Still holding his half-Sand Dragon form, he stood completely frozen in place, looking like time itself had stopped around him.
The cigar that had been resting between his teeth slipped from the corner of his mouth, hitting the dirt and kicking up a tiny puff of dust.
Yet he did not even notice, his stare locked straight ahead, completely full of amazement and total disbelief.
"What kind of joke is this..." His voice was rough and shaking slightly.
The golden hook on his hand shined with a cold light under the sun, but even that deadly weapon seemed to have lost its usual sharp edge.
"He is still hiding his true strength?!"
From the very first second he met Ron, Crocodile's entire understanding of the man seemed to have been flipped upside down by an invisible hand.
A messy mix of emotions boiled in his chest—pure shock that Ron held such terrifying power, annoyance at himself for underestimating him, and even a tiny, undeniable hint of... respect, quietly taking root deep in his heart.
After all, Conqueror's Haki was the ultimate symbol of the "Qualities of a King."
It was a wildly rare talent that only appeared in one out of several million people.
Now, he felt absolutely no regret about his choice to follow Ron.
In fact, he was incredibly satisfied, thinking to himself that he was an absolute genius for making the right bet!
At that exact moment, a quick flash of light shined at his fingertips as his poisoned hook—which he had stored away in his Castle-Castle Fruit ring—snapped right back onto his hand.
"This feels much more familiar."
...
"Whoa... this is one hell of a joke, isn't it?!"
Marco's blue Phoenix flames flickered wildly in the air, acting as if they were just as shocked as he was.
Yet, the corners of his mouth curled upward completely out of his control, showing off a cocky, proud grin.
In a flash, he dodged and swatted away Queen's heavy mechanical arm, his burning stare locked firmly in Ron's direction, his eyes totally overflowing with pride.
"Ron has been hiding his Conqueror's Haki this entire time—truly worthy of being the Divine Lord of our nation! This should finally shut a lot of people up."
In that split second, he could already picture the bright, glorious future of their Eternal Divine Kingdom.
This was their true ruler, holding such terrifying, awe-inspiring power—how could he not feel incredibly proud?
Jozu's diamond body suddenly exploded with a blinding, beautiful light as the sun hit his hardened skin.
He took Jack's heavy punch head-on without flinching and burst into loud laughter.
"Hahaha! Did you see that?! That is our Ron!"
His diamond-hard fists shook slightly with excitement, finally letting out the thrill he had been holding in his chest.
Memories of fighting side-by-side with Ron played through his mind like an old, treasured movie.
Every highly dangerous battle, every close call they barely survived—looking back at it now, it was all because this man had been carefully hiding his true, world-breaking strength.
"He kept us all in the dark for so long, saving this massive trump card until right now."
"Jozu, now that I think about it... did we ever actually ask Ron if he had Conqueror's Haki?"
"...Now that you mention it, I guess we didn't."
Marco and Jozu shared a look, seeing the exact same confusion in each other's eyes.
Ron had never shown it off before, but he had never actually claimed he couldn't use Conqueror's Haki, either...
But none of that mattered right now.
As long as Ron was strong enough to lead them, he could silence any critic in the world!
Meanwhile, Vista's twin swords carved beautiful, blinding arcs through the air, the perfect, flowing strikes easily pushing back King's heavy attacks.
He let out a loud, excited whistle. "Damn! Ron kept this a hell of a secret!"
His eyes burned with a wild need to fight, his grin stretching almost ear to ear as he completely failed to hide his excitement.
As a master swordsman, he understood better than anyone exactly what Conqueror's Haki meant—it was the ultimate symbol of supreme strength, the one-in-a-million "Qualities of a King"!
Not only could it pack massive power into your attacks, but it could easily wipe out entire armies of weaker enemies through sheer willpower alone.
How could he not be jealous of such an incredible, god-like skill?
Right now, he felt his blood boiling with pure excitement, already dying to spar with Ron and feel the crushing weight of that Conqueror's Haki for himself.
The three commanders shared a knowing look, and in that brief second of eye contact, they saw the exact same shock reflected back at them.
This shock was not just them accepting Ron's power—it was a sudden realization of the massive, world-breaking changes this new era was about to go through because of him.
...
Marco's Phoenix flames suddenly exploded outward.
The burning fire looked ready to swallow everything around it. Riding the momentum, he easily forced Queen back several heavy steps.
"Hey, fatso! Now do you realize exactly who you are messing with?"
Jozu used the distraction to bury a diamond-hard punch straight into Jack's stomach.
Watching his massive opponent double over in pure pain, he grinned—a messy mix of total pride and heavy mockery dancing on his face.
"It is not too late to surrender! Our Ron did not even bother wasting his Conqueror's Haki on you!"
The light shining through his diamond skin made his cocky smile look even brighter.
The sudden, incredible news made him feel completely weightless and hyped up, making him seriously consider punching Jack a few extra times later just to celebrate!
Vista was even more direct.
He smoothly spun his sword and cockily curled a finger at King. "Care to see what a real 'King' actually looks like?"
The excitement in his eyes looked ready to spill over.
His eager, bouncy stance barely held him back from charging forward to trade wild blows with King right then and there.
"I guarantee it will open your eyes!"
High above them, Whitebeard's booming laughter grew even louder.
He easily swung Murakumogiri around, the massive deadly weapon looking like it had a mind of its own as it gave off a freezing, deadly energy.
He shouted happily.
"Kid! After we finish with Kaido, this old man is definitely getting a proper fight with you!"
Hearing this, Kaido flew into an absolute rage.
His massive Dragon tail slammed violently against the dirt, creating heavy, earth-shaking tremors.
"Newgate! I am your opponent!"
Yet deep down, even an absolute monster like Kaido had to rethink how he viewed this young warrior.
A Conqueror's Haki user—these people were literally one in a million.
Even the mighty Beasts Pirates did not have a second Conqueror's Haki user on the crew besides him, proving just how impossibly rare this power truly was.
"I should have killed him the very first time I saw him!"
The terrifying power Ron was showing off right now made Kaido realize that this war might be a lot harder to win than he originally thought.
As for Ron himself, he seemed completely blind to all the wild reactions happening around him—the shock, the excitement, the absolute terror.
He simply kept walking forward with calm, perfectly steady steps.
His black coat blew wildly in the fading wind of his Conqueror's Haki.
Each footstep he took carried a massive, crushing weight that echoed deeply in the hearts of everyone watching.
It made everyone painfully aware that the brightest rising star of this new era was announcing his true, world-breaking power to the world in a completely unstoppable way!
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