The New World, west of the Land of Wano, an unknown sea.
Sea level.
The sun shows a large orange belly, shining brightly.
The day begins with the morning, and the cycle becomes a year.
The two brothers emerged from the cabin and began their daily sword sharpening routine.
"Uhuuhu, today the wind seems very strong!"
Shiki twisted his neck and stretched, feeling the sea breeze blowing against him, as his light hair fluttered.
The two brothers, with their explosive blond hair, were indeed the most striking sight on the entire sea.
"Refreshing! Life! I'm a pirate!" Shiki quietly chuckled.
"Warships from the Marine headquartersare convenient, and the beds are much softer than those on the warships in the West blue!"
Shiki walked over to the railing, pointed to the left of the hull, and turning his head, said:
"Brother, at nine o'clock there is an island. It's really round, like those women from the country of Wano. Let's go to this island for adventures!"
"Adventures? You know, the sea swallows people whole without spitting out the bones."
Kazan said.
In the New World, there are tens of thousands of islands, but stumbling upon them remains challenging.
The brothers hadn't seen an island for half a month since leaving the Land of Wano, and finally, Shiki spotted a completely new island and naturally became interested.
But here's the problem!
Since their last escape, Kazan had been keeping an eye on their food, fresh water, and other supplies, so they didn't need to land on the island to replenish.
Moreover, it was an uninhabited island, so the value of adventuring there was questionable.
In this era, different people and nations were gradually taking their place, and it was only a matter of time before they started to surge.
Kazan thought for a moment:
"It's just an uninhabited island, let's stay on the ship and sharpen the sword!"
"Alright! The sea really does swallow people and doesn't spit out the bones."
Shiki nodded.
The brothers began studying the well-known knife they had recently acquired!
Initially.
The concept of the black blade was proposed by the world's strongest swordsman, Hawkeye Mihawk.
Looking at the world, there were only a few black blades known, the Black Blades Yoru among them, and perhaps two others.
As for the existence of others, Kazan assumed they must be there.
They simply either haven't appeared, are unattainable, or are just prototypes.
The so-called black blade.
This means that after a long blessing of the sword with Armament haki, the blade turns black, becoming more durable and sharper.
A portion of Armament haki is applied to the blade, and when it is filled, the black blade is mostly ready!
But.
According to the records in "Ryuma's Sword Sharpening"—
The most challenging part of sharpening a blade is not supplying Armament Haki to it.
It's about how to supply it, how to do it precisely!
You see, the most basic coating of a sword with the Armament Haki is also an act of supplying it to the blade.
Almost everyone who has mastered this armed color, even if they are not sword masters, can achieve what is called blade sharpening.
But this is a low-quality technique.
It only turns the blade, scythe, and handle black.
However, this method can temporarily be used in battle.
But if you treat it this way and sharpen the sword for many years?
Surely, it's a big mistake!!!
Even after completing the supply, it will completely destroy a renowned blade!!!
Because a blade has many parts, each fulfilling its role, some parts are meant for cushioning, some for balancing, some components should be soft, others hard.
Every part is assigned its role.
Why are top-quality fast blades rare?
Besides the high-quality forging process, they are made from top-grade materials.
The most important thing is that each of its components has reached the perfect level.
Even the degree of integration between components, the degree of their coordination, all parts between them, and even all parts among them, like a perfect team, must reach a state of perfect mutual complement.
Like a precision instrument, hundreds of thousands of parts must achieve a level of accuracy, genuinely and orderly interacting to work.
If you add even a speck of pollen, after starting the instrument it may become useless.
Similarly, this is how it is with a renowned blade.
Only when all perfect skills are perfectly integrated can an ultimate swift blade be formed!
There wasn't a single failure.
It's normal that there are only twelve unparalleled blades in the world!
However.
Precisely because a blade consists of too many parts, if the entire blade turns completely black, with every crevice filled with dominance, all its areas being the same, or even accidentally tempered, it destroys the "overall structure" of the blade's body itself!
Thus.
The true complexity of sharpening a blade using dominance lies in the user's control over this dominance!
That's right.
Control!
Avoid all areas that shouldn't be touched, supply dominance precisely to the most suitable place in a renowned blade and let that place "blacken" on its own—this is the true essence of blade sharpening.
There's no doubt that the area that requires tempering is the body of the sword.
It should only be the body of the blade!
The horror lies in the fact that the blade spans the entire body of the blade , like a tree penetrating the ground from the sky, even below ground there are invisible roots.
Switching to the blade itself.
"The root part of the tree underground" is "the handle of the knife in hand."
The handle parts of the knife are complex, consisting of various metals, iron of different densities, copper, cork, hardwoods, and even a small amount of cotton...
This requires dominance to bypass the complex structure and temper only the body of the blade, a process that is still lengthy.
If you make a mistake, the cotton will become wire.
What happens then?
It can be said that no matter how good a blade is, it will be ruined!
Therefore.
Those who can reforge the black blade are people who love the blade with great perseverance, and their achievements in perception and armament are absolutely at their peak!
If you can't achieve this, the blade, if not sharpened, will not succeed!
...
At the moment, on the deck of the warship.
Kazan is studying the original Onitori, Shiki is examining Sakura and Withers. They are not covered with the color of armament; they are simply studying and sensing, first figuring out where sharpening is necessary.
When you fully understand your blade and your control of Armament reaches the standard, you will truly be able to apply dominance to the blade day by day, year by year.
...
Noon arrived.
Shiki vigorously shook his head, the corners of his mouth twitched, and his golden hair rose in the wind.
Because he discovered that being a dual sword wielder, even if it's twin blades crafted by the same smith as Sakura and Withers, both blades are quite different. After all, the left and right hands are different, and there are differences in the design of the blades.
"Damn! I've just realized that I need to practice with two? Distinctive ones!! I've had enough!"
"I'm shocked!"
Looking at Kazan, who was studying the sword nearby, Shiki was genuinely envious and nearly on the verge of tears.
Alright, big brother is better than me!
The amount of work required for sharpening is twice as much as for myself!
Two sword styles!
Shiki rubbed his hands:
"Brother, how about learning a second sword style?" Or help me study my Withers? It's truly a unique renowned blade!
— Twenty-one great grade blade masterpieces, and all, take a look at my top great blade.
Kazan:
— Or throw it away?
Shiki:
— ...
You're not serious?
Shiki wanted to cry but had no tears; it seemed like the path he chose would end in tears!
But then,
In between two jokes, Shiki's face suddenly changed, and his voice couldn't help but rise a little:
— Damn, something's wrong! Look, why is that island still at nine o'clock!!!
Seeing the position Shiki pointed to, Kazan couldn't help but frown.
It's that uninhabited island they saw when they first got up!
Undoubtedly!
How is it possible that it's still there?
The situation does seem a bit strange!
You understand, both of them had been studying the famous blades all morning, and now the sun was directly overhead, a whole six hours had passed.
Moreover, though the sails were fluttering, and the brothers were seriously studying, if anything had happened to the ship, they would have noticed it.
They are certain that the ship is moving every second!
The brothers' ship belongs to the skies; it's an absolute high-speed track!
That speed, is unattainable for ordinary ships!
But even military ships move with incredible speed.
To the left! At nine o'clock!
That uninhabited island is a symbol of death, and it cannot escape!
And you're telling me it hasn't moved?
In other words: the ship of the two people, it seems, has not moved at all since morning!
— Is the ship cursed? Is there a ghost?
Kazan couldn't help but have a puzzled expression.The New World, west of the Land of Wano, an unknown sea.