Entering Huo Yuhao's Treasure Vault

--- Chapter 412 ---

Jinbe was convinced. He sighed and questioned "himself" whether he could master Fish-Man Karate and Jujutsu in less than an hour, but the answer was always no. 

The incredulous thing is Huo Yuhao merged the long-cultivated Fish-Man Karate into his own martial arts. That last punch was terrifying. It could severely injure someone who has awakened Devil Fruit's potential and a high-level Haki Practitioner.

Even Jinbe wasn't confident to block such a fist. 

At most, Jinbe could only deflect the fist while breaking some bones here and there.

However, Jinbe has yet to realize the terrifying potential of Huo Yuhao's fused martial technique. That punch now traveled at lightning-like speed, possessing unrivaled penetrating force, and could burst with immense momentum. 

Each of these qualities is terrifying on its own. Yet Huo Yuhao was able to combine them into one. 

Even the former Strongest Man of the Sea, Whitebeard, didn't have such an exaggerated prowess.

After all, Huo Yuhao, who has activated "Ancestral Eyes of Heavenly Dao" and "The End" from the Divine Throne of Beginning and the End, has a terrifying learning ability.

Huo Yuhao didn't only learn things instantly but also optimized them to more than 100%, specifically 120%. 

So, the current Fish-Man Karate in his hand has improved by a large margin.

Even then, Huo Yuhao knew this wasn't enough. 

What he wanted from Fish-Man Karate wasn't just martial moves but also its water manipulation concepts, applying the latter for [Obsidian Sea's Chapter].

"Well, I will fulfill my promise." Huo Yuhao turned around and nodded at Jinbe. "Thank you for teaching me Fish-Man Karate and Jujutsu, Jinbe." 

"..." Jinbe's mouth twitched slightly.

Are you sure I'm teaching you?

Why did I feel my Fish-Man Karate isn't as good as yours?

Even then, Jinbe didn't utter his helplessness. It's not like he was angry or jealous because such an emotion doesn't apply to this situation. 

Huo Yuhao was too far from Jinbe. He's so far away that Jinbe and others couldn't imagine themselves chasing after his coattails.

This kind of helplessness overshadowed petty emotions like jealousy. 

"Likewise, Yuhao-dono," Jinbe replied humbly. "I also learned a lot from you." 

Huo Yuhao smiled, "If you say so." 

"Well, let's start from the divine tool." 

After saying that, Huo Yuhao summoned the key, Palu (The Spirit of Azure Emperor's Vault). The purple-gold slime appeared before everyone's eyes and surprised them.

"What a weird creature." Boa Hancock blinked in amusement.

"What is this thing, Boss?" asked Rayleigh.

Huo Yuhao squished Palu and replied confidently, "You can say that Palu is my contracted spirit. He's also a watcher of my treasure vault." 

"Don't look down on him. Palu's intelligence is no worse than adults." 

"I see..." Everyone nodded in understanding. 

They looked at the purple-gold slime in a new light. They didn't expect such a creature to guard Huo Yuhao's treasure vault. 

"Aluuu~!" Palu cried out gently as if he was greeting them, melting their hearts with his adorableness.

Huo Yuhao shook his head lightly, "Palu, open the vault." 

"Aluu (Understood)!" The slime nodded, conjuring a royal blue key made of precious crystal. As Palu shook the key and twisted it, a tall portal appeared.

"What a wonderful ability." Jinbe sighed in his heart. If he hadn't known about Huo Yuhao beforehand, he would have thought this was Devil Fruit's ability.

It's not just Jinbe. Shyarly also marveled at Palu's power. 

"Let's go." Huo Yuhao walked into the portal, and others followed nervously.

Intense blue light blinded them for a moment, but as soon as they opened their eyes, an entirely new world entered their recovering vision. 

They are standing on a pathway made of polished white quartz. The path is ten meters wide and infinitely long as they couldn't see the end of this whiteness.

On either side of the path lies a starry sea of unknown depth that exudes overwhelming pressure. Both seas produced dreamy-white bubbles covered with a thin film and contained something mysterious. Despite this, the bubbles do not overflow into the surrounding area. 

Above, the sky has a sun and a moon; the sun is a vibrant purple, while the moon shines with a blue-white hue.

"Haha, I feel like I'm going crazy." Rayleigh laughed bitterly. 

Even in the magical world of One Piece, Rayleigh had never felt this overwhelmed. The same goes for others.

They have witnessed many things, including the treasure vault, but Huo Yuhao's treasure vault is something else. It's no different than the real world. Still, having a whole world to store your treasure is a crazy concept.

Of course, it was far from the truth. 

Azure Emperor's Vault is a dimension that is continually expanding. 

Its size already surpassed some worlds because of the vast amount of treasures Huo Yuhao has accumulated and created over the years.

However, the Azure Emperor's Vault isn't necessarily a world. After all, it has no necessary laws to become one. Ultimately, it's a place to store things.

"Follow me." Huo Yuhao dragged them deeper into the vault because the bubbles were getting more overwhelming. One time, they saw a bubble the size of an island.

Of course, they had seen something similar in Tiny World, but what was inside the bubble shocked them.

Inside the bubble is the corpse of an unknown monster, radiating with evil and malice that they didn't dare look for a second time. The presence of this corpse alone is many times stronger than Whitebeard's.

One word, scary!

"We are here." They arrived at a meter, blue-light platform, and Huo Yuhao pointed at the column on top of it. 

"This platform can appraise unknown things and exchange them with treasures of similar value." 

"Just put the item on the column, and it will do its magic." 

"Of course, since I promised to give Jinbe one for free, we don't need to place any item." Huo Yuhao added casually. He snapped his fingers, and a group of bubbles appeared before Jinbe.

"Go ahead, Jinbe. Each of these bubbles contained ocean-related treasure, so choose one wisely."

Jinbe fell into deep thought as he sighed, "Yuhao-dono, can you recommend something instead?" 

"I can't trust my gut feeling in this situation." 

"Smart." Huo Yuhao commented lightly. "Out of these bubbles, three have ocean-related divine tools that could help you become stronger quickly." 

"One is an inner armor made of Deep Sea Demonic Whale's remains and water-dark Divine Metal."  

"The second is a mask created from 10,000-year-old Sea Essence, which could increase your affinity with water elements." 

"And the last thing... Wave-riding Boots made based on Vitra's Sacred Gear, a growth-type artifact one could bound with." 

"I choose the first one..." Jinbe said after some thought.

"Are you sure? The Wave-riding Boots might not be my greatest creation, but it's still a growth-type artifact." Huo Yuhao asked with narrowed eyes.

"I'm sure," Jinbe replied with determination.

Huo Yuhao chuckled and sent the deep-blue armor to Jinbe, "Then, you're making a good choice."

"This armor was 'luckily' made with an intact Deep Sea Demonic Whale's Beast's remains, which means it still contains its bloodline power." 

"Since you're also a whale, your bloodline might evolve into a Deep Sea Demonic Whale or even surpass that by wearing this armor for a good period." 

Jinbe felt a warm sensation on his body as a deep-blue armor seemingly merged with his skin but didn't obstruct his movements. His blood seemed to experience a qualitative change.

"Thank you, Yuhao-dono!" Jinbe bowed to Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao waved his hand, "Don't be so rigid. We are partners from now on." 

"Then, Yuhao-sama..." Shyarly suddenly raised her hand. 

"Can I use Devil Fruits to exchange for treasure as well?" 

'So, you are the one who has the Devil Fruits with Molding-related powers!' Huo Yuhao has been waiting for this.

He smiled, "Yes, you can."