OP: AMP Ch. 199

Looking back at how Luffy had assembled his crew, every single member had come aboard after overcoming some kind of obstacle or crisis.

Zoro had been rescued from an execution ground where he'd been tied up for days without food or water.

Nami came next, though at the time she'd had no intention of becoming a pirate. She just wanted free passage and maybe to steal some treasure along the way. It wasn't until the showdown with the Arlong Pirates that she'd truly joined the Straw Hats.

Then came Usopp, wrapped up in that whole mess with Kuro's conspiracy to take over Syrup Village. And that's when Marcus had appeared on the island with Alvida and Kira in tow. They'd boarded the ship so easily it was almost anticlimactic. Luffy's invitation had been casual to the point of being absurd, hell, Marcus was pretty sure the cooked steak had been the deciding factor.

But every companion Luffy recruited after that followed the same pattern: solve a problem, board the ship. Even Vivi fit that mold. The reason she was thinking about all this now was because over the past few days, she'd been hearing too many anxious voices in her head.

As the user of the Whisper-Whisper Fruit, she hadn't developed it to the point where she could read minds yet. But she could sense emotions, and lately she'd been picking up waves of uncertainty and anxiety from nearly everyone on the crew. Relying on Marcus was one thing. But the real issue was simpler and more terrifying: they had no real leverage to make him stay.

She could sense something else too, something she didn't want to acknowledge but couldn't ignore.

If Marcus left the crew, the Straw Hats as they were now would fall apart. She'd been playing out the scenario in her head for days now, and it always ended the same way.

First, Marcus' creations would leave. Goliath and Shira weren't just crew members, they were extensions of his powers. If he went, they'd go too. No question.

Alvida would follow. That one was obvious. The whole crew had picked up on the relationship between those two, even if nobody talked about it openly. Kira would leave too. The girl worshiped Marcus. He'd given her a Mythical Zoan when she'd been a nobody with nothing to offer. She'd follow him to the ends of the earth.

Then Vivi had asked herself the hard question: what would she do if Marcus left?

The answer had unsettled her. She didn't have some unshakeable conviction to stay with the Straw Hats. Marcus' way of thinking had shown her different perspectives on problems she'd thought were unsolvable. If the crew really did split up, she'd probably follow him.

Next came Nami and Robin.

Nami loved money. Everyone knew that. The ship's funds were basically infinite at this point, but she still wanted more. And Marcus could get unlimited gold bars. Vivi seriously wondered if Nami would just attach herself to Marcus permanently.

Then there was Robin. She couldn't quite explain it, but she had this gut feeling that if Marcus asked Robin to come with him, she'd say yes without hesitation.

That meant the entire female contingent would be gone.

Which left the guys.

Without Goliath, that was down to Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, and Bon Kurei. Just four people.

And in her assessment, even Usopp might choose to follow Marcus. The guy loved gadgets and explosions, and Marcus could provide endless materials and equipment. Plus, he worked well with Goliath on weapon projects. It made sense he'd go where the resources were.

So in the end, Luffy would be left with exactly three people: Zoro, Sanji, and Bon Kurei.

Everyone else would be gone, scooped up by Marcus in one clean sweep.

But she didn't want that outcome. She liked the atmosphere the Straw Hats had created. Sailing with them felt safe even when they ran into danger. The thought of the crew dissolving kept her awake at night. And Shiki's parting words had only made it worse.

Marcus gave her an odd look, then he understood.

Vivi was a princess. In the original timeline, she would've been the companion who chose to stay behind in Arabasta because of her sense of duty and responsibility. Now that same quality was amplifying her fears about the crew falling apart. Her perspective as a leader made her see all the fault lines others might miss. Actually, now that he thought about it... among the Straw Hats, she might be the most qualified to be captain. She was educated, knowledgeable, responsible, adaptable, and her Whisper-Whisper Fruit let her communicate and coordinate the crew like a nerve center.

At least compared to Luffy's "punch first, think never" approach, she would probably make a damn good captain.

He smiled and shook his head. "I get what you're worried about. But I'm staying with Luffy until he achieves his dream and becomes Pirate King."

"You have that much faith in him?"

"It's not really about faith..." Marcus paused, catching himself before he said something stupid like 'I watched the anime and he's the protagonist.' He changed his approach. "He saved my life once. Though he probably doesn't even remember doing it."

"What?!"

Vivi's eyes lit up and she immediately scooted closer to sit right next to him on the cloud couch.

"Tell me everything!"

Marcus found her sudden gossip-hungry expression amusing. "How I met Alvida..."

He briefly explained everything that had happened since he'd ended up in the One Piece world, though he heavily modified the part about why he'd been on that island in the first place.

In his revised version, he was a minor noble from a small kingdom in the East Blue who'd wanted to see the wider world. But he'd gotten a harsh lesson in how dark that world could be, betrayed by his own guards, treated as a cash cow by merchant ships, then abandoned when he was no longer useful. When he'd been on the verge of death from that giant boar, Alvida had come flying out of nowhere and smashed into the beast. Pure coincidence, but the two of them had ended up saving his life.

Out of gratitude and proper upbringing, he'd chosen to help Alvida and catch up with Luffy's crew.

By the time he finished the story, Marcus almost believed it himself.

Vivi nodded along, finding it all reasonable.

That vague feeling that Marcus might abandon ship at any moment finally dissipated.

"If we ever finish sailing around the world, I really want to visit your homeland. What kind of country raises people to be as kind as you are, even after everything you went through?"

She meant it too. If Vivi had experienced all that, she would've run crying to her father and probably never left the palace again.

"Whew..." She exhaled deeply and leaned back, letting herself sink into the soft cloud material. She stretched her arms above her head.

"So this is what friendship between men looks like. Even when he doesn't know about it, you'll quietly join him and support him."

Marcus lay back too. "Do I really seem that flighty to you? Like I'd just leave on a whim?"

Vivi started counting on her fingers. "Actually, no. If anything, it's the opposite. You're good at talking to people, and your abilities are unique. You have a different way of connecting with each person on the crew. It's almost like you're a therapist or something."

She sat up from where she'd been lounging on the cloud couch.

"I should probably head back to sleep."

She walked toward the cloud house.

Marcus kept his elbows propped on his knees. But right at that moment, his head snapped up suddenly, attention drawn to a specific direction.

He quickly pulled up his minimap and player interface, scanning through the displays until his eyes settled on a line of text floating above the health bar.

Monster: Goatman unlocked.

He frowned. That didn't make sense. He hadn't leveled up recently, so why would a new mob type suddenly unlock? What had triggered it?

The instant the Goatman was born, he felt something shift inside him. It was like his Devil Fruit abilities had extended themselves somehow, reaching out in a new direction without his input. It felt like someone else was developing his powers for him, which was both fascinating and deeply unsettling.

He switched his minimap to display only hostile targets, then rapidly zoomed out to get a broader view of the area. His eyes locked onto Upper Yard, or more specifically, the island that had merged with Shiki's territory when he had crashed here.

"Time to check this out."

He didn't hesitate, though he wasn't going to show up in person. Not until he knew what he was dealing with. But he couldn't exactly sleep either, not with this new development nagging at him.

He found Goliath sleeping peacefully and did the most efficient thing he could think of... he broke the bed.

The sudden destruction dumped Goliath onto the soft clouds below. The iron golem didn't even wake up from the fall.

Marcus had to shake him before he finally started coming around, rubbing his eyes and yawning massively.

"Hmm? Is it morning already?"

"Goliath, I need you to keep watch for a bit. I've got to go check something out."

Before Goliath could even process what was happening, Marcus had already replaced the destroyed bed, climbed onto it, and peacefully closed his eyes.

Goliath stared at him in confusion.

As one of Marcus' creations, sleep shouldn't even be a biological necessity for him. But as the first creation to be possessed by a soul, he'd developed a certain human foundation, especially after eating a Devil Fruit. Emotions like happiness, anger, sadness, and joy all existed for him now, along with the need for rest. He scratched his head, looking down at Marcus who had woken him up only to immediately fall asleep himself.

"What the hell?"

---

Meanwhile, in the laboratory, chaos reigned.

The research facility had been transformed into a disaster zone. Countless precious documents lay scattered across the floor, mixing with shattered glass vials and medicinal ingredients that would never be usable again. Experimental equipment worth a fortune had been smashed to pieces.

Various chemical concoctions pooled on the floor. A mass of pinkish-purple flames burned in one corner, fed by who-knows-what.

Tall figures lay sprawled across the ground. Their bodies showed no visible wounds, but whether they were alive or dead was impossible to tell from a glance. And in the middle of all this destruction stood a "man" with two horns protruding from his head and the head of a goat was voraciously devouring a human corpse. Dark red blood dripped from the white fur on its chin and mouth, staining everything below crimson. But perhaps the most disturbing part of this entire grotesque scene was that someone was watching it all.

"Hmm... no visible fatal wounds, yet the attack is clearly draining life force. Record that."

Indigo stood inside a transparent glass enclosure. Behind him, his assistant stood with trembling hands, but he remained dutifully in position, pen moving rapidly across his notepad as he documented every observation.

The synthetic beasts were extremely dangerous, after all. As a scientist, Indigo would never be foolish enough to conduct experiments without proper precautions. Animals, even modified ones, had strong revenge instincts.

Inside the circular glass barrier, he pressed both palms against the surface, his expression almost enthusiastic as he watched the Goatman feed.

Everything the creature was displaying only served to excite him further.

The Goatman's passive abilities alone were remarkable. Just by letting out a low growl, it could make every living being within a twenty-meter radius hear a terrifying roar echo inside their minds. Any creature that heard it, if they lacked sufficient willpower, would fall into paralyzing fear and lose control of their body. Being able to exert even ten percent of their normal strength under those conditions would be impressive. But that wasn't all. Being stared at by the Goatman induced vivid hallucinations. The weaker someone's mental fortitude, the more real those hallucinations became. And when fear reached a certain threshold, the victim would simply die. Just drop dead from sheer terror.

These were merely passive effects, triggered automatically just by being near the creature. And yet this was enough to fill hin with joy.

If the Goatman's physical strength weren't so formidable, he would have loved nothing more than to dissect it on the spot. To thoroughly examine its abilities, where they originated from, whether they could be cultivated through selective breeding, whether even greater transformations might be possible.

The transformation itself was remarkable too. What had once been a perfectly cubic sheep had metamorphosed into this bipedal horror. From a distance, it almost looked like a man wearing a goat-headed mask, with slightly elongated limbs.

As if sensing Indigo's gaze, the goat head lifted. Those horizontal pupils fixed directly on the two men inside the glass enclosure.

"I don't know if it's just my imagination," the assistant said, "but I swear it just smiled."

Indigo had noticed it too, of course. His eyes lit up even brighter.

"Oh? It has intelligence. Its cognitive abilities appear to be quite high."

"ROAR!"

The Goatman released a growl.

Just five minutes earlier, it had walked out of Cage Number Five and immediately tried to tear Indigo apart. But a glass enclosure had descended from above, trapping it before it could reach him.

The assistant had retreated to the doorway to activate the emergency containment mechanism.

The result was the Goatman charging headfirst into the glass barrier. The steel-reinforced Cage Number Five hadn't been able to hold it. Yet this glass had absorbed the creature's violent impact without showing even the tiniest crack.

BOOM.

A mangled corpse slammed against the glass wall.

The body exploded on impact, bursting into countless fragments. Blood splattered across the surface, painting it red. But the smooth glass remained clean underneath. The blood slowly slid downward, unable to leave even the slightest stain or mark on the material.

THUD!

The Goatman rammed into the barrier again, even harder this time.

Indigo, pressed against the glass from the inside, felt the powerful shockwave reverberate through his entire body.

"Oh?! Its strength increased! It's growing stronger, just from consuming a single human!"

The transparent glass showed no cracks or damage, but he had felt both impacts clearly. The first time, although the glass hadn't moved, there had been a slight vibration. This time, however, the vibration was intense. If the first impact had felt like clapping his hands together, this one felt like someone had struck his palms with a hammer.

"ROAR!"

The Goatman's howl passed through the glass and directly into their minds.

The assistant's entire body broke out in goosebumps. It felt like he could smell the stench of blood seeping through the barrier.

Indigo, however, only pressed closer to the glass.