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Drip!
The Five Elders, under Rowen's gaze, trembled uncontrollably, their entire bodies drenched in a cold sweat that dripped to the floor.
It wasn't just the shock from the horrifying power that had crushed Uranus—it was the man watching them, the terrifying Haki in his eyes.
To be stared down by a man wielding Haki of this caliber—his gaze alone slowed their movements and shook their very minds.
They were not on the same level as this man.
"Y-You can't kill us..."
Finally, Warcury—the one with the strongest Haki among the Five Elders—managed to speak.
But the words he spoke were the epitome of cowardice.
To rely on immortality to avoid death—for the Five Elders, this was the ultimate disgrace.
But they had no choice.
Though they had always been arrogant and untouchable, looking down on the world like gods, before this man, they were just as insignificant.
They had no doubt that if not for their immortality, with Rowen's current strength and Haki, killing any one of them would be no more difficult than crushing an insect.
In fact, after seeing that horrifying attack, the Five Elders suspected that even if all five of them worked together, they would still be defeated at his hands.
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"..." A glint flashed in Rowen's eyes.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Tyrannical, crimson-black lightning materialized in the air, forming five sharp blades that pierced directly into the bodies of the Five Elders.
Immediately, the Five Elders screamed in agony.
The pain from a Legendary-Class Haōshoku attack was countless times more frightening than any attack they had suffered before.
With their pain tolerance untested for so many years, they couldn't endure such agony. They could only scream their lungs out to slightly ease the torment.
"IMU-SAMA!"
The Four Elders besides Saturn could only cry out mentally, desperately hoping Imu would cancel the summoning and let them return to the Holy Land Mariejois.
Saturn's face was filled with despair.
The other four had an escape route if Imu dispelled the summoning...
But he had come here by ship!
For him, there was no escape!
"IMU-SAMA, YOU... YOU CAN'T ABANDON ME." Saturn could only try to find a sliver of hope in his despair, begging Imu for help.
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"HMPH!!!"
WHOOSH!!
In the Room of Flowers, Imu's eyes were bloodshot.
Failure.
This operation… was a complete and utter failure.
The combat forces under his World Government had been almost entirely wiped out.
Though the God's Knights had not yet been deployed, after the clash between the two sides, Imu knew very well that even if he sent all the God's Knights now, it would be futile, completely meaningless.
Even Uranus's attack had been destroyed by Rowen.
And the Mother Flame, which the traitor York had stolen and given to the World Government, had limited energy. To activate Uranus again would be impossible in the short term.
Terminating this operation was the wisest choice—
"Sky Sovereign... you win this round!" Imu's eyes were bloodshot as he dispelled the Baphomet Fruit.
With the ability dispelled, the Four Elders besides Saturn began to disappear, preparing to return to Mariejois.
The Four Elders sighed in relief.
Finally, they could return to the Holy Land, no longer having to face this monster, Sky Sovereign Rowen, no longer having to suffer the torture of his Haki.
But Saturn's face was filled with despair.
Imu had not summoned the God's Knights to this battlefield, but had dispelled the summons of the other four, letting them return to Mariejois.
This meant... he had been abandoned by Imu!
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"Kamui!"
At this moment, the space around the Four Elders who were returning to Mariejois suddenly twisted violently!
Their return was halted.
This scene filled the Four Elders with horror.
The space they were in was literally twisting!
The Door-Door Fruit, combined with the power of other Devil Fruits... Sky Sovereign Rowen was controlling the entire space.
"Can't cause direct damage?"
Rowen was a little regretful, but not surprised.
Though he had developed a power similar to Kamui from the Naruto world by combining the Door-Door Fruit and Munch-Munch Fruit, allowing him to directly warp space.
The problem was that the bodies of the Five Elders in this space were just manifestations from the Immortality Operation's space—and Rowen couldn't pinpoint the coordinates of that space.
Even if he completely twisted this space, he still couldn't cause real damage to the Five Elders—
But he could temporarily stop their return.
After all, the spatial transformation during their return and summons happened in this dimension. As long as it happened in this dimension, it could naturally be affected by the Door-Door Fruit and the Munch-Munch Fruits.
Of course, completely stopping their return was also impossible.
After all, for the Five Elders and Imu, they only needed to dispel the Baphomet Fruit, and the return process had already begun.
The summons was the Devil Fruit's ability, which consumed Imu's stamina and power. But the return was a simple dispel, making the Devil Fruit ability disappear, letting everything return to normal.
Just like in the original story, when the ancient robot released Joy Boy's Conqueror's Haki, causing Imu, who was unprepared, to be injured.
His Devil Fruit ability was temporarily disrupted, and the Five Elders had instantly returned.
This process consumed no stamina or Devil Fruit power whatsoever—but Rowen using Kamui to block this return, drained a massive amount of his energy.
Stopping the return to normal space, making this space completely twisted, consumed so much stamina that even a peak Emperor level powerhouse would feel a heavy burden.
But Rowen's target was not the Five Elders.
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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Under Nusjuro's horrified stare, the Supreme Grade Sword Shodai Kitetsu—along with the hand gripping it—instantly shattered.
Shattered on a spatial level.
Directly distorting space could even shatter the indestructible Treasure Tree Adam.
Even an indestructible Supreme Grade weapon could not withstand a direct twist on a spatial level. To block such a power, one needed strong Haki.
After all, Kamui's power came from a Devil Fruit. As long as it was a Devil Fruit ability—even space manipulation—strong enough Haki could counter it.
Unfortunately, Nusjuro's Haki was nowhere near Rowen's level. His defenses had already been completely shattered under the assault of Rowen's Conqueror's Haki.
"As expected, this sword is not in the Immortality Operation's space," Rowen smiled. Imu's Baphomet Fruit's contract target was a living being.
Even the strongest cursed blade, Shodai Kitetsu—was ultimately just an inanimate object with no ability or value to form a contract.
As for why Nusjuro could complete the summons and return with Shodai Kitetsu. It was because a Devil Fruit could also directly affect inanimate objects.
Just like how Vegapunk's technology could make inanimate objects like swords and guns 'eat' Devil Fruits and become special weapons—spatial teleportation abilities could naturally be applied to the Shodai Kitetsu as well.
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VMM!
CRACK!
A spatial mouth directly swallowed the shattered pieces of Shodai Kitetsu.
Then—
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!
The Sandai Kitetsu in Zoro's hand shattered instantly. If even the Shodai Kitetsu couldn't block Kamui's ability, the Sandai Kitetsu broke apart even more easily.
"Is this... Zoro's swordsmanship?" Rowen's Observation Haki also discovered some differences in the shattered Sandai Kitetsu.
Sandai Kitetsu had been with Zoro for the second-longest time, after Wado Ichimonji. And through Zoro's unique Asura Aura power, it had directly acknowledged Zoro as its master.
As Zoro's swordsmanship improved, Sandai Kitetsu had also been moving towards becoming a black blade.
Just as Rowen had predicted, the key to forging a black blade wasn't Haki, but true mastery of swordsmanship.
If it were just about Haki, then Roger, Whitebeard, and Shanks would have turned their swords into black blades ages ago with their level of Haki. But for these three legends, swordsmanship wasn't their main focus—
—Roger and Shanks specialized in Conqueror's Haki, while Whitebeard relied primarily on his Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Their swords were just tools to channel their power, not the source of it.
According to Rowen's theory, forging a black blade required putting swordsmanship at the center of your fighting style.
If raw sword skill alone determined black blade creation, then Whitebeard—whose swordsmanship was mediocre at best—used Murakumogiri merely as a conduit for his Tremor-Tremor Fruit powers.
With that Devil Fruit, Whitebeard had no reason to master swordsmanship. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit's Air Quake was far more devastating and terrifying than any normal Great Swordsman's slash.
Meanwhile, Roger and Shanks possessed swordsmanship that was elite even among Great Swordsmen. If black blades were purely about sword skill, then it would be impossible for neither Roger nor Shanks to have succeeded.
After all, not only had the World's Greatest Swordsman Mihawk done it, but even the legendary Ryuma had forged Shusui into a black blade.
The only possibility was that the wielder had to completely carry out their swordsmanship, to regard swordsmanship as the most important thing in their life.
Clearly, Roger and Shanks had never achieved this.
To forge a black blade, you had to truly regard swordsmanship as the most important thing in your life—believe it with every fiber of your being. Only then could you turn your sword into a black blade.
This process was similar to Devil Fruit Awakening.
Whether you genuinely believed it or not, you couldn't lie to your own heart.
And clearly, Zoro—who set sail with the goal of becoming the World's Greatest Swordsman—met this condition perfectly.
With Zoro's current sword skills, which far exceeded his original story counterpart, his blades were already progressing toward becoming black blades.
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"Munch-Munch Fruit!"
Rowen first completely purged Nusjuro's swordsmanship influence from the Shodai Kitetsu. The powerful Will within the Shodai Kitetsu was also utterly destroyed by Rowen.
No matter how strong a cursed blade might be, it was still just an inanimate object. Against Rowen, whose power had reached Legendary-Class, it couldn't resist.
Then, using the Munch-Munch Fruit, he fused the Shodai Kitetsu and Sandai Kitetsu together, along with Zoro's swordsmanship and the Will contained within the Sandai Kitetsu.
CLANG!
With a piercing sword hum, a new Kitetsu was born!
A new Supreme Grade weapon emerged—born from the fusion of the Sandai Kitetsu and Shodai Kitetsu, infused with Zoro's swordsmanship and blessed by a Cursed Sword Will that acknowledged Zoro as its rightful master.
Kitetsu.
From this moment forward, there would be no more Shodai Kitetsu or Sandai Kitetsu.
This sword was simply Kitetsu!
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"Kitetsu." Zoro gripped this new sword and smiled.
There was no discomfort whatsoever. This sword contained his own swordsmanship and a Cursed Sword Will that acknowledged him as its master.
Zoro's three swords were now completely in place.
Two of the 21 Great Grade Swords—Wado Ichimonji and Enma.
And one Supreme Grade Sword—Kitetsu.
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