Chapter 80: Mastering Ryuo! Is Garp in the East Blue?
Five days later.
Marine Headquarters, Marineford, Detainment Unit Dormitory.
Inside the alternate dimension, watching Rat, who had just delivered the 'cargo', slowly walk away.
Loy held the box in his hand, and after confirming no one was around, he left the alternate dimension and eagerly opened it.
Inside the box, the pitch-black 'Underworld Demon Iron' lay quietly there—having successfully allowed his disciple to glimpse the vastness of the sea, Koushiro offered no hasty words.
"I don't know what Your Excellency intends to do with it, whether to forge a blade or conduct research. But please, Your Excellency, you must not shame my father's legacy."
After this master swordsman, who had been hidden in the East Blue for many years, finished speaking, he swiftly handed the Underworld Demon Iron to Hai Zhu.
Hai Zhu, in turn, immediately handed the Underworld Demon Iron to Rat, who had been hiding nearby the entire time.
That's right.
Although Hai Zhu was only a clone, and Loy had a basic understanding of the Revolutionary Army...
However, with his personality, he would never let Hai Zhu go alone without any preparation.
Therefore, in reality—in Shimotsuki Village, Rat was actually with Hai Zhu the entire time, simply hiding in the alternate dimension.
If the Revolutionary Army showed any unusual movements, Rat could immediately take Hai Zhu away.
Furthermore, Loy didn't even care if the Revolutionary Army snatched the 'Pluton Alloy'—because if the Revolutionary Army harbored ill will towards him, the Pluton Alloy manufactured by Hai Zhu could itself be a 'detonator'.
"I truly am a deep schemer," Loy mused.
Loy sighed, then refocused his attention on the box before him.
Devil Fruit Equipped: Slash-Slash Devil Fruit → Gulp-Gulp Devil Fruit.
Without hesitation, after switching Devil Fruits, he swallowed the Underworld Demon Iron, box and all.
Then,
"Thump!" "Thump!"
Loy clearly heard his own heartbeat, which at this moment seemed to pound like a war drum.
And as a practitioner of the 'Black Body Flow' technique, he, who could already gradually control the subtle changes in his own body, was even more acutely aware of the transformations happening within him.
As the Gulp-Gulp Devil Fruit's ability activated, his body was rapidly transforming into 'Underworld Demon Iron'.
But at the same time, the Human-Human Devil Fruit's ability was also at work, so his body still retained its human flesh and blood form.
Yet, from within his body, power surged forth.
It was not flesh and bone, but the power he had once felt in the deep sea, a power hidden deep within him.
That power, which originally required Loy to constantly guide to unearth, was now continuously being absorbed and drawn out from within his body.
And so,
"Buzz!"
Loy saw his arms begin to change.
Pitch-black, tinged with dark red Haki, coiled around his arms, encompassing his torso.
It flowed constantly, like a living thing.
At the same time, Loy had a feeling—that with a single punch right now, he could flatten this entire dormitory.
That was...
"Ryuo."
A grin spread across Loy's lips.
Just as he expected—what was coiling around his body at this moment was indeed 'Ryuo'.
And what's more,
"The Underworld Demon Iron is uncontrollable; it will infinitely absorb and release the user's Haki. But because of the Gulp-Gulp Devil Fruit, I can completely control the strength of the Haki released."
Loy mused inwardly.
"The only problem is that my own mastery of Haki isn't proficient enough. There's still a big gap between me and those top-tier Haki masters."
Understandably so.
For top-tier Haki masters like Garp and Zephyr, they can wield every wisp of their Haki as if it were their own arm, unleashing immense power.
But Loy was clearly far inferior in this regard.
However, Loy was not anxious.
Because,
"It's already enough."
He clenched his fist, feeling the colossal power: "As long as I continue to practice Black Body Flow, I will eventually be able to temper my Haki mastery to an extremely powerful level."
"And although I relied on the Underworld Demon Iron to draw out my Haki, it ultimately stirred up the Haki within my body."
"It's like someone who originally had to dig with their bare hands, but used a tool to prematurely break through a solid dam—although it was a shortcut, the opening has been made, and my body is gradually adapting to its own Haki."
"Originally, Sensei estimated that it would take me at least ten years to temper my Haki to its peak level."
"But with the Gulp-Gulp Devil Fruit assisting me, it will take a maximum of three years—by then, even if I'm not actively relying on the Gulp-Gulp Devil Fruit's power, I should be able to master all of my Haki."
After murmuring a few more words, Loy stood up.
"Since that's the case, I'll go give Sensei Zephyr a surprise."
He grinned.
Indeed—he had suddenly mastered Haki thanks to his 'talent', but it was certainly proper to have Zephyr oversee this matter.
With that thought, Loy picked up the half-empty cup of cola nearby, drank it all, then decisively left the dormitory and headed towards Zephyr's training camp.
Along the way, Marine Headquarters had undergone considerable changes compared to before—the most intuitive change was a gigantic dome rising along the southern coastline of the Headquarters, with 'SSG' written on it.
"They're making it quite mysterious," Loy mused.
Loy, however, was not surprised.
He had already heard that the dome was the venue for the Three Armies Military Exercise, specially sealed off by the Marine Special Science Group (SSG) to prevent anyone from seeing the exercise's contents prematurely.
Incidentally, Far and Loy's Detainment Unit brothers had recently volunteered to start collecting information on some of the participating candidates.
So the question is, why wasn't Hans among those gathering information?
The answer was simple.
"Boss, you're my, Hans the Great's, boss! You can't let us lose face!"
"What Sky Guard, what CP9, you have to take them all down!"
Because Hans, who had eaten a Devil Fruit, spoke with exceptional swagger, Loy had recently 'cordially' engaged him in a martial arts sparring match, and the former was still on an IV drip in the infirmary.
"Hopefully, he won't still be recovering before the Three Armies Military Exercise," Loy mumbled.
And without realizing it, he had already arrived inside Zephyr's training camp.
Familiar with the routine, he entered the training camp by inputting the password and quickly arrived at Zephyr's office.
"Loy, you brat?"
Upon seeing him, Zephyr, who had just hung up his Den Den Mushi, was also a bit surprised.
"Sensei, where's Ain?"
"Ain is returning from a mission today; he went to pick her up."
"Senior Sister Ain?"
Hearing this, Loy was also a little surprised.
Ain. Four years ago, when Zephyr was attacked, she was one of the only two survivors on that rookie training ship.
For the past two months, she had been out on missions.
Hearing that she was finally back, Loy was quite happy.
Mainly, he knew that this Senior Sister Ain was also a Devil Fruit user, and a very rare 'Time-type' Devil Fruit user at that.
"I'll have to get to know this Senior Sister later," he mused.
But at that very moment, he heard Zephyr say boisterously, "But you brat, you've come at just the right time—I happen to have something to tell you."
"Hmm?"
Upon hearing this, Loy was somewhat surprised: "What is it?"
Recently, because the Three Armies Military Exercise was approaching, Zephyr had even suspended his daily Black Body Flow training to allow him to fully prepare for the exercise, so it was rare for him to be sought out.
"Well, it's Byrnes and Garp... No, it's mainly that old man Garp."
"Vice Admiral Garp?"
Hearing this, Loy was even more surprised.
"Yes, it's about the last time you and Hancock..."
Zephyr didn't conceal anything and quickly explained the situation.
That's right, the last time Loy defeated Hancock, Zephyr, Garp, and Byrnes were all in Sengoku's office.
At that time, Byrnes and Garp had jokingly expressed their desire for their grandsons to train with Zephyr for a period. After Zephyr refused, they instead hoped Loy would train them.
Byrnes, for his part, wasn't in a hurry—he planned to personally discuss this matter with Loy when he was on vacation.
But Garp was different.
"That old geezer, a few days ago, just ran off to the East Blue on his own, saying he wanted to bring his grandson back to Headquarters."
Zephyr rubbed his face, his mind still echoing with Garp's hearty laughter.
"Hahahaha! Perfect! This time you, my disciple, will also participate in the Three Armies Military Exercise. It's a great chance for that brat Luffy to see for himself, so he won't keep talking about becoming some Pirate!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than Zephyr saw Loy's expression stiffen instantly.
"Sensei, you mean Vice Admiral Garp has already set off?"
"He set off a few days ago, and is probably already sailing back by now—after all, Sengoku gave him a direct order to return before the Three Armies Military Exercise."
Seeing Loy's stiff expression, Zephyr still thought he was nervous or annoyed, so he added, "You don't need to worry too much; I heard that Garp's grandson is as stubborn as he is and probably won't be willing to come with him."
Speaking of this, Zephyr also showed a hint of a smile.
That old geezer Garp, his son went on to become a Revolutionary Army member, and now his grandson wants to become a Pirate.
Unlike his own disciple—who was now the Marines' Supernova, a symbol of justice.
No, that wasn't the problem.
But at this moment, Loy's heart was anything but calm.
Although Garp wanting him to train Luffy was surprising in itself, ultimately it was a minor matter—he himself had actually quite wanted to meet that reincarnation of Nika.
But the crucial problem was this:
In his original estimation, around the time of the Three Armies Military Exercise, all the strong figures of the Marines would gather at Headquarters.
Therefore, not long ago, after Hai Zhu went to the coordinates left by the Revolutionary Army, took the materials for manufacturing Pluton Alloy and ten billion Beli, he had already set off again towards Windmill Village.
After all, if possible, he certainly wanted to acquire the Nika Devil Fruit from Luffy.
But now, Zephyr was telling him this...
"That Garp, he's actually in the East Blue right now, and just sailed back from Windmill Village?!"
And so, an ominous premonition arose in Loy's heart.
"It can't be such a coincidence, can it?!"
(end of chapter)