Arise, again?

Since the sun wasn't shining in my eyes, I had to be inside a building, probably in the still-standing ruins of Baran Hospital. With some effort, I managed to sit up in bed while people bombarded me with questions and others thanked me for saving their lives. Unfortunately, Ector was dead... But hey, at least I'm alive, haha.

"How long was I unconscious?" I asked, quite worried, because considering the damage, the Marines will arrive quickly, and it won't be just any West Blue sailor. If a country has been destroyed, they'll send at least a Vice Admiral... and honestly, I could use some rest after this battle.

"Two weeks. The Marines came, but we told them you were dead, so they left quickly." I see, that's good, but I doubt they left without saying anything. I should remain cautious.

"ARGG," I began to feel dizzy, my head hurt, and I could hear everything around me even louder than before. It was as if my perception and Haki had merged, making my senses even stronger, but I couldn't control it very well.

"Ash, are you okay? Bring him water and food! And a doctor!"

It took five minutes for me to calm down and regain control of my Observation Haki. Of course, I ate and drank well right after. After an hour of talking with everyone, I had to inform them that I had to leave. I left them with some money, around 500 million, so they could rebuild their country, or at least a part of it.

"Goodbye." The goodbye was brief because even though I loved this country, it's just the country, and now that it's been destroyed, I'm no longer attached to it. Before leaving, I also asked where the corpses were placed.

"We've put them under a tarp at the back of the village. We plan to cremate them tomorrow. Do you want to go and pray?"

"Yes, something like that, haha," I laughed at their misunderstanding and walked to the back of the village. It didn't take long to get there, so I summoned the King of Baran. This time, he was in his human form, but he was still imposing compared to me, who was still 1.60 meters tall. Even though it had been almost 10 years, it was impressive.

"Look at this, all these dead... all your knights who could have survived," I was somewhat mourning because their fighting spirit was impressive, and I could see it through their shadow aura.

"From now on, you shall be my army. Arise." With that simple word, a hundred knights stood up. Just by looking at them, I could gauge their level, even though I didn't have a system telling me. Except for two, they were all at the level of a [soldier], and two were at the level of an [elite soldier]. Moreover, by looking at the King of Baran, I could deduce that his rank should be around [knight], or perhaps at the beginning of [elite knight]. If I were to compare it to a Marine rank, it would be as strong as a Vice Admiral who can use both basic Haki, so below Zephyr, whom I consider to have almost the level of an Admiral.

For some explanations, I consider the rank of soldiers to be below the level of a Counter Admiral. An elite soldier is at the level of a Counter Admiral. A knight is better than a Counter Admiral, approximately at the level of a Vice Admiral. An elite knight is better than a Vice Admiral and weaker than an Admiral. A commander is as strong as an Admiral. Then there is the rank of Marshal, which is undoubtedly around the level of an Emperor, I think, although I have nothing to compare it to. Finally, the rank of Grand Marshal, which is as strong as a Monarch, surely capable of fighting for some time against Roger or Whitebeard.

"By the way, from now on, your name shall be Baran, in reference to your city and a certain demon king you resemble, a lot actually." As if acknowledging, he knelt before me, and behind him, the 100 knights also knelt. I was proud of myself, even though apparently, 100 is my limit for now.

I left the island heading towards Ohara. Now, I no longer needed a sailboat; my shadows rowed much faster than a sailboat, and without getting tired, so it was perfect. As I dozed off, my Observation Haki alerted me that three Marine ships were starting to surround me, at a distance of 300 meters...

"I suspected they were planning to attack me. Soldiers, stand down," I said as my two shadows, which were rowing, dissipated. On each ship, I could see a Vice Admiral, and luckily, Karika wasn't there. I didn't want to kill him just yet.

After a few minutes, my boat was completely surrounded by the three ships. I was ten meters away from each ship, and on board, each Vice Admiral looked at me with murderous intent.

"We know you didn't kill civilians, but for justice, you must die! ATTACK!" they shouted, leaping off the ship. In an instant, using Soru, they were in front of me, ready to kill me.

"Get out!" Dozens of shadows emerged just below them, trying to stab them, but as expected, with their Observation Haki, they sensed the danger and jumped high, out of reach of my shadows.

The three of them landed on the same ship and looked at each other.

"It's similar to Mario's fruit but much more powerful, be careful."

"I figured as much."

"Same here."

"Now it's my turn to attack," I thought as I drew my daggers and used all my speed to strike. I was confident in fighting one Vice Admiral, but not three, especially with my army on the sea, much smaller now.

Approaching the three, I summoned my shadows once again to protect me and attack whenever necessary while I could strike without worrying about being attacked from behind.

One of the Vice Admirals I targeted saw me coming and tried to back away as much as possible, but with my sovereign authority, I drew him closer, and this time, he didn't anticipate it and didn't see it coming with his Haki. Thus, I sliced through his body, but it felt like cutting through an iron wall.

"Tekkai," so that's it... I don't like Vice Admirals, always causing me trouble.

"Everyone, get out and only attack the Vice Admirals. The rest doesn't need to die." They seemed confused, but in the next moment, they were shocked by the army of 100 shadows before them, rushing to kill them.

"This man must truly die, 250 million is not enough." I have a bounty of 250 million berries since the incident? Not bad at all.

Even though my shadows were easily being killed, I could finally fight a Vice Admiral one-on-one. So, I fought head-to-head with one of them.

"Come here, my grand friend," I said, using the authority of a sovereign, preventing him from fleeing, and he decided to charge at me, probably because he was confident in his attack.

"Genshin... IMPACT!" he shouted, plunging towards me with his sword ready to stab me. His sword had turned black due to the Armament Haki he had infused into it.

"I AM ATOMIC." Using as much mana as I could, I threw my daggers at him, evading his blade as best as I could. His Haki, which protected him, couldn't do anything; blood rained everywhere as his body was cut in two, creating a division in the sea behind him for several seconds.

Good, now that I have almost no mana left, I canceled all my shadows and summoned Baran.

"I'll take care of him. You take the other one." He nodded and ran towards the second Vice Admiral. On my side, the Vice Admiral looked at me with unprecedented hatred and vanished, only to reappear in front of me. But without mana, I could only fight with my daggers or sword. However, I wanted to learn more about Haki, so I sheathed my daggers and struck with all my strength using my fist, without Haki, meeting the Vice Admiral's Haki-infused fist.

"It was to be expected," I said as my fist broke, but I didn't give up. That's how I can awaken my Armament Haki.

For several minutes, I used my fists and feet to fight the Vice Admiral, but I felt like I wasn't awakening anything at all, just suffering. But I was disappointed; I absolutely wanted to awaken my Armament Haki, but apparently, it wouldn't happen today.

"Just die already," I told him as two daggers appeared in my hands. I used my sovereign authority on him, immobilizing him for a few seconds, and sliced his head, which resisted thanks to the Armament, but I didn't give up. In the three seconds he couldn't move, I struck him more than a dozen times, hitting his Haki each time.

"Damn it!" I shouted in frustration as my mana returned and surrounded my blade, slicing his skull in two, breaking through the enemy's Haki.

I was angry that I couldn't awaken my Haki.

"Baran, aren't you finished?" I asked as he continued to fight the Vice Admiral. Seeing all those flames is quite a spectacle.