Chapter 72: Extra: Learn About Powers With A MC
Hector: "Thanks for healing my depression..."
Shego: "I just let you squeeze my boobs...
- Conversation before going to the One Piece World.
....
A.N.: Sup.
Short chapter to explain certain things and interactions.
it's like a patch note.
Tried to not make boring. I personally like info dumps, but seeing that some don't like and would take a good chunk of a chapter.
And to make things clear to the future.
Now, enjoy~
....
[A.N.:The events of this chapter happened at some point in the past in the world of One Piece]
Third Person P.O.V.
*BOOOM* *CRASH*
A big Explosion reverberates in an isolated area of the sea, the huge sound travels far, together with the sound of breaking glass.
Na object is propelled at a distance, skidding through the surface of the water like a pebble being made to bounce on it.
'Okay... I should've put more thought into that...' Hector deadpans while he hits the surface of the water a record number of times before finally stopping after hitting the shore of an island.
"That's uncharacteristically reckless of you, Master." Cortana comments on his mind.
"I know, I know... But I went super carefully and everything appeared to be under control till was not." Hector answers while removing his Upper body from the sand.
He looks at his hand to see the incredible sight of his fingers bleeding. Not only that, the skin of the tip of his fingers appears to have been peeled off, a hint of white bones appearing underneath all the blood and mingled flesh.
"..." Hector holds back his regeneration to stare at this mess. He feels like he kinda deserves it.
The reason for all this is that he was testing the limits of the recent powers he acquired. Pushing them beyond...
The crux of the question is... The powers that Hector recently acquired are weaker than him.
He went to the JoJo world and is now in the One Piece world, he is like a god in these worlds and he went there to acquire "Hax". To have more tools under his "utility belt".
But the body is the medium to these powers. So Hector's strong body can push these powers to heights that the original users could never dream of or simply lack the creativity to use.
Like, the Tremor-Tremor fruit of Whitebeard, the power that Hector tested just now.
"Tremor my ass... More Like Space Fruit... Not on the level of Space Manipulation, but allows the user to interact with space at least. A Space Interaction power... Whitebeard is just a simple guy that punches things that never went creative with it..." Hector mutters
The idea came while he tested the known super moves of the said power. Like the ability to "grab" the space and tilt the horizon a little.
The confirmation came when Hector flew off the planet to punch in the vacuum of space using this power. There are no molecules to vibrate there... And even so, a tiny crack appeared when Hector punched.
Using the same strength, a two-meter crack should've appeared on the ground level, but on the vacuum, only a crack of a length of one inch appeared.
Almost pathetic, but appeared.
Then Hector thought about many uses, the first that came to mind would be the ability to mess with teleportations and portals... Maybe even interact with them like Saitama did while fighting Garou.
Then his chuuni brain remembered those cool scenes where the physically strong characters grabbed the air and tore it open like a window, opening a rift in space...
And this is what led to the present moment after he tried to imbue his fingers with the fruit power and open a hole in space by tearing it open. Trying to open the fabric of reality like a curtain.
"Don't try to create singularities at a whim, master..." Cortana admonishes.
"But it's so cool..." He almost pouts while finally letting his fingers heal
He stretches his healed hands again, making a grab motion a the air. The air molds like jello on his grasp...
To him is not much, but on the horizon, the sea churns, huge waves start to grow, ready to burst, and the clouds swirl to the ground... It's hard to distinguish where the sea and sky start and end.
Hector lets go of the air, the sea explodes... Fish and water fly everywhere, the clouds go back to the sky too fast, and a hurricane is formed in a split of second but can't be sustained by itself and disappears. A storm also starts forming but disappears after rain for some minutes.
"..." Hector pauses and lies down on the beach with his hands behind his head "So this is the life of the strong, huh? When a simple wave of a hand can cause that much destruction... It's a very suffocating lifestyle." He mutters
"..."
"Whatever, next point..." Hector suddenly says energized
Beyond testing the changes in potency of these powers when used by Hector's strong body. There is also the need to verify the interaction of certain powers in a universe different from their origin.
Most of the time that was not a worry because the powers mostly affect Hector or create small changes but... What about certain high-level concepts?
"[The World]..." Hector says under his breath.
It happened in an instant. The world gains a slight shade of grey and everything stops moving...
...in a certain range of Hector.
"A nerf? No... It's more complicated than that..." He says to himself "In truth, this is the best-case scenario." He smiles when the Time Stop effects wear off.
Hector noticed that he didn't stop time of everything, but just in a certain(Rather) large range around him.
"I don't feel the power weaker than when I used it in the Jojo world... This only means one thing... The Jojo universe helps its own powers and that 'buff' is not working here. That's the true power of [The World]." He rightly assumes.
"Thinking about it, it's a little ridiculous that a city-level vampire can stop the time of the ENTIRE UNIVERSE... The Power Scaling is going crazy." He puts a hand under his chin to think
"Dr. Manhattan once said that the universe is likely written in a computer code and magic is when someone exploits the 'scraps'. So in the world of Jojo must have something like a like <Stand{The World} Field: Universal>..." He guesses
"[The World] is part of the Universe law so it's on the code to work that way... It's similar to the Infinity Stones... They are like GameMaster Keys to the code of Creation."
"Powers that affect concepts like Time, Reality, and Soul would be considered viruses. They could really mess up things, so it's not surprising that it didn't work as intended... But is good enough that [The World] is not being completely rejected and turned useless like the Infinity Stones when they are in another universe."
"In truth, creating a [Time Stop Bubble] is good... Imagine using this power and stopping time on all the Universe and the GM(read Living Tribunal) come to slap me away of existence..." He laughs mirthlessly
This "nerf" in truth will allow Hector to use the power not only as a last measure.
He uses [The World] again, paying more attention and trying to create a smaller bubble.
His heightened senses allow him to hear the sound effects and see the "time shockwave" expanding to stop time around him.
'That's cool... And the smaller the 'bubble' the longer the duration of the time stop? Makes sense...' He thinks while observing.
Being capable of creating a Time Stop Bubble of any size is good news. All thanks to his good control and periodic training.
He makes more tests with other similar powers. This travel also has this objective, because there's no Higher Being here to watch him.
........
"Well, that's interesting... But too bad..." He comments after coming back from a trip around the Multiverse of One Piece.
Using [D4C] he went to check the works of a Multiverse. Watch everything clearly to deepen his understanding... It was an eventful and fruitful trip but... He couldn't find a universe with a more advanced timeline.
"Tch... So I really can't have Kanjurou's fruit... Whatever."
'I thought he would be like Marvel... But all are the exact fuck same.'
He visited 33 universes and there's literally no change on them.
Maybe he didn't visit enough, maybe he is unlucky, or maybe D4C prioritizes universes closer to the one that is the starting point.
'I remember really going far to Search for a universe with the same signature as those alternative versions of the X-men that we met on Limbo... I hope it was the right one.' He thinks for an instant before moving on to the next topic.
"Now... About the fruits... The Moa Moa no Mi(More-More Fruit) is a miss." Hector sighs regretfully but is not that annoyed.
Everything is on his expectations and as a pessimistic guy, he always waits for the worst-case scenario.
The Moa Moa no Mi is a non-canonical Devil Fruit that can be considered one of the most broken of the series. Capable of multiplying the size of any object a hundred-fold and even the speed of the user. And is theorized that can increase other stats a hundredfold too...
If this power worked properly on Hector would be game over.
But as expected, a power from a lower world couldn't keep up with Hector's physical prowess. The man is literally stronger than this universe...
His speed isn't exactly multiplied by a hundred as advertised. There's a cap after reaching a certain point.
"It's like a beginner's skill that can't keep up with a high-level Character. At this point, you need to learn the superior version..." Hector says while trying to calculate how much his speed increases while using the power "If it's like this then... The same will happen if I unlock the ability to multiply my strength."
"Instead of a (100 x Actual STR), it's more like (100 x Limit OP STR) + Actual STR... What would not be so bad actually. What are the limits of strength here again? Whitebeard? Gaining the strength of a hundred Whitebeards is okay too. And my body probably can't handle a hundred times my power either. I would be like Deku..."
"And the power will evolve... At some point will reach the point of singularity with my body. And there's Power Boost Cards too.." He shrugs
Hector then decides to try something.
He gives a step and blurs away, starts speeding around the island... He then increases his speed, boosting it... Then he stops the boosts, slowing down. Then he uses [Gearshift].
He continues like that, changing gears and boosts. His movements are completely ridiculous. It looks like a glitch vídeo game character.
He doesn't need to apply force to stop his momentum and change speed. Completely broking the laws of physics
But what is powers if not breaking the laws of physics? Ora t least manipulating it.
"That alone is worth all..." He says after pausing "Fighting me must be a nightmare."
He sits on the ground again
"And about the Logias..."
Hector raises his two hands, they Shine in a golden light.
"I think light would be the only one that is minimally effective, but even so..." He says while doing some tests.
While Logia Users can be considered "Invincible" in this world, beyond in certain circumstances, that was far from truth to Hector. And the ability to become "untouchable" it's not that appealing to him.
Going in layers, like in many media the elements would have some weaknesses easily exploitable. And the material would even be weaker than his own body. Why would he turn his body into something weaker than him and with an obvious weakness?
Turning into sand so that water can neutralize him? Or fire turn him into glass?
Even Lightning, which is not a physical thing, has a weakness.
So, observing the options, only Light would be a good alternative. But even light isn't completely safe. He wouldn't put to the side the chance of some Energy Projection attacks from Marvel being capable of hitting him while he is made of light.
During the fight against Thor, to teleport the Mjolnir away he turned his arm into mist. The power and electricity of Thor's attack were enough to "pulverize" the mist, breaking the molecules and destroying his arm. Even when mist should've been something "untouchable".
"Much better to simply tank with my body then..." He concludes "If necessary I just need to 'open spaces' on my body so that the attack can go through. Or simply use Kitty's intangibility." He decides.
It's important to decide beforehand because Hector has a problem.
He has too many Options!
The infinity choices can maybe make him freeze in indecisiveness.
Like Gojo Satoru once said: "It's Ironic, isn't it? When Granted Everything you can't do anything"
So he is already putting on his mind how he will act in the future in those scenarios. He is an overthinker. Thinks too far ahead, about all possibilities, using his knowledge of the fictional world to create simulations and put himself in these situations.
"There's also the Yami Yami no Mi(Darkness-Darkness Fruit)..." Hector says remembering something he heard in his other life. About a certain nerf that the author himself gave to the fruit.
The Darkness Fruit is a Logia, but different from the other Logias it didn't make the user "untouchable". In truth, it's the opposite... It sucks everything, even attacks.
Now... This is the canon version.
In a certain guidebook, Oda confessed that the original draft of the Darkness fruit would be very ridiculous.
He commented that the Darkness fruit would act exactly like the other logias but with something more...
Beyond being "untouchable" it would absorb/eat the attacks, like an abyss, and return it, maybe even stronger.
The attacks would sink on the user's body and he would be capable of reflecting it. Oda commented that this would make Blackbeard strong enough to solo the Three Admirals!
Eventually, the idea didn't pass and the fruit is nerfed, but...
"With Power Boost cards... Maybe I can upgrade it to the earlier versions envisioned by the author himself." Hector comments
Now he just needs to wait till his body strengthens the power at the limit before using the Power Boost cards o test his theory.
And he is becoming even more difficult to deal with.
.......
Later
*Crunch* *Crunch*
Hector eats some snacks while watching a simulation battle between All Might and Garp. The two are in their prime.
"As expected, Garp still takes it... But All Might is giving a lot of trouble." He comments while taking a sip from his drink "Now, what if All Might awaken all the quirks in One For All?" He restarts the battle simulation.
"Is there a point in doing that, Master? You can already calculate those situations in your mind." Cortana asks curiously
"Hm~~ *Sluuurp* Well, I'm a sucker to Power Scaling." He admits "And now that I have the chance of really know who can beat who even when they're from different animes... I will make death battle simulations, yes ma'am."
"... Okay then, if you're having fun." She concedes
"You act like that, but did you know that Goku can beat most anime verses unironically? With the exceptions of people like Featherine, Hajun, and Madoka... It's stated that if you have enough Ki you can defend yourself from Hax with it. So yeah, Goku that is hundreds of times stronger than his version of the Saiyan saga, that can already destroy the Earth, would indeed beat your favorite mountain-level guy with the power to do some bullshit. Like Wonder of U, many Sternritters and the list goes on..." Hector says like a nerd.
"..."
"Anyway, this gave me an idea... I planned to watch a simulation battle between All Might if he could learn Haki and Garp, but I will do that later..." Hector jumps to his feet and moves away "By the way, All Might would absolutely have Conqueror's Haki." He adds raises his finger
"..."
.......
"Hello, Vergo..." Hector greets the man bound in a table with a smile.
The ex-subordinate of Doflamingo glares at him, asking himself why he is still alive.
Law cut him and won the battle, he would only need to cancel his power to kill him.
Bu Hector discreetly saved the guy for certain experiments, after all, he is scum.
"Well, I would like you to use your full body Armament Haki now." Hector smiles at him.
"..." Vergo only glares at him
"I'm trying to be nice here, you know? If you do what I'm telling you to do, I will finally kill you." Hector says generously
Vergo only spats in his direction.
"..." Hector narrows his eyes, but his smiles widen inversely proportional. "Heh, it appears that you assume that you still have the Luxury of choice." He laughs before touching the head of Vergo
His head unfurls like a book to Hector. [Heaven's Door]...
"You know... I have a power called [Forced Power Activation]. It's a Trump card where I can force people on contact to activate their powers at my will." Hector explains while passing the pages on Vergo's face "The thing is haki depends on Will, so controlling you with mind control would mess my experiment so..."
He raises a pen and starts writing on Vergo. He scribbles the man's history, and mind, and writes new things before finally closing his face.
"That's probably one the most fucked up things I've ever done..." He comments "Vergo, use Full Body Armament Haki."
Like a robot, Vergo obeys him.
Hector hums to himself before touching Vergo's face again.
"Oh... Oh~ OH!!" He smiles in surprise "Hahah. So Haki is really effective against other powers beyond the Devil Fruit ones... I knew that something was weird while Fighting Big Mom!" He exclaims.
"But it's only like, 5-10% effective. Is it because it's not 'programmed' to work in powers out of this universe? Must be it..." Hector puts a hand on his chin "Even so... If I have a strong enough haki, I can have a fight chance against any type of Hax. The names are even similar."
"Using Willpower to resist powers is not that weird in the Omniverse, or even using your own vitality and physical strength either. All Might resisted a lot of weird powers from All For One with his physical prowess alone. Saitama and Garou too... The Viltrumites can resist Atom Even Atomic Manipulation thanks to their body structure and Bio-electric aura."
He paces around the room thinking.
"Haki is a surprisingly unfair power system, but still too low-level... Can I really bring it to a level that would be effective against strong powers out there?"
........
"Try to see the difference." Hector says to Cassandra and Saeko before pointing his Figner to a boulder close.
Right now, they're on a desert island. And Hector is giving them some lessons.
Hector repeats the word "Bang" five times and five identical holes appear on the Boulder at a distance.
Saeko and Cassandra look at the holes the size of his finger, totally identical.
"Any difference on them?" Hector asks again.
"...You used different techniques right?" Saeko jumps to the conclusion
"Yes, one is an advanced form of Shingan, another is a mana bullet, another is using an electromagnetic pulse, another is with aura, another is a meta-power... It's good that you noticed the difference in techniques... Now, any difference in the result?"
"No..." Saeko shakes her head.
"Exactly. The lesson here is that by using many methods we can accomplish the same result. So there's no need for you to delve deeply into many disciplines. You can study them, to know how to battle them... But it's a waste of time." He says
"...you do it." Cassandra points at Hector
"Yes, but I'm different. I'm not saying that I'm better, Cassandra. You're a martial genius too. I bet you can learn all these battle power systems easily, but it would be time-consuming when you could instead become the best in something else, and... There's another issue."
"Another?" Saeko turns to him
"I think the more common term used would be Qi Deviation... But is basically the conflict of different energies inside your body. My body is special. A cheat really, so it's not a problem with me... But even I don't risk learning and awakening many types of 'inner powers' left and right. I learned Nen that way, but the rest I waited for at least a card to assimilate." Hector explains
One of the reasons Hector decided to assist first-time characters like Tsunade and the others instead of trying to replicate the Nen method. So that the different energies in his body didn't clash.
"But we learned from you... Haki, Nen, Chi..." Saeko nods, understanding.
"Yes. Maybe will not be so bad, many of these powers are a derivate of the same thing... Vitality, mental power, aura... These things everyone has." He shrugs "But who knows? There are some worlds of martial arts that people train many types of Qi. Murim, they called themselves... Fire Qi, Peach Blossom Qi, Virtuos Qi, Sword Qi, etc, etc. They can die if they mix different types of Qi. And pay attention that is on the same world, imagine different Power Systems from different Universes?? Cultivation Systems?"
They nod at him.
He continues "Haki is very useful and Nen very versatile. They are good starting disciplines. Don't worry, I will help you guys in the future or simply give you a card... By the way, are you focusing on Hamon?" He asks them
"A little..." Saeko says
Cassandra raises her hand to show a yellow aura around her hand.
"Not that appealing to use with a sword?" Hector asks Saeko after patting Cassandra's head.
Saeko nods.
"I can understand, learning swordsmanship here in this universe must be more interesting. I just remembered that the Universe where the Breathing Techniques originated is very similar to the universe where Hamon originated. So maybe, Hamon is not that different from the Sun Breathing and maybe you can learn it if you study Hamon. Just saying." Hector explains.
Saeko nods and puts more thought into it.
"Now Saeko you must have understood the ridiculous of the swordsmanship here. Even without Haki, they can send Flying Slashes."
"Yes, converging their own vitality/stamina in some sort of Sword aura. With time and training, they can exteriorize it." Saeko comments. "It's similar to Nen, but not as versatile."
"As expected. I think those things come from your lifestyle, you know?"
"How so?"
"Like... Everyone has stamina and vitality to use, but the ones that can use these with swords dedicated themselves to that. Trained a lot. I think not even Roger can give a Slash that can cleanly cut a mountain like Mihawk."
He continues "It's like your actions, dedication, and state of mind creates a seed that allows you to transform that inner energy in Sword Qi. There are similar examples in the Cultivation worlds and Murim worlds. Train on volcanos to have fire Qi, be a Buddha to use their techniques, etc, etc."
'Well, there are exceptions, normally the bullshit MCs that can do everything without specializing in anything. Oh, wait. That's me.' Hector thinks
"Let me give you an example about this whole Lifestyle --> Fight style thing..." Hector sits down "You know, I killed a lot of people... Like dozens of thousands." Hector confess
"..."
"So beyond all the guilt and all that jazz, I can use these experiences to convert in killing intent and use it on a technique and even on magic." Hector says
To illustrate it Hector's gaze suddenly hardens.
"!!" Cassandra and Saeko instantly felt shivers. The air appears to solidify and is a little hard to breathe.
At a distance is possible to see Birds flying away. Beasts roar and if they pay attention, some sea creatures create waves as they change routes in fear.
Hector's gaze goes back to normal and everything follows suit.
"See... I didn't use Conqueror's or Ren. Only Killing Intent... In some Cultivation/Murim worlds, people really go on the path of Slaughter to cultivate. Massacring millions of people to sharpen themselves." Hector says, a strange look on his face while he remembers something
.......
Little Flashback
Hector's Inner World.
Hector's mental projection walks through the vast expanse of still water before he suddenly sinks into this sea of consciousness.
He is coming to organize his mind and meditate, to get himself closer to his own assimilations.
While his body sinks, an uncountable number of specters swim around him and start attacking him like hungry ghosts.
"..." Hector remains unfazed while they pull his hair, and clothes and try to claw his flesh out of his bones. "Sometimes sucks to have a good memory..." He comments while a specter grabs his cheek with a hand.
They can't hurt him.
In truth, they are his second line of defense in his mind.
And they're formed by the memories of all the people he killed.
He looks around, recognizing Every one of them. There are even some fragments of the Wills of people from whom he stole the powers.
"Enough!" He finally says while frowning and the specters disperse like a shockwave hit them.
"I only let you guys exist because you all can be useful in the future." He comments before continuing to sink, reaching the depths of his mind.
When creating a mental mindscape, using things directly related to you is Always the best option.
Emma Frost probably has a Diamond Palace on her mind. Jean must, or will have flames.
Even using things like your phobias a mental constructs to defend yourself is useful. Clowns, Spiders... Whatever.
So Hector uses these memories of dead people as a second line of defense. Remembering that the first line is simply a ridiculously large area to tire the intruder.
.........
Back to Hector, Saeko, and Cassandra
"It's useful in magic too, you know?" Hector says "Certain spells can be empowered by blood, killing intent, resentment..." He comments.
If one day he wants, he can use these specters as fuel for some dark magic.
"I explained to you guys about Intent and Will while teaching about Haki. Remember that is easy to bring these things when you lived it yourself... Someone who has never killed anyone can have the Killing Intent because he can have the 'intention to kill' but will be ridiculously weak compared to someone who lived through the experience... The same with a sword... Someone that has a strong desire, a dream even to be a great swordsman, can have Sword Qi even if he never touched a sword, but if compared with someone that swings his training sword every day..." Hector trails off and doesn't conclude.
He remembers of Zoro's childhood while it.
"It's the whole Talent vs. hard work again..." He sighs "I bet some innocent child out there must have the talent to be an incredible assassin even without having killed anyone. But without the Will and Intent... Will remains only as an untouched potential. This is an example. Maybe Tsukasa will unlock the Cooking Intent... heh. There's a world where good cooks can hear the Voice of Ingredients. Your experiences and will mold your path."
"..." He let them think about it
"By the way, do you guys know that Taboos can taint your soul and you can weaponize it too? Taboos can come from the World and from yourself... Let me explain." Hector moves to the next part of the lesson "You really need to live with a clear conscience to progress..."
[To be continued...?]
....
A.N.: Hello again
Then we have it... Halfway through writing this fanfic I noticed the difficult in "balance" a Multiverse fanfic.
I talked about in the past, how an "absolute power" in a universe won't necessarily be absolute. Giving an example of a lightsaber versus Captain America Shield.
It's the whole "unstoppable force against an unmovable object"
In this chapter, you guys can see my take on this question. I think I can make a somewhat fair power scaling. I doubt that will please everyone. Many people ahs their own headcanons. It's okay.
Just keep in mind that is my take.
If you want to give your own opinion about the subject, feel free to do so.
Damn, I really need to make a discord. Sincerely, I didn't expect the fanfic to get this complex.
First-time writer, after all.
This brings me back to some comments in the past. About the "unnecessary" act of giving my MC Power Manipulation when he already has the Gacha.
You know? I thought thrice about it before the travel to the Hero Academia world. I thought about the pros and cons, about the difficulties that will be created in writing...
And decided to go for it nonetheless. Why? Because that would be something I would do. So what people will not like? Too overpowered? Lost the way?
Whatever... I will treat it as a challenge to myself. Try to keep the story interesting even with a really OP MC. I hope I'm doing okay. Let's enjoy the ride.
And... It's Marvel. The universe has a big power ceiling. And even if he became too OP, I can end the story and makes spin-offs in other universes. Damn, maybe I'm good in this writing thing.
Anyway, before you guys ask... There will be the true chapter this week yet. This is a extra.
Bye, till next time.