Marineford, the night was as dark as ink.
The office of the newly appointed Admiral was located on the highest floor of the Marineford Fortress, overlooking the entire brightly lit steel metropolis.
Kane did not turn on the lights.
He sat casually behind the massive desk that represented the Navy's highest combat power, a premium cigar held between his fingers, the crimson ember flickering in the darkness.
Outside the window, countless Navy soldiers cheered with fervor.
Shouts of "Admiral Calamity" could still be clearly heard even through the thick walls.
Glory, power, status.
Overnight, he had already ascended to become one of the pinnacles of this world.
He simply exhaled a smoke ring calmly, the smoke dispersing before his eyes, blurring the lights outside the window that shone for him.
His gaze remained fixed only on the blue screen before him.
[Host: Kane]
[Position: Admiral of Marine Headquarters]
[Physical Prowess: 90]
[Abilities: Storm Fruit (Awakened), Six Styles (Advanced), Armament Haki (Advanced), Observation Haki (Intermediate), Conqueror's Haki (Advanced), Swordsmanship (Peak)]
[Items: Zanpakuto: Heavenly Chain Slaying Moon, Senzu Bean x3, Okamoto 0.01 x4 boxes]
[Violation Value Balance: 1,389,500]
One million three hundred eighty-nine thousand five hundred points.
Arresting the Pirate King, deceiving superiors and subordinates, plus being promoted to Admiral and altering the world's landscape—this series of operations had directly catapulted him into becoming a millionaire.
Kane tossed a rice cracker into his mouth, chewing it with a crunch.
"Arresting Roger actually earned me such a huge fortune. This world truly rewards the wicked while the righteous go unnoticed."
Despite his sigh, his spending hand never stopped for a moment.
When you have money, you spend it. Only by converting it into tangible power can you truly respect this ill-gotten wealth.
Having witnessed grand scenes, he was no longer the small-time Navy officer who would agonize over spending a few thousand points.
"System, max out my Observation Haki first."
As soon as his thought was conveyed.
[Ding! 300,000 Violation Points consumed. Observation Haki level upgraded to: Advanced (Listening to All Things).]
[Neuron reconstruction and sensory dimension elevation in progress…]
There was no excruciating pain as expected, only a tingling sensation as if countless feathers gently brushed across his cerebral cortex.
A cool stream of energy seemed to surge from the depths of his soul, washing over his entire consciousness.
The next second, the world changed.
The originally silent night suddenly became overwhelmingly noisy.
This was not sound heard by the ears.
Instead, it was a certain fundamental "wavelength" crashing directly into his mind, forming a three-dimensional tapestry woven from countless "voices."
The groaning of the office desk's wood, recounting the dampness of its growth in the rainforest a century ago; the whispers of the sea breeze outside the window, the joy born from the friction between air currents and water molecules; even farther away, the ancient roars of massive Sea Kings in their dreams, thousands of meters deep in the ocean.
If Kane wished, he could hear the breathing of the entire Marineford island.
"So noisy."
Kane frowned, and with a thought, that overwhelming stream of information was instantly blocked, leaving only precise perception within a five-kilometer radius.
This god-like sense of control was intoxicating.
"Now, the real show begins."
Kane stared at the value on the panel: [Physical Prowess: 90].
Ninety points was already the limit for humans in this world, the domain of monsters. To advance even a single point beyond this was as difficult as scaling the heavens.
"Let's see if this so-called human limit can truly be broken."
"System, max out Physical Prowess! All in!"
[Ding! 280,000 Violation Points consumed. Physical Prowess increased to: 100 (Mortal Limit).]
Boom—!!!
If the previous improvements were like a gentle spring rain, this time, it was as if a volcano had erupted directly inside his body!
"Ugh—!"
Excruciating pain surged through him, but Kane let out a suppressed, low laugh, filled with madness and enjoyment.
The muscles in his arms bulged violently, straining the expensive Admiral uniform to the point of tearing at the seams.
Every cell was being torn apart, then reconstructed with even more ferocious energy.
His bones groaned as they were compressed to a density far surpassing that of any alloy.
Muscle fibers twisted and wove together, forming living steel cables that defied biological limits.
The beating of his heart was no longer a simple "thump-thump" but a heavy, thunderous drumming like that of a god!
Ten minutes later.
As the final full-body convulsion subsided, Kane slowly rose to his feet.
Sweat had long since soaked through his back, but he felt no trace of fatigue—only the illusion of power overflowing, on the verge of explosion.
He threw a casual punch, not using any fruit abilities, relying solely on his physical strength. The resulting gust of wind caused the air pressure in the entire office to plummet, cracking the windowpanes.
"This body…"
Kane looked down at his hands, which appeared largely unchanged yet contained the power to shatter heaven and earth, and smiled.
"Now, even without Haki, that bastard Garp's 'Fist of Love' would probably feel like nothing more than a tickle, wouldn't it?"
But the more astonishing change was in his Haki.
With his body—this "container"—expanded, the total amount of Haki within him surged like a floodgate bursting open. His already peak-level three types of Haki had now become unreasonably dense.
Especially his Conqueror's Haki.
Under the accumulation of such an extreme "quantity," a miraculous qualitative change had occurred.
With a single thought, an invisible wave of energy spread outward.
He could clearly sense that if a top-tier Observation Haki master, like Katakuri, dared to try and glimpse the future in his presence…
He would only need a single thought.
With this ferocious Haki, he could forcibly shatter their perception, turning their "future" into an unknown darkness!
"Observation Haki Kill."
Kane grinned, revealing a row of stark white teeth.
Such an unreasonable ability.
And he loved how unreasonable it was.
"One hundred points in Physical Prowess, top-tier Listening to All Things, plus this Observation Haki Kill…"
Kane walked to the window, looking down at the island below, still brightly lit and cheering for him. There was no trace of a "hero's" self-awareness in his eyes—only the cold detachment of an ambitious man surveying his territory.
"Even without the Storm Fruit, with just this body and Haki, I should be able to pin Kaido or Whitebeard to the ground and beat them, shouldn't I?"
This strength was tangible, real.
But Kane didn't indulge in that illusory sense of invincibility for long.
He was a man who had read the script.
He knew that in the shadows of this world's history, there still lurked Imu, that eight-hundred-year-old monster, and the various outrageous legends left behind by Joy Boy.
Those were the true "gods."
Kane sat back down behind the desk that symbolized the highest authority and lit another cigar.
Amidst the swirling smoke, his gaze grew profound and greedy.
"System."
"This isn't the end yet, is it?"
"Tell me, can Conqueror's Haki still be upgraded?"