Inviting Tashigi

The convoy reached Nanan City first, and then another vehicle joined them.

The owner of the car was from the city government. They would join Linlang Consulting as witnesses to this transaction.

At five thirty in the afternoon, the three cars finally arrived in Bingxing Town.

It was no longer suitable to tour the factory at this hour, so the group first found a four-star hotel in Bingxing Town to stay at and planned to set out again tomorrow.

"It's been pretty safe along the way..." Zhou Qi remarked as they walked down the streets of Bingxing Town.

"Of course it's safe. The anti-crime crackdown has plowed through the place again and again. Who would dare stick their head out now..." Zhou Yibing said.

"That's true. It's just a pity..." It was rare for him to have some fighting power, yet he had nowhere to use it. That was rather frustrating.

No wonder they said that martial artists violated prohibitions through force. He had not even become a hero yet, and he was already thinking about fighting. What would happen once he truly mastered it?

"Sure enough, cultivate virtue before martial arts. The ancients truly did not deceive us..." Zhou Qi shook his head, then asked, "By the way, it's getting late. Are you hungry? Want to find somewhere to eat?"

"Sure!" Zhou Yibing nodded, then saw Zhou Qi start muttering in japanese language to that girl again.

He suddenly realized something. Wait, with me here, aren't I just a third wheel?

"There's a Lan De Barbecue over there. Shall we go?" Zhou Qi turned and asked.

"Well, my stomach suddenly hurts a little, so I won't be going!" Zhou Yibing said.

"Ah, are you okay? Should we go to the hospital?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I probably ate something bad. Ah, my stomach has never been that great. I'll head back first. You two go eat!" As Zhou Yibing spoke, he turned around and ran off clutching his stomach.

"Uh..." Zhou Qi blinked. At that speed, was he rushing to the bathroom?

"What happened to him?" Tashigi asked.

"He said he ate something bad..." Zhou Qi sighed helplessly. "Then the two of us can go eat!"

"Mm..." Tashigi nodded, though she did not seem very interested.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Qi asked. "Are you unhappy staying here?"

"No!" Tashigi shook her head. "I just suddenly remembered that I didn't train today."

"Uh..." Zhou Qi froze, then came to his senses.

Right.

Learning was like rowing upstream: if you did not advance, you fell behind. Martial arts were the same. Skip training for a day, and you would regress.

The problem was that after resting one day, you would want to rest the next. Little by little, you would grow lazy.

He had only just begun practicing martial arts and had not yet formed the habit of persistence. He had even caused Tashigi to miss her training today. That was truly inappropriate.

"Huh?" Zhou Qi suddenly spotted a sporting goods store on the street!

He grabbed Tashigi's hand. "Come with me!"

"Eh?" Tashigi hurriedly followed. One in front and one behind, they stepped into the shop.

The shop was not large, just the sort of little storefront found by the roadside. It was crammed with all kinds of merchandise, with only enough room for one person to pass through at a time.

The owner was sitting behind the counter with a bowl of rice, eating. He did not stop when he saw the two enter, merely saying, "Have a look around yourselves if you need anything. We've got outdoor jackets, fishing rods, and all that..."

So he took me for a fisherman.

"Do you have weights? Like sandbags or something..." Zhou Qi asked.

"No sandbags. They're uncomfortable to strap onto your body, so I stopped stocking them. But I do have weighted vests!" the owner said. "Children's sizes, youth sizes, adult sizes. Two kilograms, five kilograms, ten kilograms, fifteen, twenty, thirty, and fifty. Which kind do you want?"

"Adult sizes. Four sets each up to fifty kilograms. Do you have one-hundred-kilogram ones?" Zhou Qi asked.

The owner was speechless. "One hundred kilograms? If you can wait, I can contact the manufacturer and have them custom-made for you. We don't have any in stock..."

"Then make four sets. How much altogether?"

"Uh, let me calculate it..."

While he calculated, Zhou Qi picked up a twenty-five-kilogram one and handed it to Tashigi.

The thing was entirely black and covered in small pockets stuffed with metal plates. At a glance, it looked like a level-three armor vest.

"This is called a weighted vest. If you wear it while training, it can create the harsher environment for your cells that I told you about before. You'll improve much faster. It won't be like one day of training equals two, but it'll definitely work better than before!"

"We'll make up for the training you missed today with this!"

Tashigi accepted it curiously. The heavy vest made her wonder—so training could be done like this?

The people of this world were weak, but their ideas were endlessly ingenious.

"That comes to 8,200. Let's call it 8,000..." The owner had finished calculating the bill.

"Okay!" Zhou Qi nodded, scanned the code to pay, then asked, "How much is this little cart? I can't carry all this back!"

"Ah, where are you staying? I can deliver it for you!" the owner said.

"Then leave it here for now. The two of us are going to eat. We'll come back together later, and you can load it into the car for me!"

"No problem..."

Five minutes later, the two sat down at a barbecue stall.

"Boss, lamb skewers. Start us off with fifty!"

"Want some beer?"

"Do you drink?" Zhou Qi asked.

Tashigi shook her head. "I don't."

"Then give us two bottles of fruit beer!" Fruit beer was not alcohol. It contained no alcohol at all and was just a beverage.

He picked up the fan on the table and gently fanned himself. "Back when I liked it most, it was after getting off work and receiving my paycheck, then finding a barbecue stall and stuffing myself. I actually don't like barbecue that much. I just liked that it was cheap..."

"Aren't you an important person in this world?" Tashigi asked. "Why do you still buy cheap things?"

After all, everyone they had encountered along the way had either bowed and scraped before him or greeted him with smiling faces. He did not even need to drive himself.

Zhou Qi shook his head. "What important person am I? I'm at the very bottom of society. Compared to your world, I'm about the same as someone carrying cargo at the docks..."

"Ah?" Tashigi was stunned. How could that be possible?

"But you don't dress like one..." Those workers did not even have a complete set of clothes!

"That's thanks to the country. Once a country becomes strong, even orphans can receive proper care. Even beggars on the street can earn enough in a day to buy a nice set of clothes. Naturally, the ordinary people of such a country will look quite wealthy..." Zhou Qi said.

He did not like lying. He could have made up some grand background for himself, and he would quickly be able to make it hold together. Tashigi had no way to verify it anyway.

But what was the point of telling such a lie? It was nothing more than temporary vanity.

Yet once it was exposed, he might lose a sincere friend.

"My rise is like someone in your world suddenly obtaining a Devil Fruit. It's like ascending to the heavens in a single step." Zhou Qi said. "Do you understand what I mean?"

Tashigi nodded. "I understand. But you're different from them. Many people lose themselves once they gain power, but after gaining power, you're thinking about how to make your country better."

Zhou Qi smiled. "I'm still far from that. Right now, at most, I can make my own life a little better. But the rise and fall of the world is every ordinary person's responsibility. In the past, I had no ability, so I could only watch coldly or simply lie flat."

"But now, I truly have the ability to change the world!"

He did not care if anyone overheard him. Not only was the area around them noisy enough that no one could clearly hear anyone else, but he was hardly the only one shouting about changing the world.

The people at the next table were even planning to imitate Graves and assassinate the leader of Ugly Country!

"Why are you telling me this?" Tashigi asked.

She was merely absentminded, not stupid.

How could she not realize, after everything she had seen and heard along the way, that it had long exceeded the duties of a factory representative?

She even felt as if she were listening to a future Pirate King describe his ideals!

Of course, that was merely an analogy, but the concept was the same.

And when such a concept emerged, what did it mean?

Tashigi understood very well.

"Are you inviting me? But I'm a Marine..."

"It's not like I'm asking you to become a pirate!" Zhou Qi laughed. "I just want to invite you to join me. Together, we can make the world a better place—whether it's my country, the East Blue where you are, or even the entire world!"

"This..." Tashigi was somewhat shocked. "Can I? I'm only a corporal. I have neither strength nor ability..."

She was only seventeen!

Zhou Qi shook his head. "What I value isn't who you are now, but who you will become. Our goal cannot be achieved in a single day. It is destined to be a long process, and during that process, you will grow quickly—becoming stronger and wiser."

"One day, you'll be able to stand on your own like Smoker. When that time comes, can you still say you have no ability?"

"This..."

"You don't have to answer me right now. You can go back and think it over slowly..." Zhou Qi said with a smile.

"Mm..." Tashigi nodded.

She truly needed to think it over carefully. After all, she had received far too much information today.