After nine days of torture, Arch felt disconnected from his body. He no longer felt any pain, and it seemed like he had lost his sense of touch. He tried to get up, but he couldn't control his body. The feeling of detachment was growing more and more clear. He tried to control his body again, but it didn't work.
Arch bit his bloody lips and tried his best to gain control over his body, and this time, his body moved. However, it moved not because it obeyed the order Arch's mind was giving, but instinctively, like his body had its own will. His body turned up and bent down, his hands now touching the ground, and Arch was kneeling.
Then, an unnatural thing happened. Arch's body began to expand as if air was supplying it. Even Arch's head was transforming. It started with his slit red eyes; his eyes were getting bigger. His high nose transformed into a straight, flat one, and his mouth began to produce sharp teeth and fangs. His neck started to elongate, and at the same time, his body was still expanding. His legs and hands began to turn dark green and also stretched. From his lower back, a dark green, lizard-like tail popped out.
Arch then began to get bigger as his inner half turned dark green in the outer part, and his uncovered part turned to a white skin. Arch's transformation was beginning to show its true form, but his body didn't stop growing and expanding in size.
When Arch thought that the transformation was nearly complete, a new head, like that of a dragon or serpent, came out from his wide shoulder, followed by another, and another, and another, until nine dragon/snake heads came out.
Arch was dumbfounded. He knew what creature he had transformed into, but what was bothering him so much was the Devil Fruit he ate. Arch asked himself, "Isn't this Devil Fruit supposed to transform me into an eight-headed serpent? That's why it's called the Hebi Hebi no Mi, Model: Yamata no Orochi. Then what's happening here?"
Why? Why do I look like the monster from mythology? The one that Heracles (Hercules) defeated, where his nephew Iolaus had to cauterize the neck stumps to stop the regrowth, while burying the immortal head?"
Gulp! An unbelievable sense of excitement crept over Arch, who was now in the transformed nine-headed monster also called the "LERNAEAN HYDRA."
( image in the comments section)
Arch couldn't ask for more. In his mind, when he first saw the drawing in the cave, he just thought that it was a freebie or a butterfly effect. But now, he didn't know what was really happening. The Devil Fruit he ate transformed him into a monster from Greek mythology—the famous multi-headed serpent from Greek myth, typically starting with nine heads, with one head being immortal. For each mortal head cut off, two more grew back, making the total number of heads grow more and more.
Arch, who had transformed into a Hydra, was standing toe-to-toe with the massive boulder. He knew he could grow more, but he felt his stamina was being drained, so he stopped the Hydra's size at the same height as the boulder.
His mind raced, thinking he could get out of this place; he could now be free from this dim underground. But something inside him was stirring and questioning his course of action.
He talked to himself: "Isn't this the power I wanted to get out of here? Isn't this the power I longed for? Isn't this the power I kept on thinking about? Isn't this power mine now? Isn't this the power I nurtured using my own blood? Isn't it this power I bet my life with?"
"Then why... why... why... why won't my body move? Come, move! Destroy this boulder, and we'll be free from this place!"
He was struggling with something inside him.
In the end, he didn't destroy the boulder. The Hydra was just staring at it, lost in thought. Arch then shrank his transformation and returned to his original, bloodied appearance.
Arch looked at his hands and clenched them. His fists had many scars, newly opened and still bleeding a bit. Then he looked at the cracks and slices he had made in the massive boulder.
He remembered his struggle. He remembered the very first time he punched the boulder using his bare hands, without using any Devil Fruit ability. His fist bled so much that it took months to be fully healed. He remembered his hardships, his sweat, his blood, and his unwavering conviction.
Arch said, "Some people might think I'm stupid, which is right. Some people might question my decision. Some people might ridicule me.Some people might think I'm just wasting my time, which is all true."
Arch then gazed back at his broken fists. "But this feeling I have in my heart says otherwise."
It's like a man and a woman who are in a relationship, but when they see a beautiful woman or a handsome man, they easily fall in love, chase after them, and ignore their own long memories, treating their cherished journey and the promises they made along the way as worthless—just to chase a beautiful or a handsome face."
"This is what I'm currently feeling. You just wouldn't understand it.And you don't need to."
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----to be continued-------