One Piece: Path to Power

Chapter 96: [96] Storming the Base (III)

[2600 words]

Had to fix some formatting errors from copy-paste if you see some missing comments.

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Basara had showcased a degree of an Admiral's strength, sending a mix of surprise and excitement to Damien.

The pirate then put out his left hand while the ring around the middle finger shone ominously.

The air was cut apart as torrents of air raged down to the marines below as the weapon was made clear.

"Allow me to render your little rocks to dust."

Basara narrowed his eyes upon the weapon in his adversary's hand, feeling the sharpness eerily familiar to some other blades he had gone against.

"Very well."

*Fwooo!* *Skrrrrr!*

Torrents were created from the charging landmasses, each bringing an apocalyptic spectacle with its advent.

Damien readied his Ryushi as the clawed blades exuded a mist so overwhelming that it was crushing the air to void.

Boom!

A sonic boom shattered the air as the Sin Incarnate rocketed forth—a madman charging at oncoming globs of earth!

He simply reined back his weapon and flowed strands of Ryuo toward it, slashing on the first collection of earth.

The mountainous structure visibly transferred force from one side to the other, rippling through its rocky body. The encircling ripple was then followed with a red checkered pattern before poofing into dust.

One down, the pirate continued toward the other gargantuan projectiles.

Boom!

BAM!

*Slash!*

*Rumble*

Kaboom!

One by one, the floating island-shakers were pulverized into microscopic particles, allowing the pirate to close the gap—opening a window to the Admiral except for one single giant boulder.

.

"Crimson Comet!"

.

Such were the words echoing in Basara's ears as a red shooting star thundered right through his final attack, too late for him to react.

A rather jaw-dropping display remained for the lucky survivors as they saw a flash of red in the sky crash at the floating Admiral.

A burst of air rippled through the base under the collision of vast Haki from both sides. Only for Basara to be shot back once more.

*Grrrrr!* A wide road of utter destruction followed the Admiral as he went rocketing back from the powerful attack and disappeared in a cloud of dust.

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[Research Facility, Marine Science Unit]

*Drip* *Drop*

Scarlet droplets slowly fell from a sharp blade.

Indra calmly walked through the facility, cutting down all the opposition. A dull alarm masked the massacre.

"Hmm?"

His eyes turned to the far side of the bunker, one away from the main research chamber. The scientists had scampered while alarms rang, leaving their subjects behind.

Indra had seen a plethora of guinea pigs. All types of animals, humanoids, and humans range from children to elderly.

Shing!

The famed blade sliced forward, cutting the thick doors into pieces and allowing the pirate entry.

"..."

The swordsman looked around and saw a single entity submerged in water, its pulse detected by the device at its side.

Indra examined the sleeping subject and saw some special features: stone skin, sharp canines poking out from his mouth, sporting a bald head.

The gentle hum of the blade resounded, slicing the glass tube with ease.

*Splash* The fluid spread across the concrete floor while the giant subject helplessly fell onto the floor.

.

Indra curiously watched as the research subject woke up, clawing at the wall to regain his balance.

He stood a solid four and a half meters tall (~14' 9"), his silver eyes locking onto his saviour.

"What exactly are you?"

The subject rubbed his bald head, recalling some distant memories. "Arai is from stone people, taken from home by Navy people."

Indra narrowed his eyes, tracing the towering subject's stone-like skin. He then found a few open pages left behind by the hurried researchers, detailing the study:

[Species: Stone People]

[Origin: Unnamed Island of the North Blue]

[Notable Characteristics: Born with durable skin with the same consistency as stone. They bear inborn strength superior to humans. They do not possess blood, rather their body breaks into rocks that, if placed together, can reform them. They have limited intelligence and a habit of speaking in the third person.]

[Research Notes: The World Government has shown interest in their characteristics, hoping to carry them into certain weapons in development. Subject Arai has also eaten a Devil Fruit, making it hard to extract the necessary genes to study.]

…

The man's words broke Indra from his reading, "Arai is angry."

"Let me find some things for you to break."

[Arai Image (in Discord)]

.

The pirate then made his way to the main research chamber, the one housing the Navy's greatest asset of experimentation.

The doors opened, allowing the two to enter.

"WORORORO! Looks like the party is outside."

The giant pirate glared at the two intruders, "Indra… That means that annoying guy Damien is also here."

The swordsman did not answer, slashing at the thick chains and shackles with a clean stroke.

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[Main Area]

By now the entire air of G-2 had turned dusty and visibility brown.

The tremors slowed down after a while after the big-name pirate had cut up the flurry of mountainous projectiles.

Basara, the Admiral, had been lodged into a giant hill, bringing an eerie silence to the battlefield.

"..."

Alas, a voice boomed out, "Not even twenty years of age and you possess such power. It is an oversight of the Navy."

The crater exploded, unveiling the furious Admiral dripping with streaks of blood. "Rocks was a good distraction for you, allowing you to reach this height."

Damien, who stood a good distance away, heard every last word and scoffed, "You didn't allow me anything, Basara. I've worked hard and trained in hell for what I have, and I have no intention of stopping here!"

The Admiral hurrumped, choosing not to continue with words.

*Rumble*

Damien looked around, feeling the shaking earth. 'Not just this area, but the entire base is shaking!' he surmised.

*Rumble*

It was like a heartbeat, a drum for incoming destruction.

*Rumble*

One by one, parts of G-2 began to morph, even warp. They lost their sturdiness; walls squirming into a liquid while swimming toward the Admiral.

Trees, metals, corpses, blood, loose debris—everything was changing into an ashy-brown colour, flowing like a river.

Basara raised his hands, accepting the stream of endless liquid earth.

His body began to swell while the fluid moved at his discretion. It wrapped around, warping into the shape of a gargantuan shadow, spanning the entire base.

Damien narrowed his eyes, discerning the turn of events. "Changing matter into that of your ability, converting it into earth," he muttered. "Awakened fruit power."

The pirate gazed at the behemoth of a structure before him, its stature seemingly spanning endlessly!

.

"Trembling Earth Colossus!"

.

It was a humanoid, gargantuan ability with Basara at its core. It stood nearly six hundred meters in height (~0.4 mi), raining dust down from its glory.

The grassy and marshy terrain of G-2 had long shifted into dusty peaks, a canvas with Basara as its painter.

[Colossus Image (in Discord)]

.

Damien took a deep breath and went on the offense.

He shot up from the ground utilizing Moonwalk, rushing toward the colossus. A thick layer of Haki was warped around Ryushi's unbreakable blades that seethed with crimson rage.

*Brrrrr!* Tornadoes were created as Basara brought down a single sword in an island-leveling diagonal slash toward Damien.

Its sheer gargantuan size made the strike seem slow even though it travelled at an incredible speed.

BOOM!

The pirate took it head-on, using his body to take the brunt of the attack.

*Crack* Damien flinched at the pain in his right shoulder that had fractured, creating a small window on which Basara's attack focussed.

Next came the momentum as the Sin Incarnate was sent soaring through the air and being tattooed into the ground, the entire exchange resembling a housefly being swatted aside.

"Taking my hits head-on, how reckless!" Basara said with audible scorn.

.

"!!!" His eyes then narrowed as he felt a huge burst of power from the crater far, far below him.

The dust that was floating around took on a crimson hue before being blasted into tiny particle-sized pieces.

"Empyrean Release."

The Admiral studied the enemy before his Observation flared at the same fiendish humanoid that had appeared in the sky. The demonic appearance, hell-like energy bursting out, added to the blasphemous halo hovering atop its head.

The volatile pirate gave a wicked grin as his trusty weapon exploded with power.

.

"Ryushi Combat Arts: Crimson Comet!"

.

Basara ran with his powers, forcing the hovering mountains to shoot forth in defense.

BOOM!

The first mountainous projectile shattered into bits, the same followed with the second, the third and the fourth. The fifth, however, was able to drive a halt to the impending attack.

Basara saw Damien stunned and sent a stream of Haki to the sword in his hand, covering it whole.

.

"Trembling Earth: Black Excalibur!"

.

The sheer size of the blade was enough to bring about great destruction to an island, and now it was wholly aimed at the halted Damien.

A red flash ran through the pirate's eyes, granting him more room to work with.

.

"Void Space."

.

A wide blanket of red appeared, curtaining the pirate.

The giant, Haki-clad sword wasted no time before slamming onto the shield, crashing with great might.

"..." No sound was released due to the void nature of the shield as it devoured the attack like a black hole.

Basara was not amused and picked up the second sword, covered it in Haki, and slashed at Damien once more.

The shield exploded into crimson shards like a glass wall, giving way for the attack to meet the pirate.

"Tch, Future Sight," Basara spat with audible frustration at the disappearing Damien. He peered down, having located the young enemy near ground level.

*Fwooo!*

The air rumbled as Basara brought down his left foot to squash the ant-like pirate.

BOOOM!

The weight of a dozen mountains smashed upon the bedrock beneath, giving birth to tsunamis to echo past the island's shores.

Damien, at the last second, lept off the ground and onto the leg of the colossus.

He was now running along the rocky limb, racing over and toward the Admiral who was at the crown of the structure.

The Sin Incarnate's advent resembled an ant running up a tree in Basara's eyes.

In response, the masses of earth flying above and around the goliath's shoulders suddenly warped.

.

"Dreaded Devastation!"

.

They took on a large thick bullet-like shape of 200 meters in diameter and were shot in the leg.

BOOM! *Crash!* BOOM!

Under the flurry of the raining bullet mountains, Damien used his Grandmastery of Observation to pick up the absolute paths remaining to reach the top.

His Future Sight was running overdrive—finding the smallest of flaws and the slightest of openings to exploit.

Unfortunately, this did drain more Haki than preferred.

*Fwwm* A dense bubble of Emission was soon wrapped around the volatile figure's arm. The pulverizing energy flooded through his body, centering around his left palm.

Pockets of crimson energy gathered around the fist, encasing it with the essence of crushing power.

.

"Deathly Rupture!"

.

The fist crashed onto the stomach area of the colossus, driving in the mix of Haki and fruit power in the form of shockwaves.

It dug deep in, bouncing and echoing through its earthy insides, destroying it internally.

Basara grunted a thunderous roar while a giant hole formed in his masterpiece. It was a straight-forward punch which caused the chest to cave in, forcing the head to coil forward from inertia.

Damien shifted his motion, opting to go straight up with masterful Moonwalk.

The pincer-like edge of Ryushi crashed onto the chin of the colossus, highly resembling an uppercut!

The shockwaves echoed through its skull, ringing the Admiral's head in the process.

Huge chunks of earth rained from the sky, embedding into the earth in a shower of ruin.

"Ugh!" Basara uttered a dull roar through his bloodied teeth and overcame the throbbing pain with fury.

His recovery was incredibly fast; the giant construct decisively unhanded his swords and punched using both fists at one another but with Damien in between.

.

"Void Sphere!"

.

The devilish body released its fruit power without stopping, forming a complete ball around him.

Basara saw no reason to stop, he opened the gap and went on with repeating the move.

"There are levels you cannot pass through sheer tenacity alone!"

Basara ran his Haki once more, covering both the giant fists.

BOOM!

The sphere cracked, letting loose shrieks of air, only for Basara to crash both fists onto it once more.

More and more cracks leaked screeching sounds through the tattered ball.

[Scene Image (in Discord)]

Another attack of equal might. This time the spherical shield exploded and left Damien undefended while his body was pulverized amid the fists.

BOOM!

The Admiral was unforgiving as repeatedly crushed, busted and vehemently destroyed his young adversary.

*Clatter* Bits and pieces of the Empyrean armour fell off every hit, unmasking the sole user they were there to protect.

…

Basara eventually let go of the figure, allowing Damien to fall from the sky with gravity roping him down, only to be hit with another strike, this time from the swords nearby.

.

"Trembling Earth: Twin Black Excalibur!"

.

Like a madman, Basara drove down the half-kilometer-long blades on the descending figure, nailing Damien with both swords.

Boom!

A sonic boom exploded as the pirate was sent soaring through the air and straight into the ground.

His body tore through, going layer after layer of solid earth.

Boom! Bang! *Rumble*

Damien continued drilling through for a good twenty seconds till the momentum died down, sealing him in bedrock.

A ripple of shock echoed through the base, forcing the very foundation of G-2 to cave in and crack apart.

It was catastrophic devastation followed by an eerie silence.

…

"Yes, Fleet Admiral," Basara spoke to the snail, still within his colossus, "I will ensure his capture. Pardon the missing comms, I believe only my transponder snail is functioning as it's linked straight to Marineford."

The snail nodded, "Well done, perhaps we can begin the year with some good news."

*Rumble*

Basara glared at the ravaged earth below, his expression warping into irritation.

"What is it, Basara?"

The Admiral remained quiet and watched the shadow clear up, "Pardon me, Fleet Admiral. It seems he won't go down that easily."

"Katcha~!"

Basara moved the colossus once more, ready to resume the beating. "Are you that impatient to get sent to a cold cell at Impel Down?"

Damien, far below and deep in the earth, returned a grin past his broken mess of a body.

He was currently in a very good mood.

*Crack* He popped his shoulder back in, stopping the bleeding from the protruding bone and clawed his way out of the pit.

Damien then took a deep breath, using Life Return to plug all the bruises, fractures and ruined parts of his body.

.

Ignoring the Admiral, the pirate ran his hand over his right wrist, feeling the newfound sturdiness—he felt like he could easily hold up a few mountains now.

"Basara, I really need to thank you," he laughed to himself at the notification in his mind.

[Black Bones has reached the final stage and has fully hardened the skeletal system.]

Damien cracked his neck and back, feeling the improvement throughout his body.

"..."

The devious figure beamed a striking smile, though it seemed exceptionally menacing under the form of his Empyrean Release.

"Don't be in a hurry now, Basara. We're just getting started!"

To Be Continued…

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Author's Corner.

That was Black Bones (IV), the final stage. Although the fight has only just started.

Kaido has been freed by Indra while also picking up the stone-man Arai.

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