Chapter 72: The World is My Sword.

Chapter 72: The World is My Sword.

Chapter 72 The World is My Sword.

HK-47 once told Rayleigh that if you only trained while being slowed down, you only become skilled in moving slowly. Although Rayleigh spent many hours practicing Haki with his Empty Sword, he would spend just as much time with his Sword of Babylon, integrating what he learned into his existing style and power systems.

The Force, being Haki's nosey next-door neighbor, gave many insights into Haki and the various flows it contained within. While analyzing the Light Side, Rayleigh gained insight into the World's aspects of Training, Growth, and many others. The Dark Side granted insight into many more aspects, but the most useful was the aspect of Weakness.

After he decided to just use cultivation terms, the headache he got from trying to piece them together lessened, so he would use the word Law instead of Flow most of the time.

From the perspective of the greater universe rather than just a world, the so-called Flow of the World, from a physics standpoint, was powered by the expansion of the Universe. Every empty point of space contained vast amounts of energy and constantly expanded, imparting that energy to matter to grant motion and allow for the passage of time.

The Laws that made up the World were just the naturally formed structures and concepts that the World used to keep turning and gaining control over these small pieces could grant greater control over the whole. The main reason it seemed supernatural compared to the Earth of his previous life was that this world and the Universe in general had an over-arcing Will. If the World had a Will, then Willpower could affect the world.

Though, Willpower was not infinite. Similar to that of the Force, using Haki exhausted the mind and spirit if not the body. If you wanted to increase your Willpower, you had to train.

Rayleigh was not surprised to discover a Law of Growth and Training in this world. It meant that a person who had completely and utterly dedicated themselves to training would receive more gains than should be possible. The Law of Weakness was an interesting boon as he could use it together with Growth and Training to weaken his body and strengthen the effects of the growth through the training.

Rayleigh's Will training had also sped up by an unreasonable amount. Now that his mind could access the Laws of the World, it seemed to take nutrients from these laws to develop itself further, and in the three months since Rayleigh started practicing, he had gone from eighteen Wills to twenty-one Wills with no sign of slowing down. The Will training he endured using itching powder before coming to this world was finally paying off.

Mihawk returned to the island five months after leaving, two months after the Pirate MC was first spotted.

At the time, Rayleigh was using the Sword of Babylon to practice and Mihawk attacked without warning.

Rayleigh's proficiency in Haki barely allowed him to guide the whole flow of the World into his sword. He had yet to reach the proficiency of any individual or fusion of flows that allowed him to use it to lead the rest of the World, but with his Overdrive available to strengthen his muscles, he could take the weight of Mihawk's blade and block it completely.

Mihawk actually showed a small smirk at this. It had been too long since he could use his entire strength in a fight without it ending in one move. The fact that Rayleigh was using abilities beyond what he was familiar with didn't matter. He had long heard from Shanks about these strange geniuses and knew that Rayleigh had not gone all out. This was the only reason Mihawk used his full strength. He knew that Rayleigh could take it.

Mihawk asked, "Have you beaten the Humandrill King?"

Rayleigh nodded, "With this sword I have." Overdrive easily allowed Rayleigh to match the Humandrill King's strength and he had been practicing using different flows against him for the past few weeks now.

Mihawk nodded and slashed forward again. Rayleigh's eyes widened and his senses went crazy as Mihawk's sword seemed to transform from the world into an unstoppable force capable of cleaving through mountains.

Rayleigh poured everything he had into his Sword of Babylon. Yoru and Rayleigh's Sword stopped a meter from each other as the pressure from Yoru met the Aura and Haki from the Sword of Babylon. Rayleigh felt that if he did not block this sword, he would be cleaved in half, and every one of his Wills entered the Ten of Point State to achieve hyper-focus. A black sheen appeared momentarily on the Sword of Babylon before it snapped in half and shattered to nothingness. A line of blood shot from Rayleigh's chest and he blacked out from the backlash, but one of his Wills barely managed to hold on and regained consciousness before he collapsed.

Rayleigh staggered back several steps and confirmed that he was still alive. That last surge of Willpower blunted much of the force of Yoru's slash and the remaining bulk of it was absorbed by the destruction of the Sword of Babylon.

Seeing that Rayleigh was still alive, conscious, and standing, Mihawk pointed out, "You are the second person this month to withstand Yoru. Though I did not use Conqueror's Haki on the first one."

Rayleigh laughed a bit though doing so hurt his chest and lungs. He sat down cross-legged, entered a state of normal Zetsu, and started using the Force to speed up his recovery. He then asked, "Anything special about the other guy?"

Pleased that Rayleigh did not disappoint him, Mihawk became slightly more talkative and answered, "He said that he would best me one day in the future. His captain was also interesting."

Mihawk pulled out a sheet of paper, one with a picture of a black-haired teen with tanned skin. He had a bright smile and wore a straw hat. It was a Wanted poster and had a bounty of 30 Million Berries with the title 'Monkey D Luffy.'

Although Immortal Beauty never gave the MC's name, Rayleigh's connection with the Force could grant him insight into the future of Main Characters. That and the fact that there was no way that a normal Pirate with a Bounty of only 30 Million would be remembered by Hawkeye Mihawk.

Rayleigh cheekily said, "I bet his bounty will increase by ten times within a year."

Mihawk asked, "Oh? And what would you give me if you lost?"

"You can ask me any question you want."

"And if I lost?"

"Let me hold Yoru for a minute."

"A bet it is then. How long will it take you to reform that sword?" Mihawk didn't mind the fact that he knew nothing about this student of his, but that didn't mean he wasn't curious. He could also guess from the manner in which the sword was destroyed that it could be reformed.

Rayleigh answered, "I'll have it back tomorrow." Remaking the sword was easy, but his Kyber Crystal was destroyed. As a Starting Game inventory item, he could disable the item's existence and re-enable it twenty-four hours later in its saved state. The catch was that it would not show any changes since he last Saved it using the Lightsaber Customization Kit. Rayleigh often uses Force: Weapon on the Kyber Crystal itself to strengthen his connection with it, so any progress he made since the last save is lost if it is destroyed.

"Then you can return tomorrow. I shall see how skilled you really are." Mihawk was looking forward to seeing Rayleigh's skills. Mihawk himself would not grow as a swordsman unless he found the mistakes in his style, but that required being pushed when he was not holding back. Mihawk's not holding back meant using Conqueror's Haki, and if Rayleigh could survive, then he might be able to push the world's number one swordsman.

Rayleigh nodded as Mihawk returned to his castle. Rayleigh remained motionless, recovering slowly until he could enter the Tavern for some food. Since he was injured, he would spend more points than normal on a really big meal to speed up his recovery.

The next day with the Sword of Babylon in hand, Rayleigh entered the training area behind Mihawk's castle and Mihawk joined him a moment later. The sound of swords clashing echoed as Mihawk tested Rayleigh's limits. Mihawk attacked with Strong and deflected with Gentle. Sometimes a Strong attack turned into a Gentle one to make a feint. Rayleigh used too much power to parry these and made an opening which Mihawk rewarded with a new scar.

Rayleigh used Babylon to enhance the effect of Force Precognition and merge it into Observation Haki to grant visions of the future, but every time he looked, it changed as Mihawk adjusted accordingly, forcing him to look multiple times a second from multiple angles to discern all of the most probable futures and react accordingly.

Rayleigh's Human body limitation Swordsmanship faired decently against Mihawk's reality-bending Anime Swordsmanship. Similar to how Rayleigh read Goddess of Ice like a book, so too was Mihawk reading Rayleigh. He didn't mind of course. There is nothing wrong with a Teacher learning from his students.

The main problem with the swordsmanship Rayleigh learned in the MCU was that it assumed that the opponent would also use swordsmanship that followed logic. Mihawk's two-meter-long blade that could swing with the force of a mountain and adjust like it had the weight of a feather did not follow logic.

That being said, it did not take long for Rayleigh to adapt. Overdrive evolved in real-time to accommodate the shifts and changes in power. New ideas and concepts were being born one second, tested the next, and then either refined or discarded.

The only reason Rayleigh could keep up with Mihawk was that Rayleigh was faster. Mihawk's blade was more nimble, and precise, and he could out-predict Rayleigh's predictions, but Rayleigh had achieved a base speed that surpassed Mihawk's.

But even if Rayleigh could outpace the world's number one swordsman, that didn't mean he could beat him. At his fastest pace, Rayleigh's use of Haki could not keep up with his body. His strikes lacked the power to push Mihawk back while his blocks lacked the weight to do more than barely deflect Mihawk's strikes.

Any advantage Rayleigh gained from his speed was overtaken by Mihawk's power and dexterity.

The sparring match lasted thirty minutes. Thirty minutes of Rayleigh using Overdrive, Babylon, Sword of Babylon, Haki, and the Force. Each Hatsu Rayleigh used tripled the amount of aura he needed for upkeep so even if his aura could hold out for a full day on its own, using all three in an all-out fight reduced his fighting time to less than an hour.

Mihawk ended his attack and remained silent for a moment. Rayleigh didn't look tired, but Mihawk's observation haki told him the truth of the matter. After gauging Rayleigh's condition, Mihawk stated, "Return in two months," and turned around to walk back into his castle.

Rayleigh disabled the Sword of Babylon and started meditating. He had a lot to think about.

As predicted, Mihawk left the island the next day and Rayleigh went back to practicing. After a lot of meditation, Rayleigh picked five flows to fuse together and master. He chose Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. There were many reasons to choose these five, but the main reason was that it was used in Chinese Medicine due to the belief that these elements existed in the body and reinforced or restricted one another.

Rayleigh did not actually want his sword to burst into flames or send blades of water. He was a swordsman, not the Avatar. He would use the flow of these elements only to strengthen his body and swordsmanship. This would form his foundation. From this, he would fuse every other aspect of the world into his swordsmanship.

Each element had multiple facets and Rayleigh was not learning the flashy ones, but the aspect of the elements that existed in the human body. Using the Force to guide him, it did not take more than a few days to create a fusion of these five elements, Rayleigh then spent the next month refining his swordsmanship into this foundation.

By continuously incorporating new forms and styles into this flow, he could figure out if it was missing anything and he had in fact found a few holes that needed to be filled. Sensing what was missing, Rayleigh incorporated Lightning into the foundation and then tried to add Light and Darkness. Since he was going for the five elements, then he needed Yin, Yang, and the power of the tribulation.

Light was easy. Rayleigh was familiar enough with it thanks to his interactions with Justice. Darkness was a different story.

One would think that he could use the Dark Side of the Force as a reference to understand Darkness, but that was not the case. The Light Side of the Force did not represent Light, it represented the Force in a Healthy State while the Dark Side represented the Force in an Unhealthy State. Rayleigh's observations of the Dark Side granted insight into things like Weakness, Sickness, Madness, Pain, Lightning, and other things, but not pure darkness.

However, even though his foundation needed Darkness, he could work around it for now.

The elemental aspects of the flows he used negated each other so he could not use this foundation to set his sword on fire unless he purposefully weakened it, but that worked just fine for Rayleigh. As for what he called this fusion? It seemed only fitting to call it Force.

When Rayleigh used the flow of Force, the elemental aspects of his swordsmanship would continually reinforce each other while adapting to the world. So if his opponent became stronger, Rayleigh's swordsmanship would become stronger as well.

Even without the weight of the world granted by Armament Haki, Rayleigh could use Force to match the Humandrill King. Due to the BS property of Photographic Reflexes, this allowed the Humandrill King to use Force in return. Rayleigh had to use Overdrive to strengthen himself which caused the Humandrill's swordsmanship to get strengthened as well which then strengthened Rayleigh's swordsmanship.

Due to missing a few things, the loop was not infinite, but it was an exciting match that had the hundreds of Humandrills in the area cheering and shouting.

The match ended because the body of the Humandrill King could not keep up with the power of the sword technique, but it was still a good fight that left both parties satisfied.

After that, Rayleigh got started on using Force to direct the flow of the World. That took another week of practice.

Upon Mihawk's return, he showed Rayleigh another Wanted Poster. It was of the same person and the bounty had increased to 100 Million Berries.

Rayleigh asked, "What did he do?"

"Among other things, he defeated Crocodile."

"The Hero of Alabaster?" Rayleigh learned a few things about the Seven Warlords of the Sea from Justice while he was staying at Marineford.

"So it would seem," Mihawk put away the Wanted Poster and started attacking once more.

Rayleigh's Force met Mihawk's Strong and the most powerful of the Seven Warlords revealed a brief smile.

Rayleigh had yet to reach the level of pouring Haki into his Sword of Babylon as fast as he could move, but he had figured out a way around it. Instead of specifically pouring it into his sword in a way that he had to adjust with every move, Rayleigh's circulating, self-reinforcing flows would constantly strengthen everything. It was weak at first, but as the battle continued, it would grow stronger and stronger.

This was not beneath Mihawk's notice. He could easily overpower Rayleigh at this moment, but the longer he waited, the stronger Rayleigh got. How could he resist such an opportunity?

The explosiveness of fire, the immovability of earth, the ductility of metal, the fluidity of water, and the tenacity of wood. Rayleigh's sword contained a balanced measure of each that would refine itself over and over.

Mihawk held back less and less and soon, Rayleigh's sword had a black sheen as the weight of the world moved under the direction of the elements. Mihawk's sword then changed. A red flash of light seemed to shine in his eyes as a repeat of the attack that shattered Rayleigh's sword came at him.

Rayleigh deflected it this time but the impact shook his body and included a mental attack as well. Rayleigh overcame it and struck back, but Mihawk parried his attack and sent another blow of Conqueror's Haki.

With each exchange, cracks formed in the ground beneath them. The pressure of each sword was so great that neither even made contact with the other, they clashed a meter apart using their pressures alone. Then Rayleigh's sword started to crack.

Mihawk ended the fight without breaking the sword and looked at the cracks in the ground. If they continued, the foundation of his castle could be in jeopardy.

"This island is no longer suitable for your practice. Come with me."

At the shore was the coffin-shaped raft that Mihawk used as a personal mode of transportation. It had a sail, but that sail was poorly designed for travel, and unfurling it was more likely to tip the boat over than propel it forward. So how did Mihawk get around the Grand Line so quickly?

-Can only be wielded while using 2nd stage Zetsu. (No access to the Force or Nen once used)

-The Empty Sword will break if it draws blood.

-The Empty Sword will break if not in contact with the user's body for more than thirty seconds.

-The Empty Sword will break if the user does not maintain One with the Sword state. (New)

-The Empty Sword will break if the user does not maintain the Heart of the Sword state.

-If the Empty Sword breaks, it cannot be formed again for five minutes.

Effect:

-Materializes a long sword.

-A strand of transformed sword aura can form on the edge at will.

-The sword is indestructible unless the destruction conditions are met.

-Enhances the effect of physical, mental, and Haki Training

-The Empty Sword can transform into the Sword of Babylon by pressing the sword against the Nen-inscribed Kyber Crystal, switching from using 2nd Stage Zetsu, to using Overdrive and Babylon at the same time to make the Empty Sword absorb the Nen-inscribed Kyber Crystal. While the Empty Sword is absorbing the Nen-inscribed Kyber Crystal, the user must say aloud, "Split the Heavens, Sword of Babylon." This transforms the Empty Sword into the Sword of Babylon (Blue.)

Sword of Babylon (Blue and Red)

Restrictions

-The user must remain motionless and sincerely recite aloud the Force Code three times while maintaining Babylon and Overdrive to generate the Conjuration aura required to conjure the Sword of Babylon if the Empty Sword is not available. The user can use 16 Wills to offset the recital once or use 32 Wills to offset the recital twice. If the user moves or is interrupted during the recitation, the user has to start over.

-After the Sword of Babylon (Blue) has been conjured, the user must say aloud, "Split the Heavens, Sword of Babylon."

-Alternatively, if the blood-red mist conjured due to injuries sustained while using Babylon is thick enough, it can be used to directly conjure the Sword of Babylon (Red) without the above restriction.

-The Sword of Babylon must form around the Nen-inscribed Kyber Crystal.

-If the Sword of Babylon (Blue) has already been conjured, it can be converted into the Sword of Babylon (Red) if it absorbs a sufficient amount of the blood-colored mist conjured from injuries while using Babylon or by covering the entire Sword of Babylon (Blue) in the user's blood.

-Cannot make multiple swords. (New)

-Can only be used during Overdrive.

-Can only be used during Babylon.

-The form of the Sword of Babylon cannot be changed after its conjuration. (New)

-Must use one Will to channel Haki through it. (New)

-The Sword will break if Kō, Ken, or Ryū is used to defend the body from damage. (New)

-The Sword will break if Haki is used to defend the body from damage. (New)

-The Sword will break if is not in contact with the user's body for longer than thirty seconds. (New)

-The Sword will break if the user does not maintain One with the Sword state. (New)

-The Sword will break if the user does not maintain the Heart of the Sword state.

-The Sword will break if the user causes any damage to an opponent using a Force Skill independent of the Sword of Babylon. (New)

-The Sword will break if the user causes any damage to an opponent using Haki independent of the Sword of Babylon. (New)

-If the Sword breaks, it cannot be formed again for five minutes if the Nen-inscribed Kyber Crystal is intact.

Effect:

-Conjures a long sword. (Red or Blue)

-Aura channeled into the sword is automatically transformed into strands of sharpened sword aura thinner than a line of silk.

-All strands of sharpened sword aura are automatically filled with Conqueror's Haki.

-The more aura is channeled into the sword, the more strands of sharpened sword aura are generated.

-These strands automatically circle around the edge of the blade like a chainsaw and each additional strand reinforces the speed and sharpness of the strands of sword aura.

-These strands of sword aura can also be released at will in the form of flying slashes.

-While holding the Sword of Babylon, the power of the user's Control, Sense, and Alter aspects over their internal Force is heavily enhanced, allowing for greater feats of Internal Force usage.

-While holding the Sword of Babylon, the user's internal Nen is heavily enhanced.

-While holding the Sword of Babylon, the user's Haki is heavily enhanced.

-While holding the Sword of Babylon, the user's physical strength and speed are heavily enhanced.

-The Sword of Babylon (Red) can null and void the No Killing rule of Babylon, allowing kills without the Nen-inscribed Kyber Crystal exploding.

-The Sword of Babylon (Red) multiplies the previous enhancements based on the amount of damage taken or injuries sustained.

Understandably, the restriction list looked crazy. Babylon alone needed ten separate Wills to use and the Sword of Babylon could no longer be used without using at least one Will to use Haki on it at all times. It was fine though since he now had 31 Wills so he had more than enough to spare.

He had completely given up on any form of attack that did not use the sword and his physical defenses had also been stripped so if he was attacked, he had to block with the sword or dodge.

And it was worth it. A Hatsu's power required a balance between cost and effect. By adding more Wills to Babylon, he had directly reached the level of Advanced Observation Haki, Future Sight, and had a bootleg version of Mystic Eyes of Death Perception when he used Shatterpoint.

By sacrificing his ability to attack without the sword, he massively boosted his attack power with the sword.

By sacrificing his ability to defend himself with Haki or Nen, he massively boosted the physical speed enhancement it granted and greatly raised his sword's durability. The Sword of Babylon did not have an indestructible condition, but it should be as close to indestructible as possible. Rayleigh inherited this from Mihawk as the latter never blocked attacks with his hand or kicked someone in the face. As a swordsman, you should fight with a sword. In a pinch, Rayleigh could still use harmless Force Skills like Telekinesis, Stasis, and Fear. The most devious part was that without any defense, he would be easier to injure, making it easier to conjure the complete full-powered form of the Sword of Babylon.

Oddly, one of the biggest boosts to Rayleigh's might came from the fact that he finally achieved One with the Sword. Now that he had an actual foundation for the style he would build up in the future, he could perfectly use the Sword of Babylon as if it were an extension of his body.

The first thing Rayleigh did after completing the update of his Hatsus was fight Netero. Rayleigh's new speed surpassed Netero's max speed. His flying slashes of silk-like sharpened sword aura were infused with Conqueror's Haki and chopped completely through his Hundred-type Guanyin Bodhisattva. Rayleigh moved like Bankai Ichigo Kurosaki spamming Getsuga Tenshōs like no tomorrow.

When Rayleigh appeared behind Netero, the Hundred-type Guanyin Bodhisattva actually appeared behind Rayleigh and all 100 pairs of hands slammed into him. A moment later, the Guanyin Bodhisattva roared. All of Netero's Nen concentrated into a single emission attack.

And Rayleigh cut it in half. Using his strongest slash, the emission attack, the Hundred-type Guanyin Bodhisattva, and Netero himself, were all split horizontally down the middle. Netero's final ace, his most powerful move, had been defeated.

At that point, Rayleigh was tempted to fight Mihawk in the Tavern, but it would be a waste of points since he could just wait until the real Mihawk showed up again.

And show up he did. Less than a month after his last appearance, Mihawk returned, but not for a fight.

Mihawk explained, "The Marines have called back each of the Seven Warlords to preside over the execution of Fire Fist Ace, Commander of the 2nd division of the Whitebeard Pirates. It seems they know that you are my student and I was asked to bring you along."

Even while training, Rayleigh kept the Pirate Chat Room open so he knew quite a bit about what was going on in the world. Rayleigh asked, "So they want your help when Whitebeard comes to rescue him?"

"That is the case."

"Alright, I'm in."

Before getting back onto the raft, Mihawk seemed to be thinking of something. After a moment, he asked, "What do you call your swordsmanship?"

Rayleigh honestly answered, "It doesn't have a name yet."

Mihawk nodded and said, "Then I shall name it. Hmm. Very well. It shall be called World Sword Style. Your sword is not a physical object, but you use the world itself as your blade."

Rayleigh couldn't help but smile.

*Author's Note*

I saw a comment that said, "According to the Wiki, Haki is a mysterious power that allows individuals to harness their own spiritual energy for various superhuman feats."

That was my original intention, but then I realized that this definition clashed with the ridiculousness that is One Piece Swordsmanship. Magic Sword attacks should also be powered by Haki, but then why couldn't Zoro, someone who could use flying slashes as early as the Sky Island Arc, use Haki at the time if the power of a flying slash comes from the same source? I hated every answer I came up with which caused a year-long hiatus. Besides, if you switch 'Mysterious Power' for 'Law of the World' and 'Spiritual Energy' for 'Willpower,' you get the same thing.

What really caused me to give up trying to make spiritual energy-powered swordsmanship to make any sense was Zoro's creation of a tornado of blades in the Mermaid Island Arc, Black Rope Dragon Twister. Sure, it looks cool, but do you have any idea how much energy that takes? That tornado lifted at least fifty fishmen into the air, it contained sword intent that cut through dozens of thick iron turtle shell shields, and worst of all, IT WAS SELF-SUSTAINING! In a bubble under the sea, air should be stationary, so all the energy required to form a self-sustaining F2 or F3 Tornado all came from Zoro! That requires magnitudes more energy than just about anything else in the series, even cutting meteors and lifting islands! So either Zoro is the MC and has been sandbagging everyone since his training montage or the force that imparts energy to his swordsmanship is something larger than just his personal reserves of Willpower.

It works out anyway since my boy needs some gains. Some readers are under the impression that the final opponent to defeat is Thanos. Nope. It is against something else entirely. Don't worry, it won't be an enemy that comes out of nowhere. There have already been clues and there will be more clues. Technically it isn't impossible to figure out the level of existence that Rayleigh will fight at the end with the already available clues, but I was really subtle in sneaking them in there so people wouldn't pay attention to them. That way the big reveal will be more satisfying.

Back before the Hiatus, I originally intended on calling his swordsmanship No Sword Style, since he didn't have a real sword. But like I said, that would have caused so many issues in the future. Still, having him use the World as his Blade is cooler.

This chapter ended up containing a lot more explanations than I thought it would, but I didn't want the training montage to last more than a chapter and now we're off to Marineford! I'll go back to using normal terms in future fights so there won't be any more technical stuff for a while.

I wonder how many other Players will show up for the war? Hehe. Now I'm gonna need to re-read the whole of the War, write a scene by scene summary of it, and then figure out how badly the Players will mess with the whole thing and what will happen next.