Chapter 65: A Ranged Fighter Who Can't Handle Close Combat Is Not a Good Driver

If, at such close range, Lucci still chose to use Iron Body to withstand the barrage as he had before, that would be ideal—CP9 would surely be riddled like a honeycomb. However, he possessed a basic sense for the power of his opponent’s attacks, and would never be so foolish as to try to tough out everything Qiu Bai threw at him.

Yet, once forced to this distance, faced with a near point-blank onslaught of heavy firepower, evading was no simple matter for Lucci. He would either need to instantly elevate his neural reflexes to an entirely new level, or make himself “thin as paper” to slip between the gaps in Qiu Bai’s attacks.

So, he really did heighten his reflexes.

“Six Powers: Paper Art.”

The Six Powers were advanced martial techniques taught and used by the Navy or other combat-oriented branches of the World Government, divided into Shave, Moon Step, Finger Gun, Tempest Kick, Iron Body, and Paper Art.

Shave and Moon Step were movement techniques; Finger Gun and Tempest Kick were attack skills; Iron Body and Paper Art were defensive skills. Although their applications differed, Paper Art was far subtler and more ingenious than the brute force of Iron Body.

The essence of this move was for the user to relax every muscle, focusing the mind and attuning themselves to the air currents generated by the opponent’s actions, thereby dodging attacks at the very last possible instant.

Regardless of the other skills, in terms of function, Iron Body and Paper Art were clearly inferior versions of Armament and Observation Haki—offering similar effects at a lower level of mastery and training, mere substitutes, greatly weakened compared to real Haki.

But as long as they worked, what did it matter if they were knock-offs? To tell a somewhat bitter truth, Qiu Bai was also using imitation techniques.

Still, he hadn’t yet unleashed his most intense, saturating barrage; his attack density at this moment was far from overwhelming. Thus, Lucci’s use of Paper Art to evade was smart and efficient.

Lucci slipped through the arcs of Qiu Bai’s sword slashes, but it wasn’t over yet; evading didn’t mean he’d escaped Qiu Bai’s assault altogether. Suddenly, a wave of blistering heat seemed to surge behind him.

Not good!

In an instant, Lucci channeled all his strength into his legs, stomping repeatedly, launching himself upward with the recoil, and then “hovered” in the air.

“Moon Step.”

Moon Step was an advanced application of Shave, allowing the user to rapidly step on air or the ground multiple times to gain thrust, granting brief suspension or even agile movement in midair.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Floating just beneath the ceiling, Lucci could clearly observe from above the explosions triggered by Qiu Bai’s attack.

“Outwardly, these are cold weapons, yet they can cause explosions like firearms. What kind of ability is this?”

CP9 boasted some of the world’s richest intelligence resources, yet Lucci had no clue what “ability” Qiu Bai possessed.

Perhaps it was sufficient to confirm that the Devil Fruit was a Paramecia, not a Logia. Lucci was a prodigy in martial arts, but he had yet to master Haki at his age. If Qiu Bai’s body could “elementalize” as a Logia user, the fight would be even more one-sided.

By now Qiu Bai had steadied himself, blade in hand. In response to Lucci’s question, he tilted his head and replied,

“Why don’t you guess?”

What a useless tease—Devil Fruits came in endless varieties; there was no way Lucci could ever guess. Besides, he wasn’t a Devil Fruit user himself.

Fortunately, Lucci didn’t think Qiu Bai would be stupid enough to reveal his secrets. Regardless, Lucci now realized that continuing to drag out the battle was pointless; it was time to show his true power.

He stepped in the air a few times and then vanished from Qiu Bai’s sight.

After witnessing several uses of Shave, Qiu Bai’s eyes had begun to adapt to the speed, but he seemed to have forgotten one thing: Lucci hadn’t yet pushed his speed to the limit—because Lucci was also a Devil Fruit user, and one capable of three-stage transformations.

Zoan-type Devil Fruit users could often shift between human, hybrid, and full beast forms. Now, Lucci had transformed.

A tearing sound split the air behind him, and by the time Qiu Bai tried to turn, it was almost too late.

No longer the composed, youthful face, Lucci now towered behind him as a spotted “half-beast”—his face that of a leopard, his height over 2.5 meters. The power of the Devil Fruit had been unleashed, sending Lucci’s physical abilities soaring—he was now on an entirely different level in speed and strength.

It seemed Qiu Bai’s luck recently had been plagued by feline misfortune, for Lucci’s Devil Fruit was the Cat-Cat Fruit: Leopard Model.

And this fruit was far more formidable than any tabby.

“Finger Gun!”

Lucci’s attack arrived. His arm thrust forward, finger like a sharpened blade, and Qiu Bai could only barely twist away in time.

Lucci’s right index finger pierced effortlessly into Qiu Bai’s left shoulder.

The foreign sensation and sharp pain in his shoulder made him frown in an instant. The tremendous impact would have sent him flying, leaving him open to Lucci’s follow-up attacks—something Qiu Bai was keenly aware of, so his immediate response averted that fate.

Gritting his teeth, blood instantly welled from the puncture wound and streamed down his arm, but he ignored the pain. His left arm, supple as a serpent, coiled around Lucci’s right arm.

Clinging to Lucci, the impact was instantly dissipated, and Qiu Bai stopped his retreat in a heartbeat.

“Here’s a tip—next time, use your middle finger if you want to go deeper,” he quipped, forcing a smile even now.

To emerge unscathed from a hard-fought battle was always the ideal, but Qiu Bai never expected such luck. He had his own code: if you cut me and make me bleed, that’s fine, but I will cut you back in return. Only then is it “fair.”

Regardless of victory or defeat, he always tried—and sometimes succeeded.

Twisting his right wrist, he reversed his grip on his sword, holding it at his hip. His upper body leaned back slightly, but there was no time to adjust his stance; at this range, he wanted to maximize his swing.

Channeling all his strength into his right arm, he slashed at Lucci’s right shoulder with a sharp, strange angle.

“Pear Blossom!”

It wasn’t an eye-for-an-eye attack; it was simply the only opening—at this posture, Lucci’s right shoulder was all he could reach.

The two stood face to face, Qiu Bai’s left hand entwined with Lucci’s right, and his right hand slashed upward. In such a split-second response, it was fortunate he didn’t miss entirely.

And at this range, Paper Art was useless—Lucci had no way to dodge and could only brace with Iron Body.

Yet, it suddenly failed.

There was a slight resistance as the blade bit in, and then, with the pressure of Qiu Bai’s wrist, the sword sliced through Lucci’s “hide,” then dense muscle, finally lodging with a crisp crack against his shoulder bone.

Iron Body had not fully blocked Qiu Bai’s strike. Lucci was simply not yet at the level he would one day achieve—even if he could stop bullets, he could not withstand a close-range sword slash.

First, this was a desperate counterattack—Qiu Bai’s technique and force were a formidable combination, quite capable of breaking defenses. Second, to Qiu Bai, Iron Body’s workings were already laid bare.

With the blade stuck in Lucci’s shoulder, Qiu Bai immediately let go, stepped back with his right foot to widen the gap, and a second sword appeared in his hand.

The cold flash of the blade dazzled Lucci’s eyes. This time, Qiu Bai’s sword pressed downward, stabbing diagonally at Lucci’s ribs, but Lucci could no longer risk taking the hit—his left hand shot out like lightning and seized Qiu Bai’s blade.

In this contest of strength, Qiu Bai made no headway; against a Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, he could not overpower him.

Now the two stood, arms nearly crossed—making it almost impossible to launch any new attack. But Lucci was different; he had a fifth limb—while both hands were occupied, and his legs were at a disadvantage, he still had his tail! That iron-strong, whip-like, flexible, extendable, and unyielding limb behind him—

Yes, his tail, sprouting from his lower back.

With a whistling sound, the leopard’s tail lashed across Qiu Bai’s neck like a solid iron rod.

Yet, instead of a slicing sound, there was a sharp crack and intense vibration; Lucci realized his tail had struck something just as hard.

“By controlling the flow of blood, channeling new strength into a well-trained body, changing the density of muscle and skin to make it hard as iron, one gains defense enough to resist bullets and blades, and can even use that hardness for offense… Six Powers: Iron Body, nothing more.”

Who learns to swim fastest? Those about to drown—because in that moment, you either swim or die; there’s no other choice.

So, at the critical instant, Qiu Bai “stole” his opponent’s technique and protected himself… it was a clumsy and rather shocking use of Iron Body.

His words, though delivered with an air of bravado, barely concealed his disappointment.

He had once believed Iron Body might be related to Armament Haki, or perhaps a lower-level application of it. But the truth was a letdown—the two were fundamentally different systems, with no intrinsic connection whatsoever.