"Bai Yu, it looks like today's fight will leave you utterly disgraced in Foosha Village."
Ace tightened his grip on his pipe, tipped up the brim of his hat, and spoke teasingly.
"But to make this a fair and square victory, I can let you change weapons. Otherwise, your wooden sword won't withstand my attacks."
"That way, even if I win, it won't be an honorable victory!"
"No need. A wooden sword is enough to deal with you."
Bai Yu smiled, took a swig of liquor, and looked calmly at Ace.
"You!"
Ace choked with anger.
Yet facing Bai Yu's calm gaze today, he felt an inexplicable flutter of dread.
During their previous challenges, Bai Yu had indeed put him under a little pressure.
But it had never been like today, when even the air circulating around them seemed to have ground to a halt.
As time passed in this simple standoff.
He even had the strange feeling that his fighting spirit was being worn away, ebbing back.
Was it the wooden sword in his hand?
Ace looked at the wooden sword in Bai Yu's hand, which had long been gathering dust.
Compared with their usual challenges, the only difference was that Bai Yu now had a weapon.
Could he really know swordsmanship?
"Go, Ace! You've got to beat Bai Yu and win back some face for us!"
Luffy's shout rang out.
That strange aura was broken.
Ace abruptly came to his senses and stared straight at Bai Yu. After exhaling a deep breath of stale air, he said.
"Bai Yu, you really are a little different today. But I'll make you understand that underestimating your opponent is a fatal weakness. I'll defeat you within ten moves."
"Draw your sword!"
"Is that so?"
Bai Yu tipped his head back and drained the liquor in one go. His right hand suddenly tightened, crushing the bottle with a crack.
The burning sensation from the strong liquor made his blood feel as though it were burning and boiling.
His grin only added to that air of bloodthirsty madness.
That was right!
Bai Yu had now merged into the Kenpachi Zaraki Main Body Template.
That bloodthirsty madness unique to Kenpachi Zaraki.
The frenzied fighting spirit of a bloodthirsty beast, welling from the depths of his soul, was unleashed without restraint.
The slowly drawn wooden sword pointed diagonally toward the ground.
That aura etched into his soul erupted completely.
In an instant, Ace and everyone present felt the shuddering terror of being watched by a savage beast.
The waves of savage-beast ferocity rushing at them were all the more vicious and fierce.
Compared with his gentle, refined manner a moment earlier, Bai Yu with a sword in his hand.
Simply felt like a savage beast poised to choose someone to devour.
This...
Was this the big brother he knew?
Was this the opponent he was going to challenge?
Now Ace had only one feeling.
What he faced was not a man, but a savage beast!
"Ding! Base character template Kenpachi Zaraki unlocked to one percent. First unlock reward: ultimate Spiritual Pressure!"
The ethereal notification sounded again.
Bai Yu smiled knowingly. Just taking up a sword for the first time had advanced his Kenpachi Zaraki template's unlock progress and earned him ultimate Spiritual Pressure.
Sure enough, using cheats once felt great; using cheats every day felt great every day!
But for now, he had to find someone to test his sword on first.
"Can we begin?"
Bai Yu spoke with a smile, but the cruelty on his face grew even stronger.
Ace snapped awake, only then realizing that the palm gripping his pipe was already soaked with hot sweat.
He abruptly raised his head to meet Bai Yu's gaze, a trace of humiliation and anger showing on his face.
"Bai Yu, since you're so eager to lose, don't blame me for showing no mercy!"
Bang!
Ace moved first. Faced with that savage-beast feeling, his only option was to defeat Bai Yu as quickly as possible and overturn the shadow branded onto his heart.
He closed the dozen-odd meters in the blink of an eye.
The pipe in his hand whirled faster and faster.
Ten meters, seven meters, five meters...
Bai Yu gave a bloodthirsty grin, slowly raising the wooden sword clenched in his right hand above his head.
That movement, riddled with openings, left Ace humiliated and furious, and he roared.
"Bai Yu, it looks like you really are underestimating me! With a stance full of openings like that, I can beat you in one..."
Boom!
The ultimate Spiritual Pressure hidden within Bai Yu erupted without warning.
Golden waves of energy swept outward like raging breakers and surging tides.
Ace, now within arm's reach, felt as though he had slammed into an invisible wall, his charge abruptly stalling.
Bai Yu's wooden sword, held high overhead, was already cleaving straight down at him with crushing weight.
There was nothing fancy about this slash.
It merely embodied the true essence of the Kenpachi Zaraki Main Body Template, the king of basic attacks.
As one of the foremost figures in the Gotei 13, designated a special-class combatant.
His basic attacks were his ultimate moves!
This slash could be said to have incorporated Bai Yu's ultimate Spiritual Pressure as well.
Under that attack, Ace's pupils abruptly contracted.
In that instant, he felt as though he faced not a wooden sword, but a mountain bearing down on him, blotting out the sky.
Bang!
The wooden sword collided with the pipe.
Immense force poured forth, charging out like ten thousand galloping horses.
The pipe, which should have easily snapped the wooden sword, broke with a crack.
As the tremendous force sent agonizing pain through the web of Ace's hand, the wooden sword, wreathed in boundless golden light, slashed onto his shoulder.
Boom!
Ace flew backward at lightning speed and crashed headlong into a reef a dozen-odd meters away.
The tremendous impact shattered the reef with a crash, spreading spiderweb cracks across it.
The vast dock fell into deathly silence in an instant.
One slash!
With nothing but a wooden sword, he had not only sent the pipe flying with one slash, but had also sent Ace flying a dozen-odd meters.
Was he even human?
If they had not seen it with their own eyes, probably no one would have believed it.
Ace's ambitious challenge amounted to this!
Just like that, he had been sent flying with one slash.
"Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing your first battle. The Kenpachi Zaraki Main Body Template's current unlock progress has reached five percent!" "Reward: fifty system points!"
The ethereal notifications sounded at just the right moment.
Seeing the unlock progress on his panel shoot up by four percent in one go, Bai Yu felt even more certain of his guess.
Aside from completing his daily slashing tasks, the fastest way to advance Kenpachi Zaraki's unlock progress was to challenge strong opponents.
However, according to the system, every five percent of unlock progress would unlock a skill. Once he reached twenty percent, he could unlock the next template character.
He would fully integrate the unlocked character into his Main Body Template, using it to increase Kenpachi Zaraki's power.
This was Bai Yu's shortcut to growing stronger quickly.
As for the system shop, he could use the shop points he earned to purchase randomly refreshed goods.
Looking at the pitiful two items in the merchandise list, Bai Yu rubbed the tip of his nose helplessly.
This system really was shabby.
Special weighted wrist guards from Dragon X World cost 30 points.
A Modified Nutrient Express from an unknown New World cost 20 points.
Looking at the two items, which added up to exactly fifty points.
Bai Yu really wondered whether the system was a landlord deliberately squeezing the pitiful points out of a peasant like him.
Leaving a poor household without any spare grain.
But complaints aside, Bai Yu was still eager to find out what reward he had received for breaking straight through to five percent unlock progress.
"System, unlock my skill!"
"Ding! Host, please wait..."
A string of system notifications flashed through Bai Yu's mind. Looking at the unlocked skill that finally settled into place, his eyes could not help lighting up.
This cheat was far too reliable.
Sure enough, using cheats once felt great; using cheats every day felt great every day!