Chapter 186: Everyone Levels Up

This woman is beyond saving.

Roubo Luqi reached up to support his forehead, his defenses completely shattered on the spot, feeling he couldn't endure this broken mission for even one more day.

Having to strike the man who desperately blocked in front of him, and having a superior behind the scenes constantly plotting something—these two points could be endured and passed over.

But the key issue was... Miss Kalifa, what happened to your original calculations? What happened to your plan to conquer Gao Wen? Was it actually a case of self-conquest?

Thinking of this.

Roubo Luqi's face flushed with an abnormal redness; he nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood on the spot, but his professional cultivation as an agent forced him to forcibly control his temper.

Yet that feeling of suffocating grievance in his heart simply could not be suppressed.

Roubo Luqi took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, drawing his attention back to the problem at hand, and said:

"It is far more likely that because we submitted the data on the introductory Six Styles, he decided to bring out the introductory Six Styles manual he had already mastered long ago."

"What do you mean?"

Miss Kalifa raised her hand to tuck the stray hair by her forehead behind her ear, yet the flush on her face simply could not be suppressed.

Roubo Luqi continued:

"Because only in this way can Knight Gao Wen truly confirm that we are worthy of trust."

"The fact that he could grow into one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea under the World Government in merely half a year means his combat power is secondary; what is truly terrifying is his scheming."

"First, he seized Raven Port to establish a base and a stable rear area, then immediately killed the former Seven Warlord in Loguetown, causing a vacancy among the Seven Warlords."

Kalifa raised a question:

"But the successor to the Seven Warlords was Bartholomew Kuma, not Gao Wen."

Roubo Luqi shook his head, a trace of awe even appearing in his eyes:

"Therefore, when things exceeded expectations and his own threat was exposed, he顺势 took Former Admiral Zephyr hostage, forcing the World Government to bow and acknowledge his position as a Seven Warlord!"

"And the fact that all these matters were completed within such a short half-year period can only mean that from the very beginning, he was aiming for the position of Seven Warlord."

"The World Government and the Navy were both played like puppets in the palm of his hand!"

Only now did Roubo Luqi realize just how absurd his previous misjudgment of Gao Wen had been.

How could such a person fail to see the value of the Six Styles? The fool is not Gao Wen, it is me!

Perhaps those two years of silence were merely to accumulate strength for later; after all, how could such a man be content with being beaten into fleeing everywhere by the East Blue Branch Navy?!

"Hiss—!"

Roubo Luqi inhaled sharply, shocked to the extreme in his heart.

He subconsciously turned his head to look at Miss Kalifa, but the blue veins on his forehead began to throb wildly again, and his face turned as black as charcoal.

"So Mr. Gao Wen is even more outstanding than I imagined."

This was solely because an abnormal flush had once again appeared on Miss Kalifa's face, her eyes shining as she unconsciously spoke:

"Truly a nearly perfect man!"

No!

Miss Kalifa cannot be allowed to continue the mission; her current state is far too dangerous!

Roubo Luqi made a silent resolution.

At the next intelligence exchange, no matter what, he must have the CP organization recall Miss Kalifa.

Seeing Miss Kalifa lost in thought, he raised his hand and patted the table.

Bang—!

Bang—!

"Cough, cough—!"

Miss Kalifa coughed twice and pretended nothing was wrong, saying:

"Does this mean we have now gained Knight Gao Wen's trust?!"

Roubo Luqi nodded, letting out a reluctant sigh of relief as he said:

"For now, yes."

"Next, we proceed step by step to enter the core circle of the Gao Wen Pirates, or even go further to become his right-hand man."

"Only in this way can we truly become a force capable of checking the Gao Wen Pirates at a critical moment."

Miss Kalifa nodded, having fully recovered from her earlier infatuated state and displaying the cultivation expected of a top-tier agent.

However.

She looked up at Roubo Luqi, yet another worry arising in her heart:

"How do you plan to handle the matter regarding Captain Ah Jin?!"

"Undoubtedly."

"He is someone who can stand in front of you at a critical moment to block attacks, but Roubo..."

"We are agents; one day we will leave this place, or even betray them."

"You can disobey orders from above once, but as time passes, they will also grow uneasy about you."

"And at that time."

"The pursuit and killing we once experienced will become reality."

As her voice landed.

The living room fell into a long silence, with only the sound of Roubo Luqi's deep breathing rising and falling continuously.

After a long while.

Roubo Luqi's voice came:

"There will be a way."

Miss Kalifa was stunned, her lips parting slightly:

"You..."

"I believe you."

In the end, she said nothing.

But at this moment, she was certain that Ah Jin held a weight in Roubo Luqi's heart far greater than she had imagined.

He already viewed him as a comrade.

Yet this improper bond would inevitably backfire on Roubo Luqi in the future; after all, he was an agent obeying the World Government, a tool of the Celestial Dragons.

And how could a tool executing justice possess emotions?!

No!

Roubo Luqi could not be allowed to continue his mission; his current state was far too dangerous!

Miss Kalifa raised her hand to adjust her glasses, her mind already made up: next time she reported intelligence to the CP organization, she would request they transfer Roubo Luqi away.

She tucked her thoughts away, remained silent, and shifted the topic to the Six Styles.

After scanning that Six Styles introductory manual once more, Miss Kalifa also breathed a sigh of relief, saying:

"Fortunately."

"It is merely introductory data on the Six Styles, not involving deeper levels, let alone things leading to Life Return or even Haki."

"We still have time to prevent everything from happening."

Roubo Luqi, likewise tacitly skipping over the topics of Ah Jin and Gao Wen, nodded and said:

"After all, even if Gao Wen had buried undercover agents within the Navy or the CP organization the very moment he set sail, it has only been two years until now."

"For someone to cultivate to this degree in just two years is still far too rare."

"But if naval officers or World Government officials have been bought off by Gao Wen, betraying their own side from within, then that would be disastrous."

Hearing this, a thread of worry flashed between Miss Kalifa's eyebrows as well:

"At present, the first possibility still seems more likely."

"According to what we investigated before our operation, the only naval officers the Gao Wen Pirates have contacted in the past half-year are Smoker of Loguetown and the former Admiral Zephyr."

"The former was nearly beaten to death by Gao Wen, while the latter is even less likely to tolerate pirates."

Roubo Luqi nodded:

"Report this back later and have our superiors conduct a thorough investigation."

"After all, no one can say for certain whether these two might change."

"Mm."

Miss Kalifa nodded, then immediately stood up and walked toward her room.

Roubo Luqi also slowly rose, walking in the opposite direction from Miss Kalifa.

"Physique Experience +1231!"

... (omitted)

"Six Styles (All) Experience +1432!"

Inside the captain's cabin.

Gao Wen heard the familiar system prompt, but his attention was completely captured by the Six Styles:

"How much was added?!"

"Fourteen hundred?!"

He opened the system panel, took a careful look, and finally confirmed that his Six Styles experience had surged by over a thousand.

At this rate, reaching LV4 would take only a few days, and even reaching LV5 would take at most half a month.

"Perhaps the Six Styles might even reach LV5 and unlock new entries before my Physique and Devil Fruit abilities do."

"By that time, I will be able to output more profound Six Styles cultivation manuals to strengthen my crew's power; Ah Jin and the others might even advance further, thereby mastering Haki."

Gao Wen nodded silently, clearly very satisfied with this speed.

It was just that by then, how to deal with Miss Kalifa and Roubo Luqi, who would have lost their utility value, would become a new problem.

"I hope things do not develop into a situation I am unwilling to witness."

Gao Wen murmured, yet a chill permeated his gaze.

He had never been a soft-hearted person.

The reason he acted against the tragedies in Gray Terminal and Drum Kingdom was because those people had no fundamental conflict of interest with him.

But facing undercover agents who might threaten the entire pirate crew, Gao Wen would feel not a shred of pity.

After all, if he pitied them, the only ones who would die would be his own people.

"One is a vase, the other an excellent leek."

"Once Roubo Luqi matures, his combat power will at least be high-tier Gold rank."

"Even if he doesn't reach the level of an Admiral or Emperor, he will undoubtedly become one of the Calamities, a Star General, or a Warlord; such combat power makes him a core figure in any pirate crew."

"If only he could truly submit to me~"

"But such a thing is hardly possible if one thinks about it."

"In this aspect..."

Gao Wen's eyes flashed with the image of Miss Kalifa's infatuated face, and the corner of his mouth twitched inexplicably:

"Miss Kalifa has a greater chance than him."

"Tsk tsk~"

……

For the following period.

The Six Powers gradually spread throughout Gao Wen's pirate crew.

Besides Iron Block and Paper Art, which directly point to Haki and are mandatory for everyone, each person also chose skills suited to their own combat habits.

Xiang Keluo's attention focused mainly on Soru.

He was already skilled in speed and possessed unimaginable talent in this regard.

After all, the fact that he alone could develop Shigan, a technique surpassing his own neural reaction speed limit, was the best proof.

More importantly, he was also extremely envious of the Soru developed by Gao Wen based on Flash Step.

Once learned, his combat power would see a massive increase.

Zoro had little interest in techniques other than Iron Block and Paper Art; he trusted the sword in his hand more.

Thus, Zoro devoted almost all his energy to Iron Block and Paper Art, hoping to become the fourth person in Gao Wen's pirate crew to master Haki.

Compared to Zoro,

Sanji and Jinbe represented another extreme.

Sanji's combat style focused on leg techniques, so he selected all three: Geppo, Soru, and Rankyaku.

The talent he displayed in these three techniques was enough to make even Roubo Luqi and Miss Kalifa gasp; in just a few days, he had already learned them quite well.

Seeing this, Roubo Luqi had the strange illusion that he, the greatest genius of the CP organization in eight hundred years, should be fed to dogs.

As for Jinbe, he was even more greedy in his cultivation of the Six Powers.

He wanted to learn all six.

After abandoning his familiar Iron Staff and switching to the more powerful Bone-Bone Fruit, Jinbe had been exploring his own combat style, currently in a confused phase.

The appearance of the Six Powers undoubtedly pointed him in a direction.

On one hand, the Six Powers directly pointed to Haki cultivation; on the other, they were a systematic set of combat techniques that matched extremely well with the close-combat-focused Bone-Bone Fruit.

Chopper, like Jinbe, planned to learn all six.

However, it was not because he valued the practicality and power of the Six Powers, but because he wanted to explore the effects of Soru.

The ability to perfectly control the body, even transmitting will to every hair, had already transcended the realm of medicine.

He wanted to explore the mysteries within.

Van Augur selected Soru and Geppo; his purpose needed no explanation, just two words—run away!

At the same time,

since cultivating the Six Powers required open space, everyone arranged the strength training area inside the Raven's cabin, clearing the deck to provide space for everyone to cultivate the Marine Six Powers.

Seeing that the spread of the Six Powers within Gao Wen's pirate crew could no longer be stopped, Roubo Luqi and Miss Kalifa took the opportunity to win hearts and minds, directly stepping out to guide everyone's cultivation.

As time passed,

Roubo Luqi even earned the nickname of instructor.

For this, he could only grind his teeth and swallow his pride, forcing himself to comfort himself that this was merely the basics of the Six Powers and did not count as any profound technique.

"Gao Wen's spy also knows that once the complete Marine Six Powers leak out, neither the World Government nor the Marines can sit still."

"They will inevitably use thunderous methods to cut off the possibility of further spread."

"Therefore, only the introductory manual was released."

"As long as the complete Marine Six Powers do not leak out, the problem remains within a controllable range."

In his words, Roubo Luqi inexplicably felt a sense of ominous foreboding.

He turned his head to look at the distant sea.

A clear sky stretched for miles, the wind was light and the waves calm; it was a rare good day, though the wind blowing on his body felt a bit cold.

"Hmm?!"

"With my constitution, how could I feel cold?"

Roubo Luqi was slightly stunned, then shook his head, muttering:

"It must be because I've been too tired recently trying to catch up with this group of monsters' cultivation progress."

……

……

……

Time passed in a flash.

Deep night approached.

Gao Wen sat at his desk, waiting for the experience settlement time.

The progress of the Six Powers was far faster than he had originally estimated.

As everyone gradually got the hang of the Six Powers, combined with the bonus from the badges, the experience provided by everyone daily increased from around 1,400 at the start to nearly 2,000.

Besides the monstrous talent of those on Gao Wen's ship, it was also because they had temporarily set aside their original cultivation projects to focus all their energy on the Six Powers.

Even the gains from Gao Wen's core abilities such as physique, swordsmanship, and Devil Fruit were affected to some extent, with experience decreasing to varying degrees compared to before.

But Gao Wen was not in a rush for the moment, because once everyone successfully mastered Armament Haki and Observation Haki through the Six Powers, his combat power would skyrocket at an even faster rate.

In just over ten days,

Gao Wen's Six Powers broke through LV-4, and today was the time to break through LV-5.

A few minutes later,

the familiar system prompt sound rang in Gao Wen's mind.

"Physique experience +1145!"

…… (omitted)

"Rokushiki (Complete) EXP +2109!"

……

Rokushiki-LV-4: 22003/24000——>Rokushiki-LV-5: 12/40000

……

"Detected that Host's Rokushiki (Complete) has increased to LV-5, unlocking branch ability—Life Return!"

Gao Wen glanced at the brand-new ability on the system panel and curled his lip:

"The effect of Life Return is almost completely overshadowed by the Harmonized entry; for me, it serves virtually no purpose. This update can only be called useless."

"However, awakening Life Return also indicates that my Rokushiki has reached a very high level; after all, even within CP9, only Roubo Luqi and Shishi Kumadori have mastered Life Return."

"Nevertheless."

"What truly has a massive impact on my combat power remains my physique, swordsmanship, Haki, and the Red Dragon Fruit; moreover, both my martial arts and the Red Dragon Fruit are due to level up in a few days."

"Originally, my purpose in obtaining Rokushiki was never to strengthen myself, but to use Rokushiki to allow Ah Jin and the others to master Haki."

"Level 5 Rokushiki is sufficient for me to output the complete cultivation method for Rokushiki."

(End of Chapter)