CHAPTER 268: [268] : [BONUS] - A REFERENCE VALUE FOR YOU! ROWEN’S COMBAT POWER! A HORRIFYING NUMBER!

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Yamato, Kozuki Sukiyaki, and the core members of Wano stared, utterly dumbfounded, at the scene before them.

Zoro and Ace, both under the command of the Sky Sovereign Grand Fleet, displayed a horrifying power that caused the very sky to change dramatically.

Though Wano was incredibly isolated from the outside world, they knew—this was a power possessed only by the absolute top-tier powerhouses of the sea.

The mere aftershocks of their battle were unbearable for them, forcing them to retreat to a great distance from the fight.

And just the collision and diffusion of their Conqueror’s Haki had caused many of them to faint instantly.

But...

The full-power strike of Fire Fist Ace and Pirate Hunter Zoro, a blow that shook the island—

—was now being held at bay, stopped by a single finger from each hand, as effortlessly as one might stop the playful tantrum of a child.

The attacks of Fire Fist Ace and Pirate Hunter, before those fingers wreathed in a crimson-black cloud, were stopped in their tracks, unable to advance an inch.

And the owner of those fingers was—

Sky Sovereign Rowen.

"SO COOL!!!"

Yamato’s eyes sparkled like stars.

Yamato knew she had no guarantee of victory against either Zoro or Ace. But before this man, the ultimate attacks of Zoro and Ace were as soft and powerless as a child’s.

That posture, that casual display of absolute dominance... IT WAS SO OVERWHELMINGLY POWERFUL.

Truly worthy of being the man who killed Kaido.

"Wh-What kind of power is this?"

Kozuki Sukiyaki and the others’ foreheads were beaded with cold sweat.

This was the man who commanded powerful combatants like Pirate Hunter Zoro and Fire Fist Ace??

This level of strength was beyond their comprehension.

Kaido was strong, yes, but on these seas, there were at least those who could clash with him.

At least, facing Kaido, they still had the will to resist, hiding in various places, waiting for the day to overthrow him.

But the level of power this man was now displaying... it could no longer be described in human terms.

The World’s Strongest.

From the mouths of the completely subdued members of the Beasts Pirates, they had learned of this man’s title.

So this... was the power of the World’s Strongest???

How terrifying.

A powerhouse like this—was worthy of their loyalty.

And the emotional fluctuations of these people were, of course, captured by Rowen’s Observation Haki.

Rowen was not at all surprised by this.

After all, Wano was built on the ideals of Bushidō. Though it appeared rigid and traditional on the surface, at its core, it held a deep-rooted respect for strength.

Kaido had never been able to truly break their spirit and make them surrender.

The reason was simple: KAIDO HADN’T BEEN STRONG ENOUGH.

Back then, Kozuki Oden was able to wound Kaido, leaving an indelible scar. And Kaido, in the end, had to resort to conspiracy and treachery to completely deal with Oden.

That was not a display of absolute, undeniable power. It was not enough to make these prideful samurai truly submit.

To make warriors like these bow their heads, what was needed was absolute, crushing, overwhelming power.

A power that was on a completely different dimension from their own, a power that shattered their entire worldview.

And now, Rowen was about to display such a power.

CRACKLE! CRACKLE! CRACKLE!

A terrifying, crimson-black bolt of lightning, so immense it seemed to tear the sky in two, suddenly manifested.

Then, an unbelievably horrifying presence instantly erupted!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Kozuki Sukiyaki and the others felt an irresistible, frightening aura instantly wash over them.

Without any power to resist, their eyes rolled back in an instant, and they collapsed unconscious.

Even at such a great distance, before Rowen’s Conqueror’s Haki, it was meaningless.

Because Rowen’s current Conqueror’s Haki was on a level that could completely pierce an island, affecting an entire sea region!

"Ugh! S-So strong... this Haki!"

Even Yamato felt an extremely frightening pressure, fine sweat beading on her forehead, feeling as if she couldn’t even move her body properly.

THIS HAKI WAS TOO STRONG!

Her Conqueror’s Haki, which she had preliminarily mastered for infused attacks, which was already considered top-tier on the seas, was as fragile as an infant’s before this overwhelming force.

No wonder Ace had said that the man he now followed with his life, Sky Sovereign Rowen, was the Most Dominant Haki User in the world.

Indeed, his reputation was well-deserved!

"Truly... a terrifying Haki," Zoro and Ace’s foreheads were beaded with cold sweat, a smile tugging at their lips.

Though they had preliminarily mastered Haōshoku Coating

, the gap between them and Rowen was still like the difference between the clouds and the mud.

Just by coating his fingers in Haki, he had completely neutralized their strongest attacks. Under the full force of his Haki wave, while they wouldn’t be knocked out, their movements would still be affected.

Of course, to achieve this, to greatly affect them with Conqueror’s Haki, the consumption for Rowen’s Haki was also very large.

At this moment, Rowen wasn’t targeting Zoro and Ace with his Haki, but by stopping their final blow, he was letting the core members of Wano know exactly what kind of strength he, their future ruler, possessed.

It was no exaggeration to say that just by releasing his Conqueror’s Haki, Rowen could annihilate the entirety of Wano.

Of course, besides using absolute force to subdue the hearts of Wano’s core members, Rowen was also genuinely helping Ace and Zoro test the combat strength of their strongest attacks.

By blocking their strongest blows with Haōshoku Coating, through the feedback of the power level on his Haki cloud—and then through the intelligence enhancement of his Human-Human Fruit, he could judge whose attack power was stronger.

In the original story, a highlight of the Enies Lobby arc was the test of Doriki.

CP9’s Fukurou could, by being beaten, test the Doriki value of the attacker.

A normal Marine soldier with a weapon had a Doriki value of 10. Anything over 500 was considered superhuman.

But afterwards, with the power of Devil Fruits and Haki being too strong, Doriki values could no longer accurately measure it and quickly exited the stage of measuring combat strength in the One Piece world.

But the current Rowen, because his combat strength was so far ahead of everyone else in this era, plus the assistance of his Human-Human Fruit’s intelligence enhancement, even for an Admiral-level combatant, Rowen could roughly calculate the combat strength of their full-power strike.

He was practically a human power level scanner.

This was why Zoro and Ace had been willing to go all-out, to unleash their strongest attacks in a seemingly life-or-death battle.

They knew that there was no need for their attacks to actually collide. They just needed to display their strongest blow, and Rowen would naturally be able to stop them and then give his assessment.

"What’s our combat strength, Rowen?"

Ace and Zoro had already retracted their attacks, looking expectantly at Rowen.

"An Admiral is the threshold for a true powerhouse on these seas. Let’s use 10,000 combat power as the standard,"

Rowen looked at Zoro and Ace and planned a basic standard.

A power level of 10,000 was the baseline for an Admiral-level combatant.

Of course, this combat power was not to be compared with the Dragon Ball world; it was a standard Rowen casually made up.

After all, Rob Lucci in the Enies Lobby arc had a Doriki value of 4,000. The combat power value of the Admiral level couldn’t be lower than this, or it would be too demeaning.

As for this 10,000 combat power, in reality, according to Rowen’s standard, it was the ’1’ level in the Apex Gold Trait tier.

And combat strength below the Admiral level? For Rowen, it was not qualified to be counted.

Now that they had entered the final round, only by reaching the Admiral-level threshold were they qualified to participate in this final battle.

"Mm, mm,"

Ace and Zoro nodded repeatedly, their eyes shining.

Even Yamato, who had broken free from Rowen’s Conqueror’s Haki influence, came to Rowen’s side with shining eyes, looking expectantly at him.

To display the strength of a powerhouse on the seas in the form of a numerical value was truly unheard of.

And it was very intuitive and direct.

"Ace’s final blow had a combat power of about 23,000,"

Rowen estimated that Ace’s current strongest attack had reached the ’2’ level in the Apex Gold Trait tier.

"Zoro’s final blow had a combat power of about 25,000, slightly stronger,"

Rowen looked at the expectant Zoro and smiled.

The attack power of a swordsman naturally had an advantage. Plus Zoro’s Asura Aura, and having obtained a famed sword with special power like Enma, his strongest attack’s combat power had already surpassed Ace’s.

Of course, this didn’t mean Zoro was stronger than Ace.

Stamina was an important component of combat strength in the One Piece world. Even if the explosive power was very strong, powerhouses who were defeated due to insufficient stamina were everywhere.

Ace’s stamina was much stronger than the current Zoro’s. As long as Ace could withstand this blow, with his stamina advantage, the final winner would most likely still be Ace.

"Hmph,"

Zoro smiled.

Ace was not annoyed, but smiled freely. He was very clear that having a strong attack power didn’t necessarily mean winning in the end.

Because of Asura Aura, Enma, and other factors, Zoro’s attack power was his strongest point. And in this situation, the gap in their attack power was not large.

Ace was confident that if they really fought to the end, he would be the winner.

Zoro also knew this. He was just happy with his own strength increase, not thinking that he had truly completely defeated Ace.

Attack power was just a reference value.

Though it was a reference, Zoro and Ace were still very concerned about one point.

"Rowen, what’s your combat power?"

Zoro and Ace looked intently at Rowen.

Even Yamato was extremely interested.

"My combat power?"

Rowen looked at the expectant Zoro, Ace, and Yamato, and smiled.

"Let me give you a reference value. My combat power is about..."

Rowen smiled.

"...150,000."

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