“Well, well.
Even if you know you’re going to be punished, you don’t have to go this far, Sakazuki.
Even if you’re trying to make yourself look miserable, the punishment you deserve still can’t be avoided.” Borsalino couldn’t help but laugh when he saw Sakazuki return to Marine Headquarters.
After leaving the Ross Kingdom, Sakazuki had returned directly to Marine Headquarters.
When the Marines saw him, many of them were startled.
Sakazuki’s forehead was wrapped in bandages, and he had injuries in several places across his body.
Hearing Borsalino’s teasing, Sakazuki glared fiercely at him without saying a word.
“Has Gadile Yuri already grown this strong?” Sengoku asked gravely from the side.
They all understood Sakazuki’s personality and knew he wasn’t the type to play tricks or exaggerate his injuries.
“That bastard is growing very quickly.
He’s already mastered Armament Haki.
This time, he coated his coins with Armament Haki and fired his Railgun from a kilometer away.
I let my guard down for an instant and got hit,” Sakazuki said.
“Firing an electromagnetic cannon from a kilometer away?
That attack already travels at three times the speed of sound.
A silent shot from a kilometer away is more dangerous than the attack of any sniper on the seas.
No wonder Sakazuki got caught off guard,” Borsalino said.
“Three times the speed of sound is only its initial velocity.
After Gadile Yuri fires his Railgun, it doesn’t slow down.
It continues accelerating.
By the time it reaches its target, its speed is already far beyond Mach three,” Sakazuki said.
“What a terrifying attack.
Gadile Yuri has truly become a troublesome existence,” Sengoku said.
“Raise Gadile Yuri’s bounty and suspend the pursuit for now.
We’ll deal with him once he enters the Grand Line,” Fleet Admiral Kong said.
He knew that a powerhouse like Yuri would enter the Grand Line sooner or later.
“Then how high should we raise his bounty?” Sengoku asked.
“Five hundred million Berries,” Kong replied.
“Five hundred million Berries?!”
Everyone present cried out in surprise.
A bounty that high was rare even in the first half of the Grand Line, much less in the Four Blues.
Normally, only pirates who had entered the New World and successfully established themselves there had any chance of reaching such a bounty.
“Indeed.
Gadile Yuri was able to injure Vice Admiral Sakazuki.
He can no longer be considered an ordinary pirate.
A bounty like that is reasonable.”
“Someone capable of forcing Vice Admiral Sakazuki into a difficult battle is definitely worth that bounty.”
“That’s right…”
The Marines agreed with Kong’s decision to place a five-hundred-million-Berry bounty on Yuri.
What they failed to notice was that every time one of them spoke, Akainu’s expression darkened a little more.
By the end, Akainu’s face was practically as black as the bottom of a cooking pot.
Only then did the Marine officers realize something was wrong.
…
Three years passed in the blink of an eye!
On a barren mountain on Ross Island, a young man repeatedly punched a massive boulder.
Every punch left a deep fist-shaped indentation in the stone.
“Ha!”
The young man suddenly shouted.
A thick layer of Armament Haki gathered around his fist before he slammed it into the enormous boulder.
Cracks instantly spread across a large portion of the rock.
A moment later, the entire boulder shattered apart.
“Have I reached my limit?
What a pity.
Even after three years of training, I still haven’t mastered Ryuo.
Looks like I’ll need the intense pressure of real combat to break through that barrier,” Yuri muttered.
Three years had already passed since his last battle with Akainu.
During those three years, Yuri had focused heavily on training his Armament Haki.
Three years of training had greatly improved it, and he could now control Armament Haki as naturally as he wished.
Condensing it, coating objects with it, hardening, strengthening—he could perform all of them with ease.
The only thing that disappointed Yuri was that he still hadn’t managed to master Ryuo, the advanced application of Armament Haki he had been trying to learn all this time.
Ryuo was a mark of a true Haki powerhouse.
The fact that Yuri hadn’t mastered it meant he still couldn’t be considered a genuine Haki expert.
However, Yuri didn’t care too much.
His main source of combat strength was still his Devil Fruit.
His physical body wasn’t among the absolute best in this world.
If he wanted to fight the monsters of the New World, he needed to focus on developing his Devil Fruit abilities.
Aside from training Armament Haki, Yuri had also spent those three years heavily developing his Devil Fruit.
During that time, his Devil Fruit ability had made further progress, and he had developed several new techniques.
With his current strength, Yuri was confident that even if he encountered Marine Admiral Sengoku or Marine Hero Garp, he would at least be capable of putting up a fight.
As for Akainu, Kuzan, and Borsalino, Yuri was confident that even if he couldn’t defeat them, he could at least suppress them.
“Captain, Bege says everything is ready.
We can leave whenever you want.”
Robin, who had been standing nearby, saw that Yuri had finished training and handed him a towel.
Three years had passed, and Robin was now around fifteen years old.
Her figure had already begun to mature.
Although she still lacked the mature beauty she would possess in the future, she now carried a youthful and graceful charm.
“Heh.
So he actually managed to let go of everything.” Yuri took the towel and wiped the sweat from his face with a smile.
“It’s not really a matter of letting go.
He’s only handed control of his underworld businesses and territories over to his subordinates.
With his reputation and strength in the West Blue underworld, if he ever wants them back, all it would take is a single sentence,” Robin said with a smile.
Over the past three years, with Daz’s assistance, Capone Bege had unified the West Blue underworld ahead of schedule.
Capone Bege had already become a legendary figure within the West Blue underworld.
A few days ago, Yuri informed Bege that they would soon be setting sail to challenge the Grand Line.
Bege immediately summoned the Capone Family’s executives from across his territory and divided his holdings into sixteen sections, handing each one over to an underworld executive.
Now, everything was ready.
All that remained was for Yuri to announce their departure.