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What level of existence truly qualifies as a "God"?
To be powerful beyond rival? To dictate the life and death of all living sentient beings?
To shatter the sky with a mere thought, to shift the stars and pluck the moon from the sky?
Mere might is, in the end, nothing more than a second-rate myth. Arthur was warlike; he never styled himself as a god. He enjoyed battle simply because he enjoyed it—there was no other reason!
He sought passion in combat, nothing more.
He strongly agreed with Whitebeard's sentiment: "Even the strongest man in the world is ultimately just a human with a single heart; one day, he too must face death."
Arthur was known as the "Thunder God", but he was far from being a so-called—God!
Divinity. Spiritual clarity?
In reality, any Devil Fruit user appears no different from a god in the eyes of the ignorant. But in the eyes of the enlightened, they were merely lucky individuals possessing magical abilities.
What Arthur intended to do was to become a true God—to undergo a fundamental metamorphosis of his very life force.
How would he achieve this transformation? By gathering every Devil Fruit ability into one body. To make himself unique in all existence—that is true metamorphosis!!
As long as he was within the ROOM of the Ultimate Op-Op Fruit, he could surgically excise the conflicting parts of the "Devil Souls" or force them to merge!
If he collected every Devil Fruit in the world and concentrated all abilities within himself, ensuring that no strange powers appeared in the sea ever again... then he would be a True God!
If only Arthur possessed supernatural abilities, he would effectively become the Devil Fruit Tree itself. He would be the True God.
By consuming every Devil Fruit and transforming his life essence, he might not become omniscient, but he would undoubtedly become omnipotent!
This step might take him hundreds or even thousands of years...
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"This feeling... it's magnificent!"
Arthur extended his hand, staring at the spherical surgical space in his palm. He muttered to himself, his expression a mix of excitement and anticipation, relishing the pleasure of having absolute control over everything inside the "ROOM."
From his Cast-Cast Fruit bracelet, he retrieved every Devil Fruit he had collected over the years, lining them up one by one in front of him.
The Door-Door Fruit, the Mirror-Mirror Fruit, the Spring-Spring Fruit, the Arms-Arms Fruit, the Heal-Heal Fruit, the Sickle-Sickle Fruit, the Whisper-Whisper Fruit, the Float-Float Fruit, the More-More Fruit, the Cube-Cube Fruit, and the Bat-Bat Fruit, Model: Vampire!
There was also the Barrier Fruit, extracted from the sacred jewel he had seized while taking the Seven Star Sword for Shiryu on Asuka Island before Roger's execution in the year 1498.
Although he desperately wanted to eat a third fruit immediately and begin his experiments, he forcibly suppressed his inner excitement. He would wait until he returned to the Thunder God Sea to act.
The prudent path was to perform experiments on prisoners first to see if his hypothesis was feasible.
Placing the dozen or so Devil Fruits back into his pure gold storage bracelet, Arthur stretched his body—which had completely recovered thanks to his surgery—and leapt into the air, soaring into the blue sky!
As an "Atypical Body" possessing two Devil Fruit abilities, he could switch between them at will. Therefore, consuming a Paramecia type did not come with the drawback of losing the Logia's intangibility.
He couldn't wait to begin his path to godhood!
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Having slaughtered the army of a kingdom, the Vinsmoke Family's legion began their return voyage aboard their giant snail fleet, the "Saint Germain."
Even though three days had passed, Vinsmoke Judge was still brooding over the appearance of the Thunder Emperor.
The Thunder Emperor's domineering presence had left an indelible mark on his heart. That terrifying aura, capable of crushing everything just by standing there... was that the horror of the "Four Emperors and One Sovereign" of the New World?
Sitting on the throne within his castle, Judge gripped the alloy armrests of his chair, his eyes sweeping over his daughter and four sons standing below.
The giant snail fleet carried their castles, moving unscrupulously across the North Blue.
To the Vinsmoke Family, territory was irrelevant. As long as the core technology of the Germa 66 remained, they could eventually stage a comeback, even if their former glory was gone.
"Sanji, did you run away from the battlefield again this time? Your value exists solely in fighting for the Vinsmoke Family... A failure who dares not kill is truly a defective product," Vinsmoke Judge scolded loudly, making no attempt to hide his disgust.
In his eyes, there was no such thing as familial love!
The outstanding performance of Reiju, Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji in the war stood in stark contrast to Sanji's cowardly incompetence.
Four brothers born from the same mother at the same time—why were the other three so fierce, while Sanji was so useless?
It was all because of the drugs their mother took during pregnancy, which caused the Lineage Factor modification to retain useless "emotions," turning someone who should have been an excellent soldier into this pathetic state.
BAM!!
"You useless trash!"
"Trash doesn't deserve to be our brother!"
Hearing their father's rebuke, the three brothers immediately began to torment the shivering Sanji, kicking and punching him. Reiju watched from the sidelines with a smile on her face, though her heart ached for her younger brother. But born into such a family, she dared not show it.
A family devoid of humanity, existing only for war and the restoration of past glory.
As the brothers bullied Sanji, Judge didn't even bother to glance at them, condoning their behavior!
The weak were born to be dominated by the strong.
Sanji curled into a ball, shielding his head as he was beaten black and blue. If his physical constitution hadn't been slightly better than an average person's, they might have beaten him to death.
"Hmph..."
With a cold snort, Judge withdrew his gaze and quietly contemplated his next plan for conquering the North Blue, or perhaps accepting employment from other nations to participate in interstate conflicts.
"Lord Judge, Rockwell has arrived!"
Deep in thought, Judge was interrupted by a stiff-faced, fully armed soldier who entered the hall and whispered in his ear, completely ignoring the three brothers beating Sanji nearby.
"Have the slaves been delivered? Let him in!" Judge said expressionlessly.
The Vinsmoke Family needed slaves, naturally for Lineage Factor experiments. The soldiers they created had body structures different from normal humans and were unsuitable as test subjects.
Cheap, affordable slaves or prisoners of war were the best raw materials.
Unfortunately, the Vinsmoke Family never showed mercy on the battlefield; they killed everyone they saw. That was why they were known as the "Army of Evil," a symbol of cruelty and terror in the North Blue.
"Yes, sir!"
The Germa soldier exited the palace doors.
Moments later, the soldier returned, leading a short but muscular man. His body was packed with explosive power, and the beard on his chin was as prickly as steel needles.
Rockwell. The largest slave trader in the North Blue.
He was also the former pirate who had encountered Arthur in the waters outside the City of Wine, over a decade ago—a man who had wanted to follow Arthur and withdraw from the Grand Line!
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