Chapter 2: Spirit Spirit Fruit

//word count = 2445

//comments are appreciated

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By the time he arrived back at his base, it had begun pouring rain, with heavy thunder and lightning filling the sky. The sound was akin to gongs being struck every few minutes.

Once back, Kaizen put down his things and set up a small fire in the middle of the opening for light and warmth.

With the fire crackling, he made his way to a specific area of the room where he kept all the fruits he had gathered during his journeys.

Wanting to rest and enjoy something sweet after the day's revelations, he began looking for a fruit to eat.

Noticing a particularly plump and round one, he decisively grabbed it, taking a bite and savoring the sweet flavor.

Turning around, Kaizen was about to make his way back to the fire to sit and rest when he heard the sound of something falling over.

He immediately spun around, distancing himself from the table.

However, to his confusion, he saw that it was just a fruit that had fallen to the ground. As he looked closer, he noticed something strange about it.

Reaching down and picking it up, Kaizen observed it in his hand.

It was a pear-shaped fruit with a translucent surface and ethereal, white patterns swirling across it.

"!!!"

Kaizen instantly understood what he had found. It was a Devil Fruit, the not-so-secret secret treasure of the sea.

Though, Kaizen was confused. He was certain it hadn't been there before while he was picking out his fruit, which meant it must have just formed.

Thinking along these lines, he recalled some information from the manga before crossing. Apparently, Devil Fruits might have some ability to proactively choose their owner.

'Does that mean this one chose me?' He thought to himself.

It was odd. On the day he found out that the world he was in was actually One piece, he also had a devil fruit form next to him. He didn't know if it was just a coincidence.

Though, his sixth sense told him it was definitely something special.

Kaizen was conflicted about whether to eat it. Having knowledge of the plot, depending on the year, he might be able to intercept several powerful Devil Fruits. The Thunder Fruit was the most obvious, but others like Fire Fist Ace's fruit or even the Op-Op Fruit, if it was early enough, were possible.

All of these were guaranteed powerful abilities, even if obtaining them wasn't assured. However, if he ate this Devil Fruit now, and it turned out to be useless, he would be stuck with whatever ability it gave him.

Closing his eyes, Kaizen contemplated long and hard about what choice to make. In the end, his gut told him to eat it, or he would regret it.

Kaizen trusted his instincts, so without waiting any longer, he brought the fruit to his mouth.

This fruit appeared before him. Though he didn't know how true it was, he had a faint feeling that he indeed had a connection with this fruit.

'Ha, maybe it's my cheat,' Kaizen joked to himself.

CRUNCH

He took a bite of the Devil Fruit before tossing the rest onto the floor, focusing on swallowing the piece and not throwing it up.

After about a minute, color finally returned to his face, and Kaizen was able to properly test his new abilities. 

The second he digested the fruit, he could tell a major change begun taking place inside his body.

This lasted for about a full ten minutes, during which Kaizen could feel his strength steadily rising.

Opening his eyes that he had instinctively closed during the process, Kaizen was shocked to notice that the world around him looked different.

It wasn't a major change, but if he focused he could clearly see a faint, mist-like energy permeating the surroundings. Even the tiny insects in his base had a faint coat of this energy around them.

Closing his eyes again, Kaizen focused on trying to perceive this energy, assuming it was related to his Devil Fruit. Almost automatically, he was able to sense it, but a change quickly occurred.

Kaizen felt his perception rapidly expand outward. It felt as if he had a bird's eye view of everything within a 30-meter radius. He could sense various creatures around him, all with that same coat of energy.

Struggling to cut off his perception, Kaizen doubled over, panting. His body felt empty, as if drained of something essential. He assumed it was this energy he was observing around him.

He realized he had unlocked some sort of perception ability, which had caused him to uncontrollably use this new energy inside him. It seemed similar to Observation Haki, but different in some way. He wasn't sure what it was.

Gathering his thoughts, Kaizen began sensing the energy around him again. He had a hunch as to what he needed to do, to relieve the fatigue he was currently feeling. Closing his eyes, he vividly sensed the energy flowing around him like ocean waves. Reaching out with his thoughts, he willed his body to absorb the energy, the only thing he could think of to try.

Surprisingly, the energy reacted immediately, hurtling into Kaizen's body. He could feel the fatigue rapidly disappearing, replaced by a feeling of pure strength.

Lost in a trance, Kaizen continued to absorb the energy from around him, unbothered by the passage of time. Twenty minutes later, he was finally broken out of his trance after sensing that his body could no longer absorb any more spiritual power, the name he had decided to give this energy.

Opening his eyes, he looked down and clenched his fist. Kaizen felt his body brimming with energy, as if he could easily fight for ten days and nights. Not only that, he felt as if he could release this accumulated energy to fight for him as well.

Wanting to test this out, he exited his base and headed to an area a bit further away. Only intending to do a simple test, Kaizen picked out his designated target, a relatively large tree.

Standing at a distance, he readied himself before shooting out toward the tree like an arrow. The moment he moved, his figure disappeared from its spot faster than any speed he had previously shown.

Unaware of this, completely zoned in, Kaizen appeared in front of the tree, raised his fist, and struck the center. As his fist made impact with the tree, he simultaneously released a bit of the energy he had absorbed.

The result...

BOOM

A loud explosion rocked the surrounding ground, echoing far into the distance. The tree he had hit was no longer standing, a hole blown straight through it, effectively cutting it in half. Behind it, dozens of other trees suffered the same fate until the strength of the blast weakened.

Kaizen was stunned on the spot, not expecting such a large reaction. He quickly recovered and made his way back to the base, aware that some creatures of the night would definitely come to investigate the source of the explosion, and he didn't want to fight them just yet...

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A month later...

Somewhere deep in the forest, a creature could be seen running for its life, its body covered in slash wounds dripping with blood.

Behind it, the source of its current misery emerged—Kaizen.

With each meter the beast covered, Kaizen closed in, his figure leisurely disappearing and reappearing on different tree branches.

After a few more minutes of chasing, the beast entered a clearing and roared into the sky in desperation.

Kaizen, who had already materialized a few feet behind it, crossed his arms and waited. After all, this had been his goal all along.

It didn't take long for its calls to be answered. A group of beasts, similar in appearance, emerged from the surrounding forest.

Seeing this, Kaizen uncrossed his arms and reached for the sword at his waist.

The beasts, sensing a threat, roared in an attempt to scare him off.

Naturally, it was futile.

"Alright, let's see how much soul power you guys can give me..."

Kaizen's voice lingered in the air as his figure dissipated into an afterimage.

In the next second, he reappeared behind one of the creatures, his sword already drawn.

Before any of them could react, Kaizen cut the first beast in half from bottom to top, his blade slicing through flesh like a hot knife through butter.

By the time the creatures reacted, Kaizen had already disappeared, reappearing behind his next prey, his blade swinging out in a horizontal motion.

SLICK

Two down, ten to go.

Without pausing, he was already upon the third beast, his sword piercing through its head.

At this point, the creatures understood that this was a prey they could not provoke. Driven by their instinct to survive, the remaining nine beasts began to flee in all directions.

"Oh no you don't!"

Kaizen, who noticed this, naturally wouldn't give up so easily.

Reappearing in the center of the clearing, he sheathed his sword. Focusing his mind, he began pouring his spiritual power into it.

White energy, reminiscent of a Kamehameha from Dragon Ball, began condensing around the sheath of the blade. The more it condensed, the more chaotic and unstable it became, releasing a palpitating aura.

A few beasts just reaching the edge of the clearing and about to enter the forest, felt their hairs stand on end.

"Halo of Destruction," a faint but somehow audible whisper echoed throughout the surroundings.

Kaizen, having finished charging his attack, in one swift motion, unsheathed the blade and swung it forward.

As he did so, a thick, visible white ring of spiritual energy expanded in all directions at an incredible speed.

The few creatures that hadn't reached the forest's edge were the first to bear the brunt, their bodies sliced in half on impact.

Those that had made it farther only had time to barely register the ring before it hit them, ending their lives.

In less than a second, every single creature was dead.

The ring continued its expansion, spreading out into the distance, cutting through everything in its path.

By the time it finished, Kaizen stood in the center of an artificially made clearing. The trees around him, for about 30 meters, were sliced in half, lying on the ground.

Kaizen turned his attention to the corpses of the now-dead beasts. Disappearing from his spot, he reappeared beside one of the bodies.

Reaching out, he placed his hand on its body and closed his eyes.

Using his spiritual perception, he began sensing. It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for.

In his perception, he saw a small white orb of energy deeply anchored to the creature's body appear.

It was the soul of the beast, the whole purpose of his trip today.

It's been a month since Kaizen had consumed the Devil Fruit, and he had slowly but surely uncovered its powers.

First, he assumed it was a Paramecia type since it lacked the characteristics of a Zoan or Logia. According to Kaizen's observations, the fruit allowed him to perceive and harness a special energy present in all living beings in this world, though not naturally available to them.

He had never heard of such a fruit in the series but didn't think much about it since he was literally a transmigrator; differences here and there wouldn't be insane.

The fruit allowed him to manipulate this energy for his own uses, some of which he had already discovered. He could use the energy to enhance his movement, boosting his speed to unprecedented heights. He could also use it to increase the strength of his strikes or release energy blasts.

The power reminded him of that from the anime Bleach, which is why he named it spiritual power.

In fact, the abilities he had created so far were all inspired by Bleach's four Shinigami fighting techniques.

Zanjutsu, which is swordsmanship involving the use of spiritual power. Hakuda, which is hand-to-hand combat utilizing spiritual power. And Hohō, high-speed movement techniques that rely on the use of spiritual power.

His current movement technique was essentially the same as Shunpo, utilizing spiritual power to enhance his speed.

The final art, Kidō, was the only one he had more trouble with. So far, all he could do were simple energy blasts. He was struggling to develop more unique methods like Bakudō, the way of binding, Kaidō, the way of healing or Hado, the way of destruction.

In terms of the other three, he was slowly making progress, developing his own moves as well as borrowing some from the Bleach series.

The one thing he had been unsure about was his Zanpakutō. The other abilities being derived from his fruit made sense since the basis of all of them was the ability to manipulate spiritual power.

The Zanpakutō, on the other hand, was much more mysterious and might even involve things such as the soul. Kaizen wasn't sure if just his fruit would be able to create something of such caliber.

However, his worries were shattered when he realized he was also capable of absorbing souls, which, in turn, increased his spiritual power capacity and strength.

It was as if this Devil Fruit was made to recreate a Shinigami in the world of One Piece.

At that point, Kaizen decided to stop worrying about whether or not a Zanpakutō would form. He was confident that he would be able to figure something out with the abilities the fruit offered him.

Though, he did stilll meditate every day with a poorly crafted wooden sword he had made, pouring his spiritual power into it, hoping to spawn his companion blade.

Returning from his thoughts, Kaizen had just finished absorbing the soul of the last beast.

The increase from one wasn't too great but when it's twelve, the effect adds up.

He could feel his previous limit on spiritual power increase slightly.

Though, that was enough to make todays journey worth it.

Thinking so, he brought his good ole trusty string and began tying up the pieces of the beast he would use as food.

He wasn't planning on leaving perfectly good meat to rot.

The string had surprisingly survived up to this day without breaking. When he got his devil fruit, he even began injecting some spirtual power in to it as well after noticing that it provided some increase in durability to objects.

After he was done, he carried his loot on his back before disappearing into the forest.

Even with the heavy load, he was still able to travel at inhuman speeds.

//chapter thoughts?