Whisky Peak was home to many Bounty Hunters, and Bane currently held extraordinary prestige among them. After all, most Bounty Hunters were nobodies who scraped by hunting minor Pirates, especially those from a place like Whisky Peak.
As for Bane, he was someone who had taken down a Whitebeard Pirates commander. Among Bounty Hunters, he could be considered a legend.
So when Bane spread word at the harbor that he was recruiting some underlings, many Bounty Hunters signed up, hoping to join his crew.
There were surely plenty among them with ulterior motives, such as members of Baroque Works, but Bane did not care. He was merely hiring some workers. He had no intention of concealing his whereabouts for now, nor would he reveal any core secrets to these people, so it did not matter.
Thus, after staying at Whisky Peak for five days, Bane's group had not only recorded the magnetic field of the prehistoric island, Little Garden, but had also recruited six hundred underlings. They sailed away from this bounty hunter gathering place aboard the imposing Shark Super, heading for Little Garden.
After entering the Grand Line, they could clearly feel how different it was from the stable order of the East Blue. Only a few days after leaving Whisky Peak, they had already encountered two pirate crews.
Bane did not even need to act. Zoro led the six hundred Bounty Hunters of varying strength into a full-on beatdown, crushing both pirate crews. They imprisoned the pirates with bounties aboard the ship, then divided up the treasure from their vessels.
The bounties on those two pirate crews were nothing special, one a little over ten million and the other around twenty million. Bane had not bothered learning about them. They were just small fry anyway.
The Shark Super was a large three-masted sailing ship with a very spacious deck, enough for more than two hundred people to move about without feeling crowded.
At that moment, a burly pirate hunter was gripping the ship helm under Nami's guidance, controlling the ship's course.
As for Zoro, he was training beneath the mast. Unlike before, however, he was not practicing sword swings or building his physical strength. Instead, he sat cross-legged beneath the mast in a meditative state, trying to understand his body and cultivate Observation Haki.
The other side of the deck was much livelier. A hemp rope as thick as an arm stretched across the entire deck. At one end stood sixty or seventy burly men, their faces red as they tugged with all their strength, as though in a tug-of-war.
At the other end, Bane gripped the rope with one hand and shouted, "Put some more strength into it! Haven't you eaten? If you can't do it, send more people over! This isn't even pressure!"
That was right. Lacking suitable training equipment, Bane had an idea and turned these burly underlings into his training tools, using them every day to work on his strength.
Following Bane's shouts, another twenty-odd burly men quickly joined the tug-of-war. Yet even that did not force Bane to use both hands. He continued pulling the rope one-handed, tugging back rhythmically to train himself.
It had to be said that this display truly intimidated those pirate hunters. Before, they had only heard that he was strong. Now, they could genuinely feel just how strong he was.
Bane had originally believed that the Dark-Dark Fruit was the foundation of his place in this world. Now, he had realized that while the Dark-Dark Fruit was good, the rapid growth of his body—and that utterly ordinary E-rank ability from his original world—was the true broad road ahead!
He was growing way too damn fast!
It even made Bane feel as though he was cheating!
The morning before yesterday, he and Zoro had tested it. With both Tekkai and Haki protecting him, Bane neither dodged nor defended as he took Zoro's full-power slash head-on.
The result was a bloody wound across Bane's chest. Yet Zoro had been extremely dissatisfied, because that slash had merely cut through Bane's skin and part of his muscle tissue. It had not even reached the bone!
Even with the contribution of Haki and Tekkai, Zoro was still shocked by Bane's physical constitution.
What was even more outrageous was that by the next day, Bane's injury had basically healed completely. It had not even left a scar, only a faint red mark that had yet to fade!
On one hand, the Dark-Dark Fruit was absorbing the injury. On the other, Bane's self-healing ability had grown stronger as well!
Though there were no numbers to compare, Bane felt that if he continued growing at this rate, his physical constitution might soon reach the monstrous level of Charlotte Linlin and Kaido.
During these days since leaving Whisky Peak, Bane's body had undergone another change. His build had remained the same, but his weight was increasing. Over the past two days, he had discovered that he was getting taller too. He had originally been just shy of two meters, but now he was already two meters tall.
He guessed that his original build might have already reached the limit of his physical constitution. To go any further, his frame could only become larger and more muscular.
No, these guys really aren't much use. Bane thought helplessly as he pulled the hemp rope with one hand.
It was time to get some training equipment. But at his level of strength, even finding suitable equipment would be difficult.
"There are two giants on Little Garden. Maybe I can ask them about strength training?" Bane suddenly remembered.
Just as Bane was thinking about this, Nami suddenly called out, "Bane, there's a small boat ahead, right on our course. If we don't steer around it, we might smash it apart!"
Bane froze for a moment, then asked, "What kind of boat is it? Why isn't it avoiding us?"
"It looks like a little dinghy, maybe a lifeboat from a shipwreck. I think we should help them." As Nami spoke, she observed the situation through a monocular telescope.
Bane waved a hand to end the tug-of-war, then walked to the edge of the deck and looked in the direction Nami pointed. At the far end of the horizon, he could only make out a small black dot. He could not see the boat clearly.
"There's only one person aboard. What bad luck. That boat looks like a coffin lid. Hahaha, that guy is even rowing with some ridiculous paddle," Nami said with amusement.
Hearing that, Bane initially wanted to laugh too. But then he seemed to realize something, and his expression changed. He rushed to Nami's side, snatched the telescope from her hand, and looked toward the little dinghy.
The instant he looked, he seemed to meet a sharp gaze—and it was not an illusion!
The World's Greatest Swordsman, Dracule Mihawk!
For some reason, he had appeared along this route. Even more awkwardly, at the very instant their eyes met, Mihawk was using his Black Blade Yoru to row that little dinghy.
It was an incredibly awkward scene!
Immediately afterward, Bane saw Mihawk's brows furrow in displeasure, as though he was extremely annoyed that someone had witnessed him in such an embarrassing state.
Then Bane watched Mihawk straighten his wrist. The Black Blade Yoru, which had been submerged in the sea, was abruptly lifted from the water. A dark green slash instantly tore through the calm ocean between them, hurtling toward Bane at incredible speed!
At the exact moment Mihawk attacked, Zoro, who had been meditating, suddenly opened his eyes and looked at the incoming slash with astonishment!
So strong! That was Zoro's only thought.
"Damn it!" Bane cursed. "Is this guy's temper really that bad?"
Was it really necessary to attack without a word just because someone had seen him rowing with a famous blade?
For a moment, Bane understood why the Marines had classified Mihawk as a pirate. He was utterly lawless!
There was no way such a large ship could evade the attack. After cursing Mihawk, Bane did not hesitate. He unleashed the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit, stretched out a hand before the bow, and drew forth a curtain of darkness that shielded the entire ship!
In the blink of an eye, almost the instant the curtain of darkness spread open, the slash struck it. Then, it was erased by the Dark-Dark Fruit's powerful devouring force and abyssal nature.
This also showed that, at least defensively, the Dark-Dark Fruit possessed formidable properties. As long as it could catch an attack, it could absorb anything.
On the little dinghy, Mihawk watched this scene with a look of interest.
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