On the high platform.
"Okay, eat this," Leon said, handing the piece of bread to the Marine recruit who had volunteered.
The young soldier nodded respectfully, took the bread, and swallowed it in one gulp.
The next moment, as soon as the recruit ate the bread, a powerful aura seemed to awaken within his body.
BOOM!
"Hm?!"
At this moment, Sengoku, Garp, and the others watching from the sidelines showed a hint of surprise on their faces.
"Is this Armament Haki?!"
It was no surprise for a Marine to have Haki, but for it to suddenly appear in a regular recruit... this was something else.
They knew this recruit had decent physical skills, but he had absolutely no Haki.
'Could it be...' they all thought, looking at the bread.
BOOM!
Another aura emerged.
"This is Observation Haki!" Sengoku exclaimed, shocked.
But it wasn't over yet.
Following that was a force even stronger than the previous two auras, which swept out in an instant, making the hearts of many Marine soldiers sink.
Even Sengoku, Garp, and the Five Admirals' faces changed dramatically.
"Conqueror's Haki! It's Conqueror's Haki!" Sengoku spoke incredulously, staring at the recruit as if he had seen a ghost.
"He can even awaken Conqueror's Haki? What kind of stupid bread is this?!"
At this time, Akainu had the same shocked expression and Garp was already stunned and frozen in place.
"Could it be that this bread, like the Monster Cells, can develop the potential of the human body?" Tsuru said in a deep voice.
The Marine soldiers below finally reacted, the sound of gasping breath echoing across the plaza.
At that moment, the Five Elders, who had been watching, couldn't help but come through anywhere door.
"Leon, what is this bread?" they asked impatiently.
"Hehe, its name is Memory Bread," Leon explained.
"As the name suggests, it allows you to memorize something. Not just Conqueror's Haki, but also the Six Powers, superb sword skills, all kinds of powerful fighting styles... Through the Memory Bread, you can copy the 'memory' of a skill. After eating it, you will immediately master that skill."
The faces of the Five Elders, Sengoku, and the countless Marine soldiers were filled with utter disbelief.
Haki, fighting styles, swordsmanship... everything could be copied?
Didn't that mean, as long as you ate this bread, you could directly become stronger?
In an instant, the eyes of countless Marine soldiers became hot with desire.
The Five Elders looked ecstatic.
"This means..." Sengoku was also shocked, "as long as there is enough quantity, we will be able to mass-produce powerful soldiers!"
"Don't be so surprised. It also has its shortcomings," Leon smiled.
"Although you can replicate the skill just by eating it, without the corresponding physical body, there is no way to exert the original's full strength. In short, you only gain the knowledge of the skill; the power you display still depends on your own strength."
Hearing this, the Five Elders and Sengoku were stunned for a moment.
"I see. In that way, it's not as insane as we imagined... However, it's still very scary."
To know that it takes years for even the strongest warriors to master Haki or superb swordsmanship... this was equivalent to giving every soldier a perfect head start.
"However, the cost..." one of the Five Elders looked at Leon.
"Don't worry," Leon replied. "This kind of product is very cheap to manufacture. You only need one million Berries for one piece. So, with 100 million Berries, you can have 100 pieces, and with 100 billion Berries, you can create 100,000 elite soldiers!"
Hearing this, the Five Elders and Sengoku looked overjoyed.
"Excellent!" Ju Peter couldn't help but laugh. "From today onwards, immediately begin mass production of the Memory Bread! We will strive to make all Marine soldiers strong!"
"Sengoku!" he commanded. "At the same time, let Marines from all over the world gather here through the anywhere door! Regardless of whether they are recruits or veterans, everyone will join the battle this time!"
"YES, SIR!" Sengoku quickly responded, with unconcealable ecstasy on his face.
How many Marines were there in the world?
An extremely scary number.
Let every one of them take the Memory Bread, and their quantitative advantage would surely transform into a qualitative one, turning them into a terrifying combat force.
Hearing these words, the countless Marine soldiers below couldn't help but shout.
"LONG LIVE THE MARINES!"
...
"Everyone, assemble!"
"Quick! Cancel all vacations and leave! All Marines, gather immediately!"
With this order, countless Marines assembled in their respective camps.
"What's going on?"
"What else could it be? It must be for the upcoming battle. They're requiring all of us to participate."
"What?! But we're just a small branch from the East Blue! How could we possibly be qualified to participate in a war of this scale?"
"Well, who knows..."
With a sense of trepidation, Marines from all over the world arrived at Marineford through the Anywhere door.
As they stepped through, they saw a mighty, endless sea of soldiers.
From all four directions, the doors were still disgorging more and more Marines.
Seeing this scene, the soldiers from the branch bases felt a deep chill and a strong sense of urgency.
'But why,' they wondered, 'is everyone eating a damn bread?'
"Another Marine branch has arrived! Distribute the Memory Bread!" Vice Admiral Yamakaji saw them and immediately gave the order.
At that moment, all of the top Vice Admirals were directing the distribution.
"Yes, sir!"
Soon, piles of bread were delivered to the newly arrived soldiers.
"One per person, don't take more!"
"It's really strange, but they're ordering us to eat it immediately..."
"I don't even like bread!"
"No choice, it's an order!"
Under the watchful gaze of the Vice Admirals, everyone ate the bread.
The next moment, an unprecedented force seemed to surge within their bodies.
A continuous wave of power appeared, as if awakened from a deep slumber, and soared into the sky.
"This.... what is this power?"
"This... this is Haki!"
"Hey... it's Conqueror's Haki! I have Conqueror's Haki?!"
"How is this possible... Do I have the qualities of a king? No! It's the bread!"
Everyone's face was a mask of shock.
"You awakened Conqueror's Haki, too?!" countless soldiers asked each other, looking as if they had seen a ghost.
They knew for a fact they couldn't use Haki before, yet now, they and all their partners had inexplicably mastered it.
"This bread is too terrifying!" The sound of gasping voices echoed across the plaza.
This was exactly the Marines' plan.
Rather than other skills, having every soldier master the three forms of Haki was the most practical way to boost their power.
With it, their defense, attack, and evasion would all be dramatically increased.
The news that hundreds of thousands of Marines had gathered at headquarters and eaten the Memory Bread to gain Haki was not deliberately blocked.
It was impossible to keep such a massive mobilization a secret, and there were bound to be spies among them.
Soon, the major powers of the sea learned of this development.
*****
In a temporary camp of the Whitebeard and Red Hair alliance.
"It's unbelievable," Whitebeard said in a low voice, looking at a single, ordinary-looking piece of bread in front of him.
"The Marines actually invented such a magical thing that can directly engrave skills into a person."
This was a piece of Memory Bread they had worked tirelessly to steal from the Marines.
Shanks also looked surprised.
"Yeah, It means that whoever possesses it can mass-produce powerful soldiers. I'm afraid the Marines are about to experience another period of rapid growth."
"What about Vegapunk?" Whitebeard asked after a moment of silence.
Shanks shook his head. "Dr. Vegapunk said that the technology to engrave memories like this is too complex. It's impossible for him to replicate it in a short period of time."
Hearing this, Whitebeard fell silent again.
"So be it. But if this continues, the Marines' strength will become too great. Their numbers are large enough to produce a qualitative change."
"So, we can only advance the schedule," Benn Beckman interrupted, speaking directly.
In the Grand Line.
"Mamamama... what amazing bread," Big Mom said with an emotional, grinning sneer.
"Although it doesn't have much effect on us, if the quantity is enough, they can mass-produce an army of strong haki users. It's a terrifying tech for quickly increasing the strength of their lower and middle ranks."
Kaido nodded. "Yes. The difficulty of reproducing this will not be easy."
"Mamamama... then let's try!" Big Mom said with a smile. "This piece of bread doesn't seem to have much complex technology in it."
"No, Big Mom," Judge said, shaking his head. "Don't look at it as just a small piece of bread. Because it is so simple on the surface, it's impossible for us to know how it achieves the function of memory replication. It's not like a Seraphim, where we can study its power source, combat devices, and programming. This just looks like the most common bread, which makes it even more difficult to study. We feel like we don't even know where to begin."
Queen and Caesar Clown nodded simultaneously.
"Yes," Caesar said. "It's precisely because of this that it's so difficult to reproduce. I'm afraid we'll need to conduct a deep analysis of this single piece of bread just to have a chance of reversing its composition."
They clearly did not have much confidence.
Big Mom's face sank.
"So, our chances of a remake are slim? But the Marines have been continuously developing this Memory Bread. If things go on like this, won't their strength skyrocket?"
A look of concern appeared in her eyes.
"Don't worry, Linlin," Kaido spoke. "Whitebeard and Shanks are at the forefront. Even if we can't decipher it, they won't just stand by and watch the Marines continue to grow stronger."
And that's exactly what happened.
That very night, the Whitebeard Pirates declared war ahead of schedule.
They would attack the Marines in just three days!
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