"Hahahaha, since that's the case, let your sword prove whether your words are true."
"Bloodlust · Abi Three Blades!"
Nox's Bloodlust Sword Intent erupted fiercely, and the phantom behind him, like a slaughtering demon from hell, instantly merged into his sword.
Five blood-green, five-hundred-meter-long slashes, like erratic slaughtering demons, surrounded Golden Lion Shiki.
"Wave Slash!!"
Golden Lion's Sakura Ten and kogarashi, combined with his Float-Float Fruit ability, also unleashed two powerful five-hundred-meter slashes, shattering two of Nox's slashes.
After Golden Lion flew into the air, he used the flexibility of the Float-Float Fruit to dodge the remaining three slashes.
However, just like when Red Count first encountered this move, Golden Lion Shiki was ultimately injured by the three returning slashes.
"Gyahahaha, is this the directional slash you comprehended after advancing to Grand Swordmaster? What a great move!"
Even though he was wounded, Golden Lion couldn't help but praise it, stating that he couldn't currently use such a slash and didn't understand its principle.
"Shiki, your slashes are stronger, but your sword skill hasn't improved at all in the past six months!"
"Chasing the Moon!!"
Nox stepped on Moonwalk and rushed into the sky, engaging Golden Lion in aerial combat.
Even knowing the sky was Golden Lion's home ground, he remained fearless; his Moonwalk and stamina were no longer insufficient to support him in prolonged battles as they were before.
"Hmph, I am not a pure Swordsman!"
Golden Lion unceremoniously combined his Devil Fruit ability with his sword skill to engage Nox in fierce combat.
For Golden Lion Shiki, he could use any means that enhanced his strength.
Sword skill was just one of the attack methods he was good at.
He wasn't the type of Swordsman who was single-mindedly devoted to the sword and didn't eat Devil Fruits.
"Hahaha, come fight!"
In response, Nox said nothing, but threw himself wholeheartedly into the battle with Golden Lion.
Since obtaining the Float-Float Fruit, Golden Lion's sword skill had undergone tremendous change.
It became tricky, bizarre, incredibly sharp, and exceptionally flexible and varied; it was completely different from Nox's and Red Count's sword skills.
When he was at the Sword Master realm before, Golden Lion didn't fight him with full strength.
But now, facing Nox, who was also a Grand Swordmaster, Golden Lion had to use his full strength to fight Nox.
Both sides deliberately did not fight to the death, but rather engaged in a sparring style of combat to exchange sword skills and improve together.
Although Nox's Haki was lower level than Golden Lion's, and the sky was Golden Lion's home ground.
But Nox had the Sword God Body Tempering Art as a foundation, allowing him to recover quickly even if injured.
Furthermore, Golden Lion had only recently obtained the Float-Float Fruit, and Nox's aerial combat ability was also not weak.
Golden Lion was unable to defeat Nox in the air, and the two fought to a standstill.
Even so, the battle remained extremely intense, lasting for a full three days and three nights before stopping.
If they had continued, they wouldn't have been able to hold back and it would have turned into a life-and-death battle!
"Gyahahaha, Nox, you really comprehended three Sword Intents, but aren't you afraid of being held back by the three Sword Intents and unable to advance?"
Golden Lion greatly admired Nox's daring act of comprehending three Sword Intents simultaneously, but also didn't think highly of it.
Because he knew deeply that Sword Intent valued refinement over breadth.
In his opinion, it was better to focus on comprehending one Sword Intent and push it to its peak, rather than spending time comprehending three.
"Hahaha, Shiki, I am the future World's Greatest Swordsman. Since I dare to walk this path, I naturally have the confidence to succeed, reach the peak, and forge a heaven-reaching sword road!"
Nox said with extraordinary confidence.
"Shiki, this battle ends here, I'm leaving!"
After the battle, neither of them had a single intact spot on their bodies.
But for their physiques, these were minor injuries; it was mainly that being covered in blood looked very disheveled, so he needed a good wash.
After finishing the battle with Golden Lion, Nox spent three days carefully digesting the results of this encounter.
Three days later, he challenged Wang Zhi, another Grand Swordmaster in the Rocks Pirates.
As a fellow Grand Swordmaster, what reason could Wang Zhi have to refuse a challenge from another Grand Swordmaster?
For him, being able to fight another Grand Swordmaster was a stroke of luck, an opportunity to improve his own sword skill.
Similarly, Wang Zhi also wanted to know just how good Nox's sword skill was, the man who had broken the world record for Grand Swordmaster breakthroughs.
The location of Nox's battle with Wang Zhi was the same place where Nox had fought Golden Lion last time.
"Frenzy Speed Slash!"
Wang Zhi said nothing. Holding his greatsword, he went all out from the start. With a fierce slash of his greatsword, a five-hundred-meter-long slash flew out with a roar.
The speed of the slash was extremely fast, so fast that Nox's eyes couldn't keep up; he could only barely capture the trajectory of the slash using Kenbunshoku Haki.
"Clang!!!"
Nox raised his Seven Star Sword to block in front of him. Wang Zhi's violent slash pushed him back over a hundred meters before weakening and being broken by Nox.
At this moment, Wang Zhi approached Nox at an extremely fast speed, his greatsword slashing out violently and fiercely.
Facing Wang Zhi's violent offensive, Nox also held his Seven Star Sword and met it head-on.
Wang Zhi's speed was incredibly fast, to an unbelievable degree. If his Kenbunshoku Haki hadn't reached advanced level, he would probably have been suppressed by Wang Zhi's violent and fierce attacks.
Wang Zhi was very fast, but Nox's Kenbunshoku Haki could always react.
He could even use Mind Reading to read Wang Zhi's combat memories during the battle, allowing him to clearly know the trajectory of Wang Zhi's next attack.
After fighting Red Count, he had also integrated the essence of Red Count's sword skill into his own sword road.
Therefore, almost every one of Nox's attacks struck at the weak points of Wang Zhi's sword skill, allowing him to use the least amount of force to break Wang Zhi's attacks.
"As Golden Lion said, you really ate the Paramecia Speed-Speed Fruit!"
Now, Nox was certain that Wang Zhi had also eaten a Devil Fruit, otherwise, Wang Zhi's speed couldn't be so fast.
"That's right, I ate a Devil Fruit. It's a pity I haven't had long to develop the Devil Fruit, otherwise, my speed wouldn't be this slow."
Wang Zhi said while attacking furiously.
Neither of them were talkative, so they didn't say anything further; there was only high-spirited fighting intent.
Wang Zhi's sword style was originally very violent, but since obtaining the Speed-Speed Fruit, extreme speed was added to this violence.
Nox's own sword skill was ever-changing, a combination of Bloodlust Sword Style, Limitless Sword Style, and Sea Abyss Sword Style.
It gave a feeling of being split yet unified, uneven yet balanced, mixed yet harmonious.
But it was precisely this ever-changing style that Wang Zhi found incredibly troublesome, because you never knew how Nox would strike next; every sword seemed unknown, making it hard to defend against even with Kenbunshoku Haki.
Similarly, Nox and Wang Zhi also fought for three days and three nights consecutively, and in the end, neither won, ending in a draw.
"Your sword style is very strong. I hope we can fight again next time!"
As a Grand Swordmaster, Wang Zhi also greatly desired to fight Great Swordsmen of the same level.
"Okay, we'll fight again next time!"
Nox nodded.
Although he and Wang Zhi had different stances, it wouldn't affect their mutual exchange of sword skills.
After finishing the battle with Wang Zhi, Nox rested for another three days, then challenged Silver Axe.
During the battle with Silver Axe, Nox was surprised to find that Silver Axe was also a Grand Swordmaster.
However, because he was naturally endowed with monstrous strength and boundless power, using a sword couldn't fully utilize his own advantages, so he switched to using a heavy axe, treating the axe as a sword.
Therefore, Silver Axe walked a sword road of broad, sweeping movements, and combined with the Paramecia Riki Riki Fruit he had eaten, in terms of pure strength, he had already surpassed Whitebeard!
Without any surprise, after Nox and Silver Axe fought for three days and three nights, it also ended in a draw, as neither side intended to fight to the death.
Following this pattern, Nox then challenged John, Charlotte Linlin, and Whitebeard.
All battles lasted three days and three nights, ending in a draw.
In just over a month, Nox had challenged all the Executive Officers of the Rocks Pirates, which significantly improved his own combat experience.
It also gave his own sword skill and strength a good boost.
This was also a benefit of being in the Rocks Pirates.
Otherwise, where outside would there be so many strong individuals for you to challenge?
However, this act of challenging everyone in turn was only a one-time opportunity.
Because Nox was considered a newly joined Executive Officer of the Rocks Pirates, using the reason of challenging other Executive Officers to solidify his position in the Rocks Pirates, the other Executive Officers wouldn't refuse, but it was limited to the first time.
If he still wanted to use other Executive Officers as whetstones to hone himself, he might not even know how he died.
Kaido was like this back then. After joining the Rocks Pirates, he constantly challenged others, wanting to use them as whetstones to hone himself and rapidly increase his strength.
In the end, he was almost killed and was only saved by Charlotte Linlin's intervention.
On this day, Golden Lion and Nox were called together by Rocks.
"Shiki, you and Nox go together to invite the Roger Pirates to join us!"
Rocks said, holding the wanted poster of the Roger Pirates and handing it to Nox and Golden Lion.
Currently, the methods for the Rocks Pirates to increase their strength, besides recruitment drives, also included recruiting many affiliated Pirate Crew to join.
Many Pirate Crew, upon receiving the Rocks Pirates' invitation, would pledge allegiance to Rocks.
But there were also some exceptions, such as the Roger Pirates.
In such cases, Executive Officers would generally be dispatched to extend the invitation, showing the sincerity of the Rocks Pirates.
There was also another implication: if the recruitment failed, they would be annihilated. The New World did not allow the existence of Pirates who did not submit to the Rocks Pirates; this was Rocks' current will.
Clearly, Rocks was not yet aware of the overall strength of the Roger Pirates, otherwise, he wouldn't have just sent Nox and Shiki alone to recruit them.
"Gyahahaha, Captain, don't worry, we will definitely bring the Roger Pirates back."
Golden Lion said confidently.
"Captain, I think, besides the Roger Pirates, this Bondi World is also worth recruiting. He's the guy the Marine has rated as the World Destroyer."
"His More-More Fruit is very powerful; it can increase the power of things he touches, or his own slashes, etc., by a hundred times at maximum. It would be a great asset to our Rocks Pirates."
At this moment, Nox pulled out the wanted poster for Bondi World from the stack of wanted posters on Rocks' desk.
Although Bondi World's bounty was only 330 million now, Nox knew how terrifying this guy's Devil Fruit ability was.
In the original story, Bondi World was captured by the Marine at a young age. If he were to join the Rocks Pirates now, Nox was looking forward to seeing how far he would grow in the future.
After all, a guy like Bondi World, who simply liked destruction, could cause trouble for the World Government and Marine, inflicting considerable damage.
Nox himself, like Rocks and Golden Lion, had the ambition to dominate the World.
But Nox's vision was more long-term. As long as it didn't harm his own interests, he was very happy to weaken the power of the Marine and World Government.
"Oh? The More-More Fruit? If it's really as you say, then this Devil Fruit ability is truly powerful."
"Alright, I understand. I will have other Executive Officers try to recruit him."
"If you discover other powerful Pirates, you can tell me so I can send someone to recruit them, or you can go yourselves."
Rocks' eyes lit up upon hearing Nox's words.
Just hearing about the More-More Fruit's ability, Rocks had already begun envisioning how to use this power.
Nox stood on Golden Lion's flying ship, heading together to invite the Roger Pirates.
"Nox, is the More-More Fruit you mentioned really that strong?"
Golden Lion was still very curious about the More-More Fruit ability of Bondi World that Nox had just mentioned. Was this ability a bit overpowered?
"It is indeed that strong. If he were equipped with an overpowered cannon and used his Devil Fruit ability to amplify it a hundred times, he might be able to sink a small island with one shot."
"However, for an overpowered Devil Fruit ability like the More-More Fruit, the greater the amplification factor, the more stamina is consumed. It's a trade-off."
Nox said with emotion.
The More-More Fruit was indeed an overpowered Devil Fruit. If someone with a very strong physical foundation, like Steel Bone Kong, were to eat this fruit.
Then Steel Bone Kong might be able to clash head-on with Rocks for a short period without falling behind, or even potentially suppress Rocks.
"Gyahahaha, I'm really looking forward to it. After Newgate invites him back to the Rocks Pirates, I want to see if it's true."
Golden Lion was extremely interested in Bondi World's More-More Fruit ability.