88. New Hashiras

Clatter... Clatter...

Looking at the mountain of plates piled up infront of him with more on the way Leo could only smile ruefully.

He looked over and found the one responsible for this spectacle. It was a beautiful woman with neatly braided hair and a beauty mark on her chin. It was an incredible sight to see such a beauty stuffing her mouth with food.

Sabito was calmly eating beside her, he saw Leo and beckoned to him to come over.

"Who is this?"

Leo was intrigued by this beauty.

Sabito ate a piece of roasted meat and replied, "Her name is Mitsuri Kanroji, a Hashira. She was promoted right after you disappeared. There is one more, his name is Muiichiro Tokito. He is here but I don't know where."

Leo looked over at the woman and said, "Her body is strong."

Sabito looked at him in surprise, "You can tell that?"

Leo shrugged. His spiritual sense picked up a dense golden sphere encasing an enchanting spirit. From the golden sphere, he knew she had special constitution.

Kanroji also saw Leo and excitedly said, "Hello, my name is Mitsuri Kanroji. You can call me Kanroji!"

She is cheerful.

Leo thought.

Kanroji was suddenly embarrassed, "Sorry, I eat a lot."

Leo was amused, "It's alright. You have to eat more to stay healthy."

Kanroji was surprised and smiled brightly, "Right! Though I ate a bit less today. You are a good person."

Leo raised an eyebrow. Why did she give me the good guy card all of a sudden?

Shaking his head Leo started to eat. Not long after Tanjiro also joined them, of course he pulled over Genya with him.

Genya had a tired expression on his face. He tried to get rid of Tanjiro but this guy was very dense and hard to get angry at. So he could only go along with him.

"Where is Nezuko?"

Leo was surprised he didn't find Nezuko with him.

"She is sleeping."

Hearing Tanjiro Leo started pondering.

Genya suddenly walked towards Leo and said, "Lord Leo, please help me."

Hm?

Leo looked at him in confusion, Genya elaborated, "I heard what you said at the hot spring. Please help me."

He did a ninety degree bow at Leo.

For a moment Leo failed to react and said, "Kid, Sanemi will kill me."

Genya clenched his fist but didn't get up.

The room got silent and nobody moved, except Kanroji who chewed slowly as to not make any noise.

After a while Leo sighed, "Fine. Since you won't give up it's better for you to get stronger."

Genya trembled, "Thank you! I will never...

Leo waved his hand, "I don't need to hear the rest. Just sit down and eat. Geez, you and your brother are equally stuck ups."

Genya raised his head and said no more. But it was evident that he was pretty pumped up.

The rest of the dinner went smoothly. Tanjiro and Kanroji quickly became friends, not surprising since both of them were cheerful beyond a limit.

After their meal he saw Kanroji whispering something to Tanjiro but didn't bother.

The next day, as promised the chief arranged for Leo to watch a smith forge. Feeling a bit excited Leo rushed over to the forgery. There he met someone familiar.

"Sakon-san?"

Sakon was instructing his disciples when he heard him, "Leo! Come in, the chief told me that you were very interested in forging."

Leo nodded, "Yeah. It's very intriguing, I didn't expect you to be the one forging."

Sakon laughed, he showed him around and finally started his work. Leo didn't say a word and just stood aside. He saw a blazing furnace, under the blazing heat was several metal plates. On it were large pieces of metal blocks.

Under Sakon's instruction his disciples started to operate the furnace. Soon the metal blocks melted. Flames kept dancing on its surface, burning away impurities.

Taking a plier he poured it out into a solid plate. The different melted ores were mixed together, it formed a vortex with different shades of red. After a while the colour got even.

With the help of others he slowly poured the molten mix into a mold.

After a while Sakon broke the mold and took out a the blade. It was black and had blazing hot.

Sakon wore a glove made of unidentified materials. He grabbed the blade using a thick plier and held it in place over a large sturdy square platform.

Beside the platform was a smaller one, and on it was a large hammer. Sakon lifted it up. He held it up high and struck down.

Sparks flew everywhere. The blade trembled. Sakon struck again, this time in a different place. He wasn't hasty, he took his time, gathered his strength and struck down.

Each strike compressed and folded the metal, it squeezed out tiny specks of char and smoothed the rough edges. Slowly the rough body of the blade was getting sharper and stronger.

Leo was intrigued, to get a clearer picture he focused his spiritual sense on the blade. When his spirit touched it something happened.

The blade trembled. Sakon didn't notice this. He continued to hammer down.

Leo was rooted on the spot, stunned.

A clear image of the blade from inside out was presented before him.

He could see where the blade was weak, he could see the metal squeeze and fold by the weight of the hammer, he could see the air gaps within burn away... every change the blade was going through, he could see it.

With each strike the blade's interior glowed. At first the it was a mix of different elements, but after a number of strikes these elements fused together and slowly started to form a whole.

Leo lost count of how many strikes it had been.

Suddenly Sakon stopped and took a deep breath, his eyes were extremely focused. He stood still for a second and struck down.

This time Leo saw something different. The force from the hammer rippled throughout the blade. Sakon paused and struck again. Every successive strike had different time gaps.

Leo saw the glow inside the blade intensify. The fusion between the elements suddenly increased exponentially.

He delivered nine strikes and waited. When he was done the glow inside the blade didn't immediately disappear, it held on for a couple of seconds before fading away.

Sakon waited, when he felt it was the right, he struck again. However this time he only struck five times before stopping.

He stopped at once and submerged the blade inside a vat of thick oily liquid.

Sizzzz...

The liquid rolled and boiled. After some time Sakon pulled it out, the blade was pitch black and vapour spewed out of it. A disciple immediately pushed a whetstone infront of him.

Sakon's forehead was sweaty but his eyes were sharp and focused. He slowly traced the blade over the whetstone. Sparks flew as it slid across the cold dark stone.

With the passage of time the blade's edge started to gleam sharply. When he was done the blade's edge looked cold and sharp.

A disciple handed a wet cloth to sakon. He carefully wiped away the grinded metal and oil.

The blade was forged and refined.

Another disciple handed him a guard and a hilt. Sakon struck the guard and handle in one fluid motion.

A new sword was born.

Leo's eyes sparkled, "Amazing."