Chapter 5-Heavenly grade

[Are you my new contractor? I command you to set me down and kowtow to me three times.]

"..."

The voice continued, this time with impatience and a more condescending tone laced within its voice, [Kowtow to me brat, or is it you don't want this great one to teach you?]

Yami tilted his head, observed the sword, and then dropped his brows. "Koby, Helmeppo. Do you guys hear some sort of womanly voice?"

Koby shook his head as did Helmeppo.

"I thought so." He concluded the voice came from his head, and only he could hear it. He seemed to have established some sort of connection with the blade. "How weird..."

Taking one last look at the sword, he set it down where he picked it up from. "But it's not worth it. I'll just take a normal sword. I'll be damned if I have to deal with that."

"Deal with what?" Ipponmatsu asked.

"Nothing."

[Wait contractor! All you have to do is kowtow to me three times in addition to the other three and I'll forgive you!]

Yami rubbed his forehead, he could feel a headache coming. He didn't know what was going on, but one thing was for certain. The thing in that sword would drive him crazy.

'Maybe if I get far enough from it it'll stop having access to my head.' He thought as he sighed. 'I can always find a sword elsewhere. Come to think of it, I have no money... that settles it.'

[Wait! I was just kidding ehehe.] The sword suddenly said. [Please don't leave me here, it gets really boring. And I haven't come across anyone who's worthy of me in sooooo long, this chance may never come again until another thousand years. So please... take me with you. Pretty please.]

"Look at that, it turns out you can be reasoned with after all." Yami walked back to the sword and picked it up from its holder. "That was a sad attempt at a joke. What would you do if it was someone not as forgiving as I huh? Almost triggered some painful memories... anyway, what even are you?"

Behind Yami, the three looked at each other in confusion. Sure, he was a bit of a psycho, but this is the first time they saw him talking to himself. Helmeppo was suspicious of each one of his actions and watched him like a hawk.

"Yami...San?"

"Shhh. I'm doing something right now, don't bother me. So?"

[Me? I guess I'm what you would call a heavenly grade sword.]

"Hmm, heavenly?" He looked skeptically at the sword. "I thought there were only swords up to the supreme grade?"

[Well, that's what most would think. But in truth, there is one more grade above supreme grade. And when that grade is forged, the sword gains a soul of its own and its own set of techniques that come with it. And as far as I know, only two of us have ever been made.]

Yami slowly nodded his head like a wiseman, "So your basically a sword spirit?"

[Yes.]

"I see... do you have a physical form as well?"

[Yes. But you will be unable to see it until you have a decent amount of strength.]

"Well that's fine with me," Yami said shrugging his shoulders. "I don't really care either way. I just want to know, can you help me become stronger?"

[Yes!]

"Then welcome aboard erm..."

[Null.]

"Right. Null." He turned towards ipponmatsu. He held the sword out in front of him, still in its sheathe. "How much for this one?"

Ipponmatsu looked him up and down and stared into his eyes. "Free."

"Free?"

"Mhmm, but only if you can pull the blade from its sheathe. It's been a wish of mine to see whats hidden under there you see." With great anticipation, Ipponmatsu watched as Yami nodded and began to unsheathe the weapon. His palms began to sweat as well as a single sweat went down his forehead.

The store was silent, everybody's eyes focused on the midnight black blade that was revealed. It seemed to be even darker than its own handle and sheathe.

Ipponmatsu inched towards the sword, his feet wobbly and hands trembling. "A-a black sword? Incredible!"

He reached his hand to feel it, but after only laying a finger on it, a terrible shock spread to his whole arm and he quickly pulled back. "As per the agreement, you managed to pull it out of its sheathe, so it's yours."

"Hm." Yami sheathed the patternless sword. "Thanks, old man."

"Aye, whatever, just get out of my store." Ipponmatsu replied with a scowl on his face. The three left seconds later, after Koby and Helmeppo gave goodbyes as well. After all, as marines they needed to uphold an image of kind and upright people.

-Somewhere on an uninhabited island-

A man was sipping tea in a rocking chair when he heard something vibrate. He gazed to his right where a sword rested on a luxury table, it had a white sheathe and handle. It moved as if it had a mind of its own.

The man smiled, set his tea down, and stood up as he locked on to the night sky from his large windows. "Soon... I'll make my move. I hope by then you'll be ready... I haven't had a good fight in a long time. Don't disappoint me."

*knock* *knock* *knock*

"What is it?"

"He's still here. Refusing to budge no matter what, I think you'll have to see him personally." A feminine voice said tiredly from beyond the door.

The large man sighed. "Very well. I'm not surprised, the strawhats are known to be very stubborn after all."

-Back to Yami-

"So this is the famous execution stand?" Yami asked. As the place most famous for the pirate kings death it was very... "Underwhelming."

The execution platform is located at the center of the town. You'd think it being such a famous place, there would be many people there to admire it. However, Besides a few pirates who probably looked up to the legend of Roger, most people strolled by uninterested.

Yami bought a midnight blue strap for his new sword, and carried it over his shoulder for the time being. He took one last glance, and left the platform to head to the marine base. He had seen enough of the town after near three hours of sightseeing.

Not long after, they arrived in front of loguetowns marine base. On the way there, he picked up a newspaper from a child.

Reading the contents on it, he couldn't help but become a bit intrigued. "Trafalgar Law has been offered a position as a seven warlord after capturing the hearts of a hundred pirates...huh."

Trafalgar D. Water Law was a character Yami rather admired. As a child he had to watch many people die; his town, sister, and mentor because of his powerlessness. While at the same time dealing with an almost incurable disease. The fact that he didn't break down was incredible in its own right, which could attributed to his mentor later in life. Ultimately, he set out on a path of revenge that he succeeeded in, though he wasn't the one to land the last strike.

'Regardless. That's a lot of hearts, I wonder what the marines will use them for.'

Arriving in front of an office door, helmeppo knocked a couple of times.

"Come in," said Garps gruff voice. He peeked up from his desk where there was a stack of papers, then searched for something in one of the drawers.

Without a heads up, he threw an object to Yami. A large marine coat. "Take care of it brat. Never take it off, especially if your around me. Or else..." he let the threat linger in the air.

Whistling, Yami inspected the coat. It was white, with a marine symbol on its back. He put it on, and let rest on his shoulder with inputting his arms in its sleeves. The coat reached to his ankle. "Hm, I've always wanted one of these. But..."

Garp threw him another object in the form of a really skinny belt with some sort of holder. After putting on the belt, Yami inserted his sword into the holder. "Guess I didn't need to buy this strap after all."

The belt was covered by his shirt so it was non visible, and it was skinny with durable material. 'I wonder if this is what momonga wore underneath that suit of his. I always wondered if his sword was just floating in air.'

"Should you be doing work like this while on vacation Garp-San? I'm not sure I-" Koby said, before being interrupted.

"I'll be fine. I knew those old coots wouldn't just sit back and let me relax," Garp sighed.

"Hey o-Garp-San, isn't this coat for those with a decent rank in the marines. I haven't even registered yet, so why did y-"

"Ah, well. Let's not worry about that. There's more important things to discuss. Sit down." After seeing all three of them seated in front of him, Garp continued, "We will probably be seeing a change in the forces sometime soon. Whether it's good or not..."