Ten days later.
In a certain sea area of the Grand Line, a small, fifteen-meter single-masted naval warship with a sail was slicing through the waves at an extraordinary speed.
The strange thing was, there was no strong wind blowing on the sea, and the sails on the warship weren't even unfurled.
But this warship, which had no steam-powered paddle wheels, was still moving forward as smoothly and swiftly as a marlin darting through the sea.
On the not-so-spacious deck, Rorschach was leaning against the mast with his hands behind his head, thinking about how he could continue to improve his strength.
After his body had recovered to its peak state, Rorschach found that his physical fitness had grown significantly once again.
The most obvious external sign was that his height had now reached two point nine meters.
The last time his height increased dramatically was during the Skypiea incident, when his body was tempered by Enel's lightning, breaking through his physical limits.
The time between these two rapid growth spurts was less than three months.
This meant that compared to three months ago, he had grown from two point seven meters to his current two point nine meters.
Although a height of three to four meters was nothing special in the world of pirates, as even among the most common human races, three to four, or even five to six meter tall giants would occasionally appear.
But Rorschach still felt that it would be better for him not to grow too absurdly tall.
If his body became too large, many things in his daily life would need to be custom-made.
He wouldn't even be able to enter some narrow places.
For example, Rorschach had never seen any giant Vice Admirals enter Sengoku's office.
The office door was only a little over three meters tall.
Another point was that the larger the body, the higher the basic daily calorie consumption.
His body's current strength already required an absurdly high amount of calories to supplement it every day.
If he grew to five or six meters tall, Rorschach couldn't even imagine how much food he would have to eat every day to maintain his body's most basic daily activities.
Besides his height, what he felt most obviously was that the strength of his body had improved once again.
This improvement was comprehensive.
The skin on his body was exceptionally tough, and it seemed as if a network of highly resilient membranes had been added under the skin. Even without using Armament Haki hardening for defense, ordinary swords would find it difficult to cut his skin.
Next was his muscles.
The number of muscles on his body had increased a lot.
His muscle mass had also increased, not to an exaggerated size, but it made Rorschach's body look much more solid and strong than before.
The physical strength that these muscles could exert when stimulated by lightning made even Rorschach himself feel terrified.
When he was at Marineford, Rorschach tried out the two fifty-meter class warships that he used to use as punching bags.
The result was that he could lift a warship with each hand and toss them back and forth into the air as easily as if he were juggling.
In terms of pure strength, even Garp was no match for him now.
In addition to his muscles, the resilience of his internal organs had also been strengthened.
His lung capacity was so great that he could fall asleep underwater.
His heart was incredibly strong, and the speed of blood supply was astonishing.
There was no need to mention the digestive function of his stomach and intestines, as Rorschach had long been the undisputed number one in the entire Navy.
The most exaggerated part was Rorschach's bones.
Just as Lilith had said, the density of his bones was astonishing, and their hardness was tough enough to rival famous swords.
Rorschach had asked Garp if this meant that he had now mastered the first level of the "fist bone" technique.
But Garp told him that the astonishing hardness of his bones had nothing to do with Armament Haki strengthening his bones. It was purely natural, and as his physical strength grew, his bones developed to become even harder.
As for how to know if he had mastered the first level of the fist bone technique, it was simple: he could hit something with his bare fist, and without imbuing it with Armament Haki, he should be able to unleash a strike with the effect of Haki coating.
Many famous swords that were trained to become "Black Swords" with Haki would have this magical property.
For example, the Great Grade sword Enma could absorb Haki and release powerful slashes on its own.
The fist bone technique not only increased the hardness of the bones but also had an amplification effect on the strikes of his own Armament Haki.
It was equivalent to a human Enma.
Aside from the enhancements to his physical body, Rorschach's Devil Fruit ability had also become more powerful.
The maximum intensity of the lightning power in his body was still five hundred million volts and had not broken through.
However, the efficiency of the friction-generated electricity in his cells had greatly improved, and the amount of electricity his body could store had also increased significantly.
He was much more skilled in the use of lightning power and air manipulation.
For example, the warship he was on was being controlled by Rorschach using an electric-to-magnetic method, which created a powerful magnetic force that controlled the layer of iron plates covering the surface of the warship, allowing it to speed across the sea without relying on wind power.
And the speed was faster than propelling it with air currents.
The flexibility was also higher.
And his Haki.
His Observation Haki was as large-scale and precise as ever.
His advanced Armament Haki, which he had just acquired, had received a lot of practical training during this prolonged battle, and he was now using it with more and more proficiency.
The biggest improvement among the three types of Haki, which even Rorschach hadn't expected, was his Conqueror's Haki.
Although it wasn't yet powerful enough for him to figure out Conqueror's Haki coating attacks, it was already very close to that level.
The Conqueror's Haki blast he released could stun mid-ranked naval officers from Marineford within a certain distance.
If he focused the blast, even a rear admiral or vice admiral from Marineford would be disoriented for a moment.
Z told him that the prerequisite for using Conqueror's Haki coating attacks was to train the impact of Conqueror's Haki to a point where it could cause physical damage.
And this was only the prerequisite.
Whether or not he could master it depended on his personal comprehension.
Conqueror's Haki itself was a rarity that appeared once in a million people, and Conqueror's Haki coating was a rarity within a rarity.
It could be said that out of ten Conqueror's Haki users, not even one would be able to master Conqueror's Haki coating.
After all, once someone mastered Conqueror's Haki coating, they would truly stand at the pinnacle of the sea.
"Brother Rorschach, hey, what are you thinking about? You're so lost in thought?"
As he was deep in thought, a crisp and pleasant voice like a nightingale's rang out next to Rorschach's ear.
He came to his senses and saw Hibari tilting her head and looking at him, waving a fair and tender hand in front of his face.
"Uh... I was spacing out," Rorschach said, scratching his head in embarrassment.
"Is it about the North Blue that Fleet Admiral Sengoku mentioned?" A shallow dimple appeared on Hibari's small face. She reached out and lifted her long skirt, then sat down, leaning against the mast that Rorschach was leaning on.
She handed him a cup of juice she was holding. "Here, milk juice that I just made."
"Thanks." Rorschach took the cup of white juice and subconsciously asked, "Milk juice... so what's the main ingredient in this?"
"Milk, of course," Hibari said, blinking her eyes as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"And what else?" Rorschach took a sip and smacked his lips. It was full of milk flavor and very sweet.
"Nothing else."
"Huh? Only milk? Then why is it called milk juice?" Rorschach was confused.
"Because I wanted to make a cup of juice, but we only had milk on the ship and no fruit, so I made a cup of milk juice that only has milk in it. How is it? Is it good?" Hibari asked with a hopeful look on her face.
Rorschach's lips twitched, and he nodded silently.
He thought to himself, 'As long as you're happy.'
Seeing Rorschach drink all the milk, Hibari hugged her knees, a happy smile on her face. She looked at Rorschach and said softly, "So, Brother Rorschach, you still haven't said, were you thinking about the mission that Fleet Admiral Sengoku gave us?"
Rorschach nodded. "Yeah, I was wondering what the situation is like in the North Blue right now. I hope the situation hasn't deteriorated to an irreversible point."
A few days ago, because the Levely of the year 1518 was about to be held, Sengoku temporarily put aside the arrangements for Rorschach's post and was busy preparing for the Levely.
Some of the forces from Marineford were sent to the New World's G-1 Branch, taking a large number of workers to rebuild the branch there.
It was likely that after this Levely, the Navy would take advantage of the strong momentum from defeating the Pirate Alliance to re-strategize in the New World, rebuild their naval bases, and start a large-scale conscription worldwide to supplement the troop losses from the war.
Rorschach would probably be sent to the New World to be stationed at a naval branch then.
With his current strength, Sengoku and the others could basically feel at ease.
A portion of the officers and non-commissioned officers who remained at Marineford were assigned to various places around the world to escort the kings of the major allied nations to the Holy Land of Mariejois for the Levely.
Law and Enel were also sent out.
Their current strength and ranks were not low, and they could completely lead several warships on their own.
And Rorschach had run off with Hibari, taking a break to stroll around the Grand Line and also to go to Alabasta to escort Cobra and Vivi to the Holy Land of Mariejois to attend the Levely.
Who knew, just as they were passing by Water 7 and hadn't even had a chance to visit the shipyards of the Galley-La Company, they received a mission from Sengoku, telling him to go to the North Blue first.
The reason was that the Germa Kingdom was causing trouble in the North Blue.
Since a year ago, when the Prince Kingdom lost its heir to the throne, and the Navy had acquired it at the cost of capturing ten thousand pirates, Germa Kingdom was successfully auctioned to Judge's Germa army.
After decades of having no fixed territory and drifting on the sea, the Germa Kingdom had finally settled down in the Prince Kingdom.
To achieve the great revival of the Germa Kingdom and return Germa 66 to its peak status as the North Blue's overlord from a few hundred years ago, Judge had been diligently working on his research over the years, mass-producing clone soldiers, and bringing his children, who were modified with lineage factors, to stir up trouble in the North Blue. They used the powerful military might of the Germa army to forcibly coerce neighboring countries into conceding various interests.
After occupying a large number of other countries' maritime trade routes, Judge's ambition expanded. Instead of stopping, he became even more aggressive and reckless in his actions.
Recently, the Navy received intelligence from the 177th Branch that the Germa Kingdom was preparing to launch a full-scale invasion of the surrounding countries, using the powerful military might of the "Evil Army" to sweep across several small countries in a short period of time.
The head of the 177th Branch, Jennifer, wanted to stop the war from starting but was powerless to do so.
The military strength of the Germa Kingdom was absolutely second to none in the North Blue.
If Judge was determined to start a war, small countries like the Rubneru Kingdom and Lawrence Kingdom would be unable to resist.
In this case, countless innocent people would be affected.
Since this was happening in his hometown of the North Blue and even the 177th Branch was involved, Rorschach naturally wouldn't ignore it.
Thinking of Germa, Rorschach suddenly remembered that Hibari had a scientific battle suit transformer from Vegapunk.
Speaking of which, it seemed like he had never seen Hibari use that transformer.
Thinking of this, Rorschach couldn't help but turn his head to look at Hibari and whispered, "Hibari, where's that scientific battle suit transformer I gave you last time? Have you tried it? I haven't seen you in your transformed state yet. Let me see what the scientific battle suit that Vegapunk modified looks like compared to the one that Judge made."
"Oh, oh." Hearing this, Hibari's face suddenly turned red for some reason. She awkwardly took off a bracer-like armband from her left wrist and, under Rorschach's expectant gaze, placed it on her lower abdomen.
Then, a bright light appeared on her body, and a strong energy fluctuation erupted.
When the bright light dissipated, a female warrior appeared in front of Rorschach, wrapped in a red, tight-fitting, hollowed-out leather armor that exposed her well-developed and fiery body. Large areas of her milk-like, tender, and fair skin were bare, with only a little more leather armor covering the crucial areas.
Rorschach silently wiped the nosebleed that was surging up, looking at the blushing Hibari with a serious expression. He said in a deep voice, "Hibari, I think this scientific battle suit isn't suitable for you. You are a Logia user, and wearing this kind of battle suit will only hinder your fighting performance."
Hibari peeled at her fingers and bit her lip as she mumbled in a low voice, "No, it won't. I can create a cloud to cover myself after I transform..."
"No! It's too dangerous."
Rorschach said seriously.
It was indeed very dangerous.
Rorschach was afraid he wouldn't be able to control himself and would be pierced through the chest by a "Magma Dog."
"But... it seems like you like it, Brother Rorschach..."
"Nonsense... nonsense!"
End of Chapter)
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