The Famous Sword Long Moon

The next morning, Xie Wen was jolted awake by urgent pounding on the door.

"Yaaawn-who is it?"

Xie Wen first moved the two cats sprawled on top of him aside, then yawned and staggered out of bed.

Now that they finally had a ship of their own, both Palicoes had been too excited to sleep last night. Klee Meow had first pestered him for a long installment of "Naruto the Cat," then started playing chase with Sanji Meow, mostly using him as the center of their racetrack. The two cats had kept at it until dawn before finally collapsing on top of him and falling fast asleep...

And now, barely two or three hours after Xie Wen had closed his eyes, someone had come knocking.

"Oh, it's you, Uncle Bax... yaaawn-what's up?" Xie Wen asked, still yawning, his head bobbing sleepily.

"Uh... the Capone Family delivered the sword and the money. Come downstairs and collect them." Seeing him like this left Bax speechless... he really was far too relaxed about all this.

"Oh! The money's here?!"

Xie Wen instantly snapped out of his drowsiness. Even the two cats dozing on the bed woke right up and darted to his side.

They weren't particularly interested in the money. The important part was the famous sword, which might earn them another Summon Ticket.

Xie Wen quickly changed, followed Uncle Bax downstairs, and met the Capone Family member who had brought the sword and money... who turned out to be a familiar face.

"Master Xie Wen, everything you requested is here, lick."

Vito placed a long sword and a case in front of Xie Wen, casting a complicated look at Sanji Meow beside him.

"What are you staring at, meow? Want another beating, meow?" Sanji Meow raised a paw and waved it at him.

"Nyurororo... I'm no match for you, lick. Naturally, I have no interest in getting beaten up again." Vito raised both hands and retreated two steps with an awkward laugh.

Aside from that disgusting verbal tic, Vito the Weird Gun also had a highly distinctive laugh, just like many characters in One Piece.

Xie Wen ignored his exchange with Sanji Meow. He didn't count the Beli in the case to check whether there were fifty million, either. Instead, he immediately picked up the famous sword.

Setting his character aside, Capone Bege was pretty straightforward in how he handled things... though perhaps Xie Wen had simply beaten the fear into him.

In any case, the famous sword he had found for Xie Wen was another oversized sword, a little longer than the Nodachi Cody had given him and only a fish snout's length shorter than Fresh Knife: White Calm.

The sword's fittings were predominantly orange and yellow. More precisely, the scabbard was orange, the hilt was yellow, and the guard had a very traditional cross shape, or a four-lobed quince shape.

Xie Wen drew the sword and was surprised to discover that its blade was a gorgeous red, giving it a strangely bewitching air.

Then he raised it and gave it a couple of casual swings. Sure enough, it felt a little better in his hand than his old Nodachi. That probably wasn't his imagination...

Mm, worthy of being called a famous sword.

But to be fair, Xie Wen still found the Salted Fish Long Sword in his Spatial Pouch the most comfortable to use. After all, he had learned all his swordsmanship with Fresh Knife: White Calm in his hands, so naturally he was most familiar with it.

"What's this sword called?" Xie Wen slid it back into its scabbard and asked Vito the Weird Gun.

He wasn't Tashigi, nor was he even a "local." Without looking at the Hunter's Notes, he naturally knew nothing about these famous swords.

Vito hurried to explain. "This sword is called Long Moon, one of the fifty Skillful Grade Swords. Our people brought it over from another island overnight, lick."

As expected, it was only a Skillful Grade Sword. Xie Wen nodded, unsurprised.

It wasn't that he hadn't wanted to ask for something better, but even the Capone Family couldn't easily find a Great Grade Sword. He didn't have that much time to waste here waiting for them.

Anyway, as far as Xie Wen was concerned, getting a sword that unlocked an entry and earned him a Summon Ticket was enough. Its grade didn't matter all that much.

"Excellent. That settles our transaction." Xie Wen sheathed the sword, then told Vito, "You're welcome to come make trouble for me again."

"Nyurororo... you must be joking, Master Xie Wen. One lesson like that was quite enough, lick." Vito wriggled his long tongue and forced a stiff smile, then gave Xie Wen a rather dubious gentleman's bow. "Well then, I won't disturb you any longer, lick."

With that, he hurried out of the inn.

"Yaaawn-" Once he was gone, Xie Wen yawned again, his energy rapidly draining away. Holding the sword in one hand and lifting the case with the other, he tilted his head at Bax. "Uncle, I'm going back to catch up on sleep. See you later."

"Go on, go on. I'll have the innkeeper save breakfast for you." Bax waved him off impatiently, then went to report back to Cody.

But after Xie Wen staggered back to his room, he perked right up again.

Catching up on sleep was obviously an excuse. He had rushed back to unlock the catalog!

Incidentally, the Hunter's Notes hadn't produced a "story character catalog" for people like Capone Bege. Still, that made sense when he thought about it. The game hadn't had an NPC catalog, either.

"Hurry, meow! Hurry, meow! Check whether the weapon page in the notes has unlocked, meow!" Sanji Meow urged, even more impatient than Xie Wen.

As usual, Klee Meow lay on Xie Wen's shoulder, pawing at his ear as she asked excitedly, "Big Brother Xie Wen, are we getting another friend, meow?"

"Another friend is probably still a ways off." Xie Wen pulled out the notes while throwing cold water on the cats' excitement. "It'll most likely be another summoning ticket fragment, and one in a different color, too."

"Oh..."

The Little Plushie's excitement immediately faded by more than half. Sanji Meow, on the other hand, took it quite well.

"That's still pretty good, meow. Besides, doesn't that mean we'll have at least three more companions someday, meow?" The little yellow cat bobbed his head in anticipation. "It'd be perfect if they were all big sisters, meow!"

Well, it looked as though even without Xie Wen's warning, his experience with Klee Meow had already prepared Sanji Meow to summon a Palico who wasn't the "big sister" type...

That was good, too. With him mentally prepared, Xie Wen wouldn't have to go out of his way to comfort him later.

Thinking this, Xie Wen flipped the Hunter's Notes to the weapons page...

Unsurprisingly, the page whose category had been revealed long ago was now unlocked. Its description of the famous sword Long Moon was also much more detailed, listing everything from its length, weight, and blade width to its smith, materials, and the history of how it had gained fame.

Before Xie Wen could read it closely, however, the familiar scene unfolded. White light shone, and a square piece of paper with jagged edges appeared between the pages.

Sure enough, it was a fragment. Xie Wen had even correctly guessed that its color would be different. The new fragment was mainly iron gray, with silver-gray patterns that readily brought swords to mind...

It looked as though the Palico summoned by this ticket would definitely be a severing-type combat cat, and would most likely use a long sword.

As for who it might summon, there were too many possibilities to guess, and Xie Wen didn't mind who it was. After a couple of casual glances, he put away the new summoning ticket fragment along with the notes, then tucked the case containing fifty million Beli and his retired Nodachi into his Hunter's Waist Pouch as well.

Then...

Back to sleep!

The sword Long Moon comes from Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and its appearance follows the game's depiction, too. I even dug out my old Wii specifically for this. Fortunately, it still turned on.

The game also has "Shigure" and "Ichimonji," though they're called Shigure Muramasa and Ichimonji Norimune. Aside from the few swords you receive through story progression, all the swords you forge yourself are "Muramasa," including Long Moon.

So playing more games has its benefits. See? An old game I played back then has become material for this story now.

It was only after playing this game that I learned Japanese swords were divided into long swords and great swords.

I actually considered having the Cutting Cat summon Momohime, but then I remembered that Kisuke was the one who really knew swordsmanship, so I gave up on that...

Although a female cat with a male cat's soul meeting Sanji Meow would probably be pretty entertaining, I still couldn't bear to put the cats through that.

Thanks to Zhuxiang and CZYM for the tips.