One Piece: Path to Power

“Open fire!”

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

Hundreds of guns fired out an endless sea of bullets towards the pristine ship at the docks. 

The wooden bow was riddled with craters as it creaked and shattered apart. 

A soft whistle blew out as the black shadow on board whizzed in disappearance.

The same strong 8-foot-tall silhouette reappeared behind the senior mafia member.

Before the man could even react, his head had exploded from a punch.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

The gangsters quickly shifted their aim onto the young attacker but were surprised by the results. 

Every projectile that was traveling faster than sound was immediately stopped as if meeting an immovable object. 

Going from a sturdy bullet shape to folding into a pancake, letting onto the ground with a melodious clatter.

“A monster!”

Seeing their attacks bear no fruits, some more senior members drew their blades and rushed forth. 

Damien smiled in return and shot towards them, ready to practice. 

He abandoned his devil fruit temporarily and stuck to hand-to-hand combat. 

The punches came flying in with slashes of the blades as he worked on his reflexes and response time. 

*Slash*

A sharp sword slashed toward the boy and he returned his right elbow directly at it.

Bam!

The blade didn’t cut fully in. 

“How hard is his skin!?” the man cried out as he saw his bent knife. 

Only a few drops of blood dribbled from the young man. 

‘My skin can mostly block bullets, and even bend blades, but not completely,’ Damien complimented his {Beastly Vitality}.

The bullets came raining down as they left tiny depressions in his skin, though they failed to dig any deeper before being deformed.

*Crack*

Damien’s elbow crashed on a man’s neck from above as his head plunged into the dirt below, surely broken. 

“Die!” a man with a minigun screamed as he unloaded a spray of bullets. 

*Whizz*

*Ratatatata!*

The young man simply flickered away as the bullets met some friendlies, dropping them like flies.

 “Watch the crossfir-”

The man couldn’t finish his sentence as a strong chop smacked his neck and sent him into instant paralysis. 

Minutes passed as the hundreds of men were massacred.

“He’s too fast, we gotta report it to the boss!”

…

A 10-foot tall (3.05 m) man gazed at the battlefield hundreds of meters away, a binocular at hand. 

“You see that?” he asked his younger companion who also had binoculars. 

“Looks young, very young,” the man commented. “His moves are a little choppy and full of openings, but carry great power.”

“He’s purposely not using his devil fruit abilities?”

“Not just that…,” the older man gulped. “H-He’s sharpening himself with every kill, he’s treating us like whetstones!” 

The other man clenched his fist in anger, “We’re feared all over West Blue, just to be used by a boy to train himself!?”

The grumbling man soon froze as he unconsciously gulped. 

His binoculars fell to the ground, “he saw us!”

…

Damien who was just about to finish his last enemies felt peering eyes from afar. 

A few black silhouettes watching, the sunlight reflecting off their tools. 

“Better to attack them quickly before they can organize themselves, there should be a treasury filled with some goodies too, right?”

Damien broke the neck of the last man as his body fell. 

‘My combat capabilities are growing quite fast, unnaturally fast,’ he thought while rushing towards the main base of the Gambino Family. 

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[Main Base of the Gambino Family]

A 16-foot tall (4.88 m) man sat on an equally large golden chair.

He was towering in not just his height but also his demeanour; the scars on his face and body alongside the gun wounds painted quite the picture.

The middle-aged man had a thin mustache and well-combed hair as he sat with a pistol in his hand. 

[His Image (in Discord)]

A transponder snail sat on the table in front of him as he puffed out an annoyed cloud of smoke.

“Boss!” the snail cried in a human-like expression. “He’s too strong, the entire Eastern Forces have been taken out!”

The mafia boss bit on his cigar and he spat out, “How many are there?”

The snail replied posthaste, “J-Just one!”

“He’s making his way to the main base, boss!”

The man hung up the snail as he grumbled in anger.

His name was Gambino Delago, the head of the Gambino Mafia Family.

Delago waved at his butler and ordered, “Round up all our men to hold down this threat, I want him dead!”

The old man nodded.

…

“Show him the might of the Gambino Family!”

“Raze ‘em to the ground!”

“For the boss!”

Thousands of men in tight-fitted suits stood with their guns and weapons ready.

Even some cannons and RPGs were set to aim in the direction of the attacker.

The wall that surrounded the entire base was made with 5 feet-thick concrete, mounted with watchtowers and snipers.

“We have the target in sight,” a sniper said as he peered into his scope, lining the crosshairs to the invader.

“Take him down!”

*Bang!*

The bolt-action rifle recoiled, shooting the bullet at great speeds.

Boom!

The ground exploded and a small crater was left behind, though the attacker was nowhere to be seen.

“I missed?”

The sniper then heard a calm voice resound in the area.

.

“Utter Ruin.”

.

A huge current of crimson energy exploded from under the sniper as the thick walls were obliterated to their simplest form: dust and debris.

Cuboid pebbles rained over the entire base as the men standing by were engulfed by the cloud of dust.

*Vvoosh!*

Suddenly a black shadow whizzed through the dust and into the horde of men.

Explosions went off; trigger-happy gangsters unloaded their firearms haphazardly as their numbers steeply declined. 

Damien continued his hand-to-hand combat as he broke bones, limbs, and necks; thinning the crowd.

Shots went off and yet Damien was able to dodge them instinctively.

“Fire the cannons!” a booming voice spread out of the snail in the main watchtower.

“But boss,” The chief executive cried out miserably, “it’ll hit our own men!”

“Fire the damn cannons!”

Boom!

The heavy barrel of the iron cannon exhaled a cloud of smoke as the cannonballs rained down on the panicked crowd.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The explosions roared continuously as the cannons opened fire without pause, finally reaching a slow silence.

“D-Did we get him?” a man uttered from the walls on the other side as his hands shook in fear.

“A-Above!”

A black shadow flickered into the sky as the red eyes seemed to shine through the dust cloud, staring into the man’s soul.

.

“Obliteration Pulse.”

.

A huge burst of crimson energy followed by an omnidirectional attack ensued as it engulfed the entirety of the plaza.

It kept spanning, from meters to tens of meters, reaching 100 meters.

A huge crater appeared, left with sharp cuts and scars on the earth within it.

Blood dyed the ground a fresh red as the walls crumbled to dust, destroying nearly 80% of the entire Gambino Family defense force!

.

Damien nodded at the impact while breathing a heavy breath and continued into the Mafia compound.

He roamed through the well-lit halls and a trail of goons followed in his wake.

*Crash*

The thick iron doors exploded as Damien made his way into the boss’ chambers.

He saw expensive lights that lit up the regal decorations and animal heads mounted on the walls of rare species. It was quite the room filled with golden delights.

Damien looked ahead and saw the man in the large chair, devouring two cigarettes together. 

He was surrounded by tens of bodyguards in black suits, and dark sunglasses equipped like the Secret Service.

Guns were drawn as usual.

“Just a kid doing this much damage,” Delago said in an annoyed tone. “What will the other four think of me when they hear about this?”

He then gazed at the regal attire Damien was wearing.

“Why don’t you work under me, kid?” He offered with a thin smirk. “I’ll give you money, women, whatever, hmm, what’d you say?”

Damien hummed at the offer with a smile while he thought in his mind, ‘Sibyl, pull up his stats.’

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

[Gambino Delago]

[Age: 52 years, 5 months]

[Height: 16'] (4.88 m)

[Status: Healthy, Enraged]

[Strength: Unknown]

[Devil Fruit: Unknown]

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

Naturally, Damien hadn’t seen Delago fight and had no info on his devil fruit, or the lack of it, thus the information of the stats was rather restricted.

…

“I refuse.”

Delago crushed both his cigars and scoffed.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* 

Shots rain at Damien who just stood to eat them.

*Clatter*

The bullets littered the floor as the men continued to unload their entire magazine without mercy.

Damien had begun to tire and instead of dodging, chose to take the regular bullets which caused small wounds, but that was it.

*Squirm*

The ripped flesh soon reformed as the jacket he wore seemed to become alive, patching its many holes.

“What the hell?” the men gulped as they saw the result.

The red-eyed boy raised his hand and shot out a current of energy that decimated the entire room. Screams followed by a sudden silence as the dust settled.

Damien glanced at the dead bodyguards but raised an eyebrow in return.

Delago seemed to flicker outside of the range of the attack, slowly ripping his shirt off to show the scarred yet muscular chest.

“Don’t be too cocky, brat!”

“Shave!”

The man whizzed from his location and appeared behind Damien.

.

“Penetrating Finger Pistol!”

.

Delago’s fingers popped with veins as four bursts of air shot forth into the young invader’s position.

A similar scene broke out as Damien flashed away from the attack and rolled to safety.

Boom!

An explosion resounded in the torn-down room as four deep craters were left on the ground, they dug beyond the floor and unknowingly deep down.

A thin cloud of dust floated out from the gashes, reflecting the sheer power of the attack.

“Navy’s Rokushiki?” Damien muttered as he saw Delago’s moves.

“Delalala! You can use ‘Shave’ too, not bad,” the Mafia boss laughed. “It took me quite a lot of time to get my hands on the Rokushiki Manual.”

Damien glanced at the four craters, they seemed to cause damage beyond his expectations.

The mobster grinned, “Your youth won’t guarantee you immortality, kid, now die!”

Delago then pointed both hands towards Damien.

.

“Penetration Fever!”

.

Damien’s eyes widened as he saw the bullet-like attacks shoot at his body, even faster than he could react.

*Splash*

He was able to dodge most but three of the shots reached his chest and right arm as they went right through his skin and even showed bone.

Damien groaned as he touched his wounds, ‘It went through my skin?’

“Devil fruit ability paired with Rokushiki,” Damien concluded as the flesh slowly began to heal, but it would take at least an hour to fully remedy.

.

The mobster grinned with a hidden surprise, “What kind of monstrous endurance ya got, kid? My Penetration-Penetration Fruit ability should have gone right through you!”

“It seems you hid the fruit power from the media, there’s no news of it,” Damien said as he stood in a ready-stance.

The mobster didn’t reply as he pointed his hand at Damien once more.

“I want to see how long you can stand, boy!”

He was about to shoot but Damien was faster.

*Slam*

The boy’s foot slammed on the ground and the entire floor was coloured in a red-checkered pattern.

Delago’s eyes widened as he felt his balance give out.

The entire floor exploded into countless pieces of debris as the two fell into the abyss below.

Thud!

Delago’s 16-foot tall frame crashed on the ground.

He hurriedly stood up and saw his surroundings.

It was the basement level used to torture prisoners—the catacombs.

Some broken pillars lined the dark and damp surroundings as dust continued to rain down. Cobwebs scoured the edges, showcasing the decrepit spirit of the chamber.

Delago then turned to the side as he felt his back go cold.

“Ugh!” his back creaked as the spine seemed to bend from the kick from behind, launching the towering man into the pillars before him.

His body crashed through the obstacles and into the old stone walls.

Damien stood, blood dribbling from his chest as he squinted his eyes, “I used my Pulverization on that kick and he was able to take it, ‘Iron Body’, is it?”

*Rumble*

The crashed man stood up in renewed vigour, blood pouring from his mouth as his back was extremely bruised and had turned purple.

“Dammit!” he roared out as his body ached.

He then responded with an attack of his own, picking up an assault rifle that was on the ground. 

.

“Unholy Penetration Barrage!”

.

The rifle shot out bullets far faster than they should have been fired at, surrounded by a bubble of white energy as they blasted their way toward Damien.

The bullets continued to rain down as Damien jumped to cover behind a large heap of broken pillars.

Each projectile left 5-inch wide craters, digging equally deeper.

The voluminous amounts of dust showed the depth of the attacks, enough to strike fear in the normal man.

‘My range needs work,’ Damien thought as he felt the pillars behind him explode from the flurry of attacks.

His stamina began to bottom as he felt a thrill of death.

A smile broke out on the young invader’s face as he felt a few fruit-enhanced bullets making it through and nailing him in the back.

‘This feeling…’

Damien closed his eyes as his mind felt a new sense.

He ignored the pulsating pain from the increasing amounts of wounds across his back, opting to focus on the blooming sense.

The sounds of Delago’s attacks faded out as Damien’s attention spanned all over the nearby area.

*Pitter Patter*

A few drops of water fell to the ground near the corner of the basement from a leaky pipe.

*Flutter*

A few panicked flies swarmed about from the onslaught of the constant explosions.

*Squeak*

Rats hiding in the corners of the room, trying to stay in the cold and wet edges, away from Delago.

*Lub Dub*

Damien even heard the beating hearts of some lucky mafia members as they scurried away from the main base.

*Huff*

He then felt the heavy breathing of the wounded Delago who continued his barrage of attacks.

Damien’s eyes opened as the newfound sense expanded through the dark room.

He stood up with little worry and turned to Delago.

“Giving yourself up? Very good, die!”

The man unloaded the hundreds of penetration rounds onto Damien with a crazy grin.

Damien took a deep breath and let his body move on his own.

Delago’s eyes widened as he saw Damien’s body dance through the barrage of bullets, bending and twisting in perfect angles to dodge the hail of bullets.

Such fluid movements continued without end as the young man slowly walked ahead, his body dodging every single bullet with ease.

Delago gulped and roared out, “Impossible!”

.

Damien now stood a meter from Delago as his hand shot out to grab the gun in the mobster's hand.

A sound of pixelation boomed through the damp halls as the firearm exploded into tiny metallic pieces, even the bullets had been crushed into tiny cubic pieces.

Delago’s eyes widened in pain as Damien’s left foot slammed onto his knee, bending it to an unnatural degree, and causing him to fall to his knees.

Damien’s hand grabbed him by the throat, his eyes gleaming with confidence.

“I thank you for boosting my strength,” he said.

Delago’s breathing hastened as he felt the shadow of death envelop him, “W-Why are you doing this? Just to train yourself?”

Damien saw the madness fill the man’s eyes as he replied in an emotionless tone.

“You killed my Mom.”

Delago frantically waved his hands, trying to buy himself some time.

“W-Wait, you mean from Rendition Island!?”

“Renaissance.”

Delago nodded like a chicken pecking rice.

“Right! I-I just did what I was told, i-it wasn’t my doing!”

Damien’s eyes narrowed into the desperate man’s face.

“What do you mean?”

Delago started tweeting like a bird, telling everything he knew.

“It happened eight years ago, t-this man came to our family and almost killed us all! H-He gave us a chance to live by raiding a small, no-name island and so we did!”

“I swear! The Rainbow Fish was just an excuse to calm the Marine Base down so they’d accept the bribe more easily, i-it really wasn’t my fault!”

“Who told you to do it?” Damien questioned with an icy tone.

Delago gulped.

“I-I-I never saw his face…”

Damien scanned his eyes with his newfound observation, not feeling any hints of a lie.

.

“Crumble.”

.

“Nooo- Auuughh!”

The red energy shot out from the young man’s palm and into the mafia boss’ body and entire system.

His nerves were overloaded as his eyes popped out of their sockets from the impact.

*Splatter*

His body shook and eventually exploded like a grape as Damien stepped out of the bloody shower.

The strong metallic smell of blood pervaded the atmosphere, leaving a silent Damien pondering with a complicated expression.

So close to avenging his mother and yet so far.

To Be Continued…

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Author’s Corner.

Images: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q