"Wh-What?!" Sanji's shriek startled the seagulls on the pier. "So I took over a hundred hits for nothing?!"
Usopp was already laughing so hard he'd rolled into the sea, while Luffy clutched his stomach and rolled on the deck: "Hahaha, Sanji's like a bouncy ball!" Zoro wiped his sweat: "My hands are sore from swinging, and it only counts as one hit..."
Ron cleared his throat, his sea-blue cloak fluttering slightly in the morning light: "It seems you'll have to take those hits again."
Sanji lay sprawled on the deck, gazing at the clear blue sky, suddenly grasping a truth: the path to becoming transparent was far more arduous than he had imagined...
....
Three days later, the Going Merry sailed slowly across the sea.
Sanji had completely mastered the 'Combat Endurance' system. He now stood on the stern deck, his long legs gleaming with a metallic luster in the sunlight.
With a sharp whip kick, the air let out a piercing boom.
"Boom!"
The iron barrel used for testing was split in half, the cut surface as smooth as a mirror.
"Kick power 100%..." Sanji exhaled a smoke ring, excitement glinting in his eyes. "This feeling... it's really good."
However, when he turned to look at Zoro, who was napping under the mast, the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
That Marimo had become increasingly abnormal lately. Every time he woke up, Sanji's kicking techniques seemed like child's play in front of him. Two days ago, he could barely manage a fifty-fifty fight, yesterday he only had a thirty percent chance of winning, and in this morning's battle, he was completely suppressed...
"Damn the Slumber Training System!" Sanji gnashed his teeth as he extinguished his cigarette!
He clearly remembered what Zoro had said this morning while yawning: "Curly Brows, I've already figured out the flaw in your 37th-style spinning kick in my dream last night, and I've come up with 87 ways to counter it....."
That hateful bastard!
Was he going to be forever beaten from now on?!
Usopp poked his head out of the machinery room: "Mr. Cook ~ Want to try my new invention, the 'Automatic Hitting Machine'?"
"Get lost!" Sanji kicked an empty can nearby, but then his eyes lit up: "Wait... what did you just say?"
"Hitting Machine..."
"Never mind, I tried that thing before, and the system ruled it a failure."
Usopp shook his head in disappointment: "Then forget it, this is a great invention by my Captain Usopp!"
"Stop telling tall tales in front of me, you've said that 13 times already."
"..."
Then Sanji's gaze turned to the system panel:
[Current Transparency Experience Card Progress: 90 / 100]
This number made Sanji's heart race; he was almost there!
Although it was only a one-hour experience card, once he had the first, there would be a second! Maybe the next experience card would last a day, a year... or even permanently!
"Only ten more times..." Sanji stroked his chin, calculating, his gaze sweeping over his crewmates on the deck:
Luffy was playing rock-paper-scissors with the figurehead, completely unreliable;
Usopp's inventions didn't count, and he always liked to tell tall tales in front of him.....
Vice-Captain Ron... forget it, those dragon claws that could crush steel were no joke...
"Hey! Marimo!" Sanji suddenly yelled, "Wake up! The World's Greatest Swordsman is here!"
Zoro's eyes snapped open, his three swords already halfway out of their sheaths: "World's Greatest Swordsman? Where's the World's Greatest Swordsman?"
"Hit me and I'll tell you ~" Sanji struck a fighting pose, his leather shoes sparking on the deck.
Zoro couldn't find the World's Greatest Swordsman, but someone wanted to be hit, and a cold smile immediately curved his lips: "Trying to rack up numbers again?" He slowly stood up, "Perfect, the new technique I created in my dream last night needs a real-world test..."
"Less talk!" Sanji's right leg was already glowing with an eerie red light—this was the system's special effect for a kicking technique reaching its peak. "Mutton SHOT!"
Two figures clashed fiercely on the deck, sword light and leg shadows intertwining. Usopp hid in the crow's nest, counting: "1... 2... Oh my god! Sanji's getting butchered! 9..."
When the 10th hit count was completed, Sanji was already sprawled on the deck, bruised and swollen, but a fervent flame burned in his eyes as his trembling fingers clicked the system interface:
[Ding! Transparency Experience Card (1 hour) successfully redeemed]
[Instructions: Click the "Use" button to activate!]
Sanji's trembling finger hovered over the [Use] button on the system interface, the glow of the Transparency Experience Card illuminating his excited face.
"Finally... finally, I can achieve my dream..." He swallowed, the hazy steam of the women's bathhouse already appearing in his mind.
Just at this sacred moment—
"Bang!"
A strange, webbed hand suddenly gripped the ship's rail, and wet stains spread on the deck. Sanji's cigarette fell to the ground as he stared, dumbfounded, as the hand quickly retracted into the sea.
"What the hell..."
Before he could react, two webbed hands simultaneously grabbed the ship's edge. Accompanied by a teeth-grinding friction sound, a greenish-brown figure agilely flipped onto the deck. Water droplets rolled off his scaly skin, gleaming with an eerie oily sheen in the sunlight.
"Heheheh..." The fish-man grinned, his mouth full of sharp teeth, his gills opening and closing with each breath. "It's just a human's shabby little boat. I'm gonna get rich again..."
Sanji's pupils contracted. As a chef who had once worked at a sea restaurant, he naturally recognized it: those distinctive webbed hands, the gill slits on the neck, and that fishy smell—it was definitely a fish-man!
And judging by the serrated knife at his waist, the newcomer meant trouble!
"Enemy attack—!!!"
Usopp's scream pierced the quiet sea, and he scrambled onto the deck. Observation Haki had allowed him to sense the intruder in advance, but the moment he clearly saw the opponent's appearance, his face instantly turned green: "Ugh... That's too ugly..."
"What!!!"
The fish-man's smile froze on his face. He was Kuroobi, an officer of the Arlong Pirates, who had run rampant in the East Blue for many years, and he had never been called ugly to his face!
"You're asking for death, human!" Kuroobi's webbed hand reached for his sword hilt.
"Thump, thump, thump"
A slow, unhurried sound of footsteps came, and Ron's sea-blue cloak appeared at the cabin door, followed by a sleepy-eyed Zoro and a meat-eating Luffy.
"Fish-man?" Zoro's three swords were already halfway out of their sheaths. "Looks pretty strong, will he be more durable than Sanji?"
Luffy, with his cheeks puffed out, asked indistinctly: "Can he be eaten?"
Kuroobi was enraged by the group's reaction: "You low-level beings! Do you know whose waters these are?" He suddenly drew his serrated knife, "If you want to pass through here, either pay 100,000 Berries as a toll, or..."
"Bang!"
A whip kick suddenly struck his face. Kuroobi was sent flying horizontally, crashing heavily into the mast. Sanji maintained his kicking posture, the tip of his leather shoe smoking: "Damn it, you almost made me press it!"
Kuroobi shook his head and got up, his fish-eyes bloodshot: "You dare to hit me? I am from the Arlong Pirates..."
📚 Become a Jade Dragon!
Unlock the ultimate reading experience. For $6/month, you get instant access to 50+ advanced chapters, so you never have to wait for a cliffhanger again. Support the story and get rewarded with a massive backlog of content!
https://patreon.com/J_Dragon?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink