Chapter 189 Sea Calendar 1514
The location was a training ground in the Sea Forest of Fish-Man District on Fish-Man Island, where a battle was taking place.
The combatants were Hyouzou and Prince Fukaboshi, the eldest prince of Ryugu Palace.
"Huff—shouldn't we call it quits, Your Highness?"
The eight-sword-style octopus fish-man Hyouzou, Fish-Man Island's number one swordsman, caught his breath. "Look, you're already panting."
"Aren't you the same?"
Prince Fukaboshi, also a merman, retorted defiantly. He held a trident in his hand—a black trident. "Also, don't call me prince when we're here. I'm just a member of the Immigration Bureau!"
"Hmph."
Hyouzou gave a noncommittal grunt and shot forward. His eight swords were now dyed black, swinging like a storm of blades as they swept toward Fukaboshi.
"Eight-Sword Storm!"
"Merman Combat—Flowing Water Thrust!"
Fukaboshi met the attack head-on with his trident without backing down, and the field once again rang with the clash of metal on metal.
Below, Brett and Jinbei stood side by side watching the battle.
"Fukaboshi's Armament Haki is stronger than Hyouzou's."
Jinbei commented. "But he's severely restricted on land."
Even among mermaids there were differences. Hyouzou was an octopus merman with many tentacles that could move freely on land, but Fukaboshi only had one fish tail. He had to rely on bubbles wrapped around his waist to move on land, so he fought quite awkwardly.
"Hyouzou's swordsmanship isn't weak. He can now use flying slashes at will, and his two-color Haki is also proficient. For Fukaboshi to battle him to this extent while at a disadvantage shows his true strength already surpasses Hyouzou's."
Brett nodded.
This was the Immigration Bureau's grand tournament currently underway.
All the captain-level officers under his command had now basically mastered Armament Haki proficiently, so Brett felt they could hold a tournament to test everyone's strength.
The captains would pair off and fight, with one loss meaning elimination. Fukaboshi and Arlong, who weren't military members, had also signed up to participate.
The final two remaining were Fish-Man Island's number one swordsman Hyouzou and Neptune's eldest son, the country's legal heir Prince Fukaboshi.
Both were obviously much stronger than the other officers.
Hyouzou dominated through technique. His iron-cutting swordsmanship combined with flying slashes and Armament Haki was really beyond what ordinary captains could withstand.
Fukaboshi had great talent in Haki training. He was the first among everyone to learn Haki and now had the strongest Haki intensity among all the officers—even Hyouzou couldn't match him.
For non-devil fruit users, Haki intensity was almost the decisive factor in combat, so even though Hyouzou technically overwhelmed Fukaboshi, they fought evenly.
However, a victor was finally decided.
Facing Hyouzou's relentless tsunami-like offensive, Fukaboshi, restricted in movement on land, was finally defeated. The moment his trident was knocked aside, he was sent flying by one of Hyouzou's flying slashes.
"The match is decided!"
Jinbei quickly announced. "The winner is Hyouzou!"
Actually, there was no need for him to intervene—Hyouzou's face had gone pale and he was only using his sword planted in the ground to keep from falling.
"Ohhhh!"
Cheers immediately erupted from below.
"It's Hyouzou after all! He's always been the strongest among us!"
"Yeah, his swordsmanship is unstoppable, and his Haki is terrifyingly strong!"
"But for the prince to fight him to this extent is already incredible!"
"Is it my imagination? His Haki seems stronger than Hyouzou's!"
The captains discussed among themselves.
Brett was very satisfied.
After the Immigration Bureau's total personnel expanded to fifty thousand, they hadn't continued expanding—after all, Fish-Man Island was only so big, and there was no need for militarism.
That meant there were fifty captains total.
Now all of them had awakened Armament Haki.
The meditation training method obtained from Hancock was indeed useful. These captains were already elite carefully selected from among fish-men and mermaids, and combined with their usual harsh training, it wasn't incomprehensible that they could all learn Haki.
Once Haki was awakened, it was a qualitative change.
These guys now had at least the strength approaching Marine Headquarters commodores, and it wouldn't be exaggerated to say the more outstanding ones had rear admiral or vice admiral level strength.
As for the most exceptional, Hyouzou and Fukaboshi, they probably already possessed strength approaching Marine Headquarters vice admiral level.
Hyouzou was one thing, but Fukaboshi was only sixteen years old.
Stronger than himself at the same age.
Brett reflected on this.
If Fukaboshi fully matured, he'd probably be at least an All-Star or Calamity-level expert.
Definitely a rare high-level talent for Fish-Man Island.
"As the champion's reward."
Brett said at this moment. "Hyouzou will receive a set of special weapons custom-made for him!"
"Weapons?"
Some color returned to Hyouzou's pale face as he smiled. "So Director Brett, what makes them special?"
"You'll know when you know."
Brett said. "So, do you have any requirements for the weapons?"
"Nothing special, just base them on my current weapons." Hyouzou indicated he wasn't picky.
Brett nodded slightly.
The tournament concluded there.
Afterward, Brett went to the depths of the Sea Forest, to an area outside Fish-Man Island where, hidden among the coral, lay an armory.
"Yo, Brett!"
When he arrived, he happened to encounter the blue-haired swimming trunks-wearing man tinkering with something. Seeing Brett's arrival, he said enthusiastically, "How about it? Want to see the new weapons I made?"
"I'll look at those later. I'm here to find the craftsmen."
Brett said with a smile.
"Oh, see you later then!"
Frankie didn't pester him and continued tinkering with his new weapons.
Brett went to find the people he was looking for.
Originally this was just a secret armory hidden and used by Tom-san and a few others, serving to manufacture prototype models of various weapons and devices.
But after discovering seastone mines last year and obtaining seastone processing methods from Wano Country, another building had been added here—a seastone processing factory.
Brett and Neptune had carefully selected a group of craftsmen to perform seastone processing work here.
On one hand, it was concealed, safe, and not easily discovered; on the other hand, they could receive Tom-san's guidance and try to develop more uses for seastone.
Brett had come here now to forge several seastone swords for Hyouzou. Of course, pure seastone was impossible—they would mix some seastone into alloys, ensuring sharpness while restraining devil fruit users and greatly increasing durability.
Brett's plan was to gradually replace his officers' equipment with seastone gear.
Regular soldiers would be sufficient with uniformly manufactured seastone bullets.
Just as Brett finished explaining the requirements to the craftsmen and before he could leave the processing factory, a phone call came in.
"Brett, we have a lead on the place you're looking for!"
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