On a deserted, abandoned island, Xia Qiu's strong six legs bent slightly before erupting with immense power, charging towards the man before him.
"So fast."
Seeing Xia Qiu's movement, Heckle bent his legs and leaped upwards, flying directly into the sky.
But halfway up, Xia Qiu suddenly leaped upwards, raising his two forelimbs, arching his neck, and headbutting upwards.
"Not good."
Seeing this, Heckle's arms bulged suddenly. Instead of punching, he slapped forward.
Bang.
With a loud noise, Heckle's palm pressed against Xia Qiu's head.
The immense force was too much for Heckle's arm to bear, but he merely bent slowly before being sent flying backward.
Boom.
Xia Qiu's front half slammed into the ground, but his six legs moved, charging at Heckle and opening his mouth to bite.
Seeing this, Heckle plummeted rapidly through the air. Upon landing, he pushed off the ground with his feet.
Whoosh.
He dodged to the side, and Xia Qiu bit empty air.
After dodging, Heckle stomped his right foot on the ground, spun around, and threw a punch at Xia Qiu's neck.
"Good timing."
But the next moment, Xia Qiu's front leg lifted, directly kicking at Heckle.
"Good timing."
Heckle twisted his body, turned, and threw a punch, colliding with the giant claw.
Boom.
After a loud explosion, Heckle felt a massive force transmitted through him, sending his body flying backward. He intended to reduce his weight to dissipate the force and escape with the wind. But he felt the Giant Beast beside him and suddenly increased his weight, landing directly on the ground. His feet sank into the earth. His Blood Essence churned violently, but he had no time to stabilize. He immediately reduced his weight and leaped to the side, stumbling slightly upon landing.
In his original spot, Xia Qiu slowly moved his front leg. The impact point was a bit sore, but the leg was fine.
Xia Qiu looked at Heckle in the distance, slowly turning around to face him directly again.
But Heckle paced slightly, always avoiding facing Xia Qiu directly, hoping to attack from the side.
Boom.
Xia Qiu charged again, lunging at Heckle. This time, Heckle evaded in advance, leaping to the side, instantly covering seven or eight meters.
Xia Qiu immediately stopped his body, rotated, twisted his head, and bit directly at Heckle.
But Heckle leaped up again, flying towards his back.
Good timing.
If he had jumped directly like the first time, Xia Qiu could have attacked him a second time.
But now, Xia Qiu's head had just bent over and he couldn't leap to attack him. Heckle appeared on Xia Qiu's back, leaving Xia Qiu unable to counterattack.
Whoosh.
Heckle instantly encountered the right side of Xia Qiu's dorsal fin and then turned downwards, unleashing a punch.
Facing this strike, a tentacle shot straight out, lashing at Heckle.
"Not good."
Facing the giant tentacle, Heckle turned and struck out with a punch, hitting the tentacle.
Crack.
The surface of the tentacle exploded, and it was directly sent flying, smashing heavily onto the ground.
But the next moment, three more tentacles, striking with delayed force, covered Heckle.
Bang, bang.
Heckle threw a punch and a kick.
This punch smashed one of Xia Qiu's tentacles, and a kick braced against another, but he was struck by another tentacle.
Bang. Heckle was hit squarely but braced with his elbow. Using this force, he reduced his weight and was sent flying backward, dodging the remaining tentacles.
But the moment he flew back, Xia Qiu had already retracted his head and charged forward, lunging to bite the airborne Heckle.
Facing Xia Qiu's teeth, Heckle immediately increased his weight, plummeting rapidly and narrowly dodging the strike.
Xia Qiu's teeth bit empty air, but his head slammed down.
And as Heckle just stabilized his footing, the giant head had already smashed down. He had no choice but to raise his hands, propping up Xia Qiu's lower jaw.
Bang.
Heckle's feet sank into the ground.
Not good.
Heckle braced his arms, trying to resist Xia Qiu, but he couldn't push him away at all. He strained with all his might to hold his ground, but his legs were sinking, disappearing into the ground.
Just as Heckle felt things were going badly, he suddenly felt the pressure release.
Boom, boom.
Xia Qiu moved his feet, stepping back, creating some distance, and walked away into the distance.
"Not fighting anymore?"
Heckle slowly crawled out of the ground, panting as he watched Xia Qiu walk away from him.
"That's enough."
Zala walked towards Heckle and said, "We'll stop here for today."
"I'm sorry, I, I lost again," Heckle said with some annoyance. In half a year, he had mastered his Devil Fruit and developed a new fighting style to complement it.
He had also become stronger, not only increasing his arm strength but also focusing on leg training, hoping to perfectly utilize his Devil Fruit abilities.
But even so, he was still unable to defeat this Giant Beast.
Zala smiled and said, "You're much better than before, but it's still not enough. You need to become stronger."
"Vice President, I will continue to work hard," Heckle said immediately.
Zala said, "Alright, you should return to Alabasta. However, I need you to deliver a message to someone. When you get back,"
"Please instruct me, Vice President," Heckle said quickly.
...
"Still not bad."
Xia Qiu was satisfied with Heckle's combat strength and his own.
Heckle's strength had improved again since last time. He could at least use his Devil Fruit proficiently, and his strength had increased significantly.
His combat power was roughly at the level of a Marine Colonel.
As for himself, he was slightly superior to Heckle. Even if he fought a Commodore on land, although the Commodore would have an advantage in speed, he might not be able to grasp Xia Qiu's movements, but the Commodore still wouldn't be able to defeat him.
Of course, underwater, a Commodore, or even a Rear Admiral, would only meet their death if they encountered him.
This improvement was quite significant, thanks to the past six months of progress.
Reinforcement Energy had pushed his strength far beyond that of a Rear Admiral, and he was not far from Vice Admiral. At least underwater, a Vice Admiral's strength would be halved, and their pure strength would not match his.
He had stronger defense and faster speed.
Secondly, by consuming dinosaurs, the structure of his six legs had changed. It wasn't completely finished yet, but he could slowly support himself. Combined with the increase in strength, his speed had increased considerably.
Now, he could use his legs to kick and stomp on opponents, and the power of these attacks was no weaker than a Commodore's strike.
This way, he wouldn't have to worry about enemies attacking from the sides. Furthermore, by propping up his body, he could free his tentacles, allowing them to attack.
But it was still not enough.
His mobility was still too poor. As long as someone knew Geppo and Soru, it would be very difficult for him to catch them.
In the water, opponents couldn't use Geppo and Soru, and their strength was halved. A Rear Admiral would only die if they encountered him.
But on land, he felt powerless against Marine officers who knew Soru.
However, Xia Qiu found it difficult to improve his agility. By increasing his strength to increase his speed, and then using that speed for mobility to counter the enemy's mobility.
Then, what level of strength would be required for his mobility to rival that of a human?
He could compensate with more attack methods: his tail, legs, teeth, tentacles, and so on.
But it was becoming increasingly difficult to track the enemy's movements. On land, his sonar had very poor results. Sound traveled in air at only a little over one-fifth the speed it did in water, and its attenuation was extremely severe.
The speed of sound wave emission, reception speed, and accuracy were all greatly reduced, making it difficult to track enemy movements. He had already struggled against Heckle.
Therefore, he needed to have more attack methods and simultaneously increase his detection methods.
For detection methods, Xia Qiu had a very good idea: Observation Haki. As long as he possessed Observation Haki, he could accurately grasp the enemy's movements, and combat would become much easier.
Observation Haki was relatively less common than Armament Haki, and its manifestations also differed.
Some people had sharp senses, some could sense the surrounding aura, and some could foresee and avoid danger.
The first thing he needed was to sense the surrounding aura, so the number of potential candidates was limited.
But there was a perfect candidate not far from here.
Enel.
He could not only sense the surrounding aura but also foresee others' actions. Although his Observation Haki was enhanced by his Devil Fruit ability, it was still extremely powerful.
However, he might not be able to reach the Sky Island, and he couldn't defeat Enel.
This made Xia Qiu somewhat troubled.
For now, he could only put it aside and deal with it later. He slowly lay down to the side and waited.
Before long, a figure entered the house, greeted by Zala.
I'll deal with this matter first.
There will be two updates today, and the last one will take a while longer, likely not ready until around two o'clock.
Also, I don't know if everyone watched the RNG and SKT match today. They gave us hope at first, but then they lost, especially in the final game, which was a real shame. Faker is truly amazing, though. RNG will have to fight again next year.
Looking forward to tomorrow's WE match. With two LPL teams in the semifinals, at least one club has to make it to the Bird's Nest.
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