A month later, at noon, the sun in Marineford was blazing like fire.
The training ground in Gern's backyard was scorching hot, and the air shimmered slightly in the heatwaves.
The distant sea reflected dazzling light, and the occasional sea breeze carried salty heat, but it couldn't dispel the summer's intense heat.
In the center of the training ground, Libo and Tesoro stood opposite each other, their training clothes already soaked with sweat.
“Tesoro, it's so hot, and you're wearing so much. Aren't you afraid of heatstroke?”
Libo wiped the sweat from her forehead, her white rabbit ears drooping slightly from the high temperature.
“Summer is like this, Libo.” Tesoro shook his hands, the golden powder gloves sparkling in the sun.
“Besides, let's talk about whether it's hot or not after we finish fighting!”
“Then don't blame me for being impolite!” Libo grinned, and her figure suddenly vanished.
“Soru!” Her speed was astonishing; the high temperature seemed to have no effect on her explosiveness at all.
Tesoro's pupils constricted, and he immediately raised his hand. Golden liquid instantly surged from his gloves, forming a golden shield in front of him.
“Bang!” Libo's kick heavily struck the shield, shaking Tesoro back half a step. The shield's surface even had a shallow dent kicked into it.
“My strength has increased again?” Tesoro was secretly surprised, but his hands didn't stop.
With a wave of his left hand, the golden liquid transformed into dozens of sharp golden needles, shooting towards Libo from all directions.
“Life Frenzy!” Libo lightly shouted, directly raising her left hand, a healing green light appearing, and slapping it against her chest.
In an instant, powerful vitality accelerated cell division, temporarily unleashing the body's limits and granting a significant increase in combat power.
Immediately after, Libo lightly tapped her feet in the air, her figure soaring like an arrow, causing all the golden needles to miss.
Then she flipped her body in mid-air, braced her hands, and swung her legs like whips, creating a fierce whooshing sound.
“Rabbit Kick: Meteor!”
Tesoro quickly retreated, while simultaneously manipulating the gold to form several spikes on the ground, attempting to block Libo's landing spot.
However, Libo's enhanced body reacted even faster; she directly used Moonwalk again in mid-air.
Her figure strangely changed direction, her toes lightly tapping on the spikes, using the force to leap up again.
“Got you!” Her figure suddenly appeared behind Tesoro, the cold glint of her dagger pointing directly at the back of his heart.
In the nick of time, Tesoro's back was instantly covered by a layer of golden armor.
“Clang!” The dagger struck the armor, sparks flying.
“Sorry, I got you!”
“Gold: Bind!” Tesoro seized the opportunity, and the golden liquid at his feet spread out like a living creature, instantly coiling around Libo's legs.
“Ah!” Libo exclaimed, her body losing balance. Tesoro turned, his golden fist heading straight for her face.
However, just as the fist was about to connect, a cunning smile suddenly appeared at the corner of Libo's mouth.
“Heal: Flash!”
Blinding green light erupted from her palm, and Tesoro instinctively closed his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, Libo had already broken free from the bind, and her dagger was pressed against his throat.
“Haha, you lost again, Tesoro!” Libo proudly wiggled her rabbit ears, sweat dripping down her cheeks, but her smile was as bright as if she had won the whole world.
“Damn it, next time you get a buff, you have to give me one too.” Tesoro pouted, then helplessly raised his hands: “I surrender.”
He panted, his shirt soaked with sweat, “Also, that move of yours was too sneaky. You actually used the light from the Devil Fruit to blind my eyes.”
“That's called tactical wisdom!” Libo “whoosh” put away her carrot dagger, put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest, her rabbit ears proudly standing straight.
She cleared her throat, imitating Gern's tone: “Ahem! A true warrior must know how to use all advantages….”
As she spoke, she suddenly turned and pointed at the dazzling sun, “Including this sun that can roast a person!”
Tesoro opened his mouth, but in the end, he could only sigh, rubbing his forehead.
Just then, a gentle call came from the edge of the training ground: “Tesoro~”
Stella walked gracefully, holding a parasol, her white dress fluttering in the hot wind.
She held an iced towel in one hand and lemonade in the other, fine beads of sweat still clinging to her hair tips.
“It's so hot, you should just wait over there.” Tesoro instantly changed to a gentle expression, quickly walked up to her, and took the items from her hands.
“Exactly, exactly!” Libo hopped over, her eyes fixed on Stella's small bag.
“Tesoro is thick-skinned, it doesn't matter if he gets roasted into crispy golden pork!”
Stella couldn't help but laugh, magically pulling out a bottle of iced carrot juice from her bag: “Here, I specially brought it for you.”
“Mmm~! Big Sister Stella is the best!” Libo cheered, about to pounce for a hug, but Tesoro blocked her with a swift stride.
“Stop! You're all sweaty…” Tesoro spread his arms like a protective mother hen, but Libo cleverly slipped past him.
Stella smiled and caught the fluffy white rabbit that pounced on her, letting her rub her sweat on her dress.
...
Meanwhile, in the backyard pavilion, a salty sea breeze gently swept through, rustling the special news report spread open on the wooden table.
The newspaper trembled slightly in the wind, revealing the striking headline: “Shock! ‘Desert Crocodile’ Crocodile Challenges Whitebeard Pirates and Suffers Crushing Defeat.”
Subtitle: The New World's Dominant Position Unshakable; Whitebeard Defeats Challenger in Just Three Moves.
The photo on the newspaper clearly captured that shocking moment: Crocodile kneeling on the deck, his face covered in blood, while Whitebeard stood proudly, holding Murakumogiri, his white coat flapping in the sea breeze.
In one corner of the photo, Marco could be seen in his blue flame Phoenix form, circling in the air.
The report detailed the battle that took place three days ago: The ambitious Crocodile led his pirate crew to raid the Whitebeard Pirates, but they were completely defeated within a mere ten minutes.
According to eyewitnesses, Whitebeard didn't even use the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, easily suppressing this Nature Type Devil Fruit user with just his physical combat skills and Haki.
The edge of the newspaper also included a short comment: “This is the seventh new Supernova pirate to challenge Whitebeard and fail in the past five years. Whitebeard's position as the New World's ruler remains unshakable.”
The breeze swept by again, and the newspaper gently flipped, revealing the World Government announcement on the back, faintly showing words like “Shichibukai system” and “recruiting strong individuals.”
But at this moment, these news items were overshadowed by the news of Crocodile's crushing defeat...
“Libo and Tesoro's strength and Devil Fruit development are quite good!” Gern took a sip of iced barley tea and sighed.
The two Devil Fruits he obtained back then have now been converted into combat power.
Among them, Libo's healing development is excellent. Besides the healing carrot, her developed skills also include Frenzy Heal, Super-speed Regeneration, Pain Shielding, Purification, and so on…
For reverse healing, 'Over-repair' attacks also include Pain Amplification, Damage Transfer, and Nerve Overload.
For area-of-effect healing, she even developed “Cloud of Regeneration,” a large-scale healing ability.
She has also developed many energy-based techniques such as Life Pulse, Healing Blade, and Life Siphon.
As for Tesoro, Gern originally wanted him to follow his original path, but the flutter of the butterfly's wings changed Tesoro's desire for money into a desire for power.
This has led to him now entirely focusing on becoming Gern's most capable “Golden Emperor,” completely developing in the direction of combat power!
Gern accepted this, after all, it would be abnormal if nothing changed even with his intervention!
Just then, a sound came from the edge of the training ground, and Libo and the other two walked towards him.
“Gern, Gern!” Libo excitedly jumped to his side, “Did you see? How was my ‘Heal: Flash’ just now?”
“Good, you've both improved.” Gern stepped forward and ruffled Libo's head.
“Libo's physical combat skills are more fluid, and Tesoro's Devil Fruit control is becoming more refined.”
“But I still lost.” Tesoro sighed.
Hearing Tesoro's words, Gern smiled, “That's because your Haki training is still too slow.
Even with a Devil Fruit, you can't neglect Haki. You should be like Libo; this time, she clearly used Observation Haki to predict most of your attacks.”
“Is that so…?” Tesoro frowned.
Because he had indeed been a bit too immersed in Devil Fruit development recently and had forgotten the importance of Haki.
“In short, when you have time, go find Teacher Zephyr more often, and when you go, remember to bring some gifts for Sister Lina!
You two always eat and drink for free every time you go.”
Tesoro, Libo: “It's clearly Sister Lina, seeing us train too hard…”