Ever since Drake's severe injury, Bellamy noticed that everyone had started training with a new level of intensity. Clearly, Drake's gruesome state had scared them all. This was an unexpected but welcome development, so Bellamy decided to slow down his own plans, letting their sense of urgency linger for a few more days.
Half a month later, Drake's wounds finally healed completely.
During that time, something else unexpectedly good happened. While he was immobilized by his injuries, Drake had inadvertently touched upon the essence of life force and had an epiphany, mastering the Six Powers ultimate technique, Life Return. Perhaps it wasn't so much an epiphany as the natural result of his accumulated experience. The near-death experience had thoroughly awakened his Ancient Zoan potential. Paired with the potent stimulants Muret had concocted, Drake's strength had taken a quantum leap in just half a month.
Additionally, the new crew member, Heracles, had also made tremendous progress. His physique was already exceptionally powerful, and as soon as he was introduced to the Six Powers, his abilities underwent a qualitative change. The Six Powers weren't just a set of physical techniques; they were a sophisticated system of martial arts. Under Bellamy's guidance, Heracles quickly mastered Iron Body and Shave. The moment he learned those two moves, he could fight Ross to a standstill, no longer being completely overpowered. It was a clear demonstration of how much the Six Powers enhanced his abilities.
If he had the chance during this special training period, Bellamy also wanted to extract the essence of Fish-Man Karate, the King Punch, and Jio-Ken, and then slowly pass them on to his crew. How much they could learn would depend on their own talents. Under his leadership, the Bellamy Pirates were all focused on physical combat and martial arts, so the fighting styles he had painstakingly collected would be useful to everyone. This also deepened Bellamy's interest in the various martial arts traditions of this world. As far as he knew, there were still many unique fighting styles to be found, and if he ever encountered them, he would not let the opportunity pass.
While his crew's combat strength had significantly improved, Bellamy hadn't fallen behind. The most obvious change was in his Armament Haki. This had been one of his biggest weaknesses, a gap he was eager to fill. Now, when Bellamy fully unleashed his Armament Haki, he could cover most of his body, leaving only the soles of his feet and a small part of his back exposed.
Full-body armament was a standard for top-tier fighters. The strongest individuals in the world might not have Conqueror's Haki, but they absolutely could not lack an ocean of Armament Haki. Garp was the most classic example. That's right, the Marine Hero Garp did not possess Conqueror's Haki. But he was still the Marine Hero who struck terror into the hearts of pirates. Even the Four Emperors had to be on their highest alert when facing him, because his iron fists truly had the power to shatter their skulls.
Bellamy had been on the Boin Archipelago for less than four months, yet his Haki proficiency was already catching up to old pirates in the New World who had been training for decades. Onigumo's intuition hadn't been wrong; letting a madman like him loose on the Grand Line was bound to cause a major incident sooner or later. It was a shame that even after sacrificing his life, he had failed to stop Bellamy.
Besides his Armament Haki, Bellamy's greatest improvement was in his physical techniques. His mastery of the Six Powers was slowly reaching a plateau. His physique was approaching the absolute limit of what an ordinary human could achieve through physical training. He was now a terrifying force—body as strong as a dragon, vital energy like the sea, breath that could stir a storm, and a single step that could cause an earthquake.
To achieve another qualitative breakthrough in his physical body alone, he would probably have to turn to high technology or Devil Fruits—modifying human genes or using a special fruit ability to alter the body's structure. Beyond that, Bellamy couldn't think of any other way.
Fortunately, he was a Spring-Man. As long as he seriously developed his fruit's abilities, it would provide a massive boost to his physique. And with a body that was pushing the limits of human potential, his Spring-Spring Fruit could unleash even greater power. Furthermore, the stronger his body, the faster he could refine his Armament Haki, which was one of the reasons for his rapid progress.
This was all good news. But the past few months hadn't been without their share of bad news.
Bellamy had been consuming massive doses of stimulants, several times the amount anyone else was taking. This unrestrained stimulation had placed a tremendous burden on his body. The white hairs on his head were visibly increasing. Muret couldn't even keep up with pulling them out at night; the moment he took the stimulants the next day, a new batch would sprout.
In addition to the drain on his life force, another side effect of the drug was the erosion of his internal organs by toxins. In the past few days, Bellamy had started to feel a faint pain in his abdomen during high-intensity training. Such minor aches and pains should never have appeared on his body. The fact that they had meant his body was reaching its breaking point. If he continued to force it with the drugs, he would likely suffer permanent damage.
But Bellamy didn't tell his doctor about this. Instead, he silently continued to consume large quantities of the stimulants.
The first thing he would do upon entering the New World was find Law and have him cleanse the accumulated toxins from everyone's bodies. After that, he would head straight for Dressrosa to find the Devil Fruit user he had been seeking all this time.
Mansherry, the princess of the Tontatta Kingdom and user of the Heal-Heal Fruit—a super-rare ability said to be able to heal even inorganic matter.
With her, these injuries were insignificant. His drained life force, his consumed potential, his damaged organs—the Heal-Heal Fruit could fix it all. Although the price for using such a heaven-defying ability was the user's own lifespan, Mansherry was still young, wasn't she? She had plenty of life to spare for Bellamy's treatment. As for whether she was willing or not, that was not Bellamy's concern.
Currently, the little princess of the Tontatta tribe was being held by Doflamingo in a secret prison, used as a universal healing machine. Her tragedy was sealed the moment she ate the Heal-Heal Fruit.
Think about it: Shiki was currently missing both his legs with a ship's helm stuck in his head. Whitebeard was in even worse shape, constantly hooked up to an IV drip and getting scolded by his doctor for even having a drink. Shanks, a swordsman, had lost an arm, severely limiting his potential. If those three knew of an ability like this, it would undoubtedly set off a massive storm across the seas.
This was the fate of those who lacked the power to protect themselves. They were treated like objects, fought over and passed around, their own will completely silenced by the powerful.