The air fell deathly still.
Shiki and Whitebeard turned their heads in unison to stare at Ares's arm. Their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"Huh?!"
"Nani?!"
Shiki's jaw dropped, his face frozen in disbelief. "He already activated Armament Haki?!"
The cigar tumbled from his lips onto the tatami mat. In a panic, he snatched it up and blew off the ashes with frantic puffs.
Whitebeard grabbed Ares's now massive, jet-black arm it looked like a tree trunk covered in hardened steel.
"That's definitely Armament Haki hardening!"
It was as if he'd seen a ghost. His eyes slid from the arm to Ares's emotionless face.
The corner of his mouth twitched. He muttered bitterly, "This guy really just mastered Haki like that... and he doesn't even look impressed."
He patted Ares's shoulder with genuine awe. "You may be a bit stiff, but you're a one-in-a-million genius, Ares."
If Captain Rocks hadn't assigned Ares to Wang Zhi's division, Whitebeard would've swallowed his pride and recruited the guy himself.
Too late now... and he regretted it with every fiber of his being.
Shiki took a deep drag from his cigar to calm himself. "You learned Haki like you were sipping water. I've never seen someone grasp it so fast. You're even more monstrous than Linlin!"
Monsters were a dime a dozen in the Rocks Pirates. Hell, they were all monsters in one way or another.
But even among monsters, there were levels. And Ares? He was a monster among monsters.
A total freak.
Suddenly, Ares frowned. "This Armament Haki... feels strange."
"It's like... my body's resisting it?"
His murmuring made Shiki and Whitebeard glance at each other in confusion.
"His mind... is definitely not like a normal person's," Shiki said, raising a brow.
Whitebeard nodded grimly. "Yeah. He's always been different. Remember when he challenged the captain? The guy's obsession is on another level."
Shiki blew a plume of smoke. "Even the old man said something broke in Ares's head a few years back. Who knows, maybe that's a good thing."
In this world, strength was all that mattered.
While they talked, flashes of fragmented memories stirred in Ares's mind scenes from a drunken haze not long ago.
Suddenly, his instincts took over.
His Armament Haki twisted.
The blackened arm turned red-hot, wisps of white steam rising off it.
Whitebeard yelped and let go, feeling a searing pain burn across his palm. He shook his hand frantically.
"That's the same state he was in when he was drunk!"
Ares's arm fell with a heavy thud, smashing the small table in front of them.
Shiki's eye twitched. The bump on his temple throbbed just looking at the scene.
"Ares, is this some kind of special combat form of yours?" he asked, curious.
He'd seen plenty of strange species aboard the Rocks ship. Mink who transformed under moonlight, fishmen who weaponized seawater.
So a freak like Ares wasn't entirely unexpected.
Whitebeard, eyes wide, nodded. "Yeah, when you got drunk before, your strength skyrocketed in this form."
"I've never seen a power like it. It's crazy strong."
Coming from the second division commander of the Rocks Pirates, those words weren't spoken lightly.
"This... is Armament Haki," Ares said, staring at his glowing, steaming arm with joy.
It had a searing heat and was even harder than the typical Haki hardening.
Stronger, denser.
His eyes gleamed. "I love this feeling!"
"It's like tossing iron into a furnace, burning off the impurities, tempering it into steel!"
Memories of childhood surfaced in his mind.
His father had been a renowned master blacksmith, once forging a blade worthy of the 21 Great Grade swords.
He'd grown up around the craft. The sights and sounds of swordsmithing had etched themselves into his soul.
Even his brutal self-torture was part of the forging process.
Shiki raised a brow in disbelief. "You're saying this is... Haki?"
"I don't buy it!"
"I've never seen Armament Haki behave like this!"
Ares's arm looked like molten metal. If he hadn't known better, Shiki would've sworn it was a Devil Fruit ability.
Whitebeard had the same thought. He leaned in excitedly. "Ares, have you ever eaten a weird-looking fruit before?"
"You know, one that didn't look like a normal fruit strange colors, swirling patterns. Tasted awful, like you wanted to throw up."
"Think back carefully. Did you eat anything like that?"
The moment he mentioned the taste, Whitebeard's face turned green. Devil Fruits were nothing if not disgusting.
His eyes were locked on Ares, nervous. With that kind of mind, Ares might not even realize he'd eaten a Devil Fruit.
Maybe it had happened just recently.
Ares frowned and tried to recall. The more he thought, the more fragmented memories tangled together in his mind.
A sharp pain stabbed through his head.
"Ahhh!"
He clutched his skull, fingers digging into his hair as tufts of it came loose and fell.
It was nerve pain from deep within.
Agony like his soul was being ripped apart.
Even someone as pain-tolerant as Ares couldn't help but scream.
Shiki shouted, panicked. "Oi oi!!"
"Ares! What's happening to you?!"
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