Chapter 38

Not far off, people were buzzing with discussion.

But one person also noticed Kuina, who was sheathing her blade.

"Hey, how did that girl get her sword back into the scabbard?"

"She gave up struggling, probably."

"Hm?"

Luo En heard the commotion and turned his head to look.

"Only noticing now? It's already too late! Got him!"

The bald Lute excitedly reached out his big hand to grab him.

The next second.

A tiny fist appeared before his eyes, and rapidly swelled, filling his entire field of vision.

Bang!

His whole big face was smashed inward by that tiny fist.

His tall, burly body flew backward at a speed far exceeding the one he'd come at, slamming heavily into the wall — life or death unknown!

"Eh?!!!"

Everyone in the tavern who witnessed this scene gaped, their eyes nearly popping out in terror.

"He sent Bald Lute flying with a single punch?!!!"

Luo En withdrew his fist, his little face perfectly calm, as if nothing had happened.

Inside the tavern.

Everyone stared dumbly at the two people at that table.

Just now.

That girl with short blue hair, wielding a real blade, had taken on four burly men armed with weapons by herself, and consecutively knocked down three of them.

And the boy across from her, who looked only about nine or ten years old, had sent an adult man several times his size flying over ten meters with a single punch!

That visual impact was far more shocking than the girl taking on four!

"What terrifyingly powerful kids — where did they spring from?"

Someone gazed at the miserable state of Bald Lute and the other three, unable to stop themselves from swallowing hard, exclaiming in horror.

The tavern hand stared at the cracked wall behind Bald Lute, on the verge of tears.

"I'm done for — now I'm definitely going to get fired by Big Sis Makino."

With an utterly uneasy heart, he sidled up to Luo En's table and said in a humble tone:

"Two customers, how about, how about I give you your money back, and you go to a different tavern... would that work?"

"No."

Luo En replied without even looking at him.

"That's true too... I suppose."

The tavern hand retreated, eyes brimming with tears.

After quite a while longer.

The sound of rain outside gradually faded.

The tavern's patrons left one after another.

The tavern's lamps glowed a dim yellow, making the stillness of the night all the more pronounced.

Kuina yawned, her eyelids fighting each other, and before long she was sprawled across the table, fast asleep.

Luo En took a fluffy, warm fur from his system backpack and draped it over her.

"System, list my attributes."

【Sure.】

【Host: Luo En.

Age: 10.

Qi and Blood Value: 327

Sun Breathing mastery: 31%.

Sword Dao: Momentum Realm (Proficient)

Weapon: Great Sword of the Twenty-One Crafts — Lei Qie.

Permanent Buff: True Meaning of Tempering Through Trials (Status: Binding…)】

Then Luo En closed his eyes and focused on circulating Sun Breathing, to see if he could activate that permanent buff, 【True Meaning of Tempering Through Trials】.

If he could activate it, he wanted to try and see just how powerful this buff's effect could be.

Day after day of training had already become habit.

Luo En almost instantly immersed himself in the rhythm of Sun Breathing, focusing on driving his qi and blood to temper his body.

After he sank into this state.

His attribute list immediately changed.

【Permanent Buff — True Meaning of Tempering Through Trials (Status: Activating…)

】

At that moment, Luo En's perception of Sun Breathing became clearer than it had ever been.

Countless details about Sun Breathing surfaced in his mind — many of them things he had overlooked.

"Here, it needs to be a bit faster."

"Here, it needs to pause for a moment, so the qi and blood can gather momentum — so that's how it is."

"Here…"

Very quickly, a single night passed in the blink of an eye.

At daybreak.

Luo En slowly opened his eyes.

He had cultivated all night, yet his spirit was incomparably full, and his eyes were brimming with excitement and joy.

After one night of cultivation, his mastery of the Sun Breathing technique had risen from 31% to 32%.

Compared to before, it was absolutely several times faster!

Only after experiencing it firsthand did Luo En understand how powerful this permanent buff was — it was practically a divine artifact for assisting cultivation!

It was just that the specific degree to which it could help improve things still seemed impossible to estimate clearly.

…………

【PS: The flowers and review votes haven't really moved at all… begging for them here!! These are really important for a new book!!】

【By the way, a question — how about making the protagonist a Marine intern and sending him to Marineford for a look around? Feel free to discuss it in the comment section.】

30, Makino's Bar, Luffy, Ace, Sabo (4/5)

*Ding-ling. *

The bar's door was pushed open.

The bar hand who had been dozing off behind the counter instantly jolted awake.

"Welcome— ah, Big Sis Makino!"

He caught sight of the young woman walking into the bar, gave a start, and instantly rose to his feet, all trace of sleep gone.

Makino, her head wrapped in a kerchief, her deep-green hair visible, surveyed the state of the shop, and the corners of her eyes couldn't help twitching.

She couldn't help pressing a hand to her forehead and said helplessly:

"I was only gone for one day — what on earth happened?"

The bar hand, standing ramrod straight, couldn't help swallowing hard.

After he finished giving her a detailed account of what had happened the night before.

Makino was also somewhat shocked, and couldn't help glancing toward the table where Luo En and Kuina were sitting.

"Those two kids, defeated Baldy Rute and the others?!"

"Yeah, it stunned everyone in the bar at the time. Especially that boy — would you believe it, with that tiny body of his, he actually punched that bald Rute and sent him flying!"

The bar hand said with an exaggerated expression.

Makino, after all, knew Shanks and had seen strong men before; after her surprise, she quickly calmed down.

She stood with her hands on her hips, looked at the group including Baldy Rute who were unconscious against the floor and wall, and said: "In any case, they threw the first punch, right? Kemi, tie them up — log all the damage to the shop on their tab."