It's like... they've been... summoned by the "King of Swords"!
Especially... all the "flame-type" Swords focused on mastering "Flame Breathing," led by Kyojuro Rengoku—their reaction was the most violent. They almost flew out of their masters' hands, dragging Kyojuro Rengoku straight up toward the high heavens, flying toward Ryūjin Jakka, which Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni was holding flat on his palm!
"Nissan," in the Rengoku Family home, Senjuro—forced awake by the turned‑upside‑down day and night—had just slipped on his geta, grabbed the Sword he usually used to practice "Flame Breathing," and rushed over in a panic. His legs suddenly went weak the moment he heard that sword‑cry from Ryūjin Jakka, and his Sword, which had abruptly gone insane, dragged him up into the sky!
He's not talented, and he's timid. Clutching the Sword, he refused to let go, shrieking in terror. Thankfully... Rengoku Shinjuro, who had already kicked his drinking habit and pulled himself together, arrived a step later, leaped up with a soaring jump, grabbed Senjuro by the back of the neck, and yanked him down......
After helping him pin the Sword down, the boy finally got free, panting hard with lingering fear!
"Idiot, why didn't you let go?"
"Nissan said, Lord Eiichiro Oda once said, a Sword is a Swordsman's life, so I can't let go!"
His father's furious roar, his younger brother's stubborn neck‑craned defiance, were playing out right beside him... Kyojuro Rengoku's long golden hair swayed in the wind, the tips dipped in red. The Acupoints in his palm opened, and in an instant Nen flared out, forming Ten, locking his Sword down tight. In silence, he lifted his head and fixed his eyes on... the mastermind trying to steal his beloved blade,
For the first time in his life, he felt... that a Sword had Emotions!
Just like a Human... it had the rhythm of life!
"Father, Senjuro, look carefully, don't even blink," the young man in a white haori locked his flame‑like twin pupils straight onto the sky, took a deep breath, and said, "My intuition tells me,"
"this is a duel... belonging to 'Swords' that we may not see again in our entire lives!"
That's right... "It's the Swords calling, not the people...." In an inconspicuous temple on the western outskirts of Kyoto, a certain massive, towering monk, who looked like he could almost fill the entire temple gate just by sitting on the stone steps, had tears streaming from his eyes like springs. Facing the vault of heaven, he silently murmured, "Praise the sun!"
The "clatter~" of the chains beneath him was from him forcibly suppressing, with brute strength, the Nichirin Sword that belonged to him, Gyomei Himejima—one end linked to an axe, the other to a flail—that in the old days would only obey Gyomei Himejima.
Yet today, his old partner... had grown a rebellious heart!
Gyomei Himejima did not blame it. If blame was to be assigned, it could only be that... his Nichirin Sword, like him, lacked experience, had never seen... a "Sword" and a "man" as incredible as Ryūjin Jakka and Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni!
People cannot imagine people and things beyond their own understanding, and naturally they cannot know how fearsome those beings and objects that transcend cognition truly are!
In that instant, with that one sword‑cry from Ryūjin Jakka...
"The Sword is the Swordsman's life" was completely Conjured into reality!
On Sagiri yama, Urokodaki Sakonji gripped his Engraving Knife and swept his gaze around... seeing Sabito, Makomo, Shinsuke, Fukuda and the others, who after an initial near‑panic rapidly calmed down, imitated Tomioka Giyu by forcibly gripping their Swords, suppressing them with "force," and forcing themselves to cool down!
Then he lifted his eyes again, toward Roy's opposite side, at Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni with his graying beard in his hand. His heart surged like waves, rising and crashing, unable to find calm!
"Truly incredible~"
"The Sword has yet to move, but its sword‑intent moves first," Urokodaki Sakonji's Gaze grew deep as he looked at Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni, and he murmured softly, "For a man of your caliber, to what kind of realm has your understanding of the Way of the Sword reached?"
Curiosity... shock...
Ran rampant!
In this world, countless blades and Swords were flying and going mad, alarming all under heaven. And yet... looking around in a flash....
It was as if only the boy standing tall in the sky, facing Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni from afar, and the Sword in his hand wrapped in surging flames, remained unmoved, even... a bit too quiet!
"You're not afraid?"
"Should I be afraid?"
"Your Sword refuses to submit?"
"Is it supposed to submit?"
"It is not supposed to...." Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni's old eyes opened and shut as he calmly looked at the boy, and deep in his gaze a flash of appreciation passed by. Suddenly, in a deep, jar‑like voice he said, "Have you seen enough?"
"Puh‑hoo~" Two suns rose in Roy's pupils, lighting up, and then radiated boundless divine light that locked onto Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni... Roy smiled slightly, maintaining the True Eye as he spoke on, "Have I... seen enough?"
A panel slowly surfaced and, through the True Eye, was fed back into his brain....
[Name: Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni]
[Species: Shinigami]
[Constitution: S?]
[Manifest Spiritual Pressure: S?]
[Potential Spiritual Pressure: S?]
[Rating: S?]
[Note: Extremely dangerous individual, it is not recommended to make an enemy of him]
Roy took a deep breath, glanced at Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni again, narrowed his eyes, changed from one hand to two, and gripped Eclipse tightly in both hands, as if only that could give him a shred of confidence and comfort......
"Come!"
A low shout,
suddenly burst from the boy's mouth,
and then,
exploded across the sky!
Including Ubuyashiki Kagaya, Tomioka Giyu, Kyojuro Rengoku, Gyomei Himejima and the rest of Roy's followers—vaguely they seemed to see a sun slowly rise from the tip of their hearts. As their blood surged, they felt... shaken to the core!
Let alone... the ordinary masses—men and women, young and old, scattered all over, staring dumbly up at the sky... whose cheeks suddenly flushed blood‑red, their viscera trembling, a wordless boil and exhilaration bursting forth!
'Courage?'
'It's the courage Humans possess!'
With Spiritual Pressure spreading to the four corners, Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni noticed that the many Hashira, the many people, the many sentient beings all revealed, in unison, a strange trace of blood‑stirred courage. In silence... he suddenly recalled a sentence that child of the Shiba family, who was willing to discard his Shinigami status just to save a single Human girl, had once said to him....
"Humans absolutely must not be underestimated, Captain‑Commander,"
"They possess the courage to walk toward the unknown, and for that they are willing to throw themselves forward one after another... to die!"
"Even if they become wandering pluses, or fall into Hollows, they... will not hesitate!"
When Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni came back to himself again, he stared blankly at Roy—and believed.
The boy's heart had never wavered,
the boy's fighting spirit, like the Sword in his hand, had never weakened,
the boy's defiance—even knowing he could not win, he truly dared to draw his Sword in response—that is courage,
"As expected, Human stupidity and Human courage both are enough to make one look at them in a new light......"
"Boom!" Spiritual Pressure and Ren collided once more, bursting Nen out in a firework‑like splendor... Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni slowly raised his hand and said faintly, "Very well,"
Ryūjin Jakka in his hand was lifted high, then chopped down hard... a simple vertical strike, slashing straight at the space between Roy's brows!
The wind stopped, the clouds stilled. In an instant, heaven and earth lost their original colors. Only a pitch‑black vertical line advanced at a not‑fast‑not‑slow pace, leaving Roy nowhere to dodge, nowhere to flee—both fast and slow, both slow and fast... a chaos that defied comprehension......
"Didn't you want to know how much strength this old man used?"
"See for yourself."
"Pssht~" The black line skimmed past a flying bird; the bird split. It skimmed past a cloud; the cloud split. It skimmed past the wind, the moonlight, and a stray green leaf caught up by the wind... all of them neatly cleaved in two,
It didn't even spare those Gazes cast toward the sky,
lightly brushing and slicing through them, triggering a chain of unending cries of pain!
"Ah... my eyes!"
"It hurts... hurts... hurts... it hurts so much......"
One after another, men, women, young, and old, as if they had rehearsed it beforehand, all clutched their eyes at the moment they noticed that black fine line. Among them...
this even included,
the Hashira, who had preemptively used Gyo, protecting their pupils with Nen!
'What's that supposed to mean?'
"Is this old man saying I'm not even qualified... to watch the fight?"