"Klein, you bastard! Still trying to scam us out of our money!?"
"..."
Klein's face darkened. "How can you put it like that? Sparring with me is good for you, isn't it? Just admit it—did your skills improve or not?"
"...They did."
"But you've swindled over a hundred thousand Berries out of me! That's outrageous! Sparring is fine, but don't even think about touching my Berries!"
"..."
Klein had gone around challenging various trainees to betting matches like before, and the results were all the same.
He got absolutely chewed out by everyone.
"I'm screwed..." Klein muttered gloomily. "Damn it, at this rate, how much less am I going to make? My bank balance is damn near empty."
Worry!
So much worry that even sleep became elusive. If he wanted to get stronger, he first had to solve the money problem.
But as a mere trainee, he couldn't cook without rice.
There wasn't any grueling physical training today, so barely any trainees were paying for massage services.
Almost no income.
Back in his dorm, Klein logged into the game, bought today's discounted packs, upgraded whatever he could.
Anything that needed materials would have to wait.
After drawing from the daily skill lottery, a red dot appeared on the skill tab—it showed a synthesis was available.
Klein opened his inventory and lit up when he saw the skill icon glowing:"Tekkai!"
"I finally unlocked a skill—took long enough..."
These past few days, he had spent no less than a hundred thousand Berries on skill packs, and only now did he unlock Tekkai.
Even so...
Even so, the moment Klein saw Tekkai, his mind was flooded with scenes from the anime where confident users of Tekkai got absolutely wrecked.
Each one had full faith in Tekkai's defense—only to be pummeled into unconsciousness.
To that, Klein had just one thing to say:
"If you can't block the enemy's attack, that just means your Tekkai is trash. Even Kaido's indestructible body couldn't tank everything..."
"What were you gonna block with? Wishes?"
"Tekkai should be one of the prerequisites for Armament Haki. If you train it well, you can tank hits from small fries. But whatever you do..."
"Don't get cocky, my dude!"
Sure, Tekkai enhanced defense. But Klein had always believed: defense would never beat offense.
In the world of pirates, those who trusted their own defenses never met a good end.
Don't even get started on the Tekkai users. Think of Diamond Jozu, Sentomaru, Big Mom the iron balloon, Kaido with his so-called indestructibility...
Each of them bragged about their defense like it was unbeatable. And where did they all end up?
Meeting on the rooftop of defeat.
Wonder if it's windy up there?
"Lesson learned. If I can attack, I won't defend. Never just eat a hit straight-on..."
[Synthesis complete. Skill acquired: Tekkai — Defense +…, HP +…, brief defensive boost upon activation…]
[Current Level: LV.1]
The stats were decent—but being a Level 1 skill, that was a headache.
To level up Tekkai, Klein needed to synthesize another Tekkai skill.
"Damn it!"
"How many packs would it take to max this thing?! My money… my money can't take this!"
It was a money pit. Klein, lacking funds, couldn't keep going. But the joy of unlocking the skill quickly overtook his gloom.
A moment later—
The techniques for Tekkai, one of the Rokushiki, began flooding into his mind—every combat use and detail, as if Klein had experienced them himself. His body absorbed it like second nature.
"System Daddy, you're amazing!"
In just a few seconds, he had mastered Tekkai without a single day of hard training.
That's the power of whales!
So satisfying!
Absolutely exhilarating!
Klein was overjoyed. Without delay, he logged out of the game.
The others, like Garp, were still out training. He had the dorm to himself. Without hesitation, he activated Tekkai.
In an instant—
His muscles swelled and tightened, his body entering a state of complete tension. His frame turned hard as iron.
Klein could feel it—his entire body had become like a heavy metal block. With this kind of defense, he could easily shrug off swords and bullets from common thugs.
Looking down, something else had gotten bigger—like a steel rod.
He burst out laughing."Hahahaha—this is it! My future sex life is saved!"
"They say a worn-out ox is the only thing to worry about, not the field! I want to see if the field can handle this steel bar. I bet they'll be begging for mercy!"
This was what truly made Klein happy. Sure, Rokushiki might not mean much to powerhouses...
But you didn't have to use Rokushiki in combat.
You could also use it... in bed.
Delightful!
Deactivating Tekkai, his muscles returned to their relaxed state. After soaking in the joy for a while, Klein logged back into the game.
As soon as he was in, a prompt appeared:
[Skill Tower unlocked!]
[Clear Skill Tower stages to obtain random Skill Fragment Chests. Each floor grants one random chest. Daily challenges remaining: 3/3]
That familiar vibe.
Same old BS. Klein could tell exactly what the devs were going for just by the game's posture...
It was practically screaming:"Come on, spend money! The more you spend, the stronger you get!"
"If you don't pay up, your progress crawls like a turtle."
The grayed-out Skill Tower icon turned vibrant again—unlocking a new type of stage-pushing gameplay.
The first stage of the first floor featured several pirates. Imu's Dad easily cleared it.
He earned a few Skill Fragment Chests.
Then came Stage 2, Stage 3... by Stage 5, the boss had become Axe-Hand Morgan.
At this point, the character was over Level 10, and the sword skills were at a similar level. After a rough battle, Morgan was taken down.
But the run ended at Stage 6.
Most of the Skill Fragment Chests dropped common-grade fragments.
"Guess I'll try the Adventure Stages next. Today, I swear I'll take down that fat lady Alvida."
He had already cleared up to Stage 1-4, wiping out Alvida's lackeys.
The Alvida Pirates weren't anything special—her bounty was just 5 million Berries.
On the vast sea, pirates at that level were a dime a dozen.
But even so, in the so-called "Weakest Sea" of the East Blue, she still counted as a notable figure.
In the scene—
Imu's Dad wielded Wado Ichimonji, decked out in simple, low-grade defensive gear.
After refining and upgrading, the gear now matched his level and granted solid stat boosts.
On the right side of the screen—
Fat beyond belief, Alvida stood holding a massive iron club. Her face was hideous. If she were a few times larger, she and Kaido could definitely be the "Perfect Duo."
Standing before her were a few thuggish underlings.
Imu's Dad launched the first attack. Two or three strikes took out a lackey. His attack power was leagues beyond before, and hits from the lackeys barely dented his HP.
Only Alvida's attacks posed any threat.
After wiping out the goons, his attacks landed on Alvida.
Turn-based combat. Back and forth they went. By the time his HP dropped to a quarter, Alvida finally fell.
When she went down, several glowing orbs burst from her body.
Auto-picked into the inventory.
Besides some materials, he also received some blue and purple-grade gear. After equipping them, his mostly white-grade loadout got a noticeable stat bump.
[Stage Clear! Daily Boss Battle Unlocked!]