After Ornn and Yamato hammered Don Chinjao's pointed skull back into its original shape, the old legend's attitude underwent a complete reversal. He no longer suspected Ornn of scheming to loot the Jade Iceberg.
After all, if Ornn harbored any ill intent, he could have easily finished off the unconscious old man right then and there, rather than going out of his way to restore his long-lost drill.
With all misunderstandings cleared, the atmosphere at the evening banquet turned warm and celebratory. It was here that Ornn finally obtained what he had sought for so long: the Happo Navy's private records on Armament Haki.
The Happo Navy was a renowned martial order capable of codifying complex shockwave martial arts, and their written breakdown of Armament Haki was remarkably lucid.
As Ornn skimmed through the pages, many of his lingering questions regarding kinetic flow, physical hardening, and internal projection were answered in a single stroke.
According to Chinjao, Ornn's raw physical capacity had already far exceeded the baseline required to awaken Armament Haki.
Rhea, on the other hand, fell slightly short—even with the passive multipliers granted by the Lion King belt, she would still need at least six months of targeted conditioning to reach the awakening threshold.
Though thrilled by the Haki manual, Ornn did not forget the secondary reason for their visit to the Kano Kingdom. Taking advantage of the festive mood, he brought up his next requirement.
"Cold Iron?"
Chinjao rubbed his restored point, chuckling boisterously. "Gahaha! You've asked the right man! That particular ore is rare across the West Blue, but there happen to be small veins exposed near the Jade Iceberg. Lao Cai's naginata and Boo's battle-axe are both forged from it. If you need some, I'll have a hundred kilograms hauled down for you tomorrow morning!"
Hearing this, Ornn and Yamato exchanged bright smiles.
Every required component for the Frostfire Gauntlet had finally been gathered. The forging phase could begin immediately!
The Next Morning
At the crack of dawn, Chinjao arrived at Ornn's quarters carrying a heavy crate packed with over a hundred kilograms of Cold Iron ore.
Ornn reached down, touching a dense, pale-gray rock that felt icy to the touch. When viewed beneath the morning sunlight, a faint azure luminescence shimmered across its crystalline surface.
A stream of system notifications materialized in his vision:
[Cold Iron]
An ultra-dense metallic ore formed exclusively within sub-zero, high-mineral environments. Essential component for forging Ice-Attribute Legendary Artifacts.
(Evaluation: Highly prized raw material... though the locals apparently use it for decorative gate fittings?)
"Thank you, Senior Chinjao."
"A trivial matter!" Chinjao waved a huge hand dismissively. "You are the great benefactor of the Happo Navy. If you ever need anything else in these waters, simply say the word!"
Once Chinjao departed, Ornn walked down the hall and knocked on Yamato's door.
When she opened it, rubbing her sleepy eyes, Ornn held up an ingot of Cold Iron. "Get ready. We're heading back to the ship."
Yamato's eyes snapped wide open. Fully awake in an instant, she washed up in a blur and followed Ornn straight down to the docks.
Thanks to the Happo Navy's backing, the Gospel remained completely untouched.
Stepping aboard, the two made their way into the captain's cabin, which had been converted into a dedicated forge. Ornn exhaled a burst of Bellows Breath to ignite the central furnace, then accessed his mental forge index to select the schematic for the Frostfire Gauntlet.
A massive wave of structural schematics and thermal requirements flooded his mind. Within moments, every nuance of the forging process was etched into his muscle memory.
Under Yamato's watchful, glowing eyes, Ornn began the work.
He fused the Cold Iron with high-carbon charcoal to refine it into dense steel billets, then sectioned it alongside high-purity Heartsteel.
Stacking the alternating layers, he introduced low-temperature magma as a thermal flux before placing the composite block into the furnace.
Once the temperature hit the exact threshold, he began the folding and hammering process.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
After folding the metal eight times, the composite steel was fully integrated.
Next came the precision shaping. Ornn cut, shaped, and polished the steel plates according to the schematic imprinted in his mind.
While the One Piece world lacked modern industrial cutting machines, Ornn's fine magma control—combined with god-tier craftsmanship—allowed him to complete the most grueling phase of the build in just a few hours.
Retrieving a set of dense, high-grade leather undersleeves, he mounted and aligned the polished cold-iron plates one by one.
As the sun began to set, the sleek, imposing silhouette of the gauntlet took shape.
"The final step... give me your hand."
Ornn gestured for Yamato to step forward. Drawing a short blade from his belt, he made a swift cut across his own palm, then made a matching incision across Yamato's.
"Place your palm over the central core plate with mine."
Yamato followed his instructions, pressing her bleeding palm onto the core mechanism of the gauntlet alongside his.
The moment their blood pooled into the central groove, an intense, unnatural suction erupted from the artifact. It greedily drew the blood inward, soaking into the underlying metallic layers.
Unlike standard blood loss, Yamato felt her physical stamina draining at a rapid rate, while the Zoan power residing within her bloodline quivered slightly in response.
"What is this feeling?" Yamato asked, her eyes wide with wonder.
"It's my fruit's essence binding the creation," Ornn explained quietly. "Don't break contact, and don't worry."
Trusting him implicitly, Yamato nodded, holding her position as the gauntlet continued its absorption.
Just as a pale fatigue settled over both of their faces, the strange suction abruptly ceased.
In the next second, a brilliant, pulsing aura burst from the frame of the gauntlet.
The energy seemed to awaken the dormant properties of the Cold Iron. Under Yamato's stunned gaze, the surface of the gauntlet shifted color in real-time—transforming from bright polished silver to a deep, frost-azure hue that matched her own Glacial Zoan aura.
Meanwhile, the intricate rune patterns carved along the gauntlet's length flared with a deep, pulsing crimson light, expanding and contracting like a steady heartbeat.
"This... this is..." Yamato stammered, staring at the breathtaking piece of armor.
"An exclusive artifact forged specifically for you," Ornn said, lifting the finished piece. "I call it the Frostfire Gauntlet."
Holding it out, he offered a warm smile. "Try it on."
Yamato carefully slipped her arm into the gauntlet. The fit was seamless, adjusting perfectly to her frame as if it were a natural extension of her body.
Even more astonishingly, the moment the gauntlet locked into place, she felt a surge of latent power integrate into her system. The strength plateaus she had faced for years shifted, nudging her baseline physical capabilities upward.
Under Ornn's encouraging gaze, Yamato drew her iron mace, Takeru.
The instant her gauntleted hand gripped the handle, a wave of dense frost surged along the length of the weapon, encasing the spiked iron in a thick, crystalline layer of glacial ice.
Curious, she tapped the end of her frozen mace lightly against the wooden floorboards.
CRACK—!
In an instant, an exquisite field of ice crystals bloomed outward across the deck like an opening flower, radiating intense sub-zero cold.
Yamato stared down at the frozen floor in utter awe. As the frost field slowly receded, she turned back to Ornn and threw her arms around him in an enthusiastic, bone-crushing hug.
"Thank you, Ornn! This is... this is the very first real gift I've ever received in my life! I promise... I'll cherish it forever!"
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