Late at night in Alubarna, as night deepened, the temperature in Alabasta dropped sharply.
The cold wind swept up the sand, making people shiver.
On a sand dune near Alubarna, Gawain stood alone, holding his sword in one hand.
A fierce surge of Conqueror's Haki radiated from him.
The blade of Guanze Masamune was wrapped in crimson Conqueror's Haki, crackling with red lightning in the air.
Gawain raised his hand and slashed down.
A Conqueror Haki-infused slash shot out instantly, tearing through the landscape until it vanished into the horizon. The deep trench it left behind was soon filled by the shifting sands.
After taking a deep breath, Gawain gathered his Conqueror's Haki once more, preparing his next strike.
After his battle with Zephyr during the day, he had come here alone to familiarize himself with his newly awakened ability to imbue his strikes with Conqueror's Haki.
After several hours of practice, he had already reached the point where he could control it at will, enough to integrate it into his combat techniques.
After a long training, Gawain finally stopped. Looking at the crisscrossing, varying depths of slashes in the distance, each extending as far as the eye could see, he nodded in satisfaction.
"Such power is indeed terrifying."
"If I face that guy, Golden Lion, again, even if he doesn't have the wound on his head, I won't be afraid at all."
As he spoke, Gawain withdrew his surging Conqueror's Haki and was about to leave when suddenly, a system notification echoed in his mind: "Crew member Lucci has awakened Armament Haki."
"Potential increased."
"Gold → Gold!"
"Crew member Zoro has awakened Armament Haki!"
"Potential increased!"
"Gold → Gold!"
"Crew member Sanji has awakened Observation Haki!"
"Potential increased!"
"Gold → Gold!"
The three consecutive notifications made Gawain pause momentarily before a smile crept onto his lips, like an old farmer with a good harvest: "These three had already met the physical requirements, so it's no surprise that they awakened Haki during the ranking battles."
"Lucci had already awakened Observation Haki when fighting the CP pursuers in Whisky Peak. Now that he's acquired Armament Haki as well, he finally has a way to deal with logia users."
"Zoro and Sanji have awakened Armament and Observation Haki, respectively, but for them, unlocking one means the other isn't far behind."
"At this rate, my Haki leeks are about to explode in growth."
"Aside from my fully developed Conqueror's Haki, my previous weakness in Armament Haki should be made up soon."
"The only question is... Just how much experience will I gain today?"
Gawain couldn't help but look forward to it.
He simply sat down on the spot and looked up at the endless sea of sand in the distance, and his heart gradually calmed down at this moment.
A few minutes later.
A familiar system pop-up window appeared in front of Gawain:
"Physique experience +1,545!"
"Zoan fruit experience +577!"
"Armament Haki experience +636!"
"Observation Haki experience +440!"
"Conqueror Haki experience +6,876!"
A flood of experience points filled Gawain's screen.
Conqueror Haki was as expected, and the experience gained from fighting Zephyr with all his strength was even more than the experience gained from the previous battle with Golden Lion.
Gawain speculated that this might have something to do with his sudden mastery of Conqueror's Haki entanglement during battle.
Regardless, it was good news.
What surprised him even more, however, were three other things.
Although Kuro ate the Sickle Weasel Fruit and did not focus on training today, his Zoan Fruit experience increased significantly.
What was even more exaggerated was the increase in Armament Haki and Observation Haki's experience, as Lucci, Zoro, and Sanji awakened Haki one after another.
These two data have almost doubled compared to before.
"These three data have undergone qualitative changes. I believe that Haki's growth rate will increase faster in the future!"
"Speaking of which, it should be time for the Armament Haki to awaken the feature, right?"
As his voice fell, a system panel appeared before Gawain:
> Armament Haki: Level 4 (7,445/8,000) —> Armament Haki: Level 5 (81/15,000)
"It is detected that the host's Armament Haki has been upgraded to Level 5. You can choose one of the following features: Flowing Form, Diamond Body."
"Flowing Form and Diamond Body?"
Gawain looked at the two Features that appeared on the panel.
He fell into deep thought for a while.
As expected, as his Armament Haki finally reached Level 5, he once again got the opportunity to choose a branch feature.
From his previous choices in swordsmanship and physique, it was clear that the first skill in each category played a crucial role in determining his long-term development.
For physique, he had started with an Equilibrium feature, followed by Harmony and Celestial Being, all of which focused on achieving perfect control over his body, perhaps even evolving into a flawless physique.
His swordsmanship followed a similar path. The first feature, Swiftness, enhanced his slashing speed. The second feature offered Iaijutsu, but he had chosen Extreme Force instead to counter the issue of being unable to break through strong opponents' defenses.
Now, faced with another major decision regarding his Armament Haki, he had to be cautious.
After analyzing the options, Gawain has a rough guess about the role of these two features.
"There are roughly two development directions for Armament Haki, namely the external type represented by Flowing Form and the enhanced type that attaches to the body like Zephyr to strengthen my own offense and defense."
"Flowing Form and Diamond Body undoubtedly correspond to these two."
"The former should increase the fluidity of Haki and even strengthen its external power."
"The latter specializes in the physique, pushing the body to the extreme, and the peak should be able to achieve an effect similar to Zephyr's Armament Transformation."
After some thought, Gawain's sight fell on Diamond Body.
After awakening the Battle Armor, his defense ability can be said to be almost unsolvable in the face of battles below the level of emperor and admiral.
His previous battle with Crocodile was proof he had taken no damage at all.
However, Kizaru's attacks were powerful enough to breach his Battle Armor's defenses. Zephyr can also use internal destruction to blast Haki inside his body and destroy his body within. Golden Lion even uses the Conqueror's Haki infuse attack to break the defense of the Battle Armor head-on.
All kinds of signs indicate that when the intensity of the battle is raised to the level of the admiral and emperor, the defense of the Battle Armor is no longer enough.
In comparison, the combination of Extreme Force, Armament Haki, and Guanze Masamune is enough to break through King's defense.
Now that he has awakened the Conqueror's Haki entanglement, he is not worried about not being able to break through the opponent and defense.
Besides, Gawain was never one for flashy tricks.
Pure brute strength was the way to go.
With this thought in mind, Gawain made his decision:
"I chose the Diamond Body!"
The next moment, the Armament Haki in Gawain's body began to stir restlessly, like a torrent, running around in his body.
It continuously tore through his muscles and bones, only to be rapidly repaired under the effects of his physique-based feature.
In mere seconds, sweat drenched his clothes, and white steam rose from his body.
In this process, Gawain felt that his body had become stronger, and even the color of his bones showed a luster like jade.
"My body is getting more durable!"
Gawain exclaimed: "It is different from the changes brought by the physical attributes, but the further fusion of Armament Haki and body, bringing new changes."