One Piece: The Arm of Fate

"A monkey who can use a sword!"

Before Shano could react, Nami's eyes were already sparkling with excitement:

"Oh, how magical! Sister Kuina, lend me your Hanasu—I want to fight them!"

Hanasu was the fine-quality fast sword Robin had given to Kuina.

Kuina liked it very much and always carried it with her as a backup.

"You're fooling around again. You don't even know swordsmanship. Just use fire to scare them off."

Nojiko pulled her ear with annoyance.

"That's too much bullying of monkeys! Don't worry, I learned a few sword techniques from my brother before. Handling a few monkeys is no problem!"

"…"

Kuina shook her head and helplessly tossed Hanasu to her.

"Roar! Here I come! Little monkeys, take this!"

Nami rushed in excitedly.

As expected…

Nami lasted less than a minute before getting beaten up and fleeing in embarrassment.

"Wahh… these monkeys are so strong…"

"Let me do it."

Kuina sighed and drew the Wado Ichimonji.

She looked at the baboons with growing interest.

At first, she didn't take these sword-wielding monkeys seriously.

But after watching their fight with Nami, she realized that their sword strikes weren't random—they had actual technique. Some of the combos even made her eyes light up.

They were opponents worth fighting!

To avoid killing them, Kuina didn't use Haki and restrained her strength, only striking with the back of her blade.

However, the numbers were too uneven.

After a few rounds—

The baboons were easily defeated, lying on the ground with stars in their eyes, foaming at the mouth.

"Impressive swordsmanship,"

Kuina sheathed her sword and commented. "It's a pity there are only a few of them. If there were more, even I would have a hard time fighting them."

"Really?"

Shano smiled. "Then your request is easy to fulfill. I just used Observation Haki to scan—there are at least a few hundred baboons on this island who can use swordsmanship."

"A few hundred?!"

Kuina was stunned. "That many sword-wielding baboons? Who had so much free time to teach them all?"

"Not necessarily taught. Baboons love to imitate humans. They probably watched people practicing swordsmanship for years and secretly copied them, and that's how they developed these skills."

"Just imitation, and their swordsmanship reached this level?"

Then just how skilled was the person they were imitating?!

Kuina looked up at the castle hidden in thick fog.

"It seems like the owner of this castle is a very powerful swordsman…"

"Let's go take a look."

Shano stepped forward, pushed the door open, and strode inside.

At this moment, he was certain—this was Hawkeye's residence.

The island's name was long—something like Kraikana Island.

It used to be a thriving town, but after a devastating war, only a few survived. It gradually became desolate and abandoned.

Hawkeye, who preferred solitude, had made this place his home.

The castle's interior was elegant and classical, but everything—furniture, floors—was covered in dust. It was clear the owner had been gone for a while.

Where did Hawkeye go...

Shano felt a bit regretful. He hadn't gotten to meet the man himself. He wondered if Hawkeye had ever heard of his name. He truly wanted to challenge the world's number one swordsman.

Kuina probably did too, right?

"Let's use this castle for our retreat."

After exploring the entire place, Shano made a decision.

This central castle was perfect for training.

It was surrounded by vast empty land, no nearby residents, and satisfied both of Shano's main conditions. As for the sword-wielding baboons—

They'd be a problem for most people.

But for Kuina, who was eager to sharpen her sword skills, Shano actually found their numbers too few.

And if he remembered correctly…

There was a baboon king on this island, who wielded a broadsword very similar to Hawkeye's Black Sword Yoru, and had excellent swordsmanship.

It would be the perfect sparring partner for Kuina.

After surveying the area, everyone settled into the castle under Shano's instructions.

The first floor was spacious and had many empty guest rooms—more than enough for the crew to stay comfortably.

Kitchen, bathroom, everything was intact. There was even a small vegetable garden and fish pond in the backyard, enough for them to be fully self-sufficient.

As for the second floor—that was the owner's personal space. Since they were guests in someone else's home, it deserved respect.

The others didn't care much. Shano only warned Nami and the two pets not to sneak upstairs.

...

In the blink of an eye, it was the next day.

Before dawn, at a little past five in the morning, Shano woke up early.

He first ran around the island ten laps—just a warm-up. Then he found a clearing in the forest and resumed practicing "Ki-en-slash."

Over the past few days,

He had gone through the entire manual and attempted it a few times—all ended in failure.

The main problem: the "Ki" from the Dragon Ball world didn't exist in this world.

This seemed like a dead end. But ultimately, it wasn't the "Ki" itself that mattered—it was the technique. Energy was energy.

After thinking it through, Shano decided to try replacing "Ki" with Haki.

Today was his first official attempt.

"The key to Ki-en-slash is compressing energy into a disc by spinning it at high speed…"

He closed his eyes and recalled the book's instructions, gathering Armament Haki into his palm.

Unlike Dragon Ball's "Ki", Haki was more physical and solid.

And true to its name, once released, Haki often felt chaotic and brutal—

wild, aggressive, and hard to tame.

To control it, one had to be extremely precise.

Buzz—

Thick black Haki condensed into an irregular sphere in his palm and began to spin slowly.

Shano frowned slightly.

"Not compressed enough. The spin is too slow."

At this level, the disc would be weak—easy to dodge, no threat.

He took a deep breath and increased his output.

Chi chi!

More Haki poured in. But under his precise control, the volume didn't grow much.

The spin speed started increasing.

But the edges were jagged. The shape was unstable. Stray Haki flew everywhere—it was nowhere near the perfect disc the manual described.

Boom!

The vortex suddenly exploded. The shockwave flattened the surrounding forest in a wide radius.

"If the spin's not fast enough, it'll explode if you hold it too long."

Shano shook his numb right hand and pondered.

Even though he was skilled at releasing Haki, he still couldn't control it with the same precision as Dragon Ball martial artists.

But Ki-en-slash required extreme precision.

And Haki wasn't "Ki." He couldn't just copy the technique directly.

Shano sighed, got up, and began pacing in thought.

Maybe it was time for a new approach. If the original couldn't be recreated perfectly, maybe he could adapt the technique to suit Haki's traits.

But how...

Just then—

A shout came from the woods in the distance. "Oo oo oo!"

Shano leapt up into a tree and looked toward the noise. The baboons from yesterday had returned, bringing many more friends. They were charging toward the castle.

Seeking revenge?

Kuina should be awake by now. With this many sparring partners, she'd probably be thrilled.

Shano watched with interest.

One of the baboons spun a perfect sword flourish as it walked. The arc and flash of the blade caught Shano's eye.

"Sword flourish…"

Shano's eyes narrowed.

An idea struck him.

He returned to his original spot, raised his right arm, and gathered Haki again.

But this time, he didn't try to shape the disc all at once.

Instead, he divided the Haki into dozens—hundreds—of fine threads and wove them together like silk.

"Spin!"

With a shout, the filaments rotated in unison, forming a disc about half a meter wide.

The edges were still rough, but the basic form was there.

"That's it!"

Shano's eyes lit up. This method could work! Now he just had to refine it.

He began compressing more Haki into the edges, making them razor-thin, spinning even faster—so fast the disc was nearly invisible.

A sharp hum pierced the air.

The disc trembled, barely holding its shape.

"Go!"

Shano flung it at a nearby hill a hundred meters away.

Boom!

With a thunderous crash, the entire hill was sliced in two.

The upper half slid down with a rumble. From midair, Shano looked down—the cut was smooth like a mirror.

It was a clean split!

Shano's eyes gleamed.

After days of work, he had finally succeeded. He clenched his fist, exhilarated.

So what if he couldn't recreate the original Ki-en-slash?

The technique itself was universal!

Now, he had created his own version—

Haki-en-slash!

"Not a great name. I'll change it later."

But not now.

Shano looked at the shattered hill. With his current power, a punch could do similar damage. He wasn't satisfied yet.

He had to keep going.

—He would refine and strengthen Haki-en-slash. Master Conqueror's Haki entwinement.

Then...

He would merge the two!

Yes!

The original technique had high potential. A simple conversion to Haki wasn't enough!

To turn it into his own ultimate technique, he had to blend in the ferocity of Conqueror's Haki—just like Teacher Kaido!

He imagined the future...

A disc rotating at terrifying speed, surrounded by crackling black-red lightning—

Even the Four Emperors or Admirals—would they dare face it?

Shano had already chosen a name.

Like "Divine Departure" or "Divine Punishment," it had to be powerful.

The name was—

God Split!

But for now…

Shano clenched his fists.

Time to keep practicing!

———

During those days of secluded training, time flew by.

In a flash, two months passed.

Since Roger started the Great Pirate Era, the seas had never known peace.

And recently, they grew more turbulent than ever.

First, in the New World, a war broke out between the Beast Pirates and Red-Haired Pirates.

The cause?

Apparently related to the missing swordsman, Shano.

After the Enies Lobby battle, Kaido became even more irritable. After several days of drinking, he went looking for a fight—ran into Shanks, and that sparked the war.

While the New World was in chaos—

Another major story came from the first half of the Grand Line.

The two vacant Shichibukai seats had finally been filled.

One was an established pirate, "Rhino" Akshan. Original bounty: 430 million Berries. An old veteran of the New World.

His appointment didn't surprise anyone.

The other, however, shocked the world—

Enel, "God of Thunder."

No known bounty. No one had ever heard of him before.

He appeared out of nowhere and was suddenly chosen by the World Government.

People began to wonder—

Was he truly worthy of being a Shichibukai?

And where did this "God of Thunder" title come from?

And finally, the latest news—

A massive explosion shook Dressrosa, the island ruled by the Donquixote Family.

Witnesses saw something fly into the sky and escape.

But the family has kept the details tightly locked down. Reporters from the World Economic News were sneaking in to investigate.

One storm followed another.

Big news just kept coming.

Compared to all that…

After the death of Shano, the End Adventure Group completely vanished from the spotlight.

Rumors said the Navy had captured them.

Others claimed the group disbanded after their captain's death.

In any case—

Shano's story faded from center stage.

And as always...

It wouldn't be long before most people forgot him.