Aboard the Vogue Merry
After five days of specialized training, the deck of the Merry no longer resembled a simple pirate ship. It had become a true floating training camp. Even Law, who at first had no intention of participating, had eventually joined the sessions—first out of pride, then out of necessity. Watching the constant progress of the Straw Hat crew had stirred in him a mix of competition and respect.
The results were undeniable.
Usopp had made a spectacular leap forward.
Under the constant pressure of Sanji's kicks and the controlled projectiles of Elise and Kazuki, he had finally unlocked the basics of Armament Haki. It was not yet a full and stable coating, but he could now harden specific areas on impact.
What was most impressive remained his instinctive ability to combine his Observation Haki with this new defense. He no longer hardened his body at random—he reinforced the exact spot that was about to be struck, sometimes a fraction of a second before impact.
During one exercise, Sanji launched a full-speed flaming kick.
"This time, you're flying!"
The heel struck… and a sharp crack echoed.
Usopp stepped back once, but remained standing, his forearm darkened by a thin layer of Armament.
"I felt the angle…" he breathed, eyes shining. "I can almost see the strike before it happens."
He was still far from mastering the full version of Armament Haki, but the foundation had been laid. And for a sniper, the ability to precisely reinforce vital points changed everything.
Sanji, on his side, had reached an impressive new level in mastering his Devil Fruit.
At first, his flames had been mainly powerful and destructive. Now, they were controlled.
He could precisely regulate their temperature, easily reaching 1100 degrees Celsius during a focused strike. The ice beneath his feet melted within seconds, leaving swirling circles of steam around him.
But the most remarkable change lay elsewhere.
Through repeated voluntary exposure to his own heat, his body had adapted. His resistance to fire had risen to match the power of his attacks. He could now fully envelop his body in flames without feeling the slightest burn.
"It's like my body understood that fire is… me," he said calmly while observing his flaming aura, which now served as both defense and offense.
And yet, he felt he had not reached his limit. Something deep inside suggested that this fire could grow even more intense, purer, more violent.
Kazuki's progress had been subtler, but just as formidable.
After long strategic discussions with Nami and me, she had refined her understanding of wind—not as brute force, but as an invisible blade.
I had explained to her:
"The thinner the blade, the easier it cuts. Wind works the same way. Don't think in terms of power. Think in terms of precision."
She had applied that principle with almost scientific rigor.
The result: she could now create wind needles so fine they pierced steel like butter. Invisible to the naked eye and silent, they penetrated targets without producing even the slightest perceptible sound.
During one test, a metal plate placed several meters away was cleanly pierced, riddled with numerous needle-like punctures. She named the attack Fury of the Seeker.
At the same time, thanks to Nami's advice on managing atmospheric flows, she had learned to form larger tornadoes with less effort. By optimizing rotation and differential pressure, she conserved her stamina while increasing the area of impact.
"It's more efficient… and more stable," she observed while watching a column of air swirl around her, having learned a variation of the Gust spell.
Elise, for her part, had evolved in a subtler but potentially terrifying way.
Through repeated experimentation and exposure—especially constant contact with my ice magic—her Devil Fruit had developed two new variations.
The first was the more strategic one: a version of her liquid resembling seawater. Not a simple imitation, but a substance saturated with an inhibitory property. During a test, when Law placed a finger on a thin layer of it, he immediately felt a diffuse weakness spreading through his arm.
"Interesting…" he murmured, pulling his hand back.
This variation did not completely neutralize a Devil Fruit user like the sea itself would, but it significantly weakened their abilities with prolonged contact. On a battlefield, it was a formidable counter.
The second evolution was more technical: her honey could now harden almost instantly. Constant exposure to my ice had altered its structure. Where it had previously taken several seconds to obtain a solid surface, she could now create platforms or shields almost immediately.
She sometimes combined both forms—a viscous, trapping core covered with a hardened outer layer—creating traps that were nearly impossible to anticipate.
"It's like my fruit is learning along with me," she confided one evening while watching the light reflect off a plate of crystallized honey.
"Your fruit isn't really tied to a single element. It feels more like the fruit of liquid itself, so you'll probably gain other properties as you keep experimenting with new things," I said with a smile.
The three swordsmen were not to be outdone.
Koby had made spectacular progress in Observation Haki. His perception field had widened, but more importantly, it had sharpened. He no longer just sensed an attack—he was beginning to perceive the intent behind the movement.
"He's going to feint left," he announced once, just before Zoro changed angles.
Zoro gave a slight smile.
"Not bad."
Kuina and Zoro, meanwhile, had focused almost exclusively on Armament Haki. Their coating was becoming denser, more stable. Their blackened blades vibrated with controlled tension, and their strikes left cleaner, deeper cuts.
But their greatest improvement wasn't technical.
It was tactical.
After fighting together repeatedly in unstable environments, they had developed an almost instinctive mutual understanding. Without a word, Kuina would pivot to cover Zoro's blind spot. Koby would step back at precisely the right moment to allow a cross strike to pass. Their movements meshed like pieces in a well-oiled mechanism.
They were no longer three separate fighters—they are a legion (just kidding ^^).
Nami, meanwhile, had crossed an impressive threshold.
After manipulating ice, then fire, then lightning under real training conditions, her mastery had exploded. In pure magical manipulation, she had surpassed me. Where I needed gestures or a brief moment of concentration, she could now generate elemental forms with a single thought.
One morning, an ice dragon burst from the frozen surface, launching itself at Zoro before exploding into shimmering fragments.
The next day, a lightning panther leapt forward, striking Kuina with millimeter precision.
Even fire, which she handled carefully, sometimes took the shape of a miniature phoenix circling above the deck.
She loved constructing these elemental creatures, refining them with every attempt.
"It's more fun than just throwing simple lightning bolts," she admitted with a mischievous smile.
Charles, for his part, had given me the full interview with Law. I had sent a copy to Morgans after receiving the latest newspaper. If he published the story of Flevance, all the better. If not, I kept a duplicate. The foundations of the World Government weren't going to crack on their own.
But Charles's greatest evolution came from elsewhere. I subtly gave him the Heartless born from Machvise, making it seem as though the Heartless had slipped into his shadow on its own.
Unlike the original, Charles didn't use his body as a weapon. He gained a heavy mace capable of transforming into a flail thanks to the Heartless.
At rest, it was almost unnaturally light. But at the exact moment of impact, he could increase its weight.
For now, his limit capped at one ton.
On this sea, that was more than enough.
During an exercise, he brought the mace down onto a suspended metal plate. The weapon seemed light until the last fraction of a second… then the impact made the entire deck vibrate.
Beyond combat, Charles used it to train. He gradually increased its weight while maintaining his posture, strengthening his shoulders, back, and legs.
"If I have to carry this power… I might as well be worthy of it," he said seriously.
Kaya had finally agreed to train alongside Law. At first, it was only medical exchanges: anatomy, traumatology, field surgery. But very quickly, theoretical discussions had shifted toward practice.
And that's when… the captain of the Polar Tang began to regret his curiosity.
In combat, Kaya would sometimes adopt her Purple Rabbit form, her pupils glowing with an almost unsettling light. Her speed had already improved significantly, but combined with her almost unhealthy enthusiasm for anatomy, it became disturbing.
"If I cut here, you lose mobility in your arm for about six seconds," she explained with an adorable smile… far too adorable.
Law remained silent for a second.
"…You're terrifying."
From the submarine's deck, Bepo watched the scene, trembling slightly.
"Captain… she's smiling again…"
Fortunately, Bepo had accidentally discovered a surprisingly effective way to calm Kaya. All he had to do was step in and flop onto his back, arms spread wide, acting like a giant living plush toy.
"Kaya, break time! Mandatory hug!"
Every time, Kaya would stop, blink… then literally melt onto him.
"Bepo is soft…"
That little ritual kept her more extreme tendencies from drifting too far.
Even so, Law had improved tremendously thanks to her. His combat sense had sharpened. He anticipated attack angles better, used his Room with greater precision and less wasted energy. He hadn't yet developed Observation Haki, but his tactical instinct had clearly reached a new level.
As for Kaya, she had gained explosiveness. Her pure speed had improved, as had the fluidity of her combinations. She struck cleaner, more efficiently—even if her smile remained slightly unsettling.
Luffy, on the other hand, had surprised everyone.
Thanks to little Merry, he had genuinely studied. Seriously.
Seated beneath the main mast, he devoured all our books on navigation: currents, winds, atmospheric pressure, cyclonic phenomena.
And as always… he turned theory into combat.
"If the wind pushes here… and the water spins like this…"
One day, in the middle of training, he combined his spinning movements with my own magical attacks. He used his Luffy Tornado, amplified by air flows he now instinctively understood, to generate a true localized storm against me.
The wind dragged my ice.
My flames bent under the altered atmospheric pressure.
Even the sea itself seemed to respond to his gestures.
"See?!" he shouted with a laugh. "If I understand the sea… it can help me fight!"
He had literally integrated navigation into his combat style.
As for me, I had chosen a different path from Nami.
Where she had perfected pure control, finesse, elemental creation… I had pushed raw power.
My flames had changed.
They were no longer simply purple or red. They were now white—blinding white—reaching nearly 3000 degrees. At their touch, the air visibly warped. The surface of the sea boiled instantly.
My ice, meanwhile, had become terrifying. At least three times colder than Nami's. I could freeze an opponent in a second with direct contact. Of course, my range was still far from the capabilities of a certain admiral who could freeze an entire ocean, but at short to mid-range, it was more than enough.
Fortunately, I had learned to instantly thaw whatever I froze. That had allowed me to avoid serious accidents.
Luffy was living proof.
Out of our last five duels, I had ended two by freezing him completely—leaving him immobile like a statue before I released him.
"Hey! That's not fair!" he protested after the second time. "I was thinking!"
As for lightning, I capped out at around 100,000 volts. Powerful, destructive… but it wasn't my favorite element. I mostly used it for support or surprise attacks.
Even so, I couldn't help feeling slightly jealous of Nami's elegant creations—her ice dragons, her lightning beasts.
One day, I thought as I watched her elemental constructs take shape, I'll work on finesse too.
At last, we reached our destination. Spider Miles appeared on the horizon.
Mariejois — The Flower Chambers
The atmosphere there was always unreal.
Rare flowers, cultivated out of season and brought from the four seas, filled the air with a soft and deceptive fragrance. Immaculate petals covered the white marble floor, and light filtered through the tall stained-glass windows, bathing the room in an almost celestial glow.
That was where the Five Elders had gathered.
Under Imu's silent pressure, procedures had been accelerated. Sengoku had received an order with no room for refusal: deliver an intact, freshly transformed Heartless, captured after an operation on the Sabaody Archipelago.
It had once been a pirate worth sixty million Berries.
His heart had fallen into darkness after his defeat.
The creature born from it now stood before them.
Black as liquid shadow, it wore cracked red armor resembling what the pirate had worn in life. Its eyes glowed an unnatural, cold blue. In its hands, a dark-bladed kusarigama swayed dangerously, still imbued with the martial identity of its former owner.
Massive Seastone chains restrained its limbs.
Even so, the Heartless continued to struggle. It pulled, twisted, lashed out at empty air, instinctively trying to attack the five silhouettes surrounding it.
Saint Jaygarcia Saturn held it suspended by a taut chain.
"Their instinct is truly a headache," he said dryly, watching the creature still trying to bite at the air.
The Heartless lunged at them repeatedly, as if drawn toward something it did not understand itself.
Then—
The inner door opened without a sound.
Imu's personal attendant appeared.
Silent. Upright. Draped in a simple, perfectly white garment.
She never left the Flower Chambers.
The instant she approached, the Heartless froze.
Its chains stopped vibrating.
Its blue eyes turned toward her… and then it suddenly calmed, as if an invisible pressure had crushed all aggressive intent within it.
"Surprising…" murmured Saint Marcus Mars.
The Five Elders exchanged a brief glance.
Then a voice echoed.
It came from no precise direction. It simply filled the room.
"You may leave."
The Five Elders instantly knelt.
"As you command, Imu-sama."
They left the chamber without another word. The heavy doors closed behind them with a muffled thud.
As soon as their presence vanished, the Heartless calmed completely. Its chains no longer rattled. Its weapon hung loosely in its hand.
Imu's voice spoke again, closer this time.
"Release it."
The attendant showed no hesitation. She knelt beside the restraints, her fingers brushing the seals engraved into the Seastone. The inscriptions glowed briefly before fading. One by one, the chains loosened with a heavy metallic clink.
The Heartless dropped to the floor.
Free.
An unreal silence filled the Flower Chambers.
Then the air shifted.
An ancient circle, etched with a complex pentacle, suddenly appeared beneath the creature. Black lines began to glow with a purple radiance. Space itself seemed to twist, as though reality were bending under an invisible will.
Imu had appeared.
Not through a door. Not from a shadow.
Simply… there.
Facing the creature.
The pentacle pulsed, ready to corrupt, to subjugate, to reshape. An overwhelming force poured over the Heartless, seeking to turn it into a puppet.
But nothing happened.
The pentacle's lines flickered.
The corruption searched for an anchor point… and found none.
These particular shadows had already been purified.
A fleeting moment of suspension settled in the air.
Then the Heartless leapt.
It hurled itself at Imu with instinctive violence, its blue eyes burning with renewed intensity. Upon contact, an invisible shockwave rippled through the chamber. The air trembled. Flowers withered within several meters.
The creature did not attempt to strike.
It absorbed.
Imu stepped back half a pace.
Surprised.
Genuinely surprised.
For the first time in eight centuries, something escaped her control.
The moment lasted only a fraction of a second.
A war fork materialized in a burst of black energy and came down upon the creature with absolute precision. The Heartless exploded into fragments of shadow and light, dissipated in a single blow.
Silence fell again.
But something had changed.
Imu remained motionless.
She felt the absence.
Infinitesimal… but real.
In that brief contact, she had lost a fraction of her power.
One fiftieth.
An insignificant amount for an ordinary being.
Not for her.
The doors of the Flower Chambers were still vibrating when the Five Elders, walking toward the Room of Authority, heard the voice.
It did not echo.
It imposed itself.
"I want Sora dead."
They froze instantly.
Never.
In eight hundred years of the World Government's existence, they had never heard Imu raise her voice like that.
The anger emanating from the chamber was palpable, heavy, almost suffocating.
"Prevent him from spreading these creatures. Ban all usage. Declare them abominations."
A glacial silence followed.
Then the final sentence fell, heavier than all the others:
"Otherwise… we will fall."
The Five Elders immediately knelt in the empty corridor.
For the first time, they understood the magnitude of the danger.
This was not a political threat like the Revolutionary Army.
It was existential.
Chapter 94: A More Terrifying Adversary than Nika
(Author's note: I'll leave this chapter here to address ssdxd's concerns ^^, and to clearly outline the crew members' improvements. I'll probably write another one tomorrow for the landing on Spider Miles, and I've attached a fanart as well.)