Recruiting

"Just kidding, meow!"

On the way to the cafeteria, Xiluo scratched his head and explained to Louis with a grin, "Brother Louis and I are good friends, meow. If we really end up facing each other, we'll decide the winner with rock-paper-scissors, meow."

"That's mighty decent of you."

Louis returned his words with a warm smile.

"Hahahaha, of course, meow."

Xiluo laughed, his eyes narrowing into wrinkles. "We're good friends, after all."

Louis couldn't figure out what this guy was thinking, but the one thing he did know was that if he really faced Xiluo, his chances of winning wouldn't be great.

The Zoan Cat-Cat Fruit—Louis didn't know exactly what form it took, but there was no doubt it enhanced the body. Xiluo's Doriki was even slightly lower than Stuart's, yet once he used his ability, he could beat Stuart with ease. The gap in strength was that obvious.

Louis couldn't think of a better solution. Xiluo was strong in every way, and defeating him wouldn't be easy.

Training continued as usual, but the atmosphere in the camp had changed dramatically.

Stuart, the former uncrowned king, had been thoroughly defeated by Xiluo. The once-proud man had become exceptionally irritable, and more than once he'd seriously injured the trainees sparring with him. Eventually, the camp had no choice but to assign an Instructor to spar with him. The lackeys who had once followed him around were gone. He'd lost his status, and now he'd lost his followers, too.

By contrast, Xiluo's standing had soared. He was now the camp's undisputed number one, and Louis's ranking had fallen in turn. Louis had taken over Xiluo's former third-place spot, and a few trainees had even tried to follow Xiluo around the way they'd once followed Stuart.

They'd been in the cafeteria when Louis heard Xiluo reply:

"Eh? Sorry, meow, but cats don't need to be friends with mice, do they?"

As he watched the indignant trainees leave, Louis knew that this man had never been friendly. He wasn't Louis's friend, either.

Louis had finished learning Rankyaku, and he couldn't think of any advanced applications for the move. All he could do was try using different parts of his body to perform it—for example, his hair.

After using Life Return, Louis could control his hair freely. He could even use Tekkai to harden it. In the original story, Kumadori of CP9 could use Finger Pistol with his hair.

With those two examples, using Rankyaku with his hair seemed perfectly reasonable.

In the fifth month, Louis completed his Rankyaku training and finally began practicing the last of the Six Powers: Finger Pistol.

The essence of Finger Pistol was hardening one's fingers and unleashing force in a burst.

That turned weak fingers into the strongest spears, capable of piercing a person with a single strike.

There wasn't much to say about hardening. It was simply an application of Tekkai. Louis had mastered Tekkai Flow, so he could easily control the hardening of his fingers. All he needed to train was his explosive power.

Hardness alone obviously wasn't enough to pierce a person. The deeper secret of Finger Pistol was the instant burst of force from the arm muscles, giving the hand the power of a fired bullet.

As he practiced Finger Pistol, Louis wondered if he could apply that same explosive force elsewhere and come up with moves like Fist Gun and Leg Gun.

Finger Pistol was powerful, but it wasn't all that versatile.

As it turned out, Louis's idea worked. He only needed to avoid hardening his fingers when using Finger Pistol and instead harden his whole wrist and fist to complete Fist Gun. The power of his punch rose dramatically. Leg Gun was a little trickier, but with some effort, he managed to make it work, too.

Louis soon mastered Finger Pistol completely. By then, he had mastered all the Six Powers, and his strength had increased beyond measure since he'd first entered the CP9 Training Camp. There were still seven months left in the year of training.

Louis's opponent in the fifth month's battle was another nobody, whom he defeated with ease. Xiluo played with his opponents like a cat with a mouse, as always. The only thing that caught Louis's interest was how the two of them had changed. Stuart had become extremely irritable, as if deliberately showing off his strength. He beat his opponent until the man suffered multiple fractures throughout his body. Louis could more or less understand his mindset.

The second was Yerika. After her last fight with Louis, the hot-tempered woman had calmed down instead. She was composed and level-headed, nothing like she'd been before.

With his Six Powers training wrapped up for the time being, Louis devoted all his energy to Life Return. His skin training was progressing slowly. Controlling the skin covering his whole body was no easier than controlling his digestive system. He was still a long way from manipulating it as freely as his hair. And what he called skin included not just the skin, but the layer of fat beneath it, too.

The seventh and eighth months passed by.

Training continued without incident. Louis immersed himself in his practice, gradually gaining complete control over the skin covering his body.

Then, one day in the ninth month—

"Instructor, may I ask what you wanted to see me about?"

His lesson with Teacher Anna had just ended when an Instructor led Louis into a secluded corner.

"Louis, you're only thirteen this year, right?"

The Instructor asked thoughtfully.

"Yes."

Louis nodded. He'd already turned thirteen, officially entering puberty. With Life Return accelerating his growth, his body was developing at an astonishing rate.

"What a genius!"

The Instructor exclaimed. "At such a young age, you're already the camp's third strongest, behind only Xiluo and Stuart."

"As for Stuart..."

Louis thought for a moment. "Let's not count him."

"Oh? Hahahaha, you're an interesting one. You really are proud, boy. But that's only right. A genius ought to be proud."

The Instructor laughed. "That fellow Stuart really is nothing to you. I'll be frank, Louis. Lord Skello thinks highly of you. He asked me to tell you that his CP9 would be glad to have you join."

He emphasized the word "his."

"Lord Skello? Is he—"

Louis did his best to look hesitant.

"Lord Skello is the current head of CP9—in other words, your future superior."

The Instructor explained.

"Really? A figure like him has been keeping an eye on me?"

Louis smiled sincerely. "Don't worry, Instructor. I'll definitely become CP9's best agent."

"No, no, Louis. What that lord meant was—"

The Instructor corrected him. "He hopes you'll become the best agent in the CP9 under his command."

"Of course,"

Louis said with a smile. "Because that lord is the head of CP9."

"..."

The smile gradually faded from the Instructor's face. "No, Louis. I mean that he hopes you'll be loyal to CP9 because that lord is its head."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

Louis asked.

"Is that so?"

The Instructor raised an eyebrow. "You can go back for now, Louis. I understand your position. I hope things go your way."

Watching the Instructor walk off, Louis raised an eyebrow. Joining Skello's faction now would probably be like joining the Nationalists in '49. It wasn't that he couldn't play along, but he needed to show Spandine where he stood.

"Give me your votes!!"

If Snake Grass Flower Dew hadn't been born, the path of votes would have been shrouded in darkness for all eternity!

On this day, Snake Grass Flower Dew once again entered the realm of the vote-begging fiend.