One Piece: Path to Power

[2600 words]

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It was seven years ago when Damien felt the pain of losing a loved one.

It ate his soul at the start, and yet he was able to bury it under the guise of training and growth.

That anger and hatred were bottled up and placed to the side.

He used the excuse of training himself to haphazardly raid the Gambino Family.

There weren't many backup plans in place, he simply attacked with great offense and was able to break right into their core, even facing their leader.

It was a reckless attack that fortunately bore fruits, but the reality was that his bottled-up anger had burst out after seven years and he wanted to kill the man behind his mother's death.

Unfortunately, things did not turn out as black-and-white as he had hoped.

"An unknown variable…"

[He could have been lying,] came a thought from Sibyl.

"Maybe, or maybe there was someone who wanted my home island laid to waste, but who? The World Government?"

"..."

He shook his head, opting to take upon more immediate concerns.

.

Damien's red pupils stared at the puddle of red littered with the pieces of flesh that were once the great head of one of the Five Families of the West.

He slowly stabilized his breathing and thought over the battle.

His body ached with the deep holes over his back and chest from Delago's attacks.

It was his first clash with another Fruit User and he was certainly caught off-guard.

The cakewalk he expected was surely wrong.

*Ptui* He spat out a wad of blood as his bones creaked from his stretching.

"I need to be more careful next time," he told himself. "But it seems I did get quite the reward for my recklessness…"

.

Damien expanded his mind like before and felt the same feeling. It was like a new sense beyond his body that could capture the surroundings in great detail.

Every slight movement, even if it was an insect, was caught under this perception.

It was a sixth sense!

"Is this Observation Haki…" he muttered, rightfully so.

[Yes, Damien. Haki tends to bloom in times of great conflict and in the heat of battle, congratulations.]

Damien nodded at Sibyl's comments.

"Why does it feel so… familiar?"

It was odd, there was an air of familiarity with this supposed sixth sense.

[Haki is found in all living things, this is true in every single world. Even in your previous life.]

Damien remained silent, allowing Sibyl to continue.

[The Laws of Reality, or what your people called the 'Laws of Physics', binds natural order. Though it was far tighter on your Earth, they were still there.]

[Observation Haki is the easiest to Awaken as it appears throughout random times of life.]

"What do you mean?"

She answered immediately, [Like when you feel someone watching you from afar, and you turn around and someone was indeed watching you. Or when you feel something will happen and it does.]

[All these are some of those 'random' times Observation Haki appears. Even the Advanced application of Future Sight occurs in what I believe your 'scientists' called 'Deja Vu'. It's just an instinct that can be so much more.]

She closed off by saying, [However, to awaken it at fourteen years of age is quite rare. It seems you have-]

"A talent for Observation Haki passed down from my parents," Damien finished the sentence.

"..."

"Well anyways, let's go find the treasury!"

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[Elsewhere in West Blue]

"What do you mean El Pavor Island is in shambles? Someone attacked that Delago guy?"

"Send men over and grab their entire chain of power before the other Families get to it first!"

Similar orders rang out throughout the Underworld of the West Blue as the entire sea was shaken.

Naturally, these words reached the ears of the Marines as well!

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[Ten Minutes Later]

[Gambino Family Treasure Chamber]

Damien glanced at the piles of gold and banknotes that decorated the room.

The golden hue was bright enough to make any man greedy for money.

But what Damien's eyes were glued to were the items on the pedestal at the center of the room.

He saw a jug of liquid, a book, a sword, and three devil fruits!

.

The jugs were that of alcohol, finely aged and considered quite expensive.

He then picked up the book and smiled at the title which read:

"ROKUSHIKI MANUAL."

It was a complete guide to train in the 6 Navy Styles of the following:

1. Soru (shave).

2. Geppo (moonwalk).

3. Shigan (finger pistol).

4. Tekkai (iron body).

5. Rankyaku (tempest kick).

6. Kami-e (paper body).

[A/N: They will be referred to in their English names beyond this.]

.

"Nice stuff, I guess Delago wasn't lying about having found the manual," Damien said.

Though his attention was diverted elsewhere.

It was a dark-coloured sword in the shape of a katana. A purple electricity pattern was printed on its blade.

Looking closely, the blade seemed to pulse as if it were alive!

Damien glanced at the name card placed on the pedestal that stood out from the dull and dusty surroundings.

"One of the 21 Great Grade Swords: Kyōran."

The blade graced the world with its majesty with a swish of the air!

"A beautiful blade but unfortunately I have no affinity for swords," he muttered as he sheathed the blade.

Damien was not averse to getting a weapon to further use his power, but he would need a heavier and larger weapon to properly use it with his devil fruit.

Much like how Whitebeard used his glaive to concentrate his quake attacks.

Such a thin blade focuses more on sharp and quick slashes than what Damien can use in tandem with his abilities.

Plus, he was no swordsman.

He then eyed the three rather blaring devil fruits at the heart of the treasury.

Damien had allowed Sibyl to intake the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia to identify what she could. It didn't take long for three fruit details to pop up in his mind.

.

The first two were Paramecia devil fruits.

Kilo-Kilo Fruit – Allows the user to change their weight from 1 to 10,000 kilograms without, in any way, affecting the overall size of their bodies, making them a Mass-manipulating Human.

Glue-Glue Fruit – Allows the user to secrete glue from their pores, making them a Glue Human.

But what made Damien's eyes sparkle was the next devil fruit.

Ice-Ice Fruit – Allows the user to create, control, and transform into ice at will, turning them into a Freezing Human.

*Gulp*

Damien had to take a subconscious gulp as he picked up the blue devil fruit.

It was a powerful Logia fruit, one of the absolute strongest Logia, at that. Future power of Admiral Aokiji, aka Kuzan.

"Why is it here? Last I recall from my hobby of digging at the lore, Kuzan was from the South Blue," Damien muttered.

"Perhaps a rather fruitful exchange of gold between the Mafia and other parties? Or recovered by a young Kuzan…"

With the ability to effectively overrule the greatest weakness of Devil fruit users: water, this fruit could be considered overpowered.

.

Damien shook himself out of his lost state and thought for a second, "Sibyl, what would happen if I used the Fruit Ability Transfer Token on this?"

Sibyl replied, [As the token can only translate auxiliary powers, I'd say it would give you a Logia ice body but that would be it. You will not get anything more.]

Damien gave a disappointed sigh.

Though a Logia body would be great, it would lose most usage against anyone with decent Armament Haki.

Perhaps only auxiliary fruits by nature can be transferred completely, he just needed to find three that would fit that bill.

Damien decisively stored all the treasures alongside the Rokushiki manual, Kyōran, and the fruits in his Inventory and whizzed to the top floor.

'They are coming.'

It was the sound of the grass that carried the thoughts of the trees by the edge of the island.

Supposedly a large fleet of pirates and mafia members were about to arrive.

Damien didn't have much energy to fight them all so he naturally chose to retreat.

…

[Ten Minutes Later]

Damien reached the edge of the island that was away from the raiding troops, credit to the nature that led him here.

It was an abandoned dock with an old ship there for emergency evacuation, naturally, Damien would borrow it indefinitely.

He unfurled the sails and set out as the island was slowly crowded by thousands of mafia agents.

The once calm El Pavor island turned into a hot potato in the hands of other top forces.

There were people from the Underground, pirates, undercover marines, reporters, you name it, they were there.

The other Four Families had arrived as well; El Pavor Island would surely become a moshpit of battle.

The vacuum of power was not a peaceful void to fill.

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[Marineford, Grand Line]

"Gambino Family in ruins?" a powerful voice boomed in a spacious office within the core of marine supremacy.

An Admiral's office!

"Admiral, should we send men to settle the carnage?" a Rear Admiral respectfully questioned.

"Never mind that, let those vultures fight it out, it doesn't concern us," the man in the full-brown suit waved his hand.

He then glanced at the picture of a young man that had been faxed to his office.

"This boy was responsible for it? Where'd he come from?" the overpowering man questioned.

The marine in front of him shook a little and responded, "He turned in a bounty of around fifty million berries not too long ago, the name recorded by regulation was 'Einar D. Damien.'"

The Admiral's eyes widened as his hand clenched into a fist, "Release out a bounty immediately!"

The Rear Admiral was caught off-guard as he asked, "A bounty? Should we not try and recruit such a powerful young lad? All he did was kill some scum of the Underworld…"

The Admiral scoffed, banging his fist onto his desk, "The D. are an unruly people. There's no point, rather it's best to nip them in the bud!"

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[On an Island in the Grand Line]

"Puru," "Puru," "Puru," "Puru."

"Puru," "Puru," "Puru," "Puru."

A Transponder snail transmitted a call under the darkness of the room.

"What is it?" a growling voice boomed in question.

The person who called simply puffed out a cloud of smoke while slowly reading a page of information.

"One of our arms suppliers was taken down, it was the Gambino family of West Blue," the person replied calmly, a woman.

"You didn't call me for such a little thing?" the animalistic voice thundered out in impatience.

The woman's face was hidden in the cover of the dark, but her soft smile was quite visible.

"A young man, no older than fifteen," she said. "He alone took down the Gambino Family within a few hours."

The woman continued, "That's not the main point, rather it's his name…"

She then glanced at the details listed on the sheet of paper in front of her.

"Einar D. Damien."

There was a pause in the conversation.

"Einar D.?" the voice on the other end seemed interested. "Xahahaha! Keep an eye on his movements, tell me when he resurfaces."

"When, not if?" the woman curiously asked.

"Heh, a D. can't help themself from challenging the World Government's Authority, it's in our blood, Xahahaha!"

"I'll do as you ask, Captain."

"Katcha," the snail went to sleep as the call ended.

"..."

The woman breathed out a soft sigh as she wiped a bead of sweat off her young face.

She was quite young and carried an air of sensuality, "Another young monster, I feel as if you will be something special, let's see how far you go~."

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[Greta Island, West Blue]

"So you actually did it, young one," Captain Raiden muttered as he heard the report. "But can you remain resolute in the path you have chosen?"

The eight-foot-tall marine sighed, he was greatly impressed, but also worried for the young man, now deemed a pirate.

Once the frenzy of the El Pavor settles down, not just the marines, but the other Mafia will also hunt Damien down. 

Such an unpredictable factor is disliked by all. If you can't control him, then kill him!

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[Five Days Later]

[West Blue]

A tired-looking ship sailed past the clear ocean of the West Blue. It had the Gambino Family symbol on it.

Damien put down a book titled:

"'A Million Species Explored' – By Clover; Captain of the Clover Pirates."

Naturally, the author's name was awfully familiar to him.

And yet the reading was disrupted by a seagull with a newspaper.

It was not the same ones from the future, but rather a bird Damien had personally asked to bring him news from nearby islands.

The paper was unfolded fully as Damien saw the title,

"A STORM OF VIOLENCE SWAMPS THE WEST BLUE!"

The main story was about the fall of the infamous Gambino Family of the Five Families.

The main perpetrator of the incident was also highlighted in bolded font.

Alongside a bounty paper.

-----< WANTED >-----

< EINAR⋅D⋅DAMIEN >

< 𝔅 100,000,000 - >

< DEAD or ALIVE >

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"No epithet? Should I feel disrespected?" Damien muttered with a wry smile.

Though he chose to shrug it off with a hint of narcissism, "Well, whatever, at least the picture captured some of my charm."

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[Sabaody Archipelago, Paradise Sea of the Grand Line]

"A first bounty of a hundred million on a fourteen-year-old? And from the West Blue at that?"

"Five Kingdoms under the World Government lost nearly 10,000 marines and civilians from the unrest caused by this monster, I say we toss him into Impel Down forever!"

"Just last year there was another kid around this one's age who was given a bounty of seventy million, he's a monster who ransacked Marine ships for food, and now there's this monster!"

The people were shocked.

Some were fearful, some excited. 

It was a moment when the New World was already in chaos, and now the more peaceful seas outside of the Grand Line had begun to boil as well!

No one knew what was to come but it would surely lead to more innocents dying unwilling deaths!

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[Six Days Later]

[Renaissance Island, West Blue]

A worn-down ship docked onto the uninhabited island.

The plants and greenery seemed to dance in welcome as the gentle and nostalgic breeze waved by.

Damien stepped on familiar soil, returning home after almost a month of travel.

He walked through the welcoming woods while thinking about his next steps.

"Not time to sail out yet, I need Armament Haki at the least," he concluded.

Luffy ended up clashing with Smoker just weeks after he departed from Goa Island and was saved by Dragon.

Damien does not have that identity and no one to help him, there was no way he'd go off into a much more hellish era without having the tools to fight Logia opponents.

"I also need more stamina and strength, the Rokushiki would certainly help with my lack of mobility."

Therefore, Damien had created a to-do list.

1. Comprehend the Rokushiki.

2. Attain Armament Haki.

3. Further improve his physical capabilities as much as possible.

The first two were a must to sail out into the Grand Line, the latter was more of a as-much-as-possible situation.

Damien felt that around two years of wait would be enough and naturally resumed his thorough training once again.

To Be Continued…

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Author's Corner.

A hundred million is pretty big but it's a combination of upsetting the West Blue and leading to the death of tens of thousands from the riled-up Mafia Families.

Images: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q