Chapter 64 – Time Is About to Accelerate!
"That really won't do. I'm afraid I can't spare myself. After all, Cloud Island also needs a strong person to sit in command personally."
As expected, Ross shook his head without hesitation, flatly refusing Sengoku's invitation.
Just as I thought.
Sengoku nodded in understanding. Even Marine Headquarters always had to keep at least one admiral-level combatant on standby, in case someone like Golden Lion launched a sudden raid.
After that, the two of them simply chatted idly.
Time slipped by quietly, like rolling waves, rising and falling, always pushing inexorably forward.
The latter half of the Sea Circle Calendar year 1486 gradually settled into relative calm.
Until the end of 1487, apart from the North Blue and the New World, the other seas seemed to fall completely silent, with everyone enjoying a rare period of peace.
The only notable commotion came from the Navy: Admiral Zephyr's child was born, carrying the hopes of the Navy's future generations. From the moment of birth, great expectations were pinned on him.
In the New World, the legendary great pirates each busied themselves with their own pursuits: Whitebeard was occupied with gathering new "sons," while Big Mom focused on building her Totto Land.
Golden Lion Shiki began to disappear from sight altogether. One by one, islands across the Four Blues started vanishing under mysterious circumstances. Everything looked as if it were following a deliberate scheme.
In Sea Circle Calendar 1488, the first and middle parts of the year remained as tranquil as before, with only the final months marked by a momentous upheaval.
The war in the North Blue had reached its fever pitch. Almost the entire sea was shrouded in the smoke of battle.
Yet this climax lasted only two weeks before declining sharply.
In the end, the kingdoms' coalition emerged victorious. Germa 66, the Vinsmoke family's militant nation, was the first to buckle and defect to the kingdoms' side.
The underworld completely lost any space to survive. Only scattered thugs and a few gangsters who turned pirate managed to scrape by.
This war utterly depleted the reserves of the North Blue's kingdoms. Fortunately, the spoils they seized afterward were enough to cover years of Heavenly Tribute payments. Otherwise, a certain little demon would have had to start borrowing on a large scale.
In that same year, the Germa Kingdom, recommended by over a dozen North Blue affiliated nations, was accepted as an official affiliate itself. But because their strength was greatly diminished, they no longer had the qualifications to participate in joint councils.
Rumor had it that Vinsmoke Judge, the eldest son of the Vinsmoke family, ran away from home and joined a small, four-person group to wander the seas.
The news spread quickly, drawing the attention of many factions to this five-person team—MADS, a gathering of five young scientific geniuses.
Among them, one figure was particularly noteworthy: Miss Bakkin, once an unremarkable squad captain of the Rocks Pirates, who had once been quite close to the now-legendary Whitebeard.
Sea Circle Calendar 1489.
The former legendary great pirates entered their peak era in earnest. The New World fell into an uncanny quiet all at once. Pirate activity dwindled, as if all were waiting for the birth of a new king.
That same year, shocking news spread through Mary Geoise, igniting fury among certain people.
The former Celestial Dragon, Donquixote Homing Saint, took his wife and two sons and descended from Pangaea Castle, voluntarily renouncing his Celestial Dragon status to live among ordinary people.
Centuries of the world's simmering resentment instantly descended on that naïve family. A sudden fire consumed their treasures and their home, casting the once-supreme Celestial Dragons into the squalor of the "Lawless Land Terminal."
Were it not for concerns that killing or torturing former Celestial Dragons could bring unpredictable consequences, the world would likely have gained four more aristocrats who knew true suffering.
Still, simply watching these formerly lofty beings forced to scavenge for scraps was enough to vent a great deal of pent-up hatred.
…
Meanwhile, from the vast vantage high above the world, the focus gradually drew nearer—a monster named Bullet was growing ever stronger.
By now, twelve-year-old Bullet had developed to the point he had to be hidden away. Ross had no intention of letting any accidents occur.
Since Bullet proved he could single-handedly defeat a medium-sized Sea King, Ross began taking him to train on the many primordial islands scattered across the Calm Belt.
If primordial islands were exceedingly rare in the Four Blues or even the Grand Line, then in the Calm Belt, almost every island was likely to be one.
Here, the ancient overlords of bygone eras could be seen everywhere, and under the amplification of the pirate world, each one had grown terrifyingly powerful.
The strongest among them were even able to rival large Sea Kings, and only slightly weaker than the colossal ones.
Every month, Bullet would spend two weeks here engaged in live combat and survival training. The other two weeks he spent back on Cloud Island, calming his mind.
Prolonged, relentless fighting stoked the beast within him. The eerie aura—his demonic will—would instinctively seize control, and if he wasn't careful, he would slip into that state and sink ever deeper.
This struggle with the demonic will had reached its most intense phase. In no more than three years, it would peak—marking the critical moment when Bullet would either break free or be consumed forever.
At present, whenever Bullet was on Cloud Island, he appeared unusually composed and gentle. Though he stood three meters tall with a powerfully built frame, he didn't exude menace or savagery; rather, he emanated a calm, almost soothing presence.
Whenever he had free time, he tended flowers and played with plants. When he didn't, he was studying under the little adult-like Mona, who personally took on the role of "teacher," helping Bullet learn to read and write and occasionally telling stories to lighten his mood.
Ross could only watch their bond in silence, feeling a dull ache in his heart. All he could do was quietly cultivate a new protégé to ease his own melancholy.
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"Finally! Observation Haki—I've mastered it!"
At the end of Sea Circle Calendar 1489, inside a specially built training chamber, Alisan shouted with elation.
He had inherited his father's extraordinary talent for Observation Haki, and by age fourteen, under rigorous training, he'd finally grasped its fundamentals.
Boom!!
Bursting out of the training room, he could no longer hold back—he had to share this news with his father!
Ever since he and Jinbei had parted ways years ago, the vast gulf between the sea and the seabed made any further contact impossible. Yet Alisan's yearning to see Jinbei again had only grown stronger with time.
After deciding he would grow stronger, he spent every day before his eleventh birthday pushing his body to the limit, until he could endure the crushing pressure of the "Impact Cloud" for two full minutes.
Afterward came nearly three years of dedicated Observation Haki training. Armament Haki was far more demanding physically—he knew he wouldn't be ready to attempt it before the age of twenty.
Observation Haki, by contrast, was much simpler to begin learning.
Inside a room filled with pale blue clouds, chaos reigned as hailstones whipped about, their force enough to shatter a human skull.
But for Alisan, it was merely pain—pain he had come to know well.
Each day, he would enter this chamber specially designed by his father, and over and over again, he would dodge the hail as long as he could before finally losing consciousness.
The swirling fog blurred his vision, forcing him to rely only on his most primal instincts to sense the chaotic trajectories—and then, in a calm, lucid state, evade each strike one by one.
And today—he had succeeded.
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