"That's as far as I go, Captain Momonga."
In front of the Fleet Admiral's conference room, Gion stopped and spoke softly.
The corners of her lips curled slightly, carrying a youthful sweetness. Her mood had clearly lifted, and her tone had softened from its usual coolness.
"Thanks for the trouble, Commodore Gion."
Momonga gave a small nod.
Once Gion turned around and disappeared at the end of the corridor, he took a deep breath, lifted his gaze to the door before him, and his expression turned sharp and serious.
He had no idea what kind of challenge awaited him behind that door.
But...
Clenching his fists, his eyes were resolute.
This would be the moment of truth.
After a quick mental prep, he raised his hand and knocked.
Knock knock knock...
"Come in."
A low, deep voice echoed from within the room.
Momonga drew a breath and pushed open the door.
...
Marineford.
Senior Ward, Military District.
A world of darkness slowly brightened as a soft light peeked through.
The quiet hum of a fan, IV bottles hanging overhead, the stark white ceiling, and the pungent mix of disinfectant and blood in the air...
Daren slowly forced his eyes open.
Yeah, the scene was familiar.
Suddenly, a poorly groomed face leaned in close, taking up his entire field of vision. The pockmarks were crystal clear.
And in the guy's mouth—half a banana, the peel dangling.
"Yo, you're awake!"
The corner of Daren's mouth twitched.
Yep. That face again.
"Seriously... is there ever gonna be a time I wake up from a coma with heavy injuries and not see your ugly mug first thing?"
Daren sighed, totally exasperated.
Tokikake gulped down the rest of the banana and grumbled, "Oi oi oi, Daren, what's that supposed to mean!?"
"I came to check on you out of the kindness of my heart, and this is what I get!?"
"I know what this is—you're just jealous of my insanely good-looking face, aren't you?"
"It's fine, you can admit it... I get it. I mean, I am ridiculously handsome."
He let out a dramatic sigh and ran a hand over his slick, overly greased hair.
Yeah... devastatingly handsome indeed.
If I weren't flat on my back, wrapped in casts and braces with no strength left, I probably would've jumped up in shock the second I saw that face.
Daren silently grumbled to himself.
"You just came to steal from my fruit basket, didn't you."
Tokikake's face turned red on the spot. "I did not steal!"
"I was helping lighten your load, okay?!"
But faced with Daren's look of disbelief, he jumped to his feet indignantly.
"I swear I didn't take anything except the fruit basket—"
Clatter—
As Tokikake stood up too quickly, a cascade of items tumbled out from under his Marine cloak.
Fancy cigars, miniature bottles of premium liquor, various cigarettes, and nutritional supplements... all clattered to the floor.
Daren: ...
Tokikake: ...
"Whatever. If you want it, take it."
Daren didn't even bother arguing and muttered with annoyance.
Though honestly, as shameless as this bastard Tokikake was—always coming in here to mooch and raid his stuff...
At least, without fail, every time he woke up from a serious injury, that dumb face was there to greet him.
"Really? That's great."
Tokikake grinned and pointed to the mountain of gifts piled on the hospital room's sofa.
"Then I won't hold back. I'll haul everything back with me later."
"I mean, with our relationship... Daren, hehehe, it'd be rude not to, right?"
As he spoke, he eagerly adjusted the bed for Daren, looking like the very picture of helpfulness.
Now sitting upright with the bed slightly raised, Daren was finally able to assess his condition.
His body was almost entirely wrapped in bandages. The wound in his abdomen was still oozing blood, sending sharp waves of pain through him. Just the simple act of sitting up had brought cold sweat to his forehead, and his face turned even paler.
"That was way too close..."
Looking over his battered, barely-holding-together body, a bitter smile crept onto Daren's lips.
All he felt now was regret.
"The lion's final roar should never go unheard..." Sure, that line sounded cool—but in reality, the only audience he had was Momonga!
Putting on a show like that... the price had been way too steep.
But just as that thought crossed his mind, Daren instinctively checked his physical stats.
What he saw next stopped him cold.
Physique: 91.728 (Indestructible Body)
Strength: 82.191 (Giant's Strength)
Speed: 82.431 (Soru's Godspeed)
Fruit Ability Development: 85.886 (Island-Wide Coverage)
Armament Haki: 70.715 (Internal Destruction)
Observation Haki: 74.119 (Magnetic Field Induction)
Conqueror's Haki: 75.317
The numbers on his Personal Panel stunned him.
Physique, strength, speed—those were expected. After breaking through in his fight with Kaidou, progress had stalled out. Even after a brutal pursuit and clash with Shiki, each stat had increased by less than a point.
Armament Haki and Observation Haki had done slightly better, ticking up by just over a point each.
But Conqueror's Haki—that was something else entirely.
Five points.
A full five-point increase!
Unbelievable.
He clearly remembered that in the final clash with Shiki, both his Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki had broken past the 70 mark. His Armament Haki had even awakened the "Internal Destruction" technique.
But now, his Conqueror's Haki had jumped another five points above that threshold!
What the hell?
Daren had never figured out a reliable way to increase Conqueror's Haki.
Physique, strength, speed, Armament, Observation... all of those followed a path. You could train, spar, or learn from masters. It might be slow, but at least there was progress.
But Conqueror's Haki? That came from sheer willpower and spirit.
Since he awakened it after killing Saint Xildes, Daren hadn't found any effective method to train it.
The only thing that seemed to work was clashing with other powerful users of Conqueror's Haki—and even then, the growth was minimal.
But five points in one go?
That had never happened before.
Could it really be because he made the choice to stand his ground and not dodge Shiki's final slash?
That didn't feel right...
Wait.
Daren's eyes flickered as something clicked in his memory.
He suddenly remembered the words Shiki had said right before his death.
"This... is your resolve!"