Haki could be stored.
There were several signs of this. The most obvious evidence was Haki users with ranged weapons—they could attach their Haki to bullets to attack enemies.
But that was temporary.
There were also permanent Haki-infused representatives—black blades. Regardless of material, items soaked in Haki over time would absorb its properties, eventually transforming completely into Haki's color.
However, achieving this required extremely high Haki intensity. Those who could forge black blades through their own power were without exception top-tier fighters.
But this alone wasn't enough to capture Silas's attention regarding Shimotsuki Ryuma.
What truly excited him was the faint yet trembling Haki remaining in Ryuma's sword, Shusui!
Undoubtedly, this Haki's level was slightly higher than what Silas currently mastered, nearly reaching the level of the strongest Haki user he'd encountered—Imu.
Of course, Silas wasn't certain whether Imu's Haki was the world's strongest. Some powerhouse from eight hundred years ago might have reached even greater heights, but without guidance, Silas could only feel his way forward. Every sufficiently powerful Haki user could become his teacher.
Even if that teacher wanted him dead!
In the Flower Capital, Shogun Kozuki Sukiyaki watched helplessly as Silas toyed with Wano's national treasure, Shusui.
The pirate's word was law now. When had he ever suffered such humiliation?
But arguing was pointless—Silas's strength made defiance suicidal. One wrong move and opening the borders would be the least of his worries. His head might roll.
So even though Silas had said he wouldn't harm him, Sukiyaki dared not cross him.
Looking at Shusui in Silas's hands, Sukiyaki desperately wished the legendary sword god, dragon-slaying samurai Shimotsuki Ryuma could resurrect and teach Silas a lesson.
But that was impossible.
"Wahhh~"
A baby's cries came from the shogun's residence. Sukiyaki's heart jumped. Glancing at Silas, he wondered if Silas would be angered by a baby's crying.
He showed an apologetic expression, then withdrew from the partition, looking at the servants with some annoyance.
"Why bring Oden here? Can't you see I'm entertaining a guest?"
"S-sorry, Lord Shogun."
The servants caring for baby Kozuki Oden said fearfully, "We don't know why, but young Master Oden kept wanting to come this way—we couldn't stop him!"
The baby's caretakers were just ordinary people, but Sukiyaki's son Kozuki Oden was anything but ordinary—even at birth, he'd thrown his wet nurse across the room with monstrous strength.
At only six months old, Oden already showed incredible power. This made Sukiyaki both proud and envious. After all, Sukiyaki himself had been sickly since childhood. Though he'd improved after treatment, he still only possessed average samurai strength. Seeing his infant son already displaying such natural talent, Sukiyaki couldn't help but anticipate Oden's future prowess.
Compared to top swordmasters, the gap remained enormous.
Especially after seeing Silas single-handedly suppress all of Wano's samurai, Sukiyaki felt a stifling frustration. Seeing Oden's displayed talent, he wished he'd grow up immediately and avenge his father!
Of course, such thoughts couldn't be revealed before Silas.
Though Sukiyaki felt aggrieved, actually, in the half year since arriving in Wano, Silas truly hadn't harassed ordinary citizens, mostly keeping to himself, only having crew members challenge samurai everywhere.
Nothing like a vicious pirate.
If not for that incident half a year ago, he might not mind befriending Silas. But then again, if Silas hadn't displayed crushing power, he probably wouldn't have allowed the White Wolf Pirates to stay in Wano either.
However, Sukiyaki believed Silas didn't harass citizens for a reason. After all, his several female crew members were beautiful enough. Why would he care for common women?
Especially that woman called Toki—her dress and bearing perfectly matched Wano aesthetics, simply their ideal woman. Yet such a woman had been claimed by a mere pirate.
How could this not bring sadness?
"Y-young Master Oden!"
In Sukiyaki's moment of distraction, he heard servants' panicked voices, then saw his precious son actually barging toward Silas's room.
This scared him greatly.
When he entered the room, Oden had stopped crying. The baby blinked quietly and reached out his arms, clearly wanting Toki to hold him.
Sukiyaki's heart rose to his throat, but thinking Oden was just a baby, Silas surely wouldn't—
"Young Master Oden was thrown out the window!"
Chaos erupted. Sukiyaki never imagined Silas would bully the weak by attacking a child.
"Oden!!!"
Sukiyaki's eyes widened, gripping his sword as blood rushed to his head. "I'll kill you!!!"
The result was naturally that before reaching Silas, Sukiyaki was knocked unconscious by Silas's Conqueror's Haki.
Silas looked at the collapsed Sukiyaki, somewhat speechless. "This is the first floor, not the eighteenth. Could that little brat really die from the fall?"
Only because Silas didn't want to harm a baby. Otherwise, just from Oden's lecherous expression earlier, Silas could've killed him.
"This baby feels so strange."
Toki sat beside Silas, feeling uncomfortable all over. That baby's expression earlier was too lewd, so much so that she'd almost instinctively wanted to throw the baby out.
"Silas, are all babies like this?"
Toki asked worriedly, because lately an old man kept muttering beside her like a grandfather wanting to hold a great-grandson, making her somewhat expectant.
But seeing Kozuki Oden, all of Toki's beautiful fantasies about babies shattered. How could such a strange baby exist?
"This guy should be an exception!"
Silas's face also darkened. Though Kozuki Oden would become a top sea fighter in the future, Silas had no intention of recruiting him.
Simply afraid stupidity was contagious. Moreover, already chasing women so young—what would happen when grown?
"Come, let's change locations."
"Mm."
Whatever Silas said, Toki would do. Having embraced her wife's role, whatever Silas wanted to do, Toki would unconditionally trust and support.
Behind them, Kozuki Oden, just thrown out the window, stubbornly climbed up. Seeing Toki nestling beside Silas as they left, he froze.
Then burst into loud wails.
But his cries were destined to never reach either Silas's or Toki's ears.
Silas's appearance had changed many people's fates. Some for better, some for worse.
But at least Toki's was definitely better.
After becoming Silas's woman, Toki finally revealed her secret—the prophecy. In the future, Wano would face enormous disaster, and after that calamity's arrival, a destined person would come to eliminate it.
Then would be Wano's opening time.
"Though I initially crossed these centuries because of the prophecy, being beside you, Silas, I experienced many things I'd never experienced before. I came to save, but the future is too distant, so I've decided to remain in the present."
Speaking these words meant Toki no longer pursued the ethereal prophecy, but chose to stay beside Silas.
"But when you said you'd make Wano open its borders, that really scared me."
"Haha, what, afraid I'm the one bringing disaster to Wano?"
"Of course not!"
Toki shook her head. "I believe you absolutely aren't someone who kills innocents indiscriminately."
If Silas truly wanted to forcibly open Wano using violence, his strength could accomplish it, but he'd only beaten the samurai, at most making them catch cold for a few days from freezing.
"I'm not as kind as you imagine, but if I oppressed others with violence, I'd become the person I hate most."
Silas shook his head. Though other methods existed to enter Wano, beating the samurai into submission was obviously simplest.
Moreover, Silas hadn't forced Samurai to do anything. Samurai were already unproductive warriors—having crew members challenge them gave these samurai something to do.
So much that even Sukiyaki hadn't realized since White Wolf Pirates arrived in Wano, public security had actually improved.
However, Sukiyaki would never admit this even if beaten to death.
After half a year's training, Silas's crew members had made substantial progress.
First was Ripley. Silas hadn't expected her breakthrough to come from Observation Haki rather than Armament—the type she'd always struggled with.
Through constant battles with the samurai, she'd developed a unique intuition. While it wasn't true future sight, when combined with her Devil Fruit ability, her defensive capabilities rivaled those of basic future sight users.
This was evident from initially challenging Shimotsuki Fuuya upon landing. Ripley could shrink her body parts through fruit ability, causing enemies' attacks to misjudge.
So much that sometimes when sleeping, Silas's hand just touched Ripley's chest, suddenly grasping empty air.
So big just now! Now so small!
Silas was deeply pained, strongly demanding Ripley not use her ability while sleeping. Then Silas experienced driving a big vehicle.
"If I can't use my ability..."
Becoming an 18-meter giant, Ripley knelt, looking at palm-sized Silas, covering her mouth giggling. "Captain probably can't even make me feel anything now."
Being underestimated, Silas immediately showed Ripley what a top physical arts expert meant. But this turned a two-person enjoyment into a one-person enjoyment, finally making Ripley beg for mercy.
After all, without needing his own contribution, he could battle Ripley ten days and nights!
That said, Ripley's improvement wasn't the most significant among the crew. While she'd developed future-sight-like techniques, these were ultimately just clever applications of her Devil Fruit ability.
The biggest improvement came from Newgate.
After Rocks left, Newgate became the de facto leader among the younger crew members. At first, it was just his training speed that stood out. But after six months of hard work, Newgate finally defeated Ripley in direct combat—something even Rocks had never managed.
This depressed Ripley for a few days. But being naturally optimistic, she'd known this day would eventually come. After all, most of the crew were monsters. She'd only been able to stay ahead of Rocks and the others for so long because she'd started training earlier.
Once Newgate caught up in experience, Ripley couldn't keep pace anymore.
However, what concerned Silas was that as Newgate aged, two whiskers gradually grew on his face. Initially sparse, but after half a year of challenging samurai without grooming, two whiskers became two white mustaches.
Ripley couldn't help mocking him, finally making Newgate snap and challenge her.
In that battle, Newgate displayed half a year's gains—Tremor-Tremor Fruit plus Armament Haki's internal destruction!
With this move, forget Ripley—even Linlin and Silas himself couldn't defend. Either dodge or take damage.
Compared to Ripley and Newgate's dedication, Linlin was much lazier, spending half of each day eating at Wano restaurants. One time, Silas didn't see her for half a month—and when she finally appeared, she hadn't lost any weight. In fact, she'd gotten noticeably bigger.
Frustrated, Silas took out his belt and whipped Linlin until she squealed.
"I didn't discipline you when you were younger because you were just a kid! But you're ten now—if I don't knock some sense into you, you'll grow up calling me a geezer and destroying my treasure"
But Silas had to admit Linlin's talent was monster-level. Despite wasting considerable time, Linlin's progress matched others, strengthening through eating and sleeping.
Besides the main three, among new members, the first to master Haki wasn't Shiki but Zephyr. Becoming a future Marine Admiral through Armament Haki and Observation Haki destined Zephyr's Haki talent. Though Shiki was also a top fighter, he combined top swordsmanship with Float-Float Fruit ability, making him more comprehensive. His slower Haki progress was because Shiki started learning swordsmanship.
As for Tsuru, Stussy, and Toki, comparatively, their progress was slower, unable to match these monsters, but still sufficient improvement.
Silas originally thought such peaceful days would continue until their Wano departure day. But what must come will come.
After Silas invaded Mariejois, causing enormous upheaval that couldn't be suppressed, World Government prestige plummeted. To recover, they needed more powerful strength.
Wano Country was obviously an excellent target!