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"Activate the Demon Slayer Mark now?" Kalifa asked, blinking in confusion.
"Ikki, my current life force level shouldn't be enough to activate the Innate Demon Slayer Mark."
Having learned from Nami, Nojiko, and Vivi's experiences, Kalifa knew that to activate the Innate Demon Slayer Mark, she would need to wait until her life force reached a much higher level.
While it wasn't impossible for her now, it would definitely take a long time under the influence of Ikki's Innate Demon Slayer Mark.
"According to common sense, that's true, but I'm confident based on what I learned from Gion," Ikki explained.
"If you activate the Demon Slayer Mark first, then continue to be influenced by my Innate Demon Slayer Mark, it's possible to activate the Innate Demon Slayer Mark without reaching S-level life force."
"It's just because you're 25 years old, so after you activate the mark, you can only stay active for a short while. Only after the Innate Demon Slayer Mark is activated can you move freely."
"Perona is 23 years old now. After activating her mark, she can live for two years even without doing anything special. In those two years, my influence should be enough for her to activate her Innate Demon Slayer Mark."
Ikki carried Perona to the hot spring pool, tossing her into the water as he spoke.
"Let's not discuss how you knew I was 25 years old," Kalifa said, pushing up her glasses and looking at Ikki with extreme suspicion.
"You're asking me to activate the Demon Slayer Mark now—do you want to make it easier to get close to me in this hot spring? As expected, you want to take advantage of me."
Despite her words, the next moment Ikki could sense Kalifa's heartbeat beginning to accelerate and her body temperature gradually rising.
Soon, cyan sun-like marks spread from the center of Kalifa's forehead. Kalifa's Demon Slayer Mark was officially activated.
"Ikki, please stay with me for a while. Also, could you please turn around for a moment?" Kalifa walked behind Ikki, pushed him to the corner, then grabbed a bath towel and began removing her clothes.
"What, you really do want to get stronger quickly," Ikki said, shaking his head as he waited for the sounds behind him to stop before turning around and walking behind Kalifa.
"After all, you said that the New World is very dangerous. I have to increase my strength quickly so I won't be left behind," Kalifa said with a smile, brushing her hair behind her ear.
Ikki smiled and shifted his attention to Perona in the pool.
"Should I also activate the Demon Slayer Mark?" Perona asked weakly.
"You? Let's wait on that. You haven't even learned the breathing techniques yet—how could you activate the mark?" Ikki replied, waving his hand.
"Exercise your body first. After your training is complete and you learn Flame Breathing, then you can think about activating the mark."
Ikki then activated his own Demon Slayer Mark, sat down cross-legged, and opened his personal attribute panel.
[Host: Ikki]
[Age: 25 years old]
[Weapon: Zangetsu]
[Life Force: 100,988 (S-level)]
[Swordsmanship Realm: Mountain-Cutting Realm]
[Abilities: Advanced Armament Haki, Advanced Observation Haki (Future Vision), Advanced Conqueror's Haki, Conqueror's Haki Infusion, Transparent World, Innate Demon Slayer Mark]
[Swordsmanship Schools: Demon Slayer Breathing Techniques, Zoro Three-Sword Style, Tashigi One-Sword Style, Golden Lion Two-Sword Style, Gion One-Sword Style]
[Items: E-level Nutrition Potion x4, D-level Nutrition Potion x4, C-level Nutrition Potion x3, B-level Nutrition Potion x2, A-level Nutrition Potion x2, S-level Nutrition Potion x1, SS-level Nutrition Potion x2, Swordsman Challenge Authority]
'An SS-level nutrition potion can help a trainee gain 20,000 life force points. Two of them equals 40,000. I didn't expect that even reaching 100,000 life force points wouldn't be enough to enter SSS level.'
'I wonder how many life force points are needed to reach SSS level.'
Ikki shook his head, closed his personal attribute panel, and began chatting with Kalifa and Perona.
A few minutes later, Nico Robin walked into the bathhouse. After seeing the Demon Slayer Mark on Kalifa's face, she was slightly surprised.
After Ikki explained the situation, she covered her mouth and chuckled softly. Then she pulled Ikki to the adjacent changing area to put on a bathrobe before entering the pool together.
Time passed slowly as the Explorer continued sailing, eventually arriving in the waters near the Sabaody Archipelago.
"Just as you said, Ikki," Nami said in amazement, looking at the Log Pose in her hand from the navigation room.
"When we came to this place, the Log Pose is indeed pointing toward Fish-Man Island below."
"Ikki, are we heading to Fish-Man Island next?" Nojiko asked.
"To reach Fish-Man Island, we first need to go to the Sabaody Archipelago for coating," Ikki replied, nodding to Nami and Nojiko before looking toward the training area.
"Also, I heard there's a pirate named Law who carries a demon sword. Let's take a look first. If he hasn't arrived at Sabaody Archipelago yet, we might have to wait here for a while."
In the training area, Perona was wildly swinging her sword while fighting against Zoro's sword shadow.
After several days of training, Perona had now mastered Flame Breathing by defeating the sword shadow. Even under Ikki's guidance, she had activated her Demon Slayer Mark.
Although it wasn't an Innate Demon Slayer Mark, with the addition of Armament Haki and enhanced physical strength, Perona's power was now stronger than Zoro's sword shadow.
A minute passed, and Perona finally found an opportunity to thrust her long blade into the heart of Zoro's sword shadow.
[Ding! Congratulations to Host's partner Perona for defeating Sky-Cutting Realm swordsman Zoro and advancing her swordsmanship to the Sky-Cutting Realm.]
[Perona's personal attributes have been refreshed. Please check them yourself.]
[Name: Perona]
[Age: 23 years old]
[Weapon: Tenken ]
[Life Force: 10,520 (A-level)]
[Swordsmanship Realm: Sky-Cutting Realm]
[Swordsmanship School: Flame Breathing]
[Special Abilities: Hollow-Hollow Fruit, Beginner Armament Haki, Demon Slayer Mark]
"Ahhhh, I finally won! I'm completely exhausted," Perona complained as soon as she walked out of the training area.
"Why is it that my Negative Hollow has no effect on these swordsman shadows?"
"Those swordsman shadows are essentially existences without hearts, so naturally they're not affected by your Negative Hollows," Ikki explained, raising his right hand to pat Perona on the shoulder with a smile.
"But didn't I help you awaken Beginner Armament Haki and the Demon Slayer Mark? With all this power, what do you have to worry about?"
"Really... you still have the nerve to say that!" Perona said, holding her head in distress.
"After activating the Demon Slayer Mark, I only have two years to live. What am I supposed to do next?!"
'With this mark, won't I be unable to leave this guy's side?' Perona complained internally, glancing at Kalifa, who was standing to Ikki's left holding his hand and also bore Demon Slayer marks on her face.