CHAPTER 42: CHAPTER 42: TECHNIQUE

Late at night, Karl put on a black cloak and a Water 7–style mask. He said to Carina and the girls, "Carina, I’m heading out for a bit. You and Perona protect Nami."

"Dressed like that, where are you going?"

Studying how even his hair was hidden under the hood, Carina asked curiously.

"I’m going to visit a strong one on the island and learn a few things," Karl answered honestly.

"Sure it’s a visit and not an assassination?" Nami quipped.

"Yeah. The aura I sensed isn’t like a pirate’s or a civilian master’s. Most likely an informant Mariejois or the Marines planted here."

Karl nodded. "So to avoid being wanted afterward, I can only dress like this."

"Be careful, and don’t make a scene."

Carina’s "reminder" carried a chilling edge. "If you’re exposed, kill them all."

"No problem. I’m off."

Karl flashed an OK sign, and his figure vanished without warning.

But the wild shake of the curtains said a strong gust had just swept through.

Before dawn.

Bruno saw off the last customers.

As he was about to close, his motion paused.

"Who goes there?"

Watching Karl step out of the alley’s darkness, Bruno feigned shock. "Who sent you?"

"If I have to kill you, blame your bar’s perfect location."

Karl played along and, with his power heavily suppressed, sprinted at a pace that would seem impossibly fast to an ordinary person, yet slow and ponderous to anyone who’d mastered the Six Forms.

"I see. An assassin, is it..."

Bruno took the bait.

Realizing the other party was a killer someone had hired, he shed the fake panic, face going blank as he declared Karl’s fate. "Pitiful fool. Blame the one who hired you."

"Soru."

Like teleporting, Bruno vanished.

Even as the shrill air-tear reached his ears, a tall figure flashed before Karl.

Bruno’s right index finger, carrying air-splitting piercing force, thrust for Karl’s heart. "Shigan."

But the next instant, Bruno’s pupils tightened.

Karl, with just the right touch of "panic," slipped aside in a deft sidestep, then whipped a dagger from his cloak and stabbed for Bruno’s abdomen.

That jarring mix of clumsy and keen caught Bruno off guard.

"Tekkai."

With no time to Soru away, Bruno used another of the Six Forms.

Clang—crack.

The dagger struck like steel; Bruno was unhurt, and the blade snapped in two.

"Monster."

A trembling voice leaked from behind Karl’s mask as he continued that deliberately odd rhythm—then he "fled" at startling speed.

Fast enough to hit the alley’s mouth in a blink and melt into the dark.

By the time Bruno chased with Soru, Karl’s trace was gone.

Even slipping through doors with the Door-Door Fruit to search the interspace, Bruno found nothing.

"Strange fellow."

Stepping back out, Bruno could only mutter that much.

After Karl left, he took off the mask, satisfied. "So that’s how useful the Six Forms’ finesse is. No wonder I could never self-teach them."

Karl’s physique is monstrous.

Yet he’d never managed to self-learn the Marines’ Rokushiki, even knowing the principles.

Take Soru as a simple example.

Its principle is to stomp the ground dozens of times within an instant to generate explosive reactive force, producing near-teleport bursts of speed.

Karl could easily stomp not just dozens of times within that instant, but over a hundred.

Yet instead of explosive rebound, his steps just shattered the ground.

Beyond raw physique, Soru demands exquisite power application.

What Karl lacked was that finesse.

Now he’d learned it.

Not just Soru, but also Shigan and Tekkai.

"Soru."

Like a teleport, Karl appeared ten meters away in an instant.

His figure kept flickering, now far off, now atop the rooftops of the waterborne city.

If not for the sharp rip of the air, these explosive short-range flashes would be indistinguishable from spatial teleportation.

Though Soru’s top speed can’t match his full-blown dash, it has no windup and doesn’t constantly pulverize the ground, so Karl’s movements no longer feel heavy.

"What’s left are Geppo, Kami-e, Rankyaku, and Seimei Kikan."

After playing with Soru for a while, Karl reappeared on a rooftop, gaze burning as he looked toward the Galley-La Company.

Rokushiki and Seimei Kikan interlink. Those who master all seven to high proficiency can weave combinations and secret techniques and reach Marine Vice Admiral level.

With Haki on top, they become first-rate powers of the sea. Those who push Rokushiki, Seimei Kikan, and Haki to their peaks can become super-strong like Monkey D. Garp.

But Rokushiki, Seimei Kikan, and Haki all demand tremendous talent.

Not every Vice Admiral has mastered all three. Most specialize in one, grasping the other two only superficially.

To specialize in two or even all three, like Garp, marks a genius among geniuses.

Water 7 has just such a genius.

Rob Lucci—joined CP9 at thirteen, called the "strongest killing weapon in CP9 history," regarded as CP9’s mightiest in eight hundred years, master of Rokushiki and Seimei Kikan, developer of countless combos and secret arts.

Give him Haki and his strength leaps a tier. Even rusted by five years undercover, he could still bring despair to the Straw Hats.

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