"Mm!"
Tashigi nodded and, both nervous and excited, took the Shiro from Amon's hand.
For a swordsman, the attraction of a fine blade was absolutely irresistible.
Back when Zoro obtained his Zanpakuto, his reaction had been more or less the same as Tashigi's now.
"Smoker, can I slash you one more time?"
Holding Shiro, Tashigi turned toward Smoker and asked.
Looking at Tashigi's innocent face and the way she held her new sword, eager to test it, Smoker could only nod through tears.
Still, Smoker knew Tashigi's personality very well. She might look quiet and gentle on the outside, but when it came to swords, she was a girl with real passion.
Now that she had gotten a famous blade, if he did not let her test its power, there would be no peace afterward.
Besides, Tashigi still had not learned Armament Haki. As long as his stamina had not been drained, there was no way she could truly injure his body, which could still turn into smoke.
Tashigi, however, did not notice the pained look on Smoker's face at all. Her entire attention was fixed on Shiro in her hands.
"Smoker, are you ready? I'm going to attack now."
Tashigi's aura rose sharply.
She had just obtained LV6 Swordsmanship Insights, and now she also had such a divine weapon in hand.
"I'm ready."
Seeing Tashigi's presence suddenly grow so much stronger, Smoker stopped letting his mind wander and focused entirely on her.
The people nearby also moved back on their own to avoid getting caught in the fight.
Once everyone had left enough space around them, Tashigi gripped the hilt with both hands and rushed toward Smoker in a swift slash.
Before the blade even arrived, Smoker could already feel the chill coming from it, so sharp that it made him instinctively want to dodge.
But he suppressed the urge. He activated Armament Haki and directly met the blade head-on.
There was no choice. As the testing dummy, he could not dodge, or else there would be no way to truly measure the weapon's power.
Clang!
Tashigi's blade came down hard.
The sword tip collided with his Armament Haki and produced a harsh metallic crash.
"What powerful penetration!"
Smoker's face changed slightly as he felt the sword's intense piercing force.
His Armament Haki had blocked the sword itself, but the blade's cold force had still entered his body.
Fortunately, he had already begun elementalizing part of his body in advance. Otherwise, he really might have been injured.
"Hahaha, what a fine weapon. Tashigi has a good fortune."
Standing to the side, Garp watched as Smoker was forced into elementalizing even after activating Armament Haki, and he nodded in approval.
Calling it stronger than one of the Twelve Supreme Grade Blades was not an exaggeration at all.
Amon grinned. "Its sharpness is only the most basic part of it. Its real strength lies in the attached skill, Triple Slash."
"Tashigi, try using the first stage and let's see how strong it is."
At Tashigi's earlier level, she would not have been able to use Triple Slash at all. But after receiving the LV6 swordsmanship insights, her understanding of the blade had improved by a great deal.
So Amon estimated that she should at least be able to force out a basic version of it.
"Oh, right. Everyone should step back a little farther."
After the final stage of Triple Slash was completed, an explosion would occur.
The strength of that explosion was tied to the user's own power. Even Amon did not know how destructive it would be when Tashigi used it.
"Alright. Now you can try it."
Once everyone had withdrawn a good distance from the two of them, Amon signaled for Tashigi to give Triple Slash a try.
"It even has Triple Slash?"
Smoker gave a bitter smile.
Being a testing dummy for this was really far too difficult.
" Smoker, be careful. I am going to use Triple Slash now."
"Don't worry. I'm ready."
Smoker nodded and gathered all his focus.
That last ordinary slash had already been a threat to him. For Triple Slash, he would probably have to elementalize in advance to withstand it.
"Alright, then here I go!"
With a soft shout, she raised Shiro before her chest and activated the skill.
Tashigi's body suddenly became a blur, and Shiro began to shine with streaks of golden light as it slashed toward Smoker.
Watching that golden afterimage coming at him, Smoker clenched his teeth and prepared to elementalize at any moment.
Slash. Slash. Slash.
Moving at astonishing speed, Tashigi unleashed all three stages of the attack against Smoker.
Each one was faster than the last.
Each one was stronger than the last.
During the first slash, Smoker could still barely block it.
During the second, he could only endure it by partially elementalizing his body.
By the time the third strike came, he did not even dare take it head-on. He instantly transformed into smoke.
Even so, the force of the final strike and the explosion that followed still left him covered in dust and looking miserable.
"So strong!"
After completing Triple Slash, Tashigi was left with beads of sweat on her forehead. That single move had consumed nearly all of her stamina.
But its power was obvious.
She had never personally seen one of the Twelve Supreme Grade Blades, but she felt that even those would probably still fall a step short of this weapon.
And on top of that...
She had drawn two of them.