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"Apologies, Lord Shaka..."
"Some of the medicinal herbs just ran out, so we had to go gather fresh ones. It took a little longer than expected!"
When Margaret and the others finally arrived with the hard-earned herbs, two hours had already passed.
"No problem, perfect timing!"
Shaka, feeling refreshed, smiled as he carefully performed acupuncture on Kikyo. With practiced precision, he inserted the silver needles into the key acupoints on her body.
Kikyo, whose face was now rosy and vibrant, had been exhausted earlier due to dehydration. As she lay there, her back was unknowingly covered with a dense array of thin silver needles. Beads of sweat glistened on her forehead.
"Hmph! You were too slow!" Kikyo huffed, turning her flushed face away awkwardly.
This was her and Lord Ail's secret—no one else could know.
Though the initial pain had been sharp, what followed was an oddly pleasant sensation, one that left her yearning for more.
Of course, that man had insisted she drink all those strange herbal concoctions, saying they would enhance her beauty.
"Pass me the mugwort," Shaka said with a smile.
Stoeby handed him the herb, which he promptly lit and placed inside a prepared bamboo tube. With swift, practiced movements, he removed one of the needles and immediately covered the area with the smoke-filled bamboo tube.
Margaret, Efrandra, and the others watched in amazement as he repeated the process, methodically applying the bamboo tubes across Kikyo's back.
"Now, we just have to wait a little," Shaka said as he stood up, leaving Kikyo to rest.
He then picked up the collected herbs and began grinding them into powder.
"Lord Shaka, what is all this for?" Margaret asked, stepping closer out of curiosity. Her big, bright eyes blinked eagerly. "Let me help you!"
"Sure, I'll leave it to you then," Shaka replied with a smile. "We need to grind these herbs into a fine powder to make an ointment. It will be applied three inches below the navel. Combined with a decoction I'll prepare, this should fully cure her within one treatment cycle."
Half an hour later, the first session of treatment was complete.
At the lab entrance, Stoeby, Margaret, and Efrandra supported Kikyo, who was feeling weak and unsteady. Despite her awkward posture, the three women repeatedly expressed their gratitude.
"Thank you so much..."
"Lord Shaka, we'll take our leave now!"
"Alright, be careful on your way back. Don't forget to return tomorrow for the next session!" Shaka waved them off with a smile, watching as the delighted women left.
Feeling refreshed, he stretched his limbs. Kikyo, with her high ponytail that increased her attack speed, was completely his type. As a warrior of Amazon Lily, she could pull off all kinds of difficult stances effortlessly—splits, crane stance, inverted poses—you name it.
But she really wasn't very durable.
Since it was her first time, he had been careful not to go too rough, wanting to avoid hurting her. So he had held back a little, which left him slightly unsatisfied.
To make things trickier, she was surprisingly sensitive—far too easy to tease.
She even started crying so easily...
"Grrrr..."
Panda Bai Long bared his teeth at Shaka.
Just earlier, he had run over to Kikyo and the others, sniffing them curiously while they looked at him in confusion.
That woman being helped along... she smelled like his master.
A scent he knew very well.
"You little troublemaker!" Shaka chuckled, patting the panda's head. "Do you want me to find you a female panda?"
"Chirp chirp!"
Bai Long's eyes lit up, and he eagerly rubbed against Shaka's leg.
He, too, wanted a beautiful mate.
"Alright, when I get some free time, I'll find you a panda wife," Shaka laughed.
"Woohoo!"
Thrilled by his master's promise, Bai Long rolled around happily, looking utterly adorable.
"Alright, back to work."
Stretching once more, Shaka returned to the lab. "First, I'll craft a new monk staff. The battle attire can wait—I still need to collect more materials."
With Bai Long's Tonton Fruit abilities, he had already perfected the composition of memory metal. Forging the staff wouldn't take long; it wouldn't be some drawn-out process lasting ten days or more.
"But should I really feed it that Mythical Zoan: Yamata no Orochi fruit?" Shaka mused, rubbing his chin.
He had never been particularly interested in treasure, but collecting Devil Fruits was one of his hobbies.
Over fifty years ago, he had encountered two members of the Kurozumi family from Wano—Kurozumi Kanjuro and Kurozumi Higurashi.
Back then, he had even had Bai Long copy Kurozumi Higurashi's Barrier-Barrier Fruit ability. Additionally, he had taken two Devil Fruits from them.
One of them was the Snake-Snake Fruit, Model: Yamata no Orochi.
He had kept it stored away all this time, debating whether to use it to forge a weapon imbued with a Mythical Zoan ability.
"Forget it, I'll think about that later. First, let's complete the 'Six Paths Staff.'"
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he focused back on his work.
The weapon he was forging wasn't just an ordinary monk staff.
It would be a multifunctional, transformable weapon—the Six Paths Staff.
The name was inspired by the Buddhist concept of the Six Realms of Reincarnation. His initial blueprint envisioned six distinct forms, each serving a unique purpose.
His design wasn't a direct copy of anything from the various films and shows he had seen—it was simply an idea inspired by them. Some functions weren't feasible, others were unnecessary, so he planned to tailor the staff to his own fighting style.
"Aside from its standard monk staff form, the first transformation will be the 'Nirvana Awakening Rod.'"
Clang, clang... The rhythmic sound of hammering echoed through the lab.
A new weapon was about to be born.
"....."