After the little incident with the Earth Crystal Bear, Wang Chuan and Zhao Wuji devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the great endeavor of body training.
As for hunting Spirit Beasts to sell for money?
How could making money be more important than strengthening themselves!
So, for several years in a row, aside from the occasional Spirit Beast exchanged for money to buy seasonings, nearly all the Spirit Beast meat ended up in their stomachs.
As a result, their physical strength rose sharply. Zhao Wuji had also grown strong enough to contend with some ten-thousand-year Spirit Beasts using his martial arts and Spirit Skills alone.
One day, Wang Chuan was asleep.
He was once again in the familiar Marine Elite Training Camp.
Before him stood Zephyr at his peak, wearing a Marine Justice coat over his shoulders but bare-chested, both arms intact.
"You're here, brat. Then let's begin. I hope you won't disappoint me today."
Zephyr smiled as both his arms became coated in black Armament Haki with a metallic sheen.
Wang Chuan took a deep breath.
Without wasting words, he coated his arms in Armament Haki as well. He had already experienced this scene through thousands of days and nights.
However, compared with Zephyr's purely black, reflective Armament Haki, Wang Chuan's Haki carried a faint golden tint in its sheen. It somewhat resembled the red version of Haki used by the protagonist, Luffy.
The next instant, both men vanished from where they stood.
When they reappeared, they were already throwing punches forward at the same time.
Black Arm Style: Shotgun Barrage ×2
Yula Yula Yula!!!
Their fists flew so densely that not even air could pass through them.
Every punch collided perfectly with the other, unleashing vast amounts of black-and-red lightning that surged outward in all directions. The sight was incomparably terrifying.
But clearly, as the creator of the Black Arm Style, Zephyr's mastery of the technique surpassed Wang Chuan's.
Gradually, Wang Chuan's punches could no longer keep up with Zephyr's speed, and he took several heavy blows in succession.
Fortunately, Shotgun Barrage was not an especially powerful technique.
Moreover, Wang Chuan had already wrapped his upper body in a faint layer of Haki, so he was not seriously injured outright.
Seeing that the battle was turning against him, Wang Chuan immediately stopped. He crossed his hands before his chest, then hardened his entire upper body with Armament Haki. Zephyr's heavy punch sent him flying, giving him a chance to catch his breath.
"Don't even think about running!"
Zephyr snarled and hurried after him. His right fist tightened as he prepared to unleash Sett's Haymaker, looking as though he intended to take Wang Chuan's life.
But Wang Chuan had long grown accustomed to this level of battle.
For Haki to become stronger and harder, it could only be tempered through head-on clashes. And since he would not truly be beaten to death in this space, Zephyr naturally fought without restraint.
Still, Armament Haki could not grow stronger overnight, and Wang Chuan had no intention of ending things so hastily.
Thus, long ago, he had used his Super Intelligence, employing every method available to the weak to extend the time spent tempering his Haki.
And now, Wang Chuan's efforts were finally about to bear fruit.
Wang Chuan's shoulder-length black hair began to grow at a rapid pace, then formed into a sphere that shielded him behind it.
Six Styles Secret Art: Life Return!
Zephyr threw a punch, smashing heavily into the sphere of hair and sending Wang Chuan flying more than a hundred meters away as though he were batting a balloon.
But when Zephyr caught up this time, he did not press his advantage against Wang Chuan.
Because Zephyr had never been a battle maniac from beginning to end. He was a teacher.
Watching Wang Chuan retract his hair and assume a stance to gather power, Zephyr said with satisfaction,
"You've trained Life Return to the point where you can freely control your hair?
That's something only the ancient immortals of legend could do. As expected of my disciple."
"I merely used some small tricks to assist my training," Wang Chuan said calmly.
Over the past few years, under Zhao Wuji's Gravity Control, Wang Chuan had deepened his understanding of himself through the sensations of becoming familiar with his internal organs. Naturally, he had mastered Life Return beyond merely assisting digestion.
Then Wang Chuan added,
"But Teacher Zephyr, is it really alright for you to be so relaxed? My technique is about to be ready."
Zephyr chuckled, and his entire right arm was instantly covered in Armament Haki.
"What nonsense are you spouting, brat!
Didn't you learn this move from me? Don't get carried away!"
As his words fell, the Armament Haki covering Zephyr's entire wrist flowed rapidly toward his fist like water.
At that moment, black-and-red arcs of lightning began to rise from Zephyr's fist—the kind that ordinarily appeared only when high-level Armament Haki clashed.
It looked as though Zephyr were using Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
One had to know that Zephyr did not possess Conqueror's Haki.
Seeing this, Wang Chuan's fighting spirit surged.
At the same time, he could not help but marvel. As expected of a man who had become an Admiral like Buddha Sengoku without possessing Conqueror's Haki.
No wonder he had been chosen as the teacher who would pass down the Strongest Haki Inheritance of Armament Haki to him.
With his mastery of Armament Haki alone, if not for suffering repeated devastating blows that left his will despondent, along with the absurdity of the movie's plot, how could such a powerhouse have ended up so tragically?
Yet the Zephyr within this inheritance had not experienced any of that. This was the very height of his power.
The two looked at each other in silence, then moved at the same moment with perfect understanding!
Black Arm Style Secret Art: Justice—Blast ×2!!!
Both men threw their fists forward with all their might.
Then a terrifying sight unfolded!
Their fists did not collide at all!
At the point midway between them, where their fists were separated by a meter, violent black-and-red lightning began to rage in every direction.
In an instant, the earth split apart!
Even the sky was torn open by their clash, forming an abyss as though the heavens themselves had cracked!
This was Zephyr's strongest strike!
It contained the Justice he had upheld when he first became a Marine!
It was also a secret art that allowed him to contend with those who wielded Conqueror's Haki Infusion, even without Conqueror's Haki!
He compressed Armament Haki with absolute will, then set the Armament Haki in motion, turning it into a strike that could hit from a distance.
If the opponent was weak and could not unleash a blow to resist it, Armament Haki would instantly be driven into their body, tearing them apart as though they had been struck by the impact of a cannonball.
If the opponent was strong, however, it would produce this special effect, similar to a clash of Conqueror's Haki striking from afar.
So after taking this move for the first time, Wang Chuan realized something.
What ultimate answer? Conqueror's Haki?
As long as I train myself black enough! Hard enough!
Armament Haki can still hammer Conqueror's Haki! Devil Fruit powers will become a joke too!
This was what it meant for Haki to transcend all things!
But clearly, in this space, Wang Chuan, who looked no more than thirty, was no match for Zephyr at his peak.
Wang Chuan's fist began to retreat.
The black-and-red lightning pressed toward him, lashing against his body like whips.
But Wang Chuan paid no attention to the damage. He continued pouring all his will into his fist.
Because only by embracing the will to survive through death could Haki transform step by step.
Until it became the strongest!
But reality was cruel. Although Wang Chuan's Haki grew a little stronger in the end, he was blasted away and crashed straight through a small mountain.
Yet Wang Chuan smiled in the end.
Because this time, he had not passed out!
Before you continue