On the deck.
"So this is the legendary Seven Star Sword..." Mikita muttered softly as she held the sword in both hands, her eyes filled with curiosity, though her tone carried a hint of dismissiveness. "Doesn't look as exaggerated as they say."
Ryan lay sprawled on a folding lounge chair nearby, one leg casually draped over the armrest. Hearing Mikita's words, he lazily cracked an eyelid to glance at her before closing it again, offering no response.
In this world, blades were typically categorized into the Supreme Great Fast Swords Twelve Works, Great Fast Swords Twenty-One Works, Good Fast Swords Fifty Craftsmen, and Fast Swords. Though the Seven Star Sword wasn't among them, compared to other Meito, its true horror lay in its ability to erode the wielder's mind.
Enma, for all its ferocity, merely drained Haki. Kikoku brought misfortune, but that was largely a matter of luck. Only the Seven Star Sword directly corroded the user's sanity, reducing them to nothing more than a puppet of slaughter.
Moreover, the way the Seven Star Sword bestowed power was inherently tyrannical.
Ordinary Meito relied on the wielder's skill to amplify their might, but the Seven Star Sword inverted this dynamic—it forcibly infused power, accelerated speed, and even allowed the wielder to unleash Green Sword Qi and energy waves out of thin air, as if the user were merely a vessel for its extended strength.
And then there was its venomous curse.
While Kikoku's misfortune was subtle, the Seven Star Sword's erosion was brutally overt. Wounds inflicted by it refused to heal, the body withered day by day, hallucinations ran rampant, until the wielder was utterly consumed by madness.
In Ryan's view, the Seven Star Sword's foundation was no less than that of any Meito—at the very least, it approached the level of a Great Fast Sword. But what made it truly unique was its near-"living" quality, as if it possessed consciousness, akin to a weapon housing a spirit.
This capacity for growth was something no other Meito possessed.
Ryan dozed under the sun until the clattering of claws roused him. He opened his eyes to see the dachshund Rasu waddling over from the cargo hold, its plump body swaying with each step.
His gaze lingered on the dog, and a thought struck him—Rasu had originally been a gun, transformed by technology after consuming the Inu Inu no Mi: Dachshund Model.
Though he didn't know how Rasu had gained its ability, the concept of weapons possessing Devil Fruit powers stemmed from Vegapunk's research into the "Bloodline Factor." By extracting the essence of Devil Fruits and infusing it into inanimate objects, Vegapunk had unlocked the ability to grant weapons Devil Fruit abilities.
Take Spandam's sword, Funkfreed, for example—it had "eaten" the Zou Zou no Mi, gaining the form and abilities of an elephant.
But if even cold, lifeless weapons could possess Devil Fruit powers, what about the Seven Star Sword, with its "living" trait?
"Zala," Ryan called out abruptly, sitting up.
"What does the Captain need?" Zala reclined in a wicker chair, reading a newspaper with effortless grace. Her elbow rested on the armrest, fingers lightly flipping the pages as strands of hair danced at her neck in the sea breeze, exuding a lazy intellect.
"Bring me the Devil Fruit we obtained from Sky Island."
Zala paused, then nodded. "Of course." She folded the newspaper neatly on her lap, stood, and her skirt brushed against the chair as she walked toward the cabin, her hips swaying naturally with each step—unforced yet undeniably alluring.
Moments later, Zala returned carrying a dark, sealed wooden box. Its surface bore simple carvings, with brass clasps embedded along the edges. She placed it on the low table before Ryan, flicking the clasp open with a soft click.
Ryan picked up the box and set it in the center of the deck. He glanced at Mikita, who wordlessly handed him the Seven Star Sword. As the blade left its sheath, it caught the sunlight, tracing an icy arc through the air. The star patterns along its edge seemed to pulse with life, shimmering with an eerie glow.
"Let's try this..." Ryan pressed the tip of the sword against the Lightning-Lightning Fruit and murmured, "Seven Star Sword—devour it."
Mikita instinctively leaned closer, while even Zala shed her usual composure, frowning slightly as she watched the box. Suddenly, a faint green light flickered across the blade, and the dormant patterns etched into the steel writhed like awakened veins.
Then, a wisp of emerald mist curled from the sword's tip—ethereal at first, like drifting silk, but quickly coalescing into a churning fog. The mist exuded an intangible pull, and the Lightning-Lightning Fruit inside the box trembled violently, its golden surface erupting with blinding white light.
Abruptly, the fog lunged forward like a ravenous serpent, engulfing the entire fruit in an instant.
A faint cracking sound came from the box—not from the wood, but from the fruit itself withering and dissolving under the green light's corrosion. In mere moments, the Devil Fruit capable of controlling Lightning had vanished entirely, leaving behind only a few charred remnants at the bottom.
The green light retracted into the sword's tip, and the star patterns blazed unnervingly, as if countless tiny bolts of lightning danced within the grooves.
Ryan gripped the hilt, feeling a powerful tremor in his palm. He studied the Seven Star Sword as it gleamed coldly in his grasp, the star patterns now flickering with silver-blue electricity. When the energy traced the blade's edge, it left behind delicate strands of light in the sun.
It actually worked...
Vegapunk's technology was about "bestowing," but the Seven Star Sword was about "devouring."
Ryan strode to the ship's railing, raising the sword into the sunlight. The interplay of lightning and emerald light surged within the star patterns as he turned the hilt slightly.
60 Million Volts・Thunder Dragon."
In an instant, the star patterns flared, and silver-blue electricity erupted from the grooves, condensing into a blinding orb at the sword's tip.
The air crackled violently as the orb exploded, and a Giant Dragon wreathed in Lightning roared into existence, its silver-blue body arcing through the sky before plunging into the distant sea.
The water split apart instantly, a massive spray vaporizing into mist under the Lightning's force. Countless currents spread across the waves, casting an eerie blue glow over the entire stretch of ocean.
"This... this actually worked?" Mikita, who had been clutching her sleeve in silence, finally gasped, her voice trembling with disbelief. "A weapon can just... 'eat' a Devil Fruit? That's downright unnatural."
Ryan paid no mind, a faint smile still playing on his lips.
Mikita wasn't wrong—ordinary weapons couldn't achieve such a feat. But the Seven Star Sword was no ordinary blade. From the moment it greedily lapped at the blood from wounds, from the way it silently grew stronger with each kill, it should have been clear—this thing had long transcended the boundaries of a mere "object," becoming something between steel and living flesh.
Cold and unyielding like metal, yet predatory like a living thing... A semi-living entity—perhaps that was the right term for it.
Vegapunk's technology shackled lifeless objects with power, but the Seven Star Sword, driven by its own "living" nature, had opened its maw to devour. Such a thing would be unthinkable for any other Meito, yet for the Seven Star Sword, it seemed like a natural step along its grotesque path of growth.
After all, Devil Fruit abilities never distinguished between "living" and "non-living." They only required a vessel capable of bearing power.
And this "living" Seven Star Sword was the perfect vessel.