"In this world, possessing a ship spirit is a manifestation of the crew's deep emotional connection to the ship. When those feelings combine wonderfully with the ship itself, a ship spirit is born, which is equivalent to a ship giving birth to its own spiritual will, appearing in the form of a spirit."
"If a ship has a spiritual will, then the Seven Star Sword itself has always possessed its own spiritual will, but that will was born from endless slaughter and bloodlust, lacking reason, driven only by the instincts of killing and bloodshed."
"Over the past decade, through my own Haki and the nurturing of blood, I have clearly sensed a significant increase in the spirituality of the Seven Star Sword, especially after it consumed the Blood-Blood Fruit, its spirituality surged to a very high level, just a little short of giving birth to true intelligence from that instinct of killing and bloodlust."
"After it swallowed the entire essence of Saint Mars' Devil Fruit awakening, its spirituality finally took shape, transforming into a true sword spirit!"
Li Yuan looked at the Seven Star Sword, which was autonomously devouring blood below, feeling extremely pleased.
That was a sword spirit, something that only appeared in the realm of cultivation legends, and now it had manifested right before him, born from his own sword, the Seven Star Sword. How could he not be excited? As if sensing Li Yuan's excitement, a small figure appeared on the hilt of the Seven Star Sword as it consumed blood. The figure resembled a three-year-old human child, waving excitedly at Li Yuan, its soft and adorable appearance was simply irresistible to all ages.
Once the Seven Star Sword finished devouring the blood, it flew back to Li Yuan's side, gently rubbing its hilt against Li Yuan's arm, seemingly wanting him to hold it.
"Star Spirit, come with me!"
Li Yuan stroked the blade of the Seven Star Sword and said. He did not grasp the hilt but walked towards a nearby mirror. Seeing this, the Seven Star Sword immediately followed him, flying over.
"Star Spirit" was the name Li Yuan had given to the sword spirit of the Seven Star Sword, a simple and clear abbreviation for it.
Li Yuan walked ahead, and the Seven Star Sword followed him, flying to his right, allowing Li Yuan to reach out and grasp the hilt easily.
Through the mirrored world, Li Yuan and the Star Spirit arrived on a Beast Island, where they found two five-meter-long crocodiles by the lake.
Upon sensing the overwhelming killing intent emanating from the Seven Star Sword, the two crocodiles immediately turned and fled back into the lake.
"Star Spirit, kill them!"
Li Yuan commanded.
"Whoosh!!!"
Upon hearing this, the Seven Star Sword flew towards the two crocodiles at an incredible speed. The crocodiles' speed seemed like that of a turtle in front of the Seven Star Sword, which accurately pierced one crocodile's head. In an instant, all the blood in that crocodile was drained, and then, the Seven Star Sword killed the other crocodile in the same manner.
"Buzz!!!"
After killing the two crocodiles, the Seven Star Sword flew back to Li Yuan's side, circling around him as if showing off.
"Good, now go choose your prey on this island!"
Li Yuan gently stroked the blade of the Seven Star Sword.
"Whoosh!!!!"
Upon hearing Li Yuan's words, the Seven Star Sword transformed into a streak of blood light and vanished from Li Yuan's sight.
As the Seven Star Sword charged into the island, the entire island began to erupt in chaos, with countless beasts fleeing in panic, afraid of being targeted by the Seven Star Sword and becoming its prey.
Li Yuan could clearly sense the connection between him and the sword spirit of the Seven Star Sword; even when the Seven Star Sword flew to the edge of the island, that connection remained unbroken.
Moreover, the relationship between Li Yuan and the sword spirit of the Seven Star Sword was a one-way master-servant relationship. As long as Li Yuan's spiritual power exceeded that of the sword spirit, there was no possibility of any backlash. In fact, Li Yuan could easily control the life and death of the sword spirit, making any betrayal or escape by the Seven Star Sword impossible.
"This feeling, why do I feel like I'm cultivating to become a sword immortal!"
Li Yuan stroked his chin, feeling the unrestrained slaughter of the Seven Star Sword on the island, and his mouth involuntarily twitched a few times.
Clearly in a pirate world, yet it gave him the illusion of being in a cultivation world!
"Star Spirit, come back!"
After five minutes, sensing that the Seven Star Sword had already killed over fifty beasts, Li Yuan gently called out. The Seven Star Sword immediately abandoned its prey and transformed into a streak of blood light, flying back towards Li Yuan.
But Li Yuan was not worried at all, nor did he dodge. As the Seven Star Sword approached him, it transformed into a mass of blood and directly merged into Li Yuan's body.
"Not bad, not bad, my blood has been further purified!"
Feeling a peculiar energy surging from the Seven Star Sword into his blood, making it even purer and thicker, Li Yuan's mouth curled up slightly.
The strengthening of his blood would subtly enhance his physique continuously. If this continued, he might even reach the legendary density of mercury! The next day, the World Economic Journal's newspaper was transmitted to the entire world by news birds.
"My goodness, the Five Elders who control the World Government have actually been killed by the legendary pirate, the world's strongest man, Li Yuan?"
"Shocking the world, the Five Elders, standing at the pinnacle of world power, have met such a miraculous end!"
"The world's strongest man, Li Yuan, truly deserves this title. He accomplished what even Rocks could not, the Five Elders fell at his hands!"
...
The eye-catching headlines on each newspaper attracted everyone who received one. No matter which headline it was, it was something people could not ignore! As the newspapers continued to be distributed, the already tumultuous situation erupted like a volcano, going completely berserk.
If even the Five Elders were killed, then what else in this world was impossible?
If you can't do it, it means you are not strong enough. As long as you are strong enough, even the Five Elders can be killed. Li Yuan has clearly set an example.
This also meant that as long as you are strong enough, even overthrowing the World Government is not impossible. At least the Infinite Pirates already had the potential to overthrow the World Government because they had Li Yuan, who could kill the Five Elders! As long as the Infinite Pirates grew stronger again, if Li Yuan could kill all five of the Five Elders, then wouldn't the World Government be overthrown? Wouldn't the Infinite Pirates then replace the World Government and become the masters of this world?
"Hahahahaha, I want to kill the Five Elders too!!"
"The world's strongest man? Wait for me to take your place!"
"World Government? It's just a sick cat!"
...
At this moment, countless ambitious individuals had their ambitions completely ignited by Li Yuan!! Flying Pirates: "Hahaha, Li Yuan, well done! One of those old geezers from the Five Elders has finally been killed. Next time, I want to take down one of the Five Elders and turn them into the Three Old Stars!"
Golden Lion, after receiving the newspaper, burst into excited laughter. He saw hope in overthrowing the World Government!! At the same time, he was also deeply wary of Li Yuan.
Others might not know how difficult it was to kill the Five Elders, but he was very clear.
The powerful strength and recovery ability of the Mythical Zoan after awakening made him feel it was quite tricky to battle the Five Elders multiple times. It wasn't that he couldn't defeat them, but that he couldn't kill them. No matter how severely injured they were, the Five Elders could recover at the fastest speed, leaving him with no chance to kill them.
Now that Li Yuan could kill them, he must have mastered a quick way to do so.
"Hahaha, Li Yuan, you also ate a Devil Fruit! I thought you would never eat one!"
Golden Lion looked at the photo of Li Yuan, who had wings and a clearly beastly form, and was very curious about what Devil Fruit Li Yuan had consumed. From the photo, it seemed to be a Zoan-type Mythical Beast Fruit, but he didn't know the specific form of the Devil Fruit.
Whitebeard Pirates:
"Old man, old man, something big has happened! Li Yuan actually killed the Five Elders!"
Since Li Yuan defeated Whitebeard and became the world's strongest man, Marco had been paying close attention to any information about Li Yuan. After seeing today's newspaper, Marco was completely stunned. Even though he had never been to the New World, he knew how vast this world was and understood what the Five Elders meant to the entire world! "What? Even the Five Elders were killed by Li Yuan?"
Upon hearing Marco's words, the members of the Whitebeard Pirates immediately gathered around.
"Gurara, the Five Elders? I fought them before, but those Five Elders all had Zoan-type Mythical Beast Fruit awakened forms, their vitality was too tenacious. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't kill them. Now, they were actually taken down by Li Yuan. It's truly unbelievable!"
"Kids, since Li Yuan has made such a big move, then we, the Whitebeard Pirates, can't remain silent. Branton has too much territory; let's take some of it. The Whitebeard Pirates need to expand!"
Whitebeard laughed heartily.
"Old man, you're right! The Whitebeard Pirates need to expand!"
Marco said excitedly. It was the first time he had seen his father actively talk about expansion. In the past, it was always them pushing Whitebeard Pirates to expand, while Whitebeard had never cared about expansion. Now, his father's behavior was like the sun rising in the west! Whitebeard naturally didn't want to expand, but he had to. With the continuous growth of the Infinite Pirates, if the Whitebeard Pirates didn't expand, it would mean the gap between the two pirate crews would keep widening.
Even if Li Yuan had no intention to kill him, who knew what would happen in the future? Marine Headquarters, Marineford:
Sengoku habitually picked up the World Economic Journal. Although he often disliked Morgans for frequently exposing the Navy and World Government's dark secrets, he still found the World Economic Journal to be the only source of reliable information about the New World.
"What? Saint Mars was actually killed by Li Yuan, and it happened yesterday!"
However, as soon as Sengoku saw the headline, his glasses nearly shattered from shock. He could hardly believe the photo he was looking at; the top commander of the Navy, the Five Elders, had actually been killed by Li Yuan! "Previously, the Five Elders ordered the Navy to launch a surprise attack on the Infinite Pirates' trade base. After the Infinite Pirates learned of this, they moved their trade base in advance and then retaliated by destroying most of the Navy bases in the Four Seas!"
"The Five Elders wanted the Navy to act as the vanguard to lure out the Infinite Pirates, but later, the Infinite Pirates must have caught the Five Elders off guard, leading to a fierce counterattack from the World Government."
"Eventually, the World Government's counterattack was extremely intense, even the Five Elders got involved, and in the end, they must have fallen into the trap or scheme of the Infinite Pirates, resulting in a disastrous defeat, with even Saint Mars falling at Li Yuan's hands."
Suppressing his restless emotions, Sengoku began to read the newspaper, analyzing the situation based on what he knew.
It must be said that Sengoku truly deserved the title of strategist. Even without knowing the internal details, he could guess the general process from the results.
"No, we must immediately halt all actions against the Infinite Pirates, or the Navy will suffer even greater losses!"
Sengoku quickly picked up Den Den Mushi to issue orders. If even the Five Elders had died at Li Yuan's hands, the Navy could not continue to be at the forefront. Once the Infinite Pirates counterattacked, it was possible that the remaining less than twenty percent of the Navy bases in the Four Seas would be destroyed.
"Kapu, your mission is over; hurry back to headquarters!"
After issuing the orders, Sengoku called Kapu, urging him to return quickly. Who knew if Li Yuan would set his sights on the isolated Kapu? The more he thought about it, the more Sengoku felt that Kapu was too dangerous out there alone; he needed to return quickly.
"I say, Sengoku, how can the mission be over? I haven't had enough fun yet. No, I still need to stay here; otherwise, more Navy bases will be destroyed!"
Kapu laughed heartily.
"Kapu, you need to be serious. Listen to my orders and return to headquarters immediately. Also, Kuzan and the others will meet up with you later, and you all need to come back as quickly as possible!"
"The latest World Economic Journal has been published, and Saint Mars has been killed by Li Yuan. In half a day, the news birds from the World Economic Journal should reach you. Make sure to read the newspaper when it arrives!"
Sengoku said sternly.
"What? That old man Saint Mars was actually killed?"
"I understand. I will safely escort those four little guys, Kuzan, back to headquarters!"
Upon hearing Sengoku's words, Kapu also put away his carefree tone. He understood Sengoku's concerns; he, along with Kuzan and the other four, were the Navy's current and future powerful forces, and nothing could go wrong!