Aokiji and Akainu fought fiercely on an island to compete for the position of Fleet Admiral, permanently altering the island's environment.
Using a river as the boundary, one half became a "Flame Mountain" filled with fire everywhere, while the other half turned into a world of ice and snow.
Now Vane's training had also changed part of Source Mountain's environment, turning a section of the mountain into an icy world. Of course, if he were willing to go all out, the entire Source Mountain might very well become a frozen mountain range.
After all, he was training and wouldn't use his full strength—unlike Akainu and Aokiji, who were fighting with deadly force against each other.
After persuading Bonez to cover for him in advance, Hancock rode Crystal Onix toward the summit of Source Mountain. In just a few hundred meters, the temperature plummeted by an unknown number of degrees.
Crystal Onix feared high temperatures even more, so this low-temperature environment had little effect on it.
Hancock had long prepared a thick cloak. This wasn't her first time here—she already knew how extremely low the temperature was.
"These flowers, grass, and trees… it's as if they've been sealed."
Hancock looked at the plants along the way, frozen inside blocks of ice yet still appearing vivid and alive. It was easy to imagine that this portion of vegetation had been suddenly frozen in a very short period of time.
If they had been frozen gradually, the plants should have shown signs of withering first.
She remembered that about a month ago, one night, a faint blue light suddenly bloomed from the mountaintop. When she came back the next morning, she found the peak of Source Mountain sealed in ice. Goose-feather-like snowflakes kept drifting down in layers, and the biting wind howled sharply.
The not-so-tall Source Mountain was quickly climbed to the top. The ice sculptures here looked even more like works of art. Even direct sunlight couldn't melt these ice crystals.
And besides the ice sculptures formed naturally from the surroundings, there were clearly man-made ice structures as well—such as rows of ice pillars, arranged somewhat like the layout of a Moon Temple that could be blown apart from the back, hidden and ready to detonate.
"Vane-sama, I've come to see you. I also brought you food."
Vane was on the very center ice pillar, his body floating in midair. At his chest, the nine ice crystal fragments had all turned dim and lusterless.
A month ago, he had absorbed the nine fragments he currently possessed. He hadn't rushed to obtain the tenth fragment. Instead, he spent a month stabilizing the energy within his body.
At the same time, he had been researching Conqueror's Haki Infusion. Unfortunately, he felt that perhaps Conqueror's Haki Infusion truly required some external pressure. After studying it for so long, he still had little clue.
It was like a transparent thread in seawater—occasionally, you could vaguely glimpse it, but it relied entirely on luck.
"This feeling of ice-type energy… it should be no worse than Aokiji's."
There hadn't been much progress in Haki, but Vane's personal abilities had improved rapidly. If a ship from the World Government came to invade again, Vane was confident he could freeze them from thirty kilometers away.
That wasn't an exaggeration. When Aokiji first appeared, he directly froze an entire stretch of sea, allowing people to walk across it from one island to another.
Hearing Hancock's voice, Vane stopped his Haki training.
"Ice Path!"
A series of Netherworld Mist spread between the ground and the ice pillars, eventually forming a smooth ice path. Vane gave a light push and slid down to the ground.
"Why are you the one delivering food today?"
Vane's daily meals were now prepared by Galette.
After Galette "married" Vane, she held a very special status within Rocket Team. Despite having already been at zero distance with Vane, integrating into Rocket Team proved unusually difficult for her.
One reason was that everyone knew she came from the Big Mom Pirates. Another was her expression—one that clearly warned strangers to stay away. Anyone who tried to talk to her would be scared off.
Vane didn't correct her on this. The satisfaction he gained from Galette came precisely from that expression—the contrast between day and night. Who wouldn't like that?
Of course, Galette couldn't do nothing at all. But she didn't want to work for others, so she became Vane's personal chef.
Most of Big Mom's children had some skill in cooking, and Galette's craftsmanship was indeed far better than that of most people.
And wasn't this, in a way, a kind of play? He was very satisfied.
Eat the food.
Then eat the chef.
But today, the chef hadn't come… perhaps she was a little too exhausted from yesterday. When Hancock went to get the food, Galette—wanting to rest—simply pushed the task onto Hancock.
"Thank you, Hancock."
For Vane now, eating only needed to happen once in a while—like a snake, one meal could last a long time.
But as a human, he was used to eating something every day, at least one meal.
"It is only what I should do… By the way, Vane-sama, I captured a batch of vicious pirates today!"
"They were terrifying, truly terrifying. I fought them for hundreds of rounds before finally taking them down. The situation was extremely dangerous…"
Vane simply listened without saying much. If there were truly pirates capable of pushing Hancock into a hard battle, Dragonite would have appeared before him immediately to bring him to the scene as backup.
Hancock just wanted to find something to talk about and embellish the process a bit, making it sound more dangerous to earn some comfort from him.
Vane enjoyed his meal while responding at the right moments, providing her with the emotional value she sought.
At the same time, he was thinking about certain matters.
Without external pressure, progress in Conqueror's Haki Infusion was slow. If he continued training steadily like this, it might take years—just like Luffy spent two years building a foundation in Armament Haki and Observation Haki.
After those two years, both Observation and Armament Haki upgraded one after another under high pressure.
Even if Conqueror's Haki Infusion couldn't improve for now, his strength absolutely couldn't stagnate.
If its progress couldn't increase in the short term, he could still develop his physical techniques and abilities.
Vane wasn't a Devil Fruit user, yet he was better than one. As long as he gathered the final Ice Fragment and absorbed its energy, he should gain a new ability.
He currently had two abilities.
One was Netherworld Demon Form, which comprehensively enhanced his physical qualities while allowing him to release ice-type energy more effectively.
The second was Articuno's Wings, granting high-speed flight while greatly boosting his ice-type energy.
He didn't know what the third would be, but it would definitely amplify ice-type energy as well.
Unfortunately, his luck seemed somewhat exhausted. In the past six months, he hadn't encountered any new ability users, nor had he come across any Devil Fruits. After arriving in the New World, the only one he obtained was the Vampire Fruit.
However, he also had a backup option.
"Hancock, I want you to help me train."