"You want to fight me?" I asked with some genuine shock. "Are you an idiot?"
"Hey! Don't call me an idiot, just fight me!"
Little Zoro was watching me with a look that was definitely the early phase of his infamous "demon-like smile" that unnerved or enraged his opponents. But right now it was failing quite miserably to be terrifying and looked quite amusing.
"Zoro! Stop being rude! Mister Davil is our guest and he is stronger than anyone here, even me!" I chuckled as Koushirou immediately started scolding his student.
"That's why I want him to fight me! I saw that draw. He must be the greatest swordsman in the world!"
I couldn't hold it in any longer and I burst out laughing.
'The people of the east blue truly are ignorant aren't they?'
Zoro glared at me. "What's so funny!?"
Managing to compose myself I responded. "You think I'm the world's greatest swordsman? Kid, if Mihawk heard you say that he'd be so insulted that he would cut this island in half."
It truly was an absurd notion. Me? The greatest swordsman in the world?
No way in hell!
"Kid, if I'm the world's greatest swordsman then the pirate king was a rookie that got killed on the grand line."
"Eh? So you're not the world's greatest swordsman?"
"Nope, I'm barely a swordsman at all, I mostly rely on other techniques. The only reason my draw caught your attention is because my sword is a cursed sword and it finds me interesting." I explained.
"At my current level, I would say I'm about equal to a pirate with a bounty of around five hundred million berri. The real greatest swordsman in the world is an absolute monster of a man named Dracule Mihawk. He is currently one of the seven warlords of the sea, and before he became a warlord his bounty was over 3.5 billion."
"Over three billion!?"
The sheer amount baffled the surrounding people. I simply smirked and watched them process the new information.
"But if you still want to try kid, I'd have no problem giving you a taste of true strength." I said, letting a sliver of haki escape my body.
I could see Zoro tremble but he still raised his swords. "R-ready when you are!"
A light smile graced my lips. 'As expected of a fellow conqueror.'
But seeing as I can be a dramatic son of a bitch when I want to be, I decided to have a bit of fun.
Under Zoro's determined gaze I sheathed akuma-ketsujin, seeing his confusion at my action I chuckled lightly and stuck my hand in my pocket. My hand now hidden, I pulled the eisen dial from my inventory. Unlike the spherical one shown in the cannon, this dial resembled a large screw shell. I was able to grip the shell like a sword's hilt.
Zoro continued to look confused until the Iron cloud slowly crept out of the shell. But being the smartass I was, I decided to pull a Mihawk. The iron cloud reached a length of exactly five inches then solidified into a blade.
"Alright, come at me."
"Are you serious!?" Zor shouted in indignation. "Don't fuck with me! Fight me with your swords!"
"Do you hunt a rabbit with a cannon? All I need to defeat a shrimp like you is this knife." I said trying to imitate Mihaw as best I could.
"Bastard! Take me seriously!" driven by frustration, Zoro charged in head first.
To be honest this was a very entertaining fight even if it had no difficulty. Much to Zoro's frustration I didn't even move an inch.
It became quite obvious that he was just starting out developing his three sword style as his movements were sloppy at best. Nothing like the precise ferocity I had watched in my last life.
"You are putting too much confidence in your strength and swords, develop your technique more," I said as I deflected his blades with the same movement for the twelfth time in a row.
I continued to humor him for a few minutes but then I finally had enough.
Zoro charged again and instead of blocking the great grade blade in the young boy's mouth. I just caught it in my hand and whipped my wrist. Zoro, who had been clutching the blade in his mouth, was immediately thrown to the side while the blade remained in my hand.
"And that's the battle" I said as he grimaced and pulled himself off the ground."Your style has potential Zoro, but first you have to refine it. Otherwise you will never surpass me. Much less Mihawk."
While he was recovering I decided to examine the great grade sword in my hand. But as I gazed at the blade, the Wado Ichimonji, a great grade blade like mine. It felt… off.
Now, most meito had some form of sapience that was unlocked by either the user or an outside factor. Most 'cursed' swords came from this process. However this was a bit more than just the normal light aura that most possessed and on top of that Zoro was only the second wielder of this blade since it was forged so that begged the question.
'Why do I sense a presence in the blade?'
My observation haki sensed a presence but it was not like that of a normal sword aura. It felt much more like shichiseiken.
I had studied Akuma-ketsujin and compared it to my knowledge of other cursed blades and I had come up with a theory. There were a total of two types of cursed sword.
"Intent" types and "soul" types.
Akuma-ketusjin, the three kitetsu, and Kikoku fell into the "intent" category. They were born when either their wielders or creators imposed their intent into them. They possess sapience but not sentience. Akuma ketsujin only responds to the intent of those willing to slaughter. And the kitetsu only respond to the strong or those they find interesting.
Shichiseiken and Enma fall into the "soul" category. They possess sentience, souls of their own. Shichiseiken is fully conscious and can even take control of others. And Enma will regularly test its user to ensure they are still worthy of wielding it. They were either intent types that developed a spirit, or their wielder was so powerful that a fragment of themselves was left behind in the blade, or on incredibly rare occasions if the will of the user is strong enough the blade will absorb its user's spirit entirely.
But the Wado Ichimonji was… Both.
It was a developing cursed sword, but instead of the normal emotions found in cursed swords like rage, hate and bloodlust, this one was more… positive. It had more confidence, and determination I would say. This factor made me think it was an intent type at first but then I heard it. Not quite a voice of a soul but more of a humm of a presence. A light whisper.
'Strongest… Greatest…'
My voice of all things was picking up a voice within the blade. And it was getting stronger, slowly but it was growing at a noticeable pace that seemed to accelerate the longer Zoro fought with it.
'Both intent and the flickers of a soul? And it wants to help Zoro be the greatest? This is pointing in a direction I never thought possible.'
I cast one last glance at the blade before handing it back to Zoro who had gotten up and approached again. "this blade is a strange kind of cursed blade."
"Huh? Cursed?" he asked, clearly confused.
"Yes, it wants you to become stronger. So don't let it down." I sas as I removed the dagger necklace from my inventory and threw it to him. He caught it and looked at me strangely.
"That necklace was made by a special devil fruit. When you become strong enough, it will lead you to some interesting companions. When you meet them, come find me in the grand line."
I turned around and began my trek back to the shore. "We'll have another fight then. Try not to disappoint me."
Although I couldn't see his face, I knew Zoro would accept. That's just the kind of person he was.
As I walked away, my Voice of all things caught one last flicker of thought coming from the sword. 'Zoro… keep… promise…'
A look of understanding finally crossed my face. 'So that's what you are huh? Well then. I wish you luck making that little Idiot the greatest swordsman in the world. You're gonna need it aren't you Kuina?'
It made a certain kind of sense, she had died with the blade in her hands with a massive ambition behind her. So it would be possible to bind a bit of her soul to the blade. It was like a minor version of how big mom's Napoleon was made. Except that this was a supernatural phenomenon instead of a devil fruit.
The revelation of Zoro's sword containing the flickers of his friend's soul was put out of my mind to be studied later, for now I had more straw hats to visit.
"I'm feeling quite peckish, time to find the Baratie."
[~Name: Carter Davil
Race: Human
Secondary race: Ancient Giant, three eye tribe,
Secondary bloodlines: Senju, Uchiha,
Age: 15
Occupation: Marine cadet
Titles: Breaker of chains, Kin of Devils, Beast conquer
Companions: Justice, Dive, Alikred
{stats} {inventory} {shop}
Constitution: 44.3 [sage body]
Devil Fruit: Yugo Yugo no mi
Devil Fruit mastery: 22.0
Haki: 20.2
Free attribute points: 14.3
Shop points: 810
Skills: Devil fruit infusion, Poneglyph reading, Devil fruit identification, Bloodline shift, Voice of all things, life return, Perfect memory
Otherworldly skills: Sage body, Wood release, Sharingan,
{stats} {inventory} {shop}
—Weapons—
-Swords:
Akuma-Ketsujin (equipped: right waist)
Yoriichi (equipped: left waist)
Keyblade (equipped: within host's heart)
Kubikiribocho (unequipped)
Shichiseiken (unequipped)
Yamaoroshi (unequipped)
Kiribachi (unequipped)
-Armor:
Gluttonous Feeder Ring (equipped: right hand, middle finger)
Seastone gauntlet (unequipped)
Starlight gem necklace (unequipped)
—Useful items—
5x Feathers of the angel
Shark scale
Key to the locker
Dive's Pokeball
Sukuna finger
Hashirama's cells (½ original amount)
Black garnet shard
Stand arrow shard
Stone of Gelel
—Devil Fruit—
Tokage Tokage no mi model: Drake
Ika Ika no mi
Kama kama no mi
Hayai hayai no mi
Kopi kopi no mi
Ame ame no mi
Goe Goe no mi
Maji Maji no mi
Yagi yagi no mi
Kachi Kachi no mi
Mera mera no mi
—Treasure—
657 million berries
73x Gold ingot
Other Assorted gold jewelry and gems (worth a few million)
Diamond clock
Large diamond
—Ingots—
Wapometal ingot
Adamantite ingot
Mythril ingot
Magisteel ingot
37x Chakra metal ingot
—Other Items—
Impact dial
Reject dial
Eisen dial
Journal of Erik Gunhild
Fossilized Tooth
3 eye tribe DNA sample
Various fishmen DNA samples
Adam tree branch
Unbonded vivre card
Turtle pose
Cybertronian protoform
Amber Bottle o' Honey Queen
Hot tub
Paralysis gas sample
King cannon
The Salamander
The Shark Superb
—Shared equipment—
Plesiosaur armor (Equipped to Dive)
Ring of the rock (equipped to Nijiko)
Binding ribbon (equipped to Nami)
Dagger necklace (equipped to Zoro)
—Bounties— (their heads at least)
Rush pirates: 135.5 million (Rush), 110 million (Largo), 93 million (Peirce)
Dero: 42 million
Chameleone: 300 million
Gasparde pirates : 95 million (Gasparde), 57 million (Needless)
Ganzack: 8 million
Eldorago pirates: 10 million (Eldorago), 8 million (Golass)
Shupeal: 3.5 million
Gally: 5 million
Goat head pirates: 12 million (Rally), 6 million (Letsin), 3 million (Tan), 3 million (Malt)
Billy: 3 million
Card pirates: 11.6 million (Bear king), 7.8 million (Honey queen {false}), 9.9 million (Pin joker), 3.2 million (Boo Jack), 6 million (skunk one)
Arlong pirates: 20 million (Arlong), 9 million (Kuroobi), 5.5 million (Chew)
Yurikah: 2.1 million]