Chapter 25: Sentomaru the Iron-Headed Kid-Eu, Kizaru, só entrei no grupo de bate-papo depois de me tornar invencível(Biscoitos de arroz com vinho tinto)

"I'll guess three..."

Hancock glanced over as well, though her attention was on the warrior guards responsible for the assessments. There were over a hundred warrior guards in total, their strength varying greatly. Those unlucky enough to draw a veteran warrior guard as an opponent could essentially kiss their chances of passing goodbye. A significant number of Amazon Lily's female warriors failed their assessments not because of a lack of skill, but because they had drawn opponents who were simply too powerful.

"Same stakes as usual?" Borsalino raised an eyebrow, and Hancock agreed without hesitation.

*Clang!*

Seizing a moment when her opponent failed to dodge, the giantess struck, sending her adversary flying off the arena floor with a single swing of her blade. Fortunately, her opponent had Haki to protect her body; even after being sent hurtling over ten meters away, she remained uninjured.

"I won! Haha!" The giantess cheered, raising her oversized sword in triumph. As one of the rare few to pass the warrior guard assessment on their first attempt, she certainly had reason to be thrilled.

Meanwhile, the other twenty-some matches were concluding one by one. Most of the veteran guards held their ground; including the giantess, only four newcomers passed the assessment. Furthermore, one warrior guard lost her title after accumulating three consecutive losses.

"Ugh, I'm so unlucky. Why did I have to draw Gloriosa!" The former guard who had lost her title was the giantess's opponent. Her skill level wasn't actually the lowest among the guards, but her luck had been consistently abysmal.

"Train hard and win it back! Those who passed, follow me to pay your respects to Lord Borsalino and Lady Hancock!" Kikyo scolded the unlucky warrior sharply before leading the successful recruits to Borsalino.

"Greetings, Lord Borsalino, Lady Hancock!"

The four newcomers knelt before them. Although Hancock was the Empress of Amazon Lily, the women of the island also viewed Borsalino as a figure akin to a "Royal Father." Moreover, at Hancock's insistence, whenever the two appeared together, Borsalino's position was always placed above hers.

"Rise. Kikyo, are all the warrior guards currently on the island?"

Borsalino was well-acquainted with Kikyo. If it weren't for the fact that Marigold and Sandersonia were Hancock's sisters, Kikyo would undoubtedly have been qualified to serve as Hancock's second-in-command.

"Yes, Lord Borsalino," Kikyo replied respectfully. Everyone in the Kuja Pirates knew that while there was a chance for redemption if you offended Lady Hancock, offending Lord Borsalino guaranteed a miserable fate. Often, there was no need for Borsalino himself to act; Lady Hancock would begin purging the ranks herself.

"Very well. Assemble all the warrior guards; I have an announcement to make."

Borsalino nodded and instructed his attendant to bring over the scrolls containing the methods for refining chakra. It was likely that the women of Amazon Lily could learn to refine chakra, as its essence was the combination of mental and physical energy. Armament Haki was, in essence, a power derived from pushing one's physique to the limit—pure physical energy. As the elite among the island's warriors, the guards would surely find learning to refine chakra to be twice as effective with half the effort.

However, Borsalino had no intention of promoting the chakra system across the board. The system of the Three Haki was not necessarily inferior to chakra, and most people struggled to master their own system as it was; splitting their focus would only make them weaker.

*Brrr-brrr, brrr-brrr...*

Just as Borsalino gave the order to assemble the guards, his personal Den Den Mushi rang again.

"Moshi moshi, this is Borsalino..." Sighing, Borsalino answered the snail with a touch of impatience. For some reason, he suddenly missed Nami; whether it was receiving calls or making them, she handled everything seamlessly.

"Boss, it's Sentomaru. The gravity training room you asked Dr. Vegapunk to build is ready. Should I send it to Marineford?" A voice like a clanging pot came from the other side. Even through the Den Den Mushi, Borsalino could picture the chubby guy in the red belly-warmer.

"Wait! Send it to Amazon Lily first. And stop calling me 'Boss'! It makes us sound like a crime syndicate; I'm an Admiral!" Borsalino quickly stopped Sentomaru, terrified that the blockhead would ship the hard-won training room straight to Marineford. The Navy Headquarters and the Whitebeard Pirates had nearly reduced Marineford to ruins as it was, and now Borsalino was about to drag both the Revolutionary Army and the World Government into the fray. It was a fair question whether Marineford would even exist by the time the Summit War concluded.

"Oh, got it, Boss." Sentomaru hung up immediately, heading off to notify the Science Unit to ship the room to Amazon Lily.

Before Sentomaru could even leave the room, a flash of golden light appeared before him, and an exceptionally fierce fist knocked him flat.

*Bang!*

Sentomaru slammed into the floor, forehead-first, gouging a massive crater into the ground. In a sense, Sentomaru was a genius. While he didn't possess the natural "steel balloon" durability of Charlotte Linlin, his affinity with Armament Haki was inexplicably high. Combined with the training Borsalino had requested from Vice Admiral Garp, Sentomaru’s current defensive capabilities were absurd.

Anyone else would have suffered a concussion or worse from such a blow, but the Sentomaru on the floor simply shook his head vigorously and looked up with a ferocious scowl, his forehead—which had shattered the granite floor—completely unscathed.

"Bastard! Who dares hit me!" No matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find the person who had ambushed him, and he roared in frustration.

"Phew, you little brat, daring to hang up on me!" Back on Amazon Lily, Borsalino, who had used his ability to blink back and forth between the island and the Science Unit's base just to land a punch on the fool, shook his hand in annoyance. He shouldn't have asked Garp to help train Sentomaru; the boy was stubborn to begin with, and now he was virtually indestructible. Without using Armament Haki, he was almost impossible to bruise.

"Lord Borsalino, the warrior guards have all assembled!" Kikyo, bearing her great sword, reported respectfully. Amazon Lily wasn't large, and the guards moved with great haste. Before long, all 140 of them, including the new recruits, were present. They might not be a large force in terms of numbers, but even in the New World, there were few pirate crews that could boast greater strength than them.