Three days later, Marineford Arsenal.
"Damn it, Lance! Watch your lightning! It's arcing over to my side!"
"Uh… my bad, Shirley."
Inside Hammer's personal forge room in the arsenal, the sounds of thunderous crackling and angry shouting rang out from time to time.
Lance and the others were currently working hard to complete the assignments Hammer had given them.
Out of the three of them, Hina progressed the fastest.
Black hammer smashing black iron, Hina was forging to her heart's content, and behind her already lay over a dozen weapons of various shapes.
At first, Hina had wanted to forge swords and blades.
But Hammer suddenly remembered the attribute he had granted to the products of the Cage-Cage Fruit.
He immediately changed Hina's forging direction, telling her to focus as much as possible on long-handled weapons or blunt weapons.
That way, the destructive potential of the imbued attributes could be better utilized.
Meanwhile, after three days of work, Hammer had finally completely repaired the Fist of Tekko using Iron Cloud.
Looking at the layer of cloud patterns covering the Fist of Tekko, Hammer nodded in satisfaction.
This was the second Cloud Armor.
And one even more powerful than his own.
As for Lance, after three days of pouring everything into training, his lightning intensity had finally reached 20 million volts.
And through repeated practice, he had already become capable of instantly melting steel with electricity.
One could say he had basically achieved Hammer's initial requirements.
The slowest progress belonged to Shirley.
Trying to engrave patterns directly onto created shields required immense concentration.
But watching the others constantly improve ignited her competitive spirit.
Through sheer stubborn determination, she managed to complete the task within three days.
Though admittedly, the portrait of Lance she engraved onto the shield didn't really look like him.
"Not bad."
"Looks like all of you completed your assignments."
"Good. That's enough for now. Pack up, we're preparing to set sail."
"I'm going to deliver the arm guards to Teacher Zephyr."
"We'll meet at the harbor afterward."
…...
Marine Elite Training Camp, training grounds.
Zephyr was currently drilling this year's trainees.
The moment he saw Hammer carrying the Fist of Tekko over, he immediately ordered the trainees to continue training on their own before happily dragging Hammer back to his office.
"Why'd you bring them personally?"
"You could've just called me and I'd have had Shuzo pick them up."
Inside the office, Zephyr watched Hammer place the Fist of Tekko onto the table and couldn't help but comment.
Hammer rolled his eyes before sitting down on the sofa and lighting a cigar.
"This repair's different from before."
"Remember the treasure I got from Skypiea?"
"I used it to upgrade the Fist of Tekko."
"You can now call them the Fist of Tekko PLUS upgraded version!"
Zephyr instantly perked up.
'An upgrade too?'
He immediately began examining the brand-new Fist of Tekko carefully.
Only then did he notice that a faint white glow now shimmered across the previously pitch-black surface.
There were clearly engraved patterns covering it.
"The color doesn't look as good as before."
"And what are these patterns for?"
With his cigar dangling from his mouth, Hammer began explaining.
"This is called Iron Cloud."
"It's a special material from Skypiea."
"It has the hardness of steel while retaining flexibility."
"I perfectly combined this Iron Cloud with forging to create even stronger Cloud Armor."
As he spoke, Hammer pulled out his own Cloud Armor from his ring and equipped it right in front of Zephyr.
Instantly, a Saint Seiya-looking figure appeared before Zephyr's eyes.
The sight made Zephyr's eyes light up.
"What beautiful armor."
"Not bad, you actually look pretty impressive wearing armor."
"Beautiful?"
"That's not enough to describe it."
"Cloud Armor, Transform!"
Under Hammer's control, the Cloud Armor began to morph.
The cloud patterns expanded outward layer by layer like drifting clouds.
Right before Zephyr's astonished gaze, the clouds transformed into chains that coiled around Hammer.
"See that?"
"That's the power of Iron Cloud."
"It can change shape freely at will."
"Of course, there are limits."
"Volume limits."
"My Cloud Armor used 50 cubic meters of Iron Cloud."
"And with my ability enhancement, it can expand to 100 cubic meters in volume."
"If it exceeds that limit, it won't work anymore."
As he spoke, Hammer casually waved his hand, forming a giant hand from Iron Cloud that grabbed the Fist of Tekko PLUS.
"I added 20 cubic meters of Iron Cloud into these Fist of Tekko."
"Since these are arm guards and not full armor, their tolerance limit is lower."
"But it's more than enough."
"With the Iron Cloud enhancement, the Fist of Tekko can greatly increase attack range and attack versatility."
"It massively boosts combat power."
After finishing his explanation, Hammer handed the Fist of Tekko PLUS to Zephyr.
"So, Teacher Zephyr…"
"Want to put them on and let me help you get familiar with them?"
"Hell yes!"
As soon as he said it, Zephyr immediately equipped the Fist of Tekko.
In an instant, the massive muscular man transformed completely.
"Use your imagination and shape the Iron Cloud into wings."
"Then you'll be able to fly."
"Like this, Cloud Armor! Shape Shift!"
Hammer let out a low shout.
Two enormous cloud wings instantly formed behind him.
Then Hammer leapt straight out the window.
With a flap of his wings, he was already hovering in midair.
"Oh? Like this?"
"Shape Shift!"
As a former Admiral, Zephyr naturally possessed exceptional comprehension ability.
He grasped the trick almost immediately.
The cloud patterns on the Fist of Tekko instantly lit up, and another pair of giant wings formed.
But the styles of their wings were completely different.
Hammer's were angelic feathered wings.
Zephyr's were metallic steel wings.
"Tsk tsk."
"Teacher Zephyr, don't tell me you still dream of becoming a superhero?"
"Even your wings look like something straight out of a hero story."
"Look at mine, angel wings are way cooler."
Zephyr's old face reddened slightly.
"Get lost, you little brat."
"What's wrong with wanting to be a hero?"
"Hahaha! Fine!"
"Anyway, that's basically how you use it."
"Come on, old man!"
"Let's spar in the sky again!"
As he spoke, the giant wings exploded with speed.
Hammer instantly transformed into a streak of white light and charged toward Zephyr.
"You brat! Who do you think you're underestimating?!"
"I'm Black Arm Zephyr!"
"I can fly too!"
Even though it was Zephyr's first time using Iron Cloud, his sheer strength and adaptability allowed him to master its usage extremely quickly.
And so, the old man and the young man began soaring through the skies above the training grounds.
The trainees below watched with mouths hanging open in shock.
Naturally, the scene couldn't escape the notice of Sengoku and old man Kong inside headquarters.
"Kong, looks like Hammer really did obtain some incredible stuff during on that Skypiea trip."
"Yeah."
"That cloud material can actually form wings."
"If I'd gotten something like that earlier…"
"Golden Lion? I'd have blasted him with shockwaves until he cried!"
Sengoku stared at the two figures in the sky, especially Zephyr.
His glasses were practically glowing red with envy.
The jealousy was naked and obvious.
He desperately wanted to wear the Fist of Tekko and fly too!
Even though he possessed a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit…
He still couldn't fly.