ordinary crew members of the Pirate Group endured dozens of bouts of mental oppression.

In order to help Shirakawa better control his Conqueror's Haki, Rayleigh's methods of provoking him became more and more intense each time.

As a result, most of the crew members looked at Shirakawa strangely. After all, he was the culprit behind their passing out several times.

Finally, heaven did not disappoint those who worked hard. After two months of mental oppression, Shirakawa could finally summon and dismiss his Conqueror's Haki at will, and he could also control its targets.

Of course, he had not spent those two months learning only Haki. Every aspect of Shirakawa had improved by leaps and bounds—strength, speed, and stamina.

Though he lacked any fighting techniques, he possessed an undying ability.

If he could fight without fearing death, then no one close to him in strength would be his match.

Even so, Shirakawa had not become arrogant, because the person he faced every day was Silvers Rayleigh. No matter how hard Shirakawa trained over those two months, he still could not catch up.

As a result, he had no idea what his exact strength was. He only knew that he had gone from being unable to last even one move against Rayleigh to becoming a "powerful" existence capable of taking three moves.

"If only my stamina were fixed too."

Shirakawa had happily thought about this more than once. Even if it could not increase, at least it would not decrease.

Over those two months, Shirakawa had also witnessed the ever-changing weather of the New World. One moment, the skies could be clear for miles; the next, they would be covered in dark clouds and pouring rain, followed immediately by fierce winds and blizzards.

It gave Shirakawa a thorough understanding of nature's cruelty.

Whenever they encountered severe weather, every member of the Pirate Group treated it with utmost seriousness.

After all, in the New World, at least half of all Pirate Groups were destroyed by natural disasters. And the disasters pirates feared most were nothing more than tsunamis, Sea Tornadoes, and the like.

During one disaster, Shirakawa finally got to see Rayleigh make a move. It was a violent Sea Tornado; if it struck them, the ship would surely be torn apart in an instant.

Rayleigh instantly cleaved out a powerful Sword Qi, splitting the once-mighty massive tornado cleanly in two.

Though Shirakawa did not know whether Rayleigh had used his full strength in that attack, it left an exceptionally deep impression on him.

Perhaps it was also because it was the first time he had witnessed something like that.

Just as Shirakawa lay on the ground resting, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the training room, and it was obvious they did not belong to just one person.

"Did we run into some kind of weather again?"

That was Shirakawa's first thought, because every time this happened, they had encountered terrible weather.

"First Mate, what's happening outside?" Shirakawa asked Rayleigh.

"That Mad Dog is here again." Rayleigh gave a wry smile as he spoke.

"Mad Dog? What Mad Dog?" Shirakawa was still somewhat confused. Everything that had happened during this period of training had left his mind struggling to keep up.

"You'll know once you come outside with me."

Shirakawa followed Rayleigh out of the training room and saw everyone wearing grave, battle-ready expressions.

This made Shirakawa grow serious as well. "What kind of enemy could make the Pirate Group's atmosphere so oppressive?"

Shirakawa followed Rayleigh to the bow and saw a Dog-Head Warship blocking their path not far away.

"Hero Garp," Shirakawa exclaimed in surprise.

If someone had mentioned Mad Dog, Shirakawa might not have thought of Garp. But upon seeing such a distinctive warship, he truly could not think of anyone else.