The Pirate Who Could See Proficiency Became a Legend

After quietly packing everything away, Robin followed Dongze off the ship and set out on their journey across the desert.

This place was called Nanohana, a city of perfume. The moment they entered the town, strange fragrances washed over them—fresh but never cloying, elegant and romantic, lingering in the air.

Robin faltered at the scent, a flicker of longing in her eyes. After a moment's hesitation, though, she said nothing and kept following Dongze.

Dongze had activated his Observation Haki the moment he stepped off the ship, so of course he noticed. Robin never said a word about it. Her almost excessive restraint left him feeling a little rueful. They were traveling together; he had no reason to deny her something so small.

"Xiao Yi, the perfume here smells pretty good. Pick up a couple of bottles later. We'll need two changes of clothes, too. We can't cross the desert dressed like this—we'd be burnt black in a few hours!"

Robin blinked, warmth spreading through her chest. Dongze had seen right through her.

A captivating smile touched her lips.

"Of course, Mr. Dongze!"

Looking at his back, Robin thought, You're unexpectedly gentle. Which side is the real you, Pirate Hunter Dongze?

After a satisfying meal, they changed clothes, bought two camels, stocked up on water, and rested.

Both were careful by nature. Robin had learned caution through countless years on the run, while Dongze knew enough to avoid unnecessary trouble. Pluton was hidden in Alabasta, and the World Government might have had eyes everywhere. Crocodile thought he had kept his search secret, but where had he learned about it in the first place? To keep a low profile, Dongze refrained from causing a bloodbath.

And so they drew no attention in Nanohana and spent a pleasant day there.

The next morning, before the sun had cleared the horizon, they mounted their camels and set off for Alubarna.

Their destination: the royal tomb in Alubarna, and the Poneglyph within it.

There was another Poneglyph somewhere along the way, but its location was uncertain, so Dongze made no special effort to find it. He knew he did not have Luffy's protagonist luck. Searching for that stone could be like looking for a needle in a haystack, and the effort was hardly worth it.

A full day passed in the scorching heat. Sitting side by side beneath an outcrop of weathered rock, they watched the sun sink toward the horizon.

As the cool night air settled over them, Dongze breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Good thing they had changed clothes in Nanohana. If he were still wearing his clothes from the voyage, the sun might have peeled his skin right off.

Remembering the tales of the great desert he had read and watched before, Dongze was struck by a sudden impulse.

"Xiao Yi, want to climb up and see what the desert really looks like?"

Dongze stood, stretched, and turned to Robin.

She seemed to guess what he meant and gave him a gentle nod.

Dongze winked at her.

Before she could react, he swept her into his arms.

Then he used Geppo, carrying them swiftly to the top of the enormous weathered rock.

Cool wind brushed past Robin's ears. She gazed at Dongze's resolute face and the striking gleam in his eyes, momentarily lost in a daze.

Before her thoughts could wander any further, pain shot through her backside as she landed on the ground.

Dongze had plainly dropped her.

"Dongze, you—"

She looked up, ready to give her dear employer a piece of her mind, but stopped when she noticed something strange about him.

He stared at the distant meeting point of earth and sky. The sun had not quite set, its light tinged dark red. Windblown sand rose like solitary columns of smoke. Across that vast expanse came a sense of freedom, boldness, abandon, and desolation so powerful it seized the heart.

Robin froze too. It was only natural to be overwhelmed on first seeing the great desert. A long time passed before she came back to herself.

Just then, a long cry rang out, soaring skyward like the roar of a dragon or tiger. Then a bold voice burst beside her ear.

"Across the desert, a lone plume rises straight; above the long river, the setting sun hangs round!"

As his words faded, an immense force descended without a sound. An unfathomable intent pierced heaven and earth, and a longsword appeared out of nothingness, its flashing blade reaching into the highest skies.

Dongze's gaze grew distant, as though it had passed through the ages. He saw a mighty empire from a thousand years ago, one that had swept across the world yet could not withstand time's erosion. It had gradually vanished into history's long river. One oasis after another had fallen to the wind and sand, becoming this boundless realm where life could not survive.

Time had carved the word erosion into this desert. From then on, not a blade of grass grew here.

Dongze brought two fingers together and made a gentle sweep. The sword of nothingness merged into his body, and brilliance flared at his fingertips. An invisible blade tore through the airborne sand and split the desert to unfathomable depths, severing the fate it had held since antiquity. From the weathered rock, a trench with no end in sight stretched deep into the desert. Some mysterious force seemed to hold it open, preventing it from closing even after a long while.

"So this is Sword Intent!"

On Dongze's status panel, the Sword Intent entry that had remained unchanged for so long finally unlocked.

Sword Intent (unlocked): 1/100;

Erosion Sword Intent: 1500/1000000.

Reactions Across the World and the Unlocking of Transcendent Swordsmanship

Amid the endless sands, Sword Intent appeared for the first time. In almost the same instant, it sent a tremor through the world.

Across the entire world, every powerful swordsman felt it. The moment that glimmer of sword light appeared, the Famous Swords in their hands reacted in different ways.

A sword began as ordinary iron. The hand that wielded it gave it spirit; the heart could kill it, and blood could bring it to life.

Famous Swords were no different. After years beside their powerful wielders, they had absorbed their bearing, spirit, and Haki, becoming weapons that seemed almost alive. The cursed sword Kitetsu was one example.

In the New World, Whitebeard felt Murakumogiri stir beside him. His narrow eyes tightened. As its wielder, he could sense the weapon's delight, and his crescent-shaped mustache twitched twice.

"Gurararara!"

"Gurararara!"

Whitebeard Edward Newgate's unmistakable laughter soon rang throughout the Moby Dick.

Watching the surging sea, Whitebeard thought, Interesting. Murakumogiri hasn't stirred like that in years. Whoever you are, I'll admit you're worthy of being my son!

"Pops! What happened?"

"It's been ages since Pops laughed like that!"

Whitebeard waved off Marco and Jozu beside him, then gave Vista a meaningful look.

He had a vague feeling that the person responsible would come to visit him. Of all his sons aboard the ship, Vista alone was a swordsman through and through. Someone who could make Murakumogiri tremble without ever meeting him would surely shake the world one day.

Whitebeard looked forward to that meeting.

"Boys! Let's have a feast!"

In the pirate world, there seemed to be only one way to celebrate: throw a feast.

Marco and the other sons had no idea what had gotten into Whitebeard, but they had no objections. They shouted their agreement, and a lively feast began aboard the Moby Dick.

In Red-Haired Shanks's territory, Gryphon bounced cheerfully at his waist. Shanks grinned.

"Is that so? Looks like the Swordmasters have another top-tier fighter among them. Wonder when I'll see Luffy again. You'd better keep at it, kid! Boys! Let's have a feast!"

"Yeah!"

On the Red Line, in the holy land of Mary Geoise, the member of the Five Elders who wielded First Kitetsu felt its unusual movement and narrowed his eyes.

The others noticed and asked, "What is it?"

"An extraordinary genius has appeared in Swordsmanship! Kitetsu seems to have sensed it. That's why it's reacting this way. Someone like this will stand at the pinnacle one day!"

"Inform Sengoku and deploy CP9. Find this brat at all costs! Focus on the New World!"

At Shakky's Rip-Off Bar in the Sabaody Archipelago, Dark King Rayleigh felt the sword at his waist stir. He paused, then burst out laughing.

"Swordsmanship, huh? I see. The world's about to grow restless again. Roger, has it really been that long? Here's a drink to the passing years!"

On the Grand Line, Hawkeye Dracule Mihawk stood aboard a small boat lit by four candles. The Black Blade Yoru on his back felt ready to leap free.

A sharp light flared in his eyes. As the world's greatest Great Swordsman, he had traveled farther along the path of Swordsmanship than the others and felt that power more deeply.

The swords' reactions said it all. Whitebeard's had merely trembled twice. Rayleigh's, Shanks's, and the Elder's had bounced, while Hawkeye's Black Blade Yoru had nearly sprung free. Whitebeard relied chiefly on his Tremor-Tremor Fruit; Shanks and Rayleigh also drew on Conqueror's Haki; and the Elder held political power. Their devotion to the sword was no longer as pure. Hawkeye, by contrast, was a swordsman and nothing else.

That was why Hawkeye, rather than the stronger Whitebeard or Shanks, was called the world's greatest Great Swordsman.

"A brand-new path of Swordsmanship! What astonishing talent! I'll wait for you at its peak, whoever you are!"

"I look forward to meeting you!"

The scene before Robin looked like a natural disaster, and the shock struck her all the harder. She gasped and covered her mouth.

Dongze's strike had not only split the endless sands. It had carved a rift through the sky, leaving the moon suspended in a clear, cloudless opening.

The strike looked like a miracle—or divine punishment sent down by a god.

The wind stopped. As far as Robin could see, only the desert's silence remained, along with the desolation of a land scoured by wind.

The strike scattered every thought in her mind. All that remained was a blank.

It was a long while before Robin recovered. Watching Dongze spread his arms as if to embrace heaven and earth, she murmured, "Could he be one of the gods from legend?"

The enormous disturbance also alerted Alabasta's royal family and Baroque Works, whose reach now covered the entire kingdom.

By the time either side arrived, Dongze and Robin were long gone. Only that seemingly miraculous, bottomless trench remained.

Two days later, Dongze and Robin reached Alubarna, the capital of Alabasta, without incident.

Following the route he remembered, Dongze quietly led Robin to the royal tomb.

He gently turned a mechanism, and they followed the passage into the tomb. At the sight of the Poneglyph, delight lit Robin's face.

Dongze had not lied to her. He really did know where a Poneglyph was kept.

She began reading its inscription carefully. The more she read, the more troubled she looked.

It said very little about the Void Century. Most of the text described Pluton, a devastating warship, and where it lay hidden.

"Xiao Yi, what does it say?"

Dongze watched Robin fall silent and asked, though he already knew the answer.

Unlocking Sword Intent had left him mentally drained, and he intended to use this lull to rest. As if no one else were there, he lay on the ground with his head pillowed on his arms and closed his eyes, seemingly unconcerned with what the stone recorded.

But was he truly unconcerned?

Dongze was testing her. If Robin deliberately concealed the truth, their journey together would end here.

For Dongze, that was a line he would not let her cross.

After traveling with him for days, Robin understood that too. At his question, she trembled slightly.

The Poneglyph described a weapon capable of threatening the world—a terrifying thing that could destroy an island with a single shot.

If it resurfaced, who knew how many people would suffer?

Yet she did not hesitate. She began translating the Poneglyph.

"Pluton, a devastating warship, built by the Department of Technology..."

Robin's expression remained calm and her voice steady. Soft as a lullaby, it continued without faltering at the terrible contents. She concealed nothing, from the warship's description to its hiding place.

A faint snore suddenly reached Robin's ears. She paused, then smiled sweetly at Dongze, who had fallen fast asleep.

So her employer truly had not taken that dreadful weapon to heart.

She went over and sat beside him, drawing her knees up. After a tender glance at her sleeping employer, she continued reading the rest of the Poneglyph aloud.

When she spoke the final word, Robin let out a long, troubled sigh. She still did not want such a terrible weapon to resurface.

Just then, Dongze's eyes snapped open. He stared at the Poneglyph in shock.

For the first time since setting out to sea, shock broke the calm in his eyes.

A new line had appeared on his status panel.

World Will (unlocked): 1/10;

Swordsmanship (Minor World locking in): 1/10;

"What is this..."

A Sudden Change in the Golden Finger and a Meeting with Crocodile

"Mr. Dongze! Where are we going next?"

"To exploit a bug!"

Robin blinked. Every so often, strange words sprang from Dongze's mouth.

At her puzzled look, Dongze scratched his head awkwardly. "Ah, no! We're going to meet Crocodile!"

Ever since discovering that bug with the Sea Kings, he had ventured farther and farther down the path of exploiting them, with no sign of turning back.