This was the truth.
Even after awakening the Magnet-Magnet Fruit and mastering the terrifying power of "Magnetic Field Rotation," Darren still hadn't found a way to deal with the Gorosei's so-called "Undying Body."
Even if he pushed Magnetic Field Rotation to its limit and forced his physical abilities beyond their natural ceiling, it would only amplify his combat power. It did nothing to touch the Gorosei's fundamental ability—an endless cycle of recovery and resurrection.
Until he unraveled the secret behind that "Undying Body," no matter how much Darren strengthened himself, he still couldn't become a real threat to them.
"Yet you don't seem particularly anxious," Redfield remarked calmly, a faint smile resting on his lips as he watched Darren.
"If it's a problem I can't solve right now, then being anxious is pointless," Darren shrugged. "It just adds noise. Eight centuries of accumulated power isn't something I can catch up to overnight."
Redfield looked at him with mild surprise, then shook his head. "For someone your age, you can be frighteningly mature."
After a brief pause, he continued, "But I think you're on the right track."
"No matter how strange an ability is, it can be countered with sufficiently strong Haki."
"That's the universal consensus across the Sea."
"I've never crossed blades with the Gorosei myself, but I'm confident that no matter how bizarre their powers might be, they cannot transcend that principle…"
He took a refined sip of red wine, smiling elegantly.
"But you shouldn't have come to me. You should've gone to Garp—or even Roger. Observation Haki makes you difficult to touch, but Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki are the true keys to overwhelming offensive power."
Darren shrugged, a hint of resignation creeping into his voice.
"Do you think I haven't tried going to Roger?"
Redfield blinked, caught off guard. "He refused to teach you?"
Darren shook his head. His eyes went distant, as if he were looking straight into the past.
"I've clashed with that Roger fellow countless times. But every time… I could never truly measure the limit of his strength."
"Back when I was transferred from the North Blue to Headquarters—right after I entered the Grand Line—I met Roger's blade head-on… One strike shattered my Haki and nearly split me open from chest to gut."
"A year later, after graduating from Marine Headquarters Training Camp and mastering the Indestructible Body, I fought him again on Fish-Man Island…"
"That time, I managed to wound him. But he still held the upper hand."
"And recently… I had a 'private meeting' with him."
"It was a glorious, all-out battle—yet in the end… I still couldn't force him to show his limits."
Redfield listened in silence, his eyes narrowing slightly, astonished by Darren's absurd rate of growth—yet also struck by a faint, reluctant sense of regret.
"Roger… truly a legend."
Darren glanced at him, then let out a wry smile. "Aren't you one too? 'Red the Aloof,' Balorick Redfield—the Great Pirate who rivaled the Roger Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates with nothing but his own strength."
Redfield snorted. "Rumors. Empty nonsense."
"In truth, this old man never stood a chance against monsters like Roger and Newgate."
Over the past few days, against all reason, Redfield had begun to find himself… rather fond of this brat.
Darren was arrogant. Fiercely independent. And despite his terrifying talent, he trained with a reckless cruelty toward himself—willing to gamble his life without hesitation.
Somewhere along the way, Redfield started to respect him.
Perhaps because of that—perhaps because of his own temperament—Redfield's words became unusually candid.
"Darren," he said, shaking his head, "you young pups have never truly witnessed Roger's power."
"In a real battle, his Divine Departure would crush me in an instant."
Darren's mouth twitched.
How could this old man sound so proud while admitting something so humiliating?
Around them, even the other prisoners stared, stunned. None of them had expected the normally aloof and terrifying Redfield to speak of his "archrival" with such reverence.
"That's impossible," Darren frowned, unconvinced. "The difference shouldn't be that ridiculous—let alone a one-shot."
From what Darren had experienced, Redfield was indeed inferior to Roger… but not to that extent. After all, Redfield had fought Fleet Admiral Kong for days and nights and nearly won.
And Redfield was also a swordmaster. It made no sense for him to be utterly overwhelmed in swordsmanship—
Wait.
Something suddenly clicked.
A sharp glint flashed through Darren's eyes.
"Could it be… he can counter your ability?"
Redfield nodded, a cold, faint smile forming at the corner of his lips.
"Exactly."
"As I told you earlier, when Haki is honed to its peak, it can nullify any ability—yes, even Observation Haki and its Future Sight."
"Conqueror's Haki, sharpened to perfection and wielded with supreme control, can not only coat attacks—"
"It can also completely conceal one's presence."
"Not just hiding your killing intent… but erasing you from the 'sense' of the battlefield itself—making you undetectable, untraceable, impossible to lock onto."
"That kind of speed… is different from the raw speed gained from an awakened Devil Fruit."
"It's a power born purely from the heart and will."
"And to some extent… it means Roger's spirit—his mind, his will—surpassed mine so completely that it crushed me."
"With his Haki… he erased every future I could see."
Redfield looked Darren dead in the eye.
"To put it bluntly…"
"He killed my Observation Haki."
A wave of cold shock ran through Eternal Hell.
Every prisoner there had seen firsthand how terrifying Redfield's Observation Haki was—how maddening, how absolute.
Yet none of them had ever imagined there existed someone who could simply… wipe it out.
To be continued...