~ As Usual. Bonus Chapter Every 300 Powerstones!
~ 19 Advanced Chapters Available on my Patreon
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After the "special tutoring" session with the girls had concluded, Rowen shifted his focus back to the improvement of his own strength.
The recent battle, the grand siege that had annihilated three Marine Admirals and two of the Four Emperors, had been nothing more than an appetizer.
The true final enemy was still waiting. Imu.
And—
"Blackbeard... took advantage of the chaos to seize Hachinosu and become an Emperor?" Rowen murmured, looking at the wanted poster in his hand, a crimson-black light flashing in his eyes.
There's definitely something wrong with this guy's combat strength...
Even without the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, he still defeated Ochoku, a former member of the Rocks Pirates and a legendary pirate in his own right, and seized Hachinosu Island.
In the original story, Blackbeard used Koby to defeat Ochoku.
This man's power level had always been a mystery; in battle, his strength, even his personality, would constantly shift.
And...
"The Dark-Dark Fruit..." Rowen's eyes flashed with an astonishing crimson-black light.
After obtaining the power of the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Nika, Rowen's perception of the Dark-Dark Fruit had also changed.
These two Devil Fruits—seemed to be natural opposites.
The Nika Fruit granted its user the BUG-like ability of Imagination. Whatever the user could imagine, could become reality. It could even create things from nothing, grab lightning to attack—it was also called the most ridiculous ability.
And the essence of a Devil Fruit was the manifestation of the desires of people from the past.
Nika's Imagination could be said to be the ultimate manifestation of a Devil Fruit's 'Desire'.
'What is thought, becomes reality.'
And the Dark-Dark Fruit—was an ability that could nullify all other Devil Fruit abilities.
Nullifying all the 'Desires' of the Devil Fruits it touched.
These two abilities were complete opposites, natural nemeses.
Compared to the Demonic abilities Imu would later display, the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit was more like the nemesis of the Nika Fruit.
Even the core "Desires" they embodied were in direct opposition: the Dark-Dark Fruit's all-consuming gravity, and the Nika fruit's all-encompassing desire for liberation...
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"But, in the end, even Devil Fruits have their limits," Rowen mused, an astonishing crimson-black light flashing in his eyes.
"ONLY HAKI... CAN TRANSCEND ALL."
Rowen incinerated Blackbeard's wanted poster.
No matter how powerful or bizarre a Devil Fruit was, its power reached a peak after awakening. That was an unbreakable rule.
But Haki, especially the pure manifestation of willpower that was Conqueror's Haki, had no such limit.
The potential of the human spirit was infinite. The potential of Haki was therefore infinite.
Not to mention, Rowen's current Haki was already far, far stronger than anyone else's in this era.
At the Summit War, it had already been enhanced beyond the Emperor limit, reaching a new level. And after this war against Big Mom and Kaido, it had strengthened by another 30%—
Without relying on any Devil Fruit abilities, with Haki alone—there was no Devil Fruit ability in the One Piece world that could resist Rowen.
Unless—it was superimposed with Haki on the same level as Rowen's, only then could it contend with him.
For example, Imu & Joy Boy.
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"I just don't know... between Joy Boy's and Imu's Haki, and my own now—who is truly the Strongest?" Rowen mused with interest.
But the intel on Imu and Joy Boy was too scarce; even with the enhanced intellect of the Human-Human Fruit, an accurate comparison was impossible.
But since it was the final battle, Rowen had to be fully prepared.
His own combat strength would not stop improving.
After obtaining the special physiques of Kaido and Big Mom—Rowen's own Superhuman Physique and Demonic Physique potentials had also been completely upgraded.
——
New Physique Trait: Ultimate Physique (Apex Gold): In this world, no one's physical potential is greater than yours!
——
A new physique Trait.
Very simple and direct. The Ultimate Physique of the One Piece world.
A new physique Trait born from the fusion of Luffy's Superhuman Physique, Zoro's Demonic Physique, Kaido's special constitution, and Big Mom's natural monster physique.
The reason it was still Apex Gold was simply because that was the highest tier.
Whether just entering the Admiral-level threshold, or reaching Rowen's level, both were Apex Gold.
But their power was on completely different levels.
The Admiral-level threshold was equivalent to '1' in the Apex Gold tier. A peak Emperor like Kaido was around '7'. Though much stronger than the Admiral-level threshold, there was no qualitative difference.
But Rowen's current combat strength had long since surpassed the '10' level of Apex Gold.
Surpassing '10' was a new level, representing a complete Transcendence of the Emperor, Roger level, reaching a combat strength on par with Imu and Joy Boy.
Rowen decided to name this new tier: LEGENDARY-CLASS.
Rowen's current Haki and Physique were both at this level, Legendary-Class.
And after enhancing his physique to the Legendary-Class, absorbing ordinary physique Traits no longer provided any improvement.
Even an Admiral-level physique, like when Rowen plundered all of Ryokugyu's physical energy, couldn't increase his physique's upper limit; it only recovered a large amount of stamina.
There was already a qualitative difference between Rowen's physical energy and that of a normal Admiral like Ryokugyu.
But having obtained the Ultimate Potential in physique, as long as he continued to train and absorb vast amounts of nutrients, he could continue to improve.
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Rowen had also found a new way to train his Haki.
The deep sea contained a much richer concentration of "Sea Energy."
With Rowen's current physique, he could withstand immense water pressure, diving to the extreme depths of the ocean. And with his various Fish-Man Traits, he could breathe freely in the depths. By using the immense Sea Energy, he could use his "Born for the Sea" Trait to continue to elevate his Haki.
Only after his combat-related Traits had reached the Apex Gold level did his Potential-type Traits truly begin to shine.
It was through the "Faction Fortune" Trait that he had achieved his Legendary-Class power in the first place.
And even now, at the Legendary-Class level, these Super-Potential Traits could still push him even higher.
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Continuing to improve his own strength was important, but so was improving the strength of his subordinates.
Even against a Legendary-Class opponent, a coordinated group of Admiral-level fighters could still play a significant role.
Before the final battle, every additional Admiral-level combatant on his side was a crucial asset.
Among Rowen's women, the ones who could continue to improve rapidly were, of course, Hancock and Vivi first and foremost.
As long as they could fully master Haōshoku Coating, they would be absolute top-tier combatants. Especially Hancock; the Love-Love Fruit's ability in top-tier combat was even stronger than the Sand-Sand Fruit's.
Once she fully mastered Haōshoku Coating, Hancock's combat strength would be no less than the Low-combat-IQ Big Mom's, perhaps even stronger—
And Vivi's Sand-Sand Fruit, though not as strong in top-tier combat, was still a Devil Fruit—a power that could amplify combat strength.
Once she fully mastered Haōshoku Coating, combined with the power of the Sand-Sand Fruit, she would also be an Emperor-level combatant.
And among Rowen's subordinates, there were many who could rapidly improve.
Zoro, Sanji, and Ace—as long as these three fully mastered Haōshoku Coating, they were guaranteed Emperor-level combatants.
After his Haki became stronger, though Rowen's spiritual power transmission to the guys wasn't as direct as with the girls, its efficiency had greatly improved.
Having them master Haōshoku Coating as soon as possible would bring another huge boost to Rowen's forces.
And...
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"After my Haki improved again, I've discovered some new, hidden powers within Nika..."
Rowen murmured, feeling the power of the Mythical Zoan, Nika Fruit within him, his eyes flashing with an astonishing crimson-black light.
Conqueror's Haki was the manifestation of pure spiritual power.
The stronger the Conqueror's Haki, the stronger the spiritual power, the more one could discover powers others couldn't.
After his Haki improved further, Rowen realized that the power released by Nika's Awakening, just as he had previously thought, was not its entirety.
This Devil Fruit still had power that had not been completely released.
"COULD IT BE... A SECOND AWAKENING REALLY EXISTS? THE POWER OF THE DRUMS OF LIBERATION?"
Rowen felt his heartbeat.
After Awakening Nika, Rowen's heartbeat was also very special.
But like Luffy, the so-called 'Drums of Liberation' power hadn't appeared.
"Interesting. In that case, I will continue to collect the desire for liberation. I'm curious to see if it can be pushed even higher."
Rowen smiled.
There was a massive source of Desire for Liberation waiting for him. The Desire for Liberation from Wano Country would be even greater than Dressrosa's.
Wano Country and Whole Cake Island also had two Road Poneglyphs.
To become the King who stands above all, Rowen wouldn't forget his comrades' dreams.
Luffy wanted to become Pirate King.
Nami wanted to draw a complete world map.
And Sanji wanted to find the All Blue.
In Rowen's view, all of these required the four Road Poneglyphs.
And—
"The Soul-Soul Fruit is in hand. IT'S TIME TO BUILD THE SOUL LEGION," Rowen's eyes flashed with an underworld light.
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