New World, on the giant, whale-shaped ship, the Moby Dick.
On the deck, the world's strongest man, Whitebeard, ripped out his IV tubes and rose from his giant chair.
His aura was as vast as a mountain, as if a slumbering, powerful giant had awakened.
"Marco, gather everyone! We're heading to Marine Headquarters, Marineford, to save Ace!"
Whitebeard's voice was filled with rage, like a powder keg about to explode.
As he spoke, his crescent-shaped, upward-curving white mustache trembled.
Although he was old, his massive, scar-covered body still exuded the majestic aura of a lion.
The 1st Division Commander, Marco, whose yellow hair resembled a pineapple, had a worried look on his face.
Pops's health was deteriorating.
This time, facing Marine Headquarters, could he hold on?
But Ace had to be saved.
Marco nodded silently and turned to leave, contacting the subordinate pirate crews under their command.
The Whitebeard Pirates, as a Yonko force, had over 1,600 members in their main crew, divided into 16 divisions.
Under them, they also had 43 subordinate pirate crews in the New World, totaling over 50,000 people.
Pops gathering everyone meant he was preparing for an all-out war with the Marines.
...
Ten days later, Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
In the conference room, the giant round table was laden with food.
Marines stood guard at the side, cold sweat dripping down their faces as they looked at the seven figures around the table.
The Seven Warlords of the Sea.
Among them, "Knight of the Sea" Jinbe had already been stripped of his title and imprisoned in Impel Down.
Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach, had taken Jinbe's place, becoming one of the new Warlords after capturing "Fire Fist" Ace.
Today, in an unprecedented event, all seven were gathered in one place.
These were seven infamous and powerful pirates. Even the World Government only sought to borrow their strength and reputation to intimidate other pirates.
The world's greatest swordsman, "Hawkeye" Dracule Mihawk.
Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach.
The Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock.
Donquixote Doflamingo.
The "Tyrant," Bartholomew Kuma.
"Sir" Crocodile.
Gecko Moria.
"Fuffuffuffuffu. Mihawk, Boa Hancock, I never thought you'd actually come."
Doflamingo leaned back in his chair, his legs crossed. His pink feather coat trembled with his laughter.
His gaze fell on the two.
Hawkeye and the Pirate Empress.
Both had personalities of doing whatever they pleased. Their arrival today surprised him quite a bit.
In response, Mihawk simply leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed, completely ignoring him.
The Pirate Empress merely shot him an arrogant and cold glance, not saying a word.
Doflamingo chuckled.
Since the two were ignoring him, he couldn't be bothered to say any more.
He was just speaking his mind.
At this moment, Boa Hancock suddenly looked at Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach.
"Keep staring at me, and I'll gouge your eyes out."
Hancock's tone was icy.
If not for her plan to rescue Luo Chen later, she would have attacked right now and killed this Blackbeard, who had been staring at her.
From the moment she entered the conference room, Marshall D. Teach's greedy, lecherous gaze had been on her.
Hearing this, Teach grinned, lowered his head, and focused on eating.
He, too, had his own plan.
After the war began, he would head to Impel Down to recruit the most heinous criminals from Level 6 and build his forces.
Capturing Ace and becoming a Warlord was all to gain the privilege of going to Impel Down.
'The Pirate Empress, zehahahaha! I'll make you mine one day,' Teach thought.
But compared to women, he was currently more concerned with his plan to build his forces.
He wouldn't start a fight just because of Boa Hancock's unkind tone, which would only create complications.
Just then, a Marine Rear Admiral walked in, looked at the seven warily, and said:
"The war is about to begin. Please assemble at the execution platform."
Hearing this, the seven's movements paused slightly, and they slowly stood up.
A different light shone in each of their eyes; it was clear they all had their own agendas.
...
Impel Down, Level 6, Eternal Hell.
Luo Chen awoke from his training state.
The system panel appeared on his retina.
[Host: Luo Chen]
[Body Technique: LV10 (Strong Yonko Commander Level ≈ 2 Billion Beli Bounty Pirate)]
[Skills: Observation Killing, Divine Departure, Conqueror's Haki (Top-Tier), Swordsmanship (Black Blade Level), Observation Haki (Top-Tier), Armament Haki (Top-Tier), Six Powers - Shave, Six Powers - Moon Step]
[Ninjutsu: Edo Tensei, Kamui, Shinra Tensei, Tengai Shinsei, Susanoo, Sage Mode, Flying Thunder God Technique, Wood Style Ninjutsu Collection]
[Training Points: 50,000]
[Next Cumulative Top-Up Reward: 100 Billion Beli]
Ten days had passed. In the [Skill Training Space], it had been a hundred days.
In about three months, Luo Chen had gained a lot.
First was Conqueror's Haki, which he had raised directly from zero to top-tier.
His Conqueror's Haki could now cause tangible physical damage to the environment and could also be coated onto weapons and his body to amplify his attack power.
The world's top-tier powerhouses had to master Conqueror's Haki coating.
Luo Chen clearly met this condition.
As his Conqueror's Haki rose to the top tier, he had successively learned two new skills.
One was "Observation Killing."
A fusion of top-tier Conqueror's Haki and top-tier Observation Haki.
It could block an enemy's Observation Haki perception.
In other words, after Luo Chen used Observation Killing, the enemy would be unable to predict his attack trajectory with Observation Haki.
The powerful ability Red-Hair mentioned when teaching him Conqueror's Haki was this.
The second was the swordsmanship technique, "Divine Departure."
The Pirate King Gol D. Roger and the Yonko Red-Haired Shanks both used "Divine Departure."
This sword technique was incredibly fast and its power was equally ferocious.
Combined with Observation Killing, even an Admiral or a Yonko might not be able to avoid it.
'After Conqueror's Haki reached the top tier, quite a few skills appeared in the system.'
'Garp's "Fist Bone" series, Kaido's "Thunder Bagua," Red-Hair's "Divine Departure"... these all require Conqueror's Haki coating to unleash their maximum power.'
Luo Chen had carefully selected and, in the end, learned Red-Hair's "Divine Departure."
Observation Killing combined with Divine Departure could produce unexpected results.
The enemy would likely be cut down before they could even defend.
Moreover, in order to learn Divine Departure, he had also raised his swordsmanship from the Haki-fusion level to the Black Blade level.
Since Luo Chen didn't have a suitable long sword, he used Wood Style to create one.
The learning process for upgrading swordsmanship to the Black Blade level was special.
The system created a separate space with a faster time flow.
Inside, Luo Chen used the wooden sword, constantly coated in Armament Haki, and fought nonstop for three years before the entire wooden sword turned pitch black.
Now, this black blade was temporarily stored in the Kamui dimension.
'My swordsmanship should now be in the same major category as Mihawk's, both at the Black Blade level.'
'However, Mihawk has been immersed in swordsmanship for many years and has probably gone much further within the Black Blade tier. In terms of pure swordsmanship, he should be a bit stronger than me.'
The Black Blade level swordsmanship had cost 500,000 training points, equivalent to 5 billion Beli.
Observation Killing and Divine Departure both cost 400,000 training points.
Raising Conqueror's Haki from beginner to top-tier cost a total of 660,000 training points, twice as expensive as Observation and Armament Haki.
Factoring in the previous consumption for upgrading his body technique, Luo Chen had only 50,000 training points left.
'And this is after the gold from Skypiea sold for another 12 billion over the past ten days.'
'Otherwise, I wouldn't have had enough training points.'
With the 12 billion Beli in the account, Luo Chen's system cumulative top-up reward also reached the 50 billion threshold.
The reward was a ninjutsu that exceeded his expectations.
Edo Tensei.
'With this ninjutsu, the process of building my forces will be smoother and faster than imagined.'
'I just don't know if the system will reward me with the Rinne Tensei technique in the future.'
'If it does, I should be able to resurrect the dead Cocoyasi villagers.'
Luo Chen's eyes were pensive.
Edo Tensei was too useful.
He might even be able to summon the deceased Pirate King Roger and Rocks.
Assuming he could find their bodies.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]