"Yeah, it's ridiculous—absolutely outrageous!"
Xiao recalled the scene from when he had been watching One Piece. Luffy and Kaido had been locked in a brutal battle, yet the moment Nika awakened, the screen abruptly shifted into something straight out of Tom and Jerry. That kind of absurd, reality-breaking development was simply shocking. Everyone had been left dumbfounded.
"Wait—rubber fruit? Isn't that the ability that guy has?!"
Van Augur suddenly remembered the Straw Hat Pirates they had been closely monitoring. Their captain, Monkey D. Luffy, just so happened to be a Devil Fruit user with rubber abilities.
"No wonder, Captain, you've been paying so much attention to that boy—and fate itself seems to favor him. So that's where the key lies. The Sun God Nika… it's hard to say whether that kid is blessed with great fortune, or cursed with terrible luck."
Poison Q smacked his lips, unable to stop the ripples forming in his heart. He envied Luffy's luck, yet at the same time lamented that such a life might already be nearing its end.
"There's no need to pity him," Xiao said calmly. "Even if Nika truly awakens, he won't seize Luffy's body. At most, he'll choose to merge with him. More likely, he'll relinquish all his power to Luffy and fade away."
After all, Nika was the warrior who liberated the oppressed—his very existence was meant to bring joy and freedom to people across the world.
"If Luffy and his companions were to shed tears because of his awakening, then Nika would have undoubtedly strayed from the sacred mission he was meant to uphold!"
Xiao silently speculated, letting out a quiet sigh.
After all, Luffy was still the protagonist of One Piece. If the story really went as far as having the hero's soul devoured by a Devil Fruit, then the Oda's mental state might genuinely need medical attention.
On the contrary, if Nika were to abandon himself entirely—passing on all his strength and unyielding will to Luffy without reservation—that would perfectly align with the passionate, hot-blooded nature of the series.
"To pass one's power down to future generations… If that's the case, then Nika truly is an incredible existence."
Van Augur murmured softly, admiration flickering in his eyes. He respected Nika's willingness to forsake eternal life rather than cause sorrow to others—assuming, of course, that Xiao's speculation proved true.
At that moment, Burgess suddenly blurted out, "Hey, Captain—what about you? What kind of powers did you gain after becoming a god?"
Before he could finish, the other three immediately turned their intense gazes toward Xiao, their eyes filled with anticipation.
"You really want to know?"
Xiao smiled faintly, his tone mysterious as he thought to himself:
Only an idiot would casually reveal their abilities.
"Yeah, yeah~~"
"Alright then… actually, my ability is—"
As he spoke, pitch-black smoke gathered in Xiao's palm.
All four of them stared wide-eyed, afraid they might miss even a single moment of Xiao revealing his true power.
"Forget it. My ability is far too destructive to show you here."
Duang—!
In an instant, the hopes they had raised were smashed mercilessly, as if struck by a heavy hammer. The four of them collapsed back onto the floating boat.
"(ˉ▽￣~) Tch—cut it out!"
A chorus of dissatisfied grumbles followed. Clearly, none of them were pleased with Xiao's answer.
Even so, despite Xiao's refusal to explain, they had already come to an unspoken conclusion: the Devil Fruit Xiao possessed after his arrival was undoubtedly an existence capable of shaking the entire world—
The God of the Black Sun.
At that moment, Poison Q suddenly grasped a key point in Xiao's words, as if struck by enlightenment.
"Wait a second, Captain. Didn't you say before that you're a composite ability user? What does that have to do with Devil Fruits becoming gods?"
Xiao smiled faintly and explained in a gentle tone:
"So-called composite ability users only begin their path of exploration after reaching the realm of godhood. For you, that stage is still far too distant.
Right now, your priority should be figuring out how to awaken your Devil Fruits. With your talents, awakening alone is already extremely difficult—let alone becoming gods."
"Captain, are you just looking down on us?"
Even Poison Q, who had been born with an indifference toward life and death, couldn't help feeling irritated by Xiao's words.
After all, to reach their current status, none of them were inferior to anyone else. Who wasn't a genius? Why wouldn't they be qualified to become gods?
"It's not that simple to gather faith," Xiao replied calmly.
"Whitebeard was the strongest man in the world for nearly his entire life, yet he never completed his ascension to godhood.
Kaido, known as the strongest creature on land, sea, and air for over thirty years, never became a god either.
And look at Nico Robin—called the 'Devil's Child' for more than twenty years since she was eight. Even now, she hasn't awakened her Devil Fruit."
It wasn't that Xiao looked down on Poison Q and the others. The truth was simply that ascending to godhood—and completing the evolution of a Devil Fruit—was unimaginably difficult.
Xiao himself had spent tremendous effort, gathered millions of devout believers, and displayed countless miracles before barely managing to evolve the Munch-Munch Fruit into the God of All Machines.
And that was only possible because he existed in a cyberpunk world, where individual combat power was relatively limited.
If this were the world of One Piece, where Devil Fruit users were everywhere, any unusual display would merely earn you the label of "another Devil Fruit user."
The only ones ever truly worshipped as gods were the Celestial Dragons.
Yet they almost never ate Devil Fruits.
They would rather feed them to slaves and watch them fight to the death than consume them themselves.
In the world of One Piece, if you wanted to spread faith across the globe—unless you could directly create region-wide supernatural miracles like Xiao—the first obstacle you would face would be the World Government's military suppression, followed by the merciless ridicule of the masses.
Perhaps the World Government understood that Devil Fruits could allow people to ascend the throne of godhood.
That was why, from beginning to end, they had worked tirelessly to eradicate anyone who showed even the slightest hint of divinity.
Over the past eight hundred years, anyone who displayed signs of deification—whether or not they truly possessed such potential—was mercilessly wiped out.
Moreover, the Celestial Dragons' refusal to eat Devil Fruits was likely rooted in fear: fear of being overtaken by the powerful beings who had once ascended to godhood through Devil Fruits in the distant past.
Yet one thing remained puzzling.
The Five Elders—and Imu, the King of the World—were exceptions.
All of them possessed mysterious and unfathomable abilities of the Mythical Zoan type.
Did this mean that every member of the Five Elders was, in fact, a god born of a Devil Fruit?
Since the founding of the World Government more than eight hundred years ago, the Five Elders may have relied on the powerful wills hidden within their Devil Fruits—continuously possessing the bodies of later generations to achieve immortality.
After all, they all bore the title of "Warrior God."
If it were merely for the sake of noble status, there would have been no need to crown themselves with the name of god at all.
…
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