One Piece: Path to Power

[1879 words]

[Roses are red,] ​​

[Violets are blue,]

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I Geppo'ed over to the pirates' dock after saying goodbye to Jimmy and spreading my commands over the other animals to look for what I wanted.

'A cloning-type fruit is a must. Not only will it help me train but also with my (Persona) ability I can fool many people into my bidding. Though it won't be enough for CP so I need Morgans. Other than that it can also help me train.'

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I walk off the docks and enter Water-7.

There are waterways and canals that are used for transportation almost like roads, often surrounded by sidewalks on the canals. Many citizens use Bulls which are seahorse-like creatures that are attached to boats to move around the city.

The houses and shops were made of refined stones, well kept, and overall looked quite pleasant.

The weather was good, the people were happy.

It had been only 30 hours since I was thrown to Yozura Island so Shakky should be near the shipbuilding dock.

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Walking around I reached my destination.

[ GALLEY-LA HEADQUARTERS - 1 ]

It read in bold font.

It was a large mansion-like HQ with many people flooding the gates and whatnot.

Many workers with pages of ship prints in their hands, customers giving their orders, kids running about.

[A/N: Galley-La HQ 1 Image]

.

I walked into the building and saw a nice and clean area with lines of people waiting.

A counter with many workers taking orders from the people, jotting down their notes and whatnot.

.

"Damien-chan, you're here," a voice sounded out as I saw Shakky standing a few meters away.

'I didn't even feel her presence... she's definitely a powerful gal.'

"Shakky-nee, I got the ore." I greeted her with a smile.

"Fufu, you are quite fast, come now, I had them wait for our order till you arrived." She said.

"You were waiting for me?"

She nodded while puffing on a cigarette, "They wanted to see the ore as it may require them to modify the Adam's Oak, and they didn't want to experiment with such treasured wood."

I nodded, Adam's Oak is very rare, it is normal for them not to guess and check with such prized resources.

"Let's go then."

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We are now sitting in a room with a very large Fish-man in front of us.

He is a large cowfish Fish-Man, with short horns and a yellow body. He had markings under his eyes, black spots on his neck near his gills, sharp teeth from his lower lip pointing upward, and a white beard.

The Fishman was in his prime, around 35 years of age standing at nearly 10 feet in height.

'Tom the greatest ever shipwright to roam the seas. The one who crafted the 'Oro Jackson', the vessel that carried the Pirate King Roger!'

[A/N: Tom the Shipwright Image]

"Tom-san, this is our other crew member here, he brought the ore." Shakky casually said.

"Tahahaha, Shakky-girl, I am quite interested in this metal you claim is better than the Oak of the Treasured Tree." Tom laughed merrily.

"Old man, here, tell me what you think," I put my hand in my pocket and threw out a small chunk of 'Blood Ore' to him. Though I only used that to cover my {Inventory}.

The large Fish-man caught the chuck of crimson ore as he held it in his hands.

His eyes scanned the ores as his hands felt its physical qualities and whatnot.

"T-This ore..."

"something like this... shouldn't exist!" He said with great shock.

I smiled and informed him, "Even a centimeter thick coating will do the trick, all you need to do is ensure no opening is left on the ship so the ore can do as it should and distribute the force all over the ship."

He absently nodded, his eyes glued to the metal.

He took out his equipment and started studying the ore.

The scale couldn't measure the weight.

It kept switching from 1 ton to 1 gram and everything in between.

[Physics has left the chat.]

"TA HAHAHA! This is revolutionary!" He roared out.

"Tom-san, can you make do with this and make the ship?" Shakky asked with a smile.

Though a 35-year-old dancing around as if he found a new toy looked a bit amusing, it was a given considering this man's love for shipbuilding.

He then put the metal down and looked at me.

"You will need a lot of this metal, your size of the ship is quite large," Tom warned.

The ship that Shakky proposed was around the same size as Whitebeard's future 'Moby Dick'.

So size-wise, it would require a lot of this Blood Ore.

"Do you have an open warehouse for trusted eyes only?" I asked him, getting the message across.

After all, this ore is not something you want to be publicized about.

"Follow me," Tom said with a small nod.

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We stood in an open port with large logs of treasured oak laid on the ground.

It was far from public view, with only Tom's trusted personnel working on the designs of the ship.

The general concept was done, the colour scheme looks to be dark red, with brown wood for the platform and cabins. The mast too would be crimson due to the coating of the ore.

Tom took us to an open section with quite a lot of space, gesturing for the ore.

"Step back a bit, guys," I warn them with a small smile.

Shakky nodded though seems curious, after all, the {Inventory} is not something I had shown her or anyone before.

I do trust her, her job is information gathering, I doubt she'd let it slip out.

I just waved my hand a large hill of Blood Ore were placed neatly, casting a shadow upon us from the setting sun.

"It's beautiful...."

Tom was shocked at the sheer scale of the ore, knowing its absurd value if it were to be put on sale.

"Is this enough, Tom-Ossan?" I asked him with a smirk.

He just nodded and lightly said, "Ta ha ha... give me 6 days and I'll give you an indestructible ship, boy!"

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We left the port to the experts and walked out to a café.

Shakky and I sat, ordered some refreshments while chatting.

"Storage type devil fruit ability too, Damien-chan?"

Curiosity burning in her eyes.

"Hehe, just another application of my powers."

"You don't have to tell me if you can't, we all have our little secrets..." she sighed while smoking another cigarette.

I laughed and spoke, "Will the Old Bastard start his little operation soon?"

"Fufufu, Taichou said he would attack G-8 which is a couple of islands away. He wants to ensure no one disturbs the new ship."

Shakky shook her head and threw on a wry smile, "So now Xebec-san, Newgate-kun, and Kaido-chan will run wild soon..."

"Rahaha! They are as crazy as you'd expect. But for Death and Tremor to work together... G-8 will probably be needed to be rebuilt ground up."

"Fufu, yes, I hope Kaido-chan survives. They will definitely send Garp, Sengoku or Basara."

I raised my right eyebrow and inquired, "This Admiral Basara. What exactly can he do?"

I obviously know about Garp and Sengoku's prowess, but this dude was never mentioned in the manga so I am quite curious. The rank of Admiral is only fit for the real monsters.

Shakky tapped her cheek,

"Hmm, well his strength is probably on par with Sengoku and a bit lower than Garp. He ate a very powerful devil fruit too."

She went on, "Basara ate the Paramecia type Mountain Mountain Fruit, giving him the ability to literally erect mountains from any surface. Making him a mountain human!"

.

My eyes widened, "Such an ability, doesn't that mean he can mold islands and surround any threats with them?!"

Shakky nodded solemnly, "Once you meet Basara unless you can fly away quick enough, you will have to fight him. Only by making him retreat or by defeating him can you even dream to escape."

"And with his powers, he can also easily delay till reinforcements arrive..."

"Basara the Mountain may lack the strength of Garp, but his Armament Haki is known to be in the top 3 marines."

I nodded as I heard more about the mysterious Admiral, though the latter part of her sentence had me think.

"Top 3... Garp is of course at the top, who's the other one?" I asked.

"Excluding Kong, Garp is indeed number 1. As for second and third, it is a close contest between Basara the Mountain and the quickly-rising Vice Admiral."

"That being Black-Arm Zephyr." she concluded.

I went over her summary and nodded at her words as I fell into deep thought.

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"Shakky-nee, if you had to rank the marines in the level of danger, how would you do it?" I asked her.

.

Again, I know some of them, but not much is told about anyone other than Garp and Sengoku so this information, for me, is quite invaluable.

*FUUUU*

Shakky took another deep puff of her cigar and answered.

"From my perspective, I would base it off the difficulty Xebec-san would face from them, so going from least dangerous to most dangerous high-level marines would be, "

"Zephyr,"

"Basara,"

Sengoku,"

"then Garp."

"But the man who can probably go even further would be the Marine Fleet Admiral."

.

"Kaiju (Strange Beast) Kong."

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She squinted her eyes and continued,

"Xebec's death powers can wither everything away, including fruit powers. So usually it comes down to the total strength one can muster to push back the death ability."

"Haki, fruit strength and physical strength. Vice Admiral Zephyr has decent armament but his strength is lacking."

"Admiral Basara has the strength and the armament to fight Taichou, but he cannot ever dream to actually defeat him, 1 on 1."

"Admiral Sengoku's Buddha fruit has enormous strength, that coupled with his haki can go toe to toe with Xebec-san for days on end."

.

"Garp's strength alone is enough to pummel mountains then you add his absurd armament haki levels, he can easily fight Taichou quite endlessly."

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"Fleet Admiral Kong... his fruit, is even more powerful than Sengoku."

"Another Mythical Zoan. Kong's strength and Haki are equal to Garp. So if he were to use his fruit, then he alone is the greatest power in the marines right now."

Shakky went on to give her thought to each of the marine powerhouses.

I nodded, committing all their abilities to memory.

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Now I am laying in bed in a nearby hotel, Shakky-nee is in the room on the other side of the hall.

Sighing at the difference in my level compared to those at the peak I reach a conclusion.

"Xebec at God Valley was stronger than Garp, no doubt about that."

"Though right now he is equal to him... which means that my 1486, or in 3 and a half years time, Xebec's strength must explode!"

"To the point that Garp needed to team up with Roger to take him down..."

"There is only 1 possible way to explain this huge increase in power."

.

I recalled what Doflamingo once said in his duel with Luffy and I drew the connection.

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"It's simple,"

.

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"Xebec has yet to 'Awaken' his devil fruit!"

.

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[The following is excluded from word count]

Author's Corner:

Okay, so this is my input.

| Xebec = Garp | right now.

So for that to change to this: | Xebec = Garp + Roger | A huge increase in power must happen.

So yeah, I drew the conclusion of awakening. The idea of manipulating the awakened death fruit... it sounds OP as hell.

Because, if he was ALWAYS stronger than Garp, then the Marines would never have allowed these guys to gather at Hachinosu, so they must have underestimated his powers at that point.

Thus bringing me to think, 1, Xebec hid his powers, or 2. Xebec got stronger very fast.

He doesn't seem to be the kind to hide his powers, so I went with the latter possibility.

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Random Trivia:

If you were given the choice, would you choose to be permanently blind in one eye for $5 million?

Thanks for Reading!