Awakening

After witnessing Catarina's two kicks, Werther decided that he would never approach that beauty again without being on guard.

Although Garde had suffered repeated heavy blows on the ground, he still had not given up fighting. It seemed that although he had lost his memories, some things were carved into his bones, such as Armament Haki and an unyielding fighting spirit.

After delivering that kick, Catarina did not continue attacking. It seemed that kick had not been easy on her either. Since Werther could not fight at full strength, he could only severely injure Garde. Though he could not deliver a fatal blow for the moment, judging by Garde's wounds, killing the enemy was not far off.

Garde also sensed that if this continued, he would die here today. Moreover, from the moment he had been ambushed until now, he had not even had time to counterattack.

With an angry roar, he threw a punch at Werther. Just looking at that pitch-black fist covered in Armament Haki, Werther knew he absolutely could not take it head-on. He leaped backward, flew far away with electromagnetic force, and smoothly opened up the distance.

Garde did not even glance at Catarina behind him, as if he had fixed his sights solely on Werther. After all, Werther had been slashing at him from the front the whole time, while Catarina had only ambushed him from behind. Thus, this madman's hatred for Werther was off the charts.

Werther watched Garde charge at him again, and the corner of his mouth twitched. This guy had really set his sights on him today, but Werther was not afraid in the slightest.

He poured a large amount of lightning into his twin swords. Once the blades turned silver-blue, he stepped forward and gathered strength, then fiercely hurled both swords at Garde. Two rapidly spinning silver-blue sword wheels flew toward Garde. In this narrow secret passage, trying to dodge the two sword wheels that nearly filled the entire passage was nothing more than a dream.

Seeing the two sword wheels flying at him, Garde directly used his only remaining arm to block them. But using his hand to withstand rapidly spinning sword wheels infused with lightning was truly not a wise choice, even if it was coated in Armament Haki.

The first sword wheel struck Garde's arm with a sharp clang, then began to spin and cut violently, followed immediately by the second one.

Screech, screech, screech. Huge cutting sounds continuously rang through the secret passage, mixed with Garde's screams.

When the lightning on the two swords was nearly depleted, Werther used electromagnetic force to retrieve them. However, because the surroundings were all metal, although he successfully recalled the twin swords, he also slammed into the wall with a thud.

Whenever Werther threw out sword wheels, they generally traveled quite far, so he had to turn his electromagnetic force up very high. Then tragedy struck. They had only been fighting for a few minutes. The enemy had not injured him, yet he had nearly knocked himself half to death by crashing into the wall.

After resting for a while, Werther finally stood up. Garde was already lying on his back on the ground, both arms severed. His chest had been cut open by Werther's sword wheels, even exposing the shattered heart inside. He did not look like he would survive.

Watching the enemy fall, Werther let out a breath of relief. Though the two of them had held the advantage throughout the battle, if either of those two fists coated in Armament Haki had landed on either of them, they would have been severely injured even if they did not die.

When he looked at Catarina across from him, Werther found that the beauty before him was acting strangely. She had always worn a serious expression, but now her pretty face was flushed red, the corners of her mouth twitching as her shoulders trembled.

Werther was puzzled at first, then felt his face burning and remembered that she had witnessed him slamming face-first into the wall earlier.

Just as Werther was dying of embarrassment and thinking of changing the subject, Garde on the ground moved. Werther turned his gaze toward Garde and stopped thinking about his foolish behavior.

Garde opened his eyes. Unlike before, when Werther had seen Garde's eyes looking gray and murky and thought there might be something wrong with them, they were different this time.

Garde's eyes were much brighter now, carrying the luster found in a normal person's eyes.

"Where is this? Ah, it hurts. Who are you? Are you here to kill me?" Garde was confused at first, then felt intense pain in his chest and arm.

Glancing at his severed hands and the ruined heart in his chest, Garde showed neither fear nor sadness, only regret and anger.

"Yes, I cut the wound in your chest. It seems you've regained some clarity. What a pity—I can't fight you while you're awake. Though I feel like I couldn't beat you, hehehe, hehehe." Werther looked at Garde with regret in his eyes. If he were not so weak right now, he would definitely have fought Garde one-on-one.

Soon. Once he had Armament Haki, his strength would undergo a qualitative change.

"Yes, what a pity. I worked hard for so long. I awakened Armament Haki in my twenties and trained my body into a powerful weapon. Yet because I was too ignorant and offended a powerful enemy, I ended up being beaten into a mental wreck. How laughable. How laughable." Even knowing that he was about to die, the man had not shown the slightest sadness. Yet after saying those words, tears began flowing uncontrollably. It seemed there was something more important to him than life itself, but he had already missed it. Once he lost his life, there would be no more chances.

"If you're going to die, then die with some damn dignity. I lay in ambush on this island for more than ten days just to deal with you, so die in peace." With that, Werther slashed through Garde's throat.

Werther did not want to see an opponent he regarded as a formidable enemy crying like this, though he knew Garde was not afraid of death.

After killing Garde, Werther turned and left the secret passage. Their cooperative relationship with the two siblings had already been confirmed.

This secret passage was indeed suitable for ambushes, but it was not suited to Werther's fighting style. On the contrary, it was the home ground of a violent woman like Catarina. Werther suspected that one of the purposes behind constructing this passage was to let Catarina retreat into it and face enemies there whenever powerful foes attacked, using the terrain to gain an advantage.

After Catarina dealt with Garde's corpse, Ferdinand prepared a table full of delicious food in the castle dining room. Even picky Werther nodded in approval. It was quite good.

Though the battle in the secret passage had not lasted long, it had consumed a great deal of stamina. Furthermore, Werther was still injured. Since the wound in his abdomen was a penetrating injury, twenty days had been too short for it to heal completely. Thus, his condition in today's battle had only been so-so.

It was also mainly because they had ambushed the enemy today, which was not Werther's style, and the terrain had been unfavorable. Today, he had only displayed seventy or eighty percent of his combat strength.

While they ate, Werther chatted with Ferdinand. When he casually asked why Ferdinand had wanted to cooperate with him, Ferdinand looked at Werther strangely and asked, "Has no one ever asked to cooperate with you before?"

Werther shook his head.

Ferdinand explained that first, Werther had gone to sea alone. Though he was an assassin, not many people in the Grand Line knew about assassins from the East Blue, so his background was considered clean.

Second, he was strong enough. Though he was somewhat crazy in battle, he could communicate normally at ordinary times.

Third, the fact that Werther had gone to sea alone without flying a pirate flag showed that he had no great desire for power. He was likely an adventurer or wandering traveler of some sort. Having no desire for power meant he was safe. He only accepted one-time payments, rather than the shares or profit cuts Ferdinand feared most.

Fourth, they could cooperate with Werther long-term, exchanging useful intelligence and sharing resources in both force and commerce.

Listening to Ferdinand, Werther realized he had become quite a hot commodity. Why had he never noticed before? Still, he felt that Ferdinand's words were strange somehow, as if something was off.

Without thinking too much about it, he asked Ferdinand whether there were any nearby islands suitable for training.

Ferdinand pondered for a moment.

"There is indeed an island suitable for training, but it is extremely dangerous. Whether it is the animals on the island or the island's environment."

"Dangerous? How dangerous?" Hearing about powerful animals and a harsh environment, Werther became even more interested.

"The animals on that island all have strong defenses because of the environment. As for the climate, that island could be said to have no climate at all, because its climate was artificially destroyed. That island erupts with magma every three days." Ferdinand did not seem optimistic about the island, though he also hoped this ally would grow stronger.

"It erupts with magma every three days? Can animals really survive there? Train there? Train to survive?" Werther felt Ferdinand was messing with him. If magma erupted across the island every three days, only people like Kaido and Akainu could train there. Everyone else would simply be courting death.

"Calling it magma isn't quite right, because that volcano was man-made. The temperature of the magma is only a little over one hundred degrees. It merely looks like magma; in essence, it is a special kind of water. As for why it is suitable for training, there is an ancient ruin on it. But all the major forces have already visited, and they found nothing valuable, so almost no one goes to that island anymore." Ferdinand took another sip of tea after speaking.

Having just finished eating, the two were now lying in recliners in the courtyard, basking in the sun.

"Oh? Ruins, artificial volcanoes, powerful animals. That's the one. Give me an Eternal Pose, and I'll set sail tomorrow." Werther finally decided to visit the island Ferdinand had mentioned.

Ruins depended entirely on luck, but such a harsh environment was rarely found.

Black Iron Rock Island. What kind of scenery would it have? Werther smiled, his face full of anticipation.