On an unnamed island in the East Blue—
Boom!
Black-and-red lightning burst into existence, and an invisible pressure swept out like a collapsing mountain and a raging tsunami, spreading in every direction.
Every insect, bird, and beast on the island was overwhelmed by that pressure. One after another, they foamed at the mouth and collapsed.
Rowan was practicing his Conqueror's Haki.
Three days had already passed since his last meeting with Tsunade and the others.
After leaving Loguetown, Rowan had found an uninhabited island at random and started training his Conqueror's Haki there.
His goal was simple:
to master Conqueror's coating as quickly as possible.
As time went on, his control over Conqueror's Haki became more and more refined.
But he had still underestimated how difficult Conqueror's coating was to learn.
At first, he had assumed that if he just practiced a few more times, he would naturally get it.
But three full days had passed, and Rowan still hadn't mastered the technique.
What he had mastered was control over Conqueror's Haki itself. At this point, he felt like he was only separated from coating by a single sheet of paper. As long as he pierced through that layer, he'd have it.
The problem was that this "sheet of paper" was absurdly tough.
No matter what he did, Rowan couldn't break through it.
Just then, Nico Robin walked over carrying lunch. Looking at the shattered ground and the fallen trees around him, she couldn't help sighing.
"Your Conqueror's Haki is getting stronger and stronger, Rowan."
"What's the point of it getting stronger if I still haven't mastered coating?"
Rowan let out a sigh and dropped onto the ground in a heap. Releasing Conqueror's Haki consumed stamina too, and with Rowan's current level of endurance, there were only so many times he could use it in a day.
That was also the biggest reason he still hadn't mastered coating.
If he could release Conqueror's Haki a hundred or two hundred times a day, he would've mastered coating ages ago.
Robin was already used to hearing him complain. "If Conqueror's coating were that easy to master, it wouldn't be so rare."
"That's true."
Rowan had to admit she had a point.
There were quite a few people in the One Piece world with Conqueror's Haki, but the number who had actually mastered coating was pitifully small—you could count them on one hand.
After resting for a while, Rowan started eating the lunch Robin had brought.
The meal was made from beasts she had hunted on the island. The meat was juicy and packed with energy.
Rowan dug in enthusiastically.
Over the past few days, as he kept practicing Conqueror's Haki, he had noticed that his appetite was growing more and more alarming. Before, he could get full after just a few pieces of meat. Now, even half a kilo wasn't enough.
On top of that, he could feel his stamina improving constantly. His body felt more and more vigorous, more and more full of energy.
And what did that mean?
Rowan knew perfectly well.
There was no doubt about it—his physical constitution was gradually becoming more like that of a person from the One Piece world.
As long as he kept training, he too would one day be able to possess the unbelievably powerful physique that people in this world had.
This was probably another effect of his cheat ability.
After lunch, Rowan quickly recovered and continued practicing his Conqueror's Haki.
Robin used her arms to build herself a chair and sat nearby, watching him with great interest.
Rowan's Conqueror's Haki was violent, powerful, and terrifying—but it seemed able to distinguish friend from foe, and it didn't place even the slightest pressure on her.
That was why she could observe his training from such a close distance.
Whenever Rowan got tired, he rested. Once he had rested enough, he trained again.
Over the course of that one afternoon, he released Conqueror's Haki seven or eight more times in scattered bursts.
Just as Robin thought the day's training was about to end in failure once again, Rowan suddenly let out a furious shout.
And then Robin saw something unbelievable.
Terrifying Conqueror's Haki wrapped itself around Rowan's hand. Centered on his clenched fist, black-and-red lightning crackled wildly.
Boom!
Rowan threw a punch.
The air in front of him twisted first—then exploded.
A horrifying shockwave, like a precisely detonated TNT blast, burst outward at astonishing speed.
The overwhelming force carved a trench over ten meters wide and more than a hundred meters long straight through the forest in front of him.
Anything that dared stand in the path of that shockwave—trees, rocks, insects, wild beasts, it didn't matter—was obliterated by that savage, terrifying, overbearing burst of force and reduced to dust.
The entire forest had been punched through.
Even the sea itself split apart, sending up enormous waves.
In the next second, Hashirama Senju appeared out of thin air in front of Robin. Having noticed the disturbance, he had rushed over at incredible speed.
"What happened?"
Hashirama looked around and saw the forest that had been blasted straight through.
"He did it," Robin said, slowly rising from her chair, staring at Rowan in disbelief.
"He did what? Conqueror's coating? Rowan mastered Conqueror's coating?"
Only then did Hashirama understand. Looking at the devastated forest, he couldn't help rubbing his chin.
He had already known how strong Conqueror's coating was from the manga.
But seeing it with his own eyes, Hashirama had to admit that its destructive power was comparable to an S-rank ninjutsu from the ninja world—and not just any S-rank technique, but one of the stronger ones.
"Congratulations, Rowan."
Hashirama stepped forward to congratulate him.
A grin split across Rowan's face. Then his eyes rolled back, and he toppled over like a collapsing mountain.
Robin reacted immediately and used her power. Several arms sprouted from the ground and caught Rowan before he hit it.
Hashirama hurried over and checked him over. Then he let out a breath of relief.
"He's fine. He just exhausted himself. Looks like Conqueror's coating puts a heavy burden on the body."
Robin said, "Then let's head back."
And with that, she took Rowan back to the ship.
Nothing else happened that night.
The next morning, Rowan woke from sleep feeling ravenous. His stomach was growling like mad.
He hurried back to his own world, ran downstairs, bought several baskets of meat buns, and wolfed them down.
But he still didn't feel full.
The main reason was that the food in the real world simply couldn't compare to the energy content of the food in the One Piece world. On top of that, Rowan's stamina had been getting stronger and stronger, which meant he needed more and more energy.
The food from the real world was getting harder and harder to use to satisfy his appetite.
So Rowan returned to the One Piece world, found a few slabs of beast meat in the ship's kitchen, and cooked them.
Once the meat was done, he devoured it too. After eating a whole kilo, he finally felt full.
As for the taste…
Well, that was another matter.
It was hard to describe. The best he could say was that it was edible. Not terrible, but not exactly good either.
After all, he wasn't some master chef. The meat he cooked didn't even compare to the lunch Robin had made, which left him deep in thought.
"What are you thinking about, Rowan?"
When Robin walked in from outside, she found him sitting in a chair like Rodin's Thinker, striking a dramatic pose.
Unable to resist, she asked.
~~~
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