6 One regression at a time
Rick woke up in a boat that was drifting in a dreary ocean. He had indeed been sent back in time by 24 hours.
"Hah! That worked!
And now.."
Rick looked at his shadow. He felt a certain connection to it.
His shadow then separated from the ground and stood up. It looked exactly like him, but completely black. There was absolutely no other difference.
Rick tilted his head and so did the shadow.
"Hmm, I'm gonna call you John. Is that alright John?"
John nodded.
"Hmm, not bad."
Rick then experimented on everything he could do at the moment. The first thing he noticed was that the shadow was extremely malleable. It could take the shape of practically anything.
Rick then had it extend its hand into the sea. he hoped that it would not be affected.
And he was correct. His shadow was not affected one bit.
Hmm, so he is like a creation? construction?
Like how candy or mochi is for those food-type devil fruit abilities?
Or maybe like how wax generated by Mr 3 is. Hmm, I don't have to be scared of the sea then anymore.
I remember that Moria could fly using his ability.
Can I do the same?
Can I enhance myself using the power of my own shadow?
**
After experimenting Rick found Three core abilities.
1. Conjure shadows. As in making his shadow corporeal and manipulating it to do anything.
2. Steal Shadows. This was shown by Moria and he was sure he would also be capable of doing it.
3. Enhancing using shadows. It can be any person's shadow.
He couldn't exactly steal the shadow of a material.
It didn't really work.
'Maybe I need to have a clear image of what I want it to do.'
Now that he was somewhat familiar with the functions and capabilities of the fruit ability.
He had to plan out the situation.
Moria defeating the straw hats isn't something that was supposed to happen. Not by a long shot.
Yet it did.
Rick has been thinking about it in the back of his mind for quite some time. He still could not believe it.
Yet it happened already.
'Could it be some sort of butterfly effect of me being there?
Impossible. I had not interacted with anything. I had just gotten there.
Is this some sort of fate's intervention or something?
Is it about forcing me to take part?
After all this world/life is supposed to be about me getting rid of my regrets and finding peace. So that I can go to heaven or wherever God judges me to go.
So, is that it? Am I now the plot armor for the straw hats?
Wait, does that mean that I am now, in a way, a character in a novel?
No matter where I go, unexpected events happen that force me to take action?
Is that it?
Am I an isekai protagonist?'
The more he thought about this the more he started to hyperventilate.
*Huff *Huff *Huff
But then he took a deep breath.
*Phewwww
"It doesn't matter. Not my concern. If it comes up in the future, my future self can handle it.
One step at a time.
One step at a time."
"Now, what was I thinking?
Hmm, how do I take care of this situation?"
He began to think about the matter in earnest. He came up with several plans.
"Which one do I follow, All of them seem to be good."
He decided to categorize his plans.
1. Use brute force. Join the fight and somehow defeat the hunk by myself.
How? Don't know. I'll figure it out somehow.
2. Use manipulations from behind the scenes to efficiently defeat the Oni.
How? Don't know. I'll figure it out somehow.
"Hmm, how about trying out both? I have infinite time. My skill is basically infinite regression.
So, why not use it?
Ugghh, dying all that time won't be fun.
But hopefully, all the adrenaline from the fight will numb the pain enough.
Hmm, maybe I could use some of Hogback or Chopper's morphine or painkiller supplies for help.
Decisions, decisions. "
**
In a floating island ship, a man proclaimed
"ki shi shi shi!!!
So that's how it is!! It was you forest losers who set up Strawhat.
Who do you think you're talking with!! How dare you!
A pirate that fears death is no pirate at all!!"
"DAMN RIGHT!!!"
Yelling that, a small (relatively 💀) chubby man intervened and chucked a small stone at the Big Omi.
"....."-Moria.
"....."-Lola.
"....."- Strawhats.
"....."-Everyone.
"Shadow punch!!!" - Moria
"AAAAAGHHH"
The man ran away hoping to distract and tire him out and somehow give enough time for others to get some valuable rest time.
'Here he comes'
Rick then used everything he could to run away and annoy him. Everytime Moria started to get close, he would use his shadow to fling himself forward. There were plenty of trees as well to use for slingshotting.
And every time Moria would stop chasing him, he would taunt him and throw rocks at his face using his shadow.
Moria was so enraged that he didn't even notice that Rick was using the same fruit abilities as him.
He was swinging on the trees and using his shadow like a whip.
*Crack*
The branch he was swinging from broke and caused Rick to fall and roll.
"Ah shiet!"
*Thomp*
*Splat*
And he was dead.
**
"Well, that was a good run.
Hey reader.
Hmm, or watcher, or listener. Who knows what this is?
Is this a novel? Fanfic? Movie? Animated TV show?
Meh. I'mma just gonna call you a reader.
Wait! This could also be a hologram. in that case, what would that be called?
What would people watch it on?
'OOh, look mom, I'm on the holo!!'
Hmm, doesn't quite fit right.
Now, what should I do in this run?"
..
Unfortunately, loneliness is something that Rick still can't cope with. In the dreary ship, Risk turned a part of his shadow into a propeller and used it to propel the small boat forward.
And as he lay there alone, he talked to himself as a means to alleviate that bit of loneliness. After all, he was someone who was used to TikTok. Calmness is not something he has learned to appreciate.
And so now, 'Reader' is someone for him to talk to, it felt weirdly calming to think that someone was watching him, and was there for him.
His plans didn't take that long to make. So, the rest of the time, he had nothing to do but practice using his devil fruit ability.
"Should I take the skills of more people? This is after all a great opportunity to gather the skills of many many people."
