Marcus scratched his head. Since the plot had already changed so much from the original story, he decided not to overthink it anymore. He'd cross that bridge when he came to it.
His gaze settled on Kira, who was looking shy and fidgeting in the consciousness space.
"Kira."
"Yes?"
"You just experienced me controlling your body back there. So... would it be okay if I tried controlling your body out in the real world?" Marcus finally asked what had been on his mind.
Kira's blush had already spread to the tips of her ears. She didn't say a word, just silently handed over control of her body without resistance.
Marcus felt his perspective shift. He looked down at his hands, they were no longer his own.
At the same time, a strange surge of power flooded into his mind. It was unlike anything he'd experienced before.
"So this is what Zoan-type Devil Fruit power feels like," he muttered to himself.
He stepped outside the consciousness space and back into his borrowed body.
On the deck, the moment Marcus appeared in Kira's body, his own physical form and Kira's eyes met.
It was a bizarre feeling, like he could control two bodies simultaneously. His original body felt like a mix between first-person and third-person perspective in a video game, something he could operate from a distance.
With just a thought, wings began sprouting from his back.
He immediately felt odd sensations throughout the borrowed body as it started to transform. Looking down, he realized Kira's body had shifted into a bird-like form.
"This is way harder to control than I expected."
After some quick adjustments and experimentation, he gradually became familiar with Kira's power. It wasn't just about imagination, it required knowledge of biology. The better you understood an animal's anatomy and physiology, the more efficiently you could transform.
This probably explained why Kira could never maintain multiple animal traits simultaneously. It was incredibly exhausting because she was essentially trying to force incompatible biological systems to work together.
It also explained why her body would undergo strange changes every time she added new animal features. It was like cramming both a bird's and a goat's internal organs into one body. On the surface it might look fine, but inside, the organs were a chaotic mess, struggling to function together and often working against each other, naturally draining stamina at a rapid pace.
His wings shifted and evolved as he concentrated.
"Kira, you don't need to limit yourself to imagining complete animals. Your fruit's power relies on imagination, you need to set it free," he said, speaking through her body.
In the next instant, Kira's form soared into the sky, wings beating powerfully.
"A bird's bones are hollow for a reason. If you're using human lungs, it's hard to breathe efficiently at high altitude. What you need to change are the internal organs, not just the external appearance."
As he spoke, the body became more compact and lightweight, optimized for flight.
"Now, combined with Geppo, let's see what speed looks like."
He grinned and unleashed his imagination fully.
In an instant, a sonic boom cracked across the sky. He modified the eyelids to form protective membranes over the eyes, so the intense wind pressure wouldn't cause damage during high-speed flight.
Kira's body vanished from sight, disappearing into the distance faster than the eye could follow.
The entire crew on the ship stood there stunned.
"What the hell?! Kira just flew away! That was insane!" Usopp stared blankly at the sky.
Kira could fly before, but only very slowly and awkwardly. Now, the speed was on a whole different level, like comparing a fighter jet to a paper airplane.
And it wasn't just the others who were shocked, Kira herself was amazed. It was still her body, but it was performing feats she couldn't even dream of achieving.
When Marcus returned to the deck, controlling Kira's transformed body, Luffy and Usopp were both staring in amazement.
Alvida was equally impressed. "When the hell did you learn Geppo?"
Marcus handed control back to Kira.
The moment she took over her own body again, she immediately collapsed to the deck, gasping heavily and trembling from exhaustion.
"Whoa!"
Marcus returned his consciousness to his own body, and that strange surge of Devil Fruit power vanished completely.
"Looks like I can't copy fruit abilities into my own body," he sighed, though he hadn't really expected it to work that way.
The other crew members quickly gathered around him, all talking at once.
"Marcus! You have this kind of ability too?! That's so unfair, I mean enviable... no wait! I... I also want to be controlled by—" Sanji blurted out, only to get smacked on the head by Nami before he could finish that thought.
His choice of words was just too inappropriate to bear.
Luffy immediately bounced over, eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Marcus! Let's fuse together!"
"This isn't fusion. It's more like soul possession, basically me controlling your body while you're still conscious. You sure you want that?"
But of course, Luffy didn't care about the details. He just wanted to experience something new and exciting.
Marcus decided to give it a try and see what would happen.
But that familiar sensation of being able to "enter" never appeared. No matter how hard he concentrated, there was no connection.
Luffy waited for several minutes, scratching his head.
"Is it not working?"
Marcus shook his head. "Seems like I can't possess you for some reason. Let me try someone else."
He walked over to Alvida, and immediately that familiar feeling of being able to enter surfaced again.
After the usual spinning sensation, Alvida appeared beside him in the white consciousness space.
"Oh? I'm surprised you chose me. So, do you want to play around in my body for a while?" Alvida looked at him with a mischievous smile.
She generously offered him control without any hesitation.
From the moment Marcus had entered her mind, she'd sensed it on some instinctive level. And if she wanted to, she could reclaim control at any time.
Marcus didn't hesitate, he took over immediately.
"Just as I thought. It works perfectly."
The voice was Alvida's, but everyone instantly understood that Marcus was the one speaking.
"Damn it! I'm so jealous..." Sanji lay on the ground with tears streaming down his face, and his resolve toward finding the Clear-Clear Fruit was starting to waver.
But Marcus didn't stay, he withdrew and moved on to his next test subject.
This time it was Zoro.
Soon enough, Zoro also found himself in the pure white consciousness space.
"Huh. So this is the space Kira was talking about?" He rubbed his chin, looking around at the vast emptiness.
"Looks like it works. Mind if I try controlling you?" Marcus asked.
Zoro remained silent but allowed him to take over.
Marcus drew the Wado Ichimonji from its sheath. But unlike with Devil Fruit powers, he didn't automatically gain any of Zoro's swordsmanship knowledge, so he couldn't use any of Zoro's techniques.
The others naturally noticed this limitation as well.
Next came Usopp and Sanji. Neither case was any different. Even with Sanji, despite his Germa genetic modifications, Marcus wasn't able to access those enhanced abilities. This was clearly different from Devil Fruits, whose powers could be developed through imagination and willpower.
Meanwhile, Luffy just watched as Marcus tested one crew member after another. Even Nami and Vivi eventually agreed to participate in the experiment.
He crouched alone in the corner, drawing circles in the deck with his finger.
"They're leaving me out..."
Right then, Luffy looked exactly like a pitiful kid being excluded from playground games at school.
Marcus returned to his own body and noticed Luffy's dejected state. "It's not personal, Luffy. Everyone else works fine, but for some reason I really can't enter your body."
Immediately, Luffy started rolling around on the deck.
Marcus felt a headache coming on.
"I swear, it's not that I don't want to try, it genuinely doesn't work with you." he sighed, attempting to explain.
"Alright, let's try one more time. But this time, don't resist at all, just focus completely on accepting me."
Luffy instantly sat upright, furrowing his brow and concentrating, as if he was straining really hard to open his mind.
Marcus once again activated his possession ability.
This time, he felt a faint pull, like there was finally some kind of connection.
"Oh? That's progress."
He pushed forward and tried to enter Luffy's consciousness.
But unlike with all the others, this attempt was completely different. Normally, after a smooth spinning sensation, he would slip right into someone's mind. But this time it was slow and heavy, like trying to wade through thick mud or molasses.
After struggling for quite a while, he finally managed to make it inside.
Luffy was just about to greet him excitedly in the consciousness space when, in the very next moment, Marcus was forcibly expelled from the white space, as if he had been shot out of a cannon.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Marcus felt dizzy and disoriented, his ears ringing. Strange, faint laughter seemed to echo around him from nowhere.
He shook his head to clear it and stood up slowly.
"I think I understand now... why it won't work on you."
He looked at Luffy, who stared back in total confusion.
"You all know the basic rule about Devil Fruits, right? That one person can never eat two Devil Fruits?"
Everyone nodded.
"Well, there's another explanation for that rule: each Devil Fruit houses a demon within it. And the demon inside Luffy's body is rejecting me from entering. No matter how much the host wants to accept me, the fruit's demon will never allow it."
"What?!"
Everyone was shocked.
"Wait, hold on," Alvida interrupted, looking confused. "If that's true, then what about Kira and me? We're both Devil Fruit users too, but you could possess us just fine."
Kira nodded, equally puzzled by Marcus' theory. After all, if every Devil Fruit contained a demon that would reject outside intrusion, then logically none of them should have been possessable.
Marcus looked around at the crew, realizing his explanation had created more questions than answers.
"There's another piece of common knowledge about Devil Fruits that might explain this. You all know about it, but probably never thought much about it."
"What's that?" Nami asked, leaning forward with interest.
"Fruit awakening."
The entire crew exchanged blank looks. Most of them had never even heard the term before.
Sanji took a long drag from his cigarette and stood up. "I've seen mentions of awakening in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, but there were very few records about it. What little I read suggested that awakening comes with serious risks, if you fail, you might lose your sanity completely, or even be permanently stuck in your transformed state."
Marcus wasn't surprised that Sanji knew something about this. Despite being unwelcome in the Vinsmoke family, the guy had always been an avid reader when it came to anything related to food, cooking, or Devil Fruits.
"That rumor about each Devil Fruit housing a demon? It actually comes from awakening attempts gone wrong."
"So that's where that story came from," Alvida said slowly, processing the information. "But that still doesn't answer my question, why were Kira and I fine while Luffy wasn't?"
Marcus grinned, finally ready to share the theory he'd been developing. "Here's what I think: if Devil Fruits really do contain demons, doesn't that suggest something else? That Devil Fruits don't just get chosen by people, they can also choose their users?"
The idea was so radical that everyone on deck fell silent.
Well, almost everyone. Vivi had a strange expression on her face, like she'd just remembered something important.
"That's impossible," Nami said, shaking her head. "A Devil Fruit is just an object. How could it have the ability to choose anything?"
But before Marcus could respond, Vivi spoke up quietly.
"Actually... it's not impossible."
All eyes turned to her, who suddenly looked uncomfortable with the attention.
"You all know I'm the princess of Arabasta, right? Then you should also know about our country's guardian beast."
Seeing their faces, she sighed and began explaining.
"This is knowledge that's only passed down to the kings of each generation. As the next in line for the throne, I've learned some details about our guardian. The creature that protects our kingdom is actually a Devil Fruit user, a Zoan type that's been bound to the royal family for centuries."
"Here's the interesting part: each time the host dies, the fruit's power doesn't just disappear or reappear randomly somewhere in the world. It chooses the next most loyal member of the royal bloodline to inherit it. Always someone who would die for Arabasta without hesitation."
The crew sat in silence. The idea sounded almost mystical, like something out of a fairy tale rather than the world of pirates and marines they knew.
"That's... that's all I know about it," she finished, looking embarrassed by the revelation.
The crew had no choice but to accept her explanation. It was the only thing that made any sense of Marcus' possession problems.
"So my fruit and Kira's never showed any signs of having a 'personality,' but Luffy's clearly does," Alvida mused, reaching over to poke and prod at Luffy's rubber body. "What makes his so different?"
Luffy himself was completely lost by the entire conversation, but he could definitely feel that strange sense of resistance Marcus had described. It was like something inside him was pushing against any attempt at intrusion.
Kira was studying Luffy.
Of course, Marcus knew exactly what had expelled him from Luffy's body, the legendary Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika. A Devil Fruit that had evaded the World Government for eight hundred years, constantly slipping through their fingers.
Something that extraordinary was bound to have unique properties.
But Marcus found himself wondering about something more disturbing. Was the Luffy sitting in front of him really... Luffy?
This question had actually been debated in his old world, especially after certain revelations about the true nature of Luffy's fruit. After all, Luffy had awakened his powers when he was literally on the brink of death during his fight with Kaido.
It was hard not to consider the possibility that at that moment, Luffy had actually died, and what revived in his body was Nika himself, simply carrying all of Luffy's memories and personality.
Another theory suggested that Luffy's cheerful, carefree personality might have been influenced by the Devil Fruit all along, subtle, gradual changes over the years that had shaped who he became.
There had even been analysis videos suggesting that early Luffy was actually quite clever beneath his simplicity, always unusually sharp and decisive at crucial moments. But as he developed his Devil Fruit powers further, he seemed to be shifting from "wise fool" to just... fool.
In a way, this could be evidence that Nika was slowly influencing him, perhaps even gradually taking over.
The proof? Just look at the Jailer Beasts in Impel Down, constantly drooling, basically functioning at the level of simpletons. And Luffy seemed to be showing similar trends as his powers grew stronger.
"Luffy," Marcus said carefully, "are you absolutely certain the fruit you ate was the Gum-Gum Fruit?"
Luffy nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Shanks told me that's what it was when I accidentally ate it."
"Sanji, in that Devil Fruit Encyclopedia you read, was there any mention of a Gum-Gum Fruit?"
Sanji shook his head while taking another drag from his cigarette. "No, but that's not unusual. There are countless Devil Fruit abilities in this world that have never been officially recorded. For example, Kira's Chimera Fruit isn't in any encyclopedia either."
He exhaled smoke slowly, thinking it over. "Besides, when I read it, I was still pretty young. The version I saw might not have been complete anyway."
"So you're suggesting that what Luffy ate might not actually be the Gum-Gum Fruit?" Nami asked.
Marcus nodded, then shrugged. "Like I said before, both Alvida and Kira work fine with my possession ability. So why would a Paramecia-type like the Gum-Gum Fruit be different? It makes me wonder if maybe the recorded name was wrong, or if this fruit is something special. Of course, it's also possible that Luffy has just developed his powers so much that he's already approaching awakening."
Everyone turned to stare at Luffy, trying to gauge whether he seemed like someone on the verge of a major power breakthrough.
"What's wrong?" Luffy asked, tilting his head.
"Nothing," Marcus said with a grin. "Just telling everyone how amazing you are."
"Really? I didn't know I was that amazing!"
Seeing Luffy's oblivious reaction, everyone's expressions turned awkward. If he was really approaching fruit awakening, he certainly didn't act like it. The kid could barely remember to tie his sandals most days.
They quickly moved past that topic.
"Since the Log Pose has finished recording, we should probably get ready to leave," Nami said, though she looked worried as she glanced at Vivi. "But the next island, according to what Miss All Sunday said, takes a full year to record properly. Are you sure that's okay?"
Vivi's expression grew complicated, but she remained silent. She wasn't stupid, she understood exactly what Igaram had been trying to communicate without words. The longer they took getting to Arabasta, the worse things would become for her people.
The rest of the crew stayed quiet as well.
Marcus, however, seemed completely unconcerned. "I might be able to speed up the Log Pose recording process."
"What?" Multiple crew members said at once.
"Normally it takes three days to record an island's magnetic field, right? But lately, hasn't it been taking only two days? That's probably my doing."
"Huh?" Usopp blinked in confusion.
Marcus explained his theory.
Everyone nodded along as he explained, though it was pretty obvious that about half of them didn't understand a word of what he was saying. That didn't stop them from pretending they were following his explanation perfectly.
"So theoretically, you could completely erase an island's magnetic signature from the Grand Line?" Nami asked.
"In theory, yeah. Though I'd probably need to dig pretty deep."
And so, they finally set sail once more, leaving behind the island.
On the shore, countless bounty hunters waved goodbye.
Marcus hadn't just left them a simple refuge. The shelter he'd constructed extended three levels underground, designed not only for hiding people but equipped with various survival facilities.
There were agricultural areas with rich soil, underground orchards, and even modified Minecraft plants, pumpkin vines, watermelon patches, and cantaloupe gardens.
With proper management, the three hundred or so people could live comfortably without ever going hungry.
"Such good people," Mr. 9 said wistfully, watching the Going Merry disappear over the horizon. "Hard to believe they're actually pirates."
"What's the matter? Regretting that you didn't chase after Vivi?" Miss Monday laughed as she clapped Mr. 9 on the shoulder hard enough to make him stagger.
Mr. 9 scratched his head with a laugh. "Haha, maybe a little. After all, that was Princess Vivi. We were partners for so long... I never expected it would end like this."