The consumption of cultivation points was about what the woman in the leather suit had estimated.
After spending two hundred thousand cultivation points to train for two hundred hours in the [Taijutsu Training Space], which equated to twenty hours in the outside world, Luo Chen's taijutsu finally leveled up.
It increased from Lv6 to Lv7.
[Taijutsu: Lv7 (Equivalent to a Vice Admiral ≈ Pirate with a 400 million Berry bounty)]
According to the system's assessment, Luo Chen's pure physical taijutsu strength was no weaker than a Marine Vice Admiral, comparable to a pirate with a 400 million Berry bounty.
This was without factoring in Wood Style, Flying Thunder God, or Sage Mode.
If he were to use all his abilities, Luo Chen was confident he could sweep through all the Marine Vice Admirals except for Garp.
'Let's test the combat power boost of Sage Mode.'
To be on the safe side, Luo Chen felt he should first experience Sage Mode.
He didn't need any hand seals, nor did he need to clap his hands together.
With a mere thought, Sage Mode was activated in an instant.
Black markings appeared on his face, making him look mysterious and domineering.
Luo Chen pointed a finger at the empty space. On the small green planet, endless trees grew wildly, eventually condensing into a giant Guanyin statue.
The Guanyin statue was immense. From a distance, the small green planet below looked as tiny as a meditation cushion.
Luo Chen stood on the head of the Guanyin statue, looking at the ground hundreds of meters away, his expression excited.
With his current taijutsu strength, he could actually summon such a tall Guanyin statue.
"All show and no substance," the woman in the leather suit said, striking him down without courtesy.
"At most, this Guanyin statue's power can sweep through Vice Admirals. It's still a long way from the top-tier Admiral and Emperor level of this world."
Hearing her words, Luo Chen dispersed the Guanyin statue, landed on the ground, and asked curiously, "How far is 'a long way'? How many taijutsu levels do I need to increase to be comparable to an Admiral or Emperor?"
He knew that the power gap between a Vice Admiral and an Admiral was huge. But as for exactly how big the gap was, Luo Chen was still unsure.
The power levels in the world of One Piece weren't divided into clear-cut ranks like first to ninth grade, or Dou Huang, Dou Zun, and Dou Di. On the whole, it was rather general. This left Luo Chen without a clear concept of the power gap between himself and an Admiral.
The woman in the leather suit stated bluntly, "When your taijutsu reaches level 11, you can fight an Admiral or Emperor with just your physique alone."
The corner of Luo Chen's mouth twitched unnaturally.
'Level 11? That's still four levels away. How many Berries would that cost?'
Fortunately, the woman in the leather suit was talking about fighting an Admiral or Emperor using only taijutsu, without Haki or ninjutsu. If he included all his abilities, Luo Chen estimated that raising his taijutsu to level 10 should be enough.
'Raising my taijutsu by three levels would cost at least ten billion Berries...'
Luo Chen sighed. This was a huge sum of money.
"See you next time. You've cleaned me out."
Luo Chen's figure flashed, and he appeared in the [Skill Training Space].
The taijutsu training with the woman in the leather suit had almost completely depleted his cultivation points. Now, he only had a little over fifty thousand points left.
It was just enough to learn one introductory-level Observation Haki.
[Observation Haki (Introductory)]
[Cultivation Points Required: 50000]
[Effect: Allows for the simple sensing of enemies' presence and tracking of their attack trajectories. Sensory range is relatively small and cannot be maintained for long periods.]
"Learn it," Luo Chen communicated with the system.
Observation Haki could effectively assist his Flying Thunder God Technique in close-quarters combat. Moreover, if he wanted to learn more advanced Observation Haki in the future, such as long-range observation, all-day activation, or future sight, he needed the introductory level as a foundation.
While the system was selecting a master tutor, Luo Chen looked at the subsequent learning costs for Armament and Observation Haki.
'Eighty thousand cultivation points, which is eight hundred million Berries.'
'This is too expensive. I'm going to have to go rob the Celestial Dragons.'
Luo Chen was dejected.
It was hundreds of millions of Berries at every turn, and the improvement to his strength wasn't that great. But it was a necessary path to learn top-tier Armament and Observation Haki; he had to spend the money.
'I won't learn Conqueror's Haki for now. The introductory level is useless, only good for knocking out small fry to show off.'
'If I'm going to learn it, I'll save up enough Berries and learn the top-tier Conqueror's Haki directly. It has to be at least on the level of Red-Haired Shanks to be of any help to my strength.'
As Luo Chen was pondering, the master tutor had been selected.
This time, appearing before him was an old man with a full head of silver hair and glasses. He was dressed simply and wore sandals, looking like an old fisherman.
[Master tutor selection complete: "Dark King," Silvers Rayleigh.]
[The master tutor is a special projection and does not possess any personal will or stance. The host can train with peace of mind.]
'This time, they chose the vice-captain of the Pirate King, Rayleigh.'
Luo Chen couldn't help but doubt his teaching skills.
In the original story, Luffy had studied with Rayleigh for two years and had only mastered the basics of Armament and Observation Haki. The reason for Luffy's rapid improvement later on was thanks to the two "master tutors," Teacher Katakuri and Teacher Kaido.
'Oh well, I'm only learning the introductory level of Observation Haki anyway.'
Luo Chen muttered to himself.
Rayleigh smiled gently and quickly entered a teaching state.
Time passed quickly. Whether in the [Taijutsu Training Space] or the [Skill Training Space], Luo Chen never felt tired or hungry.
He studied tirelessly for thirty consecutive days and finally mastered introductory Observation Haki.
'The training time is about the same as when I learned Armament Haki last time.'
'Three days have passed in the outside world. Including the taijutsu training time, a total of about four days have passed.'
'I wonder how Luffy and the others are doing.'
Luo Chen's consciousness left the training space and returned to reality.
...
In the hotel room, Luo Chen opened his eyes.
The system's personal panel appeared on his retina.
[Host: Luo Chen]
[Taijutsu: Lv7 (Equivalent to a Vice Admiral ≈ Pirate with a 400 million Berry bounty)]
[Skills: Observation Haki (Introductory), Armament Haki (Introductory), Six Powers - Shave, Six Powers - Moonwalk]
[Ninjutsu: Sage Mode, Flying Thunder God Technique, Wood Style Ninja Technique Collection]
[Cultivation Points: 7300]
[Next Cumulative Deposit Reward Tier: Seventy Billion Berries]
'Only 7,300 cultivation points left.'
'Also, Dragon still owes me fifteen hundred million Berries. I can't forget that,' Luo Chen thought.
He got up from the bed, stretched his limbs, and thought, 'First, I'll find Nami, then I'll head to Rain-Dinners to get that two-billion-plus Berries from Robin.'
'I can't establish a pirate crew in the future without money.'
Although the twenty-plus billion Berries from Crocodile had already been deposited, Luo Chen still had a use for the Berries themselves.
With the improvement of his strength, the range of his Flying Thunder God Technique had reached five hundred meters.
He sensed for a moment. Nami was not in the room next door, nor was she within a five-hundred-meter radius.
Luo Chen frowned slightly and used the Flying Thunder God to enter Nami's room next door.
He looked around and found that the room was dark with the curtains drawn. The sink was very dry, as if Nami hadn't been back for the past few days.
Soon, Luo Chen saw a piece of paper on the round table in the room's living area.
He walked over quickly and picked it up.
"A Marine Vice Admiral has landed in Alabasta. Crocodile has framed Nico Robin for everything and has teamed up with the Marines to hunt down Luffy and the others. I ran into Carina in Rainbase and got caught up in it, so I can only flee with Carina and the others. Luo Chen, run!"
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]