Bane had originally planned to recruit some sailors in Loguetown so he could put his ship to proper use.
But Loguetown was under lockdown now, so that plan naturally fell through.
They did not linger in Loguetown any longer. After buying some supplies, Bane and his group quickly left Loguetown.
It was worth mentioning that although Zoro had not found Bane a good famous blade, he had successfully acquired Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri, making Tashigi envious for quite some time.
As for Nami, she bought a huge pile of designer clothes. And honestly, she was naturally beautiful to begin with, and she had great taste in clothing. After changing outfits and gaining the backing of wealth, her entire aura had risen considerably.
"Smoker found us a Log Pose pointing to Whisky Peak. It's at the entrance to the Grand Line, so our direction is no longer a problem. Next comes the matter of sailing. If we want to bypass Holy Land Mary Geoise and enter the Grand Line, we can only proceed through Reverse Mountain. There..." Sitting on a barrel on the deck, Bane explained what they would encounter to Nami and Zoro.
After listening for only a few sentences, Zoro found it boring and walked to the other side of the deck, where he began swinging his swords to practice his Sword Arts.
After Bane finished explaining what lay ahead, Nami confidently accepted the task.
Over the following days, the ship sailed normally while Bane entered a period of training.
His appetite had become astonishingly huge. Zoro had once thought he could eat plenty, but Bane could eat five times as much as him, and his appetite was still growing. Nami felt that he was simply a monster, capable of devouring an entire cow in one meal.
As Bane's appetite began to grow rapidly, his physical condition also improved at a rapid pace. Almost every day, they could feel his weight changing.
His build had not changed much, nor had his height visibly increased. Yet under such circumstances, his weight continued to rise a little every day, which was extremely strange.
But Bane knew why. His muscle density, bone density, and other physical qualities were all increasing, so naturally, his weight was increasing as well.
At the same time, as Bane's physical condition steadily strengthened, his development of the Rokushiki became more and more effortless. One major breakthrough was that he unexpectedly mastered the ability to move freely while using Tekkai!
This was an extremely difficult feat. Even Rob Lucci, Cipher Pol's so-called strongest agent in eight hundred years, had not mastered this technique. As Bane recalled, it seemed that only that wolfman, Jabra, could do it.
Tekkai was originally a technique that trained every muscle in the body. Bane had no intention of relying on it to endure an opponent's attacks head-on. As he remembered it, those who blindly believed in Tekkai usually did not end well.
He merely used Tekkai as a breakthrough point for the Rokushiki, and the results proved that it was highly effective.
In the days following his breakthrough with Tekkai, Bane could clearly feel that his control over his body had reached a new realm. Many previous difficulties with the Rokushiki were resolved as soon as he entered this realm. His Soru became faster, his Shigan sharper, and both Geppo and Rankyaku improved considerably.
What pleased him most was that his line of thinking had been correct. Tekkai was the technique within the entire Rokushiki that most directly reached the core; all the others specialized in certain parts of the body!
When all of his Rokushiki techniques reached a proficient level, Bane's group successfully crossed Reverse Mountain. Standing on the deck, feeling the violent current beneath the ship and the gentle sea breeze brushing across his body, Bane finally grasped one of the great mysteries of the Rokushiki: Life Return!
At the instant the Shark Super plunged down from Reverse Mountain's rushing current and crashed into the sea, Bane felt as though he had entered an entirely new environment.
He could hear his own heartbeat and feel his blood flowing through his body. The rhythm of his breathing caused his muscles to move faintly, while his bones constantly rubbed against one another. He could even sense a few strands of hair falling out and his nails slowly growing.
Then, he sensed sound. He sensed presence!
It was himself!
In that instant, Bane seemed to understand something. Even the violent tremors caused by the ship striking the sea failed to affect him in the slightest. His feet seemed rooted in place, gripping the deck tightly.
"Bane, we've reached the Grand—" Nami excitedly tried to call out to him.
But Zoro moved faster, covering Nami's mouth with one hand while staring intently at Bane. "Don't make a sound."
After waiting roughly five or six minutes, the ship gradually calmed down, and Zoro released Nami.
Then, under Nami's astonished gaze, Zoro drew Wado Ichimonji from his waist. Without making a sound, he stepped behind Bane, then swung without hesitation, slashing at Bane's shoulder and neck from behind.
The slash was fierce, and Nami opened her mouth in fright, about to cry out.
But the next second, it was as if Bane had eyes in the back of his head. He shifted his left foot and slightly tilted his body, dodging the attack. Zoro did not stop. As he reined in the force of Wado Ichimonji, he followed up with another diagonal slash aimed at Bane's waist and abdomen.
Bane moved nimbly as well. With his eyes tightly shut, he flowed with the motion and avoided Zoro's blade by a hair's breadth. Then, as if putting on a performance, Zoro slashed at Bane again and again.
Yet Bane never opened his eyes, precisely evading every strike as though the two had planned it beforehand.
After several dozen slashes, Zoro stopped, and Bane opened his eyes in turn, a faintly excited smile appearing at the corner of his lips.
"How did you notice?" Bane was the first to ask Zoro.
"I don't know how to describe that feeling. It was like I suddenly heard your breathing, your sounds. Actually, not just you—I think I could hear this ship and Nami too. This is something my master told me about before... the State of Cutting Steel!" Zoro said after thinking for a moment.
He had been able to cut steel before, but that had been done by forcibly relying on the power of Haki. Now, though, Zoro felt that he could seemingly cut through steel with a casual strike. He did not know how he had broken through this step.
It had happened just now. As he watched Bane remain firmly planted in place amid the raging current and the impact, he seemed to suddenly gain an insight. He thought he heard Bane's sound—his breathing, his body breathing. It was an incredibly mysterious sound.
Thinking back on it now, Zoro felt that perhaps Bane's change had happened to stimulate him. He had also been at a bottleneck and a threshold, so naturally, he had crossed it.
After briefly describing his situation, Zoro added, "Then I suddenly realized that your breathing, your sound, had changed."
At this point, Zoro stared at Bane without saying another word, clearly waiting for an answer.
"Observation Haki." Bane did not keep him in suspense. Grinning, he said, "It's Observation Haki. I've mastered it. I'm still not very skilled with it, but I've finally gotten started."
There was no trace of jealousy on Zoro's face, but he asked with anticipation, "Is there some kind of trick to it?"
"I can't really explain the specifics, but since you can hear breathing, perhaps you'll be able to master Observation Haki next. Because just now, I heard breathing too, along with the Rokushiki. Now I can be certain: whether it's Observation Haki or Armament Haki, they are both related to one's control over their own body. I first understood myself before I could hear the sounds of the outside world. And you—you can already hear the sounds of the outside world. So I think that as long as you can understand yourself and hear yourself next, you'll naturally master Observation Haki!" After thinking it over, Bane gave his advice and opinion.
Before you continue