When Your Brother Drives a Land Rover

Kaido thought Oak had secretly put in extra training to be able to unleash flying slashes, but Rocks and Newgate saw through it.

"That isn't swordsmanship. Those slashes are coming from the sword itself!"

Rocks stared intently at the Seven Star Sword, his eyes filled with astonishment. It was the first time he had seen such a miraculous sword.

"It really is unique!"

"No wonder you made a special trip here, Oak!"

Newgate looked at the small section of mountain Oak had cleaved apart. The power of that last strike rivaled a swordsman's full-force attack.

In other words, as long as someone held the Seven Star Sword, even an ordinary person who knew nothing about swordsmanship could become a swordsman in a single leap.

"Hehe, that's not all!"

Oak grinned smugly at the Seven Star Sword in his hand, extremely satisfied with its power. But its wonders did not end there.

He focused his mind on the Seven Star Sword and activated the power within it. The patterns on the blade flashed with green light, then transformed into green flames that coiled around the sword.

Whoosh!

He swung his sword again. The green flames on the blade stretched outward without end, finally striking a statue some distance away.

Boom!

The statue instantly collapsed, turning into a pile of dust that scattered away.

This was another power of the Seven Star Sword: it could produce unique Demon Fire. This fire gave off no heat and had no temperature, yet it could create effects similar to shockwaves.

It could also be extended at will according to the user's wishes, or turned into fireballs to attack enemies from afar.

Boom!

With another swing, a Demon Fire ball destroyed a corner of the altar.

"Merge!"

Remembering how the sword's wielder in the original story had once fused it into his body and achieved unity of man and sword, Oak gave the Seven Star Sword in his hand a command. The sword immediately became a streak of green light and merged into his chest, leaving behind a green sword shadow there as an endless stream of power flowed into one of his hearts.

"This is..."

Feeling that this power was somewhat familiar, Oak frowned, but he quickly realized where that familiarity came from.

He had felt something similar when he ate the Vampire Fruit last time. Could this sword be a special weapon that had eaten some kind of Devil Fruit?

That was his guess.

There might be another possibility. Oak recalled Vegapunk's explanation in the original story to Luffy and the others regarding his research into the nature of Devil Fruits.

Devil Fruits were actually possibilities for "human evolution" pursued by humanity, embodiments of human desires and wishes. For example, people wished to control flames, and thus the Fire-Fire Fruit was born.

Combined with the legend of Asuka Island, where the gods bestowed the Seven Star Sword and three sacred jewels only after the people prayed to them—

Could the Seven Star Sword be a Devil Fruit in a certain sense, the embodiment of the wishes of all the people of Asuka Island back then? Perhaps the power that should have appeared in the form of a Devil Fruit had, due to some accident, become a sword instead?

Oak felt that this was highly possible, but he could not determine which guess was correct. Besides, it did not really matter, so he stopped dwelling on it and continued testing the Seven Star Sword's power.

After reaching this state of unity between man and sword, he could use all the Seven Star Sword's abilities without relying on the sword itself.

He could unleash slashes, Demon Fire shockwaves, and all kinds of Demon Fire transformations from any part of his body.

If the Seven Star Sword truly was a special Devil Fruit, Oak believed it had to be a Paramecia.

He did not feel any further enhancement to his physique, and the Seven Star Sword itself was fragile enough to be cut in half by Zoro shortly after entering the Grand Line, ruling out the possibility of it being a Zoan.

Nor did it possess the hallmark elemental transformation of a Logia, so it could not be a Logia either.

"Damn it, he got stronger again!"

Watching Oak try out the Seven Star Sword's various abilities, Kaido was so consumed by envy and resentment that he nearly ground his back teeth to pieces. He feared Oak would suffer too little, but feared even more that Oak would drive a Land Rover!

Watching Oak grow stronger step by step, an intense anxiety rose within him.

No, I need to find a way to get stronger as soon as possible too!

He could not just watch Oak race farther and farther down the path of strength while he went from being slightly behind to being unable to even see Oak's taillights.

After thinking it over, he felt that if he wanted to close the gap again, he could only start with Devil Fruits. Only by obtaining a powerful ability could he have another chance to compete with Oak.

Hachinosu.

Shiki, Linlin, Captain John, and a group of others had returned with a great deal of looted treasure. They had all gathered together now to discuss one topic.

"What exactly did Rocks take Newgate and those two brats away to do?"

Everyone was curious about it. When Rocks left, he had not discussed it with any of them. He had merely informed them before leaving, leaving them all completely baffled.

"Could he have secretly gone off to make a fortune without telling us?"

Ochoku judged Rocks by his own standards, wondering whether Rocks had discovered a place filled with treasure and wanted to ditch them so he could keep it all for himself.

The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. Otherwise, why would Rocks take only Newgate and two apprentices instead of anyone else?

Everyone knew Newgate was a strange fellow who did not care for treasure. He only talked about family every day and dreamed of having a large family one day.

As for the two apprentices, their status and strength were both low. Even if they discovered treasure, they would not have the ability to fight for it. In that case, would not all the treasure belong to Rocks alone?

"Shut your filthy mouth!"

The moment he voiced that guess, he was rebuked.

"You think everyone is like you?

Rocks is a man with the ambition to become the King of the World. Don't use your narrow-minded thoughts to speculate about him. That is an insult to a man like him!"

The one who spoke was the leader, Marlon. He had never gotten along with Ochoku and looked down on this man whose mind was filled with nothing but treasure. He always felt that Ochoku would sell out anything for treasure.

Compared with the others, he also identified more strongly with Rocks. He greatly admired Rocks's unique charisma and respected his strength and ambition, so he could not tolerate Ochoku slandering him like this.

"Hehe."

However, Ochoku merely chuckled after hearing that.

"What a bootlicker. Too bad Rocks isn't here, so he can't hear any of that. You've wasted all that effort. I think you should wait until he comes back to say it, then you can show off your bootlicking properly.

Maybe next time he hogs all the spoils, he'll take you with him and toss you a few scraps!"

Ochoku's mocking words enraged Marlon. He stood up, ready to beat him down.

"Who's afraid of who!"

Ochoku was equally unafraid and wanted to pick a fight so he could teach Marlon a lesson. But before either could make a move, they were pulled apart.

"Enough!"

As the one whose strength was vaguely the greatest among those present, Shiki's furious shout made the two wary. Neither dared to make a move, and both sat back down.

However, after sitting down, Ochoku shot Marlon a sinister look.

One day, I'll find an opportunity to kill you.

Remembering the government's private contact with him not long ago, Ochoku's eyes shifted as thoughts began stirring in his heart.