An Unstoppable Situation

"Infuse power into the body."

Xia Qiu stood up straight, focused her attention, and channeled her strength into her body.

As the power slowly seeps into your body, it settles towards the innermost part, and in the process of settling, it tightens your body.

This feeling is like having threads appear in the very center of your body, wrapping around every part of your body and pulling you inward.

During this process of being tightly bound, Xia Qiu's body became incredibly hard.

"I am coming."

Heckle leaped high into the air in the distance, raised his fists, bulged his arms, and slammed them down.

boom.

Xia Qiu was hit squarely, the point of impact remained unchanged, while Heckle bounced high into the air and landed some distance away.

Meanwhile, Kalifa leaped to Xia Qiu's side and kicked out.

Bang.

Kalifa withdrew her leg and rubbed her calf, which was turning red at a visible speed.

"How is the situation?"

Xia Qiu released himself from the Tekkai state, regained his mobility, and asked curiously.

"The area that was attacked is unharmed," Cecilia replied, glancing at Xia Qiu's profile. "It seems you have successfully mastered the Tekkai."

Kalifa, her face grim, said, "It is indeed Tekkai."

"How hard did you feel when you attacked, Heckle?" Xia Qiu looked at Heckle in the distance.

"It feels even harder than iron."

Heckle walked over, rubbing his arm. His fist was red and swollen. He could shatter a boulder with a single punch, and even a sheet of iron could be torn to pieces, but Xia Qiu was completely unharmed.

"It seems that it really is related to physical fitness."

Xia Qiu thought of the definition of Tekkai: it is the result of injecting power into the body to make the body as hard as iron.

This is a method to increase the body's rigidity, not simply turning it into iron.

My own body is already harder than iron, and now that I'm using Tekkai, my hardness has increased even further.

Xia Qiu estimated that his defensive power in his Tekkai state was comparable to the invisible armor formed by Armament Haki.

Therefore, to some extent, one can completely defend against certain attacks using Tekkai.

The only drawback is that the Tekkai cannot move, which reduces its uses.

"Heckle, your Tekkai is almost ready, isn't it?" Xia Qiu asked Heckle.

Heckle nodded and said, "Yes, I've also mastered the Tekkai."

Heckle has mastered the Tekkai and the altered shave.

Cecilia has also mastered the art of shaving.

Xia Qiu said, "Then Cecilia, when you have time, teach Shave to Ace and Mr. 2 Bon Clay. Heckle, teach Tekkai to Alken."

"Yes."

The two agreed, and Xia Qiu looked at Kalifa in the distance and said, "I have mastered the Tekkai, so the rest is up to you."

Kalifa asked, "So what do you plan to learn next?"

Xia Qiu was about to answer, Lucci's voice rang out from afar, "Stop teaching, our cooperation ends here?"

"Um?"

Xia Qiu was slightly taken aback and looked at Lucci. Kalifa, upon hearing this, asked with some surprise, "What does Boss Lucci mean?"

Lucci said, "Three months have passed without any further developments, and this opportunity has been wasted again. If this continues, his strength will only increase, and we can no longer help him become stronger. Therefore, Kalifa, I have decided to end our cooperation."

As Xia Qiu grew stronger, he fought against the Admiral and killed the Shichibukai one after another, Lucci feel a great sense of crisis.

His dream, in particular, terrified Lucci.

Rather than letting him grow stronger, it's better to stop cooperating. Even if it only hinders his progress by the slightest bit, that would be enough.

But at the time, the Navy was hunting him down, Lucci still held onto the hope that things would turn out well.

Three months passed, and the navy remained silent, and the newspapers stopped discussing the matter.

This Lucci to decide to stop his actions.

"I am willing to follow your decision," Kalifa said earnestly, already anticipating the outcome.

Upon hearing this, Xia Qiu lazily replied, "Then it's up to you. Anyway, the Six Powers don't need to be obtained solely from you."

Lucci raised an eyebrow, looked at Xia Qiu, and said with a sneer, "But only we can learn all Six Powers, and even fewer can learn Life Return."

While many naval personnel know the Six Powers, most don't master them all. For example, swordsmen might know Shave and Geppo, but their other techniques are less significant. Shigan and Tempest Kick are inferior to their created Rankyaku, and Paper Arts is far less effective than their own dodging skills.

Therefore, not everyone can master Six Powers, and even within CP9, apart from a few of them, the new members who joined have not fully mastered Six Powers.

Xia Qiu said, "But we can always get the Six Powers. For example, Vice Admiral Momousagi, who is stationed in Alabasta, has already decided to take Vivi as her apprentice."

After three months of teaching Vivi, Momousagi discovered that she was exceptionally talented and had a strong ability to understand.

So she decided to take Vivi as her apprentice and stay in Alabasta for two more months. Of course, the official message was that she was leaving now, sending a false signal to lure Xia Qiu into attacking Alabasta.

"Vice Admiral Momousagi?" Lucci raised an eyebrow.

Xia Qiu added, "Not only that, CP9 has been rebuilt. Spandam has given us information that we can summon CP9. We plan to attack Enies Lobby and capture a few agents."

Upon hearing this, Lucci's face darkened.

Xia Qiu added, "And Vice Admiral Garp of the G2 branch, if you don't agree, we will attack them separately."

"You..." Lucci clenched his fists upon hearing this.

Xia Qiu looked at Lucci and said, "With Shave and Tekkai, the Six Powers and Life Return are not that important to me anymore. Add Armament Hardening, and they're just icing on the cake. If you don't give them to me, I can only proceed with my plan now, and to achieve my plan, I need to attack more people. I'm just giving you an idea to delay things for two years."

Seeing that Lucci had stopped talking, Xia Qiu said again, "How about we make another deal? You teach me the remaining Six Powers, and I'll let the three of you go, okay?"

"You're going to let us go?" Lucci asked, somewhat surprised.

Xia Qiu said, "That's right. As long as you agree, I will release the three of you. Of course, I won't release you after I finish learning the Six Powers; I will have to wait for a while."

Kalifa asked, puzzled, "But why did you do that?"

"I need witnesses."

Xia Qiu said with a smile, "And you are the best audience, letting you watch me become Symbol of the Era."

Lucci's physical attributes are at the level of Vice Admiral, but he is not irreplaceable.

Although it's useless to say it myself, if I obtain the Six Powers and Life Return, I can make up for my shortcomings.

In this way, even Vice Admiral would not be able to exploit his weaknesses to escape or seize an opportunity to attack him.

Attacking a Vice Admiral would grant you Haki, making it more worthwhile than devouring Lucci.

As for going back on one's word later, Xia Qiu no longer needs to do such a thing.

Upon hearing this, Lucci hesitated for a moment before saying, "I promise you."

Since we can't stop him from obtaining the Six Powers, and he'll even use it to attack other cities, we might as well save our lives and do something else.

"Very good."

Xia Qiu said with a smile, "Then teach me the Tempest Kick next."

At this point, Xia Qiu added, "Don't feel guilty. You are allied with the World Government, but it wasn't specified which government you are allied with."

Xia Qiu looked into the distance and said, "When the change is over, you will be glad you did it. You have become a part of the times."