For five days, the Thousand Sunny remained completely invisible in the secluded waters of Grove 13. While Silvers Rayleigh and the merman shipwright Den worked meticulously on coating the massive Adam-wood hull in special Yar Yarman resin, the Straw Hat Pirates engaged in the most intense, highly competitive vacation of their lives.
Inside the Virtual Reality Training Room, the crew split into various digital worlds.
Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji spent hours in a hyper-realistic fighting game simulator, bypassing the need for controllers by hooking their neural pathways directly into the avatars. They engaged in brutal, chaotic free-for-alls in digital arenas that reset instantly upon destruction.
Franky, Usopp, and Sunny dominated the racing modules, customizing anti-gravity hover-karts and trading paint on tracks that defied physics. Chopper, Vivi, and Bonney opted for a massive, relaxing open-world farming and cooking simulator, spending their days growing giant virtual vegetables and trading recipes. Robin and Nami played high-stakes, grand strategy puzzle games against Ben and Merry, turning the digital space into a quiet war of intellect and resource management.
It was a perfectly self-contained, incredibly necessary mental break after the absolute hell of their fourteen-month physical training.
On the afternoon of the fifth day, the ship's internal intercom crackled to life.
"Magician," Rayleigh's calm, slightly amused voice echoed from the external comms. "You can bring your crew up. The coating is complete."
Ben stepped out of his pod, stretching his arms. "Game over, everyone. Time to get back to reality."
The crew exited the VR room, rubbing their eyes and stretching their limbs, pouring out onto the grassy main deck.
The Thousand Sunny looked identical, save for a faint, iridescent, soap-bubble-like sheen that coated the entire ship from the keel to the tip of the mast. Rayleigh and Den were standing on the dock, wiping their hands with rags.
"Beautiful work, Den-san, Rayleigh-san," Franky cheered, leaning over the railing with starry eyes. "The resin distribution is completely uniform! It's a SUPER coating job!"
"It took some doing," Den laughed, wiping his brow. "Your ship is massive, and the thruster ports required specialized resin seals to prevent the bubbles from popping during a burst. But she's ready for the ocean floor."
Ben casually walked down the gangplank, stepping onto the wooden dock. He stopped in front of Rayleigh, adjusting his glasses.
"I appreciate the hard work, Rayleigh-san," Ben said smoothly. "But before we set sail... I have a request."
Rayleigh paused, capping his silver flask. He looked at Ben's golden eyes, reading the quiet intensity behind them. "A request?"
"I want a fight," Ben stated plainly.
Rayleigh blinked, then let out a long, wheezing sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. "Magician, I am just an old man. I spent the last five days painting a giant wooden boat with tree sap. My back aches, and my drinking arm is tired. You want me to fight you?"
"I have a solution for that," Ben replied, a small smirk touching his lips. "You already know about our Time Chamber. It won't take much time from your day. Ten minutes in the outside world is a full day inside. We can set aside an hour out here. That gives us six days inside."
Rayleigh raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued by the temporal math, but still hesitant. Before he could politely decline again, he felt a sudden, dense shift in the air pressure on the deck above.
Rayleigh looked up.
Leaning over the railing of the Sunny were Monkey D. Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, and Sanji. They weren't smiling. Their eyes were locked onto the Dark King. The sheer, suffocating weight of their combined auras—sharp, focused, and practically begging for a clash against a true legend—pressed down on the dock.
Rayleigh stared at the three monsters staring back at him. He saw the familiar, reckless spark in Luffy's eyes that mirrored a captain he had sailed with long ago.
Rayleigh sighed again, running a hand through his silver hair. "You brats are going to make this old man work a lot, aren't you? My old bones can't take that much stress."
A small, nostalgic smile broke through his grumbling.
"But..." Rayleigh dropped his hand to his side. "I suppose I can't let Roger's inheritor sail into the New World without testing his mettle. Give me a minute."
Rayleigh turned and walked toward the small shack he and Shakky owned near the grove. When he returned a few minutes later, he held a simple, unadorned straight sword in his right hand.
"Lead the way, Magician."
The Time Chamber - The White Void
The heavy golden doors of the storage room clanked shut.
Ben, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Rayleigh stood in the center of the infinite white expanse of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. The gravity was heavy, the air was thin, and the silence was absolute.
"Fascinating," Rayleigh murmured, looking around at the endless white tiles. "A true pocket of isolated space. To manipulate reality to this degree... your skills are terrifying, Ben."
Ben reached into his spatial pouch. He pulled out a small, crystal vial filled with a luminescent, golden liquid. He tossed it to Rayleigh.
"Drink this," Ben instructed. "It reverts your cellular structure, stamina, and physical peak back to your absolute maximum."
Rayleigh caught the vial. He looked at the golden liquid, then at the four young men standing before him, waiting eagerly.
"To feel my prime again," Rayleigh chuckled softly. He popped the cork and downed the liquid in one gulp.
The transformation was instantaneous and dramatic.
The wrinkles on Rayleigh's face smoothed away. His silver hair darkened slightly, regaining the vibrant luster of his youth. His muscles expanded, stretching his simple shirt taut across a chest and arms built from decades of conquering the deadliest seas in the world. The casual, relaxed posture of a retired coating mechanic vanished entirely.
Prime Rayleigh stood before them. The Dark King. The right hand of Gol D. Roger.
The air around him warped violently. He didn't even flare his Haki intentionally; his mere presence in his prime state generated a passive pressure that cracked the white tiles beneath his boots.
Zoro didn't wait. He stepped to the front of the group, his hand resting on the hilt of Wado Ichimonji.
"I go first," Zoro demanded, his lone eye burning with intense competitive fire. He looked back at Luffy, Sanji, and Ben. "I want him fresh. I want to see his swordsmanship before he gets exhausted fighting you three."
"He won't get exhausted, moss-head," Sanji warned, lighting a cigarette. "But be my guest. Don't die in the first five minutes."
Luffy grinned, sitting down on the white tiles cross-legged. "Go get 'em, Zoro!"
Ben and Sanji backed away, giving the two swordsmen a wide berth.
Rayleigh drew his straight sword. The blade hummed with a quiet, lethal energy. He looked at Zoro's three-sword style and smiled.
"A rare discipline," Rayleigh noted. "Show me the weight of your ambition, Roronoa."
Zoro drew Sandai Kitetsu and Shusui, placing Wado Ichimonji in his mouth.
The battle began without a sound.
Zoro moved first. He didn't hold back. His training with Garp had taught him that pacing against a legend was suicide. He drew upon his deepest reserves immediately.
"Santoryu..."
Zoro's aura erupted. A dark, demonic purple energy flared around him. He coated all three blades in pitch-black Armament Haki, but he didn't stop there. Red and black lightning began to crackle and arc violently from the steel.
Advanced Conqueror's Haki.
"...1080 Pound Phoenix!"
Zoro swung. The massive, spiraling bird of compressed, Haki-laced air shot forward, tearing up the floor.
Rayleigh didn't dodge. His own blade turned instantly black, trails of dense red lightning sparking from the edge.
CLANG!
Rayleigh swung his sword casually. The two bursts of Conqueror's Haki collided in mid-air. The impact didn't touch their physical blades. The clash occurred in the empty space between them, the sheer force of their wills grinding against each other. The shockwave blew the surrounding air away, creating a localized vacuum.
Zoro didn't pause. He used the shockwave to close the distance, appearing directly in Rayleigh's guard.
"Nigiri: Maguma!"
Zoro slashed downward with both hands. Rayleigh parried with a single hand, his blade moving with impossible, fluid speed.
For the next ten hours, the white void echoed with the continuous, deafening roar of clashing Supreme King Haki. Zoro pushed himself to the absolute limit. He used his Advanced Observation (Future Sight) to predict Rayleigh's lightning-fast counters, twisting his body to avoid lethal thrusts and retaliating with internal-destruction Armament strikes.
But Rayleigh was a wall. His Future Sight was sharper, his Armament was denser, and his swordsmanship was flawless. Every time Zoro thought he found an opening, Rayleigh's blade was already there, deflecting the strike with minimal effort and returning a blow that rattled Zoro's bones.
"You rely heavily on the brute force of your Haki," Rayleigh advised calmly, parrying a thrust from Shusui and kicking Zoro in the ribs, sending him skidding back. "Your spirit is strong, Roronoa. But your flow is rigid. You are forcing the Haki into the blade instead of letting the blade guide the Haki."
Zoro gritted his teeth around his sword. He knew the Dark King was right. He was burning through his stamina too fast.
"Kiki Kyutoryu: Asura!"
Zoro summoned his demonic avatar, six additional spectral arms and heads forming from his raw spirit. He coated all nine blades in Advanced Conqueror's Haki, creating a blinding, terrifying storm of black and red lightning.
"Dead Man's Game!"
Zoro launched himself forward, a spinning vortex of absolute destruction.
Rayleigh's eyes narrowed in genuine respect. He dropped into a lower stance, gripping his sword with both hands. His blade hummed, entirely enveloped in a thick, flowing aura of Supreme King Haki.
The clash lasted a fraction of a second.
KRA-KOOM!
The sky of the Time Chamber physically split, a jagged black line tearing through the white expanse.
Zoro appeared behind Rayleigh, blood spraying from his chest. His swords fell from his hands as he collapsed to his knees, his Haki completely drained.
Rayleigh stood tall, a small, shallow cut on his cheek. He sheathed his sword. "A magnificent strike. You carry the spirit of a true king, swordsman."
Ben stepped forward, instantly casting Golden Fleece to heal Zoro's wounds and restore his stamina, dragging the unconscious swordsman to the side.
"My turn," Sanji said, dropping his cigarette and stepping into the arena.
Sanji didn't waste time with warm-ups. His right leg ignited instantly. The flames weren't orange or yellow; they burned a brilliant, blinding, ionizing blue.
"Ifrit Jambe," Sanji murmured.
Black and red lightning sparked from his flaming heel. Like Zoro, Sanji had fully integrated Advanced Conqueror's Haki into his fighting style, layering it perfectly over his Advanced Armament and his genetic enhancements.
"A fiery passion," Rayleigh smiled, raising his sword. "Show me your speed, Cook."
Sanji vanished.
His speed was incomprehensible. He used Soru and Geppo simultaneously, moving faster than the eye could track. He appeared above, below, and behind Rayleigh in rapid succession.
"Collier Strike!"
"Flambage Shot!"
Sanji rained down a storm of kicks. Every strike was infused with Advanced Conqueror's Haki, meaning his foot never actually touched Rayleigh's sword. The blue flames and the black lightning clashed against Rayleigh's Haki shield inches away from contact.
Rayleigh blocked the rapid-fire assault, his sword moving like a blur. "Excellent speed! Your Future Sight is well-trained! You see my counters before I make them!"
"Seeing them is the easy part," Sanji grunted, spinning mid-air to deliver a devastating heel drop. "Kicking through them is the goal!"
Sanji focused entirely on Internal Destruction. He didn't just want to hit Rayleigh's guard; he wanted his Haki to bypass the sword entirely.
BAM!
Sanji's kick connected with Rayleigh's invisible barrier. Sanji pushed his Haki forward, trying to force it into Rayleigh's body.
Rayleigh's eyes widened slightly as he felt the invasive pressure. He immediately shifted his stance, using a high-level application of Armament Haki to repel the internal strike, twisting his sword to parry the physical force of the blue flames.
The fight lasted for another grueling ten hours. Sanji used the air as his domain, refusing to stay on the ground, bombarding Rayleigh with heat and kinetic force. But Rayleigh's sheer stamina and perfect, unwavering defense slowly ground the cook down.
"Your flames burn hot, but your rhythm is predictable," Rayleigh noted, catching Sanji's leg with his bare, Haki-coated hand during a wide swing.
Before Sanji could react, Rayleigh delivered a devastating, Haki-infused palm strike directly to Sanji's chest. The internal destruction bypassed Sanji's exoskeleton, rattling his organs. Sanji coughed up blood, launched backward into the white tiles, completely incapacitated.
Ben healed Sanji, dragging him next to Zoro.
"Day three," Ben said, unbuttoning his cuffs. He stepped into the center of the void, his eyes turning a brilliant, glowing gold.
Rayleigh looked at the Magician. He knew Ben was a different kind of fighter entirely.
"I've been looking forward to this," Rayleigh said, rolling his shoulders. "Your abilities defy standard classification."
Ben's body instantly covered in thick, jagged golden armor. He layered Advanced Armament and Advanced Conqueror's Haki over the gold, creating a terrifying, radiant juggernaut of raw power.
"Ruler's Authority."
Ben didn't throw a punch. He clenched his fist.
The gravity around Rayleigh multiplied by a factor of a hundred instantly. The white tiles beneath the Dark King shattered under his own weight.
Rayleigh gritted his teeth, his knees buckling slightly. "Spatial manipulation..."
Ben didn't give him time to adjust. He closed the distance in a millisecond, throwing a devastating, Haki-infused right hook.
Rayleigh forced his body to move against the crushing gravity. He brought his sword up, coating it in Advanced Conqueror's Haki.
KRA-KOOM!
The clash shook the entire dimension. Ben's golden fist and Rayleigh's sword didn't touch, the black lightning warring in the gap between them.
Ben didn't rely solely on brawling. While his right hand was locked in the clash.
"Confringo!"
An explosive, invisible curse shot from the wand at point-blank range.
Rayleigh's Future Sight flared. He recognized the magical threat—an attack that possessed no physical mass but carried lethal intent. He forcefully broke the clash, using Soru to step back, but the explosion clipped his side, tearing his shirt and leaving a scorch mark on his ribs.
"You mix your spells with your Haki flawlessly," Rayleigh praised, breathing heavily. "A deadly combination."
For the next twelve hours, Ben turned the arena into a nightmare. He used Creation to spawn Vibranium pillars to block Rayleigh's slashes, manipulated gravity to throw the Dark King off balance, and engaged in brutal, close-quarters Haki brawls whenever Rayleigh closed the gap.
But Rayleigh was a master of adaptation. He stopped trying to fight the magic and focused entirely on the source.
Rayleigh closed his eyes. He let his Advanced Observation Haki map the flow of Ben's mana and spirit.
"Your magic bends the world," Rayleigh murmured, stepping forward. "But Haki... Haki cuts through all illusions."
Rayleigh swung his sword. It wasn't a flying slash. It was a precise, perfectly condensed line of Supreme King Haki. It cut through the 100G gravity field, shattering the invisible pressure. It cut through the Vibranium shields Ben erected.
Ben braced himself, crossing his golden, Haki-coated arms.
CLANG!
Rayleigh's blade bypassed the armor, the internal destruction of his advanced Haki radiating directly into Ben's chest. The golden armor shattered, and Ben was thrown backward, the wind knocked completely out of his lungs.
Ben lay on the floor, gasping for air, a satisfied smile on his face despite the defeat. He cast a quick healing charm on himself, sitting up to watch the final match.
Monkey D. Luffy stepped onto the battlefield.
He didn't look angry. He looked entirely focused, adjusting his straw hat.
"My turn, old man," Luffy said.
"Show me the strength of the man who wears that hat," Rayleigh smiled, his sword resting at his side.
Luffy didn't bother with Gear Second or Third. He bit into his muscular forearm, blowing air directly into his muscles while coating his arms in Haki.
"Gear... Fourth!"
Steam erupted from Luffy's body. He transformed into the massive, bouncing, Haki-coated form of Bounceman.
Black and red lightning sparked wildly around him.
"Gomu Gomu no... Kong Gun!"
Luffy retracted his fist into his arm like a spring, launching it forward with the force of a meteor. Advanced Conqueror's Haki trailed from the strike.
Rayleigh met it head-on.
KRA-KOOOOOOM!
The impact was the loudest yet. The white sky of the Time Chamber physically split apart, vast black fissures running across the void. The ground ceased to exist, turning into a massive, pulverized crater.
Luffy and Rayleigh fought for an entire twenty-four hours.
It was a brawl of absolute monsters. Luffy used his erratic, bouncing movements to attack from impossible angles, raining down Kong Organ barrages and Culverin strikes. He used Future Sight to weave around Rayleigh's devastating, precise sword slashes.
Rayleigh matched him blow for blow. The Dark King's stamina in his prime was virtually infinite. He absorbed Luffy's heaviest hits, countering with strikes that sent the rubber man flying across the dimension.
As the battle dragged into its final hours, Luffy's Gear Fourth ran out. He deflated, panting heavily on the ground, his Haki depleted.
Rayleigh stood over him, his sword lowered. He was covered in bruises and sweat, his breathing heavy, but he had outlasted the Captain.
"You rely heavily on the burst power of your Gears, Luffy," Rayleigh said, offering a hand to help the boy up. "Your Advanced Haki is powerful, but it drains you too fast when combined with your fruit's forms. You need to learn to maintain that level of Haki in your base form."
Luffy grinned, taking the hand and standing up. "I will! Thanks for the fight, Rayleigh!"
Ben stood up, clapping his hands. "Time's up. Four days in the chamber, completely exhausted. Well fought, everyone."
Ben walked over to Rayleigh, holding out another vial. This one contained a swirling, dark grey liquid.
"The Reversion Catalyst," Ben explained. "It will return you to your current age."
Rayleigh took the vial, looking at his youthful hands one last time with a fond smile. "It was wonderful to feel the old strength again. Thank you, Magician."
He drank the potion. Instantly, his hair turned silver, his wrinkles returned, and his muscles softened back into the frame of the retired coating mechanic.
Rayleigh groaned, rubbing his lower back. "Ah, there's the familiar ache. I missed it."
Ben reached into his spatial pouch. He pulled out a heavy, ornate wooden chest and handed it to Rayleigh.
"A token of our gratitude for the spar, and the coating," Ben said. "Inside are ten vials of the Prime Elixir, and ten vials of the Reversion Catalyst. Use them however you see fit. If you ever need to protect a certain island, or yourself... you have the means to become the Dark King once more."
Rayleigh opened the chest, looking at the glowing vials. His eyes widened slightly at the sheer value and power contained within the box.
"This is a dangerous gift, Ben," Rayleigh said quietly.
"I trust you to use it wisely," Ben smiled. "Let's head back. We have a fishman island to visit."
The golden doors opened, and the group stepped back out onto the deck of the Thousand Sunny. Only an hour had passed in the real world.
The ship was fully coated, the iridescent resin bubble shimmering beautifully in the afternoon sun. The rest of the crew was gathered on the deck, fully packed and ready to dive.
Standing on the dock to see them off were Rayleigh, Den, and Shakky, who had come down from her bar to bid farewell to the famous crew.
"You guys sure caused a lot of trouble up here," Shakky smiled, taking a drag from her cigarette. "Be careful down there. Ten thousand meters is a long drop."
"We will!" Nami waved from the railing.
"Take care of the coating!" Den yelled. "Don't let any sea monsters pop it, or you'll be crushed instantly!"
"SUUUUPER careful!" Franky struck a pose.
Rayleigh stood at the edge of the dock, holding the wooden chest. He looked at Luffy, who was sitting on the figurehead, grinning widely.
"Luffy!" Rayleigh called out.
Luffy looked down.
"The sea ahead is merciless," Rayleigh said, his voice carrying the wisdom of a man who had seen it all. "But I have no doubt you will reach the top!"
"I'M GONNA BE THE PIRATE KING!" Luffy roared, his voice echoing across Grove 13.
"Sunny!" Ben commanded from the helm. "Initiate descent protocols."
"Aye aye, Papa! Flooding ballast tanks! Deflating buoyancy chambers! Down we go!"
The Thousand Sunny began to sink. The water rose over the hull, but the resin coating held firm, creating a perfect, breathable bubble of air around the ship.
The crew waved wildly as the water overtook the deck, the bright sunlight filtering through the ocean surface.
Rayleigh, Shakky, and Den watched as the ship disappeared into the deep blue abyss, heading toward the mysteries of Fishman Island and the New World beyond.
"He's an interesting boy," Shakky noted, exhaling smoke.
"He is," Rayleigh smiled, turning away from the dock, the chest tucked securely under his arm. "Roger... your will is in very capable, very dangerous hands."