Chapter Ninety-One: Purchasing Materials

Huh?

He ran off that fast?

With Akainu gone without a trace, Chu Yi arched his brows slightly. First he gave Mihawk a thumbs-up, then turned to Marco with a grin. “Marco, looks like you won’t get a chance to step in. Rather than saying you’re an assistant, I’d say...”

“You’re basically just here to watch the show!”

“Watch the show? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Marco blinked at Chu Yi, utterly puzzled.

Clearly, there was no way he could understand the meaning of a slang expression from Chu Yi’s former world. He remained dazed for only a moment, though, before collecting himself and saying solemnly, “Kid, don’t think Akainu is really gone for good. Trouble’s still here. I know his temperament. He isn’t the sort to swallow his anger and let things lie, so I’m going to contact old man Whitebeard now and ask him what he intends to do about Fish-Man Island.”

“Jozu and Vista will be left to you for temporary protection. That shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“Of course not!”

Chu Yi thumped his chest and smiled. “But if I help you protect Jozu and Vista, shouldn’t you give me something in return? My companion... is still injured, after all.”

“That’s a trivial matter.”

Knowing that Chu Yi meant Tiger, who had been grievously wounded by Akainu’s ambush, Marco immediately enveloped him in the green flame of renewal as soon as Chu Yi finished speaking. That flame truly was miraculous. Tiger had already seemed on the verge of death, yet under its healing power, only a few seconds passed before all the injuries on his body vanished completely, and he woke from unconsciousness.

“Where... is this...?”

Rousing in a haze, the first thing Tiger saw was Chu Yi smiling at him, followed by Mihawk’s expressionless face, and then Jinbe’s familiar features coming into view.

He still remembered that before he blacked out, he had been fighting Akainu and the elite Marines under his command.

But after looking at the Marines lying unconscious all around him, Tiger understood there was no need to remind Chu Yi that Akainu had come to Fish-Man Island to ambush him. He gave Chu Yi a slight nod, then gestured toward Jinbe.

The meaning was clear: he had something to say to his old friend Jinbe.

After that, Tiger dragged Jinbe off for a private conversation. Marco went to use a Den-Den Mushi to contact the Whitebeard Pirates, while Chu Yi and Mihawk remained on the battlefield. Naturally, though, clearing the battlefield was not something Chu Yi would do himself.

That sort of work would have to be left to the prisoners, Smoker and Lucci.

After all, the unconscious ones needing to be dealt with were Marines, weren’t they?

Besides...

Chu Yi had something far more important to do at the moment: digest the gains from overcoming his inner demon.

Having conquered that demon, Chu Yi did not notice it himself, but the ripples in his Eyes of Asura had changed from two to three.

Although the third ripple was still somewhat blurred, as if it could disappear at any moment, the transformation in his heart could not be faked. After all, even in combat now, Chu Yi could always maintain a state of full focus whenever he wished.

And after overcoming his inner demon, Chu Yi felt that the greatest change within himself was the sublimation of his soul.

Yes.

A sublimation of the soul.

It was a wondrous sensation, profound and elusive, one that even Chu Yi could not fully explain.

But if Chu Yi himself did not understand it, the Asura Demonic Statue did.

According to the feedback from the Asura Demonic Statue, the transformation Chu Yi had undergone this time was tremendously important, so important that it might even determine whether he could bring his Observation Haki to its peak.

If that was the case, there was nothing more to say.

While Smoker and Lucci cleared the battlefield, and while the octopus-man Hachi and the other fish-men remained stunned, still unwilling to believe that the famous Marine Vice Admiral Akainu had come and gone so hastily, Chu Yi sat cross-legged on the ground in silence. Maintaining the consumption required to “mend the heavens” over Fish-Man Island, he began quietly to digest his previous insights.

As he did, Chu Yi’s expression shifted from frown to smile and back again, unpredictable and ever-changing, so much so that Smoker and Lucci nearly thought he had gone mad.

Then half an hour passed.

Tiger, who had gone away to confer privately with Jinbe, still had not returned. Marco, who had left to contact the Whitebeard Pirates, had not returned either.

Smoker and Lucci had already finished clearing the battlefield ten minutes earlier. By then, they were quietly tending to the Marine elites who had previously been knocked unconscious, fearing that under Chu Yi’s sky-rending killing intent, these Marines might suffer further harm.

At the same time...

Huff.

Taking a deep breath, Chu Yi, still seated cross-legged, opened his eyes as well.

Yet the fact that his brows were still tightly knit showed that the result of digesting his insights from overcoming his inner demon was not ideal.

Just then, Mihawk slowly walked over to Chu Yi’s side, turned to face him, and suddenly smiled. “That feeling is good, isn’t it? The feeling of surpassing yourself.”

“Yeah, the feeling really is good. It’s just that...”

Scratching his head, Chu Yi gave a wry smile. “It’s just that I still haven’t figured out what exactly I comprehended.”

“That’s normal. After all, the abilities you possess are a bit too mixed, and a bit too disorderly.”

Mihawk’s hawk-like sharp gaze seemed as if it could pierce straight through the secrets hidden in Chu Yi’s soul.

Since Chu Yi’s digestion of his insights had come to a halt without any real breakthrough, Mihawk, who was usually so inexplicably offhand in his speech, became unexpectedly serious this time and slowly explained, “When I was training in the way of the sword, I encountered the same problem, because at that time I had awakened Haki.”

“The awakening of Armament Haki and Observation Haki did indeed raise my strength to a higher level. There was even a period when I became so intoxicated by the power of Haki that I forgot I was cultivating swordsmanship, not Haki, and I put more energy, more thought, into the use and training of Haki.”

“But...”

Saying this, Mihawk gently stroked the wooden sword on his knees, the one Chu Yi had broken, and smiled. “But I am a swordsman, a man who swore to become the greatest swordsman in the world! It was my dream that told me what I should persist in was swordsmanship, not Haki. So look at me now. Don’t I rarely use Haki in battle?”

You’re lying...

You clearly just used Observation Haki and Armament Haki!

After Mihawk finished, Chu Yi cast him a look of contempt, because the things this guy was talking about were things even he himself could not actually do.

Still, the meaning behind Mihawk’s words, Chu Yi faintly understood.

He was telling Chu Yi not to try to cultivate everything at once, to train one ability for a while and then another, until in the end every ability was only half-learned. That would have a huge impact on future growth.

However, with the cheat-like existence of Shadow Clones, Chu Yi actually did not need to worry about dividing his attention.

So when Mihawk offered his advice, Chu Yi clearly realized what he lacked most at the moment.

Time.

His power had risen too quickly, especially with the abilities that came with each successive awakening, leaving the techniques he possessed as varied and dazzling as a kaleidoscope.

Such a kaleidoscope of attacks certainly had its advantages, but its drawbacks were just as obvious.

Even with Shadow Clones assisting his cultivation, Chu Yi still needed time to accumulate, to settle, to let everything sink in.

Because he understood that what he lacked was the accumulation of time, even though he was looking at Mihawk with a disdainful expression, in the end he did not fire back at him.

Moreover, some of what Mihawk had said was truly useful.

In Mihawk’s cultivation, swordsmanship always held the dominant position, while the use of Observation Haki and Armament Haki was forever auxiliary.

And if Chu Yi were to imitate Mihawk’s method of advancement, with Shadow Clones as support...

Ha.

Taking a deep breath, a flash of brilliance appearing in his eyes, Chu Yi did not hesitate in the slightest. He immediately connected with the system and opened the system shop.

He used all his possessions to purchase the awakening material he had long had his eye on.

“Although it’s a silver-grade awakening material, if I’m going to use it as the foundation for my cultivation...”

“This silver-grade awakening material is probably the most suitable one!”