Testing

The king, ministers, and soldiers nearby all stood frozen in place, utterly dumbfounded.

All their lives, they had only seen cannons, swords, and ordinary fighting techniques. How could they have ever witnessed physical arts like the Navy's Six Powers, which surpassed ordinary understanding?

Cannonballs were shattered, mortars were split apart in midair, and the youth walked out of the flames unscathed amid the explosions...

To them, scene after scene was no longer merely impressive. It was monstrous.

"H-How did he do that?"

"Even cannonballs can't hurt him at all?!"

"That kind of physical ability... Is he really human? Or... does he have a Devil Fruit?"

Whispers spread like a tide, and everyone's gaze remained nailed to that white-clad figure.

Even Rob Lucci, who stood at the back and was usually calm and indifferent, had a faint flicker of surprise in his eyes.

He knew the power of mortars all too well.

Even if he used Iron Body to take them head-on, they would pose no threat to him, but they would still leave a few marks on his skin.

But Beiyuan Heng...

Not only was he uninjured, even his white suit was spotless, without so much as a wrinkle.

Lucci narrowed his eyes slightly.

He could not understand it.

Had Beiyuan Heng trained Iron Body to a level far beyond his own?

Or did he possess some special physique Lucci had never heard of?

But that was not what Beiyuan Heng was thinking about.

Before long, what had happened today would quietly spread throughout the kingdom.

CP9 was nominally the World Government's secret assassination organization, but in the world of One Piece, so-called secrets had long ceased to be secrets.

Any Navy officer with a bit of seniority could say a few things about CP9's existence.

In the original story, even any vice admiral knew that Lucci had slaughtered five hundred soldiers alone in a kingdom over a decade ago.

So-called secrecy was merely a secret displayed in plain sight.

This time, he had deliberately acted so flamboyantly.

He was testing them.

He was testing what attitude they had toward his style of acting openly, crushing enemies head-on, and never concealing his power.

That would directly determine his future path.

Would he remain in CP9, or find an opportunity to transfer to the Navy, which suited him better?

The unrest at the harbor quickly subsided. The captives were rescued, the pirates were wiped out, and the kingdom was saved.

The subsequent handover, registration, and commendation procedures proceeded swiftly.

Under the reverent and admiring gazes of the kingdom's soldiers, Beiyuan Heng boarded the warship returning to base.

As the ship sailed away from the harbor, the sea breeze stirred the hem of his white suit.

It was then that the feedback from this mission finally emerged.

A brand-new trait appeared on his panel.

[Iron Skin and Iron Bones (Green)]: Your physical strength has reached an extraordinary level, as if forged from refined steel. Your physical abilities, resistance to blows, and recovery speed have greatly improved.

Looking at the newly appeared trait, Beiyuan Heng's heart stirred slightly.

[Toughness (White)], which had accompanied him the longest, had finally completed its upgrade in this battle.

This trait had been with him from the very beginning, but aside from training tests involving his resistance to blows, it had rarely had a genuine chance to shine.

Until this time, when he had endured more than a dozen mortar blasts head-on and displayed his physical strength in the most direct and shocking manner possible.

From the king of the Karandi Kingdom to its ordinary soldiers, everyone had witnessed it with their own eyes, and it had been deeply etched into their memories.

Unfortunately, the world of One Piece was far too vast, with islands isolated and cut off from one another.

Otherwise, once word of his "powerful physique" spread, his trait might have advanced even further.

But even so, it was enough.

Beiyuan Heng looked toward the distant horizon, a faint curve lifting the corner of his mouth.

The mission was complete.

The trait had upgraded.

And the test had already been planted.

Now, it depended on the World Government's attitude.

Because of the Undersea Great Hollow, Enies Lobby was buffeted by strong winds all year round.

Feeling the somewhat chilly sea breeze, Beiyuan Heng returned to Enies Lobby.

It had now been exactly seven days since he departed from the Karandi Kingdom.

Given the efficiency of the World Government's intelligence network, his acts of enduring mortar fire head-on and flamboyantly wiping out pirates in the Karandi Kingdom had likely been compiled into a detailed report and placed securely on Spandine's desk on the very second day after he left the kingdom.

After all, no matter how fast a warship was, it could not compare to Den Den Mushi and seagulls.

The moment he stepped into the main hall of the Judicial Tower, a cool female voice called out to him from the side.

"Beiyuan Heng, Chief Spandine wants you in his office."

Kalifa stood behind a clerical counter not far away. Her capable professional outfit accentuated her slender figure, while her face carried its usual coolness. A document was still held between her fingertips, making it clear that she had just finished handling her clerical work.

Most CP9 members on Enies Lobby traveled about outside, carrying out assassination, espionage, and pirate suppression missions, and rarely gathered in the Judicial Tower at the same time.

Only Kalifa, because she excelled at document processing and intelligence organization—and more importantly, because her father, Laskey, had been a CP9 agent before her—had been assigned to remain in the Judicial Tower for extended periods. She was responsible for coordinating some clerical matters and had become the CP9 member most often seen in the tower.

Beiyuan Heng gave a slight nod, his tone calm. "Got it."

Without any unnecessary small talk, he turned and headed toward Spandine's office.

His steps were unhurried. He had already expected this to some extent; it would be nothing more than questions regarding the Karandi Kingdom mission and a reminder about his manner of conducting himself.

When he pushed open the doors to CP9's conference hall, Spandine was seated in a broad leather chair, lightly tapping the desk with his fingertips. A yellowed report lay spread before him—the detailed record of the Karandi Kingdom mission.

He raised his eyes toward Beiyuan Heng as he entered. There was little expression on his face, neither praise nor reproach.

"Beiyuan Heng, you're back."

Spandine said, "You and Lucci did well on the Karandi Kingdom mission. You rescued the captives, wiped out the pirates, and completed everything without any problems."

After a pause, his tone shifted slightly.

"However, you should keep a lower profile in future operations."

Beiyuan Heng stood with his eyes lowered, his face utterly calm. His tone carried a somewhat careless indifference.

"I'll try."

He knew very well that this was merely something Spandine said for appearances' sake.

CP9's "secrecy" had long been an open secret. As long as he did not interfere with completing missions or touch the World Government's bottom line, Spandine probably would not truly care about his subordinates' styles of operation.

Sure enough, seeing his attitude, Spandine did not say anything more.

In Spandine's view, Beiyuan Heng was a Genius CP9 encountered once in a century. He was powerful, and as long as he could complete missions perfectly, that was enough. A little flamboyance in his conduct did no harm.

After all, the strong had always possessed their own tempers.

Catching the indulgence and indifference in Spandine's eyes, Beiyuan Heng finally felt certain.

It seemed his test had yielded an answer.

Since that was the case, there was no need to hold back in the future. He could continue doing things his way, rapidly improving his strength while further testing the limits of the World Government and CP9, laying the groundwork for a possible transfer later on.

After leaving the conference hall, he headed straight for the training rooms deeper within the Judicial Tower.

To him, reporting on the mission was merely going through the motions. What truly mattered was the training time ahead.

The two traits on him, [Genius] and [CP9's Strongest Genius], were constantly working in silence.

More importantly, they were currently at the golden age of rapid physical growth.

Whether it was him, Lucci, Kaku, Kalifa, or the others, every bit they grew increased their physical strength, explosive power, and endurance by another bit. The boost in strength brought by this growth was immense.

Especially for physical arts like the Six Powers, which depended heavily on physical ability, bodily growth was the foundation of increased strength.

And Beiyuan Heng was undoubtedly the most exceptional among them.

Not only did he have the assistance of traits and the extraordinary physical strength granted by [Iron Skin and Iron Bones], but he also possessed cultivation talent far beyond ordinary people. His rate of growth was far more terrifying than Lucci's and the others'.