Huff! Huff!
After an hour of continuous warm-up, Roya set down the twenty-ton weight. As expected of a room built entirely from Seastone—lifting and lowering a twenty-ton load left not the slightest mark on the floor.
Roya stretched his body, took a brief rest, then drew Engetsu. Gripping the sword with both hands, he suddenly leapt into the air and slashed toward a specially made target ahead.
Shh! Shh! Shh!!
In an instant, Roya's sword seemed to produce nine afterimages. The sword pressure, wind pressure, and cutting force formed by the first eight strikes almost instantly stacked together. However, the ninth strike appeared somewhat out of sync, and in the end only a small portion of its sword pressure fused with the others.
Boom!!
The sword energy swept forward and smashed into the special target.
"I need to adjust my strength and speed. The ninth sword must reach the same standard as the first eight—and be even faster—so that the sword pressure can fuse perfectly."
After observing the result of his attempt at nine-sword fusion, Roya nodded, then once again gripped the sword with both hands and slashed toward the distant target.
"Again!"
Shh! Shh!!
The ninth sword fused slightly, but most of its power was still lost. The fusion was imperfect—still a failure.
"My force application is still a bit off. Keep going…"
Roya believed that with his current arm strength and physical conditioning, completing ten-sword fusion was entirely possible. What he lacked was the precise angle of force application and a deeper understanding of sword pressure.
Without extending that subtle sense of timing, the only way to comprehend higher-level sword pressure was through countless repetitions—swing after swing, probing bit by bit.
There were still two and a half months before the third-stage assessment, so Roya was not in a hurry. As long as he could further improve his strength before then, it would be enough.
Half a month later.
Roya completed the fusion of the ninth sword.
Another month and a half passed, and Roya finally completed the fusion of the tenth sword!
---
Inside the Seastone training room.
Roya suddenly leapt up, gripping his sword with both hands. In midair, his blade traced a blur of afterimages. At this point, it was nearly impossible to tell how many sword strikes there were—only a brief flicker of vision before countless afterimages abruptly merged into a single, massive sword energy that blasted forward.
Boom!!
The silver-white sword energy, like a bolt of lightning, slammed into the special target with a thunderous roar, as if something had exploded.
"The difficulty of fusing the tenth sword really is high… but after completing it, the overall feeling is completely different."
Watching the power produced by his ten-sword fusion, Roya's eyes flickered slightly. Holding the sword in one hand, he casually slashed once.
Shh!!
Even with a one-handed slash, a silver-white sword energy burst forth. Though far weaker than before, this was still something no ordinary one-handed strike should be able to produce.
"So that's it—not just the power and speed of the slash, but my understanding of sword pressure has improved dramatically as well?"
Roya gripped Engetsu and continuously practiced one-handed slashes, a look of realization appearing in his eyes.
"Ten-sword fusion really is a bottleneck. No wonder the Swordsmanship Essentials state that once you reach the level of ten-sword fusion, relying on swordsmanship alone is enough to ensure you're no longer a weakling on these seas."
After swinging Engetsu a couple more times and carefully experiencing the sensation of sword pressure, Roya finally sheathed the blade.
Relaxing his arms, Roya willed it mentally, and a translucent status panel popped up before his eyes.
[Third Stage: Agile Soul Sword +9
Attributes: Attack Power +280, Strength +90, Agility +90
Special Attribute: All Things in the Universe, turn to ashes: Sword attacks can freely add flame damage
(evolution conditions not met)
Special Attribute: Getsuga Tenshō: Sword attacks can release crescent-shaped sword energy
Enhancement Energy: 13/210]
From mastering Haki and defeating Lucci up to now, Roya's Soul Sword had strengthened by another two stages. If nothing unexpected occurred, then just like before, once the third stage reached +10, further strengthening would certainly advance it to the fourth stage!
"Looks like there won't be enough time to strengthen it to +10 before the third-stage assessment."
Roya estimated the time. The third-stage assessment would begin in three days. After it ended, he would likely be able to quickly advance the Soul Sword to the fourth stage.
"My physical strength now should already be top-tier among branch vice admirals. My Haki matches that strength, and purely in swordsmanship, I'm not inferior to a branch vice admiral either."
"Add in my flame ability and the enhanced Getsuga Tenshō…"
At this thought, a glint flashed in Roya's eyes. He clenched his fist slightly, feeling the powerful strength within himself, and smiled.
"Even against a headquarters vice admiral, we'll only know who's stronger after fighting!"
Among Marine Headquarters vice admirals, strength varied greatly. The top-tier ones could even exchange a few moves with someone like Doflamingo, a quasi-admiral-level combatant. The weaker ones, however, would be defeated instantly.
Roya believed that against those vice admirals who could be instantly defeated by a quasi-admiral, his own strength would surpass theirs!
---
Three days later.
At Marine Headquarters, Marineford, there were many plazas. The largest was undoubtedly the one facing the harbor and the Marine fortress—a plaza capable of accommodating a battle of a hundred thousand people.
Second to that—
Was a slightly off-center area near the Marine Headquarters fortress.
Here were two somewhat smaller plazas. One was usually used by ordinary recruits for training. The other, however, had been temporarily set up into something resembling an arena.
On that arena, two figures were engaged in fierce combat.
Bang!!
Suddenly, one of the figures was blasted backward and knocked off the platform.
"Smoker, sixth match passed!"
Watching this scene, Vice Admiral Yamakaji—standing closest to the arena—solemnly announced the result.
The figure still standing on the arena, the one who had knocked his opponent off, was Smoker. He had passed the sixth match of the third-stage assessment, which meant he had now completely passed the graduation examination.
Of course, for a better result, he could continue challenging the subsequent matches.
Smoker chose to challenge the seventh match.
The opponents in the first six matches were roughly between Lieutenant Commander and Captain level.
In the sixth match, Smoker's opponent had been a Marine Headquarters Captain. But in the seventh match, the enemy was a pirate who had once carried a bounty of 180 million Beli and had been imprisoned in Impel Down!
Pirates with that level of bounty varied in strength. The weaker ones could rival a Marine branch vice admiral, while the stronger ones could even surpass a headquarters vice admiral!
Clearly—
Starting from the seventh match, the difficulty did not increase by just a small margin!
And this wasn't only because the opponents were stronger.
Fighting Marines and fighting pirates were fundamentally different. Even pirates who had been captured and imprisoned in Impel Down—whose ferocity had been worn down somewhat by the brutal prison—were still pirates.
Sparring with Marines was essentially controlled internal competition, stopping short of lethal blows. Facing pirates, however, meant a completely different kind of battle—a true, bloody fight.
Not far from the arena—
Was the spectator area for this third-stage assessment.
The lineup in the stands was extremely luxurious: numerous headquarters vice admirals, the three Marine admirals Aokiji, Kizaru, and Akainu, the former admiral Zephyr, the Marine hero Garp…
Even Fleet Admiral Sengoku was present!
At present, the situation in the New World was no longer something that could be easily interfered with. As a result, the Marines had adopted a stance of strict monitoring of the Four Emperors without making rash moves.
Because of this, the Marine high command had been relatively idle for a short period.
This third-stage elite camp graduation assessment, with so many high-ranking Marines invited to watch, boasted a lineup unprecedented in recent years—second only to the scale of the Summit War in the canon.