Malphegor
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OP: AMP Ch. 59
🕑 Added 2025-09-09 15:46:42 +0000 UTCMarcus pulled up his status bar to check the new condition affecting him.
Vigor II - Duration: 3:59:58
A four-hour duration. That was impressive, but what exactly did this "Vigor" effect do?
The answer became clear when he noticed his health bar had changed completely. In the past, it had always displayed as ten hearts, but now it showed twelve.
That meant his current health was effectively 120% of normal.
The sudden health increase caught him off guard. He'd conducted plenty of experiments on his own body mechanics since gaining his Minecraft abilities, so he understood how the system worked.
Although his health displayed as hardcore mode hearts, it actually represented his physical condition as a percentage. When his health was full, he could perform at 100% capacity. Just like he'd explained to Kira before, eating to saturation would gradually restore fatigue and keep him energized.
During training or combat, his health would slowly decrease as he pushed himself. But once he ate his fill again, both physical injuries and exhaustion would vanish completely. That mechanic was the main reason he had told people he could help them grow stronger quickly.
But no matter how much he improved through training, his health limit had never changed.
Until now.
This wasn't just restoring fatigue and bringing energy anymore. This was straight-up stimulation, like he'd downed a handful of energy pills and chased them with espresso.
And he wasn't the only one feeling it. Everyone who'd eaten Sanji's cooking was experiencing the same rush.
The most obvious case was Luffy. Normally, he already had seemingly endless energy, but now he was downright hyperactive. The problem was, he'd just finished devouring an entire elephant tuna and couldn't eat anymore.
That stuffed, choking sensation at the top of his throat meant he was completely maxed out on food intake.
He had been bouncing around excitedly, but suddenly he went quiet, staring at the remaining food.
This wasn't the first time this had happened. Ever since Marcus' Minecraft-enhanced ingredients had entered their diet, he would hit this saturation wall and become subdued.
For everyone else, that was actually a blessing, it meant there was food left for the rest of them.
But this time, Luffy seemed to be thinking hard about something.
"I've got it!" he suddenly said.
"What?" everyone asked, turning to look at their captain in confusion.
"What do you mean you've got it?"
Usopp joked while stuffing his mouth with food. "You mean you want to add something else to Laboon's head? Like my magnificent nose?"
Luffy jumped to his feet. "I finally figured out a way to keep eating delicious food!"
"Uh... what?"
Nobody really understood what he meant, but he was already putting his plan into action.
The crew wathced as Luffy's body started expanding. In just moments, he was growing larger and larger.
"What the hell?!"
The sight left Marcus completely stunned. Was this awakening? Luffy had only just entered the Grand Line, and he was already about to become Nika? If that was the case, the real question wasn't whether Luffy could defeat Crocodile... But whether that sand guy could survive Luffy's assault.
But when he looked more carefully, he saw that Luffy's hair and body hadn't turned white yet.
Not awakening, then. Just... something else.
Meanwhile, Luffy was absolutely thrilled because that stuffed, choking feeling had completely disappeared.
"Hahaha! It works! Now I can eat as much as I want!"
Now standing about three meters tall, roughly the same height as a Marine admiral, Luffy grabbed food from the table and started devouring it again. As he continued eating, his body size kept increasing.
"Okay... what the hell?" Marcus stared up at him. "How are you doing this?"
The others were equally curious. Luffy was nearly four meters tall.
"How?" Luffy paused his eating to think, then grinned as he tried to describe the sensation. "It's like... tug tug tug, boom, hiss... the feeling comes from inside me, then I spread it through my whole body, and that's how I do it."
"..."
Everyone just stared at him. What kind of nonsense was that supposed to mean?
Tug tug tug, boom, hiss? What did those sounds even represent? Who could possibly understand that kind of explanation?
But then Kira's eyes lit up. "Luffy! You feel that too?!"
"Wait, what?" Marcus blinked. Another person who actually understood that gibberish?
Kira jumped up, gesturing excitedly as she tried to add her own description. "I know exactly what you mean! But I have one more feeling than you, it's like crackle crackle!"
"???"
Nami couldn't hold back her laughter at this point. Watching the two of them over there going "tug tug tug" and "crackle crackle" while swaying around like they were performing some kind of dance was hilarious.
Marcus sighed and rubbed his temples. If they could actually feel these sensations and control them, there was only one possibility he could think of in the One Piece world.
"Life Return?"
"What's that?" Zoro asked.
"Life Return is an advanced technique that allows someone to completely control all of their body parts and bodily functions, even parts that normally can't be controlled consciously, like hair or organs." Marcus paused, organizing his thoughts. "It's incredibly difficult to master, so difficult that very few people in the world can actually use it. Even among elite fighters, it's extremely rare."
He gestured toward Luffy. "What Luffy just did looks very similar, controlling his body through willpower, forcing his rubber body to change. If I'm right, he should be able to change back too. Right, Luffy?"
Luffy nodded, but when he tried to shrink back to normal size, his body immediately puffed up like a balloon. He rolled his eyes back and quickly covered his mouth, looking like he was about to explode.
He was on the verge of throwing up from all the compressed food in his system, so he immediately expanded back to Goliath size.
"Whew... close one! Almost wasted all that good food!"
"So that's what you meant!" Usopp complained.
Marcus turned his attention to Kira. "You can do it too?"
"Mm... I'm not completely sure, but probably. It feels similar to how I practice controlling my multiple transformations."
As she spoke, wings spread from her back, unfolding until their span reached four or five meters. Her legs gradually shifted into hooves, and her eyes slowly transformed into vertical pupils.
But her body control wasn't quite stable yet. The fur from her hooves began spreading up to her abdomen, creating an unusual hybrid appearance.
If she'd had a whip-like tail to complete the look, she could've easily passed for some kind of succubus or demon.
Naturally, Sanji's eyes turned into hearts instantly. "Ah! Cute Kira turning into Sexy Kira! This is amazing!"
But within less than a minute, Kira reverted back to just having wings, breathing heavily.
"Phew... maintaining three different animal states at once is still too difficult." She wiped sweat from her forehead and smiled apologetically.
She clearly didn't have the stamina to maintain that level of transformation for long periods, especially with the wings fully extended.
"So you two are Devil Fruit users? Zoan types?" Vivi asked curiously, studying both Luffy and Kira with new interest.
"I ate the Rubber Rubber Fruit. I'm a Rubber Human," Luffy said proudly, still maintaining his giant form.
"I'm a Zoan user," Kira nodded shyly.
Since Marcus had warned her not to follow Luffy's example and reveal all her capabilities, she only admitted to being a Zoan user without going into specifics.
"But Zoan types usually only have three forms, right? Human, beast, and hybrid forms?"
"I'm in my hybrid form now. I've been staying in hybrid form constantly as training, that way I can become useful to the crew faster." Kira smiled as she folded her wings back, returning to her normal human appearance.
Vivi nodded understandingly. She was once again amazed by the mysterious power of Devil Fruits. Asking which specific fruit Kira had eaten would've been rude, since she couldn't even fully control her hybrid form yet, it was clearly exhausting work.
Marcus, however, fell into deep thought. He hadn't expected Kira to be the first one to grasp Life Return, but it made sense. Stacking multiple animal traits simultaneously was apparently difficult enough that the strain had forced her to develop conscious control over her body's functions.
Although Devil Fruits could be developed through imagination and willpower, without proper foundation and understanding, imagination alone might not be enough to awaken new abilities.
He found himself wanting to experiment with other Devil Fruits and their development potential. Back when he'd watched the anime, he'd always wondered: if he had a Devil Fruit, how would he develop it?
For example, if Buggy's Chop-Chop Fruit awakened and affected the external world, could it literally split reality apart? Or could Alvida's Slip-Slip Fruit be developed to slide away damage, similar to Kuma's Paw-Paw Fruit abilities?
But he was learning that reality was more complex than anime logic. The fundamental nature of each fruit determined its development path.
Just like Zoan fruits had Normal, Ancient, and Mythical subtypes, Paramecia fruits also had distinct categories. Broadly speaking, there were three types: self-affecting, external-effect, and creation-type.
Self-affecting examples included Luffy's rubber body, Buggy's ability to separate his parts, and Alvida's slippery skin.
External-effect examples were Kuma's Paw-Paw Fruit, Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, and Blueno's Door-Door Fruit.
Creation-type examples included Mr. 3's Wax-Wax Fruit, Magellan's Venom-Venom Fruit, and Doflamingo's String-String Fruit.
Alvida's Slip-Slip Fruit would probably develop along similar lines to Luffy's, affecting the external world by making anything she touched perfectly smooth.
If she ever reached Yonko-level strength, her speed would be unmatched. At lower levels, friction didn't significantly hinder movement anyway. But once she reached certain thresholds, like breaking the sound barrier, eliminating friction would also eliminate air resistance. Every ounce of force she put into an attack would transfer directly to her target with nothing held back.
Ordinary in appearance, but incredibly powerful in practice.
Of course, she didn't have that level of ability yet.
While Marcus was lost in these thoughts, Luffy had started performing robot imitations, drawing cheers from Usopp and Mr. 9.
"Their relationship warmed up fast."
It had only been a few hours, and Mr. 9 was already bonding with the crew like he'd been sailing with them for weeks.
Crocus was also laughing heartily at the entertainment.
Then Luffy began performing the chopstick-in-the-nose dance that he'd learned from Johnny and Yosaku.
"Marcus, you too!" he called out.
"I would never... damn it! Fine, let's go!"
The cheerful atmosphere continued as night gradually fell over Twin Cape.
Eventually, Nami pulled out the Log Pose she'd purchased back in Loguetown, studying its needle as it slowly adjusted to the local magnetic field.
"So the Red Line has its own magnetic field? How long does it need to store up the direction?" she asked Crocus.
"About a week for a full charge," he replied. Then he looked more closely at her compass. "But tell me, you bought that Log Pose in Loguetown, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
Crocus glanced meaningfully at the sleeping crew members, then pointed toward Vivi and Mr. 9. "Then you should ask them about that. The only organization with enough power to extend Log Pose radiation from the Grand Line all the way back to the East Blue, it's their group. I'd bet good money your very next destination is going to be their stronghold: Whiskey Peak."
