“You came.”
“I did.”
“She told you not to, didn’t she?”
“I came anyway.”
Two figures stood facing each other atop the enormous skull-shaped rock formation at the center of Hachinosu.
The fierce wind at that height whipped their clothes and hair around them.
One was a rough-faced giant of a man, practically a small giant in build.
The other was a young man who appeared to be in his teens, dressed in immaculate white knightly attire.
“I heard this rock used to look like a fish,” Hua Ye said.
“Then Rocks punched two huge holes through it, turning the fish-shaped mountain into a skull.”
“He did that after taking over Hachinosu,” Kaido replied expressionlessly.
Bandages covered much of Kaido’s body.
The wrappings around his abdomen were already stained faintly red, most likely because the wound had reopened.
Charlotte Linlin had treated his injuries herself.
Then again, Kaido’s body was absurdly tough in its own right.
An ordinary person would have already lost half his life from injuries like these.
Once he’d been patched up well enough, Kaido had immediately left Linlin and come here to find Hua Ye instead.
So why had Kaido—who had only recently been badly injured by Hua Ye—ignored Linlin’s attempts to stop him and insisted on coming anyway?
“What you said…
was it true?” Kaido asked directly.
“From the moment I appeared on this island until now, I haven’t told a single lie.” A faint smile touched Hua Ye’s face.
“You said you could give me power.” Kaido’s fist tightened.
“What does that mean?!”
His weapon was gone.
The kanabo he always carried had been reduced to scrap iron during their last fight, so Kaido had come empty-handed.
Indeed, in the final moment of that battle, Hua Ye had told Kaido that he could share his power with him.
Charlotte Linlin had interrupted almost immediately afterward, and Kaido had already been grievously wounded by then.
But he had remembered Hua Ye’s words.
“First, we need to establish something.” Hua Ye spread his arms.
“What exactly is power?”
“Power isn’t will itself.
It’s a phenomenon produced through some kind of medium.”
“Haki, for example.
Or…
spiritual power.”
He crooked his fingers lightly, almost as though calling a trained falcon to his hand.
Hua Ye didn’t own a falcon, of course.
What responded instead were countless pale blue motes of light.
“Can you see it?”
A small cluster of blue light floated above his palm and condensed into a round bubble, ripples continuously flowing across its surface.
Then its form changed.
It became a glowing blue sword.
Then it shifted again, transforming into a spirit bow.
Something that had looked like intangible, untouchable energy had become a weapon with genuine physical presence.
“So that’s your power?” Kaido’s eyes flickered.
“A Devil Fruit ability?”
“Stop classifying everything you don’t understand as a Devil Fruit.”
Hua Ye was beginning to think the people of this world had an extremely stubborn mental habit.
“Reishi is a substance that exists throughout the atmosphere.
It’s difficult to perceive, but it’s there.
It has always been there.”
“I don’t understand any of that,” Kaido said impatiently.
“I only want to know about that technique you used.
Is it some other application of Armament Haki?”
He was remembering Hua Ye’s defense during their battle.
“This?”
Hua Ye casually waved his hand, allowing the gathered Reishi to disperse.
Then he extended one arm.
Blue-green, tree-like markings appeared across his palm.
Kaido’s gaze sharpened as he studied them.
That was it.
No matter how many times he attacked, he had been unable to break through Hua Ye’s defense.
Meanwhile, Hua Ye’s own attacks had seemed to ignore Kaido’s Haki entirely and tear through him with ease.
If Kaido hadn’t personally spent years painstakingly training his Haki, he might have started wondering whether he’d somehow learned the whole thing wrong.
“Blut.”
Hua Ye clenched both fists.
Kaido sensed it again.
He pushed his Observation Haki to its limit, almost as though switching to an entirely different set of eyes with which to examine Hua Ye.
He could ‘see’ something flowing over Hua Ye’s fist.
Power made almost tangible.
“Blut Vene,” Hua Ye explained softly.
“By injecting Reishi directly into the blood vessels, it massively increases the body’s defensive ability.”
Kaido’s pupils contracted.
Directly injecting that flowing energy into the blood vessels?
Armament Haki formed invisible armor over the surface of the body.
Powerful users tempered it until that armor became hard enough that ordinary weapons couldn’t penetrate it.
But could Armament be used like this?
“There’s another form.”
The nature of the power in Hua Ye’s hand changed.
If the previous flow had been like a windless sea, perfectly calm and still, then the waves had suddenly begun to rise.
“Blut Arterie.
Reishi is still injected into the blood vessels, but this time the destructive power generated by the body increases dramatically.”
Hua Ye clenched his fist hard.
Nothing looked particularly different from the outside, yet violent power drawn from within his body had already converged into a single point.
Then he lowered both hands and allowed the Blut markings to disappear.
“So it handles both offense and defense…”
Kaido struggled to understand the concept.
It wasn’t a Devil Fruit ability.
It possessed both offensive and defensive applications, which made it somewhat similar to Armament Haki, yet the underlying principle was completely different.
Haki was latent power possessed by every human in the world.
It was an innate ability tied to spirit, presence, and intimidation—something that existed almost like instinct.
Most people never became consciously aware of it and required harsh training to bring it out.
But this Blut Hua Ye was describing?
Nobody in this world had ever heard of it.
“Why are you telling me all this?” Kaido asked after remaining silent for a long time, apparently still digesting the information.
“The World Government has an armed force dedicated specifically to serving the Celestial Dragons,” Hua Ye said unhurriedly.
“They’re called the Knights of God.”
“I intend to build something similar.
I’ll call them…
the Sternritter.”
This time Kaido understood immediately.
His expression changed.
“You want to recruit me as your subordinate?”
“Subordinate, companion, friend, ally…
how you define the relationship is your problem.”
Hua Ye looked at him calmly.
“You’ve heard enough.
All you need to answer is yes or no.”
Kaido quietly clenched his fist.
Despite appearances, he had never intended to submit to anyone.
He remained with the Rocks Pirates only because he wanted to become stronger.
The moment he possessed enough strength to fight alone on the seas, he would leave without hesitation.
Rocks?
Charlotte Linlin?
None of them truly mattered.
In this world, the violence one personally possessed was everything.
But now, a man who possessed even greater violence was extending an invitation to him.
Accepting might mean falling into an unknown abyss.
Refusing meant potentially abandoning an entirely new source of power.
If an extraordinarily powerful Devil Fruit were sitting in front of him, Kaido would eat it without hesitation.
Compared to the strength it granted, a weakness like losing the ability to swim was trivial.
But this…
“So the rumors were true.” Kaido’s voice became difficult to read.
“You really can give other people power.”
He paused.
“Sorry.
I refuse.”
“Understandable.”
Hua Ye smiled lightly.
“When humans first learned to use fire, when someone first ate a Devil Fruit, when someone first mastered Haki…
every new form of power is unknown, and the unknown is frightening.”
“I’m not afraid,” Kaido replied without hesitation as he turned away.
“I simply have no intention of working for somebody else.
And I don’t trust you—or this ‘new power’ you’re talking about.”
“Is that so?
What a shame.”
Hua Ye didn’t appear bothered in the slightest.
His presence remained as calm and pleasant as a spring breeze.
“Though if you hadn’t come to meet me at all, I might actually believe you.”
Kaido’s body paused for half a second.
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he walked straight to the edge of the towering rock formation and jumped off.
Hua Ye remained alone at the summit, quietly enjoying the view from above.
After a while, he suddenly spoke.
“Are you still not coming out?”
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