World Of Pirates: Part 05
Disclaimer: I own nothing. This story has no interest in offending any party. Having the sole objective of only entertaining the readers. Enjoy~
.....
"I think self discovery is the greatest achievement in life, because once you discover yourself and accept what you are, then you can fulfill your true potential and be happy."
- Marco Pierre White
...
Recap: In the last chapter Hector continues to travel and have a little fun in the One Piece while collecting powers. He finally creates a base to research and starts his project of creating multiple bodies and personas. And decided to work with Power Manipulation to recreate the Devil Fruit powers in more convenient tools to his plans.
.....
"Aargh! I give up!" I say, falling on my back from my sitting position on the ground. My arms outstretched to each side while I look at the ceiling.
Huff, I rub my eyebrows, and my hand comes back a little wet.
It has been a long time since I didn't sweat.
Rover, who was at my side, turns to me in askance and puts his head on my belly, my hand goes to Scratch behind his ear.
I'm not really giving up, but I think I reached the limit of what I can do now. I'm almost, almost... succeeding in disassembling the Devil Fruits' powers.
But when I'm on the final step... Puf, everything turns to nothingness.
I already lost 86 of the copies that I created to do that. I only have 12 more.
I feel that I can do that, you know the feeling when there's a boss on a game that you die a lot, but you have a good feeling and know that next time will be a success? Yep, like that.
I'm losing on the details... And I know the reason.
"I need to fuse again." I say looking at the ceiling.
I'm currently divided into four, thanks to Dark Danny's ghostly bio-fission. Right now, I'm only with 50% of my original performance.
50% of my mental power, 50% of my concentration, 50% of my dexterity...
During all those 86 tries, I believe I discovered the recipe/path to disassemble. Already reverse-engineered the whole thing.
It was like the last time when I started to create nerfed versions of strong powers, I know I can do it now. But I need to fuse again...
Or use Power Boost cars on my [Power Manipulation]... But nah, let's stretch to the limit before using Power Boost cards again. Maximize growth efficiency.
The thing is that my other bodies are doing important things now.
And disassembling dozens of Devil Fruits powers will take time.
I slowly stand up from the ground. Rover stands up with me.
"Well, I can go practice some magic while my other bodies don't arrive..." I say to myself while start walking away.
"..." I slowly turn around to watch Rover following me.
I stop and he stops too.
His head tilted to look up at me.
I start walking again and he starts following me again. Keeping up with my speed.
I stop one more time and he stops too...
"..."
"?" He looks at me confused.
I can't resist...
In an instant I lowered myself exactly 0.2 centimeters, threatening to run away at high speed.
My sudden movement triggers something in the dog.
He lowers himself too and starts to run, but he can't get out of the place because of the slippery ground and inertia. His paws, and nails, make a *tac tac* sound on the ground while he makes a good impression of how people run in their dreams.
Then, the inertia can't stop him anymore.
With a *swoosh* he zooms away from me, moving dozens of meters in an instant.
At some point, he must have noticed that I'm not running behind him because he pauses and tries to turn back, but inertia makes him keep going and he makes a drift and comes back at high speed again.
But he doesn't stop, he passes by me at high speed and some dozens of meters away he repeats the drift.
This is gonna take a while if I leave him alone.
"Pfft.. Haha Okay, Okay" I moved fast and caught him by the sides when he was going to pass by me again. His legs kick the air like he is still running "Be careful when you catch the 'zoomies', you concentrated calamity in a furball." I put him over my shoulders while he pants with his tongue out of his mouth.
Walking him in the future will be a challenge... Heh. I will pass this responsibility to Cassandra.
At this moment, a piece of information arrives in my mind. One of my other bodies becomes aware of a little dispute between the Whitebeard pirates and Big Mom.
I can feel a grin being formed on my face.
"Change of plans, we can do 'abracadabra' later... let's go throw some hands, Rover." I say
"*Woof*" He answers animatedly.
His eyes glowing eerily, his teeth bare to the world. It's remember me of that pitbull meme...
"Hmmm... Maybe I should change your name to Cupcake. Or Princess..." I joke "Just don't eat the children in the park...
"*Whine*" He makes a pitiful sound
....
Third Person P.O.V.
Beyond the "main Hector", that was in the Lab on the sky, the other three bodies are around the world. Two of them are covering the huge area of the four seas, one in each hemisphere.
The lack of knowledge about the other oceans beyond the East Blue, the hard connection between countries in this world full of islands, makes it easy for him to overlook something.
And he doesn't want to miss a secretly overpowered Devil Fruit that maybe was eaten by a goon-level pirate for example.
"I hope we are on the same page, my dear." One of Hector's bodies smiles "gently" at a somewhat beautiful woman with colorful hair.
He is on the North Blue, in an underground auction place, holding the woman in charge by the neck.
It's not a coincidence that he stopped here, when he was flying over he saw a smiley face with a line cutting it on a wall. The Symbol of the Joker, Doflamingo's underworld broker persona.
It's expected that the guy has an incredible criminal network around the world. Hector is here to spare effort some effort.
The woman looks at Hector in fear. She recognizes him from the newspapers and the wanted posters.
"Hiiiih Y-es, yes... I will do it! Pl-please don't kill m-me!" The woman nods like a chicken and says with a shaky voice.
"Good girl..." Hector says slowly while entering the woman's mind and stealing information, noticing that the woman also plans to contact Doflamingo about what is happening now, Hector's eyes narrow "I just need you to inform me of anything related to Devil Fruits and Devil Fruits users, don't matter how small..."
Hector releases the woman on the ground
"I-I will do it!! No p-problem!"
"Good, good... But as a token of your sincerity..." Hector lowers himself and his hand goes to the woman's chest.
His fingers start to sink on the woman before he slowly pulls. The woman can clearly see how Hector takes off her still beating heart from her chest.
The criminal face falls even further, and her mind almost breaks from the scene.
"Aaargh!" Hector gives the heart a squeeze, making the woman wince in pain.
"Now... You know to whom your life belongs, right?" He stares at the woman dead in the eye.
Once again the woman nods fast, her hand over her chest, above the hole of her heart that already disappeared.
'What bullshit ability...' Hector thinks.
"T-that will be everything, sir?" The Woman asks fearfully, but trying to act seductively. Her experience tells that men tend to be merciful to the 'woman that belongs to them' "There's anything more I can do f-for you?" She tries to stick her big chest out, to flaunt her asserts
Hector squeezes her heart again without pity
"Aargh!" She bends over in pain
"Is your name Robin, Vivi, or Yamato? Then don't try to make a fool of me.." Hector says in a cold tone
She nods again and doesn't dare to open her mouth.
"Three months of you giving me information and I will give your heart back. If I dream that our talk here has leaked..." Hector squeezes the heart again to punctuate how serious he is.
The woman winces again and understands the message
"Don't worry, I just want the information, it's not like I'm asking for money. No one will know if you don't tell." Hector smiles good-naturedly and gives the woman a pat on her shoulder "Work hard!"
He disappears, already flying to the other bases of the Doflamingo underworld criminal empire.
'After I take their information to myself, I will fuse again...' He thinks before accelerating.
....
On a certain deserted island
"Such overpowered fruit... In your hands..." Another Hector sighs while he crouches down on the rails of a pirate ship.
Everyone, including the captain, is passed out after a blast of his Haki.
Hector jumps and walks to the fallen Devil Fruit User, he doesn't even lower himself to copy the power, making Mr. Blue Sky do it for him.
"The Slow-Slow fruit... Will make me invincible against brutes..." Hector comments, Looking down at the waste of such good fruit, Foxy.
The Noro Noro no Mi(Slow-Slow Fruit), it's one of the many Devil Fruits on Hector's list of underrated Devil Fruits that he needs to remember himself to go after.
There are a lot of Devil Fruit powers that wouldn't be the first option to anyone, like the Slow-Slow Fruit, but now that Hector can have all...
"Hm~ There's Alvida Slip-Slip Fruit too... Will make me even more invincible against brutes... I let Buggy go away last time, didn't even copy his power so that he can meet Alvida and the rest of his crew without an intervention of some butterfly effect, so that I can get Alvida's fruit without a problem." Hector says to himself while he checks his list on his mind.
With a finger pressed on his temple, he starts floating away, flying over the deserted island., while choosing his next step.
"That mirror and book fruit are interesting too... But the users are Big Mom's children. So I can take later all at once. Viola's fruit too... But It's the same thing, I can go there when I decide to deal with Doflamingo... There's that Door Fruit of Blueno... Maybe I should go for the ex-Baroque Works and non-important marines now...hm?" He plans before something attracts his attention.
"This Hector" is the one tasked with going after people who appeared in Canon, especially in the first part of the Grandline. He is moving from one place to another without stopping and investigating every nook and cranny... but now something made him stop.
The Sky Poison Pearl is shining.
Because he is acting mostly on the first part of the Grandline, he is bound to find all types of animals, materials, and plants... So this Hector is collecting them and putting them in the safe environment of the Sky Poison Pearl.
Hector never expected that a forgotten feature of the Sky Poison Pearl would show itself now.
The Pearl can locate and inform the user of any high-quality plant nearby.
This was used one time by the Main Character of Against the Gods to find a rare herb.
But it never happened with Hector. He is not in a cultivation world... It's not like he will find precious plants and herbs in New York.
But now the Pearl is flashing in a green light and directing him to the island. Below him.
"Could be...?" Hector eyes the light carefully.
A thought passed through his mind... In this world. There's a type of plant of great importance. The Devil Fruits...
In the next instant, Hector's En assaults the entire island. His aura scans the whole place, feeling everything.
And there it is.
Hector teleports and appears under a tree, his eyes move to the strange fruit resting between the roots of the tree.
The tree fruits appear to be some sort of Orange, the Devil Fruit is much bigger than a normal Orange. Must be the reason that it is on the ground, when the normal Orange turned into the Devil Fruit, its weight made it fall.
Beyond being three times bigger than a normal Orange, it has strange patterns and is brown.
Hector grabs it and inspects it.
"No clue..." He can't identify this fruit.
It's very unassuming, isn't like some fruits that easily can tell that give fire powers or something like that.
Hector puts the fruit away and looks at his left hand, the Pearl finally stops flashing in a green light.
"Convenient Synergy... As expected from the Essence." He comments, impressed. He mistakenly assumed that only 'cultivation resources' would be registered by the Pearl ability "Well, I will not complain... Let's invade some Marine Base and steal a Devil Fruit Encyclopedia." He says before flying away at high speed.
....
In another part of the Grandline
"Where the fuck is this place??" Another Hector shouts to the sky, stopping his flight, his frustration apparent by the release of powers, making even the clouds be dispersed some kilometers away.
"If the other people from the movies like Douglas Bullet and Byrnndi World exist here, then there's no reason for the rest to not exist too." He exclaims
He found these people on Impel Down, these guys that are the main antagonists of some One Piece Movies, but now he is not finding another antagonist, Gild Tesoro and his Casino.
"Could be only semi-canon characters? There's a distinction to that?" He sighs and starts to think.
He wants the Devil fruits that appeared in that movie, especially the one that steals Luck, even if he feels that will not be as useful as he thinks to the Gacha.
"I should have watched that movie... How did the Strawhats end up in that Casino?" He flies away, he doesn't know the plot of the movie.
He only knows about it because one day he was scrolling through the non-canon Devil Fruits page of the One Piece wiki after reading a fanfic that featured some movie characters.
"It's like Thriller Bark? A casino-ship-siland?" He decided to use the Doflamingo network to confirm if the Casino exists here in this world.
But suddenly he feels something with his senses "Another sky island? Whatever let's stop by..." He changes course and moves to where he is feeling the presence of a lot of living beings in the sky.
When he arrives at the place he is surprised yet again.
It's not a sky island... It's a floating island. There's a difference...
He frowns, his senses scanning the place and suddenly he busts on laughs
"I was looking for Gold and I found Float!" He exclaims before breaking the sound barrier and going directly at his target.
Shiki, the Golden Lion.
"This world timeline is all messed up! Fillers, right?" He shouts to announce his presence to his opponent, before starting the duel that he knows that he is gonna win.
The man already felt him because of his haki.
Haki that Shiki never used in the movie, even if he should've had... Only because he appeared pre timeskip.
The famous case of suffering a nerf from "appearing too early"... Like Crocodile. Hence, Hector's exclamation.
Luffy shouldn't have met this guy in this world. His story would end at that moment.
Now Hector has a clue to discover how the movies impact this world.
....
New World
There's a small war happening in a certain archipelago between the remnants of the Whitebeard pirates and the Big Mom pirates.
An azure flame zooms from high in the sky, Marco appears amidst the flames and kicks Charlotte Snack directly in the face. One of Big Mom's Sweet Commanders was defeated just like that, being sent flying through the battlefield.
The battlefield in question is incredibly chaotic. Not on the level of Marineford, but on each small island of this archipelago is the stage of a big battle.
Skirmishes between low-level members of each crew also happen everywhere, on the beach, on decks of ships, and in minor stretches of land.
Marco pants slightly after defeating one of the Sweet Commanders, he surveys the battlefield, checking the important duels happening.
But he doesn't have time to help others because he was not fighting only against Snack, if not he wouldn't be this tired against someone on this level. Officers like Daifuku and others are also ganging up against the actual strongest of the Whitebeard pirates.
All over the other archipelagos, the high-level pirates clash too.
The Swordsman Vista against another Sweet Commander, Charlotte Smoothie.
Diamond Juzo against Cracker in a duel of durability.
Ace against Oven, in a heated battle.
And many others.
Ace shouts while his fire-clad fist meets Oven's heated one. The clash creates a huge shockwave, the air distorts because of the heat, and no one can get closer.
But Ace follows with another punch in the gut while Oven is recovering, in the end, his Devil Fruit and fighting abilities are superior.
This last attack makes Oven stumble on his feet and fall to his knees. Ace doesn't waste time and moves around to help another someone, after all, they're Fighting to defend Whitebeard's territory and legacy.
The small war continues for hours and hours, and with time it becomes clear that the Whitebeard pirate's side is achieving Victory...
Till they hear a lullaby...
Some paused to look where the song was coming from, but the more experienced ones immediately identified the source.
"Ship~ Ship~ Ship~ "At a distance, a huge ship slowly approaches them.
The ship is the one singing. It's alive because the ship is the Queen Mama Chanter, Big Mom's personal ship and a homie created by her powers.
"This could be bad-yoi..." Marco frowns while trying to check who is on board the ship.
That ship only moves when Big Mom orders and few can ride it.
In the worst-case scenario...
"Mamama! Newgate's little runts are very loyal, huh?"
The worst-case scenario happens.
The iconic laugh is the prelude to the appearance of the woman herself. Big Mom slowly walks to the bow of the ship, her huge figure easily recognized by her pink dress and characteristic pirate hat, cloud, and sun, all alive and talking with her.
Her simple appearance is enough to demoralize a good part of the Whitebeard pirates.
"Pero~ This is a good opportunity, we can end the Whitebeard pirates right now." Perospero comments on Big Mom's side.
So not only her came, but another good fighter too.
Luckily, it appears that Katakuri was left behind to protect her territory. At least one saving grace.
With a show of unexpected agility, considering her huge body, Big Mom leaps from her ship and lands on a small island. Dozens of meters away. Her homies followed closely behind.
She lands together with a blast of Conqueror's Haki, the pressure and shockwave are enough to filter the weak fighters.
Marco himself hurried to meet and stop her.
"Big Mom..." He says seriously, going back to his human form.
"Marco.... Mama! What about you all stop resisting and become part of my crew? I also treat everyone like my sons..." She says with a smile.
"..." Marco sweats slightly by the pressure, but he doesn't back down "I think I will have to refuse and ask you to leave Oyaji territory."
"Mamama!" Big mom laughs uproariously "Newgate is dead. The world is for the living."
With this, she didn't try to talk anymore. Who is she? She is Big Mom, the strongest woman pirate in the world. She takes what she wants, people need to accommodate to her whims.
She pulls her arm and punches Marco suddenly.
To stop this attack, Marco turns on his Phoenix form and meets it head-on like an azure laser.
*Booom*
The shockwaves spread through the battlefield. They compete in strength, seemingly like in equal foot.
"Mama!" Big Mom laughs causally before putting in more strength and finally overwhelming Marco.
Marco flies away a little, his Phoenix form lacking one wing and a claw.
He stabilizes himself and coughs, before the missing limbs slowly start to grow again.
"Marco!!" Some of the members of the Whitebeard pirates shout at their Division Commander.
"I really don't want to kill you, Marco." Big Mom says while walking toward him
Big Mom still wants to recruit the user of the rare Mythical Zoan, but her words are stopped when another flash of light enters her vision.
She puts her arm covered with Armament Haki in front of her face to stop the attack.
After enduring the barrage for a while she opens her arm to dispel the fire.
Yes, Ace stops the attack and moves close to Marco using his fruit powers.
"Are you okay, Marco?" Ace asks
"Ace... I think we need to retreat." Marco says, looking extremely tired. He fought a lot of opponents and recovering from an attack on Big Mom took a lot of his stamina.
"We can't." Ace says, not from simple stubbornness. In this situation, they can't retreat without leaving things behind. The territory, their people, crew... That is not a sacrifice that he likes to do.
"Well, well~ If isn't Roger's brat? Just by looking at you, I'm getting angry." Big Mom says, her eyes glowing dangerously.
"I only have one father! Whitebeard!" Ace shouts before attacking again with a Fire Fist.
"Mama! You're years too early, boy. Even your father avoided fighting me when he cowardly sneaked to steal my Road Poneglyph." Big Mom says with equal parts amusement and resentment.
Amusement in seeing Ace's futile efforts and resentment for Roger getting the better of her.
She slaps Ace's attack away and punches him. The attack hits him squarely on the chest, nailing him to the ground.
Big Mom is rarely a merciful person. She raises her foot to step on Ace.
But she stopped her actions by suddenly looking up.
"Someone is coming..." She says eyeing the cloudy sky
A red light shines far away, like a star. Her eyes widen in surprise and she puts her arms across her chest, barely fast enough to stop the attack that hit her.
A ball of energy, almost as big as her, hits her arms covered in Armament Haki, the impact doesn't hurt her much, but it sends her sliding away a dozen meters and she needs to put a lot of effort into deflecting it away
"Oy Ace, why do you always end up fighting people out of your league?" A male voice asks beside the fallen fire user "Don't you know that you're living through extra time and without plot armor?" Hector appears with a 'tsk tsk' and kicks Ace, but restoring him with [Crazy Diamon] powers.
Hector in casual clothes is now standing between Big Mom and Ace.
Rover is in his giant size a few feet away behind him.
He came Riding the huge monster dog that now has [Air Walk]. He was inspired by those cultivation novels where people have mounts and all that.
"Oh, if isn't the newest sensation? The problem child of the so-called Worst Generation..." Big Mom says eyeing Hector up and down.
In this world, instead of Blackbeard being the 12th member of the Worst Generation, Hector took his place. With the rest of his crew completing 15 members. And his ridiculous feats only cemented this group of pirates as the worst and most dangerous rookies in history.
"And you must be Big Mom." Hector says in the same tone that she used
"Mama! Aren't you a cutepie?" She says looking down on him like a grandma would look at her grandchildren. But there's a hint of mockery behind her tone
"Well, I pity that I can't say the same. You really let yourself go, huh?" Hector shakes his head and 'tsks' again "Decadency and an unhealthy lifestyle really impact people's appearance in this world." He says with a smirk
"Oh~ Now looking closely, I'm noticing some similarities too... This annoying smile... Are you Roger's son too? Two Rogers sons must be enough to quell my anger from years ago." She says dangerously
"Sorry, I'm not. But you can say that we are related slightly." Hector comments "And why all this anger, Old Hag? Don't you know that boiled resentment is bad for your health?" Hector acts like a worried grandson, but with mockery in his tone too.
"That damned Roger, stole my poneglyph, reached the Last Island, started this era full of runts like your running around and died..." She says in anger
"Gigachad..." Hector nods to himself
"We are the ones that need to clean his mess! And that bastard doesn't have the balls to fight me head-on back then." She says with clenched fists
"Hm~" Hector rubs his chin with his index finger and thumb "That doesn't sound right..."
"What, boy?"
"Him? Running from a fight? Don't sound like him..." Hector says 'But I know that he really sneaked to steal the Red Poneglygh. Why didn't he defeat her? Just for fun?' He thinks
Hector looks around a little. The two strongest on this battlefield are talking casually like there's no war. Their presence alone stopped all fights, and that was only a small demonstration of the difference in level from Yonkos to all the rest.
Then suddenly something clicked in Hector's mind. Maybe it's a part of Roger's memories and intentions, maybe is a theory that was made by his own mind, but when he looked around at all those children of Big Mom he asks
"Are you pregnant when Roger stole the Poneglyph?"
Big Mom narrows her eyes hearing that question.
Big Mom has 85 sons and daughters. In normal circumstances, this would make a total of almost 64 years only pregnant. Thankfully Big Mom had a lot of quintuplets, and maybe in this world and thanks to her strong constitution, her pregnancies maybe lasted much less than the normal 9 months
But even so, it's expected that she spent some good decades pregnant.
So maybe, Roger avoided the fight because he didn't want to fight with a pregnant lady.
"Are you saying that he looked down on me just because I was carrying a child?" But Big Mom doesn't like this new perspective not even a little. She is an extremely prideful individual after all.
"Well, he was also dying... maybe he doesn't want to waste some time of his life by getting hurt by you... He still needed to find Laugh Tale, after all." Hector says with a shrug.
"That damn, Roger!!!" Big Mom's eyes turn red in anger. Conqueror's Haki shook the Archipelago "Does he think that I'm like any other fragile Woman? I would have killed him even while giving birth!!"
"Gross..." Hector comments while looking at his nails disinterestedly
"You really have his talent for getting under people's skin! I was ready to offer an alliance but you wouldn't accept, right boy?" Big Mom turns to look down on Hector.
"Nah. You can't offer me anything that I can't simply take." He says casually.
His eyes gain a predatory glint while he looks at Big Mom and her crew.
Her fruit is on Hector's Top 5 paramecias of priority to get.
"So it's clear what we're about to do..." She starts saying and Napoleon, her pirate hat, jumps from her head and becomes a sword on her hand.
Prometheus and Zeus also go into battle mode.
"How do you wish to die?" She asks trying to intimidate him. Trying to use her Devil Fruit powers to take his soul away.
But Hector is not afraid of her
"Well, my second option would die with my head being crushed by a powerful woman's thighs." Hector says with a pensive and serious expression.
"..." His casual, but serious reply makes some people look at him strangely
"If you're younger, I wouldn't mind giving you the opportunity to try." He smiles roguishly at Big Mom;
"Pfft Mamamama!" Big Mom guffaws after getting shocked for a second, resting the blade of her sword on her shoulder "Aren't you charming? Mama!"
"Every man rizz with Grandmas is out of the charts... "Hector comments while passing his hand through his hair." He says with a laugh.
The two laugh together for some time...
*BOOM* *CLANK*
...Before Big Mom attacked him mercilessly with her sword.
Obviously, Hector saw that coming seconds ago.
Hi raises his arm and meets her attack with his left fist.
The clash shook the whole battlefield. The sky was split in the characteristic way that only the ones in the top of this world can do when they fight each other.
"Sudden movements can be bad to your back, Old Hag." Hector smirks at her
Hector decides to give the Woman so fright, that some trolling is concocted on his mind.
While blocking her sword with his left first, he raises his right hand and starts to use [Twice].
Twice's quirk allows the user to replicate anyone that he knows the measurements and it's not limited to self-replication.
Hector never used it in a real battle, but if he wants he can replicate other people.
Like he is planning to do right now...
Bring Roger and Whitebeard to one last stand to defend their children and legacy. To scare the shit out of Big Mom. To create a legend and a new layer of protection for the now Yonko-less crew. A deterrent against enemies...
Now, a small explanation about the works of this seemingly overpowered quirk.
The main reason that Hector doesn't use to clone people like the Hulk or Thor, it's that he wouldn't have any control over them. If don't use telepathy to brainwash the clones.
It's also not that useful when cloning strong people. The clones have low durability and would not even resist their own powerful attacks.
The mind of the user is also important in a certain way. Hector needs to Always know the actualized measurements of the people that he will clone.
If something happens with the person and Hector knows without details, or the person dies. Hector can't clone them. He can't clone people he knows are already dead.
....
Flashback
Months Before in the Hero Academia World.
Hector finds himself sitting in his secret lab.
His upper body was supported by his elbows resting on his knees, his palms turned upwards.
"..." His eyes are vacant while a seemingly infinite amount of the mud-like liquid of the [Twice] quirk is emitted by his palms.
The ground was already covered a hand deep in mud.
"I can't..." He murmurs to himself while slowly clenching his fists "I can't because I know they're dead." He continues.
He can't even pathetically recreate his own parents to a last goodbye with his power. He can't even lie to himself to have some seconds of comfort. To escape reality a little...
He opens his right palm again, and this time he succeeds.
He creates a perfect duplicate of Nana Shimura.
Another duplicate of someone he knows who is dead.
"..." The implications run over his mind.
Without giving the opportunity to the clone say anything he destroys it with a swift motion of his hand.
"..." He looks at his hands again "That's fucked up..." He sighs
....
Back to the present
That episode is one of the reasons that makes Hector always be careful in keeping in touch with reality.
He unconsciously doesn't see the people that he meets as real people. But as characters.
And all his powers... Everything he can do... Everything he knows because of the meta-knowledge.
He is like a higher being.
A reader.
Did the Character die in this chapter of the manga? Okay, if I read the previous chapter he will be alive again.
That's the power of a reader.
Every reader has the power to simply turn the page and make the character alive again in his mind. To him and at that time.
There's a theory that if The One Above All and the Fulcrum are incarnations of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the main creators of the characters of this multiverse Marvel.
Maybe the Beyonders are the readers.
They can do whatever they want with the comic in their hands.
Colorize differently, tear apart, write whatever they want... Even fanfics. Create headcanons.
Hector was like that, maybe he still has this "Higher quality" inherent in his being.
Useful to bypass these mental blocks and limitations in using some powers.
Powers that normally would be hard to people use because they're scared,or whatever reason, Hector can use them easily. The only limits are the ones that he puts on himself.
Is Jean afraid of going all out and turning people on vegetables and because of that she can't tap her full potential?
Hector simply chooses to not do it.
He can use her power better than her because of that.
He is a special existence in his own right.
But... Did he like it?
Seeing people as characters banalizes their existence and their value.
He thinks is too early... Some things are being taken away from him. Only because he is strong and special like that.
A certain fear of never experiencing normal things brews in his heart and keeps him awake at night.
One time he even thought by himself if he was incredibly lucky one day and gained something OP like a Dr. Manhattan card he wouldn't assimilate it instantly, even if it was a dumb decision.
The way these strong characters, that can see everything at once, go anywhere, go back in time, kill and reassemble people, run away from their mistakes by simply jumping from one reality to another... The way they think and see the world and people around them...
It's not something he wants for himself.
The growth in strength must be gradual.
But he is afraid it is too late.
Except that at this moment something happened that changed everything...
Hector's eyes widen slowly while he looks at his right hand...
"It's not forming..." He murmurs, shocked.
He can't create the duplicates,
He is paralyzed seeing his failure.
"You're distracted!" Big Mom shouts removing her sword from the stand-off.
Giving a step back, she pulls the sword back and prepares to cleave, the still unmoving, Hector in two with a horizontal slash.
"Ikoku Sovereignty!" Big Mom exclaims while swinging her sword at Hector.
The attack creates an invisible wave of destruction that makes everything in its path disappear. Even Hector is nowhere to be seen.
"Hector!" Ace shouts worriedly at the scene.
Everyone thinks that the fight was decided like that.
"Did you get him?" Big Mom hears Hector's voice ask beside her.
She looks up to see Hector lying on his side on the flat of her sword. His hand above his eyes, to shield them from the sun, while he looks at the destruction caused by the attack.
"You..." Big Mom starts but doesn't finish before Zeus tries to attack Hector with a bolt of lightning.
Hector disappears again in a swift movement, reappearing in front of Big Mom again.
A carefree smile on his lips. "Hahahaha." He simply can't contain his laugh "I'm so happy right now." He laughs at the sky
"..." Big Mom looks at him strangely
"Hahahaha. I never thought that I would be happy having performance issues... That Rudeus card is dangerous." He jokes to himself, making a reference only he knows.
"Are you crazy?" Big Mon asks with a raised eyebrow
Hector who was laughing while covering his eyes stops and gives a long sigh, rubbing his eyes to clear some tears he turns to look at her.
"Haaah~ Sorry, sorry... It's just that..." He chuckles again "It's not too late, Big Mom! There's still time for me!" He shouts with his arms open to the world
"..." She continues to look at him without understanding a thing "Whatever, you're not the first crazy bastard that I have to deal with in my life." She stops thinking too hard about it.
"Heh~ I'm in such a good mood that I will not even kill you." He smiles at her
"Bold words." She smirks at him
"It's that so?~" Hector matches her smirk with a bigger one on his own.
Then he slowly moves to make a certain stance... A very familiar stance to all the people present.
He separates his feet in a horse stance, he brings his right hand above his left shoulder.
Big Mom's eyes widen, and she prepares her sword.
Marco and the other pirates of the Whitebeard crew's mouths fall.
"That..."
"Is this for real..?"
Their suspicions are confirmed when a semi-transparent sphere covers Hector's fist.
"Oyaji's power!!"
Hector disappears from his spot.
Before even Big Mom could put up a defense, Hector appeared close to her and side-punches her midsection.
*CRACK*
The air breaks where he punches, and White cracks spread around the two.
The shockwave of this attack is unnaturally big. Cracks appear on the ground, the trees are pushed by the wind, and waves suddenly are raised from the sea.
After the crash, Big Mom was sent flying, and blood was spilled from the orifices on her head.
She hits the ground sometime later, creating a huge crater. Coughing up she slowly starts standing up.
When the wind blows the Dust away she looks up to see Hector floating above her. His two fists are covered by the semi-transparent spheres signaling the Tremor Fruit.
"Aren't you a durable old hag? Let me try some of my new powers on you..." Hector smiles at her, even Big Mom feels shivers Looking at him now.
Cortana: "Eidolon beats an old lady with dementia... This would be a hot topic in our world." She says sarcastically
Hector almost stumbles on the air hearing her.
"This is why context is important." He argues
He moves his hand, still covered by the Tremor powers, and claps one time in Big Mom Direction.
The moment the two semi-transparent spheres on his hand meet, a Loud sound of breaking glass is heard throughout all the battlefield.
Whitebeard never used his power like that.
The clap creates a vacuum, the air being pushed in Big Mom's Direction. The shockwave hits her like a mini-nuke.
*Boooom*
Hector observes his groundwork for some time.
"Disgustingly durable..." He laughs while seeing that Big Mom is still alive
Hector looks up to see that Prometheus and Zeus moved around him in unison.
The cloud and the sun prepare themselves for a huge attack.
"A super move?" Hector asks casually "I can create them on a whim too..." He says before raising his hand.
Another semi-transparent sphere appears above his hand.
"Operation + Darkness..." He slowly said.
The semi-transparent sphere slowly becomes pitch black, then it expands to cover Hector and the two homies circling him.
"...Dark Room." Hector's ominous voice is heard before he locks himself with Prometheus and Zeus.
The pitch-black sphere floats in the air, no sound comes out of it, and is impossible to see the insides of the huge sphere.
A second later the Dark Room shrinks and disappears.
Hector reappears for everyone to see and people can see the last moments of the two homies.
A wisp of cloud and a wisp of fire disappear together into nothingness.
Big Mom clutches her chest in pain.
"Prometheus! Zeus!" She shouts "What did you do with them??"
"Simply dispersed them... Or the word used should be erased?" Hector comments seriously "Nullifying your power separates your soul from them, making them a simple cloud and fire again."
Hector's eyes change to the All Seeing Eyes, and he looks at Big Mom.
"Well, you lost a little of your soul, but not that much... You're taking it back slowly. I didn't destroy it..." He comments
"You bastard!" Big Mom shouts at him
"Look who is talking..." Hector rolls his eyes
He drops in an axe kick at Big Mom's head, but she crosses her arms to defend herself.
"Whoa, you are really durable. Very ridiculous, I would say." Hector comments before spinning to kick her away.
Even if he is only at 50% of his power, Big Mom's durability is really incredible.
"Are you really human?" He asks pointing his finger at her. A piercing white light glows on the tip of his finger and he shoots it at her.
The laser literally bounces off her body.
"Pfft... Ridiculous. Let's see the truth." Hector says and his eyes change again to the All Seeing Eyes of God.
He analyzes Big Mom's body while casually Fighting her, not going all out to not hurt the people nearby.
'Hm~ Some sort of this world variant of the Hercules Syndrome? There are muscles there and her metabolism is ridiculous... This would explain why she thinned out in her adult years, when she was more active. And grew fat again when she rarely gets in a fight nowadays... Continued eating the same amount but is not working out anymore.' He thinks while dodging some Earth-shattering sky-spittling attacks.
"Well, I need to end this... Big Mom's crew has a looooot of Devil Fruits to copy." Hector murmurs before starting to attack.
He meets her attack with his own, changing their course, moving closer before using a dragon claw grip on her forearm.
"Only One Piece to make a fight with a morbidly obese old woman in a pink dress to be epic!" He exclaims before he twists, the attack makes guge wounds appear all over Big Mom's arm, gushing blood.
"Surprise on seeing your blood? These people that are born strong are really different." Hector says before spinning on himself and doing a karate chop on her shoulder, during her moment of negligence.
"Ugh!" Big Mom groans in pain from Hector's attack, but they are not as bad as she expected.
"Big Mom... I said that I wouldn't kill you, but I can still traumatize you." She hears Hector's voice beside him.
But she can't turn fast enough to avoid the punch on her ribs.
"That should be enough..." Hector says to himself after throwing her around a little "Time to learn the truth... [Heaven's Door]"
Suddenly, the places where Hector hit pages of a book unfurl.
'It took some effort... Did Haki work as a protection against [Heaven's Door] ability?' Hector frowns while looking at the confused Big Mom.
"Do you want to know to where Mother Carmel went, Big Mom?" Hector asks attracting her attention.
Mother Carmel was the previous user of the Soul Fruit and Big Mom mother figure after she was abandoned by her biological parents.
Big Mom who was looking at the pages on her body was suddenly hit on her forehead.
Hector makes her lie down and holds her telekinetically.
"Tsk Tsk... So accustomed to being the big fish that is not in your muscle memory to dodge." Hector shakes his head looking down at her. You made it too easy with all those years of self-indulgence."
"Grrr." She tries to stand up, but Hector glares back, increasing the pressure on her.
"Stays still while I rock your world... In a bad way, I mean." He says, also discreetly copying her power. "Look at this..." He points to a page that is opened on her chest.
It shows a Picture of Mother Carmel and tells her relationship with Linlin, Big Mom.
"You don't know it but your dear Mother Carmel orphanage didn't exist because of the goodness of her heart. She sells her children to the World Government..." Hector says
"Lies!!" Big Mom shouts before being silenced by an invisible Punch in her mouth, Mr. Blue Sky makes her mouth a zipper and shuts her up.
"Sh sh sh. Hear me out, we didn't even get on the worst part... Oh! Ah yes, you have a whole lot of maternal instinct, huh?" Hector eyes her in sudden realization "You probably got that from her... Well, you got that from your idealized version of her. Must be a shock to discover that everything is a lie."
Hector shakes her head and lets Big Mom with her thoughts for some time before she continues.
"All the Giants of the Marines came from Mother Carmel. She was a child trafficker, I would kill her if she was alive." Hector looks at Big Mom with a malicious glint "But you already took care of it..."
"...?" Big Mom looks at him confused
Hector gives a big regretful sigh "Haah~ Do you know, when we are children we can't separate our senses of self from the world. Only at a certain point, do we start to draw the line... 'This is me, that is the world/another person'." Hector explains "And that's is where the problem lies... You're a big kid, huh? Always childish..."
Hector turns some pages slowly, and slowly.
"There it is..." He says in a happy mood before turning the page to Linlin see.
A very gory scene, which was even not shown in the manga is explicitly Illustrated on the page.
Big Mom's eyes widen seeing that
Hector whistles "Damn, Heaven's Door really doesn't censor anything... Well, look at the bright side, this saved you from becoming a marine."
"You're totally in your own world, huh?" Hector comments "Someone that was born as strong as you can go anywhere, do anything... Ah!" Hector crouches down to whisper at her "You must have noticed, that's why you have the Soru Soru no Mi. If you eat the heart of a user, it works just like the fruit... The heart is where a good part of our soul stays, you know? And the Devil's fruit latches on your soul, that's why only one is allowed." He says conspiratorily, even winking to mock her.
He discovered studying Blackbeard. This and many other secrets...
"Mpphf !! Grr! Ughhh!" Big Mom trashes around mightly, but Hector holds her firmly.
She starts crying like a kid, tears running out of her eyes like a river.
"..." Hector stares at her without pity "A fitting punishment to her tyranny." He comments noticing the effects of the truth.
He removes his powers from her and hops off.
Big Mom doesn't attack him or anything, she simply sits down and continues crying, even suckling on her thumb like a two-year-old.
"Another one... What I am? Peter Pan?" Hector shakes his head in exasperation after making another villain suffer from mental regression.
...
After some time of silence, people finally reunite the courage to approach the place where the battle between Big Mom and Hector happened.
The pirates of the two crews approach together, there's no need to fight, the winner of the duel will decide the winner of this war anyway.
"Perospero, right?" Hector's voice can be heard even before they see the two Yonkos.
Everyone tenses, and the winner of the fight is revealed.
"Y-yes...?" The man in question asks with some trepidation in his voice
There's Hector calmly sitting on a rock, while Big Mom acts like an oblivious kid Looking at the sky and suckling on her thumb.
"I won. Lead me to your Poneglyph." Hector says flatly
For some time, no one answers anything
"You think we will follow your com- Gah!" Charlotte Cracker starts to act bellicose.
*Boom*
But Hector silences him, by suddenly appearing above him and punching him on a crater on the ground.
The person with one of the best durabilities in the world was one-shotted just like that.
Hector doesn't turn to look at the rest of the pirates.
"I'm ordering... I really don't want to kill anyone today..." He says, killing intent flooding the air around them, his fingers cracking and promising aggression to anyone that the next words are not a 'Yes, sir'.
Perospero nods while sweating.
"You guys must have some questions, but go back first. I'm going sightseeing in Whole Cake Island." Hector says to the Whitebeard pirates before jumping on Big Mom's ship.
"Don't make me erase you too..." He intimidates the ship to follow his orders
"Ship, ship..." Queen Mama whimpers
"What are you? A Pokemon?"
.....
"We are almost arriving..." Perospero says in a strange tone to Hector.
"Is that so? Did you make sure that no one will attack me?" Hector asks, his voice muffled from where he is.
"Yes..." Perospero says slowly
"Is this really necessary?" Charlotte Smoothie asks from her sitting position on the floor, looking down at Hector
"To the winners, the spoils..." Hector says, his voice muffled by her tighs "So you will give me a lap pillow if I want." He says like is obvious
She and her legs are big enough to accommodate his whole body.
It's not even a lap pillow anymore, is a lap mattress.
"..." She is more confused than freaked out "But shouldn't you be facing upwars in a lap pillow?" She points to the ceiling to illustrate
Hector now is lying on her long and smooth legs without any shame.
"Nope~ This Is how they do it in my hometown." He says as a matter of fact.
Obviously, he is not (only) being a pervy. He is copying her power and that of many others close by.
Strangely, to him, the people around him are taking it too well.
Apparently is expected of these strong guys to have strange personalities. And is better for him to be a little goofy than a murderous bastard.
His empathic powers don't even feel resentment from Smoothie in practically sexually harassing her.
This world's morals are a little lax with this apparently.
"By the way, I normally don't do this... but seriously... Your power literally is squeezing people dry. I really couldn't waste the opportunity in flirting a little." Hector says like it's an obvious thing again
Smoothie only sighs in exasperation and starts stroking Hector's hair.
In truth, when he flirted with her early, she almost became stone because of the Mero Mero powers of Boa Hancock.
Some other female members are not that lucky, but Hector reverted them back after copying the powers.
"By the way, Perospero..." Hector's muffled voice travels to their ears
"Yes? Pero."
"Without Big Mom, you are all in a bad spot. But at the same time is a good opportunity. Try to not be an asshole to everyone in the future. Like killing people for ingredients..." He says
"..."
"You can take care of her or use her as a guard dog... I don't care, I'm a peace-loving guy after all." Hector says
"..." No one believes him
"But relax, if Kaido, Shanks, or the Marines attack you guys I will help repel them at least... I like balance. And there's no such thing as eternal enemies, after all." He says.
"..." Perospero narrows his eyes at Hector. It's true that he is not that childish to hold resentment over Hector.
They fought and he lost. That's it. No one important to him died too.
'Does he want to slowly swallow the Big Mom pirates like that?' He thinks
"Alright, pero. We will trust in your kindness." Perospero says politically.
Already starts thinking about ways to use Hector.
Hector just gives him a thumbs-up.
Giddy about the new powers that he is about to acquire.
Big Mom crew has so many Devil Fruit users and so many races. It's practically a treasure trove to Hector.
'Should I give these powers that can produce food to Tsukasa? Maybe a nerfed version? Or that one that can cook anything...' He thinks without a care in being on the enemy territory, enjoying Smoothie legs.
...
Hector P.O.V.
Days later after the Battle between the Big Mom pirates
"I'm really photogenic, and I didn't even assimilate Barney Stinson yet." I comment seeing the Newspapers.
The main article is about my victory against Big Mom. My bounty doubled, now it is 3 Billion.
And there's a cool picture of me holding the incredibly heavy Red Poneglygh by the edge with my index finger, equilibrating it like it means nothing.
"I think they put this to make me a target of Shanks and Kaido... The World government is not stupid." I comment
"Making the enemy fight against themselves is an old tactic." Saeko says behind me flatly.
Right now we are on a Sky Island, most precisely in Skypiea.
"Oooh~ So the Strawhats came here??" Barto-kun shouts at a distance, his crew follows him excitedly like children
"Search for a girl named Conis! She helped them!" I shout at them
They follow my lead and start running around the city shouting for Conis.
"Heh~ They only have one brain cell." I say while I continue to walk around the city with Saeko.
The winged people are interesting, I ask myself if those useless wings are a product of Evolution because they don't use anymore.
I planned to visit this place for a long time, so I brought Barto-kun and his crew to them to hear about the Skypiea arc.
I also brought Saeko to her to take a break from her training.
"So, how is the training?" I ask
"Good... It's fun to talk about people who share an interest in swords." She says in an even tone of voice
"I can imagine..." I say "Hm~? I'm really getting some weird stares from these girls..." I comment looking around.
Most females around are looking at me and blushing.
Oh! This is an anime world. It's the Sasuke effect! People here have no restraint in being fangirls...
"But... It's not to this extent, right?" I comment after some girls turn away in embarrassment when I look at them
"..." Saeko looks at me strangely
"What?"
"Are you serious? Do you really are not aware of your own appearance?" She asks with a raised eyebrow
"What do you mean?" I conjure a mirror in front of myself "Black hair and blue eyes, very generic..." I say looking at myself.
"You're ridiculously handsome, Master," Cortana warns me in my mind
"Seriously?" I look again.
I still find myself very generic.
Like, I start messing with my hair, making it shorter on the sides.
Look at this, I look like Superboy. So generic... I look like every comic book character with these features.
If I make my hair white I look like every other edgy anime character... Killua, Toshiro... I just need to comb my hair a little and I can be their perfect cosplayer.
Hmm~ If I mess it up a little... Damn, I look like Gojo, but with black hair.
Wait a minute, Helltaker glasses are circular too. I take them and put them on my face.
Yep, Gojo... But... I flex my muscles.
With Toji's body.
"Yes, Baby..." I say while posing "Look at this! So aesthetic! The V-shape... The size of these bíceps... Size... Sai... Sai... SAIDO CHESTOO!!" I flex on my best impression of Machio-san.
My shirt explodes, revealing my incredibly chiseled body.
"..." Saeko looks uninpressed
But I hear dome "Kyahs" at a distance and I look around to see a bunch of girls that turned on stone statues.
"Oh shit!" I go to them to revert them back to normal.
It appears that Hancock fruits create an allure aura around the person, that work better the more pretty the person is. Like a multiply of the Charm stat.
I think that's why someone as professional as Hina was flustered with some simple cheesy words.
I will keep it deactivated too.
....
After restoring the girls, we continued walking to the sacred city of Shandoria.
I want to see the Golden Bell.
"Okay, what is?" I bite the bullet and ask Saeko
"...what?"
"You're strange today. What happened? C'mon talk..." I say nudging her.
She is... quieter than usual.
"Nothing..." She says and turns her face away
I roll my eyes at her.
"Don't 'nothing' me... Go on. Let's hear it..." I say
"You didn't call me to the battle..." She finally says in a quiet voice
"..." I pause
Mad because I didn't get her to kick some ass?
"Pffft. Hahaha." I laugh out loud and go to hug her "Is my Saeko pouting because I didn't call her to cut some people?" I tease her like she is a kid
"Stop it! I knew that you would make fun of me!" She huffs in my embrace, a pink hue coloring her cheeks.
I didn't let her go, Moving from my position behind her to get her in a princess carry.
"Don't be mad, my cute murderous samurai. Next time I will allow you to have your fun." I say while I start walking while carrying her "We are gonna commit some war crimes together. Geneva Convention? More like 'Geneva Suggestion', am I right?" I joke with her.
Seeing her chuckle makes me smile.
"Put me down... I can walk." She says shyly, her voice barely a whisper.
"Nope!" I said popping the "P".
She didn't fight back when I started flying to the place where the Golden Bell was, carrying her through the night sky.
"The moon is beautiful, isn't it?" I say to her signaling the full moon in the sky, looking directly into her eyes, a small and relaxed smile on my lips
"..." She looks at me for a moment "Yes... Yes, very beautiful" She agrees while we don't break eye contact
....
We arrive at the Golden Bell, funny how no one is guarding it.
Well, it's very inaccessible by normal means.
The Bell is on a small solid cloud even higher in the sky.
"It's pretty." Saeko says, her mood is much better now.
"Yes, very nice. "And I take some pictures as recordation
"Are you gonna take it?" Saeko asks.
She knows that I have the soul of a collector, and I am really tempted to take it. It and the rare swords and other cool things from this world.
Like it's some sort of side quest.
"Hey, this is the cultural propriety of another race. Do you think I would have the face to do something like that?" I ask in fake outrage "Who do you think I am? The British Museum?"
She laughs in her hand at my joke. Haah~ She is pretty...
"Saeko..." I call her, making her look at me, my serious expression. Made her pay attention.
I slowly extend my hand in her direction and smile
"I like you. Please go out with me." I say with a straight face
"..." She looks at me shocked before bursting into giggles. "Pfft. Fufufu."
"Arrgh! And they said that the worst she can say is 'no'." I shout to the sky and dramatically fall on my back.
"Fufu. Sorry... Hehe~ But seriously? A standard Japanese confession?" She asks, amusement in her eyes.
I sit down on the ground and shrug my shoulders "I found it fitting." I say with a smile "So... What is your answer? If you're gonna reject me, please be fast and merciless. Cut my heart like you would do with your sword, I can take it." I say righteously, with a hand covering my heart
"Fufu." She giggles and sits down on the solid cloud in front of me in a seiza position "Please take care of me." She bows her head, accepting my feelings with the standard and cliche answer.
I laugh and watch her laugh too, before I pull her over to my lap, and make her sit on it. I rest my chin on the top of her head.
Her yelp is cute and I can't help but hug her tightly against my chest.
"You and I know that there will be some hardships in this... complex relationship." I say slowly
"Other girls, right?" She says, her voice betrays nothing
"Right. There are many things I can't promise you, Saeko. I can't give you all of my attention and heart... But I will protect and provide for you with everything I have." I promise seriously
"I believe in you..." She says softly "When we first met, you promised me to show me wonders. Make me capable of doing things that would be possible only in fantasies... And you kept your world."
"..."
She turns her head to look at me
"It's even better than what I imagined." She says looking at my eyes "Thank you, Hector. For bringing me here."
"...I'm the one that should say thanks. It's great to have you by my side." I smile "Seeing you grow makes me very happy and proud. I never thought that I would feel something like that for another person. You presented me with a new side of myself that I didn't know that existed." I say
After this words aren't necessary anymore.
With the clouds as the mattress and the night sky as the covers, I approach my face and kiss her.
And much more.
...
Three days later
I sigh after one of those stretches where your soul leaves your body for some seconds.
I already left Saeko to train again yesterday, after our... time together.
Second Harem Member Get! Hehe
It's working just fine for now... During the honeymoon phase.
Anyway, let's focus on what is important now...
I walk to a training ground and whistle.
I can hear it coming from a distance after my calling.
I turn my head to spy it flying at high speed to me, reaching my back it opens like a pair of wings and settles on my shoulders slowly.
"Hello, girl..." I greet my mantle, which now is alive thanks to the Soul Fruit.
And obviously is a girl, I don't want a male to hug me constantly...
Jokes aside, this is my first and only special homie, and probably will stay like this for a long time. I don't plan on splitting my soul a lot.
But my manttle is special.
I watch it create another cover for my front, making the characteristics two front slits that everyone knows. My mantle is made from the Shaed.
Created from some bullshit ancient fae magic where Ferule(from the Kingkiller Chronicles) sewed the darkest shadows of the deepest part of a magic forest using starlight as a thread.
It's super cool.
I walk to some training dummies and say to it "Show me..."
At my command, the mantle reaches at two dummies and twists their necks, then the edge of one side rolls on itself making a pointy end and stabs another dummy. The other edge becomes flat and slices three dummies easily.
"Oho~" I laugh.
I didn't use only the Cloak of Levitation as inspiration... Spawn's Cape, Agony was also in my mind when decided to give life to my mantle "Good Job." I praise and it vibrates in happiness.
One thing to notice is that my homie, different from Big Mom's one, didn't have the cartoonish faces as a characteristic. I believe that this happened to hers because of her Peter Pan Syndrome.
I can probably make it, but is not my style. Too childish.
And I can "communicate" with them just fine.
Now, the other important part...
I didn't use only the Soul Fruit.
Heh~ I recently gained another interesting power that has a GREEEEAAATTT Synergy with the Soul Fruit.
The Dauntless Power Shard.
Dauntless can charge objects with power, applying certain properties to them. It has a limited number of charges each day, but if I remember well, they said that in Worm-verse that his potential is limitless.
And now is where things got interesting... Different from Dauntless, I have other powers... Hehe. So I can charge them not only with this "energy" but also with the powers that I have.
It's the meta-power equivalent of enchanting items with magic.
Imbue my mantle with the Barrier fruit power? I can do it. Gigantification so that it can stretch a lot? Can do that too. Imbue with that Pocket fruit so that the manttle has an Inventory? Yes. Hiper-regeneration for self-repairing? Yes.
And much more!
Oh boy, the possibilities are infinite!
But I need to do some tests too... For example, if I imbue some helmet with [Telepathy], the helmet will defend the user from telepathy? Or give the power of [Telepathy] to the user?
Can I give those powers that can create food like butter, mochi, and candy to a piece of metal and create infinite food?
Will a defensive item always have defensive properties?
If I make a suit imbued with Light Fruit powers, did the person wearing it have the same powers as Kizaru?
Can I do it with accessories like rings?
It's more like a game mechanic? Can an item break if imbued with a too-strong power?
I'm excited to play with these two powers.
After all, there's no such a thing as Overgeared!
...
After doing some tests, I sit down on the ground.
My mantle slips off me and goes around playing a little. It's a new life, am curious about the world even if has some knowledge imbued in it for being made by me.
I think that with practice I can even customize the personality of my creations. But I think the main factor would be the item by itself... A sword should like battles, a cloud would be an air-head and a fire would be hot-headed, or something like that.
Anyway, another important thing needs to be addressed.
After copying the Soul Fruit power, I can Interact with souls and I finally had a better understanding of my own soul.
In the past, I tried to see my own soul using the All Seeing Eyes, but nothing looked much different.
I mean, I notice something weird, but externally... nothing.
As I'm not crazy enough to try to mess with my own soul, I waited, and with the Soul Fruit powers, I know what it felt weird before.
My soul is... unbelievably fucking strong.
When I went to separate a small portion of my soul to give life to my mantle is when I noticed it. Even if it looks the same size outwardly, my soul looks more... dense.
In truth, the soul has mass. 21 Grams normally. Mine is much more heavy and dense.
Like if a normal soul is a sun and mine is a supernova about to burst.
The quality of my soul compared to that of the other people is completely ridiculous.
This reminds me of my talk with the Ancient One. Magic comes from the soul... That's why I'm so talented with Magic.
Now... Why?
The obvious explanation is the Assimilation Process.
I do not gain only powers, talents... Hidden things like my soul power should increase with each assimilation. A +1 every time I assimilate a character.
But even so, my soul looks like is a hundred times stronger... I didn't assimilate that much of characters.
The second theory... I'm as special as myself. The whole "A higher being from a higher universe". Everywhere was simply fiction in my previous universe.
A 3-D Character in a 2-D world... No, a 4-D Character in a now 3-D world.
The third theory combines with the previous one...
It's... How did I transmigrate in Marvel?
To my perception, I simply woke on Marvel in another version of myself, but now I know that can't be that simple.
The Ancient One also explained the intricacy of space-time relativity in different dimensions. How the Multiverse moves and how things like time and other concepts act based on how close one dimension is to another.
Time in Limbo can pass pretty similar to the time in Marvel if the dimension is "close", and vice-versa.
Now... What if my soul came to Marvel from my previous world-traveling... It can't be a simple swap of places, right?
To me was only an instant, but to my soul... Maybe...
My soul probably traveled across dimensions, multiverses, voids...
During uncountable years... During eons...
Slowly drifting through the Infinity...
Challenging cosmic storms, nothingness, being swallowed and spit by outerversal horrors, breaking through dimensional barriers...
Slowly passing through all types of environments... Being tempered and strengthened slowly, like a diamond that was created under incredible pressure...
Til it reaches my body in Marvel.
An incredibly robust soul...
The perfect vessel to the Essence...
"..." That was obviously not natural...
Someone guided my soul, protected it... Protected just enough to it not dissipate into nothingness...
Someone or something did that...
I'm grateful really...
But the question is... Why?
...
A.N.: Ahoy.
This chapter has a little of everything.
Small character growth, teasing of his origin... Sincerely, this part you can ignore a little for now. It's a big thing to Hector from the future to discover.
In a fanfic, the important is the journey, not the ending or how it started.
If you guys can enjoy each chapter, I'm happy.
Should've been bigger with a little info dump about Hector's understanding of how certain powers work outside their home reality. But I will leave it to the next chapter. There's a reform happening in my home. It's hard to think with all this noise.
Finally the second harem member, now I can put the Harem tag.
Sorry for not having the lemon, same reason as above. Not in the mood to write their important first time. Just imagine that was romantic.
We will see them getting kinky anyway in the future. Saeko has... a kink side. She is from an ecchi world after all.
Anyway, till next time.
Soru Soru no Mi + Dauntless Shard is Op.
Bye, bye.