Two Years

Two years later, in a remote stretch of sea on the Grand Line, on an uninhabited island.

This island was rather unusual. A massive "chimney" stood in its center, and the island was eerily quiet, as though there were no signs of life at all.

At the center of the island, a strange scene was playing out. A large Rabbit gripped a wooden stick and swung it fiercely at a human.

Yet strangely enough, no matter how hard the Rabbit tried, it could not hit the human before it. Instead, it ended up drenched in sweat from exhaustion.

That person was Werther, who had already trained on this deserted island for two years.

If his previous training on the deserted island had laid the foundation for Werther, then this time was when he reaped the fruits.

Through a new Haki training method, Werther had become extremely proficient in Armament Haki. In a contest of Armament Haki, aside from people with exceptionally powerful Armament Haki, such as Garp or Zephyr, Werther did not fear anyone else in the slightest.

As for Observation Haki, Werther was clearly one of those people without much talent for it. Although he had put in considerable effort, he eventually had to admit that Observation Haki demanded far too much talent. It was easy to learn, but truly mastering it was incredibly difficult.

As for Conqueror's Haki, Werther had never even considered it. He felt that his greatest virtue was knowing his own limits.

None of those were Werther's greatest gains.

Werther vaguely remembered that one evening after dinner, he had chatted with the Rabbit for a while before taking out the swordsmanship notes he had copied by hand to study. It had become a habit for him.

Not long after reading, Werther seemed to catch a spark of inspiration, much like the insight he had felt when he achieved Steel Cutting, though this time it was somewhat unclear.

Werther knew this should be a sign that his swordsmanship was advancing after prolonged battle, just as it had when he achieved Steel Cutting. Not everyone could break through in battle. Werther was the type to train diligently and accumulate experience through combat. As for breakthroughs during battle, they were nothing more than legends to him.

Just as Werther was unsure whether he had already taken that step, he suddenly felt as though he could do things that had previously been impossible.

It was as if he had once only been able to jump one meter, but one day suddenly felt that he could jump ten meters, without any particularly unusual sensation.

Arriving at the storage room, Werther took out a large piece of alloy that he had been unable to cut before. He drew his twin swords and slashed once. With a crack, the alloy was cleanly cut in two.

"Ha ha ha, ha ha ha! I've finally reached the fourth stage of swordsmanship, able to cut rare materials harder than steel.

"Master, can you see it? Your disciple is a great swordsman too. I may not be the world's strongest, but I can definitely be called a great swordsman. Just wait, Master. I'll let the entire world know that your disciple is a great swordsman, and that this great swordsman's master is called Longliang!" Werther still remembered how excited he had been then.

His master had once said that reaching the fourth stage meant one could be called a great swordsman. As for the fifth stage, even among the world's greatest swordsmen throughout history, few had attained it. Even the current Hawk-Eyes had not reached it.

If attaining Steel Cutting made one a renowned swordsman, then reaching the fourth stage made one a great swordsman.

Werther had the Rabbit stop attacking.

Werther drew his sword with one hand and swung it through the air. A blue sword aura shot rapidly into the distance, cutting through many trees, rocks, and earth before disappearing.

That was right. Werther could now unleash sword aura. When he reached the fourth stage, he had known that he could do so.

After gaining the ability to unleash sword aura, Werther discovered that everyone's sword aura was different.

Werther did not know what other people's sword aura was like, but his had two traits. First, it was fast—its flight speed was incredibly swift. If an opponent reacted even a little too slowly, they would be cut apart by it. It was nothing like the sluggish sword aura Werther had seen Zoro use before.

Second, its cutting power was formidable. Up to now, Werther had truly not found anything on this island capable of blocking his sword aura.

If Werther's strength before coming to the island had been at the level of a rear admiral, then he was now absolutely at the level of a top vice admiral.

Furthermore, Werther specialized in speed, and his lightning ability gave him powerful offensive strength. So even if he faced an admiral now, defeating one was completely impossible, but an admiral would not find it easy to defeat him either.

But monsters like Whitebeard and Garp could not be counted in that comparison. Werther felt that if he encountered Whitebeard now, he might only last a dozen or so moves. Probably.

And after gaining powerful Armament Haki, Werther had developed a technique.

This technique was not a sword move, but something similar to a kicking technique.

Why was it only similar to a kicking technique? Because aside from both being performed with the legs, it had little to do with kicking techniques.

The inspiration for this move also came from anime, from a character Werther had loved in his previous life: Railgun.

At first, when Werther learned that he possessed lightning abilities, he had thought of Railgun's moves. But cruel reality told him that if he dared use any of Railgun's techniques, he would absolutely die. Moreover, his lightning was nowhere near as powerful as Railgun's.

But after growing stronger time and again, Werther discovered that he could use some of Railgun's moves. Then reality struck him once more, because those moves really were not very powerful.

It was not until Werther gained Haki that he thought of Railgun's signature technique, the Electromagnetic Cannon!

But this move's flaws were simply too great. It was slow to execute, and it required a prop.

Perhaps it was already extremely powerful in Railgun's world, but in the world of pirates, the time it took to toss a coin was more than enough for someone to beat him down countless times.

So Werther improved the move by borrowing the principle of the Electromagnetic Cannon.

He covered everything below his chest with Armament Haki, used his right leg in place of a coin, then kicked at a speed so fast that even he could not react to it.

The first time Werther used it, his entire right leg turned orange-yellow. The target of his first kick was the artificial volcano at the center of the island.

That innocent volcano seemed to have been broken by Werther. It had once erupted three times a day on schedule, but now it erupted at least once every half month, and the lava it spewed was growing ever scarcer. Werther had always suspected that he had kicked it broken.

The forbidden area had also been damaged in passing. That enormous metal pit was now gone, apparently having collapsed. But Werther already knew what was inside, and he was not particularly interested in what lay beyond the other door, so he ignored it.

This move's advantages were its fast execution and powerful attack, but its drawback was the immense burden it placed on the body. Without Armament Haki covering him, it would be impossible to succeed. Even if he did succeed, Werther's right leg would probably be flung several kilometers away.

In short, this training had truly given Werther the capital he needed to adventure across the seas.

He was no longer the Werther who had been surrounded at a dock by a rabble and nearly died.

(Brothers, please support me with recommendations and bookmarks.)