In the ensuing days, peace reigned.
Genichi had largely finished dealing with his affairs and was content to let things develop naturally. He had discovered something intriguing.
Recently, Machima stumbled upon an astonishing revelation after extensive reading of the World Government's archives and Vegapunk's research.
The origin of the Devil Fruits, the most important power system in the One Piece world!
When Genichi first crossed into this world, One Piece had only updated to the defeat of Kaido. He wasn't familiar with the story beyond that point, but he had spent many years in the One Piece world since then. By now, he might know more than Oda himself.
After all, as a manga artist, Oda couldn't possibly create an entire world in detail. He could decide the overall direction, the characters, and the power levels, but he couldn't know every detail of this world.
There are certainly far more unseen characters than those who appear on screen!
Even though the characters that appear are important, there might be even more knowledge contained in the unseen elements.
Through his analysis of the Devil Fruits, Genichi had recently discovered something fascinating.
Devil Fruits are a manifestation of human desires. To draw a parallel, it's akin to his ability to collect emotions.
Genichi can collect people's emotions toward him, while Devil Fruits are miracles born from people's intense desires. For example, an enslaved person's yearning for freedom resulted in the creation of the "Mythical Zoan: Nika Fruit."
This is similar to Machima, who was born from humanity's fear of domination. The machine embodies the fear of control, and Devil Fruits works similarly. This also explains why the Magma-Magma Fruit is much stronger than the Flame-Flame Fruit.
In ancient people's minds, the power of a volcanic eruption far exceeded that of mere fire. Many places in the One Piece world have experienced volcanic eruptions, instilling a greater fear of volcanoes or a desire to control volcanic power, thus creating the Magma-Magma Fruit.
As for the scientific argument that magma can only reach a few thousand degrees while fire can reach millions of degrees...
You talk about science, and I want to laugh.jpg
Talking about science in a fantasy world is simply absurd. Looking for reality in fictional works is always problematic.jpg
In short, in the One Piece world, people's desires, beliefs, emotions, and other psychological aspects combine to form Devil Fruits. However, because this power is so unnatural, it is rejected by the sea, the mother of nature. Thus, seawater becomes the weakness of Devil Fruit users.
Genichi thought beyond what the people of the One Piece world did. After discovering this phenomenon, he related it to his abilities.
Even to this day, Genichi doesn't fully understand his abilities. But he was certain they weren't Devil Fruits because he could swim. Since the essence of both was similar, he began to draw comparisons.
In the world of Devil Fruits, there's a stage known as 'Awakening,' which grants users even greater power and new abilities. The condition for this awakening is 'for one's mind and body to catch up with their ability.'
So...
What happens if the mind and body fail to catch up with the ability?
Consider Kaido's question to Luffy during their battle: 'Who are you right now?'
It implies that aside from catching up with their ability, there's a terrifying way to awaken—letting the ability override the mind and body, allowing the Devil Fruit's desires to take over!
Think about it. Devil Fruits are a concentration of wishes, embodying the desires of countless people. When someone eats a Devil Fruit, they essentially ingest numerous wishes. Wouldn't these wishes influence the person?
Of course they would!
This reminded Genichi of a novel he had read. In that story, some potions granted extraordinary abilities. If one didn't properly assimilate the potion before using its power, the mental imprints within could take over, leading to loss of control or even possession.
Only by fully assimilating the potion could one safely use the abilities and become stronger than those who hadn't.
Comparing the two, it would be like this:
Taking the potion = Eating a Devil Fruit
Assimilating the potion = One's mind and body catching up with the ability
Fully assimilating the potion = One's mind and body catching up to the point of awakening
So what about Genichi?
Genichi's ability worked the same way, absorbing the immense desires of humanity.
Could these desires end up controlling him?
Genichi pondered deeply and realized that he had undergone many changes since arriving in this world. He had become increasingly detached, a change he had previously attributed to gaining more power. But now, he wondered if it was more than that.
Regardless of whether this danger was real, Genichi knew he needed to think deeply about it.
He had relied too heavily on his ability to enhance his strength through emotional values. All his current abilities came from drawing character cards or items created by emotional values.
Now that he understood this, Genichi needed to focus on self-improvement.
It might sound absurd, but abilities are his own, and their strength is his strength. So, Genichi wasn't talking about increasing his physical power but rather enhancing his mental fortitude.
Just as Devil Fruit users worked to match their minds and bodies to their abilities, he, too, needed to align his minds and bodies with his overwhelming powers. Even if the danger he envisioned didn't exist, it was still worth pursuing.
Until he achieved this, he planned to stop drawing cards for a while and let things develop naturally; he already had enough character cards.
This was the true reason for the current 'calm seas.'
Stopping card draws temporarily didn't mean he wouldn't use his existing powers.
While Genichi focused on mental and physical training, time flew by.
During this time, something happened.
Z's family was killed...
While Z was out on a mission, a pirate he had once captured but not killed took the lives of his family...