Perceiving the Breath of All Things was not the same as hearing the Voice of All Things.
Nor was it a form of Haki.
The Breath of All Things was the limit a swordsman in the world of pirates had to cross in order to step into the realm of a master swordsman.
The Voice of All Things, on the other hand, was an extremely rare ability possessed by only a select few individuals.
Observation Haki was different from both.
It allowed its user to sense the presence, strength, emotions, and intentions of living beings.
The Breath of All Things was focused on something else entirely.
It allowed a swordsman to perceive the faint rhythms of objects that possessed no life of their own.
After stepping onto the path of a master swordsman, Mihawk spent some time testing the limits of the "breaths" he could currently perceive.
In the world of pirates, most swordsmen who reached the state of cutting steel were already adults. Their bodies had matured, their bones had fully developed, and they had spent years refining their swordsmanship.
Mihawk had managed to perceive the Breath of All Things at only seven years old because of the system.
However, his body was still that of a child.
His muscles, bones, and physical strength had yet to mature... because of that, he still could not hear the breath of steel.
At present, the objects whose breaths Mihawk could clearly perceive were limited mostly to wood and stone.
He could hear the breath of bamboo, ordinary wood, and smaller stones.
Larger and denser boulders were still beyond him.
Aside from those, he could also perceive the breaths of more fragile objects, such as paper, candles, and cups.
After spending half a month exploring this new state, Mihawk finally came to understand the lesson Kōshirō had once taught Zoro.
There were swordsmen in this world who could cut nothing and there were swordsmen who could cut anything.
Those two descriptions did not refer to two completely different types of people.
They described the same kind of swordsman.
A true master swordsman could choose what their blade would cut.
During Zoro’s childhood, Kōshirō had once demonstrated this principle by swinging a real sword at a sheet of paper floating through the air.
The blade failed to cut it.
From the perspective of ordinary swordsmanship, cutting a loose sheet of paper in midair with a sword could already be difficult without sufficient technique.
However, that had not been the true meaning behind Kōshirō’s demonstration.
A blade that cut everything indiscriminately was not necessarily a powerful blade.
The highest level of swordsmanship allowed the wielder to decide whether something would be severed at all.
Once a swordsman perceived an object’s breath, even an ordinary shinai could cut through a piece of paper cleanly.
Mihawk had tested it himself.
While wielding Shigure Kintoki in its unchanged shinai form, he had swung at a sheet of paper.
The bamboo blade passed through it and split it cleanly in half.
It was then that Mihawk finally understood.
Kōshirō’s demonstration had been intended to teach Zoro the true nature of a slash.
Having discovered that, Mihawk decided to change his method of training.
The routine he had followed for more than a year changed completely.
Every morning, Mihawk rose early and completed his physical exercises.
Afterward, he travelled to one of Konoha’s forested regions.
Deep within an area rarely visited by anyone, there was a small valley with a waterfall running through it.
Mihawk would sit beneath the valley and stare at the falling water.
The deafening roar of the waterfall drowned out nearly every other sound.
At first, Mihawk could not perceive its breath at all.
Even so, he was not discouraged.
He spent the entire morning watching the waterfall, attempting to align his breathing with the violent current and merge his awareness into the endless flow of water.
From that day onward, nearly all of Mihawk’s training was conducted within the valley.
Aside from returning for his three daily meals, he completed his physical exercises, daily system tasks, sword training, and the assimilation of Hawkeye’s template beneath the waterfall.
The kimono granted by the system made the arrangement even more convenient.
Mihawk could bathe in the stream whenever necessary without worrying about washing or replacing his clothes afterward.
Just like that, another three months passed.
Including the previous half month, Hawkeye’s template had now reached an unlock rate of 11.36 percent.
Within the spiritual world, Hawkeye had gradually begun making his name across the seas.
The number of battles he experienced increased dramatically.
Because the template did not record the ordinary events of Hawkeye’s life, Mihawk had no way of knowing exactly which period of his journey he was currently witnessing.
One thing, however, was unmistakable.
After setting out to sea, Hawkeye’s strength began rising at an astonishing rate.
The opponents he faced were no longer inexperienced children or young swordsmen of mediocre ability.
They were genuine masters of the sword.
Fighting them was completely different from defeating peers who had barely begun training.
By absorbing Hawkeye’s combat experience and assimilating his insights, Mihawk’s understanding of the Breath of All Things deepened considerably.
He no longer needed to search carefully for a faint rhythm before concentrating his blade upon a precise point.
With an ordinary swing, Mihawk could now cut a common stone cleanly in half.
Even so, he still could not perceive the breath of steel.
In that respect, he remained behind the Hawkeye within the spiritual world.
However, Mihawk believed he was no longer far from reaching it.
On that particular day, Mihawk left his home as usual.
His shadow clone departed separately and headed toward the Ninja Academy, while his real body travelled toward the familiar valley.
Once he arrived, Mihawk decided to complete his daily system task first.
It was worth noting that after he stepped onto the path of a master swordsman, the contents of his daily tasks had changed.
The system no longer required him to perform a specific number of ordinary sword swings.
Instead, it demanded a specific number of genuine slashes.
An ordinary swordsman’s strength was determined largely by their mastery of sword technique.
A master swordsman’s strength lay in the power contained within each slash.
For the current month, Mihawk’s daily task was to complete three hundred slashes.
Standing along the bank of the stream, Mihawk held Shigure Kintoki in its shinai form.
His crimson eyes remained fixed upon the clear, rippling surface of the flowing water.
Several seconds passed in silence.
Then Mihawk raised the shinai with one hand.
Whoosh!
He swung it down with force.
The tip of the blade descended from above, cutting sharply through the air.
A pale streak flashed before him.
A perfectly straight line appeared across the flowing surface of the stream.
The water had been divided.
The mark remained visible for only a few seconds before the current closed and returned to normal.
However, the sight of the stream being cut apart had been unmistakable.
At the same time, the shinai in Mihawk’s hand had transformed.
The bamboo exterior disappeared, revealing the sharp blade of a genuine katana.
Mihawk raised Shigure Kintoki once again.
Then he swung.
And swung again.
Each time the blade descended, another straight line appeared across the flowing water.
The sword never physically touched the stream.
Mihawk wielded it with only one hand, yet every downward slash caused the water’s surface to separate.
The sight was completely different from his training several months earlier.
This was the true nature of a slash.
Once the force of that slash could be projected beyond the blade and fully materialized, Mihawk would have mastered a master swordsman’s Ranged Slash Attack.
After possessing the Template System for more than a year, Mihawk had developed a clearer understanding of its true purpose.
Even if Hawkeye’s template eventually reached an unlock rate of one hundred percent, that did not mean Mihawk would instantly possess one hundred percent of Dracule Mihawk’s power.
He had already confirmed that much.
The Hawkeye within the spiritual world had long since reached the state of cutting steel.
Nerona Mihawk had not.
The template’s greatest purpose was not to copy Hawkeye’s strength directly.
Instead, it allowed Mihawk to learn the power system of the world of pirates even while living in the shinobi world.
It granted him access to the experience of a legendary swordsman, as though he were personally receiving guidance from the greatest master imaginable.
It also allowed him to witness and assimilate Hawkeye’s extensive combat experience.
Mihawk could experience those moments through Hawkeye’s perspective or observe them from outside, then comprehend the lessons within them and gradually transform those lessons into his own strength.
He was not simply receiving a perfect copy of Hawkeye’s swordsmanship.
That was far better.
It meant Mihawk was not forced to walk the exact same path as Dracule Mihawk.
His movements, techniques, and style would not inevitably become identical to Hawkeye’s.
He could learn from the World’s Strongest Swordsman without becoming nothing more than his imitation.
And because of that, one day, he might even surpass the man whose template had started him on this path.
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