Chapter 15: The Ferocious Moon of Darkness, Kokushibo's Power[1]
"Are we starting?"
"Rozi, you're going to let Zoro choose a Heroic Spirit power too, right?"
Hearing Rozi's words, Luffy immediately looked over excitedly.
Even though he had already chosen a Heroic Spirit template, that last experience made Luffy especially interested in Rozi's Heroic Spirit space.
Now that he saw Rozi was about to open the Heroic Spirit space for Zoro, he was naturally very happy.
"That's right. Zoro, if you're ready, I'll take you into the Heroic Spirit space."
Rozi nodded slightly and faced Zoro.
"Heroic Spirits… I don't know what kind of power that is, but I'm ready."
Zoro gripped his long sword tightly, his face filled with determination.
"That's a good answer. Then I'll begin now."
As he spoke, Rozi snapped his fingers.
The next second, Zoro felt space tremble, and then he found himself in a pitch-black space.
Between him and Rozi, a semi-transparent panel floated in midair.
"Let me see, let me see!"
"Zoro's three traits… Swordsman, Drunk, Directionally challenged."
"Huh?! Directionally challenged? Directionally challenged!"
"Hahahaha, Zoro, look! Even the Heroic Spirit space has you on record as directionally challenged."
Luffy clutched his stomach and laughed like crazy.
He completely ignored Zoro's face, which was getting darker and darker.
"Bastard, I am not directionally challenged!"
"Rozi, isn't this thing malfunctioning?"
Zoro grabbed Rozi by the collar and roared in irritation.
Rozi could even see a faint redness on Zoro's face.
"I think it's accurate. Back at the Marine base, you clearly meant to run inside, but you ran out of the base instead, didn't you?"
"That was just an accident! This thing has to be wrong. I'm not directionally challenged."
Hearing Zoro's words, Rozi shook his head with a bit of regret.
"Stop struggling, Zoro. Everyone knows you're directionally challenged."
"Don't worry, there won't be any contempt."
"If you really refuse to admit it, you can tap those words, 'Directionally challenged.'"
"Maybe you'll get to see all kinds of your directionally challenged behavior."
Hearing that, Zoro's eyes widened.
"Hey, I can see my behavior?"
Luffy said, "Interesting. Zoro, I'll try it."
As he spoke, Luffy forcibly grabbed Zoro's hand and pressed it onto the words "Directionally challenged."
"Wait—"
Before Zoro could finish, a screen suddenly popped up above the words "Directionally challenged."
On the screen, Zoro was putting his talent for getting lost on full display.
"Hahahaha, yeah right, Zoro, not directionally challenged."
Luffy burst out laughing again.
As the screen kept switching through scenes of Zoro's getting-lost moments, Luffy even rolled on the ground laughing.
"D-Damn it, make it disappear!"
Having his dark history exposed in front of others was too much even for Zoro.
He raised his arm and swung at the screen, only for his hand to pass right through it, and then land on the three characters under the Swordsman trait: Kokushibo.
In an instant, the space around them trembled.
A few seconds later, the three of them arrived in a desert.
Dozens of meters away from Rozi and the others, a man stood perfectly upright, with long black side locks tied into a high ponytail, wearing a purple snake-patterned kimono, and a long sword at his waist.
"Where is this? Rozi, who is that man?"
Zoro frowned deeply, and his hands unconsciously pressed onto the sword hilts at his waist.
A swordsman's instincts made him keenly sense the cold killing intent coming from that man in the distance.
"Just now, you pressed the Swordsman trait: Kokushibo."
"This place is the field for demonstrating Kokushibo, also known as Tsugikuni Michikatsu, and his sword techniques."
"Watch closely, Zoro. Watch clearly the swordsmanship known as Moon Breathing, wielded by Upper Rank One, the ferocious moon of the dark night."
As Rozi's words fell, Kokushibo drew his blade fast and slashed once at the empty air in front of him.
"First Form: Dark Moon, Evening Palace!"
A lightning-fast iaijutsu cut swept across, forming a crescent-shaped slash like a new moon.
Along that slash, countless small round moon arcs spun and whirled.
"What a fast draw slash. That man isn't simple!"
Zoro stared hard at Kokushibo.
That single slash just now made Zoro feel a trace of danger.
"Kokushibo's Moon Breathing is swordsmanship devoted to killing, techniques designed to kill."
"The key is releasing a huge amount of blade force in a short time."
"And around that blade force, tiny crescent blades attach themselves."
"If someone without rich combat experience faces Moon Breathing, defeat is the only outcome."
"Zoro, widen your eyes, watch clearly, and understand Kokushibo's power."
As Rozi explained Moon Breathing to Zoro, he rested his hand on Kinpira.
He understood that once Zoro inherited Kokushibo's Heroic Spirit template, he would also learn the sword style called Moon Breathing.
As Rozi spoke, Kokushibo used Moon Breathing's Sixth Form: Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon, Incessant.
Those rapid crisscrossing slashes focused into a point formed multiple crescent arcs that tore through the air toward Zoro, making Zoro unconsciously raise his blade to block the illusory slashes.
"Heh, Moon Breathing… it can slash flying blade strikes!"
"Don't worry, Rozi. I'll grasp a sword style like this soon enough."
Zoro lifted his head, his eyes full of resolve.
Even though the blade force that swept in didn't cause real collisions, the pressure within those slashes was unmistakably real.
For the current Zoro, who couldn't yet release flying slashes, Moon Breathing's power was a higher realm of swordsmanship.
"Keep watching, Zoro. The real highlight is next."
As Rozi spoke, the sword in Kokushibo's hand suddenly changed, becoming a longer, grotesque blade with interlaced protruding edges.
"Moon Breathing, Seventh Form: Calamity Mirror, Moonlit!"
Kokushibo swung the evolved demon blade, creating five enormous shockwaves that raced along the ground and surged forward.
Compared to the Sixth Form he used earlier, it was more than twice as fast.
"So awesome. Wait, his sword can transform?"
Luffy tilted his head and asked, confused.
"Kokushibo isn't human. He's a demon."
"He has powerful vitality and regeneration."
"Even his sword is made from his own flesh and blood."
"As Kokushibo releases more of his power, the blade called Kyokokamusari becomes that kind of grotesque demon blade."
"Starting from the Seventh Form, Moon Breathing is sword technique unleashed after Kokushibo releases his power."
Rozi stroked his chin and explained to Luffy and Zoro.
"A demon? No wonder this Kokushibo has six eyes."
"Rozi, if Zoro inherits Kokushibo's power, will he turn into a demon too?"
Nami asked.
"If I can get that power, even growing six eyes wouldn't matter."
Zoro kept his eyes locked on Kokushibo's sword techniques and said quietly.
"Don't worry. If Zoro chooses Kokushibo, he'll gain Kokushibo's power, but he won't grow six eyes."
"Choosing Kokushibo doesn't mean you become him."
"After gaining a Heroic Spirit template, there's a chance you inherit that demonic regeneration, but you won't gain immortality."
"Even without immortality, you also avoid the weakness of being unable to walk under sunlight."
Rozi smiled and relayed the details about Kokushibo's Heroic Spirit template that he had just received from the system.
When the word "immortality" came up, Nami and the others were naturally shocked again.
Of course, Kokushibo didn't stop his sword techniques just because they were shocked.
Kokushibo leapt ten meters into the sky, and the aura around him surged to its peak at the highest point.
"Moon Breathing, Sixteenth Form: Moonbow, Half Moon!"
With Kokushibo's sharp shout, he swung his long blade downward from above.
In an instant, dozens of massive blade winds, accompanied by countless crescent moon blades, rained down from the sky, blanketing a hundred-meter radius.
And it also engulfed the place where Rozi and the others stood.