One Piece: Path to Power - Chapter 68

[2425 words]

I got my eyes tested as it’s free eye care up to 18. My bday is in 6 days when I am no longer eligible so I swiped that quite nicely. ​​

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This chapter is more about him testing out his second form.

Should I change the cover to one of MC’s images? I chose Shanks because he’s badass; no fruit power, is handicapped, a simple sword and can stop a war by showing up and push back Kaido within a day.

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“Ara Ara~ Onee-san has been waiting for you, Damien-kun!”

I paused in my steps.

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“Good to see you once more it is, young one.”

“Damien-boy, you lost graduated from your virginity, I raised you right.”

“Damien-bro, what’s good?”

“Young Master Damien, this humble one greets your excellency.”

“Even though you take more after Madara with those eyes, I am still proud,” Hashi said.

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A collection of voices flooded from literally everywhere.

Alice, Bob, Bill, Yoda, Ling, Hashi and hundreds more.

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I was pleasantly surprised.

“You guys waited to greet me, thanks.” I smiled knowing that they let me complete my talk with Kuzan first rather than interrupting me.

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“Ara Ara~ I hope you are this gentle when you take my innocence,” Alice said.

“Begone Alice, your words only corrupt the boy. And you don’t even have a sheath for his sword!” Bill berated the orange tree.

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Nature was fluid around me. I felt at home.

The trees were slightly waving around, the grass was dancing, the flowers were singing.

It reminded me of times when things were simpler.

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“Hehe, it’s nice to hear your voices again, everyone.”

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“Become strong you have, been in your favour the tides have.”

“Now, now, Yoda-san, spare my bro here from your wisdom,” Bob interjected.

I could only chuckle at their conversations as I continued to make my way to the fruits.

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[20 Minutes Later]

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There were 3 beacons.

2 orange and 1 yellow.

In other words, 2 Paramecia fruits and 1 Zoan.

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And so I gathered them.

>=-=—-[]—<>—[]—=-=<

[Paramecia]

[Drug Drug Fruit – Allows user to produce narcotics from their body, these can be used to inflict a multitude of effects on your vitctims]

[Paper Paper Fruit – Allows user to turn any part of their body into paper]

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[Zoan]

[Dragon Dragon Fruit: Ancient Model Pachycephalosaurus]

>=-=—-[]—<>—[]—=-=<

The paramecia were alright but the Zoan was an Ancient type which is quite the find.

I believe it was supposed to be eaten by Ulti of the future, but it’s in my possession now, not bad.

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I stored them in my {Inventory}, probably going to give them to my division mates.

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[Few Hours Later]

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“Ney, Damien-san, will you teach me any new techniques?” Kuzan asked with some anticipation.

I nodded, “I will teach you a marine technique called ‘Soru’. You have already discovered it somehow as you showed it to me yesterday.”

I go on to say, “I will also teach you ‘Geppo’ of the Rokushiki. The other 4 aren’t really that useful for an Ice Logia.”

Kuzan nodded.

“Hehe, but I will make you go through hell training now…” I say cryptically.

The poor boy gulped as he asked, “I-It wasn’t considered hell for the past 16 months?”

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To which I laugh, “RAHAHAHAHA! Those were just some basic body-building exercises.”

“B-But, what about fruit training?” He asked with hope.

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I chuckled evilly, “Hehe, we’ll squeeze it in somehow. If anything, we can just cut down on your sleep time!”

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“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

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[7 Hours Later]

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A bruised and broken Kuzan stood in the middle of the field.

I had given him a 2-hour break and instantly the boy fell asleep.

Heck, he was so tired that he didn’t even bother to lie down, he just hit the ‘Shut Down’ button and boom.

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‘*Sigh*, what a drama queen.’ I shook my head as I saw him snoring away.

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Now, my training…

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I plan to stay here for a while.

As for Wano, I have estimated I will be there for a few months, but before I venture onto the Land of Samurai, I want to accomplish a few things.

– Max out my {Black Bones}

– Attain full-body hardening to its maximum power

– Align my Armament with my Fruit power

– Mold a mount

– Visit Mihawk

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Well, the first 3 were quite necessary.

Ryou is the Advanced form of Armament Haki so before going for it, I would like to first wholly understand normal Haki.

I also want a mount.

As in something that I can ride.

Honestly, do you know how SLOW travel by boat is?!

This world is 90% water! If you remove the Red Line, it would be even more.

And to jump on a ship to travel, it takes eons!

My Sea Kings may be quick but it’s still time-consuming and would be much easier to travel by air.

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So I have decided to make a mount.

Plus, it ups my prestige.

Whitebeard and Shanks were laid back so they didn’t mind the slow travel.

Big Mom had her homies for transport and her giant monster she rode on as well.

Kaido is his own mount…

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Now, how do you create a mount?

I intend to use {Grand Imagination} and use my Pulverization Energy to create some sort of flying creature.

The problem is that it still needs to work with the laws of Aerodynamics so it might take some time to make.

Either that or I will try to find a flying Mythical Zoan fruit and feed it to an animal and use that instead.

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I also want to go meet my favourite swordsman-in-training and see how he’s doing.

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These will probably take up 6-7 months, beyond that will be Wano.

I will leave a clone with Kuzan to ensure nothing happens here.

———-

[Summary]

– Main Body will work on the Fruit Released Form.

– Clone #1 will focus on Armament Haki and {Black Bones}.

– Clone #2 will focus on Observation Haki and ensure News Agency Plan works as planned.

– Kuzan will go through hell and hopefully live to tell the tale.

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[4 Days Later]

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For what I was about to attempt, I had travelled to a nearby island for precaution.

‘Full-Body Armament’

*FWWM*

My entire body was shining a vibrant purple as every part of my body was coated with Armament.

I was trying to reach Pika and Vergo level armament.

Did it work?

Kinda. I had fully coated my body.

BUT!

The coating itself was weaker than my normal coating.

So if I harden my fist, the fist would be at least 30% more powerful than the Haki around my body right now.

It wasn’t great but it will do for now.

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‘Now, the next step…’

I will the raging energy in my heart as the gates containing it are opened. Huge volumes of crushing energy seep out and head in every direction.

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BOOOOOOM!

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The area under my feet started to boiling away.

The air was screaming in pain.

The nearby terrain was reduced to rubble.

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My body felt hot.

I was now releasing all my fruit power out of my body.

My pores were leaking pulverization energy as they started to concentrate together, becoming a liquid-like substance.

The red mist took a more malleable form as it bubbled all around.

The colour grew darker and darker.

I was but a mass of dark-crimson energy with some black mixed in.

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‘Sibyl, begin calculations.’ I command.

[Right away.] She replied.

>=-=—-[]—<>—[]—=-=<

[Empyrean Form]

[Damage Multiplier: 4x]

[Armament Haki Integration: 64%]

[Drain Rate: Well Above Desired Amount]

[Lost Energy Factor: 23%]

[System Remark: Can be greatly improved]

>=-=—-[]—<>—[]—=-=<

I had decided on a name for this form.

‘Empyrean’, usually thought to be the highest place in heaven, a fitting name for the ‘Sin Incarnate’.

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Just like Luffy’s gears, all my attacks are improved by a certain factor after entering this form.

It CAN reach 6 times without Emission or Infusion, but it is only increasing by a factor of 4 at the moment.

My Armament Haki is only integrating 64%. As in, 36% of my attacks will lack the increased damage gained with Haki in the colour of Arms.

Since my ‘drain rate’ is above what it should be, 17% of my power, how pathetic.

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With all these combined, as the System has said, my form can be greatly improved.

[A/N: I will post a picture when the form is complete so you have to wait till then 😉 Spoiler, it is not that far away.]

—–

Well, time to test the damage itself.

I reel in my fruit release a bit so I don’t destroy the entire region itself.

Before me was a 20-meter tall boulder.

I walk towards it and gently touch it.

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“Collapse.”

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The entire rock suddenly glowed red and turned into countless cubes as it was brought down to dust.

Each cube was roughly 0.01 mm or 1 μm (1 micrometer).

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“Collapse” was the second form of “Crush”.

Since the attack is multiplied by a large factor, I chose to change the names.

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I then clench my fist as the red energy sizzled in it.

*FWOOO*

The air groaned in agony as I flashed forth and slammed my fist into a 200-meter tall hill that was nearby.

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“Greater Collapse.” (Second form of ‘All Crush’)

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BOOOOOM!

The large hill was instantly blown apart by my attack, rubble flying off hundreds of meters as it slowly broke apart into tiny pieces.

A large brown pit was left behind as the structure was no more.

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‘Very good,’ I nodded.

I turned my attention far left.

In said direction, around a kilometer away was a mountain.

The mountain was 400 meters tall.

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If Garp can use 8 mountains to ‘test’ his strength then I suppose I can try it too.

This can also show me the difference in strength. (Mountain are always >300 meters in height)

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I dashed towards it, leaving behind a shredded trail as my body was releasing too much energy for the ground to hold.

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‘Let’s try the weapon configurations.’

Since I reached the Advanced Mastery over my fruit, I had made 3 different configurations of weapons.

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1) One that uses the basic idea of my power to crush things – A Warhammer.

2) One that imbued the idea of destruction – A Vanquisher.

3) One that would give me an advantage over distances – A work in progress.

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*VWOOOO*

A decent volume of pulverizing energy was sucked out and led to my left hand.

Each particle of crushing energy was moulded and converged into the item of my imagination.

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[Crusher Configuration]

And there it was.

A 10-foot tall war hammer materialized in my left hand in all its glory.

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The Warhammer itself was sharp on one side and blunt on the other. The blunt side was the one with the real power.

The entire weapon itself was a mix of black and red. The black was me using Armament Haki to form the frame and the crimson was the crushing energy that filled in.

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[A/N: A terrible drawing of the Crusher Configuration.]

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I twirled the warhammer in circles as the wind started to flow with it, creating a current.

I was now 50 meters away from the mountain.

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I was still rushing ahead, the momentum built up was quite significant as I leap into the air.

I then grip the handle with both arms, left above the right and hold the weapon so that the head was behind my left shoulder.

And…

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The blunt side laced with Pulverization energy slammed onto the mountain as the crushing energy flowed endlessly out, drilling its way into to mass of earth.

Cracks formed all around the impact point as a red circle expanded from it.

All the things within the circle started to turn into small squares as the circle kept on growing and growing.

The energy blowing out of the impact had already caused the nearby land to be blown away.

Slowly but surely, the entire mountain had turned in a red blob of earth, and if you were to look closely enough, the entire mountain seemed to be a puzzle made up of billions of small cubes.

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*SHATTER*

One final push on the hammer and instantly the entire structure started to collapse.

The entire mountain fell apart, region by region.

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BOOOOOOM!

One final shockwave was sent out km due to the impact, it waved out in all directions, trees, rocks, hills, everything was shaking as much of it was destroyed.

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And then everything was covered in dust.

And it finally cleared after 3 minutes passed.

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The mountain was gone. Literally no longer there.

A 400-meter tall glob of earth had been pulverized fully.

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‘Not bad!’

I then turn my attention to another mountain of lesser height, around 320 meters tall.

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[Vanquisher Configuration]

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The red energy in my arms starts to liquify as flows around my body, forming another weapon.

It had a reddish-brown handle connected to a thick guard with a solid sword body made of Haki which then extended to 2 claw-shaped blades at the front that was glowing red as crimson mist exuded from them.

It too was quite large, around my height in length.

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[A/N: The Vanquisher Configuration Image]

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The weapon was constantly pulsing with energy that matched the one releasing from my body.

*Rumble*

The air radiated as I raised the weapon in both hands. I was holding it diagonally as the blades were above my shoulders as I readied myself for a slash-type attack.

*Slash*

*Thundering Sounds*

A slashed down the Vanquisher as it cut the air apart, sending forth a diagonal arc of dark-crimson energy as it ravaged the earth before it.

*Shatter*

As the attack went on it created a ravine before it as the land was cut alongside its wake.

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The arc of red neared the 320-meter tall mountain as it collided, earth vs fruit ability.

BOOOOOOOM!

A cataclysmic sight as an eerie red overpowered everything in sight.

The original blue morning was now nothing but a red dawn as the attack continued to cut through the mountain.

*Rumble*

A loud explosion followed by a powerful vibration over the ground as the giant hill was cut clean in half, no, a 10-meter tunnel opened in between it, all the earth that was once there had been reduced to microscopic sizes.

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A once beautiful island was now permanently scarred as half of it was utterly destroyed by a raging pirate!

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[Empyrean Release]

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“Haaaaaah,” I breathe out a large volume of air as the air calms down around me.

The ever-quaking ground settles and the wind stops howling.

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I guess that was decent.

If you were to measure those 2 attacks, it would have been enough for at least 3 mountains had they been next to each other.

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So I can currently measure up to ⅜ of Prime Garp’s casual strength. (around 38%; the keyword is Garp’s ‘CASUAL’ strength)

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I look around and see the destroyed land, ‘good thing I didn’t do this on Mortem Island otherwise it would have been bad for Kuzan…’ I thought as I readied a ship and left.

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[The following is excluded from word count]

Author’s Corner:

I feel like I’m focusing on his training too much but if I did it between his fights then it would mess up the flow so I’m bringing it in here and throughout this volume.

He will fight a powerful foe in this arc to fully test out his strength before going to Wano (a marine).

Honestly, I haven’t thought about his third configuration for his weapon and just leaving it for epiphanies, heck I might just stick to the 2 weapons he has right now.

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Author’s Question:

Should I give MC a 2nd DF once he FULLY masters his current fruit? I haven’t thought that far yet but it will be past G.V.

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Random Trivia:

Would you rather only be able to whisper or only be able to shout? (Asta or Gordon)

Thanks for Reading!