In the open space, Zhou Qi first reached out and grabbed a handful of white ash, scattering it on the ground to make a starting line.
Then he pulled out a measuring tape and marked out a one-hundred-meter track, drawing another line at the finish.
"There are four events in this test!" Zhou Qi said. "Speed, strength, reaction speed, and explosive power. We'll start with speed!"
He took out an electronic stopwatch that looked like a pocket watch and walked over to Koshiro.
"Master, look. There's a button here. Press it once and the timer starts, press it again and it stops. When you hear the gunshot, press it the first time. Then press it again when she reaches the finish line. Can you do that?"
"No problem!" Koshiro curiously examined the little black gadget in his hand and tried it twice.
It was an idiot-proof stopwatch, and he got the hang of it in no time.
Then he took his position at the finish line and waited for the gunshot. With the reaction speed of a Great Swordsman, his hand-timed result should be infinitely close to an electronic measurement.
Zhou Qi pulled Tashigi over to the starting line. "Stand behind this white line. I'll count down three, two, one, then fire the gun. When you hear the shot, run toward that white line. You have to give it everything you've got and use your fastest speed!"
"Mm-hmm!" Tashigi nodded seriously.
"You can warm up your legs first and take some deep breaths. Tell me when you're ready!" Zhou Qi said as he stepped aside and took out a starting pistol.
Of course, he would not use a real gun. Bullets were far too precious.
A starting pistol was not really a gun, so it was legal. However, there was little demand for them, so they were not even available online. Zhou Qi had gotten one through connections at South China University.
After checking the starting pistol and confirming there were no problems, he looked up at Tashigi.
If it had only been a race, Tashigi would not have been nervous. But when she thought about how important this experiment might be to Qi-kun, she could not help growing tense.
She had to perform at her best and bring out her strongest ability!
"Whew, whew, whew..."
After taking several deep breaths, Tashigi nodded at Zhou Qi and stepped behind the white line.
"Then... three, two, one!"
Bang!
Tashigi instantly turned into a gust of wind and shot forward.
Koshiro pressed the stopwatch at just the right moment and watched Tashigi race toward him.
One second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds, five seconds...
Tashigi maintained an extremely high speed without slowing down at all, all the way to the finish line!
The three of them immediately looked at Koshiro, who raised his head at the right moment. "9.45 seconds!"
"Holy shit!" Zhou Qi's eyes widened. "How much?"
"9.45 seconds!" Koshiro handed him the stopwatch. "Look for yourself!"
"This..." Zhou Qi stared at the number on the stopwatch, speechless.
On Earth, the women's one-hundred-meter record was 10.49 seconds, while the men's record was 9.58 seconds!
With that run, Tashigi had not only broken the women's world record, but even the men's record!
The key was that Tashigi had never specifically trained for sprinting. She was a swordswoman!
Her starting posture was wrong, and her reaction off the line still needed improvement. She was not wearing professional sportswear either—she was in a military uniform. On top of that, their improvised track was not a professional rubber track, but a dirt road.
"So this is what people from the One Piece World are like!" Zhou Qi shook his head. There was no comparison. None at all.
Here, a Marine soldier with a Doriki Value of five was already roughly equivalent to the fittest people on Earth. Yet there were people with Doriki Values in the hundreds, thousands, or even several thousand everywhere...
"How do you feel? Do you need a rest?" Zhou Qi asked as he looked at the excited Tashigi.
"No, I feel incredibly excited!" Tashigi said.
"You should still rest for a while," Zhou Qi said. "We're not in a hurry anyway!"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Smoker nodded. Then he stepped behind the white line as well. "Um, Tashigi, take a break first. Can you test me too?"
He had raced people before during elite training camp, but he had never timed it down to the exact second.
Watching Tashigi run had immediately sparked his interest.
"Oh?" Zhou Qi paused, then nodded. "Of course. Master?"
They still needed him to operate the stopwatch.
Koshiro very consciously moved to the finish line.
"Then, ready... three, two, one, bang!"
Smoker instantly transformed into a white whirlwind. For a moment, Zhou Qi could barely even see him!
But Koshiro could see clearly, and he accurately recorded the moment Smoker crossed the line.
"7.52!"
"Wow!" Zhou Qi was speechless. Seven-point-five-two seconds for one hundred meters—what kind of concept was that?!
"How much? How much?" Smoker hurried over to ask for the time after stopping.
"7.52 seconds!" Koshiro replied.
"Only a little over one second faster than Tashigi?" Smoker frowned.
Zhou Qi was speechless. Did Smoker know what a single second meant in a one-hundred-meter race? That was more than ten meters of distance. What was he dissatisfied with?
But Smoker truly was dissatisfied. He was so much stronger than Tashigi, so why was he only this much faster?
"Let me use Soru and try again!"
Smoker returned to the starting line and looked at Zhou Qi.
"Are you addicted to running now..." Zhou Qi had no choice. Of course, he was also curious about how fast Soru was.
"Ready... three, two, one, bang..."
Smoker had already vanished from where he stood. Zhou Qi hurriedly looked toward the finish line, only to discover that Smoker had already crossed it!
"2.16 seconds!"
"My god?" Zhou Qi's eyes widened. "How much?"
"2.16..." Koshiro looked completely used to it, as if the result did not surprise him at all.
He handed the stopwatch to Smoker, who came over to check the time. "I'll give it a try too..."
"Sure!" Smoker smiled, but there was a challenging look in his eyes.
Even though they were all on the same side now, internal competition was everywhere.
I ran one hundred meters in just two seconds. As a Great Swordsman, you can't possibly be slower than me, right?
But since he was confident enough to challenge me, perhaps...
At that thought, Smoker's expression immediately turned more serious.
Koshiro was still wearing that long robe and his glasses, his eyes narrowed into slits.
Zhou Qi looked down and realized that Koshiro was wearing wooden clogs.
No matter how he looked at it, this did not seem like someone preparing for a sprint!
"Then, ready... three, two, one..."
Boom!
Buzz!
Zhou Qi only felt a sharp gust sweep past him. He hurriedly looked toward the finish line and found that Koshiro was already standing there!
Moreover, unlike Tashigi and Smoker, who had run several meters past the line, Koshiro stood just beyond the finish line, with his foot still touching the white mark.
"This..." Zhou Qi stared in stunned disbelief. Was this really something a human could do? Could he even control inertia?
He hurriedly looked at Smoker. "How long?"
"1.02 seconds!"
"Huh?" One hundred meters in one second—was he even human?
Tashigi stood off to the side silently, not even daring to raise her head.
Wasn't I supposed to be the main character? Why were these two big shots competing now? And their results were so much better than mine?
"Alright, alright, stop comparing yourselves to these freaks. Let's test the next event!" Zhou Qi said as he walked to the starting line, shook out his arms, and then jumped hard.
"This is called the standing long jump. It tests explosive power very heavily. Give it a try and see how far you can jump!"
"Okay!" Tashigi hurried over.
"Try it twice first and get a feel for it!" Zhou Qi said.
"Mm!" Tashigi nodded and made one trial jump.
Zhou Qi was rather speechless as he watched from the side. He had seemed to be demonstrating just now, but to avoid embarrassing himself, he had actually used all his strength!
He had jumped 2.24 meters and had felt pretty proud of it.
But Tashigi's first attempt had already gone farther than his.
Then came the second, then the third. Each jump was farther than the last...
"Alright!" Tashigi finally understood how the standing long jump worked. She returned to the starting line and looked at Zhou Qi.
"You don't need the starting pistol for this. Just jump with all your strength, and I'll measure the distance!" Zhou Qi said.
"Mm!" Tashigi nodded, only to see the two big shots crowding over again.
She immediately grew nervous again.
"No, what are you two doing? You're interested in this too?" Zhou Qi asked helplessly.
"Although jumping itself is not very useful, it is extremely effective for measuring one's strength," Koshiro said. "If you measure your limits every day, wouldn't you be able to see your improvement directly?"
"That's right!" Smoker nodded. "When I return, I'll promote it throughout the military. Let's first see how effective it is!"
"Fine!" Zhou Qi nodded. "Tashigi, ignore those two. Just do your own jump!"
The instant he finished speaking, a rainbow-like blur flashed past his eyes and landed two or three meters away!
Zhou Qi hurriedly pulled out the measuring tape, measured it, and announced the result.
3.68 meters...
The women's standing long jump world record was 3.14 meters, while the men's record was 3.476 meters.
She had casually broken both the men's and women's world records again.
Zhou Qi was starting to get used to it.
"Next event, reaction speed!" Zhou Qi opened the Space Gate, carried out a desk and chair, then brought over a computer and placed it on the desk.
He plugged in a mouse, opened a webpage, had Tashigi sit down, and pointed at a light green dot on the screen. "Do you see that dot?"
"Mm!" Tashigi nodded. The dot was so big that there was no way she could miss it.
"This is called a mouse. It controls the mouse cursor on the screen. Move it around and click a few times to get the feel of it!" He placed the mouse in her hand. "Just put your hand on it like this. A light click is enough, don't press too hard..."
It was Tashigi's first time using a computer, but it was not difficult. Even primary school students could learn it. After trying twice, she had it down.
Zhou Qi was only worried that she would press too hard and break the mouse.
Though the mouse he had was quite sturdy.
"Now for the important part!" Zhou Qi pointed at the green dot on the screen. "Put the cursor over this green dot. It will turn red in a moment. The instant it changes color, click the mouse. It will turn green again. Then click it again the next time it turns red..."
"So this is used to test reaction speed?" At some point, the two big shots had already moved behind them.
"Have you two finished testing the long jump?" Zhou Qi asked.
"Mm!" Smoker nodded. "But I only jumped nine meters and lost to him again..."
Koshiro gave a reserved smile. Everything was left unspoken.
Zhou Qi was speechless and simply ignored them. He used the mouse to start the test, then returned it to Tashigi.
Three, two, one...
After the countdown filling the entire screen ended, the green dot suddenly turned red.
Tashigi immediately clicked the mouse.
The green dot turned red again, and Tashigi immediately clicked.
Red, click.
Red, click...
Smoker and Koshiro silently watched from behind. They understood why this could test reaction speed, and they also understood that it required intense concentration, so naturally they did not make a sound to disturb her.
But just like before, their hands were itching to try it themselves.
Perhaps it was not hand itch. It was simply that the One Piece World had always lacked a real, effective standard of strength assessment that everyone could recognize.
The only way to judge whether someone was strong was by looking at their record.
So neither of them had a clear grasp of their own level.
They had only measured four sets of data today, but at least they now had a rough idea.
Later, if they dragged in colleagues, superiors, Dragon, and the like for testing, wouldn't they know where they stood among the strong?!
One minute later, the green dot on the screen suddenly changed several times, then formed three numbers.
189!
"Holy shit!" Zhou Qi's eyes widened again. "189 milliseconds?"
"Is that fast or slow?" Tashigi blinked and asked.
Zhou Qi was speechless. Could he tell her that his best result was 258 milliseconds, while science considered the human reaction limit to be 100 milliseconds?
Still, it was not too bad. One hundred eighty-nine milliseconds was not beyond human reach, since top athletes could achieve around 140 milliseconds.
"Come on, let me try!" Smoker was already about to seize the chair.
"Mm, I'll try too..." Zhou Qi's 258 had been from a previous test. After meditating for so long, his result should have improved, right?
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