After that, life settled into a rhythm.
White Ghost practiced his sword.
He guided the crew.
Again and again.
But everyone could feel it—
Their captain had changed.
Kuro felt it most clearly.
That was why he had been smiling nonstop lately.
The captain had finally made up his mind.
No more drifting through life day by day.
He had understood something.
And he had chosen a direction.
On the deck, White Ghost was being "ganged up on" by Urouge, Akin, and Enel.
Enel was covered in bruises, panting hard.
This time, White Ghost had laid down a rule:
No Devil Fruit powers.
Only hand-to-hand combat.
The gap was brutal.
Akin was already sprawled on the ground.
If his chest hadn't still been rising and falling, you'd think he was dead.
The only one still standing was Urouge.
Out of the group, his physique was easily the strongest. He was simply built differently.
White Ghost crossed his arms and smiled. "What's wrong, Urouge? Scared to come in?"
Urouge panted and glanced around.
Wyper was down.
Akin was barely recovering.
Enel had just struggled back to his feet, only to look like he would drop again from one more punch.
As for A-Da and A-Er?
They had been the most reckless—
And the first to collapse.
They still hadn't recovered.
Urouge himself didn't look good either.
Bruises covered him from head to toe.
If not for that absurd endurance of his, he would have been on the floor already.
But endurance or not—
It still hurt.
White Ghost's fists hit just like that old Navy man's.
Before Urouge could make up his mind—
White Ghost moved first.
"If you won't come, I will."
He pushed off.
Whoosh—!
He appeared in front of Urouge.
Urouge's eyes widened. "Not good—!"
He could only cross his arms and block.
Boom—!
One punch.
Urouge dropped.
White Ghost dusted off his hands. "That's enough for today. We continue tomorrow."
He returned to the dragon head figurehead at the bow and let the wind cool his body.
Staying active felt good.
His massive sword appeared in his hand, and he began swinging basic forms—clean, simple, relentless.
Every time he drilled the basics, his understanding shifted just a little.
That was why he practiced whenever he had time.
Black lightning crackled along the blade.
The pressure radiating from it made every Observation Haki user on the ship shiver.
It felt like—
It could cut through anything.
"Divine Evasion!"
White Ghost roared and slashed upward.
A black sword wave tore into the sky—
And vanished.
There was no huge explosion.
No grand spectacle.
But the crew could all feel it.
That slash…
Was death.
Kuina tightened her grip on Judgment, eyes blazing as she watched the sword wave fade.
"So that's it… compress Conqueror's Haki to the extreme… and fuse it into the sword wave…"
Bai Hezi clenched her twin blades, glanced toward the bow—
Then turned away and trained even harder.
She swore silently to herself:
I will become stronger.
Urouge and the others, still being treated, could only sigh.
If the captain ever used his sword against them…
It wouldn't be sparring.
It would be an execution.
White Ghost stared at his sword, remembering something Garp had once said:
Roger's version of that move could sever someone's Observation itself.
"Observation Killing…"
So that was the realm beyond Future Sight?
But…
How the hell were you supposed to train something like that?
If Garp had been right…
Then Roger's Haki had been monstrous beyond reason.
White Ghost flicked the blade lightly toward the sea.
A thin sword wave skimmed over the surface, leaving a shallow cut—
Which the waves swallowed a second later.
My sword path is wind.
So why am I forcing myself to imitate Roger?
White Ghost closed his eyes, sat cross-legged, and let his mind fall still.
Shimotsuki Koushirou's voice surfaced in his memory:
"When your heart isn't calm… look at the sea. It can help."
White Ghost didn't open his eyes.
Sometimes what you "see" isn't the truth.
He sat there in silence.
No one disturbed him.
Ain came up once, took one look, and quietly left again.
Interrupting a swordsman's moment of insight was the worst taboo.
Even Nami—normally the most restless of them all—was reading quietly.
The day passed like that.
White Ghost wasn't some invincible, heaven-born god.
He could only sharpen himself one step at a time.
For now, he had only grasped a faint outline.
In the days that followed, he kept refining his sword path.
Sometimes he would guide Ain, since she too walked a wind-style sword path.
At last, the Dragon Emperor approached Reverse Mountain's grand canal.
The currents here were pure chaos.
One wrong move, and the ship would be ground to pieces.
But with White Ghost in control, the Dragon Emperor had no real trouble.
White Ghost looked up toward the lookout where Nami was stationed. "Course still clear?"
A flash of lightning—
And the next instant, Nami re-formed beside him, electricity still swirling around her.
"No problem, White!" She pointed straight toward the canal entrance.
White Ghost nodded.
He already knew that much.
But letting Nami handle navigation was a good thing.
It trained her.
If something ever happened and he wasn't around, he didn't want a crew that couldn't even sail.
At the helm, Franky stuck his head out and bellowed,
"Everybody grab onto something! We're going up the mountain!"
Enel snapped his fingers, and flowing silver formed restraints and supports, securing the "fragile" ones—
Ashie, Olga and her father, and little Gordon.
Everyone else didn't need them.
Señor Pink had Lucianne covered himself.
As the ship entered the canal, its speed surged.
After witnessing ten-day battles that split the sky, this barely counted as exciting anymore.
Only Nami still ran around everywhere, staring at everything like an excited child.
Brook gazed at the familiar sight, unusually serious.
He softly raised his violin.
"Laboon… I'm coming again."
The crew had all heard Laboon's story.
They respected that whale.
For the sake of a promise, it had smashed its head against the Red Line again and again.
A monster with a heart.
After hours of climbing, the Dragon Emperor reached the summit.
Franky roared again, even louder than before.
"All hands! We're going downhill!"
"YOOO-HOOO—!"
The ship shot downward, gathering terrifying speed.
White Ghost spread out his Observation Haki.
A massive silhouette entered his awareness—
A whale—
And an old man waiting on the shore.
White Ghost turned toward Brook. "It knows you're coming. It's waiting below."
"LABOON!"
Tears streamed out of Brook's empty eye sockets.
White Ghost still couldn't understand how a skeleton could cry—
But he didn't comment.
"Laboon! I'm here! I'm here again!"
A deep roar rose from below.
"OOOOO—!"
Laboon answered in delight.
On the shore, Crocus watched the descending ship, emotions twisting inside his chest.
He knew certain things.
But he was not one of them.
He had agreed to help back then because of Laboon.
To Crocus, Laboon wasn't just an animal—
It was family.
Those people had promised they could help find Brook.
So Crocus had agreed.
But now he understood something bitter:
They had known Brook's whereabouts all along—
And still had done nothing.
So in the end…
Crocus had simply been used.
He hadn't gone to the final island with Roger, but Rayleigh had told him enough.
Then Crocus's Observation Haki brushed against the ship's aura—
And his heart sank.
That presence…
Made his skin crawl.
He murmured under his breath,
"Was the prophecy… really correct?"
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