Onboard Zefa’s ship, Smoker and Hina finally rexed.

  What had started as a simple training mission had spiraled into chaos: first an ambush on Gavehen being stranded on a deserted isnd, infiltrating a G2 warship, and finally, a battle with Dofmingo.

  They had been away for nearly three months, and Zefa’s gaze upon them now resembled that of a teacher eyeing top students who’d skipped css for aire term.

  On their first day aboard, Zefa showed for their well-being, asking them all kinds of questions.

  By the sed day, he had them doira drills.

  Every day, Zefa arranged sparring sessions for them, pairing them against various oppos. With hundreds of people aboard, including several Rear Admirals and Vice Admirals, there was no she of challengers.

  Occasionally, Zefa would personally join in.

  Despite the signifit improvement in Smoker and Hina's skills, fag Zefa always ended with their defeat in increasingly creative ways.

  Even Sakazuki, who had been from the sidelines, sometimes couldn’t resist sparring.

  To avoid damaging the ship, he refrained from using his Devil Fruit powers, relying only on his physical strength and mastery of Haki.

  But even then, his monstrous physique and refined dual Haki overwhelmed Smoker and Hina, leaving them sprawled on the deck, questioning their life choices.

  One day, after anrueling session under Zefa's supervision, Sakazuki stood nearby, watg with faint amusement.

  Wheraining cluded, Zefa approached them with two small boxes in hand.

  “Smoker, Hina, here’s a little gift for both of you. I hope you’ll like it,” he said with a sly grin.

  “Thank you, Zefa-sensei!” Hina accepted her box, delighted.

  Smoker, however, eyed Zefa’s mischievous smile a uneasy.

  Opening his box, he couldn’t help but twitch.

  “This is... Seastone?!”

  Inside y a neckce with a pendant, simir to the Seastone pendant he already wore, though this one was noticeably shinier.

  Hina’s neckce looked nearly identical to Smoker’s inal pendant.

  Smoker reached out and touched Hina’s neckce. A familiar wave of weakness washed over him.

  “As expected, less than 20% purity...”

  Theouched his own new neckce. His knees buckled instantly.

  “Damn it! This thing’s purity is at least double!”

  g his teeth, Smoker put on the new neckce.

  The sensation was brutal, as if he’d lost half his blood or was running a fever of 40°C.

  Despite wearing his Seastone pendant for three years and building a fair resistahis o like it was draining his life force.

  With his old pendant, he could retain about half of his physical strength, though uo use his Devil Fruit powers. But with this new one, even walki him breathless, his strength reduced to less than that of a regur soldier.

  Beside him, Hina gasped ao one ker putting on her neckce, her body trembling.

  Her rea wasn’t surprising—unlike Smoker, she’d never undergooaraining. Even the low-purity Seastone was enough to leave her incapacitated.

  Zefa crouched in front of her. “How does it feel?”

  Hina, sweating profusely, stammered, “This is... Seastone? Hina feels so weak!”

  Zefa chuckled and stood up.

  “From now on, except when you’re sleeping, you two will wear these neckces at all times—eating, drinking, training, whatever. No exceptions!”

  “This...”

  Hiated, visibly troubled.

  Smoker patted her shoulder. “Uood. No problem!”

  Zefa observed Hina’s expression and sighed.

  “Well, I suppose Hina hasn’t experienced Seastoaraini, so she doesn’t uand its bes.”

  He removed Smoker’s old neckd casually tossed it to Sakazuki.

  Sakazuki caught it effortlessly, holding it without the slightest rea.

  “Hina, take off your neckd spar with Sakazuki for a bit.”

  Hina froze. “What?! Are you kidding? He’s still holdione!”

  “Wouldn't that be unfair?!” Hina protested.

  Two mier, she was stuck headfirst into the deck, her legs pointing skyward and twitg slightly.

  Sakazuki, meanwhile, was only slightly out of breath, otherwise showing no signs of exertion.

  Smoker hurried to pull Hina out of the deck.

  Hina lowered her head, too embarrassed to look anyone in the eye.

  Zefa spoke calmly, “Smoker’s neckce taioh a purity of 33%, about twice as much as yours.”

  Hina’s eyes widened in shock, and even Smoker’s expression turned serious.

  The neckce was already near his limit, yet Sakazuki could wear it and still defeat Hina effortlessly.

  It was a stark reminder of how vast the gap was between them and the stro in the world.

  Zefa hahe Seastone neckce baoker.

  “Seastone is a Devil Fruit user's greatest weakness. I years, pirates have started usione ons.”

  “Luckily, most of the Seastohey use is low-purity. That’s why resistaraining is essential.”

  “If you adapt to it, even if an enemy uses Seastone against you, you’ll still have the strength to defend yourselves.”

  “But the bes don’t stop there…”

  “Training with Seastone may be grueling, but it doubles your progress. sider it an advantage for Devil Fruit users.”

  Hina nodded in realization.

  “I uand now. Thank you for the gift, Zefa-sensei.”

  Without hesitation, she put the neckce ba. Her body wavered slightly, but she gritted her teeth and steadied herself.

  Smoker followed suit, donning his neckce without pint.

  Zefa looked at them with satisfa.

  “Very good. Keep it up!”

  With that, he turo leave with Sakazuki.

  Before they could go far, Smoker called out, “Vice Admiral Sakazuki, may I ask—how much Seastone purity you handle?”

  Sakazuki paused, then sidered the question.

  “Seastone below 20% purity only prevents me from using my Devil Fruit powers; my basibat strength remains nearly ued.”

  “At around 50%, I train with it, though the pressure bees signifit.”

  “Anything above 60%, and I’m basically out of ission.”

  Smoker’s eyes widened in shock.

  Seastoh over 60% purity was almost unheard of outside of Wano or forces uhe Wover’s trol.

  In other words, few pirates could fully restrain Sakazuki with Seastone alone.

  No wonder he was called a monster. No wonder he was destio bee an Admiral. His reputation was well-earned.

  But Sakazuki showed no pride in his answer.

  “It’s nothing special,” he said ftly.

  “I’ve heard that some monsters in the New World endure Seastoh up to 70% purity.”

  “The enemies of justice are still formidable. We ’t afford to be pt.”

  With that, he followed Zefa and disappeared.

  Smoker frowned deeply.

  Sakazuki was likely referring to Kaido and Big Mom.

  Their physical strength far surpassed the Admirals, so it wasn’t surprising they could endure higher-purity Seastone.

  More importantly, most of their strength y in their physical attributes—one was an iructible “iron balloon,” and the other had a seemingly endless stamina bar.

  Even without using their Devil Fruit abilities, with just a fra of their strength, they could easily handle a Yonko ander.

  The road ahead was still long...

  “Hina, how about we train a bit more?” Smoker asked.

  “With the neckces on?”

  “With the neckces on.”

  “The’s do it!”

  Days passed quickly, and soon ten days had gone by. The Marine Headquarters was finally in sight.

  That m, Smoker casually flipped a to pay the news gull for a fresh paper.

  Skimming through the pages, his eyes suddenly widened in disbelief.

  The more he read, the more his expression darkened.

  By the time he finished, he rushed off to find Hina.

  “This is bad, Hina!”

  “What happened?”

  “Rear Admiral Zean—he’s in trouble!!”

  .....

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