"Infuse your body with power."
Xia Qiu stood up straight, concentrated his attention, and poured power into himself.
As the power slowly seeped into his body parts, it settled towards the innermost core. During this settling process, he tensed his body.
This sensation felt as if threads were appearing in the very center of his body, wrapping around each body part and pulling them inward.
And through this tightening, Xia Qiu's body became incredibly hard.
"Here I come."
Heckle leaped high in the distance, raised his fists, puffed out his arms, and brought them down.
Boom.
Xia Qiu was hit directly. The point of impact remained unchanged, while Heckle sprang back high and landed far away.
Meanwhile, Kalifa appeared beside Xia Qiu with a swift step and unleashed a kick.
Bang.
Kalifa retracted her leg, rubbing her calf, which was turning red at a visible rate.
"How's the situation?"
Xia Qiu deactivated Tekkai, regained his mobility, and asked curiously.
"The part that was hit is fine," Cecilia said, examining Xia Qiu's side. "It seems you've successfully mastered Tekkai."
Kalifa also said with a grim expression, "It is indeed Tekkai."
"Then, Heckle, what did the hardness feel like when you attacked?" Xia Qiu looked at Heckle in the distance.
"It felt harder than iron."
Heckle walked over, rubbing his arm. His fist was bright red. He could shatter giant rocks with one punch, and even iron plates could be torn apart, yet Xia Qiu was completely unharmed.
"It seems it really is related to physical condition."
Xia Qiu thought of the definition of Tekkai: infusing power into the body to make it as hard as iron.
It was a method to increase body hardness, not simply turning into iron.
His own body's hardness had long surpassed iron, and now with Tekkai, its hardness had reached a new level.
Xia Qiu estimated that his defensive power in the Tekkai state could even rival the invisible armor formed by Armament Haki.
So, to some extent, he could completely use Tekkai to defend against certain attacks.
The only drawback was that Tekkai prevented movement, which greatly reduced its utility.
"Heckle, your Tekkai should be about ready too, right?" Xia Qiu looked at Heckle.
Heckle nodded. "Yeah, I've also mastered Tekkai."
Heckle had mastered Tekkai, along with a modified Soru.
Cecilia had also mastered Soru.
Xia Qiu said, "Then, Cecilia, you'll teach Soru to Ace and Mr. 2 Bon Clay when you have time. Heckle, you'll teach Tekkai to Alken."
"Yes."
The two agreed. Xia Qiu then looked at Kalifa in the distance and said, "I've already mastered Tekkai, so from now on, it will be..."
Kalifa asked, "Then what do you plan to learn next?"
Just as Xia Qiu was about to answer, Lucci's voice echoed from afar, "No need to teach anymore. Is our cooperation over?"
"Hmm?"
Xia Qiu blinked slightly and looked at Lucci. Kalifa, hearing this, asked in surprise, "What does Chief Lucci mean?"
Lucci said, "Three months have passed with no further progress, and this opportunity has been wasted again. If this continues, his strength will only grow stronger. We can't help him get stronger anymore, so Kalifa, I've decided to stop our cooperation with him."
Xia Qiu's increasing strength, his battles with Admirals, and his successive defeats of Shichibukai made Lucci feel a great sense of crisis.
Especially his dream, which made Lucci feel terrified.
Rather than letting him become stronger and stronger, it was better to stop cooperating. Even if it could hinder his progress even a little, that would be enough.
However, at the time, the Marines were pursuing him, and Lucci still held out hope for a definitive outcome.
But three months had passed, and there was no news from the Marines. The newspapers no longer discussed the matter.
This led Lucci to decide to halt his actions.
"I will obey your decision," Kalifa said seriously. She had already foreseen the future outcome.
Xia Qiu heard this and said lazily, "Whatever you wish. Anyway, Six Powers don't have to be learned solely from you."
Lucci raised an eyebrow and looked at Xia Qiu, sneering, "But only we can teach the complete Six Powers, and even fewer know Life Return."
Although many Marines knew Six Powers, most of them didn't learn them all. For example, swordsmen might use Soru and Geppo, but other techniques held little significance for them. Shigan and Rankyaku were inferior to the Tempest Kick they created, and Kami-e was no match for their own dodging techniques.
So, not everyone necessarily knew all of Six Powers. Moreover, even within CP9, besides them, the newly recruited members hadn't fully mastered Six Powers.
Xia Qiu said, "But Six Powers can still be obtained. For instance, Vice Admiral Momousagi stationed in Alabasta is already planning to take Vivi as her disciple."
After three months of teaching Vivi, Momousagi found her to be exceptionally gifted with strong comprehension skills.
She decided to take Vivi on as a disciple and remain in Alabasta for another two months. Of course, the official story would be that she was leaving immediately, a false signal to lure Xia Qiu into attacking Alabasta.
"Vice Admiral Momousagi?" Lucci raised an eyebrow.
Xia Qiu continued, "Not only that, CP9 has been rebuilt. Spandam has given us information, and we can gather CP9. We plan to attack Enies Lobby and capture a few agents."
Upon hearing this, Lucci's expression turned grim.
Xia Qiu added, "And Vice Admiral Garp of the G2 branch. If you don't agree, we'll attack them separately."
"You..." Lucci clenched his fists at this.
Xia Qiu looked at Lucci and said, "With Geppo and Tekkai, the Six Powers and Life Return are not that important to me anymore. Adding Armament Haki hardening would just be icing on the cake. If you don't give them to me, I'll have to proceed with my plan now, and to achieve my plan, I'll need to attack more people. I'm merely giving you an option to delay things by two years."
Seeing that Lucci remained silent, Xia Qiu continued, "So, shall we make another agreement? You teach me the remaining Six Powers, and I'll let the three of you go, how about that?"
"You'll let us go?" Lucci asked, somewhat surprised.
Xia Qiu replied, "That's right. As long as you agree, I'll let the three of you go. Of course, I won't release you immediately after I've learned the Six Powers; I'll wait for a while."
Kalifa asked, confused, "But why would you do that?"
"I need witnesses."
Xia Qiu smiled, "And you'll be the best audience, watching me become the Symbol of the Era."
Lucci's physical condition could reach the level of a Vice Admiral, but he wasn't irreplaceable.
Even though he said it was useless, if he could obtain the Six Powers and Life Return, it would compensate for his shortcomings.
This way, even a Vice Admiral wouldn't be able to exploit his weaknesses to escape or wait for an opportunity to attack him.
At that point, attacking a Vice Admiral and obtaining Haki would be more profitable than eliminating Lucci.
As for reneging on the deal later, Xia Qiu felt no need to do such a thing.
Lucci listened, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "I agree."
Since he couldn't stop Xia Qiu from obtaining the Six Powers, and he would end up attacking other cities anyway, it was better to preserve his own life and do other things.
"Very well."
Xia Qiu smiled and said, "Then, teach me Tempest Kick next."
Xia Qiu added, "Don't feel guilty. You serve the World Government, but it's not specified which government you serve."
Xia Qiu looked into the distance and said, "When the change is complete, you'll be glad you did this. You've already become a part of this era."
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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