บท 6: [6] Times of Turmoil
[2190 words]
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Rocks D. Xebec.
That was the name of the taboo existence that struck fear into the masses before Roger. And yet, he was eventually forgotten, or more specifically, erased.
The World Government made it their mission to wipe out any remnants of the name, alongside the terrifying Rocks Pirates that once roamed the seas under this man.
Edward Newgate, Charlotte Linlin, Kaido, Shiki, Captain John, Silver Axe, Wang Zhi.
Three of the future Four Emperors.
A man who was known to equal Whitebeard and Roger in his heyday.
A man whose treasure was sought after by many far past his death.
The final two men were supposedly known for their strength, enough for their names held high.
All these fearsome pirates were once under the captaincy of Rocks D. Xebec.
It came down to the unpredictable alliance between Roger and Garp to take him down.
[A/N: Wang Zhi is also called "Ochoko", it is the Japanese version of the name but I prefer keeping the original.]
.
Damien took a deep breath as he recalled these thoughts from his previous life, information shared by Sengoku.
It was a time of untold turmoil, a time which was a thousand times more chaotic than the one the protagonist of the series, Luffy, was born.
An odd grin grew on Damien's face.
"If this was before, I would probably be quite unsettled… but now, it may just give me the best time to achieve the strength I desire!" he exclaimed with determination.
However, there was a problem.
Damien was weak.
Ridiculously weak.
Rocks Pirates? He is barely strong enough to take down a drunken pirate worth 39 million berries.
That was quite literally loose change before the monsters under Rocks!
Damien clenched his hand into a tense fist, feeling his weakness.
"No matter what, I will never let my future be controlled by others ever again, even if it comes at the cost of my life!"
.
His thoughts then went elsewhere.
"Sibyl, what did you mean by me being 'too early'?" He asked.
There was a slight pause.
[I don't know much as the truth was locked away from me as well. However, I was programmed to remember that you were to arrive at a much later time, around forty-five years from now.]
Simple arithmetic would lead to the year 1519.
'Awfully close to when Luffy set out, why do I feel like this wasn't a coincidence?' Damien thought.
He shook his head, now that he was here in such an era, he had no intention of fulfilling the 'grand' mission set for him by someone centuries ago.
.
"Tell me about what you left off with days ago about the original host's items," Damien said.
[Yes, they are there to assist you. I'll list them out.]
[1. Count's Regal Attire – An attire that grows with its user and can be reformed after combat.]
[2. 3x 'Fruit Ability Transfer Token' – Allows you to take a fruit ability and translate it into an auxiliary power (can only be support-type, i.g., hard skin from a defensive Zoan, cell-change to rubber from 'Gum-Gum' fruit, etc.)]
[3. Locked Skills: 'Underwater Breathing' and 'Underwater Maneuverability'.]
[4. 1x 'Map of Surroundings' – Can showcase nearby terrain.]
[5. 1x 'Universal Pose' – Can be used as a log pose, or eternal pose for an indefinite amount of uses (eternal requires previously being on the island in question).]
[6. 'Seastone Pendant' – Can grant seastone immunity as it's worn over a duration of time.]
[7. Skill: 'Evolable Anatomy' – Allows the user's physique to evolve as overall strength increases.]
.
Damien took a deep breath as he went through each of the items.
His eyes were first attached to the second one.
"Sibyl, tell me more about the transfer tokens," He asked.
Sibyl replied in her usual polite tone, [These were actually from the original host's beginner gift box. He was given seven of them and only ended up using four, ultimately leaving the remaining three for you.]
She continued, [It essentially allows you to transfer a fruit ability to yourself. This ability is absorbed as a skill to be used whenever.]
Damien thought of Blackbeard's multi-fruit capabilities but then felt that seemed too good to be true.
[However, you cannot take just any fruit. Only auxiliary abilities can be transferred from a fruit. In other words, these can only support you in your endeavours and not be used in battle to cause harm to others.]
Damien sighed in agreement, though he can't use them to carry multiple fruits, he may be able to get some useful bodily property to enhance his combat output.
[A/N: I'm not a fan of multi-fruit as they usually bland out the story. Damien will however find innovative ways to use other types of attacks so don't take it too literally.]
.
"What's with the locked skills?" He then asked.
He was referring to {Underwater Breathing}and {Underwater Maneuverability}.
[These are abilities created by the original host, they allow you to 'go around' the curse of the sea. Much like how a fruit-using Fishman can breathe underwater but not move around. If you pair these two concepts, you can achieve a remedy for said curse.]
Damien nodded as he recalled Jack from the anime, being able to breathe while immobile under the sea.
Sibyl elaborated, [You can unlock the two when you reach certain levels of strength.]
Damien rolled his eyes, "Might as well just give them to me."
[It's to test your mettle; ensure you can grow without such things and not become reliant on them.]
[Speaking of strength levels, I need your permission to go through your memory. With that, I can generate a flowchart of strength-levelling that you can understand.]
Damien thought for a second and eventually relented, "Go ahead."
He didn't have any major secret to hide from his mundane life back on Earth.
[One second.]
[...]
Damien played around with the 'universal pose' which looked like any log pose from One Piece as Sibyl did her thing.
"Hmm, this attire is pretty sweet, not gonna lie," the boy muttered as he laid out the 'Count's Regal Attire'.
It was a nice, dark-themed attire. It didn't stand out from afar but still looked very pleasing to the eye. It had a sense of mystery due to the enchantments.
Allegedly it can grow alongside Damien and even repair itself over time.
It was certainly solid enough to stop your average bullet.
.
The 'Map of Surroundings', 'Universal Pose' and ability tokens were stored in the inventory as Damien brought out a small pendant.
It was a simple locket with a palm-sized black-coloured stone hanging from it. Just touching it caused Damien to feel a stinging and numbing sensation.
He put it around his neck and lay back down, trying to get used to the feeling.
Sibyl then returned.
[Okay Damien, I translated out a series of levels of strength. I found some rather questionable web novels you read had similar ideas so it should seem simple enough to understand: ]
[Paradise Pirate (Level 1-5) → New World Pirate → Yonko Crew Pirate → Pseudo-Yonko Commander → Yonko Commander (Tiers: Bottom/Middle/Top) → Pseudo-Yonko → Yonko (Tier: Bottom/Middle/Top) → Beyond Yonko.]
Sibyl continued, [Also, Damien. I noticed in your memory that you spent quite a lot of time playing games. I was able to manifest a statistics interface that emulated these details.]
"..."
"You mean like a stats panel? Show me what you mean."
Damien then saw a blue screen pop up in his mind with details.
>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<
[Einar D. Damien]
[Age: 8 years, 20 days]
[Height: 5'] (1.52 m)
[Status: Tired, Hungry, Weakened]
[Devil Fruit: Pulverize-Pulverize Fruit (Initial Mastery)]
[Fruit Rating: 6.5 Stars]
[Seastone Resistance: 0.08%]
[Skills: Enhanced Recovery, Enhanced Vitality, Evolable Anatomy, Natural Conscience, Will of D.]
[Strength: Paradise Pirate (level 3)]
>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<
Glossing over the stats, Damien nodded at the devil fruit info.
Supposedly, a devil fruit's mastery went from initial, intermediate, advanced and finally to Grandmastery, aka, Awakening.
[A/N: Considering Luffy's progress, you can say his Gear 2 & 3 were Intermediate Mastery, Gear 4 was Advanced Mastery, and his Awakening would be Grandmastery.]
He also saw the seastone resistance, just by wearing it now he had already developed some immunity to the metal.
His eyebrows then furrowed at the skills list.
"Sibyl, these skills…"
She replied sharply, [Yes. It seems you are more of an anomaly than I thought, Damien.]
[From what I can tell, you somehow inherited {Enhanced Recovery}, {Enhanced Vitality}, and {Natural Conscience}.]
A display then appeared in Damien's head.
[{Enhanced Recovery} – Increases bodily recovery to superhuman levels.]
[{Enhanced Vitality} – Increases bodily endurance to superhuman levels.]
[{Natural Conscience} – Allows the user to 'hear' nature; nature will also protect the user.]
.
"Inherited?" Damien muttered as the figure of a white-haired woman came to mind.
She continued, [I can conclude from your memory that your mother's devil fruit power is all linked to the aforementioned abilities.]
[Hmm, as you were born at the same time as she ate the devil fruit power, you seemed to have syphoned a part of the fruit ability into your own body, hence being born as healthy as you were.]
Damien's heartbeat suddenly spiked as he heard her words, "But if a person eats the fruit even once, the ability is wholly consumed into them!"
A scary thought came to the boy as he couldn't help but freeze: "My mom's bodily weakness could have been resolved had I not been born…"
Then the image of the kind Nadia came, forcing Damien to shake his head with a deep sigh.
"...but I also know she would hate for me to think of it like that."
Damien calmed himself down.
"Rather, Mom has been protecting me since I was born and even after her death!"
"Now that I think of it, controlling and conversing with nature seems like a Paramecia. But enhanced bodily recovery and super endurance is more of a Zoan."
His mind then clicked, "A Mythical Zoan!"
Sibyl then chimed in, [Yes, that adds up. As Mythical Zoans come with an array of abilities, both your mother and you ended up gaining abilities… It should be considered a miracle.]
.
Damien then looked over the other two skills.
[{Will of D.} (Inherent Skill) – Passed down from either or both parents. An abstract ability with undefined powers.]
[{Evolable Anatomy} – Allows the user's physique to evolve as overall strength increases.]
Naturally the former came from his absent father, it seemed that One Piece had a knack for deadbeat dads.
'I wonder if I can reach Kaido's endurance level with the second skill?' Damien wondered.
.
"Haaaaah," Damien gave out a deep breath.
He was hungry, sweaty, bloody, and quite overwhelmed with a boatload of information.
Such an info dump was beyond his expectations, leaving him with a lot of thoughts and hunger.
Moving on, he quickly dispatched the remaining pirates who had fallen into the lower level of the ship and went to dine on the Blazing Pirates' food supply.
There was enough food for eighty people that could last a few months. Naturally, it would go bad soon so Damien had no qualms about munching it all down.
…
[Two Hours Later]
Damien ensured the ship was docked, intending to use it to sail out in a handful of years.
Damien wanted to punish those who caused his mother's death, such as the Gambino Family. But he also knew that with his current strength, departing to the unpredictable sea was not a good idea.
He eventually made his way to the edge of the island once more, a nostalgic spot.
Gazing at the horizon was always a glorious and soothing sight.
It calmed his desire for vengeance, allowing him to think things through.
"I guess a training arc is necessary," He muttered. "My devil fruit drains way too much stamina, way too fast. The first aim is to train my body and stamina."
He had drawn out a 'training guide'.
It was based on some athletes from his previous life mixed with Might Guy and Saitama. He had to multiply the exercise intensity by quite a factor as One Piece's bodily capabilities were crazy high.
A tiny child who hasn't fully grown could easily take down a giant beast had they trained enough.
Outside the training was the diet aspect.
He had to eat a lot. Damien felt that his body was devouring the food without stopping.
"Sibyl, bring up the training routine I made."
[Coming right up…]
------ Daily Workout ------
- Stretching for 15 minutes
- Run: 10 km
- Hand Walk 500 Meters
- 500 Push-ups
- 200 Fingertip Push-ups
- 500 Sit-ups
- One Leg Forward Hops (100 Meters Each Side)
- Wall Sit - 5 Sets for MAX Time
- Double Lateral Hops - 100 Each Side
- 500 Punches to Striking Post (tree)
- 500 Kicks to Striking Post (tree)
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Naturally, the intensity was only set for his current body and it would drastically increase in time.
…
[The Next Morning]
Damien had woken up and was ready to begin his hell-training.
Ready to take his first step towards the Path to Power!
To Be Continued…
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Author's Corner.
Apologies for the info dump.
As for Nadia's fruit, it grants quite a strong connection with nature whilst giving her a powerful body.
Images: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q
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