The Sea King roared in pain under the fierce attacks of Kuina's Sword Shadow.
Its massive body swayed back and forth, and the columns of water it lifted crashed against the Shadow screen surrounding the ship like a tsunami.
"Tss, it's really resilient."
Although the Sea King was massive and incredibly powerful, it seemed clumsy against the agile Shadow.
Its attacks missed repeatedly, allowing Kuina's Shadow to seize opportunities to inflict wounds on its abdomen, back, and other weakly defended areas.
However, these wounds were clearly not enough to kill the Sea King with its thick skin. After all, the Sea King was a lord of the depths and remained incredibly fierce.
At that moment, the Sea King suddenly opened its gaping mouth and swallowed Kuina's Shadow whole!
Tsukasa Yuu's expression changed slightly. Kuina must have intentionally let herself be swallowed.
This style of combat was truly risky!
As expected, a moment later, a dazzling light suddenly burst from the Sea King's abdomen.
"Moonbeam!" murmured Kuina.
Immediately after, a huge wound opened from inside the Sea King, and blood gushed out!
Kuina's Shadow emerged from within, looking particularly chilling under the moonlight.
The Sea King let out a plaintive groan, and its massive body collapsed, creating massive waves.
Its huge body rolled a few times on the surface of the sea, then lay still!
Thus, Kuina had defeated the Sea King all by herself!
At the same time, the system's voice echoed in Tsukasa Yuu's mind.
**"Ding! Mission completed, 2000 experience points gained! Congratulations, Host, your level has increased to 35! 20,000 points gained!"**
**"Kuina (C+ → Rank B)"**
**"Learned Esoteric Skill: Moonbeam"**
**"New high-sea combat unit added. Can extract Shadows from aquatic creatures to form a powerful underwater legion! Total Shadow extraction capacity increased to 100!"**
Tsukasa Yuu seized the opportunity to activate the Shadow Fruit's ability, instantly extracting the Sea King's Shadow.
**"Obtained Rank B Shadow: Sea King"**
**"Unlocked new unit: Deep Shadow Guard"**
Tsukasa Yuu raised his hand and made a grasping gesture. The Sea King's corpse suddenly twisted and deformed, transforming into a jet-black Shadow that merged into the ship's hull.
The Shadow's keel hummed, and scale-shaped patterns appeared on the ship's body.
Covering the entire Shadow with the Sea King's scales significantly reinforced the entire hull.
Now, the integrated legion of Shadows for land, sea, and air that he wanted to form only lacked the aerial component.
"Captain..." Kuina suddenly called out.
"What's wrong?" Tsukasa Yuu turned around, looking at her with confusion.
Kuina's Shadow hesitated for a moment, then spoke, "I... I feel a bit different."
That's when Tsukasa Yuu noticed that Kuina... seemed to have grown a lot?
No, it wasn't an illusion.
The once slender juvenile Shadow was now more robust and full, and her characteristic short hair had grown longer.
More importantly, the Shadow that used to only reach his chest now seemed to stand almost on equal footing with him!
Visibly, she had grown at least five years!
Tsukasa Yuu couldn't help but rub his eyes, confirming that he wasn't dreaming.
"You..." He pointed at Kuina's Shadow, a hint of teasing in his tone, "You look like... Have you been eating pig food?"
Kuina's Shadow froze for a moment, looked down at herself, then shook her head, perplexed: "It's you who's been eating pig food... Your whole family has been eating pig food!"
Tsukasa Yuu's eye twitched, "So how did you..."
He had initially wanted to ask, "How did you grow up?", but the words got stuck in his throat, feeling that it wasn't appropriate, as the word "grown up" could easily be misunderstood in certain situations.
He cleared his throat and rephrased, "I mean, how come you... seem to have suddenly grown up?"
Kuina's Shadow tilted her head, seeming to ponder the question.
A moment later, she spoke with some uncertainty, "Maybe it's... because of the battle?"
"Battle?" Tsukasa Yuu was even more confused, "Can a battle make someone grow up?"
"Mm..." Kuina's Shadow nodded.
"I feel that during the battle, both my strength and... my body, both experienced a kind of improvement, especially after defeating that monster."
That's when Tsukasa Yuu remembered Kuina's previous indication of the system, which mentioned Kuina's "S-Rank Growth Talent."
So that's it!
The Growth Talent, it turned out, was the ability to improve one's own skills through combat, and even one's physical form changed!
It was simply too OP!
Furthermore, Kuina had actually learned a sword skill like "Moonbeam" in real combat.
This kind of Iai cut reminded him of Zoro's One-Sword Style, Lion's Song!
This learning speed was like having a cheat!
At this rate, maybe it wouldn't take long before she caught up with Zoro.
He had initially worried that Kuina's strength would not be sufficient to face future challenges, but now, it seemed that his worries were completely unnecessary.
With an S-Rank Growth Talent, Kuina's growth speed would far exceed that of ordinary people, and in the future, she might even become his most capable assistant!
"Not bad, not bad." Tsukasa Yuu nodded satisfactorily, "It looks like my judgment was indeed correct."
He walked in front of Kuina's Shadow, examining her from head to toe, a hint of surprise in his tone.
"Tss tss, in such a short time, you've become so... well-endowed."
Kuina's Shadow felt a bit uncomfortable under his gaze, instinctively taking a step back, her pretty face slightly blushing.
"Captain... pervert..."
"Hahahaha, I'm just kidding." Tsukasa Yuu laughed.
"However, your strength has really improved a lot now. You must continue to work hard in the future and strive to become my right-hand as soon as possible."
"Nonsense! Of course!" Kuina vigorously nodded.
Kuina's rapid growth made Tsukasa Yuu realize a problem: his own strength had reached a bottleneck.
Currently, daily quests only gave 100 experience points per day, and to level up to 36, he needed the colossal sum of 1000 experience points!
Moreover, the higher he leveled up, the more experience he needed, making his level progression very slow.
It was important to know that no matter how strong his Shadows were, if his main body was instantly killed, all Shadows would disappear with him!
This couldn't continue; he had to find a way to become stronger.
Furthermore, according to his understanding of the plot.
We are now in the year 1520 of the Marine Calendar, which means that without artificial intervention, the Summit War would break out by the end of this year.
With his current strength, he would only be considered a snack by the Admirals during the Summit War.
He had to continue leveling up in a limited time, and relying solely on the Devil Fruit's ability was far from enough; he also had to cultivate Haki.
The top powerhouses may not have eaten Devil Fruits, like Roger, Shanks...
But they absolutely must possess first-rate three-color Haki! That is, Armament Haki, Observation Haki, and Conqueror's Haki!
Tsukasa Yuu wasn't like Luffy, who had connections, with Rayleigh, the Right Hand of the Pirate King, teaching him Armament Haki, then Katakuri activating his Observation Haki, and later meeting Emperor Kaido as a training partner...
He had someone to teach him wherever he went. He couldn't compare, really couldn't compare.
So, how was he going to break through this impasse?