Martial Arts Worlds - Chapter 141

Chapter 141: Martial Champion

“I pity Kiernan, honestly.” Julian said with a sigh. “He didn’t enter Flow State during a fight like most do, but instead during practice. I don’t know whether this is a sick joke by the heavens or what.”

“Yes, this might very well be Kiernan’s last time ever in this state.” Ambrose said. “Some martial artists have lost their minds over Flow State.”

“I don’t blame them one bit…” Julian said with a sigh. “That feeling is absolute euphoria. You feel like you can do everything during Flow State. You feel like the world’s strongest person.”

“Yeah,” Ambrose said with a sigh. “I’ve never entered that state, so I can’t talk about my own experiences, but I’ve fought a person with Flow State once, and I never want to do it again.”

“You fought a person who used Flow State?!” Julian looked surprised. “I would say that’s even rarer than using Flow State.”

“It happened during my hometown’s martial arts tournament. I reached the quarterfinals pretty easily, and my opponent was a bullied kid from my local high school. Apparently he had been training in secret to beat up his bullies during the tournament.

“Haha, I was one of the bullies, y’see, and I was the first bully he was facing. I could tell that he was very nervous, and I was one of the contenders for the championship.

“I thought I would win easily, as my opponent was that one nerdy kid from my school whom I used to bully.

“The fight started as I expected; I was pushing him to the edge of the ring, and it seemed like victory was within my grasp.

“Then, smoke started rising from his body, and next time, his fist landed on my jaw, and everything turned dark for me. I lost consciousness for about one second.

“Luckily, I woke immediately up and tried to fight back, but he… played around with me as if I was a novice fighter. It was humiliating. He was intentionally making me look pathetic in front of the crowd.

“It was a traumatizing experience for me, and because of that, I left my hometown to go into the sea. I guess he is the reason how I became a pirate in the first place; weird how the world works.”

Julian looked surprised.

He didn’t expect the feared captain of the Silver Hunt pirates to have turned into a pirate like this.

‘I guess everyone has their own circumstances.’

“Captain!” The navigator suddenly shouted from the top balcony of the ship. “We’ve a problem!”

“What is it?” Ambrose asked.

“A storm is heading our way!” The navigator pointed forward to where they were heading.

“?!”

Ambrose turned around and saw dark clouds gather in the distance. It was right in their path, and they had to go through it since Letzer Island was just behind the storm.

If they tried to avoid the storm, it would increase another day to their trip, and Ambrose doubted his impatient crew could handle that.

They were already doubting this treasure map and believed that Kiernan was pulling their leg.

“We must go straight through…”

Ambrose whispered to himself and then turned to the navigator.

“Keep going ahead. We’re not avoiding the storm!”

“What about the kid in the rowboat?”

Ambrose walked to the railing and saw that Kiernan was still in his Flow State.

“Kiernan, a storm is approaching; let’s continue this practice on another day!”

“No.”

Kiernan said coldly, and as he opened his eyes, the winds began to howl. The rising smoke was wrapping around his body like a warm blanket.

This feeling of power was intoxicating.

However, it felt strangely familiar to Kiernan.

It wasn’t the first time he had experienced this feeling. He had felt just like this back on Earth when he became the strongest in the world and thought he was pretty much immortal.

‘The power corrupts even the sanest of minds.’

Kiernan took a deep breath and looked at his smoking hands. It felt strange. He wasn’t smoking like this back on Earth, but the feeling was exactly the same.

“What is happening to me?” Kiernan asked over the sound of raging waves.

“That is Flow State, a state where a person becomes absolutely absorbed in the activity they are performing! The smoke is your impurities leaving your body!”

“Ok.”

Kiernan replied simply and then looked ahead towards the incoming storm. They would reach the storm in about twenty minutes.

“I am not giving up now. Keep going ahead!”

“This crazy lunatic…” Ambrose thought out loud. “If you fall off the rowboat during the storm, we won’t be able to help you. You will be eaten by the sea monsters!”

“I won’t fall!” Kiernan screamed. “Go straight ahead!”

“Julian, your friend has lost his fucking marbles.” Ambrose patted him on the shoulder and shouted to the helmsman. “You old fuck, don’t you dare slow down then!”

“Aye, captain!” The helmsman shouted back over the roaring of the waves.

The ship smashed through the tall waves, and the rowboat behind them got almost thrown into the air.

However, in the rowboat, Kiernan stood unaffected as if he were standing on solid ground on some island.

The rowboat also wasn’t capsizing because Kiernan was controlling the balance of the boat perfectly.

When it got thrown into the air and wanted to turn to the side, Kiernan pressed his feet down on the floor of the boat and balanced it out.

Without knowing it yet, he was using Sea Steps masterfully!

At last, the ship reached the storm, and even though it was a sunny morning just moments prior, it was now as dark as night because of the black clouds in the skies.

The waves were from five meters to ten meters tall. It was almost like they were riding tsunami waves.

Within the ship, even with the help of Sea Steps, the pirates struggled to stand. None of them expected Kiernan to survive this.

They already expected him to have fallen off!

Yet, behind the ship, the rowboat smashed through some of the waves, and there, Kiernan stood with his fist facing the waves.

At that moment, a tall wave moved towards the rowboat. It was so tall that it would just submerge a rowboat.

However.

“IRON SMASH!”

The shout was muffled by the howling wind, but Kiernan’s fist smashed through the wave, sending a shockwave through the water and averting disaster.

The beautiful martial soul started peeling off.

It shed off in a burst of blinding light.

Ding! Ding!

[Congratulations!]

[Low Stage Martial Champion Achieved!]