The drastic change in presence shocked Garling, who stood nearby. He hurriedly spoke up:
"My Lord, do you have a command?"
Imu ignored Garling, eyes fixed solely on the dregs of the sea before her. John and the others, sensing the shift in the aura emanating from Gunko, felt a primal unease well up from within. It felt as though something horrific was about to unfold.
"What... what are you going to do?"
Ganzui saw Imu raise her hand—the delicate, slender hand of a young girl—but at this moment, it sent his dread to its absolute peak.
"Agh!"
Beside him, Barbel suddenly let out a cry of agony. Startled, Ganzui turned his head, only to find Barbel's body covered in a pitch-black liquid! This fluid seemed to be secreting from inside Barbel's own body, surging from the inside out and tightly enveloping him.
A second later, it wasn't just Barbel; the same black, viscous substance appeared on Ganzui himself. His hands were bound by seastone chains, leaving him unable to move as the liquid spread across his skin. He felt a searing pain as if his body were being eroded, like thousands of needles piercing into his flesh simultaneously.
"AAAAAAGH!!!"
Every pirate in the square was the same. Their bodies were dyed completely black, and as if they were being assimilated into the dark fluid, their physical forms began to twist and warp!
Even Saint Garling, Unwinged Angel and veteran of countless horrors, felt a chill run down his spine at the sight of this grotesque scene.
"My Lord... this is..." Garling swallowed hard.
Imu looked upon the pirates being eroded by the Abyssal power with cold indifference. With a single thought, the pirates—already assimilated by the black mud—were stirred like wet cement amidst their wails, forming a massive black vortex in the center of the square. Under Imu's control, the vast number of pirates merged into a single, colossal mound of black sludge.
This mass of mud was nearly a hundred meters in diameter. It began to shift and reshape until, under Imu's manipulation, it took the form of a giant. This giant stood over a hundred meters tall; though still composed of black mud, facial features began to emerge, and its colors became vivid.
Finally, the blackness receded, revealing a genuine giant. Demonic horns sprouted from its head, and fleshy demon wings grew from its back. Its muscles were bulging, radiating an explosive, visible power.
The moment the giant appeared, Garling felt a weight so heavy it nearly suffocated him. So... so strong! So terrifying! Garling had never felt such a vicious aura; even when he encountered Rocks on God Valley, he had never felt evil and power of this magnitude.
"I bestow upon thee the name 'Chimera'."
After Imu spoke, she waved her hand, further imbuing the creature with demonic power. Just like the Five Elders, who each had their "Devil" forms—such as the Fengxi (Giant Boar) or the Bakotsu (Skeleton Horse)—these were not mere Devil Fruits, but the essence of the Devils bestowed by Imu herself.
Imu granted this giant the abilities of a Chimera. In legend, a Chimera is a patchwork beast, which perfectly suited the giant's origin. It was stitched together from a multitude of powerful pirates, with Imu's Abyssal and Demonic powers coordinating and unifying their strength.
Normally, a person can only possess one Devil Fruit, but this giant possessed the abilities of several fruits simultaneously, inheriting the Haki of all the fused pirates as well. It was born at the absolute pinnacle of this world's combat power.
"Chimera greets the Creator."
Upon its birth, the Giant Chimera knelt on one knee before Imu in submission. Imu was highly satisfied with her creation. She nodded and said, "Go and adapt to your power. In the coming great war, there will surely be an opportunity for you to strike."
With that, Imu withdrew her consciousness from Gunko's body. This Abyssal power was truly potent, and this was only its preliminary application. She wondered where this power truly originated.
Above Mary Geoise, Keiko observed the changes in the Holy Land, her brow furrowing slightly. As Yhwach's soul fragments flowed into Imu's body along with his consciousness, Imu had actually awakened a Schrift—and such a powerful one at that. She had easily created such a terrifying synthetic beast—or rather, a synthetic giant.
If Imu could produce such beings without limit, the World Government's combat power would become truly formidable.
Forget it, let's stick to the rules, Keiko thought, shaking her head and dismissing the idea of descending to slay the monster. Since she had made a deal with the Soul King, it was best to maintain some integrity. Even if the World Government and the Wandenreich developed at this pace, she remained confident in her ultimate victory.
The Wandenreich needed to develop, but so did she. Keiko's current strength was near its limit; the only way to improve was to attempt further fusion of Quincy and Hollow powers. While such a boost would be massive for a normal Shinigami, for Keiko—who had already broken the soul's limits—it was only a marginal gain.
The key lay not with Keiko, but with Beltz and Erensig.
Keiko landed on an island and closed her eyes again, sensing her surroundings. Then...
Distorted Future: The Future of Becoming the Soul King!
When Keiko used this move now, the effect was incomparable to when she first revealed it at the Tsunayashiro household. Her pupils split, and with the enhancement of the Age-Age Fruit, she manifested Triple Pupils!
The Eyes of The Almighty!
Previously, when she showed these eyes to the Tsunayashiro family, it was a mere hollow form without the actual power to see or change the future. But now, it was different. With the Soul King's power fully activated within her, Keiko could see a brief glimpse of the future in a very short span of time.
The future she sought was the one where she found the Dark-Dark Fruit.
As expected, Teach found it!
Though it was only for a split second, Keiko saw a vision of a desolate island where Teach plucked a Devil Fruit from a tree. That fruit was the Dark-Dark Fruit. Perfect. Now she just had to find that specific island. There are over twenty million islands in the world, but small, uninhabited ones are fewer, and those in the New World fewer still. There were perhaps only a hundred thousand islands that fit the criteria.
If she had to... she would search them one by one. And she had subordinates; with Gremmy's help, the search time could be cut down. Gremmy wasn't just one person; he could imagine many people to assist her. She could afford to wait a few years!
As the search for the Devil Fruit continued, time began to flow rapidly. In the blink of an eye, five years passed.
Now, only eighteen years remained until Yhwach's full awakening, and twenty-seven years until his full power was restored. During these five years, all factions were consolidating their forces and preparing for war.
Every so often, under Keiko's orchestration, Yhwach would establish a degree of mental connection with Imu through the Soul King's Right Leg. However, the level of fusion remained shallow, as time was still on their side. Besides, Yhwach himself hadn't fully awakened, so focusing too much on others' affairs would be uncharacteristic.
Keiko's plan was to wait until Yhwach's full awakening in eighteen years before allowing a deep fusion of his consciousness with Imu's. In twenty-seven years, the fusion would be complete.
The Wandenreich remained in lockdown. Yhwach had ordered Haschwalth to seal it for ten years, and only five had passed. Because the Empire was sealed, Candice and the others couldn't return even if they wanted to; they had essentially been abandoned.
Aside from Yhwach, Aizen was also conducting his own research. In addition to the initial Devil Fruits, Keiko had later sent Aizen several more, including the Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Beltz had obtained this fruit long ago but had no suitable candidate to eat it; giving it to Aizen now to accelerate his research was the best use for it.
Five years later, Aizen had indeed discovered some breakthroughs. He had realized early on that Devil Fruits were a strange existence formed by human "desires." They were miracles born from the intense wishes within people's imaginations. To some extent, they were similar to the Hōgyoku. The Hōgyoku also extracts and manifests the desires within a person's heart, though it can only realize what the person is inherently capable of.
While the mechanisms were similar, they were entirely different. The Hōgyoku was an accelerator, while a Devil Fruit was a miraculous fruit that brought fantasy into reality. Aizen already had expertise in this field, so in just five years, he mastered the application of this "Will Power." He began researching how to create new Devil Fruits.
For instance, by gathering the collective imagination of Shinigami regarding the Ryūjin Jakka, he might be able to create a Ryūjin Jakka Fruit. Or, by gathering the collective imagination of Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, he could create a Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Captain Commander.
Of course, what Aizen most wanted to create was the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Soul King! Aizen hadn't initially wanted to become the Soul King, only to kill him. But if there was a fruit that was the most powerful in the world, it would surely be "The Future of Becoming the Soul King."
"For the first Devil Fruit, I want you to create the 'Brain-Brain Fruit'," Keiko said, appearing in Aizen's laboratory after leaving One Piece.
She had spent these five years searching for the Dark-Dark Fruit. Even with a general direction, it wasn't easy. Five years had passed, and she had ruled out over 80% of the potential locations. With only 20% left, it wouldn't be much longer.
Taking a rare break today, she visited Aizen. Learning that he was ready to manufacture fruits, she had brought over some of Vegapunk's research on Artificial Devil Fruits from One Piece, along with a vial of Vegapunk's blood.
In One Piece, Vegapunk could only clone Zoan fruits; Paramecia abilities could only be used via "Green Blood," and Logias could not be replicated at all. But in the world of Bleach, where no Devil Fruits had ever existed, everything could start from scratch. Keiko believed they could create not just Zoans, but Paramecia and Logias as well.
She wanted Aizen to create a Brain-Brain Fruit to give to Gremmy Thoumeaux. Gremmy's ability, "The Visionary," relied on imagination. Imagination, in a sense, is a form of calculation power. Two fruits were particularly suited for Gremmy: the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Kirin, which controls dreams and manifests things through them (though this was held by the World Government and hard to obtain), and Vegapunk's Brain-Brain Fruit.
The Brain-Brain Fruit gives the user an infinite brain capacity to store limitless information. Gremmy's true form was, in fact, a brain. His entire body was something he had imagined; he was literally just a brain in a jar. Eating the Brain-Brain Fruit was a perfect match. An infinite brain capacity meant infinite imagination! While "infinite" might be an exaggeration, it was more than enough.
"I can do that," Aizen said, looking at the vial of Vegapunk's blood. "Same as always: what are you giving me in exchange?"
"How about a Mythical Zoan fruit? A Mythical Zoan for a Paramecia, you're definitely getting the better end of the deal."
"Very well."
Such was the relationship between Aizen and Keiko: a partnership focused on cooperation, where every gain required a fair exchange.