Hearing Lu Yue's words, Kuina, who had initially been somewhat resistant, immediately accepted the explanation.
Yes, she could simply consider it as a powerful sword instructor teaching her swordsmanship, and she was already on the verge of mastering it and graduating. Moreover, her teacher would soon gift her his blade.
This was a form of inheritance.
"Kuina thanks Shadow Assassin Qi, my teacher. Kuina swears here and now not to let your blade and legacy be forgotten, and to continue striving towards the goal of becoming the world's strongest swordsman," Kuina declared, performing the special master-apprentice ceremony exclusive to Great Swordsman in the Pirate World.
She had completely accepted it. Soon, she crushed the orb of light in her hand, and several purple streams of light flew into her mind as the orb shattered.
Kuina quickly closed her eyes, absorbing the insights.
A vast amount of knowledge soon filled her mind.
A complete sword technique, the method for using the demon blade thousand blades, rich combat experience, and accompanying movement techniques.
All of this came from Shadow Assassin Qi, now transformed into memories and injected into Kuina's mind.
At the same time, the demon blade thousand blades in her hand emitted an even more dazzling light.
It seemed to be rejoicing and further acknowledging its new owner as she grew stronger.
As a demon blade, the demon blade thousand blades' sentience was far stronger than any famous or even cursed blade in this vast sea.
The eye beneath the hilt, now frantically blinking and rolling, was the best proof of this.
However, with her eyes closed, Kuina naturally couldn't see it, but Lu Yue could see the changes happening to Kuina.
Just like herself earlier, after absorbing the power of the gliza template, her clothes had changed. Now, Kuina's clothes were also undergoing a similar transformation.
But these clothes were indeed familiar.
Kuina's original attire was already a standard female swordswoman's outfit, but now purple had been added to the existing black base.
Perhaps because of Kuina's long hair, there was no hood in this outfit; after all, her current transformation should be within the system's scope.
However, armor still appeared on her arms.
The transformation soon came to an end. Lu Yue could see and feel that Kuina's aura had completely changed; she had thoroughly transformed into a strong individual. She had truly become stronger.
Lu Yue would even bet that the current Kuina could effortlessly defeat ten versions of her former self.
"System, can you show me Kuina's current attribute panel?" Lu Yue asked.
"Of course, no problem." The system quickly agreed to such a small request.
Before Lu Yue, a virtual panel, visible only to her, quickly appeared.
[Name: Kuina]
[Age: 21 years old]
[Gender: Female]
[Profession: Swordsman]
[Strength: Vice Admiral Candidate]
[Weapon: demon blade thousand blades]
[Abilities: Shadow Swordsmanship, demon blade thousand blades Usage Method, Shadow Movement Technique.]
"Oh, hahaha, this is great! She actually has the strength of a Vice Admiral Candidate. Now, Kuina can fight against many strong individuals on the Grand Line, and even against Admiral and Four Emperors, she has a certain degree of self-preservation ability."
Seeing Kuina's immense improvement, Lu Yue laughed directly, extremely happy, as Kuina was now her crew member.
Kuina quickly opened her eyes, clearly, her improvement and transformation had concluded.
Kuina stretched out her hands and looked at them, then looked at her clothes and the demon blade thousand blades floating in mid-air.
She said blankly, "Have I really become stronger?" But at the same time, she could feel the power that had emerged within her, combined with the memories in her mind, which were not fake.
These two points were enough to prove that she had truly become stronger.
"Try it. You should be able to unleash sword energy now," Lu Yue continued with a smile.
Unlike her, Kuina had reached the strength of a Vice Admiral Candidate purely through swordsmanship.
Unlike her, who was a bit mixed; if she used Gliza's moves, she could reach the Admiral and Four Emperors level. But her physical combat and Haki were still very lacking.
However, if she had reached the Vice Admiral Candidate level purely through swordsmanship, then unleashing sword energy would not be difficult.
"Okay, let me try." Kuina said with a determined look in her eyes. At the same time, a powerful sword intent erupted from within her, stemming from Kuina's astonishing swordsmanship talent and the changes brought by the inherited memories.
After a moment of thought, the two went to the back of the pirate ship.
They intended to experiment on the sea behind them.
A dazzling light suddenly flashed in Kuina's eyes. She leaped up directly, soaring twenty meters into the air.
"It seems Kuina's physical capabilities have also improved accordingly," Lu Yue commented upon seeing this scene.
Kuina drew the demon blade thousand blades from her waist.
Looking at the vast sea before her, she slashed down with a single strike, and a dazzling and captivating purple sword energy was immediately unleashed.
This sword energy tore through the air and split the sea apart.
It left a massive slash mark on the sea, and it wasn't over yet. This sword energy continued to advance forward, finally disappearing from their sight.
It seems the power and endurance are indeed not low. Not only does this attack look very powerful in terms of destructive force, but it can also fly so far.
"I've really become stronger." Kuina, who had landed back on the ship, looked at the scene with a dazed expression, but soon tears of emotion fell as she spoke.
She had become stronger, she had truly become stronger, she had finally transformed, truly breaking out of her cocoon like a butterfly.
"Congratulations, Kuina," Lu Yue said with a genuine smile, offering her felicitations.
"I have you to thank, Captain," Kuina turned her head and smiled, her face filled with gratitude.
At the same time, her goodwill towards Lu Yue was also rising. If it weren't for maintaining her image, she might have already rushed up to hug Lu Yue and kiss her a few times.
But at this moment, Kuina truly regarded Lu Yue as her captain and genuinely wished to join Lu Yue's crew.
"I also want to thank you, my unseen teacher, Shadow Assassin Qi."
Kuina raised her head and spoke with respect, as if that top assassin and Great Swordsman from another world was right before her eyes.
Kuina, this was a sign of respect for her teacher.
However, at this moment, Lu Yue looked in the direction where Kuina's sword energy had been unleashed earlier, saying with some concern.
"I hope no innocent people were harmed."
...But sometimes, what you think about is exactly what happens. However, if Lu Yue knew who the victim of Kuina's sword energy was,
She wouldn't feel worried. Instead, she would say, 'Serves you right. Your injuries have nothing to do with me. It's your honor to experience our experimental sword energy.'
But there's also one point: directly behind Lu Yue and the others right now, without a doubt, is Garp's warship.
"Bogard, how long has it been since we set off again and started the pursuit?" Garp asked, somewhat impatiently, seeing no sign of the figures he wanted to see on the sea surface, the people who had taken the pirate ship and left.
"It's been 15 minutes, Mr. Garp," Bogard truthfully informed Garp.
"Strange, wasn't it a dilapidated pirate ship? They haven't been caught by us yet. Could it be that they left earlier than I thought?" Garp asked, puzzled.
He truly didn't understand how such a dilapidated pirate ship could be faster than his warship, and they still couldn't catch up.
He was genuinely eager to see who exactly was on that ship.
The two individuals suspected to be a Rumble-Rumble Fruit user and a clock-related Devil Fruit user, as well as the Black Sword Princess they took with them, must not be simple either.
He even wanted to recruit them into the Marines if their identities checked out.
After all, the current situation within the Marines was indeed a bit lacking, with no exceptionally talented newcomers to take over.
Even the current Admiral are already elderly, and the two Vice Admiral Candidate are similar, with somewhat insufficient strength. The Marines now need youthful vitality, individuals between their teens and twenties.
To become the next generation of Marine successors, and at this moment, Garp found himself pursuing the people currently being chased by them.
"Hmm." But suddenly, Garp's eyes froze, as did Bogard's beside him, and all the Marine Soldiers who had seen it.
What did they see? A sword energy was slashing from the distant sea.
And the power and oppressive feeling were too strong, many Marine Soldiers thought in horror, and they also saw it.
Garp and Bogard's eyes also narrowed, because even for strong individuals like them, a top-tier expert of the current era, and a Great Swordsman whose strength was not much inferior to a Admiral.
They could feel that this sword energy was not simple.
"This power is not bad. It's probably not far from the Great Swordsman realm," Garp immediately said.
"Indeed. Let me handle it and experience it myself," Bogard said.
He used Moonwalk to quickly step on the air and flew out.
Seeing the purple sword energy already close at hand, Bogard drew his sword, condensing all his energy, and likewise unleashed a sword energy.
His colorless sword energy collided with the purple sword energy unleashed by Kuina.
The sharpness carried by the sword energies continuously collided.
The surrounding air was constantly being rubbed and burned.
The wind and waves formed by the collision of the two sword energies affected the surrounding sea area, causing waves to continuously extend outwards.
Finally, the two sword energies canceled each other out, forming even larger wind and waves. Bogard was directly blown onto the deck, and the Marine Soldiers on it were also in a bad state, being tossed around.
Garp, however, was unaffected. After all, his strength was too great; this bit of wind was merely cooling him down.
After all, in the Pirate World, except for some special places, it was basically summer all year round, especially at sea, where it would be very hot.
However, Garp's dog-head hat was still blown off, revealing his weathered and aged face.