One Piece: Path to Power

Chapter 50 - [43] The Path Is Set



[2223 words]

I'll release a moveset chapter soon in the AUX section. ​​

I was going Super Sayin and ended up writing like 5 chapters ahead, if I can ready another 2 or so in time then I'll release a few bonuses as I don't want the Overlord Arc to take too long to drop.

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[The Titanic, New World Sea]

(Damien POV)

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6 months have passed!

I have been training quite a lot. Sibyl was aiding me throughout to ensure I have fully reached the peak of my bodily conditions.

Do not forget that my body is still around 16 years of age so I physically can't reach my max yet.

Even my training has to be slightly limited and increase in intensity slowly as I age.

Sibyl even told me that I would be able to evolve my past skills soon, once my body is fully ready to withstand that increase in vitality and whatnot.

That said, it's time for the big reveal.

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'Sibyl, bring up my stats. It's been 10 chapters since I've seen them.' I instructed her.

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[Very well.] she said as a screen appeared in my mind.

>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<

[Einar D. Damien]

[Age: 15 ¾]

[Height: 9'4]

[Status: Incredibly Healthy]

[Strength: Top Tier Yonko Commander] (Damien = King)

[Devil Fruit: Pulverize Pulverize Fruit (Peak-Intermediate Mastery)]

[Seastone Resistance: 89%]

[Skills: ... Observation Haki (Low-Advanced Mastery), Armament Haki (Peak-Intermediate Mastery), Conqueror's Haki (Controlled Stage - Mid-Intermediate Level*)]

[Points Balance: 34600 SP]

< Quests waiting to be claimed >

>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<

Rahahaha! The increase in power was a lot more than my previous 6-month timeskip, that's for sure!

Why you ask?

Last time my masteries went from sub-stage to a higher sub-stage.

This time there was a bit of a change.

Let's go back in time, shall we?

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-----[ 2 Weeks Ago ]-----

At this point, I had reached Peak-Intermediate mastery over my Observation Haki.

I had been letting it flow with my pulverizing energy, trying to merge it subconsciously to it. By doing so, I would waste no energy setting up my attacks.

I had reached a certain threshold for half a month now.

.

What can I do so far?

I could 'sense' around 1.5 kilometres in all directions, so 3 km in diameter.

Another thing was that I could feel what someone else feels, somewhat that is. As in, I could sense their emotions. Anger, sadness, joy, etc.

It was a vague sense but it gave the overall impression through light colours.

The problem now was that I could not seem to improve as I had reached a bottleneck.

I feel like I could 'see' so much more but failed to do so.

Like I was looking at things through a keyhole while the door was still closed shut.

.

So, I went to our cook who had a lot of experience in this field.

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What was her solution?

Practise her shooting at me while I wore a blindfold and tried not to die.

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*Pew* *Pew* *Pew*

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Dozens of bullets were flying through the air, their speeds were incredibly fast. They left trails of air displacement as they whizzed through the atmosphere, breaking the sound barrier as they exited the barrel.

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*FWOO* *FWOO* *FWOO*

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My eyes were wrapped by a black cloth as I used my sixth sense to 'Soru' a few centimetres of every bullet, dodging them.

.

*FWOO* *FWOO* *FWOO*

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She was shooting quite a lot, but I could keep up.

...

Or so I thought.

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*VWOOOM*

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A bullet somehow appeared 3 meters away from me, it seemed to exit out of a gray portal.

I could not sense it in time.

"Ah, shit!"

I grit my teeth as I felt a haki-clad bullet drill into my chest as blood poured out.

My clothes were bullet-proof but not haki-proof, not yet anyway.

So yeah, it hurts to be shot point-blank.

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I took off my blindfold and looked at the smiling cook.

"Your fruit power?" I ask.

She puffed a cloud of smoke and nodded.

"There will be times where you can sense an attack but not react in time. This is where you must evolve, Damien-chan."

I understood her words.

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This is what I needed to reach the next level.

The ability to sense an attack yet to be sent out!

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With that said, I was constantly removing bullets from my chest as we continued to train.

Shakky teleported some bullets from around 3-5 meters away for now.

The speed was held constant but they appeared from every direction.

.

For the next 6 hours, I practised endlessly.

And eventually, I felt it.

.

I started seeing vague images of what's to come.

Intent, direction, speed, and the position of attacks.

It was like a puzzle piece.

Every here and there a few more would fall into place, creating a clearer picture of the future!

It was like pushing a stone up the hill. I had reached the peak but needed one more push to go beyond.

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And so it happened.

Shakky exhaled some smoke as she raised her pistol in the air.

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*BANG!*

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The bullet shot out of the gun yet a gray portal appeared and removed it from its initial position.

And the world froze.

-----

(Within my Mind)

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A small red field opened around me. I could feel everything within.

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Certain slivers of movement... A small portal.

Behind me.

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A gray oval-shaped portal opened 3 meters behind me, I felt it!

A quick object rush at me. The air was displaced as the bullet came closer and closer.

I could judge the speed and the direction of its path.

And its intent, the intent to wound my back.

-----

Time unfroze as I tilted my body to the side, the bullet had yet to appear.

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*VWOOOM*

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The portal opened as Shakky's bullet rushed forth.

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The bullet went on as the air was sliced.

And it kept going... past me and onto the wall a bit further forward.

My eyes were still closed as I smirked.

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*DING*

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[Your Observation Haki has entered the (Advanced Stage). Congratulations!]

-----

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'Sweet.' Is all I could say before I was interrupted.

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*BANG!*

A bullet drilled into my oblique as I grimaced in slight pain.

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"Hey! Shakky-nee, let me celebrate for a second!" I complained.

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"Ufufufu, Damien-chan, your enemies won't give you time to revel in accomplishment!" She said. "Now, get ready. You tapped into the future but have yet to wholly understand the process."

And with that, we continued till I could do it on command.

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[Present Time]

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So yeah, I unlocked 'Futuresight'!

It's nowhere near Katakuri's level but it isn't too difficult to reach said level.

Since I have crossed the threshold, it is only simple and redundant training from here on, pretty nice if you ask me.

I can currently see around 1.5 seconds into the future so far and it's improving a few milliseconds every time I use it, though at an inversely exponential rate.

[A/N: Katakuri could see like 5-6 seconds in the future. I'd say it caps off eventually before the next threshold at around 10 seconds.]

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Moving on, my Fruit Mastery!

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It was nearing Peak-Intermediate before and now it had reached it.

My desire for Subatomic pulverization was far too improbable, for now.

The degree of crushing was getting smaller, yes.

But to reach the point where I could break apart atoms themselves? That's a whole nother level.

.

That said, my degree of crushing went from half an inch down to a sixteenth of an inch.

That's around 0.16 cm, or 1.6 mm.

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As for the strength of pulverization, well, as long as an opponent's fruit mastery is below mine, I should be able to literally crush all their attacks. I was immune to those under my strength as long as they had a release-type fruit power.

.

The main reason I reached Peak-Intermediate was not due to the above but rather caused by infusing my Observation Haki to my attacks.

.

Essentially put, my powers stem from my heart. They flow through and out of my body from anywhere I desire.

I lost a noticeable amount of its power and energy trying to direct it through my body, but now, I no longer had that problem.

It was like a machine that could go on endlessly as there was no friction to cause it to overheat.

Of course it still drained stamina to use the attack, but no energy was wasted readying a said attack.

With this accomplishment, my fruit upgraded to the peak of the intermediate stage, while increasing my crushing force and intensity as well.

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Furthermore, armament-wise, it's a while from reaching Emission, I was focused on my Observation and had little time to go beyond the Intermediate threshold for it.

As for Conqueror's Haki, it has reached Mid-Intermediate and topped off at the threshold, a little more of a push and it, too, should break through to Peak-Intermediate.

.

With the Futuresight and increased damage potential, I have officially entered the final level of Yonko Commanders!

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[A/N: Top Tier Yonko Commander = King]

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[Back to Reality]

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I was due to leave for Encephala Island in a few hours. I will travel on a small galleon to a nearby island and park it there. Of course, with Kiado along, I had to be a bit discreet as he just kept growing in height.

>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<

[Kaido]

[Age: 16 ½]

[Height: 23'8]

[Devil Fruit: None]

[Fruit Rating: ---]

[Haki: Tri-Coloured]

[Strength: High Tier Yonko Commander] (Kaido = Jack)

>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<

Rahaha! I have gotten stronger than him! Did I fight him yet? No.

Why? Because Kaido grows stronger every time he fights a strong opponent.

I will duel him in a while and see just what height he can reach after we take down an Overlord.

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We were to sail on a small galleon dressed like a merchant ship.

We had 10 fodders with us to take care of the travel and clean up and whatnot.

My only division-mate, Zenora Indra also joined as I wanted to further improve his potential and see how he fares against the forces of a powerhouse.

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The distance from our current position to Encephala Island was around a week's travel by ship. We shouldn't face too many problems as other pirates are still wary of the chaos in the New World and have chosen to hide.

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"Oye, ogre! You ready?" I yell out.

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I was already at the ship, its size compared to the Titanic was that of a child to the tallest man on Earth.

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"OUGHH!! Let's go and kick an Overlord's ass!" Kaido yelled as he dropped onto the deck from 20 meters above.

*SPLASH*

A 7 ¼ meter tall ogre jumping onto a ship like ours was quite problematic as his size was a bit too damn big!

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"Cheh, damn you Kaido! Now you got water all over the deck!" I complained.

If my clothes weren't waterproof, it would have been quite annoying. I hate wet socks.

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"WORORORO! Don't mind the small things! I can't wait to kill that Enigma guy!" He yelled with great vigour.

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I could only sigh, "Kaido. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I am the one who will fight Enigma."

"YOU will fight the stronger lackeys," I said with a smug grin.

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"HAAAA?! You want me to fight some fodders while you have all the fun!?" He responded with some haki flaring out.

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"That's right! Did your already pea-sized brain shrink further? Do you think you can beat a guy who uses his head rather than his fists?" I asked him with a flat expression.

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"Grrrrr!" He growled like a beast.

He couldn't fight here as it would destroy the ship, so he took it out on the Sea Kings below.

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"OUGHHHH!" He yelled as he 'Raimei Hakke'-ed the sea.

BAM!

sending shockwaves down, shaking the ship all over.

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The 10 fodders we brought could only desperately hold onto the ship as they prayed for Kaido to calm down.

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'We'll sink before we can even sail!' They thought.

Indra was calm as he had grown used to his behaviour as he sat while sharpening his sword.

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"Rahaha, very good! We're all good now..."

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"SET SAIL!"

I ordered the few pirates as they set the sail and the path.

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Our journey to dethroning an Overlord had finally begun!

.

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[Encephala Island]

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5 days had passed Damien and Kaido had set sail.

.

Encephala Island has 12 docks all around it.

There wasn't a need to have patrols as every citizen was under control and supervision by Enigma and his main crew.

The main caste at the center stood proud as a ruckus was forming at one of the docks.

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[Dock 7]

A huge ship was approaching.

Around 300 civilians looked over and walked to it, they were perfectly synchronized in their movements as they stood at the edge of the platform.

The ship docking was very large.

It had a sunflower-shaped figurehead with a face, the body of the ship was like frosted-ice cream, white with folds. The main building upon the ship was shaped like a cake with candles mounted upon it.

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The sails were ginormous as had words printed upon them.

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[ B I G M O M]

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[A/N: Image of the Ship - Idk if she had it at this point but I'm going with it]

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[On the Ship]

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"Mama! We've arrived!" A voice of a young boy rang out through the ship.

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The doors to the main buildings on the ship opened as a few people walked out.

They came in varying sizes.

Some 8 feet, some 9, some 15, and one at around 29 feet tall.

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"Ma-Ma-Mam-MA! Very good! Let's go, kids!"

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She said to the tens of children who were on board, alongside the many food-shaped soldiers who came as well.

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[The following is excluded from word count]

Author's Corner:

The next chapter is where it begins. I'd say it will take a while, if I can ready a few more drafts then I might release a few bonus chapters.

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Random Trivia:

Wake up in your underwear at work or wake up naked in the woods 20 miles from home?

Thanks for Reading!


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