Chapter 154: Two Months Later, A New Warlord of the Sea

"A monkey that can use a sword!"

Before Siano could even react, stars were already sparkling in Nami's eyes:

"Ohhh, how amazing! Sister Sister Guyina, lend me your Huazhou for a bit; I'm going to spar with them!"

Huazhou was the fine blade Robin had once given to Sister Sister Guyina.

Sister Sister Guyina liked it very much and always carried it on her person as a spare sword.

"Stop messing around blindly; what sword skills do you have? Just drive them off with fire and be done with it."

Nojiko pinch-pulled her ear, clearly annoyed.

"That would be bullying the monkeys too much! Don't worry, I learned a few sword moves from my big brother back in the day; dealing with a mere handful of monkeys is no problem at all!"

"..."

Sister Sister Guyina shook her head and, helplessly, tossed Huazhou over.

"Ho ho! Here I come! Little monkeys, take this!"

Nami rushed forward with great excitement.

As expected.

She didn't even last a minute before being beaten into a frantic retreat, clutching her head and fleeing in disgrace.

"Boo hoo, these stinky monkeys are so strong..."

"Let me handle it then."

Sister Sister Guyina sighed, drew Wado Ichimonji,

and glanced at the baboons, her gaze filled with a hint of keen interest.

Initially, she hadn't taken these sword-wielding monkeys seriously at all.

But after witnessing their fight with Nami just now, she realized these baboons' swords were not swinging wildly; rather, they were quite exquisite, with some sword combinations even making her eyes light up.

They were opponents worth fighting!

Fearing she might accidentally kill these baboons, Sister Sister Guyina did not use Haki and tried her best to use only the blunt edge of her blade, holding back her strength.

However, the gap in stats was simply too large.

After a few exchanges,

these baboons were still easily defeated by her, lying scattered on the ground with stars spinning in their eyes and foam frothing from their mouths.

"Very impressive swordsmanship."

Sister Sister Guyina sheathed her sword and offered her evaluation, "Pity there are only this few; if there were more, even I would be forced into a bitter struggle."

"Is that so?"

Siano smiled. "Then your request is easy to satisfy; I just swept the island with Observation Haki, and there are at least several hundred baboons here who know swordsmanship."

"Several hundred?"

Sister Sister Guyina was stunned. "So many baboons who know swordsmanship? Who had nothing better to do than teach every single one of them how to wield a sword?"

"Not necessarily taught; baboons are creatures that love to mimic humans. They likely watched people practice swordsmanship for years and secretly imitated them, thus acquiring such skills."

"Just by mimicking, their swordsmanship can reach this level?"

Then to what height has the sword realm of that person who practiced swordsmanship ascended?!

Sister Sister Guyina lifted her head, gazing at the castle shrouded in thick mist. "It seems the master of this castle is a tremendously powerful Great Swordsman..."

"Let's go inside and take a look."

Siano stepped forward, pushed open the door, and strode inside.

At this moment, he could be one hundred percent certain that this was Hawk-Eye's residence.

The name was very long, something like Kuraigana Island.

It used to be a normal town, but later a fierce war broke out here; with very few survivors, the place gradually fell into desolation and ruin.

Accustomed to being alone, Hawk-Eye settled down here and made it his permanent home.

The decoration style inside the castle was very elegant and classical, but the furniture and floors were covered in a layer of dust, clearly indicating the castle's master had been away for some time.

Where did you go, Hawk-Eye...

Not seeing the main figure, Siano felt somewhat regretful; he didn't know if the other party had heard of his reputation, as he actually quite wanted to spar with this world's number one Great Swordsman.

Sister Sister Guyina must want to as well, right?

"We'll undergo closed-door training right here in this castle."

After touring the entire castle, Siano made his decision.

This castle, located at the center of the island, was simply a perfect venue for closed-door cultivation.

The surrounding open space was vast and uninhabited, satisfying both of Siano's major requirements, and those numerous baboons proficient in swordsmanship...

For others, they might be a huge trouble.

But because there was a young female swordmaster on the ship who was eager to improve her sword skills, Siano actually felt the baboon troop's scale wasn't even large enough.

However.

If he remembered correctly, there was also a gigantic Baboon King here, wielding a broadsword extremely similar to Hawk-Eye's black blade Yoru, whose swordsmanship strength was quite formidable.

For Sister Sister Guyina, this would be a perfect sparring partner.

After exploring the surrounding areas, everyone settled down temporarily in the castle according to Siano's instructions.

The first floor had a vast area with many vacant guest rooms, more than enough to arrange accommodation for the crew.

Kitchen, bathroom, it had everything... there was even a small vegetable patch and a fish pond in the castle's backyard, so there was no need to worry about supplies running short; they could be completely self-sufficient.

As for the second floor, those were the master's rooms; since they were borrowing someone else's territory, they still needed to show some proper respect.

The rest of the crew didn't need worrying about; Siano specifically warned and admonished only Nami and the two pets, ordering them not to go up there and rummage around without cause.

In the blink of an eye, the second day arrived.

It was just past five in the morning, the sky still dark, when Siano rose early.

He first spent half an hour running ten laps around the island as a simple warm-up, then found an open spot within the forest to continue cultivating the "Energy Disc Slash."

Over the past few days.

He had already read through all the essentials described in the secret manual and attempted it several times, but every attempt ended in failure.

The greatest difficulty was that the world of pirates did not possess the so-called "Qi" found in the world of Dragon Ball.

This seemed unsolvable, but getting to the root of the matter, what Siano mastered was the technique; as for what gathered on his palm and was released outward, it was merely a form of energy.

After pondering for a while, Siano decided to substitute Haki for Qi to see if it would succeed.

Today marked the first formal attempt.

"The key to the Energy Disc Slash lies in rotating energy at high speed and compressing it into a disc shape..."

Closing his eyes to recall the contents of the manual, he began gathering his Armament Haki from within his body toward his palm.

Unlike the "Qi" of the Dragon Ball world, the energy form of Haki leaned more toward materialization.

Moreover, true to its name, when released from the body through external techniques, it often carried a wild force—

Swinging broadly, colliding in all directions, overwhelmingly domineering...

Controlling it required far greater precision and care.

Buzz!

Dense black Haki condensed between his palms, rapidly forming an irregular oval sphere that began to rotate slowly.

Glancing at the black vortex above his head and sensing the energy contained within, Siano frowned slightly.

"The compression isn't tight enough, and the rotation speed won't increase."

At this level, launching it would result in something soft and weak, easily dodged and lacking any killing power.

Taking a deep breath, he suddenly increased his Haki output.

Hiss-hiss!

More Haki rushed into it, yet under Siano's deliberate compression and control, the vortex did not grow much larger.

This time, the rotation speed gradually increased.

But the edges were uneven, the shape irregular, and Haki was frequently flung outward and spilled away, failing utterly to reach the perfect saw-like state described in the manual.

Boom!

With a dull thud, the Haki vortex suddenly exploded, spreading a terrifying shockwave that instantly flattened a wide circle of surrounding trees.

"The rotation speed is insufficient; maintaining an external state for too long causes it to explode on its own."

Shaking his numb right hand, Siano fell into thoughtful silence.

Having cultivated Haki for many years, he had already mastered the technique of "external release" with great proficiency; even so, once Haki left his body, he could not control "Qi" with the minute precision achievable by martial artists in the Dragon Ball world.

Yet the "Energy Disc Slash" demanded extremely high precision in exactly this aspect.

After all, Haki was not "Qi"; directly copying the technique clearly would not work.

Siano sighed, stood up, and paced back and forth while pinching his chin.

Perhaps it was time to change his approach; since perfectly replicating the original version was impossible, he should make targeted improvements based on the characteristics of Haki.

But specifically, how should he...

Just then.

From the distant withered wood forest came the cry, "Ooh-ooh-ooh!"

Using Moon Step, Siano arrived atop a tree in an instant; following the sound, he saw that the baboons beaten back yesterday had called for friends and brought a huge group of helpers, marching toward the castle with imposing momentum.

Going to seek revenge?

Sister Sister Guyina should have already risen; seeing so many sparring partners delivering themselves to her door, she ought to be very happy.

Siano, however, watched with great relish.

One of the baboons, while walking, casually waved its arm to create a beautiful sword flower, a perfect arc whose flashing cold light stung Siano's eyes.

"Sword flower..."

Narrowing his eyes, Siano suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

He returned to his original spot, raised his right arm, and condensed his Haki.

But this time, he no longer sought to form it in one go by compressing a large lump of Haki directly into that disc shape.

Instead, he first divided the released Haki into dozens or even hundreds of fine threads, intertwining and weaving them together.

"Spin for me!"

With a low shout, these Haki threads, resembling sword blades, began rotating at high speed in one direction, gradually forming a disc about half a meter in diameter.

Although the edges remained somewhat rough, the overall form had taken initial shape.

"The approach is correct!"

Joy appeared on Siano's face; this method could perfectly fit into the mold of the "Energy Disc Slash," and all that remained was to slowly refine and optimize it.

He immediately tried compressing even more Haki onto the disc's edge, making it as thin as a cicada's wing and increasing the rotation speed to a terrifying degree, nearly invisible to the naked eye.

The dark black energy disc emitted a piercing hum, appearing on the verge of losing its stable form.

"Go!"

Siano suddenly exerted force with his right hand; the rapidly spinning Haki disc shot from his grasp, whistling toward a distant hill roughly a hundred meters high.

Boom—

Amidst a deafening explosion, the entire hill was severed in half.

The upper half of the mountain body slowly slid down, kicking up dust and smoke that filled the sky; using Moon Step, Siano stepped into the air, looked down to inspect, and found the cut surface smooth as a mirror, actually shaved flat by this single strike!

Success!

After several days of intense study, a brilliant light flashed in Siano's eyes as he finally overcame the most difficult hurdle; he couldn't help but clench his fists in excitement.

So what if the original "Kienzan" cannot be replicated in this world?

Techniques are universal!

Now, he had finally created his very own "Haki Kienzan"!

"This name doesn't sound very good; it needs to be changed."

However, not right now.

Siano's gaze fell upon the fractured hills; with his current strength, a casual punch could achieve a similar effect, so he was actually not satisfied with the current power of this move.

Therefore, for the coming period, he must grasp both aspects firmly and make both strong!

—He must continue to consolidate and optimize the power of the Kienzan, while also continuing to practice Conqueror's Haki coating.

And then...

Perfectly combine the two!

Yes!

The upper limit of the secret technique "Kienzan" is very high; merely improving it into a Haki version is far from impressive!

If he wanted to thoroughly transform it into his own trump card, how could he not infuse it with a massive amount of Conqueror's Haki, just like Teacher Kai did?!

Imagining the future slightly...

He raises his right arm, and atop that high-speed rotating disc, while emitting a terrifying aura that makes one's heart tremble, thick black-red lightning continuously spreads out in all directions...

Even among the Four Emperors and the Admirals, would anyone dare to take a direct hit?

Siano had already decided on a name in advance.

Just like the "God Avoidance" and "God Punishment" series, he would choose a similar name—

Its name shall be—

God Split!

As for now...

Siano clenched his fists tightly.

Continue bitter cultivation!

————

During these days of secluded bitter cultivation, time seemed to flow even faster.

In the blink of an eye, two months passed in a flash.

Ever since Roger opened the Great Pirate Era, this sea had never known peace.

This period was equally turbulent, with winds rising and clouds surging.

First, the Beasts Pirates of the New World clashed with the Red-Haired Pirates in a major battle.

The cause of the incident seemed to be related to that missing great swordsman, Siano.

To summarize briefly: after the battle at Enies Lobby, Kaido of the Beasts became even more irritable; after drinking alone in his stronghold for a few days, he went out looking for fights, and inadvertently picked a fight with Red-Haired Shanks, ultimately triggering this war.

While the war in the New World had not yet subsided, another even more noteworthy piece of news emerged in the first half of the Grand Line.

The two vacant positions for the Seven Warlords of the Sea were finally confirmed.

One was a long-famous pirate named "Fierce Rhino" Akshan, with a former bounty of 430,000,000 Berries; he was a veteran who had wandered the New World for some time.

For such a figure to become a Seven Warlord, the outside world had mostly expected it, causing no significant ripples.

As for the other, however, many people were shocked speechless.

Named "Thunder God" Enel, he had no former bounty, and no one had ever heard his name; this fellow seemed to have dropped from the sky, suddenly appearing on this sea and catching the eye of the World Government.

This inevitably led people to whisper and speculate.

Did this guy's strength truly deserve the title of Seven Warlord?

And on what grounds exactly did he dare to assume the name of Thunder God...

As for the big news of the last few days.

It was the tremendous explosion heard in Dressrosa, ruled by the Donquixote Family, which caused the entire island to shake violently.

Some eyewitnesses saw something fly into the sky and escape into the distance.

However, regarding the specific details, the Donquixote Family seemed to have sealed off the information, and reporters from the World Economic News Agency were currently infiltrating to investigate.

The new waves always push aside the old.

One piece of attention-grabbing news after another kept emerging.

In comparison, after the death of Siano, who had once generated countless major headlines, the remnants of the Loomers Adventure Group had completely vanished from the spotlight, basically receiving no attention.

Rumors claimed that these guys had been successfully captured and wiped out by the Marines, while other rumors suggested that since the captain was dead, the group had disintegrated and returned to their respective hometowns.

In any case.

The story belonging to Siano had withdrawn from the center stage of the world; according to past experience, it wouldn't be long before he would be completely forgotten by most people...

(End of Chapter)