Chapter 138 A match made in heaven, an emergency call from the government
Late at night, in Brett's spacious guest room within Prodence's royal palace, moonlight filtered through ornate windows.
Brett sat cross-legged on the large bed and waved his fist tentatively, feeling the energy coursing through his modified physiology.
King Elizabello II had completely taught him the training method of the Fist of the King without any reservation, sharing centuries of family martial tradition.
"So what's the use of this trick?"
Tesoro, who had wanted to see what Brett would accomplish, sat on an elaborately carved chair on the side of the room and said lazily, his golden accessories catching the lamplight. "Even if it's really as powerful as the legend says, it's stupid to have to accumulate power for an hour before punching, isn't it?"
What kind of enemy would be foolish enough to watch you keep charging up for an hour without interrupting?
"But if you can prepare it in advance, it will still be of some use."
Tesoro judged with his typical business-minded practicality.
Brett didn't even bother to answer, there was just a knowing smile on his lips.
'Now I finally understand what kind of move King's Fist really is,' he thought with growing excitement.
An hour-long warm-up of non-stop fist pumping was essentially conserving strength through a unique physiological process.
Because the bodies of the Elizabello family were somewhat special, they could continuously accumulate power in their bodies and then explode it in an instant like a compressed spring.
But calling it storage was actually a bit incorrect from a technical standpoint.
Because this kind of energy conservation did not last long, the accumulated power must be released immediately after the warm-up period was completed, or it would dissipate naturally.
A more vivid way of describing it was pressing a spring mechanism. A one-hour warm-up was equivalent to pressing the spring to its maximum compression, and then allowing the spring to rebound and explode with geometric force multiplication.
The Fist of the King was actually a technique that accumulated energy and then released it in exponentially increased multiples in one devastating breath.
This was of course meaningless to ordinary people, because normal human physiology cannot store power like a biological spring mechanism. Only the special constitution of the Elizabello family bloodline could achieve this remarkable feat.
But Brett's hybrid nature allowed him the same capability.
The energy storage ability inherited from the giant lantern fish allowed Brett to also accumulate and store energy within his modified body structure.
Although the energy stored by Brett was fundamentally different from the power accumulated through the traditional Fist of the King method, Brett's stored energy could be converted into strength or physical stamina, so converting it into the specific energy required by the King's technique was entirely feasible.
"So Brett, what the hell are you laughing at like that?"
Tesoro asked with growing puzzlement at his companion's mysterious expression.
Brett smiled wider, then gently pushed his fist toward Tesoro in a seemingly casual motion.
His movements appeared very light and controlled, but...
Buzz!
The air itself began rioting violently, and the sudden wind pressure blew Tesoro away like a ragdoll, sending him crashing heavily into the wall on the far side of the room.
The furniture and decorative items were scattered in complete disarray from the unexpected shockwave.
Tesoro struggled up from the floor in complete confusion, his golden ornaments askew. "What is this? Advanced Armament Haki?"
His mind raced through possibilities as he dusted himself off. "Brett, have you actually learned advanced Armament Haki techniques?"
"Interesting, right?"
Brett chuckled with satisfaction.
'Wasn't this exactly what I hoped to achieve?' he thought triumphantly.
The real difficulty with mastering this legendary move was the power storage phase, rather than the final explosive release.
Brett had effectively skipped the most challenging part directly, and the remaining energy transformation and controlled release naturally weren't nearly as difficult to master.
As he had imagined before approaching Elizabello II, this diplomatic mission had been incredibly profitable from a combat perspective.
Brett could accomplish energy conversion and release through his existing abilities.
But the Fist of the King amplified that power exponentially on the basis of the transformation, creating an astonishing force multiplication effect.
If he used all his stored energy reserves in one devastating attack, Brett could hardly imagine how much destructive power he could unleash in a single punch.
But naturally, expending all that energy in one breath would leave him completely drained, requiring time to recharge his biological batteries.
Still, it was vastly superior to Elizabello II's situation, the king had to perform an hour-long warm-up ritual before every single use. Brett's energy was pre-loaded and ready for instant deployment.
It represented a trump card technique that could only be used once per full charge cycle.
"No way! Could it actually be the Fist of the King itself?"
It wasn't until he had fully recovered and processed what happened that Tesoro reacted with dawning realization.
Didn't that guy Elizabello specifically say that only people in his family bloodline could learn the technique?
Tesoro suddenly felt that he had discovered something significant about his companion. 'This guy Brett is a half-fishman with unique hybrid physiology!'
The implications were staggering, what other "family-specific" techniques might Brett be capable of learning?
On the following day, King Elizabello II and the two displaced kings were ready to take decisive action. They would gather their remaining loyal troops to march on the five defeated countries for immediate military occupation.
Brett generously provided them with a substantial batch of advanced weapons from Fish-Man Island's arsenals.
That military support should be completely adequate for their needs.
After all, almost all the professional soldiers in those enemy countries had now become prisoners of war.
Brett and Tesoro were not prepared to remain in Prodence any longer.
Brett's diplomatic objectives had been fully achieved and he wanted to return to Fish-Man Island to continue practicing advanced Armament Haki techniques, while Tesoro's motivations were simple, only half of his promotional film scenes had been completed.
"What a missed opportunity! If we had destroyed their entire fleet with a direct salvo, it would definitely have made for great cinematic footage!"
On the voyage back toward Fish-Man Island, Tesoro sighed with the regret of a perfectionist filmmaker.
Brett couldn't be bothered to deal with this guy who remained obsessed with creating dramatic movie scenes.
But unbeknownst to Brett, almost at the exact same time, in the holy land of MaryGeoise.
"Is the situation finally resolved?"
The Five Elders were convening another high-level meeting. Saint Mars smiled with satisfaction and said, "That boy Brett handled things quite well."
There were certain matters that the World Government found either inconvenient or simply too troublesome to address directly, such as this particular regional conflict.
But they had been pleased to observe the situation stabilizing so efficiently.
After all, strictly speaking, this war did have some potential impact on government interests. If these countries proved unable to pay their Heavenly Gold tribute next year, wouldn't the government suffer a significant financial loss?
The government had even implemented some preparatory measures to prevent the situation from spiraling completely out of their control.
But that was the extent of their involvement, they had no real intention of directly intervening in the warfare.
"What concerns me more is whether the weapons technology on Fish-Man Island has developed to this impressive extent."
Saint Ju Peter observed with analytical interest. "Their ships can move freely through underwater environments, and their firepower capabilities far exceed standard warships."
"Indeed, even though we have known for some time that they possessed such a fleet, this combat performance is still rather shocking." Saint Valcurie also expressed genuine amazement.
"That raises questions, doesn't it?"
Saint Nusjuro asked with persistent suspicion, "Where exactly did Fish-Man Island acquire such advanced technology?"
"You want to bring up Tom's involvement again, don't you?"
Saint Ju Peter said with weary exasperation, "Didn't we already have Cipher Pol agents infiltrate Fish-Man Island multiple times to investigate? There was absolutely no trace of Tom anywhere in their weapons manufacturing facilities."
"Fish-Man Island has become extremely wealthy recently, and it wouldn't be impossible for them to quietly obtain technology from foreign scientists and engineers."
"I still find the whole situation highly suspicious."
Saint Nusjuro couldn't provide concrete evidence to refute this reasoning, but still maintained his cautious opinion.
"Think whatever you wish."
Saint Mars said with casual dismissal, "The real focus now should be on that troublemaker Doflamingo, he's beginning to act up again with his schemes."
"He's desperately hoping to have the country he leads also become a member nation of the World Government." Saint Saturn said coldly, "Since he can't reclaim Dressrosa directly, he's attempting to achieve his goals through alternative political maneuvering."
"But if we can make him settle down and behave, it doesn't particularly matter."
Tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk.
There came rapid, urgent knocking on the chamber door.
"Your Excellency Five Elders, emergency communication from Navy Headquarters!!"
On Brett's side, the Fish-Man Island fleet had submerged beneath the waves and was preparing to return home through the ocean depths.
But at that critical moment, his personal transponder snail suddenly began ringing with urgent intensity.
After the call connected, a somewhat anxious voice emerged from the other end.
"Brett! You're still near the Prodence sea area right now, correct?"
Brett was genuinely surprised by the caller's identity. "Five Elders?"
"Listen carefully, you need to immediately—"