A few days later, out on the open sea—
White Ghost lay in his usual spot atop the Dragon Emperor's dragon head, basking in the sun. Warmth soaked into his bones, and he didn't feel like moving a single muscle.
He'd been unconscious for a full day and night.
Then hunger dragged him back.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw his girls staring down at him with tears in theirs. He calmed them first—then immediately started eating like a bottomless pit.
Thankfully, Wanda had prepared food in advance… otherwise White Ghost would've worked her into exhaustion.
Even with the head start, she still ended up drained. In the end, Urki dove into the sea, hunted a hundred-meter Sea King, and they roasted it.
Only then did White Ghost finally feel full.
Afterward, the way Wanda looked at him sent a chill down his spine, so he quickly soothed the dog Mink before she drew a sword and demanded a duel for "working her to death."
But White Ghost waking up safely wasn't the only shock.
Kuina had awakened Conqueror's Haki.
When it happened, the others had been too far away—and too focused on fighting—so they assumed it was White Ghost's pressure.
Later, Kuina told him the truth.
White Ghost got so excited he lost control for a second—grabbed her and planted two quick kisses on her cheek.
Kuina's face turned bright red on the spot.
And with people around—even though everyone politely looked away—the usually cool, composed Kuina instantly panicked, spun around, and ran.
White Ghost's laughter followed her the whole way.
When she finally worked up the courage to face him again, White Ghost began teaching her how to use Conqueror's Haki properly.
First: free release—learn to activate it naturally and strengthen her spirit.
No rushing. No shortcuts.
You don't get fat in one bite.
Kuina listened closely and trained step by step, continuing her sword practice as usual.
White Ghost explained it plainly:
Conqueror's Haki has stages.
Awaken it.
Use it freely.
Compress its range.
Only then—Conqueror's coating.
Kuina was still far from the last step. White Ghost warned her:
Some people carry Conqueror's Haki their whole lives and never learn coating.
He even used examples to keep her grounded:
Doflamingo—too twisted, too crushed inside to cross that final threshold.
Katakuri—carried too much responsibility, clung too tightly to what he wanted to protect, and couldn't step into coating either.
White Ghost talked for a long time before Kuina finally nodded.
In short: the last step was the hardest.
Cross it, and you've mastered it.
Fail to cross it, and you might be stuck there forever.
Everyone understood what Conqueror's awakening meant.
Conqueror's coating was essentially a ticket toward the peak.
Without Conqueror's, you could still reach the top—by pushing physique, Haki, and Devil Fruit mastery to the extreme—but people like that were rare.
White Ghost reminded them:
They had time.
No one should rush or lose their balance.
This battle pushed everyone forward.
A-Da and A-Er: physique and ability both advanced a step.
Enel: his Silver-Silver power became smoother and deadlier in mass combat; even his Armament improved slightly.
Urki: physique and Armament reached mid-tier; Observation stayed basic—because he fought like A-Da and A-Er, bulldozing through everything.
Franky: still had the same problem—energy. With an endless power supply, he could fire forever. Right now, he was manufacturing weapons and obsessing over solving the power issue.
As for Haki… he was still in the "figuring it out" phase. With most of his body mechanical—aside from his brain, heart, and organs—Haki didn't come naturally.
Brook… White Ghost didn't even want to tease him.
After a full-scale war, the only thing that happened to Brook was a few cracked bones.
Then he drank a big bottle of milk.
And the cracks healed.
Zango stared in envy and muttered, "Now I get why Boss says—without top-tier Haki, you can't deal real lethal damage to him."
Everyone nodded.
Brook's survivability was absurd.
Pedro's gains were huge.
Not just Devil Fruit growth—his physical body improved too, and White Ghost's "one plus one becomes more than two" principle showed up in real time.
Pedro was thrilled.
When Wanda heard, she finally forgave White Ghost for nearly working her into the ground.
Now Pedro had a powerful physique, high-level Armament, and mid-level Observation.
With that strength, even some elite Vice Admirals would struggle to handle him.
Pedro, Señor Pink, and Zango trained like mad, pushing their bodies every day.
On the ship, it became normal to see a bunch of muscleheads lifting weights like lunatics.
Akin was similar—both Observation and Armament awakened. He started training his Sea-Prism resistance and physique as well.
And the most outrageous growth?
Nami.
During the fight, she spammed her Lightning fruit so hard that her Observation Haki awakened naturally.
Her range was huge—bigger than most people's.
It even felt… abnormal.
She could "hear" things with eerie reliability—like she was mapping sound itself.
Nami didn't know why. She just complained that she was suffering now because she kept "hearing voices" around her.
White Ghost didn't even bother arguing.
Of course.
The most destructive Logia on the seas.
Even back then, Enel's Observation had been ridiculous—if he hadn't run into the one natural counter, he would've crushed most enemies one by one.
White Ghost leaned back in a folding chair, eyes half-closed, letting the sun melt what remained of his fatigue.
Nearby, Nami sat peeling oranges—with Sea-Prism Stone cuffs on.
White Ghost had ordered it.
At first, Nami resisted.
Then White Ghost looked at her once.
And she obediently put them on.
Nami peeled an orange and fed him a slice.
"Boss. Open up."
White Ghost swallowed it in one bite.
Sweet and sour. Perfect.
Bellemere had sent them—said the harvest was too big to finish. She'd even brought a few orange trees.
Nami had been overjoyed. She clung to Bellemere and talked nonstop about everything she'd seen and learned.
Bellemere and Nojiko simply listened—quiet, attentive, serious.
As long as Nami was happy, they didn't need anything else.
But when Bellemere left…
her expression was oddly familiar—like a mother-in-law inspecting a son-in-law, looking more satisfied by the second.
Then she actually said, "I'm completely at ease with Nami staying with you."
White Ghost nearly sprang out of his chair.
Wait—was Morgans right? Do I actually—
He cut the thought off and shook his head hard.
No.
Nami was just cute, that's all.
If the ship were nothing but grown men, how boring would that be?
Having a few little sisters around was nice.
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