Bang!
A dull boom rang out.
Yas's seemingly ordinary punch slammed squarely into the hard black reef rock.
There was no lightning, no sonic boom, no dazzling effects of any kind.
Yet the instant his fist met the rock, countless fine, pitch-black cracks appeared across its surface, as though concentrated sulfuric acid had been poured over it!
Crack!
The next second, the massive rock weighing several tons neither exploded nor flew apart. Instead, like a sand sculpture weathered for a thousand years, it silently... collapsed.
It turned into a scattering of fine black powder.
One gust of sea breeze blew it away without a trace.
"..."
Yas slowly withdrew his fist, lowered his head to look at his knuckles, still as smooth and unblemished as before, and sank into thought.
He could feel it clearly.
He had not used the slightest trace of Lightning Release Chakra in that punch.
What drove that punch was a more fundamental, more mysterious power.
It was a will that "armed" him!
It gave mental power tangible form, covering the body's surface to create a layer of armor that nothing could break through!
Was this... what this world called "Armament Haki"?
[Ding! Detected that, under extreme conditions, the host's mental will and physical strength achieved a high degree of synchronization, successfully reaching the threshold of "Armament Haki"!] [Template Fusion improvement methods updated:] [4. Use and hone Haki.]
In his mind, the system's notification confirmed his guess.
Yas raised his head and looked out at the boundless sea, a clarity unlike anything before flashing through his eyes.
So that was it.
The Third Raikage Template had given him a body that could be called invincible and ferocious Lightning Release energy.
That power alone already stood at the top of this world's pyramid.
But that was merely the "body."
Haki, meanwhile, was "will."
When the "body" was developed to its limit, when every battle pushed flesh and energy to their breaking point, the awakening of "will" became a natural outcome!
His Third Raikage Template was like the most efficient catalyst!
Every use of Lightning Release Chakra Mode, every execution of Hell Stab, subjected his mind and body to another ferocious tempering!
This rate of growth was simply beyond comparison with those so-called geniuses of this world who progressed step by step, needed instruction from great teachers, and required years of arduous training!
He, Yas, walked an entirely different path-a conqueror's path of feeding battle with battle and evolving through destruction!
"Perhaps..."
Yas clenched his fist again, feeling that lingering sense of solidity born of his will.
"When Lightning Release Chakra combines with this power of 'will,' what kind of change will it produce?"
A bold idea that even the Third Raikage himself had never envisioned began growing wildly in Yas's mind.
Lightning Release Armor plus Armament Haki-what kind of "absolute defense" would that be?
Hell Stab coated in Armament Haki-what kind of "Strongest Spear" would that become?
And even... Conqueror's Haki?
When he unleashed Hell Stab: One-Finger Nukite coated in Conqueror's Haki, could he truly pierce even a so-called god with a single finger?!
Yas's heart began pounding uncontrollably!
A path leading to the World's Strongest, and even beyond the strongest, had already unfolded clearly beneath his feet!
And all of this had begun in the mere few days since he had crossed into this world!
While Yas immersed himself in visions of his future power, on the other side of the reef rocks, Bullet was already utterly overwhelmed by terror and shock.
He was no clueless recruit like Teppei.
He was a seasoned veteran who had spent nearly ten years working his way through the Navy's lower ranks! He had seen with his own eyes how Headquarters Vice Admirals used Haki!
"There's no mistake... absolutely no mistake..."
Bullet's lips trembled, and his teeth chattered. As he stared at the black powder scattering in the wind, his eyes filled with the horror of someone who had seen a ghost.
"That was... the nascent form of Armament Haki Hardening! Concentrating Haki at a single point to produce pulverizing destruction! That's a technique only someone who has cultivated Armament Haki to an extremely high level can master!"
Ordinary Armament Haki was for defense, for striking the physical bodies of Logia users.
But what Yas's punch had just displayed was a higher level of... "internal destruction"!
"A monster... he's an absolute monster!"
Bullet felt as though his entire understanding of the world had been ground to pieces countless times that day.
Crushing a horse-slaying saber barehanded, taking cannonballs head-on with his body, instantly killing a great pirate worth eighty million with one finger, destroying a massive warship in a single strike...
Those feats alone had already been enough to make him worship Yas like a god.
But what had he just seen?
This recruit who had joined the Navy only a little over a month ago-no, this major-had actually grasped the threshold of Haki on his own during his very first mission at sea!
And it was even an advanced application of Armament Haki!
How was anyone else supposed to live with that?!
Had Vice Admiral Garp and Admiral Zephyr been this freakish at his age?!
Had those legendary monsters aboard Rocks's ship been this outrageous?!
Bullet did not dare think any further.
He knew only that he had made the best decision of his life-following this man.
Perhaps, in the near future, he would personally witness the rise of a new "Navy God of Slaughter" powerful enough to suppress an entire era!
Just then, Yas's voice pulled him out of his boundless shock.
"Bullet."
"Huh? Yes! Major!" Bullet jolted and hurried out from behind the reef rocks, standing ramrod straight. He no longer dared show the slightest probing look in his eyes; only pure reverence remained.
"The island is safe now. Leave some food and medicine. We're preparing to return," Yas said calmly.
"Yes!"
Bullet answered loudly, then turned to make the arrangements.
Yas took one final look at the villagers emerging from the ruins, kneeling to him and crying out, regarding him as their savior. His gaze did not waver in the slightest.
He was no savior.
He was merely a... marine who had cleared away some trash in his way while traveling the road to becoming the strongest.
The Vanguard soon set sail again, leaving the island with everything still waiting to be rebuilt, and headed at full speed toward Marineford.
On deck, the recruits chattered incessantly, their excitement at surviving the ordeal mingling with their hopes for the future.
Standing beside the helm, Bullet glanced at the military pocket watch on his wrist, then at the solitary, proud figure at the bow, bathed in the setting sun as though he had become one with heaven and earth. His throat bobbed again despite himself.
He silently calculated the time, and a conclusion that made even his own scalp prickle surfaced in his mind.
"From leaving Pier Seven at Marineford to wiping out the Butcher Pirate Crew and its affiliated fleet, completing the mission..."
Bullet's breathing nearly stopped at that moment.
"Total time... less than ten hours!"
"This... this is probably the fastest record for wiping out a pirate crew of the same caliber since the Navy was founded, isn't it?"
"When this news reaches headquarters... what expressions will those guys waiting to see us make fools of ourselves have on their faces?"
Before you continue