“Just hoping for…
a Great Grade Sword?” Hearing Caesar’s request, Hitetsu was taken aback.
Why did his tone sound like he was buying a head of cabbage?
“What?
You can’t do it?” “That…
might be a bit difficult.” Hitetsu nodded awkwardly.
“The art of forging takes immense energy and effort.
At my age, if it were merely a Skillful Grade Sword, it wouldn’t be hard…” “Then please put in some extra effort,” Caesar said with a slight shake of his head.
“I can forge a Skillful Grade Sword myself, but a weapon of that grade provides no real edge in battles between top-tier powerhouses.
At best, it’s merely usable.” He had collected plenty of profession-related items and received numerous skill rewards, forging being one of them.
The same went for house construction, shipbuilding, and the like.
However, for some reason, skills at the absolute pinnacle of a craft rarely appeared.
Perhaps, as Hitetsu said, compared to those who devoted themselves entirely to a single path, his focus was too scattered, lacking that single-minded conviction.
For instance, Caesar quite enjoyed cooking, so his culinary skill was one of the few that had reached the top tier.
By comparison, his other auxiliary skills were at best second-tier.
Hearing Caesar’s words, Hitetsu nodded.
“In that case, I can give it a try.
However, as for the materials, I may need you to exert a bit more effort.” “Is that fine?” “What problem could there be?” Hitetsu chuckled.
“I’m not so old that I can’t lift a blacksmith’s hammer!
If it’s for you, sir, I can make the effort.” “Oh?” Caesar crossed his legs, quite curious.
“What?
Do I hold that much weight with you?” “Of course.
Though the current Shogun is Kaidou’s daughter, everyone knows who truly saved this country from starvation.” Hitetsu bowed his head slightly, his tone complex, filled with emotion and a trace of guilt.
“You may not know this, sir, but this village was once on the brink of extinction.
Every few days someone would starve to death, and little Tama could barely get a full meal once in days…” “This is a feat even the Kozuki clan failed to accomplish.
So regardless of good or evil, and regardless of your motives, if it is for you, I am willing to try with all my strength!” Caesar gave him a surprised look.
“Then…
I am truly grateful.” Truth be told, it was a bit embarrassing—he had been fully prepared to expose the old man’s true identity and threaten him.
The old guy was hiding out here incognito; while a bit spineless, he was at least sensible.
“Tell me, what materials do you need?” “Tungsten steel…
do you have any?” “Tungsten steel…” Caesar burst out laughing.
That stuff as a mere rod possessed hardness comparable to a Great Grade Sword.
If the forging craft isn’t enough, make up for it with raw material hardness, huh?
Without pressing the matter, Caesar waved his hand, and ingots of over a hundred different metal elements piled up into a small mountain.
“Basically every non-radioactive metal in the world is here, including various alloys.
They’re all labeled.” Hitetsu was startled by Caesar’s display, but assuming it was the power of a Devil Fruit, he continued, “Do you have any preferences for the style?” Caesar thought for a moment.
“A bit longer, please.
Ordinary Meito feel a little short to me.” “Please wait a moment, sir.” Hitetsu retrieved a stick over a meter long and handed it to Caesar.
“Is this length suitable?” Caesar took the stick, shifted his grip slightly, and gave it a gentle flick.
“Not bad.
Just right.” “I understand.” Hitetsu’s gaze fell on where Caesar gripped the stick, and he nodded.
“It seems your fighting style is rather wild and aggressive.” Caesar nodded.
That was indeed the case.
Among his sparring partners so far, King and Kaidou were both six or seven meters tall, and even Yamato, the shortest, was two point six or seven meters tall.
Naturally, his combat style leaned toward broad, powerful sweeps.
“How long will it take to forge?” “Half a month at most.” “Alright.
I’ll come back for it in half a month.” Caesar nodded, flicking a gold coin onto the metal pile with a turn of his hand.
“Don’t worry about materials.
Tell me if you lack anything.” With that, Caesar left the room.
Outside, Tama was waiting dutifully under the shade of a tree.
Seeing Caesar, a bright smile burst onto her face, and she ran over.
“Is Lord Caesar leaving?” “Yes, sorry for disturbing you, Tama.” Caesar nodded with a smile and gently patted the girl’s hair.
It felt thin and somewhat dry, likely from long-term malnutrition.
“How have things been lately?
Have those pirates been bullying anyone?
Are you eating enough?” “Yes!
I can eat my fill at every meal now!
The mean guys who used to bully people were all sent flying by a dinosaur big sister!” “A dinosaur big sister, huh…” Caesar chuckled.
It seemed Ulti was doing her job quite well; he could already imagine her cursing the job while beating the daylights out of unruly pirates.
“Lord Caesar!” “Hm?” “Can I join the Beasts…
no, the National Protection Fleet too?” “Eh?
Why?” “I want to be like Lord Caesar and make sure everyone can eat their fill!” “It’s still too early for little Tama right now.
How about waiting a few more years?
Once you become a powerful and beautiful woman like the Shogun, you’ll be able to help me.” “A powerful and beautiful woman…” Tama’s eyes sparkled.
“Then it’s a promise, Lord Caesar!” “Yeah, it’s a promise.” Caesar crouched down, and Yubashiri materialized in his hand out of thin air.
“Consider this Yubashiri my investment in your future.
Whenever you’re strong enough to wield it, come find me anytime.” “Mhm!” Tama nodded excitedly, remaining at the village entrance waving to him long after Caesar had departed.
Caesar was in a fantastic mood.
Kids in this world were so easy to dupe—no wonder Luffy spent all day shouting about becoming King of the Pirates.
Thinking about it now, Shanks was really a jerk, duping kids like that.
Returning to the Flower Capital, Caesar ran into Ulti leading a patrol squad.
He casually tossed a small pouch over to her.
Ulti caught it reflexively.
“What are you doing now, you bastard?
What’s this?” Caesar said with a grin, “Word on the street is that you’ve been doing a great job.
Consider this your bonus.” “Ha?
A reward?
Who do you think you are, bastard?” Ulti weighed the heavy pouch in her hand.
“Like I need a little reward from you!
What could you possibly give me?” “Gold.” “I didn’t speak too loudly just now, did I, Caesar?
I hope I didn’t startle you.” Hearing that it was gold, Ulti instantly shifted from hands-on-hips to clutching her hands over her heart, looking at Caesar with anxious concern.
“You change face way too fast…” Caesar was speechless.
Over this period, he had figured out this girl’s temperament.
She was the classic soft-hearted-to-kindness-hard-headed-to-force type—a bit tsundere, but very pragmatic, and far smarter than she looked.
For instance, the Devil Fruits for her and her brother were stolen from Kaidou when she was a child.
While Kaidou might have turned a blind eye on purpose, the fact that she understood the law of the jungle at such a young age and protected her younger brother as they grew up in a place like the Beasts Pirates earned Caesar’s deep admiration.
Dealing with a brat like her just required plenty of praise and plenty of perks.
“Pay a little extra attention to the area around Amigasa Village.
I had someone forge a sword for me there.” “A sword?” Ulti glanced at the Sandai Kitetsu at Caesar’s waist.
“So you’re a swordsman?” “Not really, it’s just a weapon.” “If you use a sword, aren’t you a swordsman?
Are you an idiot?” “I preferred your attitude from a second ago.” Caesar sighed.
“Anyway, please keep an extra eye out for it.” “Hmph, who cares about you!” Ulti huffed and turned to leave.
After a couple of steps, she suddenly turned back and called out, “Hey, what’s wrong with your eyes?” “I’m practicing Future Sight.” “So stupid!” “Don’t mock me for something like this…” The two parted ways.
Ulti left the city and headed straight for Kuri, while Caesar returned to the Shogun’s estate, continuing to ponder how to refine his Haki.
His outing today made Caesar realize something: because of the bat ability from the Vampire Fruit, he could instinctively map out his surroundings in his mind based on external sound waves.
In combat, this ability greatly enhanced his perception.
However, such powerful sensory perception prevented his instinctive gut feeling from being effectively stimulated, which actually acted as a hindrance to his Observation Haki training.
But he couldn’t just plug his ears either.
Therefore, he needed to stimulate that instinctive reaction even further.
In addition, the combat style he had envisioned earlier—compressing and friction-heating Armament Haki—was far more difficult than simple emission, and required constant combat practice to master.
Not just anyone could provide sparring of that intensity.
Neither Kaidou nor King had the free time to spare every single day to spar with him.
Fortunately, Caesar had a wife with Emperor-first-mate level combat power…
“Yamato, come spar with me!” “Okay!” Upon hearing Caesar’s call, Yamato grabbed her kanabo and happily trotted after him.
Seeing Caesar still blindfolded, Yamato felt a bit worried.
“Is this kind of training really okay?
You’ve been releasing Observation Haki all day today, haven’t you?” The total amount of Haki was limited, and overexerting it carried the risk of death.
Moreover, even with Observation Haki, fighting blindfolded against an opponent who also possessed Observation Haki was no different from asking for a beating.
Because while you could predict your opponent, your opponent could predict you just the same.
In fact, without visual assistance, predicting the enemy’s movements would be slightly slower.
“It’s fine.
Come at me!” Caesar beckoned confidently.
The very next instant, with a loud boom, he was sent flying by a strike from Yamato’s club.
“See?
I told you it wouldn’t work!” Looking at Caesar embedded in the rock wall, Yamato’s eyes were full of worry.
Caesar silently pulled himself out of the rock and dusted himself off.
“Again!” Boom— Caesar was knocked flying once more.
He was currently at the stage where he could predict presence, but couldn’t react and defend in time.
Fortunately, his physical strength had exploded recently, and with the boost from his Oni race bloodline, Yamato’s kanabo coated in flowing Armament Haki felt like nothing more than a minor tickle to him now.
This was also what Caesar cared about most.
On these seas, what mattered most for top-tier combatants?
If forced to name it, it would be error tolerance!
Not purely raw strength, power, or physical toughness alone, but a comprehensive resilience—the ability to absorb the consequences of mistakes.
For instance, taking a sword strike—when Garp took a blow from Shiryu and was swarmed until he couldn’t get back up, the same strike on Whitebeard or Shanks would yield roughly the same outcome.
But if it were Kaidou or Big Mom, those two super health-tanks, they could probably spit on the wound to stop the bleeding instantly, pick up their weapons, and keep fighting for days and nights on end.
By now, Caesar’s physical constitution had far surpassed what the Vampire Fruit alone could boost; it was mostly due to his Overlord talent and the effects of his Oni race bloodline.
If he activated his Lunarian transformation on top of that, he would get another massive power boost.
Two months ago, Yamato’s two hits would have beaten the bile out of him, but for the current Caesar, it barely registered.
The only thing that concerned Caesar was that his growth rate was beginning to slow down.
Training with the same weights no longer yielded the leaps-and-bounds progress as before; his daily gains were diminishing.
He estimated that once he reached the Four Emperors’ level of power, his growth would slow down almost entirely.
He condensed Armament Haki into his right fist, compressing the flowing force.
Fist met kanabo across midair without physical contact, and Caesar unleashed a shockwave.
Yamato was knocked back two steps by the sudden force, looking at Caesar in surprise.
“Eh?
What was that just now?” “Armament Haki compression.” Caesar’s lips curled into a faint smirk.
“A neat trick I’ve been researching lately.
Gathering all the Armament Haki in my body into my fist, compressing its flow, and releasing it via Internal Destruction can produce a significant shockwave…” That’s right—this move was based on the principle of Garp’s Galaxy Impact.
However, Caesar could only pull off a crude prototype for now.
Reaching the next level would require far more practice.
The actual training method was simple enough: refer to Garp bashing battleships.
That’s right—pure brute force!
However, it wasn’t mindless bashing; this move relied on two key points.
First, instantly focusing the body’s entire strength and Haki onto the fist required extreme concentration.
Second, releasing the shockwave of flowing Armament Haki required delicate Haki control.
Precisely because of this high-intensity focus and burst, its power was immense.
Looking at it this way, when Coby, that King of Effort, drained all his Haki for a full-power strike to shatter one of Avalo Pizarro’s giant stone hands, it was barely plausible after all.
Hearing this, Yamato’s eyes lit up.
“So cool!
Caesar, teach me!” Caesar grinned.
“Oh?
What’s in it for me?” Yamato thought for a moment, her face suddenly flushing red.
She leaned down to whisper into Caesar’s ear.
“Ahem…” Caesar suppressed a smirk and cleared his throat.
“Seeing as you’re so sincere, I suppose I’ll teach you!” “Haha, I knew you were the best, Caesar!” Yamato laughed heartily, pulling Caesar in to kiss his cheek, leaving behind a bright red lipstick mark.
As the Shogun, she had to maintain a dignified appearance, so every day the maids forcefully dragged her off to put on makeup, dressing her up with far more feminine charm than before.
Although Caesar personally preferred her sleeveless kimono look, it was a different story when it came to his own wife.
Under Caesar’s strict demand, Yamato was now only allowed to wear long-sleeved kimonos—sleeveless was completely out of the question!
With that terrifying rack of hers, wearing sleeveless would be giving away far too much eye candy…
“First, you need to highly concentrate your strength and Haki…” Yamato punched forward.
“Like this?” “No, too loose!
Generate power from your legs first!
Like this!” “Oh—and then?” “Then like this, and like this…” “Huh?
Is feeling my leg a necessary step too?” “Mm…” “We’re outside right now, Caesar, isn’t this bad…” “Don’t talk.
Keep your head down!”