Trust.
A heavy responsibility.
That was what Kaido heard in Tengetsu Ares's words. And with that kind of trust, Kaido would never let Ares down.
Ares continued, "And what you're in charge of isn't just teaching. If anyone wants to train through real combat, you'll spar with them."
He looked to the others as well. "Chinjao, Sladar, Ashura Doji. You can all challenge Kaido. Temper yourselves, and let Kaido stay soaked in battle."
"Of course…"
"I'll also check your strength from time to time. Because our goal isn't just taking Wano…"
"Our goal is to become the strongest pirate crew in history."
"And the fiercest."
Ares understood it well. Powerhouses were bundles of restless energy, especially muscle-headed beasts like Kaido and Sladar.
They needed battle to vent, and battle to grow.
Kaido's eyes lit up at once. "Wororororo! Ares, I'll take the job!!"
"I'll train those brats properly and make them stronger!"
Meanwhile, Kuma and Alber still had no idea what was about to happen to them. Their young faces were filled with yearning and hope.
They wanted to get strong quickly, to take some of the weight off Ares's shoulders.
Someday…
They wanted to stand beside him and fight.
At that moment, Chinjao asked, "Boss Ares, that samurai who was fighting Ashura Doji earlier, the guy named Oden… he's not bad. Why didn't we pull him into our side?!"
Ares smiled. "That man's the Shogun's son. And he has Conqueror's Haki. He won't be recruited so easily. Besides…"
Besides, from the information he'd gathered recently, Ares already knew Oden and Sukiyaki had severed their father-son relationship.
Recruiting him…
Ares had no real strategy yet.
But there was one thing he absolutely needed.
From the Kozuki clan…
he had to obtain the method to read the Poneglyphs.
Ares said, "If Kozuki Oden comes to challenge us, let me know. He won't accept defeat quietly."
"Heh." Sladar chuckled. "Challenging Boss Ares is just asking to suffer."
Kaido grinned wide. "Wororororo! With his level, even if he trains for a few years, he still won't be Ares's match. And after a few years, Ares will be even more terrifying!"
"As for building Kuri, I'll leave it to everyone for now," Ares said. "I'm starting a new round of training. If anything important happens, contact me through a snail."
All the Den Den Mushi on the Marine warships they'd stolen had already been cleaned out completely.
If the World Government or the Marines used a "wiretap Den Den Mushi" to listen in, it would be trouble.
In Wano, the local method of communication was the tanuki snail.
Functionally, it wasn't much different from a Den Den Mushi.
And as for Ares's new training…
He'd already conceived the idea back at God Valley.
Wano's strong fighters all knew Ryuo. His physique was already absurd, and he'd been training the inside of his body for some time.
But for Ares's ultimate dream…
this still wasn't enough.
He needed to temper his body from inside to outside, and outside to inside, until it became one seamless whole.
And deep in his mind…
Ares carried an extremely "crazy" thought.
Wano was a volcanic country.
After finishing this stage of training, he planned to step into magma itself…
using extreme heat to repeatedly refine his body.
It was the same as an essential step in forging a blade.
Growing up under his father's constant influence, and after consulting Shimotsuki Kozaburo on Hachinosu about the art of sword-forging…
Ares understood exactly what it took to create a true named blade.
Kuri.
An open, empty stretch of land.
Ares held two of the kanabo he'd taken from Kaido two of the eight Hassaikai maces, one in each hand.
On his right arm, thick muscles bulged as a flowing aura appeared Ryuo, the advanced Armament Haki of Wano.
It spread and coated the spiked club.
On his left arm, everything turned blood-red Ares's Blood Armament.
Boom!
His right bicep swelled, and the club coated in Ryuo slammed into his own body.
Boom!
His left arm hardened into slabs of steel, Blood Armament roaring, striking the same spot.
Ryuo bypassed the surface and penetrated deeper beneath skin, into muscle, bone, and even the internal organs.
It brought violent tremors.
Crushing pain.
"Hah!" Ares's eyes flashed with a sharp light, excitement bordering on madness. His face twisted.
Whether it was the tearing sensation of his muscles or the shuddering impact that felt like a brutal massage, the pain made Ares feel
good.
Pain and pleasure braided together.
That was the feeling.
Not just the rush of chasing a goal, not only the satisfaction of a dream.
But the climb itself, the process, the experience, the accumulation step by step made Ares intoxicated.
"One…"
"Two…"
"…."
"One hundred!"
After the hundredth strike, Ares shifted into his hybrid dragon form and summoned a bolt of lightning from the sky, calling it straight down onto his own body.
Boom!!
A violent current surged through every corner of him, shocking every cell, stimulating the lineage factor in his blood, making Ares even more exhilarated.
It felt a hundred times no, a thousand times stronger than any fascia knife or massage gun could ever be.
Lightning after lightning crashed down.
Smoke began to rise from his skin.
Charred black marks spread across his body.
At that moment
Deep in the forest, the ninja Fukurokuju witnessed everything.
His pupils dilated violently, trembling uncontrollably.
He clapped both hands over his mouth, forcing himself not to make a sound.
Inside his chest, a tsunami slammed into his heart.
"This… this monster…"
"Is he even human?!"
"He's a devil!!!"
He had been assigned the assassination mission.
He'd come to scout Ares's habits and gather intel.
Instead, he witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
His heart thudded so hard it felt like it might burst.
"Damn it! Sukiyaki-sama wants me to assassinate that kind of monster? Is this a joke?!"
"That body…"
"Can shuriken even scratch him?!"
"And poison… could poison even kill a freak like that?!"
One hour.
Two hours.
Fukurokuju watched until his mind went blank.
He thought, I have to report this immediately. This assassination…
Forget it.
"Trying to assassinate that kind of man is just suicide!"
"Thousands of strikes, Ryuo Haki, and he's still lively as ever. Even if he stood still and let me attack, I'd burn through all my Haki and still never hurt him!"
He chose to abandon the assassination without hesitation.
Because a monster like that…
was absolutely not someone he could kill.
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