"What do you think is his greatest strength?", Just as Toki stared blankly at Rosse, watching him unleash slaughter in a way she had never imagined, Gion's voice sounded in her ear.
"Conqueror's Haki! Devil Fruit ability!", Almost without hesitation, Toki blurted out the two answers that had left her with the deepest impression.
The first time she saw him, Rosse used absolute Conqueror's Haki to suppress everyone inside Kozuki Castle.
Later that night, Rosse controlled her body and used her fruit ability to carry out a massacre.
Those two experiences left an indelible impression on her.
Though the slaughter before her eyes now was violent and bloody, the shock she felt was still far less than back then.
"That's why I say, you people can't understand the world of the strong," Gion said calmly.
"Huh?", Toki jerked her head to look at Gion.
Suppressing tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, with Conqueror's Haki, was that not shocking enough?
She wanted to argue back, but when she saw the envy and longing plainly written on Gion's face and expression as she gazed at Rosse's slaughter, her heart skipped a beat.
'Impossible, right?'
This kind of killing did look like it had skill in it, sure, but without even a shred of area damage, how could this possibly be Rosse's strongest ability?
Almost for confirmation, Toki turned to look at Zephyr and Moria beside them.
In her impression, these two were also powerhouses no weaker than Kozuki Oden.
But on their faces, she saw expressions similar to Gion's.
Zephyr's was one of sighing, as if he felt his age, while Moria's was pure envy.
But why? Was killing with nothing but body and sword really that impressive?
"Why?", Toki had no intention of figuring it out herself. She wasn't a true strong one, only temporarily tasted what it felt like to be one.
She had thought, with Rosse's help, she wasn't too far from their level.
But today she discovered, she was still very far away.
"Swordsmanship, martial arts, spear techniques, bring any one of them to its peak, and at most you'd reach the level of that Shimotsuki Ushimaru."
"To go further, you need to pair it with haki and fruit powers."
"And to become a true top-tier powerhouse, the only condition is physique."
"Every single top-tier powerhouse, without exaggeration, can kill ten thousand with ease in various ways," Gion spoke softly, her eyes full of deep envy.
To others, she herself was already a monster.
After eating the Vampire Fruit, modifying her physique, and being able to slowly strengthen her body through bloodsucking, she could say without exaggeration that her future peak physique would surpass Kozuki Oden's.
The threshold of top-tier power, even without this stage today, she would eventually cross it with time.
But compared to Rosse, her physique was little different from an infant's.
Rosse was the true monster in every sense.
"How strong is his physique, exactly?", Toki pressed her lips and asked. For the first time she realized physique was what determined the peak of strength.
Back in the Whitebeard Pirates, others did train, but hardly ever discussed such things.
Or perhaps, the Whitebeard crew didn't even understand. After all, Whitebeard himself was born with a monster's physique, while the rest would never be able to cross that threshold, so there was no need to discuss it.
"Let me put it this way."
Gion admired Rosse's slaughter, her eyes gleaming with longing, "Speaking only of killing with physical arts, without using fruit ability to restore stamina, assuming enemies don't run away—"
"I could probably kill 100,000 before exhausting."
"Teacher Zephyr could kill about 150,000–200,000."
"Kozuki Oden around 200,000."
"And he… he could wipe out the entire Wano."
As Gion's words fell, Toki froze completely.
"You're joking?"
She stared blankly at Rosse, eyes filled with disbelief.
Without rest, without fruit replenishment, only fists and feet, he could slaughter all of Wano.
'How is that possible?'
'Could a human really be that strong?'
"So by your words, his physique is equal to twenty Kozuki Oden?", Toki said, trembling.
"Is that so exaggerated?", Gion chuckled gracefully, "At that level, a small difference can lead to very different results. And besides, Oden's physique isn't considered strong among top-tier powerhouses. He only stood out because of his mastery of Conqueror's Haki. Otherwise, with my fruit, I might even wear him down to death."
"But still, isn't this too exaggerated? To kill millions with just fists and feet, doesn't that make all of Wano nothing more than a playground to him? And because of this land's environment, ordinary people can't even run away," Toki's voice shook as she spoke.
She knew Rosse was strong, strong enough to kill all of Wano.
But fists and feet compared to large-scale fruit powers, there was still a huge gap.
The former was within her comprehension; the latter was on a level she could not fathom.
"What do you think?", Gion neither confirmed nor denied, "He has never shown fruit awakening, but if he did, what Joy Boy achieved, he might also be capable of."
As she spoke, Gion looked with admiration at Rosse, who was rampaging through the crowd.
Back then, Joy Boy sealed all of Wano, essentially altering the terrain of an entire massive land.
And in Gion's eyes, Rosse was already not far from that step.
"A despairing gap," Toki laughed at herself, watching Rosse's every move in that bloody performance. For a moment, she almost found a strange beauty in it.
But ultimately, she didn't have that strength.
When the thick stench of blood drifted over, she couldn't help covering her nose and mouth, nausea surging in her chest.
Compared to her as a spectator, Shimotsuki Ushimaru in the crowd had much simpler thoughts.
The despair and suffocation rolling over him almost drowned him entirely.
Kneeling on both knees, clutching the stump of his right arm, his blood still flowing, he roared, "DAMN IT!"
With a hopeless scream, Ushimaru struggled desperately to straighten his waist and rise.
And his body did not disappoint. Even under Rosse's oppressive Conqueror's Haki, he was slowly lifting himself.
Rosse beheaded an enemy before him with one stroke, and seemed to sense Ushimaru's situation. But now he was surrounded, with several still blocking between them.
Rosse chuckled lightly, seized a samurai's head before him, ignoring the man's struggles, and gently slammed it into the ground.
Crack!
The skull exploded like a watermelon. Rosse flicked his hand, blood and brain matter gone clean.
Seeing such brutality, everyone blocking the path instinctively took two steps back.
Too ruthless.
None of them wanted to be the next to have their skull burst open.
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