One Piece: Path to Power - Chapter 65

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Drifting in the seas for days is so damn boring.

‘Sibyl, play a song that properly encompasses One Piece.’ I asked.

[Alright.]

“Minami no shima wa

Atta ke-e〜♪

Atama pokopoko♪

Aho baka〜♪

Kita no shima wa♪

Samui〜♪

Atama buruburu

Aho baka〜♪”

A song truly worthy of praise indeed.

[A/N: If you don’t know this song then I don’t know how you could call yourself a One Piece fan.]

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(Clone POV)

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The Art of Black Bones requires constant coating of Armament.

Applying it to my bones was a bit difficult.

Pretty much I need to coat it first in Haki, then apply extreme stress over them for extended periods of time so the armament starts seeping into the very marrow of the bone.

Now to ‘stress’ my bones, I had to be a bit creative.

Some may even call me an M from what I did.

I started off jumping off cliffs, using [Fruit Dials] to fall from thousands of meters to the ground.

I also tried to crush the bottom layer of a mountain so that it would crash directly onto me.

I also swam to the bottom of the ocean to have the water pressure crush me apart.

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And it worked!

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*DING*

[Your physique has reached the stage of {Black Bones (I)}. Congratulations!]

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Based on what Sibyl has said, Black Bones has 3 stages.

———-

[Black Bones]

Stage 1: Armament Haki has been absorbed into the outer layer of the bone, dyeing it black and has increased overall endurance by a factor of 2.

Stage 2: Armament Haki has been absorbed into the inner layer of the bone, Increased overall endurance further by a factor of 3.

Stage 3: Armament Haki has been absorbed into the core of the bone, dyeing it entirely black and has increased overall endurance by another 3 times.

[A/N: So a maxed-out Black Bones would increase the structural integrity of his bones by 18 times the initial amount.]

———-

I have attained the first stage quite quickly but the next stage will take at least a few weeks, and even more for the last stage.

Progress is progress!

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[Main Body]

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“Aho baka〜♪”

I was drifting away as a roar entered my ears.

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(Great One, we will arrive in a few hours.) Jimmy alerted me.

To which I nodded.

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It had been about 8 days since I left, traversing the Reverse Mountain once more was quite fun.

That said, the island I was journeying to was called “Fooljack Peaks”.

It was a large island, around 7 km wide.

What was it known for?

The absurd amount of mountains it had.

Supposedly, the island is 95% mountains!

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Nothing but a jagged hell with mountains ⅔ the height of the Red Line!

It was a smart location to put a top-secret facility with great importance.

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The World News Agency’s main HQ was caved within the largest peak, around 5 km above sea level.

It is also covered with snow and rather difficult to scale.

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Cipher Pol-10 is stationed at the neighbouring peak, constantly keeping watch over all activity at the News Agency.

I was initially shocked by their number, after all, only CP-0 to 9 existing in the future and the tenth squad was never a thing.

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That aside with the control over the flow of news, the World Government is truly superior to any other power in all the seas.

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(Narrator POV)

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While our lovable red-eyed youth was lazing around his ship nearing his destination, a new set of news was sent out from the exact Agency he was headed to.

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[ GAMBINO FAMILY DESTROYED! ]

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The newspapers sent out were rather astonishing, since usually news from the Outer Seas does not flow too far, yet this one piece of news had made it even to parts of Paradise!

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The paper was regardings that the Gambino Mafia Family’s executive.

He was known as ‘Franz the Divider’ who brought together thousands of men under his name.

With this, he had amassed a force of over 6000 soldiers, readying their advent through the world.

Yet just 8 days ago, the entire fleet was utterly obliterated by a single man on a single boat!

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Supposedly only 1 man was spared to ‘tell the tale’ of which he reports that the perpetrator was a young, black-red-haired male with piercing red eyes.

Said male was responsible for annihilating the entire fleet within minutes.

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The youth was identified as ‘Sin Incarnate Damien’ of the ROCKS Pirates.

Many wondering why such a powerhouse would appear in the West Blue.

Reasons aside, it filled the remaining 4 Mafia Families with complete dread as they pulled back all forces and hoped for the best.

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[Fooljack Peaks, Paradise Sea]

(Damien POV)

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*VWOOM*

A little warp-like noise resounded as I packed up the Sea Skimmer into my {Inventory}.

I look up and see the island.

Snow and mountains.

That’s about it.

[A/N: Fooljack Peaks Image]

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My Observation was currently around 2.2 km in every direction, which is 4.4 km in diameter.

My Futuresight was nearing 6 seconds beyond, a good amount.

—

Spanning my Haki, I can observe quite a few living beings.

Animals, shrubs, some birds, a small village.

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Unfortunately, since the HQ was 5 km up, I could not sense it yet, but again, every problem has a solution.

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I take out a little shell.

[Fruit Dial – Currently storing 5 charges of Float-Float Fruit]

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I had restocked the charges form before, it costs 400 SP each.

I point it at my heart and…

*BLING*

I feel free of gravity.

My body starts rising as I concentrate and gain control.

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‘Time to go on a hunt.’ I thought as I zoomed through the air.

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[23 Minutes Later]

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‘I found you~’ I cackled as I see the metallic platform covered with huge amounts of snow.

It was around 30 meters in width, pretty much a sheet of metal.

There was a single door to go in and out, with guards on the inside.

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The CP-10 base was around 800 meters to the far left, I could sense around 60 men in there.

———-

[CP-10]

– 1 High-Tier Yonko Commander

– 4 Low to Mid Yonko Commander Figures

– 55 fodders

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I could deal with them, theoretically, the only nuance was the terrain.

I have never fought over snowy mountains like these so it would be interesting, well not that I will fight them, yet that is.

My plan right now is the following:

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[News Agency Liberation Plan]

[Goal: Have the Agency exit out of the World Government’s grasp]

[Steps: ]

– Find Morgans.

– Get Morgans to join the Agency.

– Corrupt the 4 Directors by [Influencing] them with {Ancient Voice}.

– The [Influece] will gnaw away at their hearts and balloon over time.

– This way, the CP Agents will see no noticeable change to report.

– Over the period of 1 year, the idea of exiting will only increase in their psyche and will eventually be brought up in a briefing.

– All Directors will agree.

– Spontaneous order sent out to leave the Gov’t.

– CP-10 goes crazy and tries to fix things, I swoop in and ‘deal’ with them.

– Spread the news immediately so Government can’t do shit about it.

– Exit is successful.

– Morgans takes over.

– Keep news non-biased with some bending so World Gov’t does not try to replace but rather cooperate with a new agency.

– Slowly reintroduce previous ‘hidden’ news about the world and spread tales of the ROCKS Pirates

[Time Limit: 1486]

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I could just use {Ancient Voice} to command them and CP-10, but that would alert the Government further, they will eventually send an Admiral who would be able to see the tampering with their minds and destroy my plans.

I need it to be a progressive manipulation so that the people will also support the idea of liberation, forcing the Government to agree.

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Now to begin the corruption…

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[World News Agency HQ]

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Currently, the Agency has around 600 members in their main HQ, each one has been through numerous checks from CP, making them quite trustworthy.

The entire Agency of News is led by 4 men.

Aka the 4 Directors.

Chad Bizárré, Newman Bradley, Vase Ah Liné, Markus Goji.

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Each one of them is shrewd and calculating, having spent decades manipulating the news for the Government.

They have already been promised huge benefits as long as they continue their works.

—

The main topic brought up nowadays by the 4 men is regarding the situation with pirates of the New World.

4 crews in specific lately.

– The Rocks Pirates

– The Roger Pirates

– The Prideful Pirates

– The Valkyrie Pirates

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Crews aside, they have also classified the major threats in all crews, even beyond the ones listed above.

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Rocks D. Xebec, Edward Newgate, Shiki, Charlottle Linlin, Gol D. Roger, Silvers Rayleigh, Escanor and 3 others.

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These names are rank 1 on the Threat Index with Xebec and Roger being at the top with the rest below.

[A/N: Practically all the current Yonko Level pirates. From the ‘3 others’, you may know 1 while the other 2 are OC.]

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The Rank 2 threats have their own list, but a far longer one. [Includes MC]

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That aside, today was a briefing to discuss orders from the Government and how to proceed further.

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[Directors Briefing Room]

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4 men sat around a large, square table.

1 on each side.

Each seemed to be around 50-60 in age.

Chad Bizárré, Newman Bradley, Vase Ah Liné, Markus Goji, the 4 Directors.

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“The Government wants us to further bend our work regarding any crew in the New World.” (Bizárré)

“Right, we have already set up a week-long delay ever since what happened on Sabaody.” (Bradley)

“If we want to go even further, we could easily just blame a different crew to start limiting the words regarding Rocks and Roger.” (Liné)

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“Cheh, bend even further eh? How tiring. We should just ignore them! Who cares anyway. Strong tides, crazed winds, abrupt earthquakes, just blame the world for their feats and people will slowly forget them.” (Goji)

“Yes, bu- ”

Bizárré paused as he heard the door open.

*Creak*

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*Step* *Step* *Step*

A 5-foot tall reporter waltzed in.

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“How dare you interrupt our briefing! Who is your supervisor!?” Liné yelled.

The trespasser simply smiled as he stood near the table.

His eyes suddenly glowed red as he spoke up with hesitation.

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“D-Directors… I believe we should put an end to manipulating the news!”

“Huh!? Which fool raised you?” One yelled.

“P-Please, just listen to me for a second!” The youth asked.

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{{And listen very closely…}}

The voice changed from a shaky and fearful tone to one that was magnetic to the very soul.

Each word, each letter, each syllable carried an air of gravity that would anchor the mind of its listeners.

The 4 Directors entered a sleep state.

Their minds were awake yet their souls were asleep.

You could enter any thought into their mind and it will forever stay within their thoughts, while they remain oblivious to it.

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[20 Minutes Later]

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A 5-foot tall youth jumped off the peak of the mountain and gently floated down to the surface below.

His body creaked as it grew nearly twice its size as red streaks of hair flooded down the left side of his head.

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(Damien POV)

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‘Now that that’s done, I can go and do some other stuff.’ I thought as I continued to float down with my {Fruit Dial}.

I had left a single thought in their minds.

Essentially put, I aimed my [Influence] at their very core as a reporter.

As in the ambition of their youth, when it wasn’t poisoned with money, corruption and other luxuries, but rather their passion for news they had as a child.

It will eat away at their guilt and over a year or so, they will break down and bring up the topic.

With Sibyl’s calculations, it will take around 11 months for the guilt to overwhelm their desire to please the Gorosei and everything will fall into place beyond that timeframe.

——-

[Few Minutes Later]

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‘This will do…’ I thought as I found a cave around 1.5 km below the Agency, I would be able to encompass both the News Agency and CP-10 Base from here.

Now then…

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[Split] x1

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*POOF*

A small explosion of smoke as another clone of myself stands before me.

[Parallel Thinking – Split Conscience]

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My conscience once again splits as I feel 3 different paths of thoughts in my head.

One in this body, one jumping off a sky island near Wailles Bay and the one in front of me.

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I nod at the clone and he nods back.

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‘Time to leave.’ I used the remaining fruit charge and floated back to the surface below.

*VWOOOM*

The Sea Skimmer popped up as a few Sea Kings came to pull it along.

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The clone was left here to look after both the Agencies to ensure nothing rails away from the course I set up.

He will stay here for around 11 months till the day of reckoning and allow me to constantly have an eye on the News Agency.

While also sharpening my Observation Haki in the process.

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I nod in satisfaction, I now have one clone working on {Black Bones} and one ensuring that the World News Agency exits the Government’s grasp while the main body will go elsewhere.

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{{Jimmy, take me to the Mortem Island!}}

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[The following is excluded from word count]

Author’s Corner:

So, the News Agency will exit in about ~1 year.

He CANNOT just post full lies either, otherwise, the Gov’t will just make their own agency.

As long as it is somewhat unbiased and the president is willing to ‘bend’ at some points, then they will allow it, as seen with Morgans.

Of course, Morgans will bend here as well, but to MC’s orders.

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Random Trivia:

Would you rather always stub your toe when you walk or always get a papercut when handling paper?

Thanks for Reading!