Black Iron Rock

On the second morning, Werther bid farewell to the siblings. After resupplying on Tutu Island, he took the Eternal Pose pointing toward Black Iron Rock Island and continued his voyage.

He had originally planned to follow the Log Pose, but after hearing about such an interesting Island, of course Werther wanted to take a look.

According to Ferdinand, an ordinary sailing ship would need a month to travel from Tutu Island to Black Iron Rock Island. If Werther sailed at full speed, it would take him around ten days.

But Werther was not in much of a hurry, and prolonged full-speed sailing would cause some damage to the ship's internal machinery. So, he planned to arrive within twenty days.

Back on the ship, he had spent almost every day training his swordsmanship and martial arts. Now that he had obtained methods for training the two types of Haki, he only did basic training and devoted most of his time to practicing Haki.

Time passed quickly as he studied Haki. Before he knew it, Black Iron Rock Island had appeared before him.

Werther did not immediately land on the island. He wanted to see what its artificial Volcano eruptions were like so he could take precautions in the future. Though magma at over one hundred degrees would not burn him to death, it certainly would not be a pleasant experience.

Just think about it. Boiling water was around one hundred degrees, while the magma on this island was even hotter.

After waiting for two days, Werther finally learned what happened after the artificial Volcano erupted.

Werther had been studying Haki when he suddenly felt a faint vibration from his ship. When he went outside, he discovered that it was not the ship shaking—the entire sea area was trembling.

The Island before him rumbled as well. The sound did not last long before the Volcano at the Island's center, shaped like a huge-bellied chimney, erupted.

Even Werther, who had seen plenty of grand spectacles, nearly had his jaw drop.

What the hell kind of Volcano was this? It was practically a fountain.

Pale red magma shot more than ten meters into the air. Then, vast quantities of magma flowed in every direction as if washing the Island clean without leaving a single blind spot. The massive trees that had miraculously grown on the Island now had only their upper halves exposed, and all sorts of animals could vaguely be seen crouching on their treetops in different poses.

Only after an hour did the Volcano stop erupting, and the entire Island steamed with heat.

For the first time, Werther felt the Malice of this Island. If this Volcano had truly been man-made, what exactly was its purpose?

Once the Island had cooled enough, Werther docked the ship by the shore and went ashore.

Before landing, Werther wisely took off his clothes. It was simply too hot.

From then on, he trained on the Island during the day and returned to the ship at night to rest. Thinking of his last training session on a deserted Island, Werther sighed. Having a ship was wonderful. After locking up his beloved ship, he headed onto the Island.

Walking across the uninhabited Island, Werther began to wander around while considering how he should train his Haki here.

If he wanted to stimulate the awakening of Haki through battle, then he should not use a sword. It would be best to fight directly with his body, because direct contact made it easier to guide the awakening of Armament Haki.

As for Observation Haki, to be honest, Werther was somewhat resistant to the training method described in the notebook. It was too crude: blindfold yourself, cover your ears, and even plug your nose. By doing so, you could abandon your long-standing reliance on your senses and instead depend on feeling.

In any case, he would train Armament Haki first. He just needed to find a living creature to practice on.

He had not walked far when Werther heard a strange chewing sound nearby. As he approached, he saw a Monster gnawing on a tree.

He called it a Monster because Werther truly could not think of a better word to describe the creature.

Its entire body was wrapped in pale red exoskeleton. There was some soft tissue around the joints, and judging by its color, it seemed to be made of the same material as the exoskeleton. Even its eyes were protected by a crystalline layer. It was completely a beast clad in biological armor. As for what animal it actually was, it seemed he would only find out after shattering its exoskeleton.

Werther felt terrible all over, as though something had gone wrong with the way this world had been opened. Was this really a creature that belonged in this world? Had this guy wandered onto the wrong set?

Unable to endure the creature's sense of incongruity and hideous appearance any longer, Werther charged forward, intending to deal with it.

He clenched his fist and threw a punch at the thing. Since he had never fought with his fists before, his style was probably somewhere in the realm of wild flailing.

With a dull thud, the Monster was sent flying before it could react.

When Werther struck the Monster, it did not feel as hard as he had expected. Instead, it was like hitting a pile of rubber—tough, yet somewhat elastic.

The Monster that had been knocked far away shook its head and stood up. It did not seem injured at all. It merely glanced at Werther before continuing to gnaw on the tree.

Werther froze as well. He had not expected this ugly Monster to be unexpectedly docile.

He walked over, picked up a branch, and poked the Monster.

The Monster turned around and gazed at Werther with a blank, adorable look. Then it actually broke off a piece of bark and handed it to him, as if offering him something to eat.

For some reason, Werther suddenly felt guilty about having punched the creature earlier.

Taking the bark the Monster handed him, Werther discovered that it was not bark at all, but a honeycomb-like crystal. It felt warm and gentle to the touch. This was likely why the trees on the Island could survive. It probably provided heat insulation and corrosion resistance, just like the Monster's exoskeleton.

After carefully observing the Monster, Werther finally understood why it was so docile. This thing was probably a giant Rabbit, because the shape of the exoskeleton on its head gave its identity away far too clearly.

He patted the creature on the head, apologized to it, and continued toward the center of the Island.

But after only two steps, he found one of his legs being hugged. It was the Rabbit behind him.

The Rabbit desperately shook its head at Werther and pointed toward the center of the Island, then kept shaking its head.

Werther understood. This creature was probably one of those exceptionally intelligent animals in the pirate world. Was it warning him that the Island's center was dangerous?

Werther thanked the Rabbit and said, "I'm very strong," before continuing deeper onto the Island.

Seeing that it could not dissuade Werther, the Rabbit did nothing more and went back to gnawing on "bark."

After walking for nearly an hour, Werther finally arrived beneath the Volcano.

At first glance, it was obvious that this Volcano had not formed naturally. Leaving aside the steel embedded in it, its shape was simply far too round.

Just as Werther was studying it with great interest, he suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet tremble. The ground was rising.

He nimbly leaped to an open patch nearby and discovered that he had been standing on another very strange animal. It seemed that it had been asleep just now.

The exoskeleton aside, no matter how he looked at it, the creature's shape did not resemble any animal he had seen before.

It had a crocodile-like mouth, a bloated belly, four short legs, and two tails.

Werther had initially thought it was a crocodile, but those two tails said otherwise.

Just as Werther was trying to figure out what kind of animal it was—

The strange creature opened its enormous mouth, revealing sharp teeth, and actually charged at him. He had no idea how strong its attacks were, but its speed was painfully slow.

This crocodile-like creature appeared to be moving at full speed, but its four short legs were simply too weak, while its heavy exoskeleton made it even more cumbersome.

Werther easily dodged and punched it. Sure enough, it had no effect.

Just when Werther thought it posed no threat, the crocodile-like creature bit into a huge boulder. It tore a chunk straight out of the stone, then chewed the piece it had bitten off into powder in two bites.

Werther's pupils contracted. This thing's attack power was terrifying, and its entire body was protected without a single blind spot. Aside from Speed, it was practically a perfect combat creature.

After fighting it for a while longer, neither could do anything to the other. However, Werther realized that this creature was truly ideal for training toward the awakening of Armament Haki.

It was practically a naturally born moving punching bag, and it could pose a massive threat to Werther as well. If he was careless and got bitten, the consequences would definitely be miserable.

So Werther continued fighting it.

He fought the creature from the morning he landed on the Island until the sun was nearly setting before finally stopping.

After fighting all day, Werther did not feel very tired, but his hands hurt like hell. After all, he had always used a sword in battle before.

As for Armament Haki, he had gained a little from it.

Looking at the creature he had beaten up all day, Werther found it more and more pleasing to the eye. He gave it a funny name: Platypus. It did not look like one, but the name was pretty amusing, wasn't it?

Back on the ship, Werther took a bath first, then went to the Restaurant to eat something.

Though it had only been one day, Werther had already gained some understanding of Armament Haki. It was no longer limited to what was written in books; he could feel it in his body. Werther believed that he would awaken Armament Haki in about two years.

The thought made Werther very happy. After dinner, he returned to his Bedroom to rest, planning to go bother that Platypus again tomorrow.