After enjoying the service of the World's Most Beautiful Woman, along with Carina and Nami, Yami once again began training on Rusukaina.
Or rather, it was less about training and more about digesting the gains from the battle.
After the third round of battle with Kaido, Yami's understanding of Advanced Armament Haki became even clearer.
Perhaps Yami's talent for Armament Haki was extremely high, or perhaps the principle behind Advanced Armament Haki wasn't that different from the King's Punch; both involved turning the energy inside the body into a flowing attack.
Yami had a premonition that before long, he would be able to grasp the advanced application of Armament Haki.
Furthermore, Yami had felt the power of Conqueror's Haki Infusion up close and discovered that it was an even more advanced flowing attack, with Haki being the key to bypassing everything.
Even the transparent halo of the More-More Fruit could be broken by this flowing attack.
Yami had no leads on this even more advanced flowing attack. Perhaps he would have to wait until he mastered Advanced Armament Haki before he was qualified to even approach it.
Compared to Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki, Yami's biggest gain from this battle was creating his own ultimate martial arts technique, the Nuclear Explosion Fist.
An omnidirectional, large-scale attack that doesn't harm the user is simply a super-weapon in the world of martial arts.
The shockwave Yami unleashed was even more exaggerated than the punch Garp delivered when he landed on Hachinosu in the original story.
But the defect of this punch was also obvious: the More-More Fruit's protection could be broken by Advanced Haki.
To make up for this defect, Yami must master Advanced Haki. Otherwise, when facing an enemy who has mastered Advanced Haki, this move would become a suicidal technique that wounds the enemy by a thousand while harming himself by eight hundred.
Thus, Yami once again immersed himself in training.
While Yami began his secluded training again, the New World exploded into chaos.
Although Onigashima is located near Wano Country, it is an island difficult for sailing ships to enter.
But unlike Wano Country's closed-border policy, Onigashima is the headquarters of the Beasts Pirates, and all members of the Beasts Pirates can enter and exit freely.
When a faction reaches a certain size, it is inevitable that there will be pawns from various other factions planted within.
The most trusted subordinate might just be a spy sent by another faction.
Therefore, within Onigashima, there are actually informants from all major powers.
Among them are informants planted by Morgans.
"Black Hole" Yami reappeared after more than half a year, fought with Kaido, and destroyed half of the giant skull. After the battle, Yami's condition was unknown, while Kaido of the Beasts suffered considerable injuries.
This news was reported by Morgans and immediately caused a huge sensation in the New World, also attracting considerable attention worldwide.
The major powers of the New World were once again on high alert, as if facing a great enemy.
Yami's appearance, and his battle with Kaido, both indicated that this multi-Devil Fruit user was beginning his path to the top.
His ambition was great. He didn't choose other great pirate crews in the New World as his opponents; instead, he targeted the World's Strongest Creature, Kaido of the Beasts.
The more this was the case, the more apprehensive and solemn these great pirate crews felt.
No one could guarantee that this multi-Devil Fruit user wasn't just using Kaido to test his own strength.
After the test, he might start leading his Maid Corps to sweep through the New World, steal their pieces of the pie, and become the Fifth Emperor of the Sea.
Or perhaps... he would target Devil Fruits and begin a crazed hunt.
This possibility caused dark undercurrents to surge in the New World and the criminal underworld.
Some great pirate crews of mediocre strength began to proactively set aside their old grudges, secretly forming pirate alliances and banding together for survival.
The New Era hadn't arrived, but the Era of Great Pirates Banding Together had come first.
This phenomenon showed just what level Yami's reputation had reached.
If not for the fact that Yami's pirate crew was small and hadn't begun a path of conquest, Morgans would have already hyped him up as the Fifth Emperor of the Sea.
Time flew by, and soon Sea Calendar 1516 turned the page to Sea Calendar 1517.
This year was also a relatively special year.
Because this year was the year the son of the Pirate King and Joy Boy's sworn big brother set sail.
According to the agreement between the three brothers, Ace, Sabo, and Luffy, they would set sail in the year they turned seventeen.
From this agreement, one can deduce the approximate time Ace and Luffy would set sail, which is the month of their birthday.
Ace's birthday is January 1st, so his departure time would be no later than January 5th.
Luffy's birthday is May 5th, so his departure time would similarly be before May 10th.
So, as soon as the new year turned, this son of the Pirate King couldn't wait to start his pirate adventure.
If nothing unexpected happens, he will drift to Sixis Island, get a treasure chest from the belly of a sea beast, and after opening it, obtain the Logia-type Flare-Flare Fruit, beginning his undefeated path through the East Blue and the first half of the Grand Line.
Only after entering the New World and challenging Whitebeard will he taste defeat for the first time and become one of his sons.
If not for Yami's existence, this would be the year of Portgas D. Ace.
Sea Calendar 1517, January 15th.
Calm Belt, Rusukaina.
"This damn Observation Haki, I've finally mastered it."
Sensing the fluctuations of presence around him, Yami said, somewhat grinding his teeth.
It had been over a year since he obtained the Observation Haki manual.
In that year, no matter how Yami trained, he couldn't awaken Observation Haki.
If he hadn't awakened Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki either, Yami could have understood. He would have thought that because he was a transmigrator, the World's Will wouldn't allow an outsider like him to grasp the power of Haki in this world.
But the key thing was, Yami had learned Armament Haki in a single day and awakened Conqueror's Haki after taking a punch from Teacher Kaido.
In terms of combat power, he could even fight Kaido (who wasn't using Advanced Haki) back and forth, on relatively equal footing.
He was a great pirate with a bounty of 3,046,000,000 Beri!
A great pirate like this who hadn't mastered Observation Haki... it was a more extreme imbalance of skills than Yami had as a student.
But thankfully, this damn ability had finally awakened.
Unlike Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki, Observation Haki can be enhanced with external forces.
If the external force is strong enough, Observation Haki can become a top-tier ability right after being awakened.
For example, Nami's Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Now that he had finally awakened Observation Haki, Yami could also get Doflamingo to help find someone and hunt that person's Devil Fruit, allowing his Observation Haki to become a top-tier ability.
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