Chapter 21

In a single exchange...

It was beaten dizzy and disoriented.

Even,

Its life force was plummeting wildly,

Dropping in a straight line.

Awoo!

A wail escaped its mouth, brimming with grief and terror.

In the end...

Thud!

Accompanied by a muffled, soft sound.

The fierce tiger collapsed and did not rise again.

Blood slowly seeped from its body.

This towering behemoth, no less than five meters tall, the king of beasts within the deep forest...

Was thus instantly killed by Lu En with a single punch from start to finish.

Looking closely,

Clearly,

The skull of this fierce tiger had already been blasted apart by Lu En's single punch.

One could well imagine.

Lu En had merely thrown a casual punch—what terrifying destructive power had erupted from it.

"I've gotten stronger."

"Compared to a month ago, far, far stronger."

Gazing at the fierce tiger's corpse lying on the ground, Lu En was filled with emotion.

This month of devilish training...

Was clearly not so easy.

But he had persevered through it all.

And reaped bountiful harvests.

A month of diligent, grueling cultivation had pushed Lu En's strength to a whole new level.

The current Lu En, if he were to meet his former self from a month ago.

Would probably only need a single finger to instantly kill that former self.

This was Lu En's change in strength over the past month.

Earth-shattering!

Leaping forward by leaps and bounds!

Advancing a thousand li in a single day!

"Even looking across the entire East Sea..."

"With my current strength, I can basically walk sideways!"

"As long as I don't run into those extremely few hidden old monsters, my strength is more than enough to deal with the pirates emerging in this new era of the East Sea."

"If converted into bounty..."

Lu En pondered thoughtfully.

In this current era, actually, there weren't as many top-tier powerhouses as in the later Great Pirate Era.

Many of the renowned powerhouses and monsters of later fame were still in their fledgling growth stages.

Therefore.

The Marines' bounties on most pirates were generally quite low.

Not like those of later generations...

Casually reaching bounties of over a hundred million Berries.

In this era, a pirate who could be bounty-placed at over a hundred million Berries by the Marines was a truly, utterly powerful Great Pirate!

Even placed in the New World...

A pirate bounty-placed at over a hundred million Berries in this era would be enough to sweep through vast stretches of the New World's seas.

"A preliminary conservative estimate."

"My current strength is no weaker than a pirate bounty-placed at ten million Berries on the seas."

Lu En gave a relatively conservative assessment.

A ten-million-Berry bounty in this era and a ten-million-Berry bounty in the Great Pirate Era over a decade later were two entirely different concepts.

"System, bring up the status panel."

Lu En's mind stirred as he began to check his current physical attributes.

【Host: Lu En】

【Strength: 17.6 (+10.1)】

【Speed: 16.1 (+9.3)】

【Stamina: 18.9 (+10.9)】

【Spirit: 12 (+2)】

【Ghost Back Completion: 10.14%】

【Current Overall Cultivation Effect Boost: 100x!】

This was the result of Lu En's month of grueling cultivation!

Because the further one goes…

The harder it becomes to grow stronger!

Therefore.

Relying solely on devilish training was clearly no longer enough to make Lu En's strength leap forward.

Fortunately.

Lu En possessed a hundredfold cultivation amplification, which meant that during this month, even though his strength was difficult to improve further, his power still experienced an enormous surge.

Next,

If Lu En wanted to improve his own strength further, he could no longer frequently and tediously use these simple training methods.

Half a month ago,

Captain Kapu had already informed Lu En that after meeting his cheap old man Dragon, he would need to set sail with Captain Kapu immediately for Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

Only by going to Marine Headquarters, Marineford, could Lu En improve his own strength faster!

Marine Headquarters had complete, systematic training methods…

Added to that,

The hundredfold cultivation amplification that Lu En possessed!

One could imagine.

After heading to Marine Headquarters, what another tremendous transformation Lu En's strength would undergo.

"During this month, not only did my strength, speed, and stamina — the three physical attributes — receive a massive boost."

"Even my spiritual power…"

"Has improved quite a bit."

Through Lu En's investigation, he discovered that his spiritual power was intimately connected with the Conqueror's Haki he wielded.

The higher the spiritual power, the stronger the Conqueror's Haki.

Lu En firmly believed.

Once his spiritual power grew strong enough to a certain degree…

Even,

He could achieve Conqueror's Haki entanglement!

"After a month of arduous cultivation, besides the improvement of various physical qualities, I also completely mastered Conqueror's Haki!"

A brilliant smile surfaced on Lu En's face.

The harvest he had reaped from this month was far, far too much.

Not only had his strength grown,