One Piece: Path to Power

[2845 words]

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[Two Months Later]

A full sixty days since the arrival of the Sin Incarnate to the chaos that was Extinction Valley. Yet even now, he remained far from the primary goal.

"It would be nice if I could just soak in the environment to Awaken my powers," a young man's voice resounded in the area. He wore a rolled-up dark grey shirt with intricate designs, leading to a pair of tactical pants.

[Clothing Image (in Discord)]

However, the disgruntled voice was overshadowed by the island-rattling explosions and vibrations that continuously went off. 

Earth shook to the point that it seemed like a liquid, trembling incessantly. As the tremors died, another, many times more powerful one arrived and brought its hell with it. 

*Rumble* The entire area never stopped shaking. It had been going on for decades now!

Damien walked through the barren place, looking down at the cuts forming along his shirt. "Tch, I'm running out of clothes for this," he complained, annoyed from hopping around the broken terrain.

Every so often, the earth below would open up with new crevices and ravines, while other rock formations would be shoved at one another, birthing hills and even mountains—such was the nature of Tremor District.

The pirate's complaints fell on deaf ears as he leapt from a shifting cliff and landed a good 50 meters away, dodging a gaping crater that had just opened.

"Feels like Whitebeard is playing with a pogo stick."

…

For the past two months, the undying pirate had travelled from region to region, inhaling the vast disasters in the hope of having an epiphany. 

He went to hell and enjoyed the frequent rain of fire, then shuttled to the Tundra of Fleeting Hope to cool off or the Desert of the Starved for a nice tan. He even went to the Unknown Regions to bathe in the highly poisonous swamps, practically taking his body's immune system to another level.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the kind of story in which one could settle down in a lotus position, absorb some disastrous energy, and break through to the next realm. 

"Huh, I guess that wraps that up." Damien looked around and saw that the ground slowly began to change, the very biome shifting. He had already walked through the entire Tremor District!

However, the clearing trees revealed a far more absurd sight that even left the infamous pirate with question marks: "What the hell is this?"

The ground was fractured into jagged pieces, glowing with ominous red light as though the very earth was bleeding. Spires of rock jut out at unnatural angles as if they'd been violently displaced from deep within the earth. Dark clouds loom overhead, laced with red lightning that crackled through the sky, mirroring the destruction below. 

Damien smelled the rusty air as his boots dug into the broken ground. "This… should be the start of the forest-y Savage Lands," he scratched his head in confusion, pulling out the map to confirm his recollection.

A span of Haki later, Damien understood the setting.

It turned out that this shattered land was indeed previously a forest but had been laid to waste by some destructive, unnatural power.

"Whatever caused this, it must have been a Devil Fruit... a powerful one at that."

[Wasteland Image (in Discord)]

Alas, there were no answers here, and Damien could only move on. The ruined area only spanned a kilometer or two before the Savage Lands' actual appearance was here. As expected, it was a sprawl of trees in an endless forest.

…

Damien spent most of the day simply walking through the forested areas of the Savage Lands. 

It was now nighttime. It felt primal. 

"These plants have zero connection with me. They've evolved beyond nature itself." Damien studied the overgrown greens of the land, bewildered by it. Giant vines hung about from the sky-high trees that stood at least two hundred meters off the ground!

Any further exploration was paused as a thunderous roar echoed in the pirate's ears.

Damien blinked in surprise as the monstrous roar originated from a living plant.

The plant monster was an eldritch abomination, its twisted body of green tendrils wrapped tightly around a massive tree. The tendrils were lined with thick, thorny spikes and topped with mouths to devour prey.

The Sin Incarnate was quick to dodge, just before a giant crater opened up beneath where he was.

[Plant Image (in Discord)]

*Krrr* *Kirririri* Odd sounds resounded behind Damien; he was surrounded by more such monsters. "This place has quite the inhabitants."

Such was the truth of the Savage Lands. A foreboding forest where twisted and grotesque plant monsters roam, transformed by unnatural, eldritch powers. These abominations, once ordinary trees, now possess dark, decaying bark adorned with thorn-covered vines that pulse with malevolent life. Some have grown clawed limbs and spindly legs, allowing them to creep through the shadows with a spider-like grace. In contrast, others sport multiple grotesque heads with hollow eyes and gaping mouths that emit eerie whispers and distorted screams.

"It's grown a conscience," Damien muttered. "They all have."

[Images (in Discord)]

Damien sighed and hopped to evade an incoming punch from a grape tree shaped like a gorilla. Meanwhile, he pulled up some interesting information:

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

[Forsaken Mushroom Monster]

[Birth: 93 years ago]

[Fate: It flourished for the first 26 years of its life. Then, a change in the atmosphere mutated it into a carnivore, granting it conscience and mobility over the next 21 years.]

[Death: Killed by Einar D. Damien in six seconds for blocking his path.]

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

"It's the same fate as the beast all over this hellhole," Damien muttered. "Something crazy must have gone down 47 years ago…"

.

"Obliteration Pulse."

.

At the drop of Damien's words, an overpowering energy pulsed out in all directions, shredding and crushing everything in its path. 

"Auu-" the beasts couldn't even finish their wailing cries before they were turned into particle-sized bits. 

Going from a rowdy concentration of carnivorous monsters to dead calm, lacking any sound. There was no blood nor traces of the hundreds of mutated plants, just silence and ruined earth. 

"My Pulverization is almost at the atomic level, and Hadean Release has also been perfected," Damien noted. "But this isn't Awakening."

Two months of adventure and training had brought him to the cusp of his powers; it felt like a single piece of the puzzle remained, so close and yet so far.

"Let's see if No Man's Land can unveil somethin–"

"!!!" Suddenly, the pirate felt eyes locking onto himself. They differed from the mutated plants and unruly beasts; whatever was peering at Damien had a high intellect. 

Damien turned to his 5 o'clock, the direction the gaze originated from. It was there he met a pair of shining eyes, brimming with frightening spirit—they lacked humanity and were filled with thirst for violence.

"Is this the Spirit of fear I've heard so much about?"

And then they disappeared, leaving the pirate on his lonesome.

The pirate shrugged with a scoff: "Like hell I'm not going to follow."

*Vvooo!* The ground erupted as Damien rocketed through the Savage Lands. His advent was hidden under the darkness that had arrived, moonlight gracing the island. 

The wind howled under the pirate's rush, following in the direction of the fearsome presence. 

…

Soon enough, Damien found himself at the edge of the Ring of Untold Horrors, deep to the North and atop the surrounding mountains.

Rotten trees clung precariously to the jagged slopes of a dull mountain, their twisted forms silhouetted against a bleak, stormy sky. The air was thick with an eerie black fog that seemed to seep from the very ground, winding its way through the gnarled branches of the dead trees. The landscape was desolate and of decay, where the lifeless trees stood as sentinels to the mountain's haunting, unwelcoming presence.

And at the core of the horrid setting was a sole entity, a cursed being amidst death.

"Quite the fearsome thing; no wonder they fear you so much." Damien's lax voice seemed to annoy the beast, which stood a solid 20 feet (6 m), though it didn't attack haphazardly.

The menacing creature's body was a grotesque blend of skeletal remains and twisted, rotten branches. Its ribs, formed from splintered wood, jutted out from its torso, intertwining to create a ribcage that seemed fragile and unnaturally strong. The limbs extended into sharp, bony claws, with branches that twisted and coiled around its skeletal frame.

*Puuhhhh* A black fog leaked from the monster, slowly invading the surroundings. The high mountain was swamped with dread, darkening far more than the night sky ever could.

[Creature Image (in Discord)]

The fog quickly reached Damien, grabbing his legs in its mysterious, dark nature.

*Szzzz* The young pirate's clothes began to sizzle, and his skin started to crack. The blood vessels began to pop in a dark, almost black colour.

It looked as if the mist was digging deep into Damien's legs, beginning to rot away the flesh!

However, within moments, all the damage disappeared, and its effect ran dry as healthy skin returned.

"!!!" The beast was visibly shocked at the sight of the healed flesh; whatever soul was trapped within the frightening entity immediately raised a strong guard.

"Rahahaha, it feels almost like Rocks' death powers," Damien noted, feeling the creepy effects dying out. "But it has a curse-like edge to it. It took three whole seconds for my body to become immune to it, not bad."

The monster leaned its head forward, bellowing out a mighty roar: "Graughh!" Its talon-like hands clenched in fury, and it rushed ahead.

*Thud!* *Thud!* *Thud!* Drumming sounds echoed from the dark figure rushing ahead, its heavy weight shaking the mountainous path below. It whizzed at great speeds, leaping across the rugged landscape, with the darkness trailing behind it like a living shadow, bringing desolation with every bound.

As the behemoth soared through the air, the surrounding landscape seemed to wither under its presence, the trees rotting further and the ground cracking beneath its monstrous power.

*Kaw!* *Kaw!* Dozens of bloodthirsty crows formed from the surrounding fog, flapping a dreadful beat and gnawing at Damien's flesh from all over. The air grew thick with malice as the creature's approach brought a suffocating darkness that swallowed all light.

The victim of the assault watched with patience, noting the sharp beaks trying to rip his skin open while staring down the incoming attacker. The creature released another unholy roar and slammed its razor-sharp nails onto Damien's chest, shooting a black poison deep inside, spreading tendrils of fear and decay.

But even under the abyssal powers, Damien remained unphased. He locked eyes with the monster twice his size, noting the soul hidden within.

"Looks like you ate a very rare fruit. Let's see what's under this form of yours!"

Both hands shot out; the right one locked the wrist made of rotten branches while the left was balled into a fist.

And before the towering creature could fathom a response, it was met with a punch arching with endless power.

*Purrup* A crimson bubble coated the fist as it was nailed into the creature's chest, driving it deep and hard.

*Crack* "Auugh!"

The Spirit of Fear couldn't even react before the pain assaulted its every fiber, ringing its head like a bell. It was launched backwards, zooming down the tall cliffs and opening a tunnel in the mountains. The force of the impact sent shockwaves through the air, shaking the very mountain as the Wendigo's cursed aura dissipated in its wake.

Soon enough, it went cleanly through the giant mountain and into the sea of trees below. After knocking down dozens of trees, the monster finally reached the end of its journey, stuck in a crater.

"..."

*Vvoosh* A dark shadow flickered; it was Damien. He stood before the giant cavern created by his attack, looking down at the fallen monster.

Its skull-like face began to crack, causing shards of bones to decorate below. A dull wind leaked out as the nearly 20-foot-tall creature transformed, becoming smaller.

Damien curiously watched; seconds passed as a human lay in front of him, knocked out of his misery.

"A being that weaponizes fear. Such monsters only live in the story books," he muttered, drawing up the specifics of the power:

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[Human-Human Fruit – Mythical Model: Wendigo]

[Zoan Fruit]

[Fruit Rating: 6.5 Stars]

[Allows the user to transform into a Wendigo. The user can create curses, plagues and haunting illusions from harvested fear, weaponizing the horror of their victims.]

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

Damien nodded at the power of the fruit.

Like every other Mythical Zoan, it came with an added ability resembling a Paramecia. In this case, it was the black fog's plague-like nature and the ability to control and manipulate fear.

Damien stepped forward and placed his foot on the man's chest: "Wake up."

A stream of Pulverizing energy dove in, bouncing through the victim's body and rearranging their insides; it could be considered a gentle wake-up.

"Ugh," came a groan from the man's bloodied mouth. His eyes jet open, unveiling the dark pupils.

The man had slicked-back dark hair that matched his eye colour. Tattoos ran across half his face and down half of his body. He was left in blue pants, unveiling a muscular yet bruised torso.

[Image (in Discord)]

"The Spirit of Fear? Not that menacing in this form."

The man audibly growled, his eyes a mix of anger and pain. His fury leaked out in a resounding boom, sending ripples of pressure through his body. 

"Such raw Haki," Damien examined with narrowed eyes. "Not exactly what I was expecting… What's your name?"

The man gnashed his teeth in defiance, only to be left shaken as Damien unleashed an overpowering weight onto his body, forcing him to the floor. 

"...Solomon," he spat out.

[A/N: Pronunciation: saw-luh-muhn.]

Damien smiled and sat at a fallen log. "You protect these people even if they look at you in fear?"

Solomon coughed out a wad of blood from the internal damage, glaring daggers at his adversary: "I don't care how they see me; I protect them because I want to. What's it got to do with you, outsider?"

Damien noticed the venomous tone, especially at the 'outsider' part: "Jeez, you guys are really touchy with foreigners."

"..." The pirate silently examined Solomon with a questioning look, leaving the latter man to get further aggravated, "What!?"

"Well, you look like you're in your mid-twenties," Damien commented, cocking an eyebrow. "Choro told me you saved them twenty-one years ago... I find it hard to believe a brat could push away all those feral monsters."

His eyes grew curious as he hypothesized, "I can only assume your power tapped into some fear deep within those beasts..."

Solomon's annoyed expression warped into shock. This time, he glared at the enemy with some speculation, "Why do you know so much about my curse?"

The question left Damien chuckling, again annoying the young beast further. "Curse, is it? Sure, whatever. But you know, Mythical Zoans are quite rare to spot in the wild… did you eat a disgusting fruit before turning into that form?"

Solomon slowly sat up, leaning his aching body onto another collapsed tree. He frowned at the question, "I became like this when I ate a hideous-looking bird in hunger."

Damien blinked, "You ate it alive?"

"I got lost in the woods and fell hungry. What's so wrong about that?"

Damien chuckled at the answer, connecting the dots: "Host Devouring… devil fruits really are quite the thing."

Solomon didn't seem to listen to Damien's mumbling and demanded, "Whatever! Just kill me already!" 

The undying pirate looked at the man's fiery eyes, brimming with acceptance of death. Emotions of helplessness, anger, and relief flooded from Solomon's body.

Damien entirely ignored the dark-haired man's words and got up to leave.

"Am I not worthy for you to kill!?" Solomon roared, rushing to his feet only to fall from the residual pain.

Grunts echoed from the Zoan user's mouth as he looked up to see Damien tear open a 10-meter-tall hole in the mountain, providing a straight path to the sea beyond.

A chilly wind assaulted the injured Solomon, forcing him to shield his face. The opened mountain had unveiled another landmass in the distance, across the turbulent seas at the Extinction Valley's shores.

"No Man's Land," he mumbled, shaking his head from the chills running down his spine. "No one can survive there… it's a death wish!"

Meanwhile, Damien breathed in the chaotic air rushing from the distant hell, a place even worse than the regions he had already visited. The previous two months had already churned some new ideas and understandings of his power. Now, the final island was calling out to him.

He returned a signature pirate smile to the kneeling party, waving aside the warning: "The Extict were quite hospitable, so I'll let you live. See ya around."

And much like before, Damien was gone, shooting across the darkness of the night into the unknown, all under the speechless Solomon.

To Be Continued…

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Author's Corner. 

Damien has perfected Hadean Release and essentially tapped dismantling at the atomic level, yet he remains unawakened. Now, he hopes to find the key to his survival from the imminent God Valley at the final island of Extinction Valley.

What do you guys think of the Wendigo fruit?

Images are available on Discord alongside other niche details: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q