Chapter 184: Six Styles

On the deck.

Chopper transformed into his human form, wearing only shorts and a tank top, revealing an incredibly muscular physique.

"One, two, three..."

He shouldered an exaggeratedly large barbell, over two meters in diameter and weighing tons, performing endless squats.

With every squat, his legs trembled continuously, yet he still forced himself to stand back up.

Again and again...

Gradually.

Chopper experienced the thrill of breaking through limits that those pirates had spoken of yesterday:

"I can feel it; after reaching the limit of my stamina, I break through the ceiling, surpassing myself."

"Power within my body keeps surging forth; I am becoming stronger. This feeling is intoxicating."

The newly generated stamina quickened his movements, but soon the sensation of exhaustion and depletion struck once more.

This time, Chopper had experience; he clenched his teeth so hard he nearly bit through his gums until they bled, roaring:

"If I can't even accomplish this much!"

"Then how can I ever become the panacea that defeats all enemies and cures all diseases!"

"Damn it!"

Inside the navigator's room.

Nami watched this scene, nearly crushing her pencil out of shape, the veins on her forehead throbbing wildly:

"So that's what he means by a panacea?!"

"Even for absurdity, there has to be a limit, you idiot!"

Nami's defenses crumbled, the veins on her forehead throbbing furiously.

It took tremendous effort for her to control herself and not go out there to beat Chopper senseless.

"Don't get angry, don't get angry, don't get angry..."

After a long while.

She barely calmed her emotions, buried her head, and refocused her attention on the nautical chart on the desk, beginning to draw routes she had previously sailed.

Snap!

The pencil in Nami's hand snapped at the sound; unable to control her emotions any longer, she flung it out the window and cursed loudly:

"Damn bastards!"

"Is there not a single normal person among you?!"

As soon as her voice landed.

The deck fell silent for a moment, everyone looking at each other in confusion.

"Normal person?"

"Aren't we exactly that?"

A pirate spoke with a puzzled expression, and his words immediately drew agreement from those around him.

"That's right; we are all perfectly normal pirates, just clearer than other pirates about what we want."

"The feeling of cultivation is my One Piece!"

"Exactly!"

"We are just a group of ordinary people focused on becoming stronger."

"How can you call us abnormal?"

"So Big Sister Nami probably wasn't talking about us."

A short while later.

The sound of everyone's discussion died down.

They resumed their cultivation with even greater fervor, and after confirming they were fine, they trained even harder.

The roars on the deck increased by several decibels.

Roubo Luqi blended into the crowd, hearing most of what everyone said, yet the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

He turned and exchanged a glance with Miss Kalifa beside him; both saw clearly what the other meant to convey.

Something's wrong!

There is ninety percent, if not a hundred percent, something wrong with Gao Wen's pirate crew!

The two thought this silently, yet revealed nothing on their faces, even silently accelerating their own cultivation speed to achieve their goals as quickly as possible.

Time flew by, gradually turning into deep night.

After drinking the medicinal soup provided by Chopper, Roubo Luqi walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Miss Kalifa, dragging their exhausted bodies back to their suites.

The two habitually sat in the living room to verify intelligence, yet both gradually furrowed their brows.

"This atmosphere within Gao Wen's pirate crew, which completely assimilates newcomers so rapidly, is simply inconceivable!"

Miss Kalifa said with lingering fear:

"In just a few days, that newcomer has completely joined the ranks of cultivators, even leaping to become one of the most hardworking among you."

"I've never even heard of such a thing, let alone seen it!"

Roubo Luqi also showed a look of surprise; after thinking briefly, his expression gradually turned Solemn:

"Now I can understand why their strength underwent such earth-shaking changes in merely half a year."

"It is simply because every time a newcomer joins, they begin to obsessively indulge in cultivation."

"Even..."

He reached out and rubbed his shoulder, the corner of his mouth revealing a trace of intoxication so faint it was barely perceptible:

"Even I have come to like this feeling."

"Do you know?"

"I roughly estimated that in just one or two months, my Dao Power has increased by at least five hundred compared to before!"

"Such a cultivation speed is truly too unbelievable!"

Miss Kalifa was startled; recalling the values measured by Owl last time, she initially bluffed, then spoke with difficulty:

"Does that mean your current Dao Power has already surpassed three thousand?"

Roubo Luqi nodded and said indifferently:

"According to my estimates, the Dao Power of the main combatants in the Gao Wen Pirates is all above two thousand, while the Dao Power of Xiang Keluo and Ah Jin is even highly likely to approach four thousand."

"As for Knight Gao Wen... it is simply impossible to calculate."

"The comprehensive combat power of this pirate crew has already reached a level that is terrifying."

He let out a sigh of admiration, then immediately shifted the topic to Spandam's orders, his brows gradually knitting together:

"Spandam is urging us again."

"He wants us to deal with Captain Ah Jin as soon as possible, at any cost."

Miss Kalifa raised an eyebrow; she looked at Roubo Luqi and did not respond for a moment.

After the events of last time, Ah Jin had already become a special existence for Roubo Luqi.

She could feel that in Roubo Luqi's heart, Ah Jin was no different from companions like herself; even though they were in opposing camps, Roubo Luqi could not bring himself to act against him.

After some thought, Miss Kalifa spoke:

"What do you plan to do?"

Roubo Luqi shook his head and said:

"Nothing."

"A few days ago, I received a message from that fellow Jabura."

"The three of them have also been pulled out of other missions and are currently heading to Alabasta to investigate the underground transactions between Spandine and Crocodile."

"Coupled with Spandam suddenly ordering us to kill Captain Ah Jin at any cost, this is unreasonable."

"If it were merely to kill a single pirate, our superiors would not have expended so much effort to have us infiltrate the Gao Wen Pirates."

Miss Kalifa realized it instantly:

"You suspect there is some connection here?"

Roubo Luqi nodded and said:

"I suspect the person who truly wants to kill Captain Ah Jin is Spandine, though I have no evidence for now; let's just try to delay things on our end."

"Mm."

Miss Kalifa responded with a sound, offering no opposing opinion, and then she recalled her previous deal with Gao Wen, saying:

"Regarding the Six Styles, Gao Wen has actually never asked about them; is he truly unconcerned, or is it that..."

Roubo Luqi said indifferently:

"This is a matter of attitude; he may not want it, but we cannot fail to give it; furthermore, his continued silence on the matter might also be him waiting for us to take the initiative and express our stance."

"After all, even though we have joined the Gao Wen Pirates for so long and even become officers, aren't we still outsiders?"

"Hiss—!"

Miss Kalifa was stunned; the more she thought about it, the more she felt Roubo Luqi made sense, and she nodded:

"I have already organized the cultivation manual earlier, with some modifications made to the advanced sections; look..."

Upon hearing this, Roubo Luqi's eyes flashed with the image of Ah Jin, who had once stood alone against powerful enemies to buy time for his escape; his expression shifted between dark and light, and after hesitating for a long while, he said:

"Hand over the content of the basic sections first—the version without any tampering."

Miss Kalifa opened her mouth, wanting to speak but stopping herself; finally, she gritted her teeth and nodded.

Although such behavior was a concrete betrayal of the World Government's interests, compared to the complete secret techniques of the Six Styles, the value of the basic introductory material was much smaller.

Moreover, for her, the one truly worth following had never been the CP organization or the World Government, but the man standing before her.

"Understood."

Early the next morning.

Miss Kalifa pushed open the door to the captain's cabin.

She had now convinced herself that Gao Wen held feelings for her in his heart.

It was only because her current strength was too weak that he feared suffering past injuries again and was unwilling to face the emotions in his heart.

Therefore, Miss Kalifa did not display a posture akin to seduction as she had before, but instead acted very formally.

"Captain."

"This is the content of the Six Styles that I am familiar with; it is all basic stuff, and the more in-depth content still needs to be organized by Roubo Luqi."

"I am handing it over to you now; this serves as a pledge of loyalty from both Roubo Luqi and myself."

Miss Kalifa handed the handwritten notes to Gao Wen, but unexpectedly, Gao Wen merely glanced at them lightly and did not reach out to take them.

In reality, Gao Wen had never expected these two to truly hand over the Six Styles data to him.

The reason he kept the two on the ship was simply to harvest them, using the system to learn the Six Styles directly.

Nowadays, Gao Wen's proficiency in the Six Styles had already approached the level of LV-4; placed among the Six Styles practitioners within the CP organization, it would likely not be considered poor.

There was no need to use the versions of the Six Styles taught by Miss Kalifa and the others, which retained backdoors or even defects.

Gao Wen waved his hand:

"I only wanted to confirm that you had truly broken with the World Government, so I asked that question. Now that you have proven your will to me, this thing is no longer necessary."

"Everyone has their own familiar combat techniques; spending time cultivating the Six Styles would only be a waste of time."

"Besides..."

Seeing Miss Kalifa lost in thought, Gao Wen reached out and patted her shoulder, gazing into her eyes with the posture of someone about to speak but ultimately holding back:

"I truly hope you can become even stronger."

"Captain... you..."

Kalifa's heart churned in confusion, her eyes darting about as she dared not meet Gao Wen's gaze.

Without waiting for Gao Wen's next words, she turned and hurriedly walked out.

Bang!

The office door closed.

Leaning against the door, Miss Kalifa felt her face burning terrifyingly, her heart seeming ready to leap from her chest.

Was this a confession?!

This... this... this must count as a confession, right?

Indeed, even a powerful man like Knight Gao Wen could not help but be moved by me.

But what is this feeling of burning all over my body? Perhaps my body has a problem from cultivating too long yesterday?

Miss Kalifa took a deep breath, shaking the stray thoughts from her mind, her gaze falling upon the Six Styles manual in her hand:

"He doesn't even want the Six Styles?"

"So be it; it saves a lot of trouble."

She raised her hand to tuck a strand of beautiful hair behind her ear, then turned and left.

Her willow waist swayed gently, her figure graceful.

What Miss Kalifa failed to notice was that her departing steps were much lighter.

Nami, who had just stepped out of the room, saw this scene, then looked at Gao Wen's room, her eyes revealing a look of understanding:

"With that gait and expression, there's no mistake... Miss Kalifa has fallen in love!"

"Tsk tsk~~~"

"Jasha, jasha~"

"It seems this romance of yours will end without result~ No, I must squeeze out a bit more before this money tree falls."

Night fell.

Miss Kalifa told Roubo Luqi the news from the day; the latter wore a shocked expression on his face and asked in confusion:

"He actually looks down on the Six Styles?"

Miss Kalifa raised her hand to push up her glasses, a blush unconsciously appearing on her face:

"Indeed, he likes me; he even gave up combat techniques like the Six Styles for my sake."

Roubo Luqi glanced at her, believing his judgment even more.

If this continues, whether Gao Wen will fall into Miss Kalifa's embrace of tenderness is unknown for now, but my big sister is definitely lost.

No, wait, looking at Miss Kalifa's current state... how do I feel she is already lost?!

Roubo Luqi muttered a couple of times, his mind turning to the idea of having Miss Kalifa withdraw from the mission, but he did not reveal it; instead, he focused his attention on the Six Styles, a smile gradually curling at the corner of his mouth:

"Looking at it this way, the only reason must be that he looks down on combat techniques like the Six Styles."

Roubo Luqi shook his head, his tone even carrying a hint of mockery:

"After all, he is a self-taught fighter; even with great combat power, his vision is limited."

"Although the Six Styles, judged solely by performance, might not compare to certain experts' secret techniques, they are excellent combat techniques for cultivating subordinates."

"Cultivated to the depths, they can even help with awakening Haki; for building one's own power, they are of even greater assistance."

Miss Kalifa pushed her glasses again; for some reason, she instinctively felt a trace of displeasure in her heart and argued:

"Perhaps when he first brought this up, it was truly just to test us?!"

"After all, he is someone who could risk making enemies with the Beasts Pirates to save the common people of a kingdom, even facing a powerful opponent like Scorching Calamity King alone?"

"If such a person could become a king, the subjects under him should be able to live very easily."

Roubo Luqi turned to look at Miss Kalifa, his eyelids twitching.

No!

Next time we reach a port, I must submit an application to the CP Organization to transfer Miss Kalifa away.

She hasn't even finished digging her own pit before she's already fallen into Knight Gao Wen's pit!

Damn it!

After all that calculation, I never calculated that the only cabbage in our own field would be snatched by a pig like this?

And she was the one actively begging the pig to snatch her?

For a moment, even someone as steady and cold as Roubo Luqi could not help but reveal a bitter face:

"You... sigh."

Roubo Luqi sighed, ultimately not voicing what was in his heart.

At this moment, he was utterly certain that taking on this mission in the first place was a mistake.

On one hand, he had to act against Akin, who was practically a comrade-in-arms through life and death; on the other, halfway through the mission, his own comrade was nearly defecting on the spot.

Miss Kalifa, flushed by his gaze, hurriedly turned and walked into her own room; a moment later, a song filled with joyful emotion came from inside the room.

Roubo Luqi immediately felt even more frustrated.

At the other end.

Gao Wen sat in his office, gazing at the newly acquired experience, a hint of delight in his eyes:

"Jioba's potential had already been checked—it was Silver rank."

(End of chapter)