Hi everyone! I'm trying to find a cultivation novel I read a long time ago, but I can't remember the title.
It begins with a poor countryside boy who's about to slaughter a green bull and at the last second he lets it go, and the bull later repays him by teaching him a cultivation technique. I remember the bull was some kind of clone/fragment of a super high-level beast cultivator.
After that, the MC keeps getting stronger and more savage, and at some point he can transform into a half-beast cultivator (or switch between a human identity and a beast identity). I only got about halfway through, so my memory is fuzzy on later arcs.
Does this ring a bell for anyone? Even partial guesses are welcome, thank you!
***
The Arabasta Diary Copy group chat.
[Mikita: "Phew, I can finally relax. As expected of Miss Sunday—she really has her ways. She actually managed to inherit Signora's template from Arton."]
[Paula: "Mm, that woman is really something. I thought she'd still need to put in a lot more effort. And her luck is pretty good too—that Lady template is practically tailor-made for her."]
[Paula: "I wonder what methods she used to seduce and persuade Arton. Once we meet up, I definitely have to ask her for pointers."]
[Vivi: "Yeah, we really do need to ask her properly."]
Vivi looked at her diary copy and nodded firmly.
She didn't know exactly what Robin had done, but she understood that with her own personality, she'd probably never come up with the kind of things Robin did.
So, if she wanted to truly secure Arton's help, she needed to learn from Robin.
All of it was for Arabasta and for her father.
[Carina: "I've got to say, Robin's figure and looks are really something. That might be one of the reasons she managed to get a template from Captain so quickly."]
[Carina: "On top of that, she's very good at using her charm to tempt Arton—just like what she did together with Kaya in the lookout back then."]
[Carina: "If you want to gain Captain's trust like Robin did, you should study Robin's behavior more."]
[Mikita: "D-Do we really have to go that far?"]
[Carina: "Hm? Are you getting shy on me? It's fine to be shy, but if you can't even toss Arton a bit of fanservice, then you might as well leave the group now, Mikita."]
[Mikita: "S-Sorry, I was just talking nonsense. I'll do my best."]
[Paula: "Hehe, I don't really mind. If earning Arton's trust means letting him truly have me like in those 'works' of his, I'm fine with that."]
[Vivi: "I-I am too!"]
[Carina: "Looks like there are a few girls with resolve in here. Good, now I can relax—I was worried you'd miss your chance to become our crewmates."]
Right now, Carina and Robin basically counted as being in the same camp, and by extension, she also had deeper ties with Mikita, Vivi, Paula, and the others.
If all these women could become members of the Flameblade Pirates, Carina felt she might be able to leverage them to get even closer to Arton.
So she genuinely wanted Vivi and the others to join the Flameblade Pirates.
[Vivi: "Don't worry, Miss Carina—we'll definitely work hard."]
[Paula: "By the way, now that Robin has gotten a template, can she come back into this group?"]
[Carina: "Yeah. I don't think she'd risk losing her power by leaking any intel that hurts the Flameblade Pirates in this chat. I'll bring her back into the group later."]
[Carina: "Of course, just to be safe, I'll still be staying in the group myself. I hope you all understand."]
[Paula: "No problem, Miss Carina. We're actually happier to have you here."]
[Mikita: "Exactly."]
[Vivi: "I'm really glad Miss Carina is staying with us."]
I mean, who was Carina?
She was Arton's first companion—the one he'd met at the very beginning. You could practically call her the vice-captain of the Flameblade Pirates.
If Carina stayed in this group chat, that was basically the same as them being one step closer to the Flameblade Pirates.
In that case, how could they not welcome Carina staying?
Carina looked at the scrolling chat, the corners of her lips lifting slightly. Then, as if she'd sensed something, she turned around to look behind her.
There, Arton, Robin, and Ain were just stepping out through the cabin doors. At this moment, quite a crowd had already gathered on the deck. They were all waiting for Robin, Arton, and Ain to appear.
Of course, it wasn't just Carina, Kaya, and the other members of the Flameblade Pirates there.
Morgans, who still hadn't left the ship, and Ace were also present.
Chapter 432: Having Ace as a Sparring Partner Isn't So Bad
"Eh, that woman is… Robin?"
"Mister Fire Fist Ace, what do you think?"
Morgans glanced at Robin, whose skin had clearly become a lot fairer, and looked questioningly at his partner Ace beside him.
"Just going by looks, she really is Robin but the aura on her feels very different from before." Ace rested his chin in one hand, muttering to himself.
For him, the change in Robin's skin tone wasn't the real issue. What truly puzzled him was that the aura around her had grown much stronger than before—it felt like some immense power was now sleeping inside her.
And that was indeed the case: Robin had just obtained Signora's template and couldn't fully suppress the aura leaking from it yet.
On top of that, Signora's template also contained the power of flame.
For someone like Ace, who could command fire himself, noticing the abnormality on Robin was only natural.
"As I thought, you felt it too. Wait… don't tell me Arton has already accepted Robin as a crewmate—and on top of that, had Nojiko use her ability to swap her Devil Fruit?"
Morgans' eyes went wide as he spoke.
"Swapped her Devil Fruit? Don't tell me it's another Mythical Zoan?" Ace was curious as well.
Rumor had it that Arton of the Flameblade Pirates had a knack for getting his hands on various Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits and feeding them to the people he recruited.
He'd never expected that one day, he might actually witness it with his own eyes.
"No way, I've gotta go ask." Unable to hold back his curiosity, Morgans flapped his wings and flew toward the deck.
Ace, just as curious, naturally followed right behind him.
"Did you two need something, Morgans, Ace?"
Arton had been pondering which member of the Flameblade Pirates to have help Robin get used to her new powers. Seeing Morgans and Ace approach, he looked at them with a hint of confusion.
"Arton, I noticed something has changed about Robin. Could you tell me if you had her eat a different Devil Fruit?"
Morgans expertly whipped out his little reporter's notebook, asking with great interest.
"Is it a Mythical Zoan?" Ace asked, eyes shining.
"That kind of thing counts as one of my crew's secrets, doesn't it? I don't really see any reason I should tell you."
Arton stroked his chin, replying with amused interest—especially when his gaze shifted to Morgans.
Even though he didn't mind too much showing the world how strong his crew was, the idea of letting Morgans leak Robin's new ability right after she'd gotten it still rubbed him the wrong way.
"Uh, then I promise I won't report on it this time. I'll only write about it after Robin first shows her powers to the world, okay?"
"Please? I really can't hold back my curiosity."
As he spoke, Morgans tucked his reporter's notebook back into his chest. To him, not being able to publish the scoop right away was a shame.
But as long as he could get the first-hand intel on Robin's brand-new power ahead of everyone else, then once she did unveil it to the world, he'd be able to write a far better piece.
So, Morgans had no intention of giving up.
"You really are stubborn, Morgans." Arton raised an eyebrow, then looked over at Ace, whose face was also full of curiosity. "All right, since you're both so interested…"
"Let Robin put her power on display for a bit." Arton said. "But Ace, you're going to have to act as the punching bag to help her get used to it."
"P-Punching bag? Me?!" Ace pointed at himself, eyes blown wide.
"What, you don't want to? You already mooched a whole meal off my ship and I can't even ask you to put in a little work?"
Arton folded his arms across his chest, looking at Ace with obvious impatience.
"Fire Fist Ace versus Robin—now that's a huge story." Morgans' eyes went wide with excitement, but when he saw Arton's look, his shoulders slumped and he shook his head.
"Too bad there's no way I can publish this one. At least… not this time."
With that, Morgans let out a long, heavy sigh.
....
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