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Chapter 1681: What is a Sword Saint? Shiki Ponders!
Star Pressure Palace.
First Floor.
Gravity Room No. 1.
A faint purple light filled every corner, making the air appear slightly twisted and blurry.
"Hoo—hoo—hoo————"
Shiki, with his golden hair and bare, reddened chest, struggled to maintain a relatively long breathing, his face filled with the most resolute expression.
His eyes were fixed intently on the blade tip of the Sakura Jū in his hand.
As a Great Swordsman of the Two Sword Style, it wasn't that he didn't want to pick up Kareki.
It was simply that under the twelve times World Gravity, even holding one more blade would cause a significant loss of stamina.
Moreover, what he was cultivating now was not superficial swordsmanship, so there was no need to specifically hold two blades.
At this moment, in Shiki's sense of smell, the air seemed to be filled with the smell of metal.
But he understood that these were all illusions.
In such a high-pressure environment, even the steam from sweat was difficult to rise.
At the same time.
Outside the Gravity Room, Longinus, carrying the Seven Star Sword on his back, was intently observing Shiki's movements through the door and window, including his every breathing rhythm and muscle tremor.
The reason this elite Celestial Dragon was here was because his Planetary Governor's Mansion was under construction.
It was said that the Academy of Science would use Cloud Devices to manufacture Island Clouds on-site in the Ninja World, and then build various buildings on the Island Clouds.
So, he just needed to wait to receive it when the time came.
In fact, it wasn't just him.
The elite Celestial Dragons appointed as Star Governors in other worlds were all waiting.
Before this, they had to figure out their own residence.
However, they didn't care, saying that during this time, they could first explore their own planets and simultaneously think about their future development plans.
Longinus was lucky; Noah's Ark happened to be in the Ninja World, and he got to know Imu, so he moved in again.
He just didn't expect the famous Admiral Golden Lion to also be summoned and given guidance by Lord Imu.
He had originally wanted to spar with the other party.
Unexpectedly, after Admiral Golden Lion learned of his Celestial Dragon identity, he turned around and left.
He had no intention of communication or exchange blows with him at all.
This left Longinus speechless, but he didn't get angry because of it.
He could understand the Admirals' attitude of keeping a respectful distance from the Celestial Dragons.
So now, he could only 'secretly' learn from the outside.
"He's about to move!"
At this moment, Longinus's pupil suddenly contracted.
Indeed.
Shiki inside the Gravity Room began to swing his blade. His movements were so slow, yet so steady and precise, appearing utterly unremarkable.
But the Purple Light Halo along the blade's path was visibly cut open, leaving air traces that lingered for a long time.
The next second.
The blade suddenly stopped, Shiki's entire body's muscles tensed, and his breathing froze.
But intense black and red lightning suddenly erupted, fiercely striking the surrounding walls, and simultaneously quickly extending to the blade of Sakura Jū.
"Hah!!!"
In an instant, blade light burst forth.
A male lion composed of golden lightning formed on his body.
"Roar!!!"
Following the Beast King's roar, a slash containing terror strength forcefully broke through the layers of gravity pressing down.
Instantly, a golden-red crescent moon-shaped slash formed, charging straight towards the smooth Memory Alloy Steel Wall opposite.
This scene made a flash of delight appear in Shiki's eyes.
Success!
His previous slashes could only fly out less than ten meters in this twelve times Gravity Environment.
However, the next second.
Just as Shiki and Longinus outside were expecting to see the wall cut open, it suddenly disappeared out of thin air.
This caused both of them to freeze in their original spot.
Until a calm voice startled them awake.
"Have you already learned Divine Avoidance? Your sword talent is quite good."
Inside the Gravity Room, dots of starlight appeared, and then Imu materialized from the starlight.
The twelve times Gravity Environment seemed to have no effect on him whatsoever.
"Lord Imu!"
Shiki calmed his emotions and immediately greeted him.
Because he had come voluntarily this time to ask Imu to teach him swordsmanship.
So, no matter how unruly he was, he would restrain himself in front of Imu.
There was nothing he could do; now not only Garp, but Newgate had also mastered Colorless Haki.
Even that kid Kaido, before coming, was muttering things like 'Almost, almost' and 'I can feel it'.
It seemed he would step into the Warrior God Realm soon.
Perhaps he had already succeeded now!
What was hateful was that he still had no clue in this regard.
So he thought of starting with his first profession, Swordsman.
Which meant improving his Swordsmanship Realm.
Shiki immediately waved his hand towards Noah, signaling to stop the Gravity Field.
As expected, the surrounding equipment quickly shut down, and the light and air pressure in the room also returned to normal.
"Lord Imu, although this Divine Avoidance is powerful, it shouldn't be able to resist Colorless Haki, right?"
"This is just a technique to teach you how to combine Haki and Flying Slash Attack, and incidentally strengthen your level in Breath of All Things."
"Mu told you before that the reason most Great Swordsmen cannot fuse Armament Haki into Flying Slash Attack."
"Is entirely because they cannot make the breathing of these two strengths merge and flow together, forming a mutually reinforcing effect."
"Originally, this was an ability that could only be comprehended purely through talent, but Roger actually turned it into an advanced technique that might also be mastered through cultivation. From this perspective, you are very lucky."
Imu felt quite emotional in his heart; Roger was indeed a genius.
"Then what is the relationship between this Divine Avoidance and the Sword Saint Realm?"
Shiki was still more concerned about the latter, which was also the purpose of his visit.
As for this Divine Avoidance.
Although he hadn't known it before, he had experienced it in his combat with Roger.
It could only be said to be a technique with very strong explosive power.
"In Mu's view, Divine Avoidance is an introductory technique to understanding the Sword Saint Realm."
Imu didn't hide anything, nor did he care about Longinus who was 'eavesdropping' outside.
"The essence of our World's Sword Dao is to comprehend the Breath of All Things."
"When one can initially listen to the inexplicable breathing sound of certain substances, they will guide the Swordsman through their Sixth Sense to the correct angle, position, and force to slash. This is a Swordsman, which is why they can cut through steel and unleash Flying Slash Attacks."
This point is very similar to the Sense of Smell Talent 'Thread of Vulnerability' of the protagonist Kamado Tanjiro in the Demon Slayer World.
The only difference is that World Swordsmen can develop their sense of hearing to this degree through acquired cultivation.
"And when this Swordsman can listen to the breathing sound and movement sound of more substances, and do so more clearly, reaching a point where they can definitely not slash something they don't want to slash, only then can they be called a Great Swordsman."
This made Imu think of Zoro's performance in the Movie Version: Stampede, where after splitting the meteorite, he was right in the middle, yet Mihawk's Flying Slash Attack, while pulverizing the meteorite, passed by him like a gust of wind without causing any damage.
In other words, a Great Swordsman can achieve 'manually enabling friendly fire immunity'.
This also explains why he didn't damage Buggy with his Black Blade during the Summit War.
If you ask, it's because he didn't want to...
Of course, Shiki and Longinus knew this, but they didn't feel impatient.
Firstly, they didn't dare, and secondly, they knew this was helping them clarify their thoughts.
"Above this is the Sword Saint, and what a Sword Saint must achieve..."
"Is to go beyond Listening to the Breath of All Things and reach a further degree of control, or rather, ordering them."
"Then, based on this foundation, construct their own Domain, and within this Domain, whether tangible or intangible, with substance or without substance, friendly or hostile, they can at any time, anywhere, at any moment, transform them into blades that obey their will!"
Speaking of this, Imu decided to demonstrate on the spot: "Noah, activate ten times gravity!"
The next second, purple light once again fell down.
But immediately, under the astonished gaze of Shiki and Longinus, the two of them began to condense and compress into each other.
Until they formed long swords of pure purple-black energy, suspended in mid-air.
In the blink of an eye.
Dense sword edges pointed directly at various parts of Shiki's body.
Shiki felt the hairs on his entire body stand on end, and the Haki within his body instinctively released outwards.
He knew Imu wouldn't kill him, but he still felt a strong threat.
"This... this is the Sword Saint Realm that can resist Colorless Haki!"
Imu didn't pay attention to the shock and longing in Shiki's eyes.
Instead, he thought of Roger.
It was indeed a pity.
Because he, like himself, possessed the top-tier talent of Voice of All Things.
After all, Listening to the Breath of All Things and Voice of All Things are completely different ranks.
The former is just breathing sound, the latter is all sound.
Therefore, the difficulty for Roger to comprehend 'Sword Saint' was much lower than for Shiki and the others.
"Do you understand? The Sword Saint Realm doesn't require you to cultivate hard here."
"You should go out and feel Heaven and Earth, feel the elements, feel all things. It purely depends on whether you have this Sword Dao Talent."
"From this perspective, the difficulty is even higher than Colorless Haki, as Sword Saint Talent won't manifest like Conqueror's Haki."
"So, Shiki, do you think you have it?"
As the voice fell, Imu also disappeared, turning into starlight.
Leaving Shiki and Longinus, the old and the young, one inside and one outside, immersed in the same prolonged thought.
End of Chapter
Star Pressure Palace.
First Floor.
Gravity Room No. 1.
A faint purple light filled every corner, making the air appear slightly twisted and blurry.
"Hoo—hoo—hoo————"
Shiki, with his golden hair and bare, reddened chest, struggled to maintain a relatively long breathing, his face filled with the most resolute expression.
His eyes were fixed intently on the blade tip of the Sakura Jū in his hand.
As a Great Swordsman of the Two Sword Style, it wasn't that he didn't want to pick up Kareki.
It was simply that under the twelve times World Gravity, even holding one more blade would cause a significant loss of stamina.
Moreover, what he was cultivating now was not superficial swordsmanship, so there was no need to specifically hold two blades.
At this moment, in Shiki's sense of smell, the air seemed to be filled with the smell of metal.
But he understood that these were all illusions.
In such a high-pressure environment, even the steam from sweat was difficult to rise.
At the same time.
Outside the Gravity Room, Longinus, carrying the Seven Star Sword on his back, was intently observing Shiki's movements through the door and window, including his every breathing rhythm and muscle tremor.
The reason this elite Celestial Dragon was here was because his Planetary Governor's Mansion was under construction.
It was said that the Academy of Science would use Cloud Devices to manufacture Island Clouds on-site in the Ninja World, and then build various buildings on the Island Clouds.
So, he just needed to wait to receive it when the time came.
In fact, it wasn't just him.
The elite Celestial Dragons appointed as Star Governors in other worlds were all waiting.
Before this, they had to figure out their own residence.
However, they didn't care, saying that during this time, they could first explore their own planets and simultaneously think about their future development plans.
Longinus was lucky; Noah's Ark happened to be in the Ninja World, and he got to know Imu, so he moved in again.
He just didn't expect the famous Admiral Golden Lion to also be summoned and given guidance by Lord Imu.
He had originally wanted to spar with the other party.
Unexpectedly, after Admiral Golden Lion learned of his Celestial Dragon identity, he turned around and left.
He had no intention of communication or exchange blows with him at all.
This left Longinus speechless, but he didn't get angry because of it.
He could understand the Admirals' attitude of keeping a respectful distance from the Celestial Dragons.
So now, he could only 'secretly' learn from the outside.
"He's about to move!"
At this moment, Longinus's pupil suddenly contracted.
Indeed.
Shiki inside the Gravity Room began to swing his blade. His movements were so slow, yet so steady and precise, appearing utterly unremarkable.
But the Purple Light Halo along the blade's path was visibly cut open, leaving air traces that lingered for a long time.
The next second.
The blade suddenly stopped, Shiki's entire body's muscles tensed, and his breathing froze.
But intense black and red lightning suddenly erupted, fiercely striking the surrounding walls, and simultaneously quickly extending to the blade of Sakura Jū.
"Hah!!!"
In an instant, blade light burst forth.
A male lion composed of golden lightning formed on his body.
"Roar!!!"
Following the Beast King's roar, a slash containing terror strength forcefully broke through the layers of gravity pressing down.
Instantly, a golden-red crescent moon-shaped slash formed, charging straight towards the smooth Memory Alloy Steel Wall opposite.
This scene made a flash of delight appear in Shiki's eyes.
Success!
His previous slashes could only fly out less than ten meters in this twelve times Gravity Environment.
However, the next second.
Just as Shiki and Longinus outside were expecting to see the wall cut open, it suddenly disappeared out of thin air.
This caused both of them to freeze in their original spot.
Until a calm voice startled them awake.
"Have you already learned Divine Avoidance? Your sword talent is quite good."
Inside the Gravity Room, dots of starlight appeared, and then Imu materialized from the starlight.
The twelve times Gravity Environment seemed to have no effect on him whatsoever.
"Lord Imu!"
Shiki calmed his emotions and immediately greeted him.
Because he had come voluntarily this time to ask Imu to teach him swordsmanship.
So, no matter how unruly he was, he would restrain himself in front of Imu.
There was nothing he could do; now not only Garp, but Newgate had also mastered Colorless Haki.
Even that kid Kaido, before coming, was muttering things like 'Almost, almost' and 'I can feel it'.
It seemed he would step into the Warrior God Realm soon.
Perhaps he had already succeeded now!
What was hateful was that he still had no clue in this regard.
So he thought of starting with his first profession, Swordsman.
Which meant improving his Swordsmanship Realm.
Shiki immediately waved his hand towards Noah, signaling to stop the Gravity Field.
As expected, the surrounding equipment quickly shut down, and the light and air pressure in the room also returned to normal.
"Lord Imu, although this Divine Avoidance is powerful, it shouldn't be able to resist Colorless Haki, right?"
"This is just a technique to teach you how to combine Haki and Flying Slash Attack, and incidentally strengthen your level in Breath of All Things."
"Mu told you before that the reason most Great Swordsmen cannot fuse Armament Haki into Flying Slash Attack."
"Is entirely because they cannot make the breathing of these two strengths merge and flow together, forming a mutually reinforcing effect."
"Originally, this was an ability that could only be comprehended purely through talent, but Roger actually turned it into an advanced technique that might also be mastered through cultivation. From this perspective, you are very lucky."
Imu felt quite emotional in his heart; Roger was indeed a genius.
"Then what is the relationship between this Divine Avoidance and the Sword Saint Realm?"
Shiki was still more concerned about the latter, which was also the purpose of his visit.
As for this Divine Avoidance.
Although he hadn't known it before, he had experienced it in his combat with Roger.
It could only be said to be a technique with very strong explosive power.
"In Mu's view, Divine Avoidance is an introductory technique to understanding the Sword Saint Realm."
Imu didn't hide anything, nor did he care about Longinus who was 'eavesdropping' outside.
"The essence of our World's Sword Dao is to comprehend the Breath of All Things."
"When one can initially listen to the inexplicable breathing sound of certain substances, they will guide the Swordsman through their Sixth Sense to the correct angle, position, and force to slash. This is a Swordsman, which is why they can cut through steel and unleash Flying Slash Attacks."
This point is very similar to the Sense of Smell Talent 'Thread of Vulnerability' of the protagonist Kamado Tanjiro in the Demon Slayer World.
The only difference is that World Swordsmen can develop their sense of hearing to this degree through acquired cultivation.
"And when this Swordsman can listen to the breathing sound and movement sound of more substances, and do so more clearly, reaching a point where they can definitely not slash something they don't want to slash, only then can they be called a Great Swordsman."
This made Imu think of Zoro's performance in the Movie Version: Stampede, where after splitting the meteorite, he was right in the middle, yet Mihawk's Flying Slash Attack, while pulverizing the meteorite, passed by him like a gust of wind without causing any damage.
In other words, a Great Swordsman can achieve 'manually enabling friendly fire immunity'.
This also explains why he didn't damage Buggy with his Black Blade during the Summit War.
If you ask, it's because he didn't want to...
Of course, Shiki and Longinus knew this, but they didn't feel impatient.
Firstly, they didn't dare, and secondly, they knew this was helping them clarify their thoughts.
"Above this is the Sword Saint, and what a Sword Saint must achieve..."
"Is to go beyond Listening to the Breath of All Things and reach a further degree of control, or rather, ordering them."
"Then, based on this foundation, construct their own Domain, and within this Domain, whether tangible or intangible, with substance or without substance, friendly or hostile, they can at any time, anywhere, at any moment, transform them into blades that obey their will!"
Speaking of this, Imu decided to demonstrate on the spot: "Noah, activate ten times gravity!"
The next second, purple light once again fell down.
But immediately, under the astonished gaze of Shiki and Longinus, the two of them began to condense and compress into each other.
Until they formed long swords of pure purple-black energy, suspended in mid-air.
In the blink of an eye.
Dense sword edges pointed directly at various parts of Shiki's body.
Shiki felt the hairs on his entire body stand on end, and the Haki within his body instinctively released outwards.
He knew Imu wouldn't kill him, but he still felt a strong threat.
"This... this is the Sword Saint Realm that can resist Colorless Haki!"
Imu didn't pay attention to the shock and longing in Shiki's eyes.
Instead, he thought of Roger.
It was indeed a pity.
Because he, like himself, possessed the top-tier talent of Voice of All Things.
After all, Listening to the Breath of All Things and Voice of All Things are completely different ranks.
The former is just breathing sound, the latter is all sound.
Therefore, the difficulty for Roger to comprehend 'Sword Saint' was much lower than for Shiki and the others.
"Do you understand? The Sword Saint Realm doesn't require you to cultivate hard here."
"You should go out and feel Heaven and Earth, feel the elements, feel all things. It purely depends on whether you have this Sword Dao Talent."
"From this perspective, the difficulty is even higher than Colorless Haki, as Sword Saint Talent won't manifest like Conqueror's Haki."
"So, Shiki, do you think you have it?"
As the voice fell, Imu also disappeared, turning into starlight.
Leaving Shiki and Longinus, the old and the young, one inside and one outside, immersed in the same prolonged thought.
End of Chapter
