"Not the limit?"
Shanks was stunned. The Sword God had gone from form to formlessness, his swordsmanship reaching the extreme. With a single stroke he could cleave a ten-li wall of waves. Such terrifying power, and still not the end of the Way of the Sword?
"Don't try to fool me. Is there really a level higher than that?" Lucky Roux couldn't help speaking up. Hawk-Eyes is the world's strongest swordsman and even his sword is still in the realm of form. Even Shanks had not reached the realm of no-form. Was there truly a higher realm?
"If there is a higher sword, then tell me what it is," Shanks said, a flicker of ambition in his eyes. As a swordsman, the highest path of the blade was one of his pursuits.
"Answer me first. What is a sword to you?" Satan asked.
"A sword is a companion," Shanks replied.
For a moment he seemed to return to his youth, listening to a teacher's lesson.
"Good answer. You've moved beyond a crude sword path. But it's not enough," Satan said, shaking his head.
"Then what is a sword?" Shanks pressed.
The onlookers were dumbfounded. One of the most imposing men on the sea, a Yonko, was asking a junior for instruction.
"I'm the one teaching a sword lesson, and he's teaching me the Way. Nothing wrong with that," Shanks laughed. As a swordsman, he was drawn in by Satan's words. If it hooked him, a fanatic like Hawk-Eyes might be pulled aboard too.
"A sword is the heart. The heart is the sword. Let the heart hold the method, and let the blade do nothing," Satan said evenly.
"Then the blade need not be in the hand at all, only in the heart?" Shanks was taken aback. From having forms to having no forms, from having a sword to having none, the leap in realm was vast.
"Exactly. Taken to the extreme, the hand need not hold a sword. Any blade can become a black blade. With no sword in hand, a branch or a leaf becomes a sword. Move the heart and all things answer as technique. The sword already lives in the heart," Satan said, inscrutable.
"And after the sword lives in the heart?" Shanks asked, feeling himself drawn forward. So his own sword path had not reached the peak. He had barely stepped through the gate.
"After the sword in the heart comes unity of heart and sword. Man is sword and sword is man. That is the Heavenly Sword. Where I point, heaven and earth are my blade," Satan said quietly.
"Heavenly Sword. And above that?" Shanks asked again.
"Heavenly Sword is the crest. Man and sword as one, the blade born of intent, the world itself moved by intent. At that time all things are swords and the blade is no longer confined to the heart. The Way of the Sword is boundless. Whether there is another realm above must be explored. But the Heavenly Sword is enough for a lifetime's pursuit. Is it not?" Satan smiled.
"If one could reach the Heavenly Sword, making all things a sword and the thought itself a sword, there would be no opponent left," Shanks murmured, feeling a pang of defeat. He had been too pleased with himself. He was still a novice on the sword's true path.
"Enough theory. Now let me see your sword," Satan said, shifting the wind.
"Very well. Today I'll let you see my blade. If you cannot take it, you will die," Shanks said, face darkening as a crushing aura rolled off him as if to pin the world down.
"So frightening. The captain's going all out?" Rockstar trembled, his very soul quaking.
"All out? I'm curious," Satan said, setting his jaw. "I want to see how vast the gap to a Yonko really is."
"You're fun to tease. Don't tense up. I've felt your will," Shanks laughed, and the pressure vanished like mist.
"How was it. Were you scared?" he joked.
"Vicious taste," Satan said, settling his battle spirit. Shanks was as unreadable as ever.
Then a long sword rested cold against his neck.
"Don't get careless, kid. Battle is constant on this sea. One lapse and you die," Shanks said sternly.
"Is that so. Then I'll return the lesson," Satan answered. "Seize."
A heartbeat later a pulsing heart lay in his palm.
The pirates froze, minds blank.
"The captain's heart has been taken out."
"This is bad, the captain's going to die."
Panic erupted.
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