One Piece: The Silver Sovereign

After a round of brutal experiments conducted by Rayleigh, it was finally confirmed that his hypothesis was correct.

The more severe the injury, the more stamina it consumes to heal. For minor scratches, the stamina cost was negligible.

Lying on the floor, despite not doing any physical labor, just being slashed, Shirakawa was already drenched in sweat. It was unclear whether it was from exertion or fear.

However, judging by his rapidly rising and falling chest, it was evident that a lot of stamina had indeed been consumed.

"I've figured out your training plan."

Rayleigh took a swig of alcohol as he looked at Shirakawa lying on the ground and said calmly.

"What's the training like?"

Although Shirakawa was utterly exhausted, hearing Rayleigh's words still excited him; this was the beginning of his journey to becoming stronger.

"It's simple. See all this equipment lying around? You can train however you want. It not only builds stamina but also increases strength. Two birds, one stone."

...

"And then?"

After waiting a while without hearing anything else, Shirakawa asked in confusion.

"Then? What do you mean by 'then'?"

"That's it? That's all? That's so irresponsible."

"Irresponsible? Don't worry, I'll be supervising your training. I won't let you slack off. And if I catch you slacking..."

He let out a cold chuckle.

"You can imagine what awaits you."

"Demon. Pervert,"

Shirakawa cursed silently in his mind.

At that moment, Rayleigh suddenly pulled out a wooden stick from who knows where and smacked Shirakawa on the head without mercy.

"What the hell? That hurt!"

Even though Shirakawa's ability allowed him to heal, the pain still registered before healing kicked in.

"Who told you to curse me in your head?"

"I didn't!"

"Still trying to deny it?"

Rayleigh smacked him again.

"You think my Observation Haki is just for show? I may not know exactly what you're thinking, but I can tell good from bad."

"Seriously?" Shirakawa thought again.

"Of course."

Hearing that, Shirakawa's eyes widened.

"How did you know what I was thinking just now?"

"I guessed."

"Impressive."

Shirakawa gave a thumbs-up. In his past life, when he watched anime, he never realized that Observation Haki had such an ability.

"Heh, of course. Do you know who I am?"

Rayleigh was still arrogant in personality, not the calm and composed man he would become twenty years later.

"Alright, start training now. At this stage, any kind of training will be beneficial for you."

Rayleigh brought over a chair and sat down right in front of Shirakawa, watching him.

"What about Shanks?"

"Shanks? That brat is still sleeping, because of you, mind you."

"Sleeping? Hahaha…"

Shirakawa laughed awkwardly.

"So, are you also going to teach me how to control Conqueror's Haki?"

"Of course. Since you've got that power, you might as well learn to use it. Otherwise, if you unleash it again in battle and hurt your people, that would be a serious problem."

Over the following two months, not only did Shirakawa endure inhuman training, but even the ordinary crew members of the pirate ship suffered dozens of bouts of spiritual pressure.

To help Shirakawa master his Conqueror's Haki, Rayleigh pushed him harder and harder with increasingly intense stimuli.

As a result, most of the crew looked at Shirakawa with strange expressions, after all, he was the culprit behind their repeated unconsciousness.

But at last, hard work paid off. After two months of mental pressure, Shirakawa could now freely control his Conqueror's Haki; he could release or suppress it at will and choose his targets.

Of course, those two months weren't spent training Haki alone; Shirakawa's strength, speed, and stamina had all improved at rocket-like speed.

Although he still lacked fighting techniques, he possessed an indestructible body.

If he fought without fearing death, then opponents at a similar level wouldn't stand a chance.

Still, Shirakawa didn't get cocky because every day, he trained against Rayleigh, the Dark King. No matter how hard he trained over those two months, he couldn't catch up.

That's why he had no real sense of how strong he had become. He only knew that he had gone from being unable to survive a single move to being able to withstand three moves. Quite the achievement.

"If only my stamina were infinite too…"

Shirakawa thought happily to himself more than once. Even if his stamina couldn't increase, it would be great if it at least didn't decrease.

Over the past two months, Shirakawa had also witnessed the ever-changing, extreme weather of the New World, clear skies one second, storm clouds the next, followed by torrential rain, then sudden blizzards and gale-force winds.

He came to understand just how brutal nature could be.

Every time bad weather struck, the crew treated it with utmost seriousness.

In the New World, at least half of all pirate crews are wiped out by natural disasters, the most feared being tsunamis and sea tornadoes.

During one such event, Shirakawa finally saw Rayleigh make a move. A massive sea tornado loomed ahead, capable of tearing the ship apart in seconds.

Then, Rayleigh released a powerful sword wave, and the mighty tornado was instantly split in two.

Shirakawa didn't know if Rayleigh had used full power, but the sight left a deep impression on him.

Maybe because it was his first time witnessing such a thing.

While Shirakawa was resting on the floor, sudden hurried footsteps sounded outside the training room, not from just one person.

"Another weather event?"

That was Shirakawa's first thought; such alerts always accompanied natural disasters.

"Vice-captain, what's happening outside?"

Shirakawa asked Rayleigh.

"That damn mad dog is here again."

Rayleigh gave a bitter smile as he spoke.

"Mad dog? What mad dog?"

Shirakawa was still confused. His head was spinning from all the training and events he had attended over the past few weeks.

"Come outside with me. You'll see."

Shirakawa followed Rayleigh out of the training room and saw the entire crew on high alert.

This made Shirakawa tense up, too.

"What kind of enemy could make even our pirate crew so serious?"

Following Rayleigh to the front of the ship, Shirakawa saw a dog-head battleship blocking their path not far ahead.

"Hero Garp!"

Shirakawa exclaimed in shock.

If someone said "mad dog," Shirakawa might not have immediately thought of Garp, but seeing that iconic ship, there was no mistaking it.

No one else but Vice Admiral Garp sailed that vessel.