"The Jewel of Four Souls?"
Sengoku had never heard of this before. Toguro, however, wasn't secretive at all. He spoke openly: "It's an item that can grant its user's wishes. It once turned me into a half-demon, and now I'll use it to become a complete demon!"
"..." The flood of new information left Sengoku stunned, but he knew one thing for sure—he couldn't stop Toguro this time.
Toguro was extremely strong. Sengoku hadn't used his full strength in their clash just now, but neither had Toguro. That meant this guy's fighting power was fully on par with his own. Battling someone like him was never going to be easy.
To take him down, he would probably need Garp's help, and even then it would only be possible if they fought on land. Out at sea, Sengoku's disadvantages were too great. For example, Toguro could easily use the ocean to create a massive tsunami. If he fought with seawater on his side, Sengoku would be at a huge disadvantage.
"We'll meet again."
Toguro put his black sunglasses back on, then calmly turned around and walked across the sea without a care, swaggering away.
Sengoku bit his lip. Even if he wanted the Marines to open fire, it was impossible—most of them had already fainted from Toguro's overwhelming presence, and quite a few had even been crushed to death by that power. It was something unheard of, beyond belief!
"Half-demon? Monster? Toguro, the Shikon Jewel, Invisible Empire…"
Countless doubts filled Sengoku's mind. He just stood there, trying to piece everything together, but the clues were far too few.
For now, he could only report this to Commander Kong and the Five Elders, and then…
First, meet up with Garp!
......
"The Shikon Jewel fused with my full power enhanced by Haki really is strong…"
Toguro, still walking across the sea into the distance, reflected on the strength he had just used.
Sengoku, the future Fleet Admiral, recognized by the Pirate King Roger himself as someone capable of stopping him, had once joined forces with Garp to defeat legendary monsters like Golden Lion and Bullet. His strength was beyond question.
And now, being able to fight him to a standstill proved that Toguro's power was enough to take part in the coming battle at God Valley. But using his full power this time made him realize something.
Toguro's power wasn't as simple as multiplying numbers. The gap between eighty percent and one hundred percent wasn't just twenty percent.
At eighty percent, Toguro lost to Yusuke Urameshi. At one hundred percent, he could crush or even one-shot Yusuke. And beyond that was the hidden "one hundred percent of one hundred percent." But when he used it in this world, something felt off.
Back then, he didn't have Shikon Jewel shards or Haki. From the moment he summoned Toguro, he tried out each of his forms—forty-five percent, eighty percent, one hundred percent.
At that time, his strength really did grow in multiples, letting him skip across whole tiers with ease. But in this battle with Sengoku, he didn't feel that same growth anymore!
It was as if this world itself had a kind of limit. Once strength reached a certain point, getting stronger became much harder!
Like the limits in the Bleach world, or the limiter in One Punch Man's world, it seemed this world also had something like that. Once you reached a certain level—maybe the level of a future Yonko—growth would only get slower and slower.
No wonder…
"Only the one-hundred-million emotion draw can truly surpass the One Piece world. It seems the character cards and item cards I pulled before all had to follow this world's rules, growing in strength according to its standards. The top fighters here—aside from the unknown Im—are basically Roger, Rocks, or later, Nika Luffy. The closer you get to their level, the slower you grow."
That's why, once you're already that strong, even eating another Devil Fruit won't cause a real breakthrough. For people like Garp, Roger, or Shanks, who reached the peak of this world using only Haki, eating a Devil Fruit would still raise their power, but it would never give them the kind of huge leap they might have had in the past.
"In other words, one hundred million emotion points really are important. Other character cards could still be leveled up in different ways. With the right plan, even Mr. Satan could be made into a Yonko-level fighter. But breaking past this world's ceiling… that's impossible."
You can become the strongest in the world, but you can't surpass the world itself. To go beyond, you need those one hundred million emotion points. I wonder what kind of character that would give me.
Could it be…
You'd need the power to destroy this world, right?
If you go a bit further, think about the God of Destruction from Dragon Ball? The Saints from Saint Seiya? Or even Gurren Lagann?
But getting a hundred million emotion points is going to be a long and hard road. After all, even after causing such a big incident with the Nine Tails, the total gain was only in the millions. The further he goes, the harder it will be to collect emotions. Breaking past a million already made things slow down this much.
And now that positive and negative points are split, reaching a hundred million will be even harder.
"At eighty percent strength, Toguro can kill weak demons just with his aura. At full power, he can even draw power from stronger demons and use it as food. But that's only natural…"
Toguro kept thinking. That short fight with Sengoku just now left him feeling a little tired.
For now, it looks like his strength is at the top level, but his stamina is lacking. The full power state burns too much energy, so even in battle, Toguro needs to devour other demons' souls to fill his belly. Even after fusing with the Shikon Jewel and training Haki, this weakness hasn't gone away much.
Still, the Jewel's healing ability keeps him from dying under his own power like the original Toguro did. At most, it just makes long battles harder.
"Next, I'll keep training Haki while waiting at God Valley."
Toguro kept moving forward, walking alone across the vast sea. He knew Marines would track him, but that was exactly what he wanted.
Come on then. The battle at God Valley in this world is going to be even more intense. The more strong ones show up, the better!