Similar to Ace's, Linley's breakthrough caused an extremely large disturbance – the already chaotic energy in chaotic space turned even more chaotic, to the point where even Overgods would need to go all out just to survive the turbulence. Thankfully, he and Ace had the foresight to move to an isolated and secluded region of the void.
After making his breakthrough, Linley could finally sense the foreign and almost overly tyrannical energy slowly being absorbed by his body from outside of their universe. He could already vaguely sense from Ace that the power-up he would receive from this breakthrough would be unlike anything he had ever experienced before; even so, he had still ended up underestimating it, and that wasn't even taking into account the fact that his body was constantly absorbing that foreign energy to evolve – he had just broken through, but he already felt that he could destroy around a tenth of the entire universe with a mere wave of his hand.
Still, that wasn't what surprised him the most. Because of his incredible talent, he had always been able to sense the laws of the world with incredible clarity, but that was always limited to the Laws with which he had an affinity… but now, not only could he sense every single Law and Concept in existence, he could even sense all the techniques made by every existence in the universe, as well as the methods to improve said techniques as if the universe wasn't happy with the imperfections of said techniques.
Even without the use of external treasures, it would be simplicity in and of itself to turn even the least talented mortal in the universe into a supreme existence that stood at the apex of the universe alongside their overpowered friends and family members.
It was then that he understood the reason behind Ace's methods when training their children these last 18 years. Even though none of them had begun cultivating, the foundation Ace had helped them create was perfect. The moment they began cultivating, they would be able to do twice as much with half as much, even when compared to other top talents.
Speaking of Ace, as he turned to face this lifelong rival of his, Linley couldn't help but sigh. Now that he had broken through, Ace's eyes lit up with excitement as a burning battle intent soared out of him.
Linley would be lying if he said he didn't want to have a good battle with Ace, but not only was he very much aware that Ace was significantly stronger than him, having an 18-year head start to absorb the foreign energy, but more importantly, they had more important things to do first.
Ace couldn't help but snort, calling Linley a spoilsport under his breath before reaching out and grabbing hold of the void as though it were a physical material and giving it a seemingly gentle tug.
A wormhole of sorts was created by Ace's casual actions, and even though they had no idea where it led, with the strength they had at their disposal now, how could they be anything but confident in their ability to remain safe?
Without hesitation, Ace and Linley calmly strolled into the wormhole. Even though they were confident, they weren't arrogant. As they were venturing into unknown territory, both men had already drawn out their weapons, which, after being linked to them, had grown stronger proportionately to their breakthrough – as it stood, although there was technically no classification for the grade of their weapons, they had reached a level where they could slice through Overgod Artifacts with incomparable ease, even without their help.
When the duo reached the other side, they were instantly astounded by what they found. If anyone else were to appear there, they would find nothing. Technically speaking, there was no concept of space or time, and there were no laws of any sort. For most, just being in there would be tortuous on the mind, body, and soul, but Ace and Linley weren't just anybody – they were able to sense things others couldn't.
Firstly, this location was formed of the same foreign energy that was slowly being absorbed by their bodies, allowing them to evolve beyond what should be theoretically possible by every stretch of the imagination. Because of that, their transformation, which previously would've taken upwards of 100 years to complete, would now be complete in under a minute.
Still, that was secondary to them. Others may not be able to sense it, but both Linley and Ace could sense that hidden behind a small veil of energy, there were trillions upon trillions of worlds.
At their level, because of the raw power of their souls, there should be nothing that they couldn't compute almost instantaneously, but even after stretching their perception to its limits, they were unable to sense the number of worlds out there.
And the word "world" is subjective. Each "world" was technically its own plane of existence. Whilst some were only a single planet, others were like theirs in that they had multiple planets or planes of existence.
It was only after their bodies reached their limits of the mysterious energy and finished evolving that they were finally able to spread their perception over the entire span of this foreign multiverse. Even so, the planes of existence were near limitless and would have to be counted in the trillions as, technically, there was no number they knew of that even came close to the amount they could sense.
It was then that an old man materialised behind them. With their current senses, it was impossible that Ace and Linley would fail to sense him; the reason why they hadn't bothered to address him was first that they could sense that he didn't have any malicious intentions, secondly because they could feel that as powerful as he was, they were now no weaker than him, and finally because they were still reeling from the shock of what they had just found.
Understanding their shock, the old man merely smiled before introducing the foreign energy that had allowed them to evolve into their current forms. According to the old man, the energy technically didn't have a name, but he just called it Primordial Essence.
After finally regaining his bearings, Linley turned to face the man as he asked who he was. Again, the old man just smiled before explaining that technically, he didn't have a name as he didn't really have parents to name him, but depending on the "world" they went to, some referred to him simply as "God", whilst others "The Almighty".
Previously, he wouldn't have been able to understand how one could simply be born here, but with their final breakthrough, aside from the giant leap in raw power, they were also almost assaulted by a terrifying amount of information, all to do with how the multiverse worked, and even how they could go about creating a universe of their own if they wanted.
Linley couldn't help but turn to a specific universe behind the veil of Primordial Essence. Seeing that, the old man smiled and said, it's hard to believe that such a weak little planet was responsible for so much, wasn't it?
The universe that The Almighty was talking about was one he had named Prime, as it was the first universe ever created and was older than even he was.
Inside that universe, there were many different planets with all sorts of differing lifeforms and creatures, but of those planets, there was a particularly small and unassuming planet called Earth.
Like him and Ace, the most prominent lifeforms on Earth were humans, but unlike him and Ace, they were unable to cultivate, nor did they have any special powers. Instead, they relied on technological advances to get by.
Still, as weak as they were, it was because of them that The Almighty was born. As they had figured out, their universe was born by a freak accident they referred to as the Big Bang. Billions of years later, their planet, Earth, was finally formed, and millions of years after that, life forms started forming.
Whilst many believed that the first humans were created by God, the truth was that their race, along with all the other various races that they had yet to discover, was born from a long sequence of near-impossible coincidences, but as humans had a tendency to need to believe in a higher power, they began praying to a figure, who at first was very much a figment of their imagination. Still, the power of hope, or rather Faith, was an extremely powerful thing.
Their combined Faith was actually what allowed the God they all revered to be born.
At first, God was willing to simply act as the Lord and Saviour they all believed him to be, but after so long by himself, merely looking over the world became somewhat monotonous.
Although he continued to look after the humans, to pass the time, he also began creating other universes, each of which was based on the fictional worlds that various authors created over time, each of which was just as real as the Prime universe, even if they had originally started as a mere piece of Fiction.
As those worlds took shape, new authors would eventually arise in those worlds, causing him to create even more worlds. Eventually, it became like it is today – a multiverse filled with trillions upon trillions of universes.
As hard as it was to believe, when the truth was clearly displayed in front of you, it was impossible to ignore. Even so, there was still one thing Linley didn't understand.
With his newfound knowledge, Linley could see that Ace's reincarnation into his "Coiling Dragon Universe" was only possible thanks to The Almighty; without that, although Linley still would've risen to "similar heights," he would've only been able to become a "Universe Creator" within the shared Universe devised by the Author "I Eat Tomatoes."
He never would've known the true extent of the Multiverse. Not only that, but his and Ace's reaching their current level was only possible because The Almighty had actually gone out of his way to divide his true power equally with them.
His question was, why them? Or, more specifically, why Ace? He wasn't blind; he could tell that although The Almighty had taken a fancy to him as well, his primary focus was Ace.
In response, the old man looked off in the same direction as Ace. Following their line of sight, and with his knowledge of Ace's past, it wasn't hard to see that the world they were looking at was the world of One Piece.
The Almighty explained that, over the lengthy span of his existence, he had created an inconceivable amount of universes. Many of which, like the universe of Coiling Dragon, he had a soft spot for. Still, his favourite was the world of One Piece, a world and story actually created by an Earthling by the name of Eiichiro Oda.
There were many characters in that world that he had come to love, especially after watching the world develop in real life. Still, of those, the ones he had the biggest soft spots for were Roger and Rouge.
For various reasons, they ended up giving up so much to give their only son the best chance at a fair life. Unfortunately, due to Ace's immaturity, he ended up squandering that chance at life.
Whilst The Almighty also liked Ace, it wasn't the same as how he felt about his parents. After Roger and Rouge passed, he originally only intended to give them a chance to watch Ace live his life, but during a certain war which led to Ace's death, Roger and Rouge asked The Almighty if there was a way to allow their child a second chance at life.
Initially, The Almighty was prepared to reject, but Roger silently offered up his soul just so that Ace could be given a second chance. Seeing that resolve up close and personal stirred something in The Almighty. Ultimately, he agreed to Roger's request, which, in turn, led to things working out the way they did.
As for what made The Almighty decide to split his power with them instead of just allowing them to become ordinary Universe Creators, firstly, the achievement of defeating so many Overgods was a lot more difficult than Linley's original achievement of defeating a mere Chief Sovereign.
Still, the main reason was that watching Ace and Linley's adventure made him feel even more lonely. He wanted others to whom he could speak on a regular basis, so he decided not to interfere with Ace's trials in his world. If he failed, true death would await him, but if he succeeded…
Well, they now knew their reward!
Suddenly, without any warning, Ace, who was staring off silently at his former world, turned around and punched The Almighty with everything he could.
As they were all now equals, and Ace had the element of surprise on his side, The Almighty couldn't dodge, even if he wanted to. Still, even as he stood to his feet, he didn't appear to be angered by Ace's action. If anything, he was more amused as he noted aloud, "So this is what it feels like to be punched…"
As he looked back at Ace, he saw that instead of following up on his attack, Ace was instead bowing sincerely.
Ace explained that the punch was for making his former biological and adoptive father his sons without his permission, but more than anything, he was thankful for everything he had done for his family.
The Almighty didn't even get the chance to respond before he saw Ace turn back to the world of One Piece, staring at it absentmindedly.
He obviously didn't need to be told; he knew exactly what Ace was doing. He was scouring the world, watching everything that happened after his death in fast forward.
Seconds later, Ace suddenly roared with laughter as tears simultaneously fell from his eyes. He merely muttered, "So you actually did it, Luffy? I knew you would, little brother!"
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Author Note:
Thank you to all of you who followed my story to the end. I know that from book seven onwards, it was pretty rushed. Still, I tried to give it an ending that wasn't too forced – I hope you enjoyed it.
Now though, I'm glad to say that I can finally start working on my original story – a story I promise not to rush!
I promise to send you a message when I'm ready to start publishing that on Webnovel. Until then, happy reading! (=