Seven days later?

Over the next few days, the mysterious island became a natural training ground, bustling with intense training.

Slade, Bailing, Baixue, and the other Beast Kings whose strength stood at the Admiral candidate level set out to find other fierce beasts on the island to hone themselves against.

With their strength, their lives were not in danger on this island, but clashes with its many powerful beasts gave them thorough, well-rounded training.

Every battle was a challenge to their limits. They constantly surpassed themselves, improving their fighting techniques and adaptability.

Meanwhile, Hades and the others who had already reached Admiral-level strength each had a clear direction for their training.

Hades often fought Little Croc. During their sparring sessions, he not only went all out to display his strength but also carefully taught Little Croc how to use Armament Haki and Observation Haki.

Hades knew well that for a Beast King with enormous potential like Little Croc, mastering the proper use of Haki would bring a qualitative leap in strength.

He patiently explained every detail, personally demonstrating how to gather and release Haki and when to use it. Little Croc studied diligently as well, showing clear improvements in the use of Haki with every battle.

Meanwhile, the three Great Swordmasters, Athena, Yingyue, and Vian, chose to hone their swordsmanship together.

Their styles differed, but all three possessed extraordinary skill.

As they sparred, sword shadows crossed and cold steel flashed, every move carrying powerful force and exquisite technique.

Mihawk and Shanks often watched the three women fight from the sidelines, like two dried-out sponges eagerly soaking up the essence of this feast of swordsmanship.

It had to be said that Mihawk and Shanks were exceptionally talented themselves. With their remarkable powers of observation, they gained a great deal from Athena, Yingyue, and Vian's battles.

The two also frequently engaged in fierce swordsmanship contests with each other.

In terms of swordsmanship talent alone, Mihawk perhaps had a slight edge. At first, Shanks could rely on his wealth of experience and what he had learned following the world's top Great Swordmasters in his early years to hold the upper hand against Mihawk for two days.

After all, Shanks had been exposed to swordsmanship from childhood, and his understanding and perspective were, to some extent, broader than Mihawk's.

Yet after watching the three women's spectacular battles, Mihawk felt as though an entirely new door had opened, broadening his horizons immensely.

These battles gave him a deeper understanding of the path of a Great Swordmaster, and his comprehension of swordsmanship reached a new height.

It was worth noting that Mihawk and Shanks had already become Swordmasters at their current age. Such talent was truly astonishing, befitting men with the potential to become the World's Greatest Swordsman and one of the Four Emperors in the future.

For them, having actual battles between top Great Swordmasters to study, absorbing their experience and exquisite techniques, while also having an evenly matched opponent to spar and improve with, was undoubtedly the best way to grow.

Through this process, their swordsmanship improved steadily, rising to new levels as they advanced toward greater heights.

It was worth mentioning that Mihawk and Shanks had both drunk the potion Kakarot provided early on.

In the constant battles that followed, they could clearly feel their bodies growing stronger at an astonishing rate.

The speed of this improvement was simply beyond imagination. A single day's training produced results equivalent to a month or even longer of their previous painstaking efforts.

Such a significant change inevitably aroused their curiosity.

So they sought out Kakarot and asked him the reason.

After all, they were improving far faster than even Kakarot had previously described.

Seeing this, Kakarot patiently explained his conjectures about certain special regions, such as the Calm Belt.

He laid out his thoughts on why the Calm Belt produced such enormous, powerful Beast Kings and Sea Kings, and why they chose to live there.

Kakarot speculated that all of this might be connected to some mysterious substance.

After hearing him out, the two nodded thoughtfully.

Shanks fell into brief contemplation, turning over the connections between what Kakarot had said and the information he knew.

Mihawk, however, acted decisively. Without a moment's delay, he turned back to honing his swordsmanship, going straight to Athena and the others to ask for advice on sword techniques.

At this point, Shanks was not yet as calculating as he would become later, always weighing numerous factors such as maintaining the balance of the seas.

He was merely a teenager, at an age when his blood ran hot.

Seeing Mihawk train so desperately instantly ignited his competitive spirit. He stopped dwelling on it and immediately began competing with Mihawk, devoting himself wholeheartedly to growing stronger.

Over on Jörmungandr's side, Lilith and Lina often came to spar with her, with Bailing occasionally joining them.

They used their respective Devil Fruit abilities to engage Jörmungandr in spectacular battles.

Kakarot also joined in at appropriate moments, drawing on his wealth of experience to offer Jörmungandr some unique advice on controlling the element of darkness.

During their exchanges, Kakarot discovered that the darkness Jörmungandr controlled was entirely different from the Dark-Dark Fruit's black-hole-like power to devour through darkness.

With this in mind, Kakarot offered a series of practical suggestions for developing her abilities based on the characteristics of her darkness element.

With Lilith and the others fighting Jörmungandr using Spatial Power, the Cloud-Cloud Fruit's power, and Life Force respectively, Jörmungandr could continually test the darkness techniques she developed in actual combat.

As a result, her progress was remarkably rapid.

After all, she had eaten this Devil Fruit hundreds of years ago. Had she put her mind to developing it earlier, she probably would have awakened its abilities long ago.

Now, with her powerful physique and abundant stamina, she could swiftly put any attack idea that came to mind into practice.

Within this positive cycle, her strength improved significantly.

Yet amid the entire group's fervent training, Kakarot felt that he had nothing to do every day.

At his current strength, ordinary training methods did very little for him, offering far less progress than an all-out battle against a truly powerful enemy.

However, with his current strength, it was extremely difficult to find anyone in this world who could match him.

Still, he found his own enjoyment. Every day, he used the Flight Technique to fly freely above the island, looking down at his companions' intense battles, which he found quite entertaining.

Moreover, at night, he would "transform" into a "flower thief," randomly "abducting" a few from among Lina, Lilith, Athena, Vian, Yingyue, Iris, and Emily,

spending some relaxing, pleasant time with them and living very comfortably.

Originally, Kakarot had planned to stay on this island for only seven days, then set off for the South Blue to find Ace's mother.

Unexpectedly, his companions were all immersed in their enthusiasm for training and did not want to leave just yet.

They keenly felt how effective training on this island was, with their strength increasing much faster. Some even felt they were only a step away from Admiral level.

As it happened, no urgent news had come from the Revolutionary Army either, and the World Government and the Marines had made no moves in the South Blue for the time being.

So Kakarot could only go along with his companions' wishes and remain on the island, training and growing stronger together as they waited for the right moment to embark on a new journey.