34 A Sword Technique.
A shadow shot out of the samurai and returned to Brook who was shaking with happiness.
Ichigo didn't move for a moment, he needed to digest everything that had just happened.
The samurai's corpse dissipated into nothingness, all that was left was the blade and sheath that dropped to the ground.
When Ichigo finally pulled himself together, he went over and grabbed the blade and sheath. He held the blade, looking over it. It was quite beautiful but it would never replace zangetsu, which got an arrogant snort from a certain albino.
After putting it away, he walked over to the group. They were close enough away to hear everything that happened.
Zoro was staring in shock, he had mastered sword intent to a certain extent but he never had someone explain it to him like Ichigo did. This battle was an eye opener for him.
Before he could get lost in his own thoughts, a object was thrown in his direction, his reaction took over and caught the object. It was the blade of the samurai.
"What…?" He said to his junior.
"Sensei told me you used three swords….i could tell that something happened to one on your waist" Ichigo said.
Zoro didn't say anything else, he pulled the blade out and admired it.
"Shusui" Shirou spoke up.
Zoro looked over at the magus.
"The name of the blade is Shusui" Shirou iterated again.
The pirates look on at the magus in confusion, they had never heard the samurai mention the name of his blade.
"My magecraft allows me to delve into the history of a weapon" He said to the group.
"Shusui, one of the 21 O Wazamono, the legendary blade of the samurai Ryuma, he had really used it to slay a Dragon." Shioru explained.
Shirou added the blade into his unlimited blade works, it wasn't quite a noble phantasm, but it did slay a dragon and had the experience of a master swordsman attached to it. Not only could he copy a weapon and its history, he could call forth the experience of the wielder to a certain extent.
Zoro looked at his white blade then back up to the magus. He wanted to ask a question…but he couldn't speak the words.
Shirou could see the look in his eyes, he knew Zoro wanted to ask him about his friend's blade. The history before he took it.
He had taken a peek at it when they first met, it was habit to take a look at every weapon he came across.
It was a tragic blade, the girls life cut short when she had a dream she wanted to chase after. He saw it all up up until this point, the trials and tribulations Zoro faced with this blade In hand.
"She would be proud" Was all the magus said.
A smile crept onto Zoro's face.
"Thanks" He said bluntly, holding the emotions back. It was towards both Ichigo and Shirou.
Luffy had been silent throughout the entire encounter and up to this point. If there was one thing he understood….it was fighting and he enjoyed watching a good fight.
"Let's go get that Gecko bastard" Luffy said with a smile.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The shaking around the island started to increase, it felt like something very large was starting to wake up.
Ichigo's group was taking it in stride, hordes of zombies kept swarming them as they made their way through the large mansion that could be mistaken for a castle.
The strawhats had their time to shine, Luffy unleashed his rather interesting use of rubber abilities. Zoro revealed his real sword style, this caught Saber off guard, seeing someone fight with a sword in their mouth….though she couldn't argue that he did in fact turn it into a viable style.
Ichigo payed close attention to his senior. Though he was much stronger than Zoro, Zoro had been practicing his art a lot more than him. One of the things that really stuck out….he had a wide variety of sword skills.
Ichigo realized the flaw in his own style almost immediately, he had a very destructive long ranged attack and that was it for his sword abilities. He needed to develop something that could be used in close range that was just as deadly.
He looked towards the magus near him.
"Hey Shirou" Ichigo said.
"Whats up?" Shirou answered.
"You can mimic the styles the users of the weapons you copied right?" Ichigo asked.
"To an extent, yes." Shirou asked curiously.
"I need some help…" The shinigami asked his magus friend.
Ichigo explained his thoughts, he needed skill that he could use in close range that was deadly.
As they were talking about it, Saber overheard and joined in.
"I have an idea if you don't mind." She said.
"I recall my battle with the fake Assassin during the war." Saber spoke to Shirou.
Shirou had a light bulb go off, it would be perfect if Ichigo could master it.
The trio were caught up in what they were doing, they didn't notice everyone stop to look at them.
Shirou traced it, the blade of Sasaki Kojirou, it was a nameless blade the only thing it contained was a certain technique.
"I'll show it to you, mine isn't on his level but it should barely qualifie" Shirou said.
He had blunted the blade, no permanent damage would be done.
Zoro took great interest in what was happened, Shirou's aura had changed it was like he was watching a master swordsman far above his level.
Ichigo readied Zangetsu.
"Hiken, Tsubame Gaeshi" Shirou called out.
Ichigo was startled, it sent a chill down his spine.
Three slashes of the blade at a speed too ridiculous to be called fast, it broke the laws of physics.
Three slashes all appeared simultaneously around him. He couldn't block them all. He raised zangetsu and mustered the absolute limit of his speed to try and react to them all. He met the first strike as quickly as possible, and moved on to the second, he barely started to move towards it before he was "cut" by the second and third slash.
Ichigo's eyes were wide, he could have been killed by that.
"What the hell was that….?!" Zoro said in extreme shock.
He was a swordsman he could recognize the absurdity of that sword technique.
"Sasaki Kojiro, he spent his whole life trying to devise a technique to slash a swallow. A swallow could feel the air current of any slash a blade made and would move out of the way. He stumbled upon this creation, he created a technique that would slash three times at exactly the same time." Shirou explained.
"Sasaki kojiro, a human, created a technique that could potentially kill gods, you have a much higher starting point that him Ichigo" Saber said.
Ichigo was lost in thought, the movements played over in his head, again and again.
A golden aura was flowing around Shirou's arms. It was the passive effect of Avalon.
"Shirou what did you do…?" Saber said, scolding her lover.
"That technique is beyond me even when borrowing his experience." Shirou said.
It had shattered the bones in his arms and Avalon was working on healing him.
Ichigo was oblivious to everything that was happening around him, he entered the state of sword intent. He focused everything he had on the sword skill he had just experienced. He pictured a target in his head and swung his blade.
It was fast, extremely fast, but it was not on the same level. There were noticeable gaps between each slash that could easily be exploited
His thoughts were interrupted with a loud explosion and a voice reverberating across the island.
"I'M HUNGRY!" a voice roared
The group picked up their pace and moved towards the direction of where the voice originated from. They came to what looked like a large freezer.
There was a gigantic hole in the wall leading to the outside with large foot prints leading away from the mansion.
Ichigo got several more death stares.
"Should we…go after it?" Sarah asked.
Naruto looked over at Sasuke, "Monster battle?" He said to the Uchiha while raising an eyebrow.
A smirk started to form on the Shinobi's face until Yoruchi cut in.
"As much fun as that would be to watch, this island is way too small for that." She said.
"We should still probably go after it, what ever it is it seemed big enough to do some major damage and it probably has Luffy's shadow." Jaina Said to the group.
"We're going after the thing that made this huge hole?" Nami said with a frightened voice.
"It's been awhile since I've fought a giant" Saber said excitedly.
"You've fought giants?" Ichigo asked curiously.
"A certain sub-species of them that plagued my homeland" She said.
"I've never heard about a species of giants that supposedly lived in Britain" Shirou said confused.
"Because they didn't after I was through with them, they liked to devour humans of a younger age" She said with a bit anger in her voice.
"Monster hunting it is then!" Sarah said excitedly as she jumped out the large hole on the wall.
The group followed her out, they had a pretty easy time tracking the footprints.
They finally came upon the monster in question.
To say it was a giant was putting it mildly. He was exceedingly large, about on par with the kyuubi or Susanoo. He had red skin and horns on his head, he was stiched up in various places and missing an eye. He was a zombie giant.
The giant was absentmindedly trying to "steer' the island claiming he was going to be king of the pirates. There was no doubt at this point for the strawhats that it was indeed luffy's shadow.
"Oars, turn around" Gecko Moria was heard saying from a hidden location.
The monster stopped fiddling with the island's ship mechanism and turned to look at the group that were approaching.
The cloth that was stitched into Oars's stomach opened up to reveal a cockpit with Moria inside.
"Shi shi shi, meet my greatest creation, I found his corpse frozen and with the help of my resident doctor I was able to repair his body and make It suitable for your shadow strawhat" Moria spoke.
"By manipulating his shadow, I can even mimic your abilities making him even stronger than when he was alive" Moria cackled.
"Show them your power Oars" Moria order his zombie.
The giant threw back his arm, it started to twist as it flung back behind him.
"Gum gum No….." The giant's voice echoed out.
Nami, Usopp, and Chopper started to scream and try to run away, The other strawhats prepared to intercept the attack until someone stepped forward.
Shirou stepped ahead of the group raising his right arm towards the incoming attack.
The giant's arm reached its peak and started to stretch back as he flung it towards the group
"….Rifle" He yelled as the air current created from the twisting fist sent all the debris flying away.
"I am the bone of my sword" Shirou chanted.
The steel words echoed out, the priates feeling their weight for the first time. The taste of metal was hanging in the air.
The fist was approaching fast.
"Rho Aias" Shioru called out.
A pink flower shot up in front of the fist, seven layers of barriers formed on the flower.
The collision of the giant's fist and the Noble Phantasm sent a torrent of energy off of the Aias.
The earth shook and the air distorted, but the feeble looking shield held strong. After the dust settled, everyone saw. The fist barely made a crack in the first layer of the shield.
Moria saw the scene before him, he was speechless. His greatest zombie's attack had been blocked so easily by this unknown individual. He started to fear for the first time.
He had no idea what he was dealing with.
