An hour later.
Mangrove Area No. 8.
A splendidly decorated tavern.
Still on the rooftop, Kaos had his feet propped on the table, a glass of red wine in one hand, flicking ash from a cigarette with the other, gazing at the distant street, lost in thought.
Across from him, Crocodile ate dejectedly, white bandages wrapped around his body.
He had, after all, compromised.
But he wouldn't give up hope; given the chance, he would definitely wash away this humiliation.
"Rest well today. Tomorrow, we'll visit the Marine base. I need some Sea Stone."
Standing up from his seat, Kaos finished the red wine in his glass, not intending to head to the New World yet.
Instead, he wanted to obtain some Sea Stone from the Marine to use for training.
While Sea Stone was the bane of Devil Fruit users, it was also a training aid.
Besides temporarily disabling Devil Fruit abilities, it would also cause the user to lose strength.
Additionally, Sea Stone was exceptionally hard, comparable to diamonds.
Crucially, Sea Stone also varied in purity; the purer the Sea Stone, the stronger its suppression of Devil Fruit users.
However, Devil Fruit users could use Sea Stone for training. Although it couldn't restore their Devil Fruit abilities, it could make the strength-sapping effect ineffective.
For powerhouses like the Four Emperors, Sea Stone actually had little effect.
Its only effect was to nullify Devil Fruit abilities, but it couldn't make these individuals lose strength.
One must know that for this level of powerhouse, besides their formidable Devil Fruit, their physical combat skills or physical conditioning were also top-notch.
Even if their Devil Fruit abilities couldn't be used, their physical combat skills still could.
Kaos wanted to eliminate this weakness.
To avoid stumbling in the future.
Moreover, in his previous life, many forum posts mentioned that Luffy used Sea Stone to train his Armament Haki when fighting Kaido.
He didn't know if it was true or false.
This was another purpose for Kaos using Sea Stone for training: to quickly improve his Armament Haki.
Because the anime updated too slowly and was dragged out, Kaos had only watched up to Luffy defeating Katakuri, and had been saving up later episodes.
He usually just browsed forums and visited similar channels to understand the plot's direction.
For example, he learned about Armament Haki's "Ryuo" through forums and similar channels.
It seemed pretty awesome.
It was said that it could destroy opponents from the inside without needing to touch them, and that Armament Haki could flow around the body like a liquid, with very advanced special effects.
If there were no surprises, the Armament Haki Garp displayed last time should be at the "Ryuo" level, or even higher.
Many Pirate fans had even categorized Armament Haki into levels.
Stage one: newly awakened, capable only of localized coverage, a hardening stage.
Stage two: Armament Haki could be wrapped around weapons, a coiling stage.
Stage three: changing weapon forms, creating shockwaves, solid and angular, capable of coiling Armament Haki from a distance, an external projection stage.
Stage four: Armament Haki, like a 3D flowing liquid, could penetrate the surface of objects and directly damage their interiors.
This was very general, as these levels were all speculated by Pirate fans; the official sources hadn't provided clear data.
Stages one and two were easy to understand, but stage three was somewhat flashy.
For example, changing weapon forms appeared in the One Piece Special: Adventure of Nebulandia, where a Vice Admiral named Kong Ming was featured.
Just an ordinary feather fan, through Armament Haki, could transform into various weapons, and its lethality was extremely strong.
This meant that a small blade of grass, or a twig, or hair, could be transformed into eighteen kinds of weapons through Armament Haki, which was a bit excessive.
Shockwaves didn't need explanation; they were pure Armament Haki impacts.
Additionally, Katakuri's Armament Haki, when used, appeared solid and angular, looking very hard just by sight.
These should all be advanced applications of Armament Haki.
Furthermore, there were many Pirate fans who refuted this four-stage classification.
Especially regarding "Ryuo."
Some Pirate fans offered different insights, believing that Ryuo was not the strongest Armament Haki; it was merely an application of power and technique, as in the Wano Country arc, Armament Haki was referred to as Ryuo.
It's possible that the third stage is the pinnacle of Armament Haki.
After all, it included effects like shockwaves, solid angularity, and changing weapon forms.
Ryuo was just a name, not a level, but merely a different application technique.
But there's no denying that the "internal destruction" aspect is very impressive.
These levels are just rough subdivisions; in plain terms, they're guesses.
In the later stages of One Piece, Conqueror's Haki, Armament Haki, and Observation Haki were everywhere, and various applications of Armament Haki were also flashy.
Luffy, who had become the Fifth Emperor and possessed Conqueror's Haki, struggled against a few small soldiers, panting heavily for several minutes.
Kaos didn't think too much about it; he just intended to train Armament Haki to death. It didn't matter how many stages there were, as long as it was stronger and harder than the enemy's, that was enough.
"Don't you know—"
Crocodile stopped eating, looking at Kaos as if he were an idiot, but his words were cut short by Kaos.
"What do you call me?"
"Boss."
Crocodile's face darkened, finding it difficult to force out a different title.
He took a deep breath, emphasized his words, and continued, "There are quite a few people who want to capture you now, and this place is very close to Marineford.
Isn't going to a Marine base too ostentatious?"
Crocodile felt that Kaos was courting death.
He completely misunderstood their current situation.
If he couldn't beat this guy, he would have already controlled him to dig for gold for himself.
Now, obtaining the Golden Emperor meant obtaining wealth, power, women, fame, and even the world!
One could imagine Kaos's current predicament; every person wanted to absorb Kaos into themselves.
"Ostentatious?"
"What I pursue is being high-profile and ostentatious!"
Kaos looked at Crocodile with disdain, coldly saying without ceremony, "Follow me, and your life will surely be colorful.
I know you're not a man who fears trouble, otherwise you wouldn't become a cripple in the future."
"Call me Boss, and I will protect you."
"Now, unleash your courage, or you won't be able to keep up with my pace, and then you'll just be eliminated!"
Crocodile didn't know what to say.
He increasingly felt that Kaos was mentally unstable and very fond of boasting.
A colorful life? He was more likely to be wandering the seas in the future.
And protect him?
He might not even survive a month.
His courage was small?
What a joke!
Crocodile's expression flickered between dark and light; he seemed to foresee a tragic future where he would be like a rat crossing the street, hated by everyone.
He had high aspirations, but he wasn't foolish.
His intelligence was still online.
This guy in front of him was a hot commodity; every force on the sea wanted a piece of him.
Saying he was an enemy of the world wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Following him would lead to no good end.
The more Crocodile thought about it, the colder his heart grew.
He wasn't even twenty yet; he shouldn't perish so early.
"Little Croc, it's time for you to act."
Just as Crocodile's heart grew cold, Kaos stood on the edge of the rooftop, smoking a cigar, his golden spiky hair and open-chested shirt fluttering in the wind.
"What?"
Crocodile snapped back to reality, not understanding Kaos's meaning.
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"Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools." - Napoleon Bonaparte