One Piece: Path to Power - Chapter 72

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[2 Months Later]

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Another 2 months have passed.

The total time since Damien’s departure from his crew has totalled up to 6 months and 16 days.

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“Ice Block: Partisan!”

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Kuzan was a few feet in the air, floating as he crossed his arms forward as water molecules in the air froze and formed 2 spears of ice as they shot forwards at his opponent.

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“Age: 10 days!”

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Toki stood before the attack and extending both hands out as a green circle formed around them.

The ice spears which were advancing at the green-haired girl suddenly started to grow smaller and smaller as they no longer remained at droplets of water fell to the ground.

[A/N: Kuzan said his ice lasts ‘at least a week’ when he first used Ice Age so I’m going with that. Since she ages things beyond that, it turns to water]

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“Time Bow.”

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Upon her words, a green bow-like weapon appeared as a thin string formed with it.

Toki pulled back the bowstring as 3 green arrows materialized as well.

*Voosh*

The green arrows shot out of the weapon, causing the air around them to decay as they neared the child.

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“Ice Ball!”

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Kuzan crossed his wrists in front of him as a light-blue stream of ice shot out towards the time arrows.

*Creaking Ice*

*Tick Tock*

Each attack created its own sound. The ice froze the air around it causing the gases to instantly condense while the green arrows made the sound of a clock ticking.

Boom!

Both attacks collided, the ice was constantly shot out of the boy as the green arrows melted them into water, a clash of blue and green!

As the attacks cancelled out, Kuzan flashed forwards with great speed, only a few meters away from Toki.

A few leaves were floating in the air as he blew out a gust of cold and froze them.

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“Ice Saber.”

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The light blue sword-like weapon shine as Kuzan slashed it at the girl.

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“Clockworks: Aegis!”

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A green circle formed in front of the girl as small gears ticked forwards, it was a giant ancient clock!

It aged the ice attack till it was no more.

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“Rain of Time!”

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Green mist diffused out of the green-haired girl as it rose above the time shield and started to condense into large arrows.

*VOOOSH!*

8 large green arrows shot forth with great speed towards the boy.

Kuzan had grown quite a lot since his eating his fruit and responded without delay.

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“Ice Spikes!”

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Instantly the air around the boy started growing colder and colder as light blue spikes of frozen air shot out of his body, each spike was 3 meters in length and sharpened from the tip as it collided with the time attack.

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Alas, after a few seconds, both attacks ran out of juice as water flooded down and the green energy dimmed away.

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*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

Slow applause resounded as the 2 sighed in exhaustion as another person appeared close by.

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(Damien POV)

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I was watching the two attack each other with the intent to kill, not bad indeed.

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“Toki-neechan, your powers are quite annoying. Even without Haki, they can still affect me.” He complained.

Toki shook her head, “I can only beat you in fruit powers, Kuzan-kun. And you are still young, you will surpass me soon.”

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That was something I discovered. Toki’s time powers affect all things, which includes bypassing a Logia’s intangibility!

I suppose that is the supremacy of an Ultimate Type Fruit.

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“It was a good fight, either way,” I said as I nodded their efforts.

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The Time Time Fruit only seems to spin in the forward direction, at least the unawakened version.

She can age anything while also sending it forward for an x amount of time.

I suppose her time travel was an ability she subconsciously used to escape her fate, never to even attempt anything else. Simply because there was no use for it!

If you can run away into the future, what’s there to worry about, right? Turns out, her fruit is very powerful.

It’s almost the more powerful version of the Ripe-Ripe Fruit as it can age things extremely far in a matter of moments.

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As for Kuzan, his ice fruit mastery has increased quite a lot. He seems to use similar techniques as he did originally but with some new attacks as well.

>=-=—-[]—<>—[]—=-=<

[Kuzan]

[Age: 8 ⅚]

[Height: 5’7]

[Devil Fruit: Ice Ice Fruit [L]

[Fruit Rating: 6.5 Stars]

[Fruit Mastery: Peak-Basic Mastery]

[Skills: Rokushiki (Soru, Geppo)]

[Haki: —]

[Strength: Paradise Pirate (level 4)] (Kuzan = Mr 1. {Alabasta})

>=-=—-[]—<>—[]—=-=<

[Amatsuki Toki]

[Age: 17 ⅓]

[Height: 6’6]

[Devil Fruit: Time Time Fruit [Special Paramecia]

[Fruit Rating: 7 Stars]

[Fruit Mastery: Low-Intermediate Mastery]

[Skills: Rokushiki (Kami-e, Shigan)]

[Haki: Observation Haki (Low-Basic Mastery)]

[Strength: Paradise Pirate (level 5)*]

>=-=—-[]—<>—[]—=-=<

Kuzan had gotten stronger and had learned to use Soru and Geppo.

Toki had upped her fruit mastery, I guess having it for 15+ years does make it a bit quicker. Plus, it will slow down soon just like Xebec as it is an Ultimate Fruit.

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Another thing, she actually awakened Observation Haki!

I guess being able to jump through time gave her great talent in Observation as it only took 2 months for it to bloom.

I was also quite impressed with her drive, she kept asking for great training the moment she improved.

A feisty one for sure.

——-

I look at the 2 now.

Kuzan was resuming his training fruit-wise, he was trying to freeze the ocean again and again as he got closer to Intermediate Mastery.

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Toki, for one, grew taller.

She jumped 6 inches in 2 months, probably because of the Sea King meat.

I was ordering Leviathan-class Sea Kings for all my meals which are the second-largest Sea Kings in the world, the nutrients from them are quite rich.

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“Damien-san, you seem happier today,” Toki said as she looked at me.

I raised an eyebrow at her words.

“Oh? And how can you tell?”

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Toki giggled, “I’m not sure but I can just tell.”

I found her judgement amusing, “Well, you aren’t wrong. Today is the day my technique should evolve into its greatest form so I am quite excited.”

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Toki just smiled at me as her eyes seem to twinkle.

The green-haired girl had grown quite open the past 2 months. She frequently shared her travels through the River of Time, something I found quite interested.

From snippets of the Void Century to the many big events that happened centuries past, it was quite refreshing.

I also grew fond of her company, she was quite caring towards both I and Kuzan.

She liked cooking when she wasn’t training, she took care of Kuzan’s childishness as I wasn’t great with kids.

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If a kid starts crying, I shall bestow my ‘Fist of Love’ and it just works.

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Kuzan, well he’s a kid. He gets upset sometimes, angry at his slow mastery and all, but quite mature for his age.

I also made a few changes to my Crew.

>=-=—-[]—<>—[]—=-=<

[{Unnamed Crew}]

[Core Index] ⏬

1. Einar D. Damien // Captain

2. Kuzan // Lookout (Laziest position available)

3. VACANT

4. VACANT

5. VACANT

6. VACANT

7. VACANT

———-

[Associate Index] ⏬

Description:

1. Morgans // Business Partner, Informant

2. Amatsuki Toki // Cook, Temporary Member

———-

[Subordinate Index] ⏬

[Yonko Level Pirates: 0]

[Yonko Commander Level Pirates: 1]

[Yonko Crew Level Pirates: 0]

[Fodders: 3]

[Total Pirate Count: 4]

—

[Fleets: 0]

[Divisions: 0]

[A/N: ^ Does this ^, look like a lot of words? It’s only 50 or so though.]

>=-=—-[]—<>—[]—=-=<

I gave her the tag of ‘temporary member’ which was only because she hasn’t fully joined yet. Though I intend to officially invite her after she’s one with Wano.

The power of Time is quite handy.

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I also found out the buffs given to a fully-fledged core member…

[Kuzan’s fortune has been increased by 100%. Overall talent has been raised by 60%. Karmic Backlash has been reduced by 50%. Task efficiency has been increased by 80%.]

So his luck doubled, his talent bloomed, his backlash was halved and his efficiency improved by a factor of 0.8, quite absurd indeed.

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Now, let’s finish my training…

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[On a Nearby Island]

[Few Hours Later]

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*FOOOOOO*

The air howled one last time as it settled down.

The energy being released started to store as I was no longer destroying my surroundings except for the ground below as it could not handle my mass.

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‘This is it!’ I remarked as I felt it!

Absolute steadiness.

My Armament Haki was now flowing evenly with my Pulverization Energy!

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Perfectly balanced like all things should be.

*DING*

[Your {Empyrean} form has been updated!]

>=-=—-[]—<>—[]—=-=<

[Empyrean Form]

[Damage Multiplier: 6x]

[Armament Haki Integration: 100%]

[Drain Rate: At Desired Amount]

[Lost Energy Factor: 0%]

[System Remark: Currently at its peak (Lacking Emission & Infusion)]

>=-=—-[]—<>—[]—=-=<

RAHAHAHAHAHA!

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*DING*

‘Another one!’ I nodded as the notification popped up.

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[Your fruit mastery has upgraded to {High-Advanced Mastery}. Congratulations!]

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I felt another pulse of power.

My fruit mastery evolved a sub-level as it was only 1 away from Grand Mastery, aka Awakening!

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*DING*

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[Your strength has reached the {Low-Tier Yonko} stage! Congratulations!]

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Oh damn.

I broke through to the realm of Emperors!

Even though I was the weakest of the level but part of it nonetheless!

I thought it would take Ryou to enter the level but getting my Fruit Mastery to High-Advanced was enough.

Sweet.

—

I then proceed to check out the Empyrean form as I leave the island in ruins.

The dust settles…

The island I was on was only 6 kilometers wide.

And now it was practically a flat brown patch of earth, missing its earlier green and terrain as I may have gone a bit too far.

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Thank god I have {Ancient Voice} and fixing the destruction is not impossible otherwise I would already obliterate many islands by now.

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[Marineford – Fleet Admiral’s Office]

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“Ah, these damn pirates are always so unkempt,” Kong muttered as he finished report after report.

*Creak*

The door opened as a Vice Admiral walked in.

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“Gensui-dono, I have brought word from Researching Unit… it’s about the experiment.”

Kong looked up and asked, “What of it?”

The marine gulped, “Still no progress, he refuses to speak or even react. He hasn’t eaten or drunk anything for 2 months yet his body seems fine.”

The man scratched his head and went on,

“We have tried tests ranging from electrocution, pain induction, heat and cold therapy, drowning, flesh removal and many more, nothing works.”

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Kong got annoyed, “It’s been 2 months since he was captured and you still have yet to get an answer? The Gorosei are getting impatient, plus we don’t know how much longer Xebec will stay hidden.”

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Kong sighed in regret, “What of the 20-year-old kid scientist we caught recently?”

The marine was a bit hesitant, “Um, he has offered to work on the case but we haven’t cleared his name-”

“Clear it then! We already know his mind is hundreds of years ahead of our top scientist, I want him working on the test subject before something goes awry!” Kong ordered.

“HAI!” The Vice Admiral lowered his head as he rushed out of the room.

[A/N: Vegapunk is thought to be elderly so I estimate he’s ~60 and since we are 40 years before canon so he’s around ~20.]

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“BWAHAHAHAHA! You seem to get pissed more and more these days, Kong-san.” An uncaring voice resounded as Garp waltz into the office.

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“Garp… why are you here, shouldn’t you be at G-2, guarding the Research Division?” Kong asked.

“BWAHAHAHA! You know I hate those boring jobs, I asked Asahi to go instead.” Garp said as he plopped onto the couch nearby.

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“*Sigh*, so many problems one by one…” The Fleet Admiral complained.

“Roger and his crew are getting closer to the known end of the Grand Line, Xebec has been too quiet as his crew rages around the world.”

[A/N: Roger will reach Lodestar by next year (1485).]

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Garp laughed, “Hehe, your hair will go white if you keep thinking so much, Kong-san. Just do what I do and punch every problem when it arises and it will go well.”

Kong facepalmed as he heard his subordinate’s advice, “That only works for you. The News Agency is going overdrive as they work on the news but it just keeps blowing up…”

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“First the West Blue Massacre, then the Hennses Island Destruction, and now that blasted war in the New world!”

“Shiki and Big Mom… just these 2 have flipped the seas once more.”

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Garp nodded, “The war will end soon, the ‘Pirate Queen’ will die. Kong-san, we can’t allow Xebec to continue making his army.”

Kong understood Garp’s rare wise word as he replied, “Basara and Kurowashi will be there when it ends and attempt to contain the problem.”

“Sengoku is still busy with G-5’s overpopulation with those 45000 pirates being transferred. Thank the lord of Tsuru’s fruit power. If not for her, we would be greatly understaffed.”

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Garp munched on some crackers, “*Munch*, right, Tsuru-chan has already ‘washed’ 20000 of them and recruited a decent amount. It will help with the recent shortage of marines.”

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Kong looked out the window, “Any news on Newgate or Xebec?”

Garp just shrugged as he was too focused on his rice crackers.

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“What about the Grand Celebration at the Amethyst Kingdom, who do we have stationed at G-4?” Kong asked.

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The Vice Admiral yawned, “Uhhh, I think it was Zephyr.”

“That’s good, having so many Royals at one spot is dangerous but with it should be enough for him.”

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[The following is excluded from word count]

Author’s Corner:

So he has entered Yonko Stage and it will only increase after certain milestones, ie: Ryou, Infusion, Awakening, etc.

His fruit is one sub-level away from Awakening as Peak-Advanced Mastery is all that’s left.

The next chapter is when a certain arc will start and MC will fight someone with absolute mastery over Armament Haki.

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