Titan's Progress and Changes in the Kingdom

The lion was one of the island's Beast Kings. Flames swirled around its body like a king wreathed in fire, yet they did not harm its fur.

It was a rare beast native to the island, capable of producing flames.

Its front claws were razor-sharp, able to pierce steel with ease.

Facing it was Titan, transformed into a ferocious beast. His massive, muscular body radiated a savage aura.

His fearsome head bore pupils as dark as black holes, while two more eyes sat beneath his arms.

A pair of thick horns, part bull and part ram, curved backward from his head.

His enormous mouth gaped open, revealing rows of sawlike teeth. A terrifying power of devouring emanated faintly from it, as though it were a bottomless pit.

He had tiger claws, a bony tail, and a pair of fleshy wings shaped like ears on either side of his body. Strange patterns covered his skin.

Titan dwarfed the giant lion, looming over it like a small mountain.

In their primal struggle, he was completely immune to the lion's flames and held an overwhelming advantage.

He was bigger, tougher, and stronger. With that formidable physique as his foundation, the quality of Titan's Armament Haki was in no way inferior to the lion's.

He was also far more skilled in using it.

The outcome had been decided from the start.

Titan's strength had grown at a staggering pace. Developing his Devil Fruit, enduring intense pressure, and fighting constantly had improved him in every respect.

At first, Titan had done nothing but take beatings. He would be taught a lesson, strike back, issue another challenge, lose, and flee.

The cycle repeated again and again.

With the Gluttonous Beast Fruit's help, Titan's physical potential had surged further as he grew older. His body and Armament Haki improved far faster than Hades's.

His powerful recovery made Titan as hard to kill as a cockroach.

From the very beginning, Titan was getting pummeled in his battles against the Beast Kings in his full beast form.

But he was rarely in any danger of dying, which only made Titan more reckless.

After losing, Titan would often lie motionless and let the Beast Kings pummel him.

Yet the Beast Kings could not kill Titan. His defenses and recovery were simply too formidable.

More often than not, they exhausted themselves beating him and then stalked off, grumbling.

The next day, Titan would return, fully recovered, to challenge them again.

Before long, Titan had challenged nearly every Beast King on the island. Eventually, they all recognized him, and sometimes they even joined forces against him.

Titan kept at it all the same, because he had grown stronger. As he developed his abilities, his defenses improved further, his physique grew tougher, and the quality of his Haki rose rapidly.

As his strength grew, Titan gradually began to fight back. He defeated the island's Beast Kings before Hades did.

Throughout it all, Titan had never used the Gluttonous Beast Fruit's poisonous mist or the baleful aura he had already mastered.

Likewise, Hades had not used the power of the Death-Death Fruit or the Fierce God aura he had mastered, which he could combine with Haki.

Combined with Armament Haki, that aura could boost defense and destructive power. Combined with Conqueror's Haki, it made its mental assault far more intimidating.

The Asura-like Conqueror's Haki of "Demon Heir" Douglas Bullet was the result of combining it with a ghostly aura.

It was a one-sided battle. The giant lion soon fell and lowered its proud head before Titan.

Titan swiftly returned to human form. He had grown to more than six meters tall, with thick black hair falling past his shoulders and a terrifying, baleful aura.

Hades was pleased. Titan was stronger than he was, and as a future top-tier fighter, the stronger Titan became, the better.

At the same time, Hades was absolutely confident he would soon catch up and surpass him.

Besides, if they actually fought, who knew which of them would win?

Two years had been enough for Hades to develop the Death-Death Fruit's power to a considerable degree.

Unlike others fumbling their way forward, Hades knew exactly how to develop it and which direction to take. He never had to wonder what came next.

Although he had not used its power in battle, countless beasts had died at his hands while he developed the fruit.

In one corner of the island, he had even created a forbidden zone where nothing grew and no life remained.

Hades looked over the intelligence in his hands. It had come from the Kronos Kingdom.

It covered the kingdom's development, the World Government-backed rebels, and news from the seas, particularly anything concerning the Rocks Pirates or the Marines.

Every so often, these reports appeared in the little cabin where Hades usually rested.

Hades had a good idea who delivered them. At present, only one person in the Kronos Kingdom could manage it.

The kingdom's development was proceeding smoothly. Both the agricultural reforms and the construction of a transportation network had begun to show results.

The move toward mechanized, automated farming was going especially well.

The equipment needed for the farming methods of that powerful nation was not difficult for the Kronos Kingdom to build.

A batch had already been produced before Hades left.

And a certain small country from a storybook, despite its tiny territory, accounted for a large share of the world's pork supply.

Its distinctive cooperative management system seamlessly combined production, processing, and marketing, keeping all three working together at high speed.

That was what Hades truly wanted.

But it required a vast store of knowledge. Pig farming alone involved enough knowledge to fill thousands of books.

Breeding the best pigs and achieving fully automated production required substantial technical support.

Things looked promising now, but they were still far short of Hades's expectations.

Completing the entire technical system would take at least another decade. He would be very satisfied if they reached even a tenth of that storybook country's standard.

About three months after he left, the rebels within the Kronos Kingdom launched a counterattack.

Unsurprisingly, it was crushed with ease. They never made it a single step beyond their confinement.

Despite having the strength to wipe them out, the Kronos Kingdom still had no intention of doing so. Instead, it slowly wore down the World Government's forces.

That was the strategy the kingdom had maintained for years.

It also kept the kingdom from openly antagonizing the World Government.

Between nations, there were no eternal grudges, only interests.

Just as they had suspected, the World Government was close to its limit.

It was not for lack of strength, but because it faced pressure from every direction.

The pressure came from within and without. Even some Celestial Dragons opposed its actions.

The influence of a superpower was not to be underestimated, and the Tartarus Royal Family also had ties to the Celestial Dragons.