"He might truly not be afraid," Robin noted, tracing a line on the map. "According to the intelligence I've gathered, Capone Bege ate the Castle-Castle Fruit. He's a literal 'Castle Human' possessing absurdly powerful defensive capabilities. Furthermore, he can shrink and store his entire Mafia family inside his own body."
"When combat breaks out, he can command his men to fire cannons and rifles from the 'windows' of his body, or he can instantly deploy his entire army to overwhelm his enemies with sheer numbers. In the West Blue, very few people have any means of dealing with him."
While Bardock had been away recruiting Daz Bonez, Robin hadn't been idle. She had thoroughly investigated the rising Mafia don.
"Another tanky Devil Fruit user," Bardock chuckled, rubbing his chin. "Counting Bonez and me, the West Blue already has three hard-as-nails Devil Fruit users running around. Anyway, it's time for the Night Wolf Gang to leave their past behind and rebrand. There's no future in just being a street gang."
"Oh? And here I thought you wanted to go big, crush the Five Great Mafia Families, and conquer the entire West Blue underworld for yourself," Robin teased with a playful smile.
Bardock nodded, then shook his head. "I actually did consider that. Building a massive syndicate in the West Blue would mean limitless money, infinite manpower, and an airtight intelligence network. Unfortunately, history has already shown us what happens to those who try. If you can't defeat the World Government, building an empire in the four Blues is nothing but a fleeting illusion."
"Oh? Who set that example?" Robin asked. Despite being exceptionally well-read, she couldn't immediately recall anyone who fit that description.
"You've probably read the comic strip Sora, Warrior of the Sea, right? The evil syndicate in that story, Germa 66, is actually based on a real kingdom from the North Blue—the Germa Kingdom," Bardock explained.
Seeing Robin's eyes widen slightly, he continued. "The reason they're called 'Germa 66' is because they once conquered and ruled the entire North Blue for exactly 66 days. After 66 days, the World Government intervened, and their empire completely collapsed. To this day, the Germa Kingdom exists only as a fleet of massive seafaring ships with no fixed territory. The World Government will never allow them to conquer terrestrial land again."
"So they were real..." Robin gasped softly, a spark of genuine curiosity lighting up her eyes. "Then... does that mean 'Poison Pink', 'Sparking Red', and 'Electric Blue' are real too?!"
"Yeah, and 'Stealth Black' and 'Winch Green'," Bardock deadpanned. "Hey, isn't your focus a little misplaced here? The takeaway was supposed to be the 'ruled for 66 days before getting obliterated by the Government' part!"
Bardock hadn't expected Robin to be a fan of the comic series. It made sense for North Blue natives like Trafalgar Law, X Drake, and Basil Hawkins to obsess over Germa 66, but he didn't realize the comic had such a massive following in the West Blue, too.
Robin coughed slightly, a faint blush dusting her cheeks as she quickly changed the subject. "Anyway! I'll take care of the Night Wolf Gang. I'll restructure them into a legitimate trading company—let's call it the Dandelion Trading Company. Anyone willing to go straight will be absorbed as security or logistics staff. For those who refuse, we'll give them a severance package and tell them to find their own path."
"Sounds good. Let's stick to that," Bardock nodded. "We won't be setting sail for the Grand Line anytime soon. I need to focus on teaching Bonez how to cut steel and awaken his Haki. I want all of you to learn the Rokushiki techniques, too. In the four Blues and the first half of the Grand Line, not knowing Haki isn't a death sentence. But once we enter the New World, fighting without Haki is basically suicide. I need every single one of you to master at least one type before we cross the Red Line."
"Understood. I'll go handle the gang restructuring now."
Time flowed like water. Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
During these six months, Bardock and his crew hadn't remained completely landlocked. They frequently took the White Dragon out for short voyages around the Ilusia Kingdom's waters, though the longest trip only lasted two weeks before they returned.
The Night Wolf Gang had been officially dissolved. The vast majority of its members had successfully transitioned into employees of the Dandelion Trading Company, including their former boss, Andrew. Andrew was a smart man; he knew his personal strength was completely inadequate for a real mob boss. Since his rise to power was entirely dependent on Bardock anyway, he happily decided to cling to Bardock's coattails for the rest of his life.
A small fraction of the old gang, unwilling to live a mundane, legitimate life, had left to join other syndicates—such as the Fang Gang and the Flying Dagger Society, who were still locked in a brutal, bloody stalemate. Since the Capone Family's true objective wasn't acquiring territory, they had provided very little external support to their proxy gangs, leaving the Fang Gang stuck in the mud.
Meanwhile, Capone Bege's war against the other four Great Mafia Families was causing massive shockwaves. Even Bardock frequently heard news of major firefights and high-profile assassinations occurring across the West Blue.
Under Bardock's rigorous, half-year tutelage, Daz Bonez's combat prowess had skyrocketed. By seamlessly integrating the explosive footwork of Soru into his Atomic Spurt technique, his mobility and attack speed had multiplied several times over. While he was already capable of launching ranged slashes via Spar Claw, learning the Rankyaku technique had drastically elevated the sheer destructive power and range of his flying attacks. Furthermore, combining his Devil Fruit's natural steel hardening with the Tekkai technique proved to be a flawless synergy. In terms of raw, un-Haki-enhanced physical defense, Bonez was nearly on par with Bardock's Monkey King Beast Form.
Although Bonez didn't consider himself a traditional swordsman, his mastery over his blade-body had definitively reached the threshold of cutting steel. Unfortunately, despite Bardock transforming into the Monkey King and letting Bonez hack at him thousands of times in sparring sessions, the bounty hunter still hadn't managed to take that final, elusive step.
The rest of the crew had also made solid progress, though it wasn't as visually dramatic due to their young ages. Leo was the exception—the tiny dwarf had successfully mastered Geppo (Moonwalk), drastically increasing his aerial mobility. Robin, Mansherry, and Perona had mostly focused on deepening the mastery of their Devil Fruits while significantly building up their physical stamina and endurance.
To Bardock's slight disappointment, not a single one of them had managed to awaken Haki yet.
'Well, at least I finally mastered Life Return (Seimei Kikan),' Bardock reflected, stretching his arms in the courtyard. 'Deep-diving into the Rokushiki was the right call. With absolute cellular control over my body, my combat efficiency has maxed out.'
'The next stage of Armament Haki is Emission—making the Haki flow out of the body. I feel like I'm close, but there's a missing piece. The Kuja Haki Training Methods manual is way too brief on advanced applications. I bet Hancock never expected me to progress this fast. I'll just have to figure it out through trial and error. Oh, wait! The Hasshoken (Eight Impacts) martial art! That explicitly relies on flowing shockwaves. I should look into that.'
'As for advanced Observation Haki... Future Sight? I don't even know where to begin with that. The manual only talks about expanding range and precision. It's not like I can just casually track down Charlotte Katakuri and ask him for pointers.'
'My swordsmanship progressed incredibly fast after reaching the Master Swordsman level, but it's starting to plateau again. I need real, life-or-death combat. Sparring with Bonez just isn't cutting it anymore.'
'At least I figured out how to coat the Flying Nimbus in Armament Haki. It basically acts as an extension of my will, like the Ruyi Jingu Bang. Now, even if I grow to giant size, I'll still have a reliable weapon. I can even use it like Gin's Shinso from Bleach—a hyper-fast, extending spear strike that's impossible to guard against.'
Bardock scratched his head, tallying up his current arsenal. Honestly, he felt like the West Blue was becoming too small for him. Aside from Gecko Moria and the leaders of the Happo Navy in the Kano Country, there was practically no one left in this sea who could give him a real fight.
He turned toward his sparring partner. "Hey, Bonez! Looks like trying to force a breakthrough through standard training isn't working for you. How about it? You want to try something a little more extreme?"
"How extreme?" Bonez asked, wiping sweat from his brow. He was deeply frustrated by his bottleneck. The feeling of being 'almost there' but completely unable to cross the finish line was absolute torture.
"Capone Bege," Bardock stated bluntly. "He's an incredibly durable Devil Fruit user. If you can manage to slice open his Castle body, breaking through to cut steel will happen naturally."
"Capone Bege?" Bonez's eyes narrowed. "Alright. He's the one."
"Bardock, didn't you explicitly say that killing Capone Bege held absolutely no benefit for us?" Robin asked, stepping out onto the porch with a confused expression. "Why target him now?"
"Oh, I'm not going to kill him," Bardock waved his hand dismissively, as if discussing roughing up a local street punk. "I just want to 'persuade' him to help us find someone. And since a guy with an ego like his won't listen to reason, I'll just have to beat him until he agrees. Plus, Bonez needs a sturdy whetstone."
"Who exactly are you looking for?" Robin's curiosity was thoroughly piqued. "Is this person so important that we can't just find them ourselves?"
"Gecko Moria," Bardock replied, his golden eyes flashing. "The broken man of the New World. The pirate who suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Kaido of the Beasts and lost his entire crew. I want to test my absolute limits. There is no better opponent in the West Blue for me to fight."
"Gecko Moria..." Robin murmured, her eyes widening in realization.
Read more & support me at patreon(.)com/Lestusk