Gulp...
Amatsuki Toki couldn't help but swallow as she watched the sea ahead of her remain "split" for a full three seconds before it slowly rejoined. Her mouth hung slightly open.
"What… kind of sword technique is that...?"
Unable to resist, she turned her head. Seeing Darren gasping for breath and looking completely drained, she rushed over, worry etched on her face, and supported his hand.
"That technique's called 'Dairiki Shutsukiseki'.'" (Dairiki Shutsukiseki: Great Strength Creates Miracles)
Darren barely managed a weak grin as he let the black Cursed Sword fall from his hand, then plopped down on the ground, panting heavily like a fish out of water.
Thick beads of sweat streamed down his forehead, arms, and torso. His cracked lips had turned bluish-purple, and a trail of blood slowly trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"Darren-san… you're coughing up blood..."
"It's nothing. I just overdid it."
Hands trembling, Darren lit a cigarette and took a long drag.
A wave of exhaustion surged through every cell and muscle in his body, so intense that even standing upright felt like a challenge. It was worse than partying ten days and nights straight without sleep.
On reflex, he checked his physical stats.
Physique: 9.361 (78.712)
Strength: 7.11 (70.001)
Speed: 8.099 (70.391)
Armament Haki: 0 (33.012)
Conqueror's Haki: 51.001
Darren: …
Several black lines seemed to appear on his forehead.
The numbers in parentheses were his normal, healthy stats. The ones outside showed his current state.
Except for Conqueror's Haki, which hadn't changed, all the other stats had plummeted to unprecedented lows.
Especially his Armament Haki—reduced to zero.
In plain terms… he was completely drained.
Thinking that, he glanced at Enma on the ground with a ghost-stricken expression, his mouth twitching.
This sword... was terrifying.
As for the destructive force of that last slash, Darren wasn't exactly shocked.
Enma had absorbed an enormous amount of his Haki, nearly sucking him dry. That it could produce a slash on par with a Great Swordsman wasn't surprising at all.
"It's just... a bit of a waste."
Darren exhaled slowly and ran a hand through his disheveled hair.
After all, he wasn't a swordsman. When it came to swordsmanship, he was utterly clueless.
Unleashing that much Haki and physical strength just to split the sea? Way too inefficient.
This brought up the issue of energy efficiency.
Take destroying a warship, for example. Using physical techniques, Darren wouldn't even need Haki. He could literally tear a ship apart with his bare hands for dramatic effect.
But with a sword? He'd have to clumsily dump a huge amount of Haki into it and swing like he was swinging a flaming club just to get similar results.
A true master swordsman, however, could unleash far more power with the same amount of Haki.
That's the essence of swordsmanship training.
"But... since I've got a famed blade like Enma, maybe I should start training in swordsmanship?"
The thought had barely formed before Daren shook his head and dismissed it.
His talent for swordsmanship was practically nonexistent—something he'd confirmed more than once back in North Blue.
As Sakazuki once put it, taking the path of the sword would be "a complete waste of time."
And Daren trusted Sakazuki's judgment.
Before he got the Magu Magu no Mi, Sakazuki had been a formidable swordsman. If he said Daren wasn't cut out for it, then that was the truth.
Daren's true strength lay in brutal, close-quarters combat.
That much had been proven time and again over the years, and through those experiences, he'd gradually honed his own unique fighting style.
Giving that up now to practice swordsmanship would be an incredibly dumb move.
Still...
He raised his hand, a faint arc of electricity sparking between his fingers.
Enma slowly rose from the ground.
Whether it was his imagination or not, Daren felt that after that "release" just now, Enma wasn't resisting him as fiercely anymore.
He locked eyes with the "Blade of Hell" floating before him, and a playful grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Who says you need to know swordsmanship to use a sword?"
He flicked his finger.
Swish!
Enma shot out in a streak of black light, blasting forward at high speed and vanishing into the distant jungle.
The black cursed blade became a blur, piercing and weaving through the trees like a phantom, leaving behind a trail of dark sword shadows.
A second later—
Enma flew back, hovering quietly by Daren's side.
Then—as Amatsuki Toki's wide eyes watched in disbelief, strange creaking sounds echoed from deep within the forest.
Smooth, seamless cuts appeared across the trunks of towering trees, each as thick as several people could wrap their arms around. Their upper halves began to slide and tilt, creaking ominously before crashing down with a thunderous rumble.
Dust exploded into the air, and smoke and debris surged through the clearing.
Looking around—within a hundred-meter radius, the jungle had been flattened into a barren zone. Only enormous stumps, their rings clearly visible, remained rooted in the earth.
"Hahahahaha!!!"
Daren couldn't help but burst out laughing.
I'm not training in swordsmanship...
I'm training in flying sword techniques, dammit!
The rush of exhilaration pushed back his exhaustion, just a bit.
He flopped onto the sun-scorched beach, feeling the breeze off the sea as he lay in the sunlight, a satisfied grin on his face.
He'd been right!
If that strike on the Moby Dick had been a moment of accidental inspiration, then this experiment had fully confirmed what he'd suspected all along.
It worked!
Compared to using regular metal or coins, swapping in a famed sword had boosted his metal manipulation attacks by at least fivefold.
Of course, a lot of that came from Enma's own qualities as one of the "Great Grade Blades—21 Works," with its natural sharpness and penetration.
This was the cursed sword that had wounded Kaidou, after all.
If he'd used a standard-issue Marine saber, the power wouldn't even come close.
And if he were to coat a Meito in Armament Haki? The destructive power would skyrocket even further!
The only drawback to this "magnetic sword control" technique was that it demanded a high degree of Devil Fruit mastery—and burned through stamina fast. Daren had to maintain pinpoint control over the sword's flight path and angle at all times.
But was that really a flaw of the technique?
No, no...
That was a flaw of Daren himself!
A wild glint of obsession flared in his eyes.
This was just one Enma...
What if—
What if he could get his hands on all twenty-one Great Grade Blades... or even the twelve Supreme Grade Blades?
Just picture it—
His arms raised high, and behind him, several—maybe dozens—of legendary swords hovering in the air.
All coated in Armament Haki, turned jet black, then launched toward their target in a storm of sound-shattering velocity powered by an intense magnetic field...
"Shit!"
"If I'd known, I would've gone all out and stolen that damn Ame no Habakiri too!"
Eyes bloodshot, Daren grit his teeth in frustration.