Silently, Ryuu opened his status page once more.
[Role-Playing System]
Host: Ryuu
Strength: 100
Agility: 100
Spirit: 100
Physique: 100
(Note: 10 is the average attribute score for an ordinary human.)
Current Character Template: Hawkeye Mihawk
Current Role-Playing Completion Rate: 40%
Current Character Power Unlocked: Intermediate
Acquired Ability: Shapeshift
Indeed. At this very moment, his mastery of Hawkeye's abilities had advanced to the next level: Intermediate.
His role-playing completion rate had successfully breached the 40% mark!
As it turned out, ever since Ryuu began utilizing the dagger to unleash flying slashes, his synchronization with Hawkeye Mihawk had been steadily climbing. The subsequent clash with Vaccine Man accelerated that growth exponentially. By the time the monster foolishly charged straight into his line of fire, the threshold was met.
[Ding! Current role-playing completion rate has reached 40%. Status threshold met! Congratulations to the host for obtaining another portion of Hawkeye Mihawk's power.]
The system's chime arrived exactly on schedule.
Following the notification, a fresh torrent of memories rushed through Ryuu's mind at blistering speed.
These were the chronicles of Hawkeye Mihawk after he first set sail into the open ocean. Unsurprisingly, even in his youth, he was already exceptionally strong. Armed with nothing but a single sword and his own boat, he challenged the seas, leaving an endless trail of defeated Marines, notorious pirates, and elite bounty hunters in his wake.
Before long, he pushed forward, advancing directly into the Grand Line!
In that sea of absolute powerhouses, he finally encountered genuine competition—foes whose baseline strength actually eclipsed his own.
During one cataclysmic battle, Mihawk was pushed to the absolute brink of death, heavily wounded and facing defeat. Yet, in that critical, life-or-death threshold, he achieved a profound breakthrough. He mastered the concept of "Breath of All Things"—the legendary technique of cutting steel. He ascended from a mere swordsman to a true Sword Master, completely turning the tables and slaughtering his ultimate adversary!
Having inherited this next segment of Hawkeye's life, Ryuu didn't just experience another massive surge in his base attributes; he had formally advanced from a powerful bladesman to a genuine Sword Master. He could now manifest the legendary steel-cleaving slashes—the very power that had just carved through Vaccine Man's absolute defense!
CRASH!
Vaccine Man slammed heavily into the dirt below, completely stripped of its previous arrogant, high-and-mighty posture.
The dark green blood spraying from its chest painted a gruesome picture, transforming its menacing visage into one of sheer, disheveled humiliation.
Sprinting onto the ground, the monster dazed in sheer disbelief for a couple of seconds before leaping back to its feet in a towering rage!
"Wretched human insect...!!"
"I am the chosen Apostle of the Earth, born from the collective will of the planet itself!"
"Parasites like you are supposed to stay in your place and be wiped out like the garbage you are!"
"Do not presume for a single second that a lucky scratch gives you the right to stand before me! Behold the absolute, unbridled power of the Earth's wrath!"
The moment Vaccine Man's roar echoed, an incredible phenomenon occurred.
The gruesome, bone-deep fissure cutting across its chest suddenly stopped bleeding. Right before their eyes, the torn muscle fibers and shattered tissue began to knit back together at a visible, terrifying speed!
Fubuki's heart skipped a beat.
But what followed next was infinitely more horrifying.
As its wounds healed, Vaccine Man's entire physical frame began to expand violently! Its originally sleek, three-meter-tall humanoid shape ballooned outwards, muscles warping into thick, jagged armor plating as its features mutated into a grotesque nightmare.
In the blink of an eye, Vaccine Man had transformed into a colossal, multi-limbed behemoth—resembling a catastrophic, apex void monster, radiating an oppressive aura of pure slaughter!
It now stood well over ten meters tall, towering over the battlefield like a moving mountain of muscle and malice.
Fubuki stared, completely frozen in horror.
Though she didn't understand the mechanics of this transformation, one thing was blindingly obvious: the current Vaccine Man was leagues more powerful than before.
So the power that leveled half of A-City earlier... wasn't even its true limit?!
A cold dread gripped her heart, and the familiar shadow of absolute despair crept over her consciousness once again.
Even Ryuu, maintaining his Hawkeye facade, narrowed his eyes slightly as a look of genuine gravity settled onto his chiseled features.
Sensing their shock, Vaccine Man let out a malicious rumble, split its jagged, fanged jaws, and sneered, "Do you see it now, fragile insects? This is my absolute, ultimate form!"
"Now... face the judgment of the planet and perish!"
Opening its massive maw, a blinding azure luminescence erupted from its throat. But this time, the energy didn't form a condensed sphere. Instead, it fractured into a wild, chaotic web of jagged azure lightning, cascading forward like an unstoppable tidal wave aimed directly at Ryuu and Fubuki!
Before the devastating lightning could even make contact, an immense, invisible gravitational pressure slammed down first, pinning both of them to the spot.
Fubuki's face contorted in agony.
"What is... this?!"
At that moment, she felt as though an entire mountain range had been dropped onto her shoulders. Her battered, exhausted body couldn't even manage to twitch a single finger; the sheer force was threatening to crush her into the dirt. As the azure lightning rolled closer, the crushing weight only grew more suffocating.
Just as Fubuki was about to completely buckle under the pressure, Ryuu moved.
Gripping the tiny dagger with both hands, he planted his feet and unleashed a monumental, heaven-splitting upward slash!
FLASH—!
A colossal crescent of emerald light, shaped like a massive, glowing crescent moon, erupted from the blade and tore through the sky!
The invisible, crushing weight pinning them down was instantaneously shattered into pieces. A split second later, the emerald crescent collided head-on with the cascading wall of azure lightning!