"Then I'll guess three…"
Hancock glanced over as well, though her attention was on the national warriors overseeing the assessments.
There were over a hundred national warriors in total, with widely varying levels of strength. Anyone unlucky enough to draw a veteran national warrior as their opponent had little hope of passing.
A considerable number of Kuja warriors failed the assessment not because they were weak, but because their assigned opponent was simply far too strong.
"So, same wager as usual?"
Borsalino raised an eyebrow slightly. Hancock didn't hesitate before agreeing.
Clang!
Seizing a moment when her opponent failed to dodge in time, the giantess brought her blade down and sent her opponent flying off the platform.
Fortunately, the national warrior had Armament Haki to protect her. Even after being knocked more than ten meters away, she suffered no serious injury.
"I won! Hahaha!"
The giantess raised her oversized sword high and cheered loudly.
As one of the very few rookies to pass the national warrior assessment on her first attempt, she had every reason to be excited.
At the same time, the other two dozen matches also reached their conclusions. Most of the national warriors successfully defended their positions. Including the giantess, only four newcomers passed the assessment.
One national warrior, however, accumulated her third defeat and lost her title.
"Ugh, I'm so unlucky! Why did I have to draw Goliya again?!"
The disgraced former national warrior—who happened to be the giantess's opponent—complained bitterly. Her strength wasn't among the weakest, but her luck had been consistently terrible.
"Train harder and win it back quickly! Those who passed, follow me to pay respects to Lord Borsalino and Lady Hancock!"
Kikyo scolded the unlucky warrior sharply, then led the successful candidates toward Borsalino.
"We pay our respects to Lord Borsalino, Lady Hancock!"
The four newcomers knelt on one knee before them.
Although Hancock was the empress of Amazon Lily, the Kuja warriors also regarded Borsalino as something akin to a "royal father." Moreover, at Hancock's insistence, whenever the two appeared together, Borsalino's position had to be above hers.
"You may rise. Kikyo, are all the national warriors currently on the island?"
Borsalino knew Kikyo well. If not for Sandersonia and Marigold being Hancock's sisters, Kikyo would have been more than qualified to serve as Hancock's deputy.
"Yes, Lord Borsalino," Kikyo replied respectfully.
Everyone in the Kuja Pirates knew this: offending Lady Hancock might still leave room for salvation, but offending Lord Borsalino guaranteed a grim fate. Often, Hancock herself would deal with the offender before Borsalino ever needed to act.
"Good. Gather all the national warriors. I have an announcement to make."
Borsalino nodded and instructed the attendants to bring over the scroll detailing chakra extraction methods.
As expected, Kuja warriors should all be capable of learning chakra extraction. After all, chakra was fundamentally the fusion of spiritual and physical energy.
Armament Haki itself was a power derived from pushing one's physical body to the extreme—pure physical energy in essence. As elites among the Kuja, the national warriors would learn chakra extraction with ease.
That said, Borsalino had no intention of spreading the chakra system widely. The Three Types of Haki were not inferior to chakra. Most people couldn't even master their native system—splitting focus would only weaken them.
Buruburuburu… Buruburuburu…
Just as Borsalino gave the order, his personal Den Den Mushi rang again.
"Moshi moshi, this is Borsalino…"
With a sigh of mild irritation, he answered.
For some reason, he suddenly missed having Nami around. Whenever there were incoming calls or calls to make, she handled everything flawlessly.
"Boss, it's Sentomaru. The gravity training room you asked Dr. Vegapunk to build is finished. Should we send it to Marineford next?"
A hoarse, grating voice came through the Den Den Mushi.
Even without seeing him, Borsalino could vividly imagine the chubby man in the red loincloth.
"Wait! Send it to Amazon Lily first—and stop calling me 'boss'! You sound like a gangster. I'm a Marine admiral!"
Borsalino hurriedly stopped him, worried that this blockhead would deliver the hard-earned gravity chamber straight to Marineford.
With the Marines and the Whitebeard Pirates on the brink of turning Marineford into ruins—and with Borsalino planning to drag both the Revolutionary Army and the World Government into the fray—there was no guarantee Marineford would even still exist after the war.
"Got it, boss."
Sentomaru hung up immediately and turned to inform the science unit to reroute the delivery to Amazon Lily.
But before he could leave the room, a flash of golden light appeared—and a vicious punch slammed him straight into the ground.
Boom!
Sentomaru's forehead struck first, smashing a crater into the floor. In a way, Sentomaru was a prodigy.
While not quite on the absurd level of Charlotte Linlin's "iron balloon," his affinity with Armament Haki was terrifyingly high. Combined with training under Vice Admiral Garp at Borsalino's request, Sentomaru's defense had become monstrous.
Anyone else would've died or suffered severe brain trauma from such a blow. But Sentomaru merely shook his head, snarled, and lifted his face—his forehead had shattered solid granite, yet not a scratch could be seen.
"Bastard! Who the hell hit me?!"
No matter how hard he searched, Sentomaru couldn't find his attacker, leaving him furious.
"Tch… little brat, hanging up on my calls now, huh?"
Back on Amazon Lily, Borsalino—having used his powers to zip back and forth between the island and the Marine science base, casually punching a certain blockhead along the way—shook his hand in annoyance.
In hindsight, asking Vice Admiral Garp to train Sentomaru might've been a mistake. His head was already hard—now he was a full-on ironhead.
Without Armament Haki, Borsalino had almost failed to damage him at all. His defense was downright ridiculous.
"Lord Borsalino, all national warriors are assembled!"
Kikyo reported respectfully, her greatsword resting on her back.
Amazon Lily wasn't large, and the national warriors moved swiftly. Including the newly promoted ones, all 140 national warriors were present.
Though the number wasn't large, even in the New World there were few pirate crews that could truly surpass their strength.
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