Two Years

Two years later, on a deserted Island in a remote stretch of the Grand Line.

The Island was rather unusual. At its center stood a massive "chimney," and it was eerily quiet, as though there were no signs of life at all.

At the center of the Island, a strange scene was unfolding. A large rabbit was wildly swinging a wooden stick at a human.

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

That human was Werther, who had been training on this Deserted Island for two years.

If his previous training on the Deserted Island had been about laying a foundation, then this time was when he harvested the fruits of it.

Through a new Haki training method, Werther had become highly proficient in Armament Haki. In a contest of Armament Haki, aside from people with exceptionally powerful Armament Haki, such as Garp or Zephyr, Werther feared no one.

As for Observation Haki, Werther was clearly one of those lacking in talent. Although he had put in considerable effort, he ultimately had to admit that Observation Haki demanded far too much talent. It was easy to grasp, but truly mastering it was incredibly difficult.

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

None of those were Werther's greatest gains.

Werther still vaguely remembered that one night after dinner, he had chatted with Rabbit for a while before taking out his handwritten Swordsmanship notes to study, something that had become a habit for him.

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

Werther knew this was a sign that his Swordsmanship had improved after long periods of battle. Just like when he had achieved Steel Cutting last time, not everyone could break through in combat. Werther was the type to cultivate diligently and accumulate experience through battle. As for breaking through during a fight, that was nothing more than a legend to him.

Just as Werther wondered whether he had taken that step, he suddenly felt as though he could do things that had once been impossible.

It was like only being able to jump one meter before, then suddenly feeling that he could jump ten meters, without sensing anything particularly different.

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

"Hehehe, hehehe, I've finally reached the fourth stage of swordsmanship. I can cut rare materials even harder than steel.

Master, can you see this? Your disciple is a Great Swordsman too. I may not be the world's strongest, but I can definitely be considered a Swordmaster. Just wait, Master. I'll let the whole 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.

His Master had once said that upon entering the fourth stage, one could be called a Great Swordsman. As for the fifth stage, even among all the greatest swordsmen in history, few had reached it. Even Hawk-Eyes had yet to do so.

If entering the realm of Steel Cutting made one a renowned swordsman, then reaching the fourth stage made one a Swordmaster.

Werther had Rabbit stop attacking.

Werther drew his sword with one hand and slashed through the air. A blue Sword Aura shot into the distance, cutting through numerous trees, rocks, and soil before vanishing from sight.

That was right. Werther could now release Sword Aura. The moment he reached the fourth stage, he had known he could do so.

After gaining the ability to release 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. The first was speed. It flew incomparably fast; if an opponent's reaction was even slightly slow, they would be cut down by it. It was nothing like the sluggish Sword Aura Werther had once seen from Zoro.

The second was its cutting power. To this day, Werther had truly not found anything on the Island capable of blocking his Sword Aura.

If Werther before coming to the Island had possessed the strength of a rear admiral, then he was now absolutely at the level of a top-tier vice admiral.

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

But freaks like Whitebeard and Garp could not be counted. Werther felt that if he encountered Whitebeard now, he could probably only last a dozen or so moves. Maybe.

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 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, and from a character Werther had loved in his previous life: Railgun.

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

After growing stronger again and again, Werther discovered that he could use some of Railgun's techniques. Yet reality struck him once more, because those techniques were genuinely not very powerful.

Not until Werther gained Haki did he think of Railgun's signature ultimate move: the Electromagnetic Cannon!

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

Perhaps in Railgun's world, it was already very powerful, 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 technique by borrowing the principles behind the Electromagnetic Cannon.

He covered everything below his chest with Armament Haki, used his right leg in place of a coin, and then kicked it out 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. And the target of that first kick was the artificial Volcano at the center of the Island.

That innocent Volcano seemed to have been somewhat broken by Werther. It used to erupt three times a month on schedule, but now it erupted only once every half month at best, and it spewed less and less lava each time. Werther had always suspected that he had kicked the Volcano apart.

The forbidden area had also been ruined in passing. That huge metal pit had disappeared, seemingly due to a collapse. But Werther already knew what was inside, and he was not particularly interested in what lay beyond the other door, so he did not bother with it.

The advantage of this move was that it was fast and powerful, but its drawback was the tremendous burden it placed on the body. Without Armament Haki covering him, it was impossible to succeed. Even if he did succeed, Werther's right leg would probably be flung several kilometers away.

In short, this round of training had truly given Werther the foundation he needed to adventure at sea.

He was no longer the Werther who had been cornered at a Pier by a motley rabble and nearly died.

(Brothers, please recommend and bookmark it.)