Equipping a Zanpakutō

"I've finally taken this step!"

Kael's heart was filled with excitement as he looked at the two newly added system panels.

After all, his companions' strength was his strength.

As long as he spent another 25 million Beli in the system, he could even gain twenty percent of his companions' total combat power!

With that thought, Kael opened his captain panel.

[Captain: Kael]

[Level: 1]

[Experience: 25/50]

[Total Combat Power: 3.5]

[Skill: Hyper Intuition (A)]

His total combat power, which had originally been zero, had become a proper 3.5 after Tashigi successfully loaded her character panel.

Seeing that number, Kael's eyes flickered as he calculated inwardly:

"It seems the combat power displayed by the system only reflects the strength granted by a single character panel, not the crew member's overall strength."

Given his current strength, if he had received ten percent of Tashigi's full strength as a combat power boost, his body would definitely have reacted strongly.

But after Tashigi had just loaded the character template, although Kael felt a warm current appear within him...

That power had been extremely faint. If Kael had not been concentrating, he might not even have noticed it.

This undoubtedly slowed Kael's path to becoming stronger by just a little.

Fortunately, while it was indeed a small pity that he could not receive boosts from his crew members' own strength, it was still within Kael's acceptable range.

After all, as long as he could keep drawing character cards, he could continue growing without limits!

This feeling of becoming stronger while lying down was the system's most incredible feature!

"Then the next step should be figuring out how to increase my companions' combat power."

Kael's gaze returned to the companion interface.

In one corner of the interface, the word [Development], glowing with an azure light, immediately caught his eye.

With a thought, another brand-new interface popped up.

The first things that entered his sight were still the half-real, half-illusory illustrations of Tashigi and Rukia.

Only this time, the attribute panel on the right had disappeared.

In its place were three option pages.

They were:

[Level Up], [Weapons], [Awakening]...

There were three pages in total, and Kael clicked through them in order.

The first was the [Level Up] page.

It seemed that on this page, experience items drawn from the gacha machine could be used on companions, allowing them to gain a large amount of experience out of thin air.

Kael was no stranger to this function. After all, nearly every mobile game had something like it.

Unfortunately, aside from Rukia and the Zanpakutō, his eleven gacha pulls had only given him a pile of impractical uniforms, stockings, and the like...

Not only would having Tashigi wear those things fail to increase his combat power, it might even increase the enemy's combat power instead.

Better not think about it.

But...

If she wore them just for Kael to see, he would be more than happy to welcome that!

Come to think of it, short-haired Tashigi in a sailor uniform seemed to have the innocent sweetness of a first love.

And if she added a pair of smooth black stockings...

"Ahem... maybe I can have Tashigi try them on someday."

"Mainly, I need to test the strength of E-rank items. They came from the system, after all. What if they have some special effect?"

"As for black stockings and pretty feet, I don't want to see them at all."

After indulging in the fantasy for a moment, Kael closed the [Level Up] interface and opened the [Weapons] interface.

Compared to the previous system interfaces, this one was extremely simple.

There was only a square in the center of the interface,

And inside it was a green plus sign.

Realizing something, Kael directly clicked the plus sign with his mind.

In an instant, an interface titled [Equippable Weapons] appeared.

Within that interface, there was only one A-rank Zanpakutō marked as "Equippable."

Without giving it much thought, Kael directly equipped the Zanpakutō to Tashigi.

At the same time, in the real world.

An ordinary-looking longsword suddenly fell into Tashigi's hands.

She blinked blankly. Just as she was wondering what was happening...

A strange sense of connection suddenly came from the longsword in her hands.

"This is... a Zanpakutō?"

Tashigi froze.

Because she possessed basic knowledge of Soul Reapers, she immediately recognized the Zanpakutō.

And she could clearly feel that this Zanpakutō seemed to be connected to her soul.

As though it had been born from her soul, she felt an effortless familiarity with the blade, as natural as moving an arm.

Even Shigure, which had accompanied her for years, could not give her that feeling.

But...

Wasn't all of this far too strange!?

Just a minute ago, everything had been perfectly normal. Yet all of a sudden, it was as if she had become a different person.

Not only had she mastered a mysterious power called spiritual energy, she had also learned a technique called Hadō #1: Thrust and gained a Zanpakutō out of thin air.

Was this really something a Devil Fruit power could accomplish?

For the first time, Tashigi felt that she had read far too few books, to the point that she did not even know whether Kael was lying to her.

Just then, Kael, who had been sitting with his eyes closed for some time, slowly opened them.

Looking at the stunned Tashigi, he smiled faintly.

He had just given the final [Awakening] interface a cursory glance.

Just as he had expected, it was an interface that had nothing to do with him for the foreseeable future.

In the awakening interface, character cards could undergo different numbers of form awakenings based on their aptitude rank...

An A-rank character like Rukia could undergo two awakenings: her Shikai state and Bankai state.

The current Tashigi had inherited Rukia's power in her ordinary state.

As her level increased, she would naturally comprehend certain Kidō techniques.

After awakening, not only would she gain a powerful increase in combat power, she would also automatically comprehend the Shikai and Bankai techniques mastered by Rukia.

However, awakening required a large number of Awakening Stones.

And Awakening Stones were B-rank items that had to be drawn from the gacha machine.

And speaking of the gacha machine...

Forget it.

No need to mention that cursed thing.

In any case, it was almost impossible for Kael to get Awakening Stones anytime soon.

Rather than fantasizing about the future, he might as well properly plan for the present.

Out of sight, out of mind.

After looking through the awakening interface, Kael directly exited the system.

"So, are you satisfied with the gift I gave you?"

Seeing Tashigi hug the Zanpakutō tightly while hanging Shigure at her waist, Kael smiled.

Shigure: So love really can disappear, right?

"...I am."

The somewhat at-a-loss Tashigi nodded shyly.

"As long as you like it."

Kael smiled lightly before continuing,

"The power you possess now comes from another world I imagined, so it may differ somewhat from the power systems you were familiar with before."

"You'll need to slowly understand that on your own."

"I've already handed you the key that opens the door to power. How far you can go from here depends entirely on you!"

Kael patted Tashigi on the shoulder, his expression solemn.

"Only sufficiently powerful strength can ensure that we complete our mission smoothly."

"Work hard and strive to become someone useful to me as soon as possible!"

"Yes, Captain Kael!"

Having gained new abilities, Tashigi straightened her body while hugging the Zanpakutō and answered Kael loudly.

"Mm, very good."

Kael nodded, his gaze sweeping over the Zanpakutō.

It had to be said that the [Weapons] function, which the system had designed as a separate interface, truly surprised Kael.

This interface actually had the ability to improve a companion's aptitude!

After equipping the A-rank Zanpakutō, Tashigi's strength, constitution, and agility aptitudes had each increased by 10 points, while her spirit aptitude had increased by 20.

Her total aptitude had risen from 350 to 400.

And the combat power displayed for her in the system had gone from 35 to 40.

Of course.

Such a minor change was not actually obvious.

At the very least, Tashigi, in her current nervous state, had not noticed it.

But as her level increased, the importance of aptitude would inevitably reveal itself.

And speaking of levels...

Kael's heart stirred, and he suddenly waved at Tashigi.

"C'mon, get inside with me!"

The moment he spoke, he immediately started walking toward the cabin.

"Ah?"

Tashigi froze for a moment.

But seeing that Kael had already opened the cabin door, she hurriedly took two quick steps and followed her captain inside.

For some reason, although she had been frightened and timid in the face of the sudden changes not long ago...

After loading the character template, she suddenly had an inexplicable trust in Kael and an increasing sense of belonging toward the Dusk Pirates.

Tashigi attributed this to having adapted to her surroundings and the changes.

But in truth.

All of this was the system's effect of subtly raising her loyalty toward Kael and the Dusk Pirates to the highest level without changing Tashigi's true nature.

Right now, if Kael told Tashigi to kill Smoker or some ordinary civilian, she might still be unable to do it.

But conversely, if someone tried to frame Kael, she would absolutely draw her sword and cut that person down at the first opportunity.

This was the system's mysterious might!

It was also Kael's greatest assurance that allowed him to recruit crew members and grant them power without restraint!