In the afternoon, a passenger ship set sail from the pier.
At the bow, Xia Nuo leaned against the railing, watching the capital of the Goa Kingdom gradually blur in the distance.
From this angle, the cityscape was indeed magnificent and splendid, like a heavenly kingdom favored by the gods. It truly lived up to its reputation as the most beautiful country in the East Blue.
But...
Xia Nuo shook his head.
He turned and walked toward his cabin, his right hand flipping and toying with a delicate little dagger.
This was the dagger Ace had used to attack him, only for him to kick it away.
He had picked it up from the grass while the two hot-blooded fools weren't paying attention.
He hadn't expected it to be worth many points, but even a tiny mosquito was still meat. Just like on the night before leaving Shimotsuki Village, he hadn't forgotten to swipe Koshiro's glasses, either.
It wasn't that he had forgotten to turn off automatic pickup. Mainly, it was for Kuina's sake.
That way, Koshiro could truly understand the pain of his daughter being unable to see clearly. Getting her a pair of glasses would also become his highest-priority task, with no further delay.
Whoosh—
The dagger spun around him before suddenly vanishing without a trace.
Xia Nuo looked at the System Panel information that had just appeared.
The glasses and this dagger had provided a total of 700 points. By that calculation, his remaining points should have totaled 10,825.
But the balance displayed on the panel was far greater than that.
The reason was naturally—
[Sacrifice: Luffy's Straw Hat] [Quality: Legendary] [Value: 30,000 points] [Appraisal: The straw hat of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. He personally gave it to Red-Haired Shanks, who later gave it to Luffy. It had witnessed countless legendary adventures across three generations. From then on, Straw Hat Boy became Luffy's nickname. In the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, Imu still kept Joy Boy's enormous straw hat to this day. The continuation of the D Spirit might always make some people feel afraid.] [Remaining Points: 41,025]
A full 30,000 points!
That was twice as much as Red-Haired Shanks's severed arm!
His total remaining points had even broken through the 40,000 mark, leaving Xia Nuo feeling completely refreshed, an unprecedented sense of security welling up in his chest.
With so many points, he would have more than enough to use for a long time, even if he spent them freely from then on.
He wouldn't even need to replenish them before growing up and officially setting out to sea.
Of course, no one would ever complain about having too many points.
Xia Nuo planned to wait until the cooldown period ended next year and Arlong's threat had been resolved. Once he had no more worries, he would temporarily set out to sea and pay Luffy a visit.
He wanted to see how much the fake Straw Hat that had been worn for an entire year would be worth.
He looked toward the trading tab beside it.
It was now the twentieth day since he had set out to sea, and the trading market had yet to refresh.
Xia Nuo had previously asked the captain of this passenger ship. It would take roughly ten days to travel from the Goa Kingdom to Cocoyasi Village.
In other words, by the time he got home, the next batch of market items should be available for purchase.
"I hope something useful shows up."
Xia Nuo's gaze shifted slightly, and he was filled with anticipation.
After closing the system panel, he washed up briefly before comfortably lying down on the bed, planning to get a good sleep first.
He had been busy in the Colbo Mountains for the past few days, and before setting out today, he had both withdrawn money from the bank and looked for a ship. His body and mind had long since been exhausted.
Before long, he fell into a deep sleep.
Time passed in the blink of an eye.
Twelve days went by.
Inside the spacious training room specially converted on the second floor of the ship, Xia Nuo was practicing one of the Six Powers techniques, "Shave," by himself.
He was no longer the penniless boy who had boarded old Gart's merchant ship twenty days ago.
He had booked half the seats on the merchant ship, and he had spent lavishly at the restaurant as well. Naturally, he enjoyed the highest VIP-level treatment.
Requesting a training room was a minor matter. The captain readily agreed and had the sailors convert one in half a day.
In the south of the training room, three short wooden stakes stood in a row according to Xia Nuo's requirements.
There were three more arranged the same way in the north.
In the corner stood a statue of Hercules, silently providing a threefold boost to his physical training efficiency.
Xia Nuo stood on the middle stake in the south, his eyes fixed on the corresponding stake ten meters away in the north.
The next instant, he took a deep breath. His right leg lifted slightly, and his arch tightened.
"Shave!"
Whoosh! The sound of air splitting rang out. The moment the words left his mouth, Xia Nuo's figure abruptly vanished from where he stood.
When he reappeared, he had landed directly on the middle stake in the north. However, he failed to steady himself and stumbled off it.
"That was very close!"
Xia Nuo stood up. There was no disappointment or dejection in his eyes; instead, they were filled with surprise.
After all, it had only been a little over ten days since he had begun practicing the Six Powers. His progress could already be described as astonishingly fast.
He had first spent several days completely mastering the exertion technique behind Shave, then spent several more days narrowing down the error range of his reappearance point.
And today—
That error range had finally been reduced step by step to a level that could almost be ignored.
In actual combat, this meant he could teleport to any precise landing point at will while facing an enemy.
This was crucial.
If he failed to practice it properly, teleporting in actual combat and landing on his opponent's head would be incredibly awkward.
If he was even further off and his own chest ended up impaled on the opponent's sword, that would be even worse.
"Has it already been judged as beginner level?"
Xia Nuo glanced at the skill tab on the System Panel and nodded in satisfaction.
After reaching beginner level, he no longer needed to devote all his training time each day to this one physical technique.
He could begin practicing other techniques. As for Shave, he only needed to set aside part of each day to consolidate it. Within a month at most, he would be able to raise it to the minor mastery stage and completely master it.
"Although the statue is helping, this speed is still much faster than I expected."
After trying several more times and landing precisely on his intended wooden stake every time, Xia Nuo's mood grew increasingly cheerful.
It seemed that the physical transformation brought about by mastering Breathing Fist had another unexpected benefit.
It was like opening up the Ren and Du meridians in a martial arts novel—once one thing was understood, everything else followed. As a result, he could practice other physical techniques much faster than before.
Speaking of which—
The specific principle behind Shave seemed very simple.
It was nothing more than rapidly stomping the ground dozens of times in an instant to produce explosive reactive force.
That allowed one to move at high speed, even vanishing directly before an enemy's eyes as if teleporting.
However, it had certain requirements for one's physical foundation and microscopic control over one's muscles. If one failed to reach the threshold, talent and comprehension alone could not make up for it.
Xia Nuo happened to be exceptionally strong in both areas.
Combined with his natural talent for physical training, the two advantages reinforced each other, resulting in his terrifyingly rapid progress.
"After gaining an initial grasp of Shave in a little over ten days, I'll spend another ten or so days and see whether I can master Iron Body as well."
After wiping away his sweat with a towel, Xia Nuo opened the backpack tab and was just about to read through the Iron Body training method when a knock sounded from outside the door.
"Who is it? If it's food, just leave it outside."
He called out casually. These days, he had spent more than ten hours here every day, so the restaurant attendants delivered all three meals to him by cart.
"It's me, Lord Xia Nuo!"
Man Scar pushed open the door and pointed toward the porthole outside, his face full of delight. "It's time to disembark, my lord. Cocoyasi Village has arrived!"
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