Chương 73: 1000 years
In the middle of the Din clan's village, was nothing but a group of people left. Those were naturally the Commandments plus Blue.
When they arrived at the village, there was no one living there. And yet, everything else was there. The clothes, food, cattle, valuables, basically everything that should be important to people was left, nothing was missing.
The only thing that was indeed a bit abnormal, were the ashes that were scattered everywhere.
The people of the Din clan also lived a normal life, but also focused on expanding their area and becoming stronger, like most people would do. They were not good people, but most aren't considering that they are living in such a cruel world where only the strong get to live.
Blue checked the prison area where his family was being captive, but there was no one there, only ashes could be seen being pushed around by the slight breeze.
Blue could see everything with his power, but it doesn't take a genius to tell that something happened to everyone living in the village.
What was strange was that there were no signs of struggle at all. If there was an attack by an Ant colony or something, then there would be some signs of conflict, but it seems that they were gone from the world.
Madara and Mihawk both examined the ashes on the ground. Why was there so much ash even though there was no logical explanation for that?
"Marry? Kids? Where are you?!" Blue yelled at the top of his lungs, but got no response.
"Mihawk, what deal did you make with this guy?" Asked Madara.
"I would help rescue his loved ones, in return for teaching me how to use nen."
"Nen?" Both Madara and Eggy asked.
"I'll show you two later." Mihawk did want to show them, but now wasn't the right time.
"I… I don't understand." Blue came out of a building. He cried a lot.
"I just… don't get it… this was not supposed to happen… this is not what I saw in my vision."
Blue mentioned that he saw Mihawk, and Steven in his vision, and they help him rescue his family. That is what strived him to cross the entire Dark Continent, go through numerous death trials and powerful enemies, because he knew that in the end he would be reunited with his family once more.
He saw that vision, and it all seemed to go exactly as planned: Step one, meet Mihawk and Steve. Step 2: Teach Mihawk nen. Step 3: Infiltrate the Din clan. Step 4: Save everyone. His plan was halfway done.
"Was… was I the one who caused this?" Blue blamed himself. He thought that he made a slip-up and changed the future, which is why the entire village is gone.
"Does this feel like one of Anderson's doings? Did he make all of the people living in the village turn to ash?" Madara inspected the ashes. Something told him that it wasn't an enemy, but bad luck that had fallen on the village.
"I don't think Anderson is capable of turning others into ash… maybe." Mihawk never considered this possibility.
"Didn't Anderson destroy an entire universe by accident?" Eggy added.
The memory of Anderson almost killing them, resurfaced on their minds.
'It was definitely him!' They all thought in unison. Even if they had never seen Anderson doing the SNAP before, they did not doubt that Anderson had something to do with this.
They were right, this was Alex's doing. When he was short on SP not too long ago, he snapped his fingers and made most of the population from the Dark Continent disappear. He then sold their souls to bluescreen to buy the 'Mastered Ultra Instinct.'
"It was all my fault." Blue was on his knees in a praying position. He clenched his fists tightly and punched the hard-ground repeatedly.
He still blamed himself for doing this to his clan, when he had nothing to do with it.
"Should we tell him?" Eggy said.
"No… let's leave him." Mihawk started to walk away.
"You're just going to leave him like that?" Eggy did not mind his actions, since she doesn't care, but she was merely curious.
"The deal was that I would help him save his clan and destroy the Din clan. But since both clans are dead, there is no point in staying here. I am sure he will understand that."
Madara could relate to Blue. They were the last of their clan, everyone they cared for was dead. Blue will probably become like Madara if he is left alone.
But he turned his back on him and proceeded to walk away. Madara is not a hero, nor a saint. He only helped those kids from the One Piece world because he had nothing else better to do.
Steven and Eggy took one last look at Blue, and left him alone to his own devices. Blue might never know what happened to his family. And the ones who did know left already.
As they walked, Madara noticed that Mihawk was walking with his eyes closed, which was unusual.
"Are you trying to contact Anderson?" Madara saw through him. They had known each other for years now. They don't consider each other as friends, but they are no strangers either.
"I am." Mihawk didn't deny it. "Blue helped me unlock the power than I needed to become stronger. Reuniting him back with his family is the best I can do."
Mihawk planned to call Anderson and convince him to return to Blue's family to him. But for some strange reason, he could not make contact with Alex.
"Strange, why isn't he picking up?" Mihawk has used telepathy during the MGA world, so he knows that it's working but Alex was not answering. Think of it as a phone, and both sides need to pick up for it to work.
"Let me try." Madara also tried communicating with Alex, but to no avail.
"He is not one to ignore others like that. I can't even feel his presence, meaning that he is not in this world. I don't think our telepathy works when the other person is on another world." Madara guessed right.
Alex was with Meruem in Purgatory, but somehow took longer than expected.
"We cannot reverse whatever he did. I don't think even the twins can't do it either. We have no choice but to wait." MIhawk sat down, leaned against a tree and waited patiently.
He also drew out his sword and killed some thing that was lurking in the shadows. He was getting used to his powerful sword.
"That reminds me, you two never told me why you were here." Mihawk looked at Madara and Eggy.
Madara and the rest also sat down. They all had a long day.
"There was someone watching us, and we could not find out where he is hiding…" They explained it to him.
They could all feel that exact same person watching them, but they still could not sense exactly where he was. If they were to run after him blindly, it will be no different from a goose chase.
Meanwhile…
Linlin was currently wiping off the blood from her hands with a wet towel they took from a store. The city was in Chaos so nobody really cared if they stole anything.
Behind them, were the corpses of the 3 Phantom Troupe members, Phinks, Feitan and Nobunaga. Feitan was decapitated, as were the others. And for an unknown reason, someone even threw dog biscuits at their heads…
Shortly before Feitan could even touch the twins, Linlin used her insane speed to decapitate him. After that, she also did the same thing to the other 2 Phantom Troupe members. They never stood a chance against them.
Including Chrollo, there were now only 7 members remaining.
Chrollo, who was standing on top of a building. He waved his hands and fingers around gracefully, as if he were the director of an orchestra. And the requiem was being played to his fallen comrades. He watched as the chaos spread through the city, just like last time they did it.
''This is for you, Pakunoda, Shalnark and Kortopi.'' He gently said as if they would hear him from wherever they were.
Whenever someone from his group dies, he will destroy an entire city just for them. The Chaos was dedicated only to the fallen Troupe members.
He still has not realized that another 3 of his members were already dead.
Meanwhile…
In the center of Purgatory, surrounded by death and fire, were 2 individuals sitting on the ground while playing a game of gungi.
"I win, again." Meruem said after placing a piece on the board.
"Hmmm…" Alex repeatedly tapped the side of his face repeatedly and angrily, because he kept losing to Meruem in a game of gungi.
Meruem slightly curved his mouth. The entire time he played Gungi with Komugi made him reach a level far beyond a master. While Alex has never played a game of Gungi in his life.
Meruem was super intelligent, without relying on anything else like a system or something.
Alex wanted to test the limits of his ability and purposely chose not to use his power to win in a game of gungi.
He could have used the time stone to see Meruem's every possible move, or use his Library of Hell's path to see through Meruem's flaws, but chose not to.
Alex thought that since he has lived for over 1000 years, he would be smart enough to defeat Meruem in a game of Gungi after a few tries, and he was wrong.
Even after playing over 10,000 matches, Alex has lost all of them. It has come to a point where he was getting frustrated and wanted to relieve his anger by killing someone or an entire civilization, or better yet, an entire planet..
"If you can't even defeat Komugi in this game, I also stand no chance against her." Alex had to admit, that they were both super good at this.
'I now see how she was able to change your entire character as a whole.' Alex thought.
"Having you as an opponent cannot even be considered a warm-up for her." Meruem took this chance to hit Alex harder.
Now Alex was getting annoyed.
Meruem said that because he too was frustrated. After spending in Purgatory for so long, he still hasn't laid a single hair on Alex.
Being unable to do something like that made him feel annoyed. Beating Alex in Gungi is his one way to release his pent up aggression.
Alex recognized that Meruem has improved tremendously, and even told Meruem that he was almost powerful enough to even rival Madara and Mihawk, and he suggested that they should leave now.
But, to his surprise, Meruem declined to leave Purgatory. He will not be satisfied until he has touched Alex once in his Ultra Instinct form.
That kind of thought was implemented by Komugi into him, after losing to her all the time in Gungi it has left him like a deep scar. Meruem is now the type to never give up on anything, whether it be something as small and insignificant as winning at a board game, or something important like in a battle of life-or-death.
They both noticed the sand timer on the side, and the time was up. It was used by them for taking a short break every once in a while.
The sand timer lasts an hour. And the rest of the time they either eat, sleep, but mostly train.
"Time is up." Alex activated his reality stone and made the Gungi set disappear.
"How long have we been here?" Asked Meruem.
"We have been here 342 years."
"That long… it doesn't feel like it's been that long." Meruem knew that they were in Purgatory for years, but did not think that it was over 300 years.
"Crazy how time works these days. And as far as people know in your world, we have only been gone for a moment."
"I would like to leave this world as soon as possible." Meruem got into a fighting stance and got ready to fight.
"Do you miss Komugi that much already?" Alex teased.
"I would say the same to you about the twins you keep talking about so much."
"Well, yeah, we are in a relationship. There is nothing wrong about longing for the person you love most." Alex also wanted to leave Purgatory, but not until Meruem has at least managed to touch him in his Ultra Instinct form.
Hearing his last sentence, that made Meruem think of something.
'Do I love… Komugi?! But what even is that?' Meruem did love her, but had absolutely no idea what was or what to do about it.
"Cheap shot." Alex activated his Ultra Instinct form, and landed a punch on Meruem's stomach.
While in his train of thought, Meruem did not have time to react to Alex's cheap shot. He spat out a mouthful of saliva from his punch.
"Come on, Meruem. I want to leave as soon as possible."
"Grrr."
Once again, they began their endless training.
It might look like only Meruem was the only one benefiting from all this, but Alex was also benefiting from this training. He could try out all his transformations, and mess around with it and find which one was his strongest form.
He also had mixed some of his other transformations together, but that is a story for another time.
At the beginning, Alex was surprised that he could not have his Ultra instinct or Mastered Ultra Instinct activated for long amounts of time.
Of course, after training for centuries, he was able to fully master it. Only after long hardships and countless hours of training, Alex was able to break through his limits.
Like the time when Goku fought Jiren in his Ultra Instinct form, he could not beat him at those times because he ran out of his transformation's time limit.
If Goku had mastered it before, then without a doubt he would have won long ago. But then the fights would not have been as exciting.
Time skip 700 years Purgatory time.
It has been a thousand years since both Commandments had started training in Purgatory.
Alex and Meruem were neck-and-neck in their current battle. Meruem was able to actually block all of Alex's attacks while in Ultra Instinct. Note that Alex is not in his Mastered Ultra Instinct.
Such a thing was impossible for Meruem in the beginning. But now he could do it with ease while even being able to counter.
Meruem landed one lucky punch, and barely grazed Alex's cheek. His fist almost made contact with his face. Alex stepped back and heaved a sigh of relief.
"That was close Meruem, the closest you have ever gotten." That punch was literally millimeters away from his face.
"Who said I was going after your face?" Meruem opened his fist, and silver hairs come down from his hand.
Alex saw that it was the hair from his head. Meruem was able to actually yanked some of his hairs while in Ultra Instinct.
"Does this mean we can leave now?"
"Yes… it does." Alex would be angry, but he was glad that they could leave now.
For those wondering why Alex couldn't just let himself be punched all those years ago just so they could leave?
That was because while in Ultra Instinct, his body moves on his own. Even if he wanted to let himself be punched, he couldn't because it was his instinct that made him move.
And finally, after so long they can finally leave this place.
Alex was extremely satisfied with the results of this training. He actually thought that all of this was worth it.
The first time he spent 1000 years in Purgatory, he did not only get a huge power up, but also gained a new level of mental state.
Being strong mentally is important, for many reasons. Maybe that is why Satan purposely sent him 500 years to pure torture in hell when he first got there.
Maybe because 500 years might not be a long time, Satan also made Alex spent another 1000 years in Purgatory to make him even stronger mentally. And yes, to someone like Satan 500 years is the equivalent to 5 minutes.
He also mentioned before that some people could not take the power, and were lost to the power that Satan and Bluescreen had granted them, because they were not mentally prepared for it.
Before all this, even before Alex died and reincarnated, he would absolutely never even think about killing anyone, except his father who was an exception.
But after preparing for so long, Alex's mental fortitude was so strong, that he did not even hesitate eating his first soul, which was his cousin, Ajax.
Satan learned from his past mistakes, saw through all his flaws, and made sure that Alex did not fail him like so many others did. And all that sacrifice was worth it. Alex is the 2nd to make it this far with the soul system.
Even though it was pure torture and mostly a boring process, Alex was grateful to him. Something that he never thought he would ever say.
"Let's get out of here." Alex activated his dragon tattoo, and both of them left Purgatory for good. Alex made sure to never go back there ever again.
He is going to keep Purgatory under his command, because he might need it again in the future.
They saw the familiar scene before they left for Purgatory.
"I'm hungry. I am going for some burgers. Want some?" Alex could create his own food, but only the basics, and they did not taste good. And most of the food that he makes gets immediately burned in Purgatory, meaning that they had no decent meals in a long time.
"I am going to hunt for some rare humans. I long for that taste."
"I'll drop you off." Alex activated the space stone and teleported both of them to a heavily populated area.
Next, they arrived at the exact same city where the Phantom Troupe were spreading the chaos.
They could hear the screams of innocents as they died. Police and ambulance sirens going off all around the city. And there was also the smell of blood and fire lingering around the area.
"It's funny… you never appreciate how much chaos and murder truly means to you after it's been absent for a stretch."
"..." Meruem.
"You two!" A chubby man in a police uniform yelled to Alex and Meruem. "Get out of here as soon as possible- blegh!"
The police officer was shot on the side of the head. He fell down on his knees then laid on the ground on his stomach, dead.
The one who shot him was Franklin Bordeau. Beside him, was the other Phantom member, Shizuku.
Without warning, Franklin shot Alex and Meruem continuously until their bodies were made of holes.
They were no ordinary bullets, but nen bullets. It has never been fully proven just how powerful nen bullets are compared to ordinary bullets, but they are strong enough to break through other people's nen.
And also, the power of nen bullets depends on how strong the user is. As far as anyone knows, Franklin is the only one currently to show the might of nen bullets.
The barrage of nen bullets pierced through Alex and Meruem, but sustained no damage at all. The bullet just went through them as they were nothing but air.
Franklin was a bit startled, but continued to fire his bullets. Every single one of his bullets went through Alex and Meruem as if they were not even there.
"Is that some sort of specialist ability?" Shizuku asked.
"No… that's their speed." Franklin did not understand at first, but then he noticed that the reason his bullets were not making contact with Alex or Meruem, was because they were dodging every single one by a hair, while looking as if they had never moved from their spots.
"This taste is excellent!" Meruem was munching on a huge arm that appeared to be Frankenstein's arm.
Both the Troupe members saw the arm, and noticed that it looked a lot like someone they knew.
Franklin looked down, only to see one of his arms missing. He didn't even feel or notice when Meruem took his arm. After several seconds, he finally started to feel the pain.
"Dammit!" Instead of crying in pain, he roared in anger and kept shooting at both of the Commandments with his only remaining arm.
Shizuku finally acted and jumped at them with her vacuum on hand. She planned on hitting both of them with her vacuum and making them fall unconscious.
"You can handle this, Meruem. I am too hungry to care." Alex disappeared in a flash, leaving both Shizuku and Franklin shocked.
"What a coincidence, I am starving as well. And I see two human live stocks in front of me." Meruem finished eating Franklin's arm, leaving nothing but the bones of his skeleton.
Before Shizuku could hit Meruem, he disappeared and reappeared behind Franklin, this time he feasted on Franklin's foot.
The reason he went after Franklin and not Shizuku, was because of their size alone. Franklin was tall and thicker, therefore he had more 'meat' in him. While Shizuku is small and skinny, except in her chest area.
"Delicious. And the limbs aren't even the best part." Meruem looked at Franklin, with blood on his mouth and hands as well as remaining human flesh. He looked at him as if he were an extra large stuffed crust pizza, with extra stuffed crust on them.
He already finished the entire leg within milliseconds, not even Franklin has even reacted to the pain in his leg. Meruem's ability to eat fast was no joke.
"What the hell is going on?!" Franklin could not balance very well on one foot, so he fell to the ground.
Then, his entire vision turned upside down. His head was relieved from his body as Meruem pulled it out forcefully, also pulling out his entire spine.
"I've missed this taste so much!" Meruem looks no different from a killer psychopath at that moment. And he wasn't even satisfied yet.
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