"By the way, Big Bro Hammer, where's Lance?"
After settling in the little bulls, Shirley suddenly remembered that Hammer had gone to meet Kuzan with Lance.
Now Lance was nowhere to be seen.
Neither were the accompanying soldiers.
Instead, Hammer had brought back fifty Kung Fu Dugongs.
'What kind of situation was this?'
"Lance?"
"He's sparring with Kuzan right now."
"When two Logia users spar, unless they're trying to kill each other, it'll take a long while."
"And both of them are fighting just to enjoy themselves."
"I estimate they won't stop before a day or two."
Hammer looked toward a distant direction.
Through Observation Haki, he could clearly sense the ongoing clash of ice and lightning far away.
"Tsk, they're having way too much fun."
"Forget it. They finally found opponents they enjoy fighting, let them play."
"Shirley, I'm going back to forge."
"The little bulls are in your hands."
The hands-off boss mode activated once again as Hammer walked back into his personal workspace.
As for why Hammer's Observation Haki had suddenly improved.
That had to be explained starting from after his Devil Fruit awakening.
Through the assimilation ability from awakening, Hammer could cause hammer strikes to appear from different locations.
And every hammer strike could bring him different sensory feedback.
After a period of familiarity and mastery, Hammer finally managed to combine Observation Haki with awakening abilities.
Creating an entirely different sensing capability.
Hammer Strike Perception.
By generating hammer strikes in different locations, he could massively expand his detection range.
Name: [Hammer]
Age: [24]
Devil Fruit: [Paramecia Hammer-Hammer Fruit, awakened. Awakening abilities: Assimilation + Bestowal. Note: Must activate together.]
Developed Devil Fruit Abilities:
[Normal Hammer]
[Air Hammer]
[Omnidirectional Hammer]
[Hammering of the Soul]
[Chest-Breaking Hammer]
[Spark Hammer]
[Absolute Space]
[Hammer Hypnosis]
[Hammer Shaping]
[Malleable Hammering]
Armament Haki (Activated):
[50% , Beyond beginner level, now entered intermediate-strength Haki.]
Observation Haki (Activated):
[40% , Prediction + Perception (Strong! Hammer Strike Perception with extremely large coverage range.)]
Conqueror's Haki:
[Have to admit, even though a slacker like you awakened Conqueror's Haki, it's still Slacker Haki. But your spirit really has grown. Damn it!]
Abilities: [Rokushiki (Perfect Mastery), Six Powers Extended Techniques (Mastered)]
System Ability: [Critical Crafting! Allows for ability extension and specialized attributes. Note: Usage consumes resources, host, please be mindful!]]
Judging from the panel, Hammer's Observation Haki had improved tremendously.
After all, he now possessed an enormous sensory range.
In response, Hammer simply stated:
"Routine operations."
"Not worth praising."
Meanwhile, the two people still fighting in the distance were exactly as Hammer had predicted.
The more they fought, the happier they became.
Since neither was using Armament Haki, neither of them got injured.
For a time, their battle had completely turned into a brainstorming-style skill development seminar.
"Senior Lance!"
"That lightning chain attack just now was awesome!"
"I'll try something too!"
"Ice Block: Frozen Chains!"
One chain after another formed from ice suddenly erupted beneath Lance's feet.
In an instant, Lance was wrapped up like a blue mummy.
"Cool!"
Kuzan looked extremely satisfied with the result.
"Kuzan, your ice isn't hard enough!"
"20 Million Volts!"
"I become a Lightning Beast!"
At this point, Lance had completely let loose.
He didn't even want a human shape anymore.
He directly transformed into a monster.
Lightning exploded outward as Lance instantly became a lion-like beast made of thunder and charged toward Kuzan.
"That's sick!"
"Why didn't I think of that?"
"I can turn into a beast too!"
"Ice Block! What should I transform into…"
Crash!
Kuzan tried copying Lance by turning himself into a monster too.
But suddenly he froze up, because he couldn't decide what animal to become.
As a result, the lightning lion smacked him apart with a single claw swipe.
When Kuzan reformed his body again, there was dissatisfaction on his face.
"Senior Lance, wait a second!"
"I still haven't decided what to become…"
"Oh! Right!"
"I'll become an eagle!"
"Ice Block: Eagle!"
Ice condensed as a blue eagle spread its wings and flew upward.
Its flapping wings faced off against the lightning lion below.
"Hahahaha!"
"Kuzan, fighting you is too much fun!"
"Watch me tear your eagle apart!"
Lance burst into laughter as he charged upward toward the ice eagle surrounded by lightning.
The battle between the two erupted once again.
Meanwhile, on the shoreline near the Warhammer.
"Tigerhead, see this?"
"This is how we train."
"When punching, your force must remain steady."
"You must move your whole body's strength together."
"That way, every punch can unleash full power."
Shirley was currently teaching the fifty little bulls proper punching techniques.
Tigerhead and the other dugongs listened extremely seriously before immediately starting to practice against the air.
Seeing this, Shirley shook her head.
"Tigerhead, practicing against the air won't have any effect."
"Shield-Shield! Fifty Square Shields!"
Shirley clasped her hands together, then spread them apart.
Fifty square shields instantly appeared before them.
This move completely stunned Tigerhead and the other dugongs.
"Haha, don't be surprised."
"I ate the Shield-Shield Fruit. I'm a shield human."
"As for what Devil Fruits are, I'll slowly explain later."
"Oh right, Big Bro Hammer is also a Devil Fruit user."
"Now begin practicing."
"Punch against the shields."
"When you can shatter these shields using only punching force, your first stage of training will be complete."
It had to be said, Shirley's teaching actually looked quite professional.
If Zephyr saw this, he'd absolutely give her a thumbs-up.
Under Tigerhead's lead, the little bulls began a new round of training.
Punching the shields.
Soon the shoreline was filled with rhythmic sounds of:
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Seeing this scene, Shirley nodded in satisfaction.
She had a feeling, these little dugong would definitely become a core combat force aboard the Warhammer.
Time passed quickly.
In the blink of an eye, two days had gone by.
Pururururu…
Suddenly, the ringing of a Den Den Mushi awakened Hammer from his sage-like state.
"Hello?"
"Oh, Lance?"
"You two finished fighting?"
"Alright, I'll head over now."
Click.
After hanging up, Hammer glanced at the floating Iron Clouds inside the forge room.
With a casual wave, he stored them all back into his ring before leaving.
"Shirley, Lance and Kuzan are done fighting."
"I'm going to take a look."
"Security's in your hands."
After leaving behind those words, Hammer instantly soared into the sky.
"Hammer-Hammer! Hammer Charge!"
Using the shockwaves generated by hammer strikes, Hammer instantly gained high-speed mobility.
Observation Haki activated.
After locating Lance and the others, he suddenly accelerated toward the center of the desert.