032 People!

Chapter 32: 032. Human!

It was impossible to describe the experience.

It felt like passing through an indescribable passageway, warm, moist, slippery, and utterly dark.

"It's like entering a black box, pitch black all around, with no end in sight."

Mercer walked around, his feet sinking into a sticky liquid. After just two steps, his foot stepped on an object.

He crouched down and felt around. After a few seconds, Mercer understood, "A Snow Chicken."

In the pitch-black space, Mercer's eyes flickered, and a faint sense of suffocation washed over him.

"Is the air thin?"

"As expected, this space is the 'Dimensional Stomach' consumption space that comes with the Gulp-Gulp Fruit."

For some reason, he couldn't find any boundaries. He smelled a faint corrosive gas, like stomach acid, in the space.

Outside, Bear Cub's eyes sparkled with curiosity. He had a strange feeling. Inside the "digestion factory" within his body, why was Mercer just walking around in place?

He quickly dismissed the thought. Following Mercer's earlier instructions, he activated the "Pseudo-Fusion" transformation ability, merging Mercer into himself and making him appear.

His body began to change.

In the dark space.

Looking at the surrounding darkness, Mercer was puzzled and fell into thought, "Can this place be broken?"

He released his Observation Haki, but it seemed to be blocked by something, and he couldn't perceive very far.

At that moment, a pulling force acted upon Mercer. The next second, a dizzying sensation occurred.

Then, his vision brightened.

Mercer saw the snowy forest outside. He released his Observation Haki, sensing his own state of existence.

It was a very strange feeling.

His heart was beating, but it wasn't his heart, and the only part of him that could move was his face.

Mercer realized.

Only his head was manifested, and it was on Bear Cub's chest.

"Yip?"

Bear Cub looked at Mercer's head on his chest, his bear mouth curling up.

He then pressed the soft pad of his right paw against Mercer's forehead and rubbed it.

A dark line appeared on Mercer's forehead, and at the same time, he had another idea.

"Bear Cub, can you manifest my entire body on you? Manifest my head on your head, and my arms, legs, and torso all on your body?"

Bear Cub looked at his body with confusion, then activated his ability. The next moment, his left and right bear arms transformed into Mercer's human arms.

Simultaneously, Mercer sensed his own arms and gained a sense of touch.

He reached out, wanting to grasp something, but it was very difficult, as if something was blocking him.

Then, Mercer successively sensed all his limbs.

His field of vision also changed in height.

It was as if he had suddenly grown taller.

It wasn't an illusion.

Mercer could now perceive that his height was exactly the height of Bear Cub standing upright.

Although he could perceive it, he couldn't control his body.

Bear Cub looked at his body with great excitement. He stood on his hind legs and walked upright. His hands and legs were completely different from before, making it much easier to walk.

A novel experience unlike any other appeared in Bear Cub's heart.

"Roar. Yip. Ha-ha Me. Ser. Pa. Hehe I. Oh. Be. Come. Hu. Man. Yinyinyin."

Bear Cub opened his mouth, and faint traces of Mercer's face could be seen on his bear face.

On top of his head, he even had a head of slightly curly black hair.

He was even able to utter sounds, broken human words.

Suddenly, Bear Cub became even more excited, running and frolicking in the snow, his clothes stretching tightly.

Compared to Bear Cub's current wild playfulness, Mercer had a different feeling. His body felt different, both familiar and strange.

It was as if an foreign object was embedded in his body.

No, that wasn't right. It should be, I was embedded in another foreign object.

Hoo. Hoo.

Bear Cub's breathing was vastly different from his own in terms of efficiency.

As his breathing rose and fell.

As this fused state continued, Mercer's heart calmed, and a light screen panel appeared in his vision.

Mercer looked at the panel before him; the Gifted Abilities tab showed no new abilities.

But it was as expected.

After all, one had to live through their life history and experiences before they could accumulate.

At this moment, the constantly changing scenery in his vision also indicated that Bear Cub was still frolicking around, but Mercer also discovered that Bear Cub had no awareness whatsoever of the light screen panel projected onto his retina.

Mercer wasn't surprised.

It would be normal if he couldn't see it.

If he really could.

"That would only mean the Devil Fruit's rank is 'higher' than my 'Light Orb'."

But that clearly wasn't the case now.

Without further thought, Mercer's mind stirred, entering the Unity of Heaven and Man state, relying on that connection with all things in nature.

He perceived a special frequency fluctuation, though it was different from the frequency fluctuation he himself emitted.

It was like having two different "consciousnesses" within one body, and now his consciousness belonged to the "subordinate," while Bear Cub's consciousness belonged to the "dominant."

"But the current situation is special."

"Our bodies can be said to be one."

Mercer began to observe that frequency fluctuation, and in the Unity of Heaven and Man state, he started to align his own frequency fluctuation with Bear Cub's.

It adhered, integrated, and gradually, the frequency fluctuation representing Mercer became identical to Bear Cub's.

Once they were identical, interaction would begin.

They started to intertwine.

The next moment, Bear Cub, who was running and frolicking in the snowy forest, paused his left foot, suddenly losing control, and his entire "person" flipped sideways.

He face-planted into the snow.

But what he didn't notice was that it wasn't just his left foot that he lost control of; even his breathing had changed.

Mercer's eyes lit up. He had taken control of the fused body's breathing function. As his breathing rose and fell, and as he guided Qi throughout his body, the next moment, his right leg, left hand, right hand, and the control over his body all returned.

Mercer stood up and rubbed his face.

The next moment, Bear Cub spoke using his mouth, "Ying ying, what happened to me?"

He hadn't completely taken away control? That made sense; after all, he wasn't the main consciousness.

At the same time, Mercer also smiled with his mouth, "Nothing much, I just took away the control of the body. I discovered that this is also a drawback of the Gulp-Gulp Fruit's combination with a living being."

"Because inanimate objects don't have consciousness, they can't fight you for the body after fusion. But living beings can."

"And my situation is special. Generally, if another being were to fight you for the body, you could completely expel them from your body, or directly imprison them in that 'dark stomach space' and then reform them after digestion."

"But now, because of the Unity of Heaven and Man state achieved through breathing, our fused body, under my further interference, has entered a deeper level of fusion."

"And since I am stronger than you, I have taken control of this body."

"Ying, so that's how it is. Bullshit, ying!"

Bear Cub spoke human language through his mouth, sounding very surprised. However, at this moment, Mercer was also looking at his own hands in astonishment.

Because he had suppressed Bear Cub's consciousness, in the fused state, he was now the dominant one.

A sense of instinct emerged.

Mercer began to move, reaching out to support a nearby pine tree. Suddenly, his mouth opened wide, abnormally wide, and he bit down on the pine tree.

Crunch!

He twisted his head, tearing with his mouth, biting off a large chunk of the trunk. He stuffed it into his mouth and began to chew. A few seconds later, he swallowed.

A different taste experience from before appeared in his mind.

"Hmm, how should I put it? Such a refreshing taste, like eating pine nuts."

As he spoke, his left hand began to change, transforming into a short sword.

Looking at the Fast Swords he had crafted some time ago, which Bear Cub had eaten, they reappeared before his eyes.

Mercer smiled.

The short sword transformed back into his left hand.

"Mercer, so this is what your breathing feels like. It's so. Magical, so com.fortable."

Bear Cub spoke haltingly, experiencing the subtle changes within his body with each breath from the other "perspective" of the fused state.

"Then you better remember it well now. This is a rare opportunity. While we're fused, you should properly experience our breathing."

"Okay, got it."

Bear Cub spoke with his mouth.

Mercer found it very interesting, speaking two languages at once, and continued searching for the crow in the snowy forest.

Feeling his stamina rapidly depleting, Mercer raised an eyebrow, "Does this kind of living creature fusion consume so much stamina?"

"Mmm, compared to turning into a weapon, it's much more tiring."

Hearing Bear Cub's words, Mercer understood, then his expression froze, "Bear Cub, why do I feel like you're getting more fluent in speaking?"

His expression blank, Bear Cub looked confused, "Mmm, I don't know. I just know that after fusing with you, I could naturally speak human language. Now, I don't know why, but I'm even more fluent."

Mercer heard this.

No need to think.

As the two "people's" bodies fused deeper, coupled with the human form, Bear Cub had always been with him and Kureha since he was little. The subtle influence meant that now, with more practice, Bear Cub had naturally become more skilled.

"Alright, spit me out. I don't want you to collapse from exhaustion later and have me carry you back."

"Okay."

Mercer cleared his mind and stopped controlling his body. The next moment, Bear Cub took control, and Mercer's vision went black. As the world spun, he found himself in a dark place again.

But after only a few seconds, He felt something grab his body, followed by a sense of weightlessness. His eyes lit up as Mercer's head emerged from Bear Cub's mouth. Pulled by Bear Cub's right paw, his body was then dragged out.

As soon as he landed, Mercer looked at himself inside and out, with no sticky or wet feeling.

The experience was good.

Seeing Bear Cub transform back into his original bear form.

Mercer stepped forward and pinched his face, "How do you feel?"

Bear Cub blinked, opening his mouth, "Ah~ Mmm~ Woo~ Okay~ Roar~"

He then scratched his head, looking unhappy, muttering "Mmm-mmm-mmm" with his cheeks puffed out, and plopped down on the ground.

Mercer chuckled and rubbed Bear Cub's head, "The Gulp-Gulp Fruit should be able to change your bone structure through self-cannibalism. Why don't you try it?

You haven't forgotten how it felt to fuse just now, right?

Try it yourself and see if changing your throat bone structure allows you to speak human language. After all, your vocal cords are quite versatile."

Bear Cub's head shot up, his face full of surprise. He immediately opened his lower jaw and began to gnaw upwards, biting his nose, then his head, then his butt. After a few more bites, only a ball of white fur remained on the spot.

Listening to the chewing sounds from within the fur ball, Mercer watched with great interest, as he himself didn't know if it would succeed.

If it worked, great.

If not, it was no big deal.

There would be ways in the future.

For some reason, Bear Cub's self-cannibalism took an unusually long time this time, with chewing sounds echoing continuously.

Little did Mercer know.

At this moment, Inside the fur ball, Bear Cub gnawed at himself, thinking about the changes in his body during the fusion, the human-like body after fusing with Mercer, the body Mercer had subtly adjusted through breathing after taking control, and the feeling of talking with Mercer.

Driven by his desire, he used his ability to adjust his bones and internal structure.

Crack, crack!

Watching the sound of bones grinding from inside the fur ball in front of him, Mercer frowned, "I wonder what's going on."

However, Mercer wasn't overly worried.

Time ticked by, and seeing that he still hadn't finished, Mercer felt helpless.

He walked around the fur ball.

He observed the surrounding trees.

The trees here had quite a variety.

There were also many biological signatures within his perception range.

Mercer scanned the surrounding environment, constantly perceiving, and walked through the forest on patrol.

After a full circle, he still found no trace of the crow.

He returned to Bear Cub's location.

He could hear that the chewing sounds from inside the fur ball had almost stopped.

At this moment, the white fur ball, after Bear Cub's self-cannibalism, began to stretch out.

The next moment, Mercer's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't expected this, watching Bear Cub now standing upright.

He looked very much like a Panda Man, albeit a bit shrunken, standing at 1.7 meters tall with a chubby build.

Black nose, black eye circles, black ears, black arms and legs, the rest is white.

Mink Tribe.

The name of a race suddenly appeared in Mercer's mind.

But there were also differences, for example, the hands had the "pseudo" sixth finger that pandas naturally possessed.

Bear Cub jumped in place, scratched his ear with his right hand, and touched his face.

Grinning, looking at his body frame which was completely different from before, Bear Cub opened his mouth and said:

"Ying ying ying, person."

Mercer raised an eyebrow, looked into Bear Cub's eyes, and enunciated clearly:

"I, I, I, I."

Bear Cub blinked at Mercer, looked at Mercer's mouth, and shouted with his mouth open:

"Wu wu, wo, wo, I."

Mercer: "Say 'person'."

Bear Cub: "Woof."

Looking at him speechlessly, Mercer said, "I'll teach you to talk as we walk. First, let's go find the crow with me."

Bear Cub nodded: "Woo~"

He followed beside Mercer, learning the words Mercer spoke.

From time to time, he would bite his tongue.

Or strange tones with no discernible meaning would pop out of his mouth.

Or he would angrily open his mouth and let out a string of "ying ying ying."

Mercer didn't find it annoying; he found it quite interesting to teach Bear Cub.

He treated it as a practice run.

The two "people" ran all over the mountains and plains, searching for birds.

"Caw~~"

An hour later, the two arrived under a tree. At this moment, an extremely hoarse bird call sounded.

Mercer looked up.

There was a bird's nest among the branches at the top.

A patch of black and white caught his eye.

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PS: Some effects of the Gulp-Gulp Fruit are based on basic principles with some secondary interpretations, which are still reasonably justified.

Regarding the stomach space, the original work did not provide a real explanation, only the term "Gulp-Gulp Factory," so it is presumed that it would also involve some spatial effects.