One Piece: Pirate Code

When William once again entered the mysterious space deep within his consciousness, he wasn't surprised to see a marble archway suddenly appear at the end of the Path of Fate.

The archway, made of marble, was engraved with simple patterns. Behind it, the Fate Plaza had undergone immense transformation.

The previously rough stone pathway had transformed into a marble pavement, mirroring the archway.

At the center of the plaza stood a striking marble statue over three meters tall. The entire plaza now appeared grand and majestic.

William approached the marble statue and looked up. The statue, clad in a suit with one hand lightly resting on the hilt of a sword at his waist, had a slightly sorrowful expression. It was incredibly lifelike, depicting him as he stood under a cherry blossom tree.

Everything in this space seemed to be intricately tied to his real-life experiences.

As if stirred by William's gaze, a large network of Fate Threads suddenly appeared above the statue—hundreds of them. Many were fragile, continuously breaking and reconnecting after manifesting.

William didn't pay much attention to the fragile threads. Instead, he focused on the resilient ones. Among them, one thread emitted a metallic hum, like an overloaded steel wire groaning under strain.

Suddenly, before William's eyes, the resilient thread snapped. Unlike the fragile threads, it didn't reconnect under an unseen force but instead gradually vanished into the void.

Pressing his lips together, William realized this must represent Valon's Fate Thread. With Valon's death, his fate had also ceased to exist.

Hundreds of Fate Threads intertwined, splitting into two groups and flowing like mercury into the marble ground of the plaza.

Moments later, dull thuds echoed as two familiar-looking stone monuments rose from the ground where the threads had disappeared.

William stepped closer, but the monuments were blank, displaying no task-related content. The paths behind them remained unformed, still shrouded in a darkness that seemed capable of devouring everything.

"So this is what the Fate Threads are for now?" William murmured, running his fingers over the stone monuments.

The phrase "more friends, more paths" seemed to come alive in this mysterious space. The Fate Threads, representing living beings, were evidently the components of these paths.

However, the conditions for forming the paths and corresponding tasks were still unclear.

As William pondered, he suddenly noticed a golden thread emerging from above his statue. Unlike the others, this special Fate Thread didn't transform into a monument but instead fell onto a stone table in a corner of the plaza.

Previously, William's attention had been entirely on his statue and the monuments. Now he noticed the inconspicuous stone table in the corner and approached it for a closer look.

The table, waist-high and about the size of a ping-pong table, held the golden thread that had transformed into a small figurine about the length of a finger. Surprisingly, it even had a base at its feet.

Intrigued, William picked it up. The figurine, resembling Gin, was entirely golden and captured every detail, including Gin's signature smirk, as though it had been perfectly miniaturized from the real person.

The surface of the stone table was engraved with numerous inscriptions such as [Robust] and [Heroic Demeanor], rewards William had previously declined during his journey.

The engraved special skills were neatly arranged on the table, each accompanied by a blank space and a small indentation. The shape of the indentation seemed familiar to William. Examining the figurine in his hand, he realized its base matched the indentation.

After hesitating, William placed Akin's figurine into the indentation next to [Robust]. The base of the figurine locked into place, as though welded, and couldn't be removed no matter how hard he tried.

At the same time, indentations appeared in the blank spaces next to all the other special skills, as if by magic.

Frowning, William walked back to his statue. The pedestal beneath it still bore his information as before:

Morgan William

[Young Godfather] (From East Blue)

[Swordsmanship Prodigy] (From Isshin Dojo)

[Youthful Hero] (From certain docks)

The era of the Sea Calendar, 1490 — ???

Birthplace: East Blue, Kingdom of Flares

Skills and Expertise: Basic Swordsmanship, Introductory Navigation

Special Traits: Lightning Reflexes, Zen Swordsmanship, Robust

Achievements: Overthrowing the Strong, Intuition

Background Expertise: Apprentice of Isshin Dojo

As expected, [Robust] had been added to the list of special traits.

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