Mid-June, Marine Calendar 1520.
Four figures stood atop a cliff on the ancient island of Little Garden: Bane, Zoro, Dorry, and Brogy.
Behind them, the volcano at the center of the island was erupting. Strangely enough, neither Dorry nor Brogy showed any intention of fighting today.
"That beast shows up once every two or three months or so. Dorry and I originally planned to kill it, but later we figured it was pretty interesting to have around, so we kept it alive. If nothing unexpected happens, it should come today. You've mastered Hakoku now, so it's the perfect chance to test it out," Brogy said, standing at the edge of the cliff and looking out at the distant sea.
Though Bane had never seen it with his own eyes, he knew what they were talking about.
It was an Island-Eating Monster that resembled a goldfish. These sea monsters were extremely rare. They usually fed on islands, and even the droppings they left behind after eating were as large as islands.
Bane looked at the tranquil sea and asked curiously, "Are you sure it'll show up today?"
"That guy is surprisingly punctual. Most likely. Even if it doesn't come today, it'll show up in a couple of days. Nothing in these waters can hurt it, so it's always been the ruler here. It's also always been looking for a chance to eat us. Hahahahaha!" Dorry laughed heartily.
The moment his voice fell, the previously calm sea in the distance suddenly began to churn. A massive shadow appeared beneath the water and swiftly rose toward the surface. Within just a few breaths, a gigantic goldfish larger than an ordinary island appeared before them.
"It's here!" Anticipation flashed in Dorry's eyes. "Let's see whether your Hakoku packs enough punch!"
Zoro was stunned as well. He had seen plenty of Sea Beasts on his journey, and even encountered several Sea Kings, but this was the first time he had ever seen a monster this huge. Was this really something humans could kill?
Bane said nothing. One hand gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist as a vicious glint rose in his eyes. His body began gathering momentum, and faint pressure gradually converged around him, growing denser before spilling outward.
Dorry and Brogy tightened their grips on their weapons as well. If Bane failed to kill the Island-Eating Monster, the two of them would step in to clean up the mess.
"Whether we get to eat this thing tonight depends on you!" Brogy encouraged him.
At the same time, the Island-Eating Monster opened its huge mouth and gulped down massive amounts of seawater, accelerating toward Little Garden as though it intended to swallow the island whole.
The instant its mouth opened to its widest, a sharp gleam flashed through Bane's eyes. The sword at his waist suddenly left its sheath!
"Elbaf Spear: Hakoku!!!" Bane roared.
Standing beside Bane, Zoro felt the imposing force that had gathered around Bane compress onto his blade in an instant. As a swordsman, Zoro could tell that this strike contained very little Sword Arts. It was as basic as basic could get. The terrifying force behind it was the true core!
And that force was not some special power like Haki. It was nothing more than pure physical strength. The essence of Elbaf Spear was to condense the strength of one's entire body into a single point, then unleash it as a shockwave. Only beings with strength far beyond ordinary humans could use such a technique!
As Bane swung his sword, the ground at the edge of the cliff before him shattered first. Then, a powerful blast of force roared forth like a shockwave. At first, it was only human-sized, but as it traveled farther, it rapidly expanded. In the blink of an eye, it had grown as large as a Sea Beast—and it continued expanding.
The shockwave formed from that force swept across the sea, forcibly pressing the water aside and carving a deep trench through its path before slamming viciously into the Island-Eating Monster's mouth.
With a pop, like the sound of a cork being pulled from a bottle, there was no spray of blood. A hole had been blasted through the Island-Eating Monster's black-hole-like maw, revealing the light behind it.
Hakoku's power had eradicated every shred of flesh around the wound in an instant, leaving nothing behind!
"Impressive!" Brogy's eyes lit up as he praised him.
"Not bad at all!" Dorry nodded in satisfaction as well.
Zoro's eyes were filled with shock. That strike had truly exceeded his expectations!
But Bane had only just begun learning it. Though his Hakoku had been impressive, it was indeed nowhere near as brutal as Dorry's and Brogy's—especially since those two ruthless giants had originally killed the Island-Eating Monster together.
Sure enough, in the next moment, the Island-Eating Monster let out an earth-shaking wail. Bane had no idea how a goldfish could even make a sound like that.
In any case, the waves of sound spread outward, stirring towering waves across the surrounding sea.
Clearly, though that strike had severely wounded the Island-Eating Monster, it was not enough to kill it immediately.
Bane did not hesitate. He had not even finished using all his strength yet. Who said Hakoku could only be used once? Why couldn't he fire it repeatedly?
Without another word, he raised his sword. But just as he was about to exert force, countless cracks appeared across the blade with sharp cracking sounds. Then it fell apart into a pile of fragments.
The atmosphere instantly became awkward. Bane looked at the ruined hilt left in his hand, his cheek twitching as he said, "It shattered after one strike?"
Dorry looked a little embarrassed as well. "I forgot to tell you. Elbaf combat techniques place very high demands on weapons."
"Ordinary weapons simply can't withstand that kind of extremely condensed power," Brogy added.
"You should have used Haki to protect your sword just now. That way, it could have lasted a few more strikes," Dorry said.
That was right. These two pirate big shots from the strongest nation were also highly proficient in Haki. Over this period of time, Bane had learned quite a bit about the essence of Haki from them. Zoro had come along today for the same reason—he had been training in Haki with them as well.
"I only wanted to see how destructive pure Hakoku could be. I had no intention of adding any other power to it," Bane explained.
As he spoke, he turned his gaze toward the swords hanging at Zoro's waist. His own blade had been a perfectly ordinary iron weapon, but Zoro was different. None of the three swords he carried were simple: Wado Ichimonji, Sandai Kitetsu, and Yubashiri were all famous-grade blades.
"What are you looking at?" Zoro immediately covered the hilts of all three swords. "Don't even think about them. Once you've mastered Hakoku, I can lend you one. But in your current state, I think you'll destroy my swords!"
"You're so stingy. Did you forget who gave you the money to buy those swords?" Bane curled his lip and grumbled.
Just then, Dorry and Brogy exchanged a glance before saying, "Fine, fine. This is the perfect chance for us to show you Hakoku at its peak!"
As their words fell, two overwhelming auras erupted from the two warriors, then rapidly converged upon the battered weapons in their hands.
A greatsword and a battle axe!
Just as Zoro had realized earlier, the core of Hakoku was not Sword Arts, so the type of weapon used did not matter. What mattered was that invincible power!!!
In the original story, the two of them had destroyed their weapons after unleashing Hakoku. But now, they coated their weapons in Armament Haki, adding a protective layer while further enhancing the power of the attack.
In the blink of an eye, the Hakoku unleashed by their combined strike tore through the air, carrying at least four or five times the might of Bane's earlier attack!
With a thunderous boom, Hakoku crashed directly into the Island-Eating Monster's head. When the shockwave dissipated, all that remained was half of the enormous monster fish's body. Everything else was gone.
The monster fish's tail twitched a few times on the sea before quickly falling still. Brogy and Dorry laughed loudly, then jumped straight from the cliff into the ocean together. Before long, they dragged the monster fish's remaining half-body toward the shore.
Clearly, this was today's food!
Before you continue