Moses frowned:
"I know. I'm not asking for your blade. Give it to me—I need it."
King looked bewildered, unsure of Moses' intentions. "What for?"
"A Great Grade Blade."
Moses spoke calmly. "I had some breakthroughs yesterday. Got a few ideas."
Then his expression darkened, growing impatient. "Stop dawdling. Hand it over so I can see if reforging is possible."
Since this was his first attempt at forging a Great Grade Blade, he wasn't sure if he'd succeed. So, if possible, he'd rather not use his own weapon for the reforging.
Hearing this, King's eyes suddenly lit up. "You can forge one now?"
"While I'm still in a decent mood, hurry up. Otherwise, don't expect me to reforge anything for you in the future."
Without another word, King immediately drew the blade from his waist and solemnly handed it to Moses.
"Moses, go ahead and forge without hesitation. Even if it's ruined, I won't blame you. I'll be waiting for good news. Do you have enough materials? If not, just say the word—I'll approve more."
As he spoke, he reached out to pat Moses' shoulder.
But Moses, having taken the blade, turned and walked away without another word. Left with his hand raised, King awkwardly adjusted his helmet instead.
Feeling the awkwardness, he turned to leave as well. But after just a few steps, he glanced back at Black Maria and said coolly:
"Take Jack away for treatment. Don't let him die."
Before King could take two more steps, Moses' voice drifted over. "Don't forget to prepare enough forging materials for me."
King paused mid-step and replied,
"Don't worry. You'll have as much as you need."
In the dining hall, several onlookers watched the scene with astonishment. Who would've thought they'd witness something like this within the pirate crew?
That guy King—normally, he only showed such amiability to Admiral Kaido. Even Queen didn't get this kind of treatment.
Moses walked up to Yamato and the others. Without a word, he punched Ulti squarely on the head.
A steaming lump instantly swelled up.
Ulti winced in pain, looking at Moses in confusion.
"Why'd you hit me?"
"Because you deserved it."
Moses said flatly, "When it comes to being hardheaded, you're no less stubborn than Jack. Did you see how badly I beat him?"
Ulti glanced at Jack, who was being dragged away by Black Maria by the legs, and gulped before forcing a nervous chuckle.
"Yeah… that was pretty brutal."
"I really wanted to kill him earlier."
"This humble lady could tell."
As she said this, a pleased smile spread across Ulti's face, her eyes curving happily.
Thud!
Another lump formed on her head.
"Ow! That really hurts!"
Ulti's face scrunched up in pain.
Moses scoffed. "Try to be smarter, will you?"
"I don't want to suddenly hear one day that you got yourself killed." Moses sighed. "Thankfully, King was watching yesterday."
"Otherwise, given Jack's brutality, you might've actually been slaughtered. Even if he didn't kill you, you'd be bedridden for months."
"Ulti, remember this—unless absolutely necessary, don't provoke someone far stronger than you. Luck doesn't last forever."
"Oh… I got it."
Seeing Ulti back down, Moses sighed, "That guy looks seriously injured, but with good food and drink, plus the self-healing ability of his Ancient Zoan type, he'll be back to his lively self in ten days to half a month."
"But what about you? You can't compare to him. Even with your Oni bloodline giving you naturally superior physical abilities, what about him? Even without his Devil Fruit powers, he has Fish-Man blood—no worse than yours."
"You're nearly five years younger than him. What were you thinking? Are you really not afraid of death?"
Ulti lowered her head and apologized to Moses:
"I'm sorry, I was wrong."
Nearby, Page One watched as Moses scolded his older sister into submission like a little lamb, his eyes filled with admiration. He couldn't help but mutter:
"Big bro is amazing. Only he can keep sis in line. But it's not entirely her fault—that blond guy yesterday was the one who started talking trash about you first."
"Sis just couldn't take it and went after him."
Seeing Ulti's sincere apology and hearing Page One's quiet muttering, Moses sighed again:
"Yes, you were wrong—but not for picking a fight with him. You just went about it the wrong way."
Ulti raised her head pitifully and looked at Moses curiously. "The wrong way?"
"You should've come to me. I would've handled him, instead of stubbornly fighting him when you couldn't win. Just how thick is your skull?"
"Aren't you afraid someone might smash it open someday?"
Moses reached out and patted Ulti on the head:
"Remember this: if you ever face someone you can't handle, don't just charge in recklessly. Running away isn't shameful. You can always go back and settle the score when you're strong enough."
"Mm, I understand."
Ulti nodded vigorously, her small face full of determination. Moses sighed inwardly—this girl was the type to act on impulse.
In other words, a hot-blooded fool.
"Enough of that. Let's go eat breakfast."
Yamato, who had been waiting impatiently, cheerfully ran ahead and started loading her plate with food at the serving station.
Mostly meat.
After breakfast, the Ulti siblings returned to their room to rest—King had approved it the day before. They were excused from training for the next couple of days to recover from their injuries.
Only Yamato went to the canyon for her usual training.
Moses took King's sword and headed to the weapons factory.
Inside the forging workshop, his gaze fell upon a thick, heavy spiked club gathering dust in a corner. His eyes flickered slightly.
"It hasn't moved. No one came for it yesterday."
Soon, workers arrived with carts of ore and materials.
Under Moses' direction, they stacked the materials neatly in a corner of the workshop.
The furnace was lit.
Moses began his preparations, sorting through the pile of ores for suitable ones.
Then, to his delight, he discovered several rare ores among the newly delivered batch—perfect for synthesizing an alloy capable of forging a Great Grade Blade.
According to the forging notes, some ores that could directly produce Great Grade Blades were exceptionally rare and hard to come by. Over the years, swordsmiths had experimented and developed a formula to smelt multiple ores into a composite alloy that could serve as a substitute.
Moses carefully selected a pile of ores and handed them to Bear Cub for refining.
Arriving by the furnace, Moses gazed at King's longsword inserted into the blazing fire, its guard and hilt decorations already removed. The blade had turned incandescent red amidst the roaring flames.
Through Observation Haki, he perceived the rhythmic pulse emanating from the sword. Though connected, the Spirit Body and physical blade remained distinctly separate.
Moses silently thought:
"Let me give you a complete rebirth."
Before long, Bear Cub refined the composite alloy and proudly presented it.
[Composite Alloy (B-)]: An artificially synthesized high-strength, high-spirituality composite alloy, exceptionally rare and suitable for forging.
Adding supplementary materials, Moses placed the alloy into the furnace alongside the sword for smelting.
Time flowed swiftly.
Several hours passed in a blink.
Observing the two semi-solidified masses of metal, Moses retrieved them and began kneading them together. After brief cooling,
Armament Haki undulated quietly in his hands, its outer edges shimmering with a crimson halo—an extraordinarily beautiful sight.
Flowing Sakura.
The fluid Armament Haki spread from the tongs in his left hand, enveloping and permeating the alloy, while the hammer in his right—also sheathed in Armament Haki—swung down with force.
"Clang!"
Sparks flew as the alloy began reshaping.
Since this was a reforging, the blade already possessed complete spirituality, saving many steps.
Just as Armament Haki could grasp the true form of a Logia-Type user,
The weapon's Spirit Body was enveloped by Haki. With each hammer strike, it continuously fused with the blade's internal meridians.
Witnessing this, Moses' eyes remained cool and focused. Everything progressed naturally. Through Qi Circulation Throughout the Body, unified strength distribution, and complete self-mastery, what posed challenges for other swordsmiths felt nonexistent to him.
The fusion of physical blade and Spirit Body wasn't simple.
Sometimes docile, sometimes volatile; occasionally smooth, other times stubbornly resistant.
But Moses understood one principle clearly:
One word—beat it.
If the Spirit Body dared resist, hammer it with Haki. If it ignored Armament Haki, use Conqueror's Haki—the latter's effect on Spirit Bodies proved remarkably effective.
A weapon took form.
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Every meridian within the blade now evenly distributed the Spirit Body's spiritual pathways.
Spirit-Flesh Convergence, perfectly unified.
By the time the longsword took shape, everything had flowed naturally.
Quenching!
Tempering!
Sharpening the edge, polishing the blade.
Attaching the guard and hilt.
Upon completion,
Moses exhaled, wiping sweat from his brow.
The three-meter-long sword in his hands appeared largely unchanged in form,
Except for the delicate flame-like patterns now dancing along its edge.
Holding the palm-wide blade, Moses' eyes sparkled with joy:
"My first Great Grade Blade in life—I'll name you 'Flame Dragon.'"
[B-Grade Great Grade Blade - Flame Dragon]: Exceptionally durable with an incredibly sharp edge. Possesses the unique ability to convert the wielder's Armament Haki into clinging flames.
"Given its foundation, 'Flame Dragon' manifested this effect? That bastard King's getting quite the bargain."
Gripping the hilt, Armament Haki coiled around it, dyeing the blade a deep black. Moses sensed something—a hint of the weapon's spiritual nature—and realized the blade was secretly siphoning his Armament Haki.
A strange smirk curled at the corner of Moses' lips. With a thought, he shifted his Armament Haki, and whoosh—the blade erupted into dark crimson flames.
Wrapping his left hand in Armament Haki, he grasped the burning blade, feeling the heat converted from his Haki. He murmured to himself:
"Already surpassing 800°C, hotter than a normal furnace. At this point, even the Mera Mera no Mi would be trash in comparison."
Wincing at the searing pain in his palm, Moses cut off the Haki flow, dispersing the flames.
Now, the final step of the process.
On both sides of the blade near the hilt, Moses meticulously carved two symmetrical characters: "Flame" and "Dragon".
Moving to the corner of the room, he picked up the scabbard and sheathed the blade—now named "Flame Dragon"—before gripping it firmly.
Taking a deep breath, Moses pushed open the door of the forge and stepped outside with Bear Cub.
The moon hung bright in a star-sparse sky.
It was late.
As they walked, Moses pulled up his system panel. As expected, under the "Bestowed Abilities" section, his [Forging] Blessing had leveled up.
Forging Blessing: B-
Soon after,
Back at the Oni Island stronghold, Moses arrived outside King's door on the third floor.
The moment he stepped through the outer door, the bedroom door swung open. King, his dark brown skin gleaming, greeted him with a warm smile.
"I stayed up tonight. Been waiting for you."
Moses scoffed and tossed Flame Dragon toward him.
Snap. King caught it effortlessly.
His eyes widened in surprise. "It's heavier?"
Moses ignored the question, only saying, "Its name is Flame Dragon. Use it well. If you ruin it, I swear I'll kill you someday."
With that, Moses yawned and walked away without a backward glance.
King watched him leave, even activating his Observation Haki to scan him.
A flicker of suspicion crossed his face.
"He's letting me off this easy today? Something's off… Whatever. The blade's what matters."
Shing!
Drawing the sword, King's eyes lit up the instant he saw it. "A Great Grade Blade. He actually pulled it off."
But the next moment—
Sparks flickered along the blade, and his own Armament Haki began draining into it. With a whoosh, eerie dark flames engulfed the steel.
King's expression shifted. He jerked his head back, but the scent of singed hair still filled the air. Not that he cared—his focus was entirely on the blade.
"Flame Dragon… A Demon Blade?His gaze lingered on the characters engraved near the hilt—"Flame" and "Dragon"—as an unreadable glint flashed in his eyes.
"...It really does suit me."
——
Back in his room, Moses washed up and climbed into bed with Bear Cub.
Clearing his mind, he focused on the steady rise and fall of his chest, savoring the quiet.
After a while, he raised his right index finger, coating it in black. Then—whoosh—dark flames burst to life. As he adjusted the flow of his Haki, the flames' intensity waxed and waned, their heat fluctuating in turn.
"Every Great Grade Blade forged is a surprising step forward in cultivation, huh?"
Forging life.
Comprehending life.
Experiencing every exquisite sensation in the most intimate way possible.
Breath.
With a breath, Moses extinguished the dark red flame on his fingertip.
A faint smile curled at the corner of his lips:
"Sleep."
The night passed without incident.
Early the next morning.
After a hearty breakfast with Yamato and the others, Moses took Bear Cub to the forging chamber.
There was still plenty of the special alloy from yesterday left, and Moses began reforging his Cold Dew Short Sword.
Time flowed steadily.
By evening, Moses gazed at the short sword in his hand. As Haki was absorbed into the blade, droplets of dark blue water condensed, gradually enveloping the sword and spreading outward.
A dark-blue three-foot blade appeared in his grasp.
Rippling with aqueous mist.
Its edge gleaming fiercely.
"Another Demon Blade, huh? Am I doomed to forge nothing but Demon Blades from now on?"
Moses wore a pained expression. It wasn't that he disliked them, but the name just didn't sound appealing.
Withdrawing his Haki, he dispersed the water coating the blade and admired the pristine beauty of Cold Dew, a smirk tugging at his lips.
Then, he engraved the characters for "Cold Dew" on both sides of the blade near the hilt.
Marking it with his unique insignia.
In the blink of an eye, another day passed.
That afternoon, just as Moses and the others stepped out of the dining hall after lunch, King intercepted them.
Without preamble, he fixed his gaze on Moses:
"Come with me. Kaido wants to see you."
Glancing at King beside him, Moses asked curiously, "Do you know what he wants?"
King's indifferent voice echoed from beneath his helmet, "Something good. But behave yourself when you see Kaido."
"Tch, when have I ever misbehaved? Which eye of yours saw me acting up?"
Moses scoffed, annoyed by the cryptic talk.
After waving off Bear Cub and the others, telling them to head back first, Moses followed King without another word.
Bear Cub, Yamato, and the rest didn't insist on tagging along—after all, Kaido hadn't summoned them.
Besides, King wouldn't have allowed it anyway.