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"Once Daiguren Hyōrinmaru is complete, his control over ice becomes even more subtle," Ikki said, his eyes a little fiery. "Even a small amount of ice can exert considerable strength. However, the most powerful move after Daiguren Hyōrinmaru is completed is probably this one." He was looking forward to using the full version himself in the future.
Ikki's words made Nami, Vivi, and the others look at the adult version of Tōshirō curiously. Shyarly wanted to understand the power she might wield, while Vivi sought to discern the difference between Hyōrinmaru and Sode no Shirayuki.
In front of Tōshirō, the defeated Tier Harribel had vanished, replaced by an extremely tall, energy-composed man holding a bow and arrow. Even Robin and others, far away, felt intense pressure from the unshot weapon. Tōshirō, however, walked towards the enemy with strong cold energy, seemingly unfazed.
After four steps, Tōshirō raised his hand and gently waved his long sword forward. The enemy holding the bow and arrow was immediately covered in ice and, as the ice shattered, disappeared into the atmosphere.
"'Hyōten Hyakkasō' is the name of this move," Ikki explained, extending his hand towards Tōshirō. "After using this move, if the enemy doesn't stop Tōshirō before he takes four steps, no matter what stands before him—even flames facing the ice—will be frozen. Even the power of time and concepts."
Tōshirō turned his head, glanced at Ikki, then threw Hyōrinmaru towards him. With a meaningful look in his eyes, he turned into ice particles and dissipated within the illusion.
'That look just now… could these summoned phantoms be alive?' Ikki thought, catching Zanpakutō Hyōrinmaru and frowning slightly. 'Or could Tōshirō, who is in a certain space, be able to see me through the illusion?'
The appearance of Nero had once made Ikki realize the special nature of summoned phantoms. Thus, when Tōshirō appeared, he had already fully activated Observation Haki. However, he hadn't detected any signs of Tōshirō having self-awareness or feelings, until that very last moment when Tōshirō looked at him.
'Forget it, let's cultivate partners first,' Ikki mused. 'According to Nero, the original owners of these weapons can come here, but we have to use the weapon's full capabilities first. Furthermore, except for Nero, these people may not be willing to come.'
Ikki shook his head and activated the system permissions to release the illusion space.
"Here, take it, Shyarly," Ikki said, handing the Zanpakutō to her. "From now on, this blade will be yours. To prevent it from gathering dust, I'll train you well in the days to come."
"Don't worry, Ikki, no matter what kind of practice, I will endure it," Shyarly replied, taking the Zanpakutō with great solemnity. She never thought that by simply joining the Explorers, she would receive Hyōrinmaru from Ikki. This showed how much he trusted her.
Ikki smiled and nodded, then raised his hand and engraved his partner's mark on Shyarly's right side, where her fishtail met her human torso. The formerly blue skin suddenly bore a pink mark of companionship.
[Congratulations to Host, you successfully invited your partner Shyarly to join the team, and you will be rewarded with the 'Entry Swordsman Tomioka Giyu Challenge Permission'. ]
[Shyarly's personal attributes have been refreshed, please check it yourself. ]
[Name: Shyarly]
[Age: 28 years old]
[Weapon: Hyōrinmaru]
[Life Force: 500, level C]
[Kendo Realm: None]
[Kendo School: None]
[Special ability: Future-predicting Observation Haki (to be developed)]
'Tanjiro's senior brother, Tomioka Giyu,' Ikki thought. 'In other words, can Shyarly master Water Breathing? Well, for fish-men, Water Breathing is more suitable. I just don't know if Shyarly with a fishtail can adapt to Water Breathing.'
'Huh? This is...the future-predicting Observation Haki to be developed?' Ikki's eyes widened slightly, and he looked intently at the special abilities column of Shyarly's personal attributes panel. After a while, he nodded secretly.
'I see, her Observation Haki has the potential to predict the future,' he mused. 'But because it wasn't developed, the ability to predict the future didn't appear. It seems that Shyarly is really inseparable from precognition.'
Ikki glanced at Shyarly with a sigh, then took out the main bottle of C-level nutritional medicine from his personal space and put it into Shyarly's hand.
"This is a C-level nutritional potion," he explained. "Exercise with it in the gym, and your physical fitness will quickly become stronger. Unfortunately, I don't have enough C-grade nutritional potions on hand."
"It won't allow your life force to move to the next level. The progress of becoming stronger may be a bit slow, I hope you can understand." Ikki said, never having thought he'd worry about insufficient low-grade nutritional medicine.
"Nutritional potion? C level? Life force?" Each unfamiliar noun made Shyarly tilt her head, her tone full of confusion.
Vivi stepped forward at the right time and explained. After Shyarly had a general impression, Ikki led her to the gym and personally guided her to use the fitness equipment to exercise.
Two hours later, when the effect of the first bottle of C-level nutrient potion disappeared, Shyarly's body was completely wet with sweat.
"Here you go, water." Ikki duly handed a bottle of mineral water to Shyarly.
"Thank you, Ikki," Shyarly took the water with a smile and drank it.
"How does it feel, how does it feel to become stronger?"
"Very good. It's exactly what Ikki said. My physical strength has doubled."
"Haha, this is because you exercised hard enough. If you are lazy during exercise, the effect of this potion will be greatly reduced."
"Ok. I will work hard in the future and will not waste the effect of this potion."
"I believe you, Shyarly." Ikki nodded slightly. "Rest for a while. After you recover a little bit, I will let you master a swordsmanship style. As for bathing and so on, we will wait."
Because it is an entry-level sword shadow challenge, Shyarly's sword shadow opponent's personal attributes are not strong. With Shyarly having a thousand points of vitality, Ikki felt that she was already victorious enough. Sometimes, when the strength is great enough, it can overwhelm the skills.
"I know, Ikki." Shyarly nodded and simply sat down and started chatting with Ikki.
After a while, Ikki led Shyarly back to the sword enlightenment room. Shyarly did not disappoint Ikki, successfully completing his challenge and mastering the swordsmanship style of Breath of Water.
'But... Do I really want Shyarly to keep her fishtail and use Water Breathing?' Ikki pondered. 'It doesn't matter if she is underwater, using the fishtail, but if she is on the shore, using the Water Breathing Sword Technique is still a bit too forced.'
Ikki frowned, his eyes fixed on the buckler that was merging with the sword shadow area.
[Ding! Host's partner Shyarly successfully defeated the 'entry-level swordsman Tomioka Giyu' and obtained the swordsmanship genre 'Water Breathing'. ]
[Shyarly's personal attributes have been refreshed, please check it yourself. ]
[Ding! It has been detected that Shyarly's body is not suitable for the Water Breathing Swordsmanship style, and Shyarly has been given the ability to change posture. ]
'Change posture? What is that?' Ikki murmured in confusion. At this moment, a faint light blue light emitted from where Shyarly was.
"This is…?" Ikki's eyes widened and he looked at Shyarly in great surprise. To be precise, Shyarly's legs. Yes, it's the legs. Her fishtail seemed to be evolving, and it quickly divided and formed human legs. The originally blue skin of the fishtail also turned into a snow-white color in an instant.
"This...is this a change posture?" Ikki exclaimed. "System banzai." He raised his eyebrows, feeling particularly happy that the system was user-friendly.
"Um, how are you feeling, Shyarly?" Ikki walked into the central area of the arena in the Sword Enlightenment Room and asked Shyarly with interest. Even he was quite interested when he saw the mermaid turn into a human for the first time.
"Ikki, I...feel a little strange, I should say I feel a little uncomfortable," Shyarly put her hands on the ground and stood up from the floating bubble that was originally supporting het. But soon, she tilted her body and fell forward.
"Careful!" Ikki quickly stepped forward and stretched out his hand to support Shyarly.
"Sorry, Ikki." "We, the mermaid clan, always feel a little uncomfortable when our bodies undergo such changes. Especially for me, it seems that I have changed in advance because of your training."
Shyarly smiled at Ikki, supported Ikki's arm, and stood up slowly.
"Don't worry, it's normal for your body to change and it's hard to control... Uh!" While Ikki was talking, his eyes suddenly froze and he could no longer say anything.
Shyarly looked at Ikki with some confusion. When she saw Ikki's gaze, Shyarly was also speechless. Just because what Ikki was looking at right now happened to be the place where Shyarly's fishtail and human beings originally intersected. It would be okay if it was in mermaid form, but if it was in human form...
"Ikki, do you want to continue seeing?" Shyarly pursed her lips, with a rare blush on her face.
"Huh?" Ikki raised his head and glanced at Shyarly. "Ahem, it seems that the partner seal I just carved for you is still there and has not disappeared because of your changes, so I'm relieved."
Ikki nodded slightly and raised his head to look at Shyarly's face with a sincere expression.
"Ikki, do you think I will believe what you say?"
"I think it's believable." As Ikki spoke, he handed his coat to Shyarly.
Seeing this, Shyarly sighed, put Ikki's coat around his waist, and said:
"Ikki, have you heard of a rumor about mermaids choosing mates?"
"Rumors about mate selection?!" Ikki raised his eyebrows and his heart skipped a beat.
"That's right!" Shyarly nodded slightly. "Are you interested in hearing it?"
"Well, I will just listen."
Shyarly sat cross-legged on the ground with her legs closed, looking like she was going to tell a story. Ikki had no choice but to sit down cross-legged.
"When mermaids turn into humans, many people will go to human territory, get married, have children, and live like humans. Ikki, I think you've heard of this before."
"There's another thing that most humans don't know."
"When a mermaid becomes human-like, if she is seen by a human man, the mermaid will usually choose this man as her marriage partner." Shyarly said.
"Um, am I going to get married just because I saw you? Isn't this too hasty?" Ikki pressed his cheeks in embarrassment, even though Shyarly suited his taste. But the legend of the mermaid was a bit beyond his expectation.
"Indeed, this is very hasty."
"So some mermaids who don't respect tradition very much will not follow this wish."
"Including me."
"It's just that if a woman is seen to have something that needs to be kept secret during her transformation, the situation is different."
"What a coincidence, Ikki, you just saw it." Shyarly leaned down, her face almost touching Ikki's eyes.
"If I said that I was just admiring the seal of partnership on your body, would you believe it?"
"Do you think I would believe it, Ikki?"
"Well, under normal circumstances, you really wouldn't believe it, haha. But...since you have broken the tradition once, why can't you break the tradition one step further?"
"Ikki, do you want me to be the one to break this tradition?"
"At least, I don't want my woman to be with me because of some tradition. Having said that, there is a huge physical difference between you and me. Do you really not care?"
"Height shouldn't be a problem. There are many male fishman with very different sizes in the sea that have combined with female fishman to give birth to offspring."
"That, haha..." Ikki wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, feeling increasingly ashamed of Shyarly's statement.
"Hmm...it seems like I can't think like a fishman."
"Then.."
"Ikki, aren't you interested in me?" Shyarly asked.