An Inexplicable Power Boost

By the time Xie Wen came to his senses, the other Bullfango King was already right on top of him.

"Holy shit!"

There was no time to bring the Salted Fish Long Sword up in front of him. Xie Wen could only curl up as tightly as possible, using his arms and legs to brace against the Bullfango King's charge.

Thud!

Unsurprisingly, Xie Wen was sent flying.

Fortunately, because of its size, the Bullfango King's tusks hadn't pierced his body. They had only left a fairly minor wound on his shoulder.

Also, although his whole body ached fiercely, Xie Wen realized that his injuries didn't seem as serious as he had expected.

Granted, in his inherited memories, those hunters could even withstand a few tail swipes from a Crimson Fatalis, but that was with equipment crafted from high-rank monster materials. Without any equipment, as he was now, even a Popo could do considerable damage to a hunter.

And his current body was still that of a child!

So was this thanks to Sanji Meow's Cat Cuisine? Or had my transmigration perks boosted my physical toughness too?

But this wasn't the time to dwell on that.

After hitting the ground, Xie Wen immediately rolled, then gritted through the pain and climbed to his feet. Gripping a branch he'd picked up from who knew where with both hands, he took a fighting stance against the Bullfango King...

...Holy shit! Where's my sword?!

A proper Sapphire Star certainly wouldn't drop his weapon just because a monster had rammed him, but Xie Wen was a half-finished Sapphire Star. He couldn't keep his sword in his hand under absolutely any circumstances...

In fact, even a real Sapphire Star could lose his weapon during a fight. Reality wasn't like a game, after all, where your weapon stayed firmly glued to your hand or automatically returned to its sheath even as a monster sent you flying all over the place.

Naturally, the Bullfango King wasn't about to honor some code of sportsmanship and wait patiently for Xie Wen to retrieve his weapon before resuming the fight. Before he could even look for White Calm, its second charge was already upon him.

Xie Wen tossed aside the stick and dove out of the Bullfango King's path, quickly scanning the nearby ground as he did.

Although weeds grew thick here, Fresh Knife: White Calm was conspicuous in size, color, and shape, so Xie Wen soon spotted his weapon.

Good thing I'm fighting a Bullfango King this time.

Xie Wen dodged the Bullfango King's attacks as he ran toward White Calm, silently counting his blessings.

A boar's basic build left it with very limited means of attack. With enough speed and quick reflexes, dodging was fairly easy. Xie Wen soon retrieved his weapon, then spun around and slashed at the Bullfango King's leg.

"Huh?"

This attack did far less damage, however. It barely even affected the Bullfango King's movements.

Does this bigger one have tougher skin and flesh, or is something else going on?

As Xie Wen calmly maneuvered around the Bullfango King, he analyzed why the two attacks had produced such different results.

Come to think of it, when I killed the Forest Sheep King yesterday, aside from that Helmbreaker, only the final Sacred Sheathe Iai Slash seemed to actually sever anything.

And what those two had in common was...

Xie Wen had activated Demon Mode for both.

Does Demon Mode really boost my attack power that much?

Xie Wen decided to use the Bullfango King in front of him to conduct a proper test.

So...

He first popped a meatball into his mouth.

He had no choice. With his current physical condition, even the few seconds he'd spent in Demon Mode earlier had consumed nearly a third of his stamina. To be safe, he needed to recover first.

As soon as the meatball went down, Xie Wen felt his stamina return to full strength, and he swiftly activated Demon Mode.

Naturally, what came next was every hunter's favorite activity: hacking at legs.

Yet after several slashes, all four of the Bullfango King's legs were still attached. At most, it was limping a little.

Looks like Demon Mode alone isn't enough.

Xie Wen continued his calm analysis. After all, besides Demon Mode, he had also used sword techniques such as Spirit Blade and Sacred Sheathe Iai Slash.

Judging by his battle with the Forest Sheep King, though, Spirit Blade alone probably wouldn't do it either. Helmbreaker had been somewhat effective, but the strike hadn't felt nearly as effortless as when he'd just severed the Bullfango King's legs.

The correct answer was already fairly clear, but Xie Wen still wanted to test whether Sacred Sheathe Iai Slash-or even an ordinary iai slash-could decisively end a battle at this level without Demon Mode.

So, after deactivating Demon Mode, Xie Wen stuffed two more pieces of smoked meat into his mouth...

Well... that was life as a hunter with a short stamina bar.

Then again, this was the first time Xie Wen had replenished his stamina with Cat Cuisine so frequently. Its recovery speed showed no sign of diminishing, but...

He was getting a little too full.

"Phew-"

Xie Wen let out a long breath, easing the bloated feeling in his stomach a little, then returned White Calm to its sheath.

All four of the Bullfango King's legs were badly injured, greatly reducing its mobility. Xie Wen no longer needed to keep maneuvering around it; there were openings everywhere.

Besides, his main goal now was to test the lethality of his techniques, so there was no particular need to aim for its legs.

Xie Wen circled two steps to the side, took a moment to aim, then whipped his sword from its sheath, landing an unremarkable iai slash on the Bullfango King's flank.

Blood sprayed. The Bullfango King let out an agonized squeal and toppled sideways onto the ground.

That felt a little dull.

Xie Wen wasn't particularly concerned with the result itself. He considered the feedback from that last slash, then examined the wound on the Bullfango King's body...

Probably didn't reach the bone.

It seemed an ordinary iai slash was somewhat more powerful than Spirit Blade, but still couldn't cut through in a single stroke.

Xie Wen used Special Sheathe again. This time, it was Sacred Sheathe Iai Slash!

The Bullfango King had only just struggled to its feet when it suffered another devastating blow. The slash struck its head directly, not only severing one tusk but also splitting its skull open.

The Bullfango King immediately collapsed again. This time, however, it would never get back up. It was thoroughly dead.

Though it wasn't as effortless as with Demon Mode active, Sacred Sheathe Iai Slash was enough to handle large monsters whose defenses weren't particularly strong. That was important for Xie Wen, whose stamina bar was currently rather short.

After sheathing his sword, Xie Wen looked over at the Bullfango King he'd brought down at the start. With two legs missing, it couldn't stand at all, and after losing so much blood, it was either dead already or only a few breaths away.

"Xie Wen, are you okay, meow?!"

Once Sanji Meow saw that both Bullfango Kings had been dealt with, he immediately jumped down from the tree where he'd been hiding and raced over to Xie Wen.

"Don't worry. It's just a scratch." Xie Wen smiled and stroked his head. "My body seems a lot tougher than I thought."

"You idiot! You nearly scared me to death, meow!" Only after confirming that Xie Wen was all right did Sanji Meow start losing his temper. "How did you even earn that Sapphire Star title? You actually spaced out in the middle of a fight, meow!"

Growing angrier as he spoke, Sanji Meow leaped onto Xie Wen, raised his little paws, and pummeled his head with a flurry of kitty punches. "If you die, you idiot, who's going to take me to find pretty older Palico girls, meow?!"

Faced with this peculiar display of feline concern, Xie Wen could only smile ruefully and beg for mercy.

"Oh, right. Speaking of older Palico girls, don't you want to see what's changed in the Hunter's Notes?" struck by inspiration, Xie Wen asked the still-relentless Sanji Meow.

Sanji Meow immediately jumped off him. "Hurry up and take it out, meow!"

"...Tsk!"

His ploy had worked, so why did Xie Wen feel so annoyed?

Still, he took out the Hunter's Notes. Sure enough, the Large Monster Guide had updated with information on the Bullfango King...

And that was all.

"Mrow..." With no new summoning ticket fragment appearing, Sanji Meow's ears and tail instantly drooped.

Seeing the kitty look so disappointed and dejected, Xie Wen's mood immediately improved.

There were far too many strange creatures in the One Piece world, not to mention the even more numerous Sea Kings. If every monster encounter yielded a fragment, the protagonist would soon be surrounded by a whole crowd of Palicoes...

Then it wouldn't be a matter of traveling around with a few kitties, but steamrolling the One Piece world with a kitty army. Restricting access to Summon Tickets was therefore necessary.

Besides, everyone in One Piece was as hard to kill as a cockroach, so the protagonist's physical toughness needed a boost too. Otherwise, how could he keep up with that bunch who were so good at getting knocked down and sitting right back up?

So the protagonist had Monster Hunter techniques plus a Pirates physique. He wasn't merely a Sapphire Star.