"I ask you, what is the essence of Tekkai?"
"Accelerating blood flow to speed up muscle movement, allowing the muscles to achieve a hardness comparable to steel."
Tokikake answered Hammer's question without hesitation.
"Lance, bring over what I had you prepare yesterday."
Accompanied by a creepy chuckle, Hammer pulled out a Den Den Mushi and made a call.
Before long, dozens of marine soldiers were seen dragging cartloads of coal into the training ground.
Soon, the coal formed a small mountain.
But this wasn't just any coal; it was freshly mined, and each chunk was about the size of a boulder.
As the trainees stared at the coal mountain in confusion, Hammer moved.
With a mighty pull of his right hand, he hoisted up a massive chunk of coal and placed it in front of Tokikake and the others.
Then, with both hands, he began to rub the coal violently. Under the immense force, the coal started crumbling into smaller pieces.
"Do the same, break this entire coal mountain into small pieces and throw them into the furnace."
"Remember, you're not hitting, striking, or hammering, you're rubbing. Got it?"
Instantly, Tokikae, Yamanakaji, Strawberry, and the others turned pale.
Sure, it wasn't the hardest material, but still, bare-handed?!
No tools, just pure strength to crush it down? Are you kidding?!
And no hitting or smashing allowed, only rubbing?!
"Why does it have to be rubbing?!"
One brave soul finally asked.
"Because rubbing breaks it into finer pieces, which burn easier, you idiot!"
"Of course, if you don't want to rub, you can also crash into it using your body. If you can break it that way, fine by me."
Devil. At this moment, Hammer was the very embodiment of that word.
"Stop wasting time! Get to it!"
He raised a fist larger than a sand pot, coated in pitch-black Armament Haki.
The terrified trainees gulped and reluctantly began their task.
"Ow, damn it, this is hard…"
"Ahhh, it hurts, it hurts…"
Cries of agony echoed louder than those from the people on the red-hot steel plates.
Hammer leaped onto the furnace, watching the trainees hopping on the red-hot steel plates with amusement.
Then he quickly replaced the searing iron plates with fresh ones.
In an instant, he reappeared before Dalmatia's group, the Shigan trainees.
He pulled several iron anvils from his ring and placed them on the ground.
Then, under everyone's gaze, he drew a blade, the Miaodao.
He had fought tooth and nail to get it back from Bogart, and he'd have to return it later…
Damn it, he forged that blade through blood and sweat!
With a crisp cutting sound, the steel plate was divided into three smaller squares (originally 3m x 1m, now 1m x 1m each).
"Shigan is about focusing all your power into a single finger, but you're not there yet. So instead, channel your full strength into your hands."
"These heated steel ingots will be your training tools."
"Put on these heat-resistant gloves and hammer them. I don't care if you punch, smash, or pound, just go wild."
"Ever seen a standard Marine long sword?"
"Aim for that shape. That's all you need to do."
"Don't worry, these gloves are insulated. You won't get burned."
Dalmatian took a pair of gloves and swallowed nervously.
"Oh, and you'd better work fast if the steel ingot cools down, you'll have to start all over again. And if you lose track of the one you started hammering… hehehehehe..."
"You know what that means…"
And so, the three groups began their own "special" training.
Meanwhile, Hammer took a red-hot steel plate to Zephyr's side, setting up his own anvil to forge.
The deafening hammer strikes drowned out all other noise.
But none of the trainees paid attention, they were far too busy suffering.
"Hammer, are you sure this'll work?" Zephyr asked. He'd approved of this madness, but it still seemed a bit extreme.
"Relax, Sensei. In three to five days, you'll see results. Plus, this will speed up my own forging."
"Even if they can't fully shape the steel, their force will temper it, and it will make it easier for me to work with."
"Anyway, if someone passes out or slacks off, I'll leave it to you."
"Oh, and please make sure to keep swapping the heated plates, both sides need rotation."
Zephyr nodded silently, watching the trainees endure their hellish trial.
Time flew, and three hours passed in a flash.
"Damn it, it's too hot!"
Gion was drenched in sweat, and her boots had burned through from the scorching steel beneath her.
The others weren't faring much better; all of them were enduring through sheer willpower.
"This isn't working…"
Gritting her teeth, Gion began recalling the principles of Soru.
"Ten steps in 0.36 seconds…"
Fighting through the pain, she began to test it.
Step-step-step-step-step-step…
A loud explosion rang out.
Gion's figure had vanished.
Zephyr's eyes lit up; he vanished, too.
His sturdy body appeared mid-air, then landed with Gion, now unconscious, in his arms.
"Oh? Seems she does have talent. She figured it out already?"
Hammer chuckled while hammering away.
His words jolted the others, still cooking on their steel plates.
Zephyr laughed heartily, too.
"Hammer, your 'ants-on-a-hot-pan' method works surprisingly well. It's just as effective as 'running like the wind'."
"Tsk tsk… Human potential only truly comes out under pressure."
With Zephyr's approval, a spark of determination ignited in the exhausted trainees' eyes.
They redoubled their efforts, mimicking Gion's breakthrough one after another.
Back at the coal pile, Onigumo was the first to adapt.
Rubbing coal by hand was just too slow.
"Doberman, c'mon, pick up a chunk and ram it into me. Rubbing is way too inefficient."
Doberman and Onigumo were old colleagues, both under Sakazuki's command.
They had good chemistry. Doberman instantly understood.
"Then brace yourself."
Onigumo tensed his muscles as Doberman hoisted a boulder-sized coal chunk and charged at him full force.
A human cannonball, except the ball was coal, and the target was a man. What a sight.