One Piece: Path to Power

Chapter 163: [163] Through the Abyss

[3865 words]

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"I take it you have your own way out of here, monstrous kid?" a hoarse voice broke out. Its heaviness began dulling the evening sun from the danger hidden within.

"I see you have a destination in mind," Damien glanced at Mors.

The towering monster from two eras ago returned a vicious smile. The bloodlust running through his veins throbbed in hunger, reflecting in his maddened eyes.

"Marineford," he spat.

Damien met the Bloodspawn's gaze, feeling the awakened insanity and bloodthirst radiating out from his body like tendrils of dark red.

>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<

[Zenora Mors]

[Height: 22' 7"] (6.9 m)

[Devil Fruit: Blood-Blood Fruit (Complete Grandmastery)]

[Fruit Rating: 6.5 Stars]

[Skills: Eternal Figures of War, Primitive Rokushiki, Son of Slaughter]

[Haki: Intermediate Mastery of Observation Haki, Intermediate Mastery of Armament Haki, Grandmastery (II) of Conqueror's Haki]

[Strength: Top Tier Yonko]

-----

[Son of Slaughter: Convert wrath and pain into Conqueror's Haki.]

>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<

'He's long gone into slaughter. Those Figures of War lead him only to mayhem.' Damien didn't comment on the Warborn's mind state and reminded him, "Don't forget our deal."

Mors grumbled, walking to the far edge of the wooden platform. Every step was a recollection of years of slaughter, finally reignited after three decades.

"Don't worry, I have no plans on dying there," he reassured, looking to the infinite skies. "I just want to test out the new batch of elite marines…"

"!!!" His eyes locked onto a group of birds high above. 

One such avian had a small cut on its face, just above the beak—a fresh wound. 

Mors suddenly exploded into a surge of fresh blood, squirming through the air and entering the bird's bloodstream. 

The feathered creature gave another cry before turning its flight toward the distant Navy Headquarters.

.

The only female escapee was also breathing in her liberation.

"I will repay this debt, Einar D. Damien," Herja softly spoke. Her whitened eyes carried grace, falling onto the figure of the mastermind of their escape.

>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<

[Odinsdottir Herja]

[Age: 38 years, 7 months, 11 days]

[Height: 8' 6"] (2.59 m)

[Devil Fruit: Faith-Faith Fruit (Grandmastery (II))]

[Fruit Rating: 6 Stars]

[Skills: Grace of the Valkyrie, Beauty of Aphrodite]

[Haki: Intermediate Mastery of Observation Haki, Intermediate Mastery of Armament Haki, Advanced Mastery of Conqueror's Haki]

[Strength: Middle Tier Yonko]

>=-=----[]---<>---[]---=-=<

Damien removed the stats overview and bid farewell: "Until we meet again, Fallen Angel."

The woman gave Damien a slow, assessing look, her lips quirking in a curious half-smile. "Einar D. Damien," she said, almost to herself. "For a man pirate, you are... surprisingly tolerable." 

"I shall visit G-1 to buy you time for whatever it is you seek," She offered before shooting to the sky with a powerful beat of her angelic wings, leaving a shimmering trail in her wake.

"…"

"And then there were three," Ares said, walking up and beside his son. 

"I take it that we're borrowing those warships?"

Damien returned a grin fit for a pirate before strolling toward the vessel with hundreds of knocked-out soldiers. Just like that, the trio had begun sailing beyond Impel Down.

…

"Hmm? You actually want to enter the Tarai Current?" Ares asked, picking up the direction the ship was headed.

The Tarai Current was a giant spiral ocean current that flowed between and connected the World Government's three major facilities in the first half of the Grand Line; the judicial island Enies Lobby, the underwater prison Impel Down, and the Marine Headquarters Marineford.

It was caused by the Gates of Justice redirecting the water currents, locking it within a triangle.

[Tarai Current Image (in Discord)]

.

"It is a shortcut to where I want to go…"

Kraft stood to Damien's left on the ship's deck. "The only way to enter the Current is by opening the Gates of Justice that hold entry to Impel Down," he murmured.

The shipwright's breath was taken away as the gate in question was in view. It stood over a thousand meters tall, boasting the World Government logo and eclipsing each of the three significant facilities they protected.

"What an engineering marvel," Kraft breathed, gulping in surprise.

Damien nodded, looking at the semi-circle-shaped gate stretching to the heavens. "I wonder how many years it took to piece this mammoth together…"

[Gate Image (in Discord)]

The gate to Impel Down was closed, disallowing both entry and exit and prompting Ares' question: "Is that why you took a detour before we went to meet up with the others on Crimson Hell?"

Damien smirked, raising a hand with three fingers up: "And three… two… one…"

At his command, the colossal gate that was a beacon of World Government authority gave a resounding creak before opening up as if to embrace the incoming warship.

…

Kraft was still without words, absently watching the elephantine gates welcome them to the Tarai Current; Ares was more speculative: "Now, the only way to exit the Current is if you open the Gates of Justice of your desired exit point."

Damien hummed, feeling the warship being sucked into the grasp of the current while the gate behind them was closing.

If they fail to open another gate, the ship will perpetually spin in the Tarai Current and be unable to exit!

"As fun as raiding Marineford sounds," Damien aired his intentions. "I really see no benefit in doing so."

"So your goal is Enies Lobby," Ares finished.

And so they did.

…

The beauty of the Tarai Current was that it reduced the time it took to travel from facility to facility to less than an hour! 

Damien's goal was beyond Enies Lobby, but a thirty-minute trip to Enies Lobby was akin to saving three to four days.

…

[Thirty Minutes Later]

"The time and manpower it would need to construct these gates is beyond sense," Kraft shook his head, still taken aback by the sheer size of the gate—this one leading to the judicial island of Enies Lobby. "I have a damning thought that a lot of slaves died to make this…"

Damien couldn't help but agree, but right now wasn't the time to debate such things.

They had sailed to the edge of the Tarai Current with nothing but the humongous Gate of Justice blocking their way.

"How do you intend on opening that…?" Ares grumbled, somewhat annoyed by the hood he was forced to wear.

Damien, however, wasn't as stumped: "There's only one polite way to ask for entry."

*Knock* *Knock*

The kind pirate's knocking was not answered. 

"How rude," he sighed, taking out a transponder snail.

The other two watched with both curiosity and confusion as they heard the nostalgic dialling sound.

"Puru," "Puru," "Puru." 

"Katcha~!"

"Damien!? Y-You're okay!" a woman's voice burst out from the snail. The pirate lightly smiled at the phone with purple hair and tearful eyes. "I really want to punch you for not telling me what you were up to!"

Ares' brows furrowed as he cupped his chin. He watched as his son calmed the woman across the line: "Oh, that… Well, I think you know why."

Aurora, on the other side of the call, was glaring right into the eyes of the snail, her face scrunched up. 

Although annoyed and worried, she knew she probably would have done something reckless if Damien had confided in her.

"...Fine! But… are you coming home now?"

The pirate picked up the longing in her voice, even the slight tremble in the words. 

With a light sigh, he shook his head. "I need to swing by one place. I'll be back in a week or so."

Aurora shut her eyes, stabilizing her thoughts.

The Underworld Empress knew that Damien wouldn't be calling just to give a heads-up…

A moment later, she opened them again to reveal a calm pair of amethyst pupils. "What do you need me to do?"

The alter ego of Fulcrum was fully active, earning a nod from the Sin Incarnate. 

"Have your spies open the Gates of Justice at Enies Lobby."

The phone paused for a second before replying, "Okay."

Her firm words were followed by a dull roar through the Current.

Kraft ran to the edge of the deck, seeing the gates once shaking and slowly opening. Next was the bright light from the evening sun, forcing Kraft to flinch.

"And Rora," Damien softly spoke to the snail while watching the door grant them exit. "This will be the last time."

"...Come back safe."

"Katcha~!"

.

The Gate of Justice to Enies Lobby opened to allow them to leave, but it also raised some questions in Ares.

"Heh, I take it that was one of them?"

Damien pocketed the invincible transponder snail as he heard the distant alarms of the judicial island. "Yep. You'll have to wait a bit to meet her, though."

The War God chuckled, walking up to the ship's bow. "There's gotta be at least five thousand of them here."

But his grin flipped into a frown: "What a weak batch of soldiers, even those two giants."

"Rahaha! The God Valley Incident ate up all the elites of the era."

Damien narrowed in on the mighty island that decided the fate of prisoners. It was an island hovering over the middle of an endless abyss, reachable only by two bridges. The Tower of Justice dominated the horizon with its authoritative build.

"Justice, was it?" There was disdain in his voice.

With a wave of his hand, the Thirteenth Blade Ryushi appeared, quickly trembling in impatience.

"Bring down that tower," he whispered to the blade before tossing it through the skies.

*Vooosh!*

The screeching winds tore the atmosphere open. Thousands of eyes watched in shock as they saw the mighty weapon rocket toward the Tower of Justice with a crimson trail.

BOOOOOOM!

Enies Lobby was suddenly shaken by an earthquake, and a giant dust cloud exploded into the air, raining debris down.

"This ought to give Kong something to rip his hair out for…"

Damien wasn't done. He linked across the seas with Ryushi as an anchor. His infernal grasp stretched across the alarmed base.

"It's no fun bullying these guys, so I'll make it quick…"

*Snap*

With the snap of a finger, the endless red particles held onto the tower's remains. They pulsed and bubbled to their master's will, forming a red cube.

.

"Atomic Remodeling: Magnum Opus."

.

The cube shattered with harrowing sounds, unleashing a god-forbidden seismic event that spanned dozens of meters, bringing about colours and spectacles the mind could not imagine!

The sky was flooded with a mix of red, green, blue, black, white, and purple, turning the day into a beautiful hell.

The thousands of marines could only utter pathetic wails as the increasingly magnificent surge of energy that coursed through Enies Lobby swallowed everything around them. The Courthouse and the Courtyard disintegrated and then integrated into the burst of energy, spreading for tens of kilometers.

*Vzzzz* The air screamed, the seas quaked, and the sky trembled as the masterpiece left nothing but shredded land, turning the Judicial Island into a morbid canvas. 

"S-Should we fire back?" a marine uttered.

His superior, a Rear Admiral, slapped him upside the head, "You idiot! Whoever it is, he literally terraformed one of the Three Beacons of Marine Supremacy, and you want to take him on!"

The words left the recruit and others nearby in silence.

The Rear Admiral glanced at the distant ship carrying the three men. They were too far away to identify.

"I thought it was nonsense, but there are some pirates who won't take life if you don't get in their way…"

A quick scan would unveil five thousand living soldiers. Nearly every one of them was knocked out from the infused Haki, but they were alive.

…

"Although it reminds me of Endou a little too much… As expected of my son, Ruhahahaha!" The proud laughter boomed across the dull wastes of Enies Lobby, creating quite the contrast.

"But you know, I kinda wanted to stretch my muscles too!"

Damien rolled his eyes, looking at his father from head to toe. "Your body is holding on by the skin of your teeth. Just keep that hood on. I don't need Endou disturbing us because he saw your wrinkly face."

Ares scoffed, crossing his arms but remaining under the hood of his shroud.

Kraft also woke up from his reverie. With a shaky voice, he asked, "W-Weren't you trying not to bring attention to yourself?"

"Attacking Marineford and remodelling Enies Lobby are two different things. Trust me, this island is more about traditions than anything."

Damien shook his head at the superficial justice this island held while bringing out his right palm.

With another poof, a log pose was taken out.

"The needle is frozen, an Eternal Pose," Kraft quickly surmised. He looked up to his Captain in curiosity.

With some calculations in his mind, the shipwright aired a thought, "The needle points toward the Red Line but is biased toward the right…" A world map appeared in Kraft's mind as he connected the dots, "Somewhere in the West Blue?"

Damien slowly nodded, recalling the fateful location that remained a topic of today across every island with intelligence.

"Our destination is the ruins of God Valley!"

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While those responsible for the hell wrought on Impel Down were unknowingly sailing back to the fateful island, the third central government facility was facing its own terrors…

…

[Marineford]

The atmosphere at the Marine Headquarters was booming with pride. In the past couple of weeks, an Advent of Justice has begun!

It took place with Admiral Sengoku, Admiral Candidate Zephyr, and Vice Admiral Garp blazing their way through the New World, pummeling down any sparks of piracy. 

.

"Very good, you three did well," a joyous Kong talked to his snail. 

He was holding a conference call with the three top Marines on the receiving end. "Kongogogogo! Garp, your brat, you've finally done some good in your life!"

The snail shifted to the face of the jolly Garp, who was munching away at his crackers. "Bwahahahaha! Kong-san, since you want to give me a raise so badly, I'll reluctantly accept."

'When did I ever mention a raise?' Kong blinked.

But considering Garp recent actions of chasing down Silver Rayleigh into hiding and pushing back Charlotte Linlin to the confines of Totto Land, a raise was indeed due. 

.

"What about you two?" The Fleet Admiral questioned. 

The phone warped into the face of an afroed man with glasses. "Kong-san, I did find Shiki with the help of Ginrou, but that bastard got away, flying to the clouds and disappearing ever since."

Kong nodded, not overly concerned about the Golden Lion. 

Now, it was Zephyr's turn to speak. 

"I couldn't locate Redfield, Fleet Admiral. But I did have a run-in with Vitalius Shaw," he informed. 

Kong's eyes widened at the intel. "Shaw? He's just as aloof as Redfield. What did he want?"

The snail answered swiftly. "…He wanted saké, the same kind we supply to the Celestial Dragons."

The answer left Kong somewhat confused. 

"That pirate… he's hailed as a Level One Threat yet never acts like one. Go ahead and grant his wishes," Kong ordered. 

"Yes, sir."

[A/N: Vitalius Shaw's name was revealed back in Chapter 65 as a wielder of a Supreme Blade.]

.

Suddenly, the doors to the Fleet Admiral's office were busted open with a bang.

Hakuchō Asahi, the Director of the MCIS, rushed in with a look of dread etched on his face. "Fleet Admiral, it's not looking good! We've lost contact with both Enies Lobby, Impel Down and G-1!"

"""What!?"""

The snail was just as shocked, combining the surprise of the three other men on the phone with a single look of utter disbelief.

Asahi wasn't done: "We were able to connect with a feed at the Judicial Island. It's all gone; there's nothing left of Enies Lobby!" he grimly stated. 

Kong shot up from his seat, anger pulsating in his face. Black smoke coiled around his burly body, shaking the air in the room.

BOOOOM!

Suddenly, the very foundation of the headquarters began to shake as if hit by an earthquake. 

"What now!?" 

Kong and Asahi went to the wide window and saw something truly terrifying. 

Dozens of marine warships stood across Marineford Bay, opening a volley of cannonballs without mercy. Hundreds of canons plastered as defense were also aiming at the HQ, unloading fire onto the mighty walls. 

Thousands of officers below moved robotically. Their faces were struck with panic as they pulled the trigger of their guns and rockets. 

Boom! *Rumble*

The incessant fire left Marineford in tatters as it broke apart, raining debris below. 

"Some sort of conspiracy?" Asahi muttered, unsure how so many marines would suddenly open fire at their Headquarters. 

"No," Kong shook his head. "I've seen this power once before… something terrible must have happened at Impel Down!!!"

"Fleet Admiral, should I turn the ship?" Sengoku's voice echoed out from the snail. 

Kong turned gloomy, his metal arm crunching up with such strength that it was sparking the air. "All three of you pull back. We need more intel on the situation at hand… our Justice cannot be challenged any further!" 

He threw off his marine coat, narrowing in at the ginormous pirate standing at the base of Marineford.

Those infernal tribal marks with the colour of blood.

Zenora Mors. Thirty years after his capture, his tales remained active in Kong's mind.

Kong tore past the window, rushing to the escapee, distraught.

"Morarara! Let me see how tough the new Fleet Admiral is!"

Mors let out a guttural roar as his body twisted and expanded, crimson blood surging from within and coating him like armour. The blood pulsed and thickened, morphing into powerful, muscular limbs as it cascaded down his frame in a torrent of dark red. With each heartbeat, his form grew more menacing, tendrils of blood whipped around him, exuding a monstrous aura of raw, malevolent power.

A monster known as the Bloodspawn, a tormentor of the seas.

[Bloodspawn Image (in Discord)]

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Hell continued at each of the government's three government facilities. All the while, a lone marine warship made its way through Fishman Island into the Calm Belt and entered West Blue in a matter of a few days.

…

As they neared the site, Kraft sensed a shift in the atmosphere, like stepping into a realm woven with shadows and echoes of the past. This wasn't just an island—it was a graveyard of ambition, an open wound in the fabric of history.

A chill ran down the sniper's spine as he took in the unholy sight.

The clouds were in constant shock, echoing with dull tremors as if the heavens themselves had trauma from the past. Random bellowing tides were born every few moments to the point where no Sea Kings were bold enough to swim. 

Black lightning occasionally arced through the heavy air, sparking the region with ominous tension.

"I thought we came to an island…" Kraft muttered.

Damien stood nearby, arms crossed. "We did," he hummed, spanning his Haki. "God Valley. Where'd it go?"

'Whatever special life that flowed through God Valley, keeping it mainly intact during the war… it's gone too!'

The entire island had disappeared!

All that remained were shaken seas and hellish gusts. Though it seemed like the usual Grand Line weather, it wasn't far worse than that. It was simply unsettling to see nothing where something should be.

The only reason the Eternal Pose could lock onto the location was from the ruins of the previous war at the bottom of the sea.

"Hmm?" Damien frowned, peering at the seas. 

"What's wrong?" Ares questioned. 

"I hear two familiar voices coming from down below…" He gazed into the endless depths of the ocean, "Stay here. I'll be back soon."

Without waiting for any response, Damien jumped ship and into the sea, disappearing down below in a splash.

"He'll sink!?" Kraft thundered, staring at the bubbling waters. Ares, however, was a little more acclimated with his son's anomalous nature.

…

Damien only took a moment to reach the voice with his Fishman-Hybrid physique. 

He now stood afloat beyond the sea floor, gazing at a collection of ashes squirming in the shape of a man.

The body had lifeless eye sockets, gazing through the sea with a wild gaze. A feral smile etched through his fleshless jaws, laughing at the face of death. 

"!!" Suddenly, the depths of the ocean disappeared as Damien's mind was pulled somewhere else. The water was gone, and he was no longer at the bottom of the sea; rather, he stood in a pitch-black world. 

There was no light, heat, coldness, just perpetual gloom.

It was an otherworldly encounter, resembling Enigma's Mind World where he was forced to kill his own mother to escape.

And now, there was all but one man who could do all this…

Damien breathed, putting two and two together, "So you're still clinging to life, Xebec."

"Xahahaha! So you've come."

The figure of the monstrous Rocks appeared, standing in full glory in front of the younger pirate. Nothing but darkness around them.

"This place," Damien muttered. "It should be linked to your Awakening…"

Rocks gave a wild smirk, "Not only that, my Awakening also allows me to escape death in a way, reanimating myself beyond it."

The knowledge left Damien shocked. "So why not do it?"

"Xahaha!" the Abyssal Sin laughed with fury. "I lost once already; fate will keep it that way."

"..." 

The two glared at one another before Damien finally spoke up, "You were expecting me?"

Rocks exploded into another laugh, spit flying out of his cracked mouth. "Of course, after all, I know you better than you know yourself!"

The man ignored Damien's undisguised gaze and continued to speak. 

He pointed out a bony finger with accusation. "Your ambition is truly vast, equal to my own. Even with all the pirates under me, only you ever reminded me of my younger years!"

Damien crossed his arms, unfazed. "I'm not anything like you."

"Xahahahaha! Whether you accept it or not, you're exactly like me, boy!"

"You're willing to tear down the world to reach the height of strength, ready to challenge the majesty of the World Government to realize your ambition!"

The crazed eyes of the evil pirate were deadlocked onto Damien, peering into his soul. "I first knew it when you killed those Dragons at Sabaody Archipelago. Then you had your little puppet Fulcrum grab the Underworld with one hand and grab the News Agency with the other."

Such revelations weren't that surprising to the younger pirate, but what Xebec said next left him in pure shock.

Rocks' gaze swept over Damien, taking in every detail from head to toe. His lips curled into a wicked smile as he sensed the powerful, churning Conqueror's Haki radiating from the young pirate, brimming with ambition and raw potential. He lingered on the confidence blazing in Damien's eyes—a confidence that defied fate itself.

A low, sinister chuckle escaped him. "Hmm, I can feel it—the same hunger, that same defiance... Seeing you now, I couldn't be more pleased that I sent that little Mafia family to burn Renaissance to the ground!"

To Be Continued…

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Author's Corner.

While hell hits the world, the dark hand behind the curtain of what set Damien's journey in place has finally been revealed.

Images are available on Discord alongside other niche details: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q