A scrawny boy was chased out of the cemetery, wearing a damaged top hat and a bandage on his forehead.
He wore no shirt on his upper body and only a pair of shorts on his lower body; his skeletal frame made the rusty shovel he carried probably the most valuable thing he owned.
In Kimi Cheiru, most livelihoods are inseparable from graves, and there are people in various cemeteries who make a living by digging graves for others.
Those who need such services are ultimately a minority, and to compete for more business, these cemeteries have also given rise to local bullies.
Those with small builds are easily ostracized.
The person called Absalom was one of them.
Although this place had already left the ice field, it wasn't much warmer; a cold wind blew, and Absalom sneezed several times in a row.
"You guys just wait! I'm going to become the King of Graves in the future! When that happens, all the graves here will be mine to command!"
"Heh, you scrawny fellow, thin as a bamboo pole, and you want to be the King of Graves? What a joke! Your presence here only hinders digging efficiency. Now scram!"
Another person walked out of the cemetery. He was much stronger than Absalom and looked at Absalom with disdain, picking up the iron shovel in his hand, intending to strike him.
But when he raised the shovel, he found he couldn't swing it at all.
"Strength isn't meant for bullying. Why would an adult like you bully such a small child?"
The man intended to see who was interfering, but when he turned around, he saw a girl much taller than himself.
Although her build was large, her youthful face couldn't be deceiving.
He could casually insult Absalom because he knew that Absalom, even with all his might, couldn't resist him. He could throw Absalom out like a small chick.
He was also a local bully in this area, and no one would stand up for someone like Absalom.
But today, he unexpectedly encountered someone meddling, and she looked difficult to deal with.
He tried to pull the shovel from his hand, but Lyliana's grip was unmoving, like an iron clamp on the shovel's handle.
This strength, to some extent, already indicated that he was not this girl's opponent.
"It's none of your business. This is our private matter. Our rules here are just like this."
"That means your rules are wrong. Since whoever is stronger here gets to decide, and I'm stronger than you, then I decide. I don't think your way is good; let's shake hands and make peace."
As Lyliana spoke, she grasped one of the man's hands, effortlessly pressing it down and extending it in Absalom's direction.
"What a joke..."
The man wanted to resist, but the disparity in strength rendered him powerless.
Crack.
With a crisp sound, the man's wrist suddenly went limp. In the struggle with Lyliana, his wrist was the first to give way, now dislocated by external force.
"Ah! Let go, quickly let go! My hand is broken! I agree, alright? I agree to shake hands and make peace with that kid!"
The man finally succumbed to external force, reluctantly choosing to shake hands and make peace with Absalom, but at that moment, Absalom was gone.
"Hey, hey, that kid ran off. It has nothing to do with me now, right? He used to be like this, always sneaking into the cemetery."
One of the parties involved had disappeared, and Lyliana also released the man's hand. He didn't hesitate at all, even ignoring Lyliana's offer to pop his dislocated hand back into place.
"How strange. He was just here. When did he disappear?"
Absalom had originally been standing to the side, and Lyliana hadn't noticed how he had vanished. She even moved a large rock, taller than a person, to see if Absalom was hiding there.
"Don't worry about such small matters. To survive in this world, one must have some means. That kid truly has a little secret about him."
Oran pulled out a pair of glasses and, after scanning the surroundings, came to a conclusion. Through special equipment, he could see a human thermal signature nearby.
"Alright, but Dad, this country is an Allied Nation, right? Don't these people doing bad things here get punished?"
"That depends on the local situation. As you can see, this country is filled with a sense of lifelessness. Perhaps in Kimi Cheiru, such behavior is quite normal."
"But that's not right..."
"Indeed, it's not right. But Lyley, do you know that good and evil, right and wrong, were born with the rise of human civilization? In places with lower civilization, there is no good or evil, only strength.
The same principle applies even on this vast sea. Only when you are strong enough can you maintain the order you desire and make others accept your ideas.
Therefore, we need greater strength to make Piltover a utopia, not a fat sheep in the eyes of others."
"Mmm, mmm, I've become very powerful. I've already mastered that boxing technique. Dad, when will you teach me something new?"
It was still that unlucky rock from before. Lyliana concentrated a surge of energy in her fist and punched the center of the rock.
Crack.
The spot hit by the fist cracked inch by inch, shattering into a pile of debris in the blink of an eye.
"Not bad. It seems you've mastered it proficiently. Next, you should try to incorporate the power of Armament Haki into it."
Lyliana currently primarily studies Armament Haki. Compared to Observation Haki, she mastered Armament Haki much faster and had already gotten started, which greatly impressed Zephyr at the time.
After all, Zephyr himself only mastered Haki in his thirties, and compared to Lyliana, the difference was truly immense.
The trio's pace didn't stop as they continued towards the port until they were about to leave the area when a voice came from behind them.
"Um... please wait a moment!"
A figure gradually emerged from the air, it was none other than Absalom, who had just vanished into thin air.
"Eh? You're still here? Where did you run off to just now? I wanted that person to shake hands and make peace with you."
"Lyley, he was also nearby just now, but he used his Devil Fruit ability to turn invisible, and he's been following us the whole way. I thought he wouldn't show up at all."
"Is he a Devil Fruit user? That ability sounds pretty good."
"I don't know what a Devil Fruit is. My name is Absalom. One time, I found a very strange offering in a graveyard, and after eating it, I gained the ability to turn invisible."
More accurately, it wasn't invisibility but transparency. That Devil Fruit was the Superman Type Devil Fruit, which could make the user's body transparent.
When using the ability, the user's body neither reflects nor absorbs light, appearing invisible from the viewer's perspective.
Initially, the name only sounded familiar to Oran, but upon discovering his transparency ability, he realized who this kid was.
Perhaps Oran and Moriah had a deep connection; not long after moving Oz's corpse, he encountered one of Moriah's three strange subordinates from the original timeline.
"So, what do you want to do by coming out now?"
"I... I want to gain strength! I just overheard your conversation. I also want to have the strength to smash rocks with one punch! Please let me follow you!"
Kimi Cheiru was just an ordinary Allied Nation in the West Blue, and no monsters had ever been born within the country. Although Lyliana was tall, the power to shatter rocks with one punch made him yearn for it.
When Absalom appeared on Thriller Bark, he was already in the monstrous form after being modified by Hogback.
A lion's jaw, an elephant's skin, the muscular strength of a bear and a Masira; he was willing to sacrifice many things to gain power.
This was also why Oran didn't recognize him at first; the difference in their appearances compared to the modified person was too great.
"Gaining strength, a very straightforward reason.
But there's no free lunch in this world. I can give you strength, but what can you offer in return?"
"This power will serve you!"
Absalom seemed to see a glimmer of hope and immediately declared loudly.
He yearned for power. Although he had eaten the Devil Fruit, this Devil Fruit didn't give him any substantial power boost, though it did make it much easier to infiltrate certain places.
In this country, shattering rocks with one punch was already quite rare. From Lyliana's words, Absalom misunderstood some things, thinking that everything Lyliana did was taught by Oran.
If viewed from another perspective, this understanding isn't wrong, as Oran handled Lyliana's birth and growth personally.
Absalom wanted to seize this opportunity to become stronger, and Lyliana's casual actions made him feel that this group of people was not bad, which is why he revealed himself before Oran and his group were about to leave.
"Quite interesting. Follow along."
"Yes!"
"Kid, let me warn you first: acquiring power comes with a price. It could be sweat, or it could be something else. Your body might not achieve results through conventional methods."
As the saying goes, the rich rely on technology, and the poor rely on mutation. Hextech leans more towards technological modification, but Oran has more than just technological enhancements. Zaun's genetic modification is also one of his projects.
"I know. If I can become strong, I won't care. If you can grant me great power, then you will be my master!"
At the dock, Oran bought an extra ship ticket to Ohara, taking Absalom with him off the island.
That night, Kate quietly slipped into Oran's cabin and saw Oran still reading documents.
"Kate? What's wrong?"
"Oran, that kid you brought on board today, should we trust him?"
"Let's see for now. His Devil Fruit ability is quite good."
Absalom himself wasn't particularly strong, but the ability of the Devil Fruit was quite useful. If intelligence work wasn't thorough, the Devil Fruit could produce surprising results in a surprise attack.
If Oran could make special potions from the Lineage Factor of Deli, the deceased former Advance Devil Fruit user, then Absalom, as a living user, would provide even more utility.
The Devil Fruit's invisibility method is far superior to ordinary optical stealth techniques. Using this Lineage Factor, Oran could even create an invisible armored unit.
Beyond that, there's the issue of Absalom's personality. His loyalty theoretically shouldn't be a major problem; in the original timeline, he was quite loyal to Moriah.
Even when the World Government issued an order to eliminate Moriah, Absalom, using his Devil Fruit ability, rescued Moriah from the Marineford War, and subsequently continued to follow Moriah until he died at the hands of the Blackbeard Pirates, losing his ability.
"But that's about it. Just treat him as a newcomer. You don't need to explain most things to him. We'll see how things go later."
Evaluation certainly cannot be reduced. It is actually very difficult to enter Oran's inner circle.
Loyalty is a good trait, but compared to machines, this trait falls short.
Frankenstein, Lyliana, Blitz, Zac—these are all lives born from Oran's hands. Even Terra, the dragon, was hatched by Oran over time.
Kate, Kuma, Ginny—they were Oran's initial comrades, having experienced life and death together. It's extremely difficult for later joiners to catch up to that level of relationship.
"So, should he receive special training? With Lyley?"
"No need. Just have Brand give him basic training when we get back."
"Uh, Oran, have you heard? The residents on Firefly Island all seem to say that Brand is gay.
If he's the one training him..."
Upon hearing Brand's name, Kate suddenly recalled some rumors. Brand's reputation on Firefly Island was quite peculiar.
"Not only have I heard, but that Brand guy didn't even deny it. But it doesn't matter; this trait might actually be a good thing."
"Meow?"
Now Kate was truly a bit bewildered, as she didn't know that Absalom also had a lecherous trait in the original timeline.
Although it's uncertain when this trait appeared, entrusting him to Brand would certainly largely prevent such a possibility.
"Nothing. If you're tired, you can rest first. Zac will stand watch tonight. The Four Seas are much more peaceful than the Grand Line, so there's no need to be so vigilant."
After several days of sailing, the ship docked at Ohara. Although life at sea was rather boring, Oran was a wealthy man, so life on board was quite comfortable.
World Government passenger ships also have classes, and since he had the means to enjoy it, there was no need for him to experience the cramped ordinary cabins.
Lyliana and Kate didn't feel much; they were used to it. Zac cared even less; in special circumstances, Zac could even use a wine bottle as his home. But Absalom succumbed to the sugar-coated bullets.
First-class living was something he had never imagined before, which made him even more convinced that his choice was correct and strengthened his resolve to follow Oran.
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