At the Navy Headquarters building in Marineford, inside the Fleet Admiral's office.
Navy Marshal Kong, with his tall stature, sat upright behind his desk, carefully flipping through the documents in front of him.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The sound of knocking on the door rang out. The white-haired old man didn't even lift his head and simply said in a low voice,
"Come in!"
"Marshal Kong, Cadet Karl D. Sephiroth reporting!"
The silver-haired young man stood straight and saluted the white - haired old man with a standard military salute.
"You're Karl D. Sephiroth...?"
"Reporting, Marshal, yes!"
"Zephyr told me you're looking for a good sword... How's your swordsmanship? Have you reached the level of a sword hero?"
Sephiroth calmly looked at him and replied,
"I just reached that level recently."
Tap! Tap! Tap! ...
Kong gently tapped the table with his right index finger. He sized up the silver-haired young man for a while, then stood up, took a rectangular wooden box from the cabinet behind him, placed it on the desk, and casually opened the box.
Suddenly, a fierce qi was released from the wooden box.
In Sephiroth's perception of Observation Haki, the black long sword in its scabbard inside the wooden box was like a ravenous beast that seemed to be calling out, screaming, urging him to pick up the sword.
Seeing the hesitation on the silver-haired young man's face and that he was slow to pick up the sword, Kong then began to explain,
"It's called the Butcher's Knife. In terms of Quality, there's no doubt that it can be ranked among the Great Grade Swords. However...
It's a demonic sword that takes lives. Specifically, whether it's the enemy or the user, it will take their lives and turn them into its nourishment.
The wounds cut by it will be extremely difficult to heal. Those killed by it will have the remaining vitality in their corpses absorbed, and their bodies will wither away. And when the holder uses this sword, just by holding the hilt, their vitality will be continuously drained. The more intense the battle, the more vitality it will absorb until the user's vitality is completely exhausted.
However, on the flip side, even someone who doesn't know Armament Haki can have the sword automatically coated with it.
If someone with Haki wields it to perform a Slash, the power of the Slash will be greatly enhanced."
After hearing the introduction of this sword, a look of surprise appeared on Sephiroth's face.
He stretched out his hands, picked up the scabbard with his left hand and slowly grasped the hilt with his right hand, then slowly drew the long sword out of the scabbard.
The full appearance of the Butcher's Knife was now in front of his eyes...
The blue-black blade was 1.4 meters long and about three fingers wide. There was a long, thin blood groove on the back of the blade. Except for the extremely sharp edge, the blade was covered with patterns that looked like red blood vessels, exuding a strange and alluring beauty.
Once Sephiroth grasped the hilt of the Butcher's Knife, the vitality in his body gushed towards the blade like a flood breaking through a dam. He had to use the lifespan he had absorbed to let the knife absorb.
After a while, the Butcher's Knife seemed to be full. The speed at which it absorbed vitality slowed down, becoming a trickle.
Probably, it would only accelerate his aging by ten times...
After being fully "fed", the blade exuded a sharp and menacing qi. Even if he didn't test the knife, he could clearly sense the terrifying power contained in the long blade.
"This is the best knife in the Navy's inventory. However, no one has been able to truly use or master it for decades.
If you can't either, I can give you another one. At least, there are still some good-quality swords in the Navy's inventory..."
"No, I'll take this one!"
As he spoke, a golden light flashed in the silver-haired teenager's eyes, and his tone was extremely excited.
This knife is just like it was tailor-made for him!
For others, the drawback of draining vitality might be life - threatening, but for him, it was nothing.
Just now, this Butcher's Knife had instantly drained more than thirty years of his lifespan!
If it were an ordinary person, they would probably lose half of their life, but for him, all he had to do was draw vitality from three or five individuals, and he could replenish the lost lifespan.
Hearing this, Kong nodded seriously. He said to the silver - haired teenager solemnly:
"Alright! Since you've accepted this Butcher's Knife, I have to give you a piece of advice.
I hope you can serve the Navy well in the future and don't disappoint me."
There's no such thing as a free lunch. The Navy generally provides resources to cultivate talents, like famous swords, Devil Fruit, and special weapons. However, the Navy also expects loyalty from those it cultivates.
Sephiroth, as a Navy member who was ready to quit at any time and had an unsteady stance on justice, didn't want to be tied down by these things.
However, the Butcher's Knife in his hand was just too tempting!
The silver - haired teenager paused slightly as he sheathed the knife, but soon a bright smile spread across his face:
"Okay, I understand!"
........
After leaving the Fleet Admiral's office, Sephiroth rushed out of the Navy Headquarters building.
When he reached the beach at the edge of the island, he stopped. He swung the Butcher's Knife at a one - meter - high Seki beside him with moderate force.
Whoosh!
A red, frigid light flashed across the void. As the knife fell, he hardly felt any resistance. The Butcher's Knife sliced directly from the top of the Seki to the bottom and onto the beach surface.
Its sharpness was truly astonishing!
However, after cutting the Seki, the Butcher's Knife sucked a large amount of vitality from him again, as if replenishing its own consumption!
Apparently, he didn't actively infuse Haki into his attack, yet the Butcher's Knife was automatically infused with it...
Sephiroth adjusted his stance, gripping the sword with both hands and holding it in front of his chest.
"Ha!"
With a low shout, he swung his long sword, and the Haki within his body quickly poured into the Butcher's Knife.
A blood - red Blade Qi, compressed to the extreme and condensed into a long, narrow thread, shot out from the blade, tearing through the sky. With an extremely terrifying might, it sliced off a huge cliff more than twenty meters away from him in an instant.
Boom!
The huge rock wall crashed onto the sea surface, splashing countless waves.
Sephiroth looked at the neat cross - section he had cut on the cliff with a slightly surprised expression.
He had just tried a full - power Slash in his normal state after infusing Haki...
But the Blade Qi Slash he had unleashed was even more powerful than the Charge Slash he had used to cut ships during the Naval Battle!
Vaguely, he had even touched the realm of The Great Blood - Sword Hero, where one could cut through steel with Blade Qi...
As Sephiroth sheathed his sword, he sighed:
"Tsk! If I were to temper this sword into a black blade, wouldn't I be on top of the world? (It'd be amazing!)
No wonder every swordsman covets a good sword..."
The Butcher's Knife was a very powerful weapon, which had brought a qualitative leap to his current strength. However, he still needed some time to get used to it.
A swordsman can only be considered to have fully mastered a weapon when they can swing their sword or knife to achieve the exact attack strength they desire...