Not long after, Skye came downstairs again.
"You're so clumsy, you know?" Mike dotingly tapped Skye's forehead.
Skye wrinkled her nose and bared her teeth.
Peter, standing by, felt like he was force-fed a mouthful of dog food.
He came knocking on their door only to be force-fed...
The single dog expressed great sadness.
Can this World be a little friendlier to single dogs? Besides hand speed, when can single dogs stand up?
"Are you Peter Parker?"
"Yes, phone appointment."
"Oh."
The voice on the phone sounded young, and he looked young too. "Could he be a middle school student (ps)?"
"No, no, I'm in high school." As soon as he said this, Peter knew it was bad. What time could a high school student have for a part-time job? Many bosses would directly refuse upon hearing "high school student."
Peter felt uneasy in his heart; he really wanted to help Aunt Mei lighten her financial burden. He looked at Skye, a hint of plea in his eyes.
Peter was undoubtedly not qualified, but thinking of the opportunity Mike had given her, Skye's heart softened.
She looked back at Mike, after all, Mike was the boss. Doing good deeds with other people's money, and using other people's things to do favors—that's called being generous with others' resources, which is a disgusting thing.
So... no matter how good her relationship with Mike was, even if they were lovers, she felt she should seek Mike's consent.
"You decide." Mike nodded. It had to be said, Skye's approach made him feel very comfortable.
With Mike's approval, Skye asked Peter about his situation in detail and decided to give Peter a chance, with a one-month probation period.
"Thank you, thank you." Peter bowed gratefully to Mike and Skye.
After Peter left, Old Earl asked, "Is he reliable?"
Mike said indifferently, "Let's try it. If it doesn't work out, we'll hire someone else."
Since Mike said so, what else could be said? Old Earl smiled slightly; when he hired a homeless person as an employee, others probably thought it wasn't reliable either.
"You wait."
Skye excitedly ran upstairs to the second floor, then came downstairs and pulled Mike, "Come with me."
"What are you doing?" Mike was in the elevator and saw Skye press the top floor.
Elevator shock?
A low floor of ten-odd stories, who are you looking down on?
Skye suddenly leaned close to his chest, sniffed, and stared at Mike with suspicious eyes.
"What's wrong now?"
"Perfume."
"Cough cough, you even smelled that, impressive. Sigh~ What can I do, natural beauty is hard to conceal, everywhere I go there's... Hey hey, what are you doing!"
Skye reached into Mike's pocket, pulled out a bottle of perfume and a shopping receipt, sniffed it, and it was the same scent as Mike's.
"Bragging. You clearly bought it yourself. Heh~ Men... always trying to save face."
Skye's lips curved upwards.
Mike's lips also curved upwards.
Don't underestimate a woman's sense of smell and sixth sense. Rather than being caught, it's better to expose yourself proactively.
After taking Trish back to the TV station, the first thing Mike did was go to a hotel to shower, then bought a bottle of perfume at the mall and sprayed a little.
Then his bragging was exposed. Skye, instead, found it difficult to press further with other questions, otherwise it would seem unreasonable.
This is called exposing one's own weakness, retreating to advance, sacrificing a pawn to save the king—from the scumbag's cultivation manual.
Sure enough, Skye did not pursue it further.
They arrived at the rooftop.
"Let me show you the results of my training these past two days." Skye threw out a Poké Ball: "Burn, Little Fire Dragon!"
"Kani! Kaniso!" Little Fire Dragon was full of fighting spirit.
"Use Flamethrower!" Skye commanded.
Wow!
Little Fire Dragon opened its mouth and spewed a two-meter-long flame.
"How is it!" Skye asked excitedly.
"Good! Very good!" What else could he say? Should he say the wind-up was too long, and the flame range too small?
Mike wasn't stupid and immediately launched into a string of compliments, praising Skye and Little Fire Dragon to the point where they both wiggled their butts in unison.
Next, Little Fire Dragon demonstrated Claw Attack and Tail Whip.
It was enough to deal with petty thugs, but against professionals... it probably could only get by with cuteness.
The two sat embracing on the rooftop for a while. Skye went downstairs first; she still had things to do, and Chloe would be back soon. Bobby had to "receive guests"; ever since she got Little Fire Dragon, the little girl had become a bit more cheerful.
Mike remained alone on the rooftop.
Downwards...
Ptooey ptooey, he wasn't thinking of jumping, no way.
There was still a Destiny Fruit in the system space. After flirting with Skye just now, he felt like the European Emperor had possessed him.
He took a deep breath.
"Activate Destiny Fruit."
As soon as he finished speaking, the golden-hooked fruit split open in the middle, emitting a magnificent light.
"No way, no way, I got a samurai sword, that's it? Damn it, it's a Destiny Fruit!"
Mike was so angry he wanted to curse.
"Wait!" Just as he was about to throw the samurai sword into the warehouse, Mike vaguely felt a spiritual connection with it. He focused his mind on the samurai sword, and the system displayed text information:
[Weapon: Senbonzakura]
[Type: Zanpakutō (Permanent Item)]
[Note: A weapon forged from one's own soul. Each one has its own soul, thoughts, and personality, so it's not just a weapon.]
System prompt: "To use all functions of Senbonzakura, you need to pay 800,000 U.S. dollars at once."
"Do you want to pay?"
"Damn it!"
Isn't it a coincidence? Mike's bank savings happened to be just over 800,000 U.S. dollars. Mike wouldn't believe it if someone said the system wasn't intentionally charging that exact amount.
Where's the system's conscience?
Are working people not people?
"Do you want to pay?" The system prompted again.
"Pay!" Mike thought: "Money is a bastard; you can't take it with you when you're born or when you die. Only strength is your own, and it never depreciates."
But... why was his heart bleeding, dripping with blood?
System prompt: "Payment successful."
What followed was a text message deduction notification. It was better not to look, it only caused heartache.
He took Senbonzakura out of the space and held it in his hand. Mike felt the blade was like an extension of his arm.
With a gentle swing, the blade left a shallow mark on the wall.
As easy as pointing a finger...
"If I use Senbonzakura, and then use a Zoro or Zabuza Momochi possession card, I feel like my swordsmanship would reach another level, like... it surpassed the character itself."
"Too bad... If I had a choice, I'd like Ryūjin Jakka the most, followed by Hyōrinmaru, as for Kyōka Suigetsu... I guess I want them all."
It's purely a personal preference, I suppose. Many people probably like Kyōka Suigetsu, and maybe some even like Five Forms.
"Since I've taken it out, let's try it."
"Shikai... Scatter, Senbonzakura!"
As Mike recited the Shikai command, the blade disintegrated into countless invisible fine blades, which, under the light, resembled flying pink petals.
Beautiful, deadly!
Under Mike's careful control, the petals carved countless tiny sword marks on the wall.
"If there are no special defensive measures, this kind of move is truly unsolvable, and... perhaps it can make up for one of my shortcomings."
Mike's obvious shortcomings included not being able to fly. Zoro had a Moonwalk-like ability, but it was far from actual flight.
The pink petals gathered, coalescing into the shape of a great sword, slowly lifting Mike into the air.
"Sword-riding flight!"
Mike was very excited and flew a low circle around the rooftop.
Then he came down.
Mike took off his shoes. The soles were ruined, and his feet had numerous crisscrossing small cuts.
"No wonder Byakuya Kuchiki set up a 'no-damage zone,' even if he knew it would be a weakness. It's too difficult to perfectly control such a large number of tiny blades. Just using it as a flying sword injured himself; what if it were in a combat state? But hehe... Armament Haki combined with Shikai or Bankai should be able to solve the no-damage zone problem, it's simply perfect."
Flight is also possible in the Final Form, Hakuteiken state.