Sonia, codename: Dream.
Her ability? A pink mist that can erase or implant memories in others.
The moment Max heard her ability, it clicked. He had seen this woman before. Back in his world, he had watched an X-Men spin-off show. Sonia was in it, working with the Mutant Underground—a group that formed after the disappearance of the X-Men and the Brotherhood. They were led by Mutants like Thunderbird, Polaris, and Eclipse, working in the shadows to help others like them.
"Guess that means they haven't formed yet," Max thought.
At the moment, Sonia was just a runaway Mutant trying to survive. That meant he had met her before she became part of the Underground.
Sonia, who had been nervously watching Max, saw him stretch lazily before getting up.
"You took care of me for a whole day. Now it's your turn to rest. If nothing goes wrong, we'll leave here first thing in the morning," Max said casually.
Sonia frowned. "Wait, is that one of your powers? Some kind of… Mutant ability that lets you know things?"
Max smirked. "Something like that."
She clearly wanted to ask more, but exhaustion was winning. Her body was too drained from an entire day of stress and paranoia. As she hesitated, Max gave her a small nod, silently assuring her that she was safe.
With that, Sonia finally lay down on the makeshift bed, the warmth from Max's body heat still lingering on the fabric. Within minutes, she was fast asleep.
The cabin fell silent.
Max took this chance to analyze their situation.
The wooden house was basically an abandoned storage shed. That meant there had to be people living nearby. But judging by the dust and debris, no one had been here in a long time.
Pressing himself against the wall, Max peered through the cracks in the wood. A dense forest surrounded them—good cover if they needed to make a run for it.
"Alright, let's see what I can do."
He placed a hand on the wall.
I should be able to create a door here.
From what he remembered, the Door-Door Fruit allowed him to turn any surface into a doorway. In One Piece, the guy who originally had this ability used it for basic tricks—walking through walls, escaping easily, and sneaking into places. But Max knew this power had way more potential.
Taking a deep breath, he focused.
"Open."
With a soft whoosh, a door materialized on the wooden wall.
A perfect, human-sized door with a handle.
"Now that's sexy."
Grinning, Max gripped the handle and pulled it open.
Beyond the door was a strange, dark-green space. The real world was still visible, but it looked like a watery projection, rippling as if someone had dropped a stone into a pond.
"Let's see what's inside."
Stepping through, Max entered the strange space and pulled the door shut behind him.
The moment it closed, the wall returned to normal.
No marks. No traces.
It was as if the door had never existed.
Max turned to face Sonia, who was still sleeping on the floor. Curious, he called out:
"Sonia? Sonia!"
No response.
"Huh. Guess sound doesn't carry through dimensions."
He reached out to shake her shoulder—only for his hand to pass straight through her.
"Okay, that's freaky."
It was like he was a ghost. He existed in the same world, but in a separate layer of reality.
He took a deep breath. The air was fine, no different from outside. He could breathe normally, meaning he could stay in here as long as he wanted.
"A built-in safe house? Not bad."
Max tried creating a door inside this space.
Nothing.
"It's harder to open a door without a solid structure… So I can't just create a door anywhere in thin air. I need something to attach it to."
That was good to know.
Experimenting further, Max found a few more rules of his ability:
He had to physically walk to wherever he wanted to place a door. He couldn't just teleport instantly. Opening a door on a building took around three seconds. Opening one in thin air took longer—around five seconds—and wasn't always successful.
"So, no instant warping across the world… yet."
Despite that limitation, this power was damn useful.
If developed properly, it could be used for:
Sneaking into places. Evading capture. Stalking people (not that he was planning on it… but still). And, if he got good enough, maybe even creating doors inside people.
Now that would be terrifying.
Max smirked.
The possibilities were endless.
But for now, he needed to master the basics.
Over the next hour, Max practiced creating and closing doors.
He tried different styles—sliding doors, revolving doors, even a fancy-looking double door just for fun.
"Alright, now let's check out what's outside…"
With a snap of his fingers, a sliding door appeared on the wooden wall.
Max stepped out of the house, just as a flock of birds suddenly burst into the sky from the nearby trees.
Someone was coming.
Max's grin widened.
"Well, well… Looks like we've got company."
Without hesitation, he summoned a door in midair and slipped inside his personal dimension, vanishing without a trace.