Enemies?

"I wonder if the Celestial Beings have any business coming here?" the beautiful royal consort at the side asked in a soft voice.

Jorst looked at the consort with a rather aggressive gaze, which only annoyed her quite a bit. Aside from the king, who in the entire kingdom ever dared to look at her like that!

Yet the expression on her face remained gentle and endurable.

Unbridled though Jorst was, he still remembered the purpose of this outing.

And so, cutting in before his father could speak, he said, "The elders of the upper realm want us to mingle a bit with you plebeians."

"Right? Father." He turned his head to look at the older Celestial Dragon and said so.

"Yes, but I've heard the Kingdom of Goa is one of the premier nations in the lower realm, so we specifically came here for a visit," he said in a rather arrogant tone, as if coming here were a tremendous grace to this kingdom.

Sabo, standing beneath the steps, found it exceptionally grating to hear!

As a royal noble, he had naturally been taught from a very early age that when encountering "gods," the Celestial Dragons, one must interact and serve them in the capacity of a subject.

Yet he never dreamed that these "gods" served by myriads of people

would completely disregard those at the bottom.

Enraged though he was! Yet he knew he was just an ordinary person—even with a higher status, in the eyes of these Celestial Dragons, he was nothing more than an ant!

No matter how myriad his grievances were in Sabo's heart at that moment, he could only endure. He... even felt a somewhat desire to escape this noble place called a sanctuary among men!

Just as he kept pondering in his mind, the conversation on the dais was drawing to a close.

Jorst rode off atop the delicate and pretty woman on the ground, even though her frail body could not carry his bulky, fat physique.

After they had walked far away, Sabo, who had been kneeling on the ground, slowly stood up. He watched his father accompany the Celestial Dragons into that resplendent palace, and at that moment, looking at his awe-struck father didn't seem quite so terrifying to him anymore.

After all, he couldn't even protect his own people.

There was no ripple on his face, but a plan was brewing in his heart—one sufficient to change his entire life!

West Blue, nameless island.

Swain readied his dry rations, preparing to begin his next battle!

He wove a huge sack out of tree bark to pack meat in. He found that his appetite lately was truly frighteningly large; his last meal took nearly a hundred pounds of roast meat before he was full.

He could somewhat understand Luffy's appetite. He used to remember it as utterly absurd, but now that it was his turn to be hungry, he realized this was indeed a rather "normal" matter.

After strapping on his food, he headed onward toward the deepest parts. He found that the strength of the beasts in the third zone grew stronger the deeper one went—this was also the natural law of survival, the survival of the fittest. Sure enough, that would not change too much anywhere.

Roar-roar-roar-roar-roar! Scarcely had he walked far when several different roars echoed from within.

"It should be different kinds of beasts! Judging by the soundwaves of those roars, it must be an Iron Stone Ape." Instead of fear, he felt joy.

The Iron Stone Ape was a beast famous for the ferocity of its Armament Haki, and they lived in tropical forests all over the world.

This was also what Woli emphasized most when tutoring Swain, making him memorize all the animal species on the island and their fighting traits.

"Good! Let them become the stepping stones on my path to growing stronger!"

Just like that, he went to "work" during the day, fighting to temper himself, and ate his fill and slept at night.

Time flew by, and more than three months passed just like that.

Clouds parted to reveal the light, and the bright moon hung at the heavenly gate. A round, bright moon suspended in the air, illuminating the earth.

Swain sat on the ground drinking coconut milk. To be honest, drinking it almost every day for three months had made his mouth nearly lose all taste.

Just moments ago, he had dispatched a few Iron Stone Apes.

"My strength has improved quite a bit now!"

Swain said slowly, "When I first encountered the Iron Stone Apes, it took some effort for me to defeat them. Now, without using my Devil Fruit ability, going toe-to-toe is something I can resolve in just two punches."

"It's not just my strength growing rapidly; even my Armament Haki is more than a hundred times stronger than when I first started!"

Taking Armament Haki coating as the mainstay, at the very beginning he could at most coat his entire body with Armament Haki.

Now he could not only use the coating flexibly, but he could also attach it to his Devil Fruit ability. He found that coating it onto seawater could produce unexpected results.

As he spoke, he exercised his ability.

Immediately, a small blue ripple appeared behind him.

"Sea Tentacle Kill!"

Eight tentacles, half a meter in diameter, emerged behind him. Their tips were incomparably sharp, resembling swords and sabers.

With a thought from him, those eight sword-like tentacles rushed toward the huge boulder in front of him, and in a split second, the boulder was smashed to smithereens.

Yet the tentacles were black—this was the new utilization he had comprehended through Armament Haki.

Attaching it to the tentacles composed of seawater not only enhanced their power, but its effect was actually somewhat similar to a lesser grade of Seastone.

Because he had tried touching these tentacles, there was also the effect of making him lose his Devil Fruit ability appear.

This point filled him with pleasant surprise! This point was somewhat similar to the Dark-Dark Fruit, or even stronger! Because he might be able to produce an unexpected effect when facing fellow Devil Fruit users.

It was just that the hardness was too brittle, though that also depended on whether his Armament Haki ability was powerful or not.

He remembered that truly powerful people, like Red-Haired, one of the Four Emperors, had Armament Haki that even manifested outwardly from within, remaining incomparably hard without needing to materialize, inflicting massive damage on enemies.

By the time he cultivated his Armament Haki to the point where he could attach it to a dozen-meter-tall giant like Bullet! That would make him a true powerhouse!

In fact, he understood that if he wanted to be a pirate in the future, he would definitely face pursuit from the Marines. Among the future Three Admirals, the one who could best counter his ability was probably Aokiji!

That tall, thin, cool-looking man showed no mercy whatsoever to his enemies!

Once a massive amount of Armament Haki was coated over seawater, Aokiji would no longer be able to counter his ability.

Just as he was pondering how to use his ability in coordination with Haki, a faint sound drifted over from not far away.

Faint though it was, it still failed to escape Swain's vigilance. He had long since spread out tiny, indistinct water droplets across hundreds of meters.

The moment anyone approached, he could use his ability to raise his guard. This was also a new ability he discovered during the three-month trial—possessing monitoring capabilities.

Yet that was all; it couldn't be like omnidirectional surveillance where he could even see the other person's appearance, nor could it be like Observation Haki where he could sense the other person's strength, but it could temporarily make up for his weaker shortcoming in Observation Haki.

Swain snapped his eyes open. "Someone's coming! Is it Woli? Or an enemy?"

He was somewhat unsure. Aside from him and Woli, could there really be anyone else on this island?

Because the quantity and distribution range of the water droplets touched were different, if it were beasts, there should be many, and all distributed across a longer stretch touching the water droplets.

Yet this thing touched very little, and according to his perception of the water droplets' distribution range and outline, it was a human shape!

There was no time to think about it anymore! Because it was getting closer and closer to him, and the speed was also very fast, highly likely coming straight for him.

He instantly ruled out Woli. If it were him, why wouldn't he just come directly, instead meeting in this kind of stealthy, ambush-like manner?

An enemy!

There was only this single possibility!

He immediately turned natural, retreating into the shadows.

Sure enough! Less than ten breaths passed.

Set off by the moonlight, a person wearing a blue-oni mask and white robes appeared in the exact spot where he had just been staying!

This is...

Swain felt this attire looked somewhat familiar, and he tried hard to recall.

CP0?!