Drawing Life Force

"I'm going for it!" Mark's eyes turned bloodshot as waves of dark power rose from his body.

His heart, shrouded in despair, refused to submit just like that. Under the erosion of the dark power, his hands turned completely black. A force that seemed ready to burst through his flesh flickered around them.

Following that irresistible sensation, Mark swung his arms.

Smack! His palms slammed fiercely into the ground.

Black Hole!

Utter darkness instantly spread from his palms, racing toward the explosives.

Buzz!

Just as the explosives were about to detonate, the dark power engulfed them like a pool of water. Then a devouring force emerged and swallowed every last bit of the explosives.

"That was close..."

Cold sweat covered Mark's forehead.

"If I'd been any later..." Mark shuddered, wiping the cold sweat from his brow. Then his eyes turned crimson as icy killing intent erupted from him.

"Those damn bastards..."

Suddenly, he sensed danger behind him. Without time to think, he swung the head of his Mountain-Splitting Axe behind his back.

Bang! Clang~

After the gunshot rang out, a bullet struck Mark's Mountain-Splitting Axe solidly.

"Kid, I never thought you'd be a Devil Fruit user!"

The burly middle-aged man held up his flintlock pistol and spoke cautiously.

After running outside, he had stared at Mark with a sinister expression, waiting for the moment he died.

Instead, he witnessed Mark's sudden display of power, using his Fruit ability to devour the explosives.

The appearance of that dark power had shocked him. Even in the New World, Devil Fruits were top-tier treasures. To encounter a Devil Fruit user in East Blue, known as the weakest sea, was simply unbelievable.

But that was followed by an intense sense of danger.

This kid's ability looked strange, and the massive axe in his hand showed that he was no pushover.

Whether it was for Ballas or something else, they had already thoroughly offended him today. They had to kill him. The man had no intention of letting someone like this bear a grudge against them, though with the great figure backing them, they need not fear a Devil Fruit user...

Mark's face was as cold as ice. These people had entered his shop, asked two questions, then tried to kill him. They had even planted explosives in the store. They clearly wanted him dead...

He was not known for his good temper. Especially now that old Jaba was not home, Mark's killing intent seemed even more overwhelming.

Bang! Another bullet shot toward Mark.

The muscles in Mark's arms tensed like steel. Gripping the Mountain-Splitting Axe with both hands, one above and one below, he blocked the bullet.

"I'll use you to test my current strength!"

Dark power erupted from his entire body. Mark used his feet in place of his hands as an abyssal, bone-chilling darkness rapidly spread toward the group.

"Black Hole!"

Buzz, buzz!

Darkness flowed like water... enveloping them.

The burly middle-aged man raised his flintlock pistol and fired several shots at Mark, but Mark blocked them all.

The people behind him continued firing, but most of the bullets were stopped by Mark's Mountain-Splitting Axe.

The few bullets Mark missed struck his body and sent sprays of blood flying, but they did not inflict much damage.

By then, the dark power had completely enveloped them.

"Get out of here!" The burly middle-aged man noticed the blackness closing in around them. His scalp tingled as he shouted at the people behind him.

But it was already too late.

The corners of Mark's lips curled upward as waves of devouring power arose within the darkness.

The group discovered in horror that their bodies were sinking.

The burly middle-aged man struggled desperately. He even threw away his flintlock pistol, but it was useless.

In an instant, the group was devoured by the dark power.

It was not as slow as in the original story... The devouring speed was enough to swallow a person within a second, and it could become even faster.

As long as Mark grew stronger, he guessed that once the Dark-Dark Fruit awakened, it might possess power comparable to a black hole.

As the host of the Dark-Dark Fruit, he had just realized that this power was simply a weakened version of a black hole's power.

Gravity, devouring, erosion.

"What terrifying power..."

Mark looked at where the group had vanished and spoke with lingering fear.

Fortunately, this power belonged to him.

Suddenly, dark power emerged from the wounds on his body, accompanied by a faint devouring force.

"It can do this too... What an incredibly powerful ability!"

Mark looked delighted. The bullets inside his wounds were completely devoured by the dark power. Not only that, but his wounds were also swallowed by the darkness and slowly disappeared.

All that remained was smooth bronze-colored skin without a trace of scarring.

"No elementalization, but it can devour injuries. It truly deserves to be called the most vicious Devil Fruit..."

(In the original story, Blackbeard could only devour damage caused by Fruit powers, which was a little lackluster. And that body that could only attract Devil Fruit users has also been changed to attract anything. I personally strengthened this Fruit just a little...)

Buzz!

Suddenly, Mark felt a surge of heat from his left wrist.

"Hm? What is that?"

He lowered his head to look at his left hand. That was... the Combat Bracer.

"Could it be..."

The heat came quickly and vanished just as quickly. Once it faded, Mark felt that his body had become somewhat different.

It was... the feeling of becoming stronger.

A flash of delight appeared in his eyes.

Mark opened the Combat Bracer, observed it for a moment, and said softly, "So that's how it is."

The yellow energy bar displayed on the Combat Bracer had deepened slightly in color.

One-fifth of the ☆ had become solid. Once the ☆ in the Combat Bracer completely became a solid ★, it could advance to the next stage.

"I didn't expect the Combat Bracer to change after I transmigrated as well."

After carefully sensing his body and confirming that he had indeed grown a little stronger, Mark sighed.

In the game, the Combat Bracer provided a constitution bonus. Yet after coming to this world, it absorbed life force to strengthen his body.

The two seemed similar, but there was a fundamental difference.

The first was an equipment skill and had nothing to do with Mark himself. It was merely a divine artifact he could wield, though it was powerful that way too... The second, however, fundamentally transformed Mark's body, elevated his physique, and granted him a higher, stronger peak.

His path to becoming stronger would be faster than others', and more stable as well.

Powerful Fruit abilities, a powerful Combat Bracer—Mark now possessed the means to climb to the peak. Of course... they were only means.

After glancing over the battlefield and picking up the flintlock pistol dropped by the burly middle-aged man, Mark returned to the shop.

"It's my first time seeing something like a flintlock pistol. I wonder if the old man will like it."

Mark ran his fingers over the bronze-colored flintlock pistol and thought of Jaba.

He had loved guns in his previous life, but in this life, he only liked axes.

The Mountain-Splitting Axe in his hand, and the little axe tucked against his chest that he used for peeling apples and carving—though he naturally had proper carving tools when doing serious carving.

He had a special fondness for axes.

Mark: It was all Jaba's fault.