"He might genuinely not fear it. According to the intel I gathered, he's a Castle Man who ate the Paramecia-type Stronghold Fruit, granting him incredibly strong defensive capabilities.
Moreover, he can store members of his Bege Family inside his body's castle, allowing them to live within him."
"When combat is needed, he can command his internal family members to fire guns and cannons outward or release all personnel to overwhelm opponents with sheer numbers.
In the West Blue, few can handle him."
After Badak left, Robin hadn't been idle either and quickly obtained intel on Capone Bege.
"Another tough one. Counting me and Bonis, the West Blue now has three hardcore Devil Fruit ability users."
Badak stroked his chin before adding, "It's time for the Night Wolf Gang to leave its past behind and reinvent itself.
There's no future in being a gang."
"I thought you'd want to expand and strengthen until you swept through the five great mafia families of the West Blue, unifying the entire underworld here."
Robin teased Badak with a grin.
Badak first nodded, then shook his head. "I did consider that—building up power in the West Blue to have money, manpower, and intel at my disposal.
But alas, there's already a precedent. If you can't defeat the World Government, any empire across the four seas is doomed to collapse."
"Oh? Who set such an example?"
Despite her extensive reading, Robin couldn't immediately recall anyone with such capability.
"You must have read the comic Warrior of the Sea: Sora.
The evil army Germa 66 in it is actually the Germa Kingdom from the North Blue."
Seeing Robin deep in thought, Badak continued, "They're called Germa 66 because they once ruled the entire North Blue for 66 days.
After that, they collapsed due to interference from the World Government.
To this day, the Germa Kingdom remains a floating nation without fixed land—the World Government won't permit them to own territory."
"So it's them. Then, things like Poison Powder, Sparking Red, and Electric Shock Blue—are those real too?"
Robin had caught onto the interesting details.
"And Invisible Black and Winch Green—yes, they're all real.
Hey, isn't your focus a bit off? The key point is ruling the North Blue for 66 days before being sanctioned, right?"
Badak hadn't expected Robin to be fascinated by this.
It made sense for North Blue natives like Trafalgar Law, X Drake, and Basil Hawkins to care about Germa 66, but were there really so many fans in the West Blue too?Robin felt a bit embarrassed and quickly changed the subject.
"Alright, I'll handle the Night Wolf Gang matter. We can establish a trading company called the Dandelion Trading Company.
Those who are willing can join the company—whether in security or other roles—which will absorb many members.
As for those unwilling, we can give them some money to find their own paths."
"Good, that settles it for now.
We won't set sail in the short term. I need to teach Bonis how to master Iron Cutting and Awakened Haki.
The Six Styles can also be learned.
You should all join in. In the Four Seas and the first half of the Grand Line, lacking Haki isn't a big deal, but once we reach the New World, not knowing Haki will put us at a severe disadvantage.
At the very least, everyone should master one form of it."
"Understood.
I'll go handle things now."
Time flowed like water, and half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
During these six months, Badak and the others hadn't completely avoided sailing, but their voyages were limited to the waters around the Kingdom of Ilusia.
The farthest they ventured was a two-week trip before returning.
The Night Wolf Gang had disbanded, with most of its members joining the Dandelion Trading Company—including their leader, Andrew.
Andrew was sharp enough to realize his strength wasn't sufficient to lead a gang.
His previous rise to power had relied entirely on Badak, so he decided to cling tightly to Badak's coattails moving forward.
A small number of those unwilling to settle for mediocrity left to join other groups, such as the rival gangs Fang and Flying Daggers.
The Capone Family's goal wasn't territorial expansion, so their external support was limited. The conflict between Fang and Flying Daggers remained deadlocked to this day.
The Capone Family and the other four mafia families had been making waves, and Badak frequently heard reports of shootouts and assassinations happening here and there.
After six months of Badak's guidance, Daz Bones had made significant progress.
For instance, he had integrated the Shave technique from the Six Styles into his Dust-sized Swift Slash Blades, increasing his speed several times over.
He had already been capable of long-range slashes, but after learning Tempest Kick, the power of his strikes rose to new heights.
Man Cutting and Iron Body complemented each other perfectly—his defensive capabilities now nearly matched Badak's Indestructible Body, at least when Badak wasn't using Armament Haki or Iron Body.
Though Daz Bones didn't consider himself a swordsman, his swordsmanship had reached the threshold of Iron Cutting. Unfortunately, despite Badak transforming into his Great Ape Form and letting him slash countless times, he still hadn't broken through that barrier.
The rest of the crew had also improved, though not as noticeably—mainly due to their young age.
Aside from Leo, who had mastered Moon Walk and made significant strides, the others had only grown more proficient with their Devil Fruit abilities and seen substantial physical enhancements.
Regrettably, none of them had awakened Haki.
"I've finally mastered Life Return. Delving deeper into the Six Styles was the right call. With better control over my body, my combat effectiveness will rise even further."
"The next step in Armament Haki is to make it flow, but I feel like I'm missing something.
The Nine Snake Haki Training Method is too vague—Hancock probably didn't expect me to progress this quickly.
I'll have to figure it out myself.
Oh, and there's the Eight Impact Fist—that must incorporate techniques for flowing Armament Haki.
"Taking Observation Haki to the next level involves things like foreseeing the future, but I've got no clue how to do that.
The 'Training Methods' didn't mention it either—it only talked about improving range and precision. It's not like I can just go find Katakuri now, right?"
"After reaching the swordsmaster level, my swordsmanship improved rapidly, but lately it's slowed down again.
Swordsmanship truly requires real combat—sparring with Bonis just doesn't cut it anymore."
"Wrapping Armament Haki around the Somersault Cloud really does let me use it like the Wish-Fulfilling Staff.
This way, even if my body grows larger, I won't be left without a weapon. I can even use it like Shinsō, just like Gin Ichimaru—utterly unpredictable."
Badak took stock of his abilities, scratching his head in frustration. It felt like West Blue was becoming too small for him. Aside from Gekko Moria and the elite forces of Hana no Kuni, there were hardly any worthy opponents left on the surface.
He called out to Daz Bones, "Hey, Bonis! Looks like you can't break through Iron Cutting step by step. How about we try something more exciting?"
"What kind of excitement?"
Daz Bones was also struggling with his breakthrough. That feeling of being so close yet unable to cross the threshold was tormenting him every second.
Badak didn't beat around the bush.
"Capone Bege—he's another incredibly durable Devil Fruit user. If you can cut through his body, breaking through Iron Cutting will come naturally."
Daz Bones agreed immediately. "Capone Bege? Alright, he's the one."
"Badak, didn't you say killing Capone Bege wouldn't benefit us? Why go after him now?" Robin asked, puzzled.
"This time, I'm not planning to kill him.
I just want him to help us find someone. But someone like him would never follow orders willingly.
So, we'll beat him up first—once he's had enough, he'll cooperate. Besides, Bonis here needs a test subject for his blade anyway," Badak said casually, as if Capone Bege were just some street thug to be disciplined.
"Who are you looking for? Is it that important? Can't we find them ourselves?" Robin grew even more curious upon hearing it was just about locating someone.
"Gekko Moria—the fallen conqueror of the New World, utterly defeated by Kaido of the Beasts, losing all his crew. I want to test my strength, and there's no better opponent than him."
"So it's him."