CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 45: TRULY NOTHING LEFT

"Shigan: Spots!"

After taking Lucci’s whole "bullet-storm" of thrusts, Karl returned the favor in kind. Both index fingers blurred into countless afterimages, drilling toward Lucci.

"Tekkai: Utsugi!"

Too late to evade with Razor, Lucci had to grit his teeth and meet it head-on, using the Tekkai extension to block Karl’s own "bullet-storm."

Fortunately Karl had suppressed his power to the same tier, so Lucci, though rattled, managed to block it all and even rebound Karl’s strikes back at double force.

Tekkai: Utsugi sends an attacker’s force back at them. The harder the blow, the stronger the rebound; an ordinary person’s fist would be ruined in an instant.

It was, in Karl’s impression, the most striking move besides Life Return: Kami-e Bushin and Rokuōgan.

It was also the Tekkai extension Karl most wanted to learn.

The returned force Lucci launched at him had no effect on Karl; it didn’t even make his fingers ache.

Seeing that the three essentials, two of them at least, were already in hand, Karl decided to end this "evaluation."

"Is this the limit of your strength"

"My apologies... Rokushiki Secret Art, Sai Dai Rin: Rokuōgan!"

As if he heard the disappointment in Karl’s tone, Lucci’s face beneath the mask hardened.

Without hesitating, he released Life Return: Kami-e Bushin, giving up the speed edge to reclaim his suppressed power. Then he focused everything into a single point and fired a massive shockwave from both fists that swallowed Karl and burst out through his back.

The air cannon formed by that shockwave was in no way smaller than the one Karl had blasted through Moria.

Facing that single air cannon, even with the newly stolen Tekkai: Utsugi, Karl couldn’t block or rebound it.

The air cannon pierced the body, striking straight at the organs.

Without using Armament Haki to guard, Karl took Lucci’s air cannon head-on.

As recognition of CP9’s strongest in eight hundred years, Karl’s second-evolution body was actually driven back a distance by that shot, his feet skidding more than ten meters across the ground.

"...Not bad. You pass."

Lucci couldn’t see Karl’s expression under the mask. He only saw the man take the Rokushiki ultimate head-on and slide back a dozen meters, then heard words of praise. "Rob Lucci, from this moment you are a secret reserve member of CP0."

"Secret reserve member"

Lucci blinked. "Sir, what do you mean"

"Simple. When your current mission ends, you’ll be able to join CP0."

Karl said, "When the time comes, CP0 will see to it you detach from CP9, then you’ll go through the public evaluation process once more and become a CP0 operative."

He didn’t give Lucci time for more questions and, with a trace of mischief, added, "Your mission will last roughly three years. Regardless of failure or success, you’ll become CP0, so in the next three years, don’t neglect your training."

Karl was curious whether this would change the course of history—whether the Straw Hats would still trigger the Enies Lobby incident.

If they did, and Lucci didn’t slack off but kept sharpening himself for three straight years, could the Straw Hats still pull off a miracle

"Yes, sir."

Seeing Karl’s refusal to elaborate, Lucci nodded respectfully.

"Good luck. I’m optimistic about you."

Leaving that lightly smiling line behind, Karl vanished from Lucci’s sight.

Several seconds later Lucci realized he didn’t even know the lord’s name or codename.

He didn’t realize that, in that brief clash, every skill he had sweated over for more than a decade had been squeezed dry—nothing left.

All of it would become nourishment to make the monster more monstrous.

Back at the hotel, the smile on Karl’s face told Carina he’d returned with a haul.

Still, she couldn’t help asking, "Well Did it work"

"Yeah... far smoother than I expected."

Karl nodded hard, then brought Carina good news. "What I stole this time is teachable."

"Really" Carina’s and Nami’s eyes lit up at once.

"Mhm. I’ll shower first, then write out the training method."

He had awakened both Haki types thanks to his physique.

He’d learned to wield them because of that physical talent, figuring it out in the thick of battle with sea beasts.

As for how to awaken and master Haki, Karl—who knew Rokushiki’s principles but couldn’t self-teach the exertion mechanics—had simply been unable to teach Carina.

So it wasn’t that he didn’t want to; he couldn’t.

Now it was different.

Karl had both the principles and the exertion techniques of Rokushiki and could put a full training regimen on paper and pass it to Carina.

Even half a move of Rokushiki would push Carina’s strength beyond Kalifa’s.

If she fused the Barrier Fruit with Rokushiki and developed special extensions, Carina would qualify as a "superhuman."

Especially since Carina and Nami were in their growth years—if Karl taught them well, they were bound to master Rokushiki.

As for Life Return, that demanded rare talent.

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