One Piece: Starting with Coercing and Enticing Nami

"Alright, I'm going out to cultivate. Think about it carefully yourself."

Thoth got up and left the room.

Watching Thoth's departing figure, Nojiko bit her lip, her eyes dimming.

"Are you adapting? Has Nami always experienced such bloody days?"

Suddenly, she seemed to see Nami's past experiences more clearly.

But Nami almost always looked happy in front of her.

She was considering my feelings, and I... I already knew.

It was only today's scene that made me realize this more deeply.

Gradually, a different kind of light appeared in her eyes.

It seemed like they had become even more determined.

It was as if they had made up their minds.

When Nami returned home that evening, she happily ate the delicious roasted meat on the table. However, her keen senses quickly alerted her to something seemingly happening to Nojiko, and she asked in confusion:

"what happened to you?"

Nojiko wore the same smile as always.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm fine. It's you who's had a tough day."

"Haha, let's not talk about that. You can clean up in a bit, I'm going to go train with Tote."

"Alright! Then you go."

……

The next morning, as Thoth and Nami were leaving, Nojiko approached Thoth with her equipment and said seriously:

"I want to go with you. Yesterday was just the first time, so don't worry, I won't hold you back."

Thoth narrowed his eyes slightly. "Then I'll give you one more chance."

Noki breathed a sigh of relief and followed Thoth's figure.

Deep in the forest, they changed locations to continue hunting, with Thoth using different ferocious beasts to hone his swordsmanship.

As his swordsmanship improved and the blade sliced ​​through different bodies, a sense of menace gradually developed on Thoth's body under the tempering of blood.

It can also be described as murderous intent or imposing aura.

In the blink of an eye, another three days have passed.

As Thoth devoted himself to his spiritual practice, the wild beasts in the mountains became more vigilant and gradually hid themselves even more discreetly.

It was noon on March 30th.

Deep in the forest and mountain stream.

After Thoth turned around and beheaded a tiger with his sword, his body stopped abruptly.

Even after the three-meter-long tiger was decapitated by a single sword strike, Noki, watching from afar, couldn't help but slightly open her mouth:

"So strong! And he seems to have become even stronger. His aura is even more terrifying."

At the same time, a system notification appeared in Thoth's consciousness.

[Note: Your swordsmanship proficiency has reached the maximum value of "Slight Achievement 500/500". Your swordsmanship skill will automatically advance.]

[Hint: Your swordsmanship skill has improved from "Slightly Accomplished" to "Masterful"! Gain +1 to Constitution! +1 to Strength! +1 to Agility!]

[Hint: Your swordsmanship skill has reached the "Mastery" level. You have gained the trait "Sword Aura": Concentrate your essence, energy, and spirit to comprehend all things in nature, forming an invisible, oppressive field that intimidates your opponent's mind and body.]

[Hint: Your swordsmanship is at the "Advanced Level" 0/1000; the next level is "Mastery".]

At this moment, Thoth's eyes closed slightly, his swordsmanship advanced, his attributes improved, and changes began to gradually appear inside and outside his body, making his muscles and bones stronger and more resilient.

At the same time, the swordsmanship in his mind began to evolve continuously, from exquisite sword swings to the integration of spiritual will. The connection between body and mind also began to become closer, and his essence, energy and spirit became more and more refined. His own killing intent, fighting spirit and momentum began to condense on the sword.

At this moment, a human aura gradually rose from Tote, which was sharp, wild, and domineering.

Silently, I experienced how, with the awakening of my own "sword aura," I gained the ability to interfere with and control my own essence, energy, and spirit.

Sword techniques not only allow one to perceive the external world and comprehend the power of nature, but also to internally coordinate oneself and continuously improve the efficiency of one's use of physical and mental strength.

"Is this the characteristic that comes with reaching a certain level of skill?"

025. Change! Consider it!

"Sword stance".

Holding the sword, a strange feeling, completely different from anything I had experienced before, arose.

From wielding this weapon by physically using techniques, it has now expanded to include incorporating one's own mental will.

An instinct arose from within, and the spirit gradually became refined, the tendrils of consciousness gradually extended outward, condensing into the sword.

From the unity of body and sword, one progresses to the unity of mind and sword.

Thoth raised his sword, gazing at the sword in his hand, its appearance unchanged, but he could sense that the sword had become different.

Conduction.

Physical and mental strength gathered in his body with his will, and an aura gradually rose from Thoth's body, then condensed on the sword through his will.

Looking up at a large blue stone a few meters away that would take three or four people to encircle, Tote strode over. Standing before the stone, his aura reached its peak, and he suddenly unleashed several streaks of cold light from his hand, as easily as cutting through tofu with a knife.

Clang clang clang.

The condensed cold light in the air dissipated, followed by a crisp clicking sound.

Smooth, crisscrossing cuts appeared on the bluestone. With a loud bang, the force remaining at the cuts burst forth, and the bluestone instantly shattered from the cuts.

Dust rose up.

Thoth's eyes flickered slightly, and he swung his sword again. A sharp, cold light detached from the blade, and with a snap, the sword energy pierced half a finger into the stone.

By coordinating the power of the whole body through sword momentum and concentrating the essence, energy and spirit, the sword momentum is gathered and compressed to unleash a sword energy attack at the moment the sword is slashed.

Thoth sensed the depletion within his body. Although he could now use this outward offensive with his sword aura, the consumption of his energy was excessive.

"His swordsmanship is up to par, but his physical condition is still insufficient to support his use of the swords at will."

I understand.

Thoth stopped swinging his sword again, and Nojiko, who was not far away, walked forward upon seeing this, her eyes filled with amazement:

"Wow, that's amazing. Even though I don't understand it, you've really gotten stronger."

Thoth turned around, smiled, and shook his head: "It's still a long way off. We can only be considered to have officially entered the realm of swordsmanship at this moment."

Nojiko looked bewildered, but Thoth laughed and changed the subject, pointing to the tiger on the ground, "Let's find a place and eat this big guy later."

Nokiko blinked and smiled, "Okay, tiger meat is very nutritious."

A moment later, the two arrived at a stream in the mountains. Nojiko was processing tiger meat on the bank, while Thoth was searching for firewood around.

However, at this moment, in the forest not far away, Thoth calmly watched the leopard in front of him, which had failed to ambush him and was instead cut down and killed by a single sword strike.

Swordsmanship (Advanced Level 0/1000)

Looking at the sword skills displayed on the screen, one wonders, "Having reached a higher level, is it no longer possible to gain proficiency in swordsmanship from ordinary beasts?"

“Continuing to fight these ordinary beasts will no longer allow me to improve my swordsmanship.”

Toth now accepts this fact quite naturally.

That's true. Once you reach a high level of swordsmanship, it's no longer limited to physical application. So, it would be absurd if swordsmanship could grow endlessly just through ordinary, low-level killing.

From this perspective, even if one had chosen to kill ordinary people to improve their skills...

At this level, they will also lose their usefulness.

It seems I made the right choice; the utilization rate of wild beasts in this world is clearly higher.

After all, Thoth didn't think that ordinary civilians could generally defeat the beasts that lived in the deep forest.

Therefore, if one wants to continue to improve their current swordsmanship level, they can only rely on their talent to train and improve, or find stronger opponents to fight and kill in actual combat to improve.

Ah Long and his gang.

At that moment, Tote naturally thought of them, but he quickly suppressed it.

"Although I am confident that my swordsmanship is superior to theirs, I am afraid that I cannot beat Ah Long in terms of physical fitness right now."

Given Ah Long's physical strength, even with his swordsmanship, if my strength, constitution, and agility attributes don't reach 15 points or higher, the probability of my defeat against him is extremely high.

Based on the information I remember, Arlong's strength is probably no less than that of a colonel in the Navy Headquarters, but not quite at the level of a rear admiral in the Navy Headquarters.

Thinking of this, Thoth pondered, "Then, what I need to do now is to improve the remaining three skills. As long as they can all be improved to the highest level, with the improvement of attributes, I can obtain the basic power to kill him as quickly as possible."

As for acquiring new skills, Thoth has his own considerations. The four skills he currently possesses have already formed a relatively complete combat system.

Acquiring new skills will inevitably distract one's attention, and in the current situation, this is not cost-effective.

However, in the short term, the only way to significantly increase combat power is to awaken one's domineering aura.

Armament Haki requires a strong body to support it, and Conqueror's Haki is ethereal and elusive, so all that's left is Observation Haki.

The power of Observation Haki might awaken during a crisis.

His gaze shifted slightly.

Tote slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. One must eat one bite at a time, and walk one step at a time.

With some wood nearby, Thoth went to the riverbank, chopped it to the right size, built a fire pit, and started a fire. He then left the rest to Nojiko.

He gripped his sword and began practicing swordsmanship to the side.

As time went by, Thoth gradually realized in his swordsmanship training that in order to improve his swordsmanship to the current level, he needed to refine his essence, energy and spirit, and hone his swordsmanship with the momentum of each strike.

Focus.

Thoth calmed his mind and focused all his attention on the sword, sensing the power within himself, his energy flowing through his body, and his mind channeling his energy into the sword.

However, sword practice consumes a lot of energy. Even though Thoth has "self-recovery," he still needs to rest and relax for twenty minutes every hour.

However, Thoth discovered that his self-healing skills would improve whenever he finished resting.