[Note:
" * " : Indicates abilities that can be upgraded with practice, experience, or unique opportunities.]
> System inner voice ["speaking"] <
> Ash inner speech "speaking" <
{}
SELINA'S TRAIL:(continue....)
After a couple of hours, Selina groaned, waking groggily. Her whole body which was burned ached in pain. Even trying to sit up made her grit her teeth and hiss sending jolts through her whole body.
With effort, she reached into her inventory bag and pulled out an advanced healing potion.
Swallowing it was a struggle and slowly, the potion began to work its magic—her charred skin started to heal, the cuts closed, bruises faded, even her singed hair slowly returning to its normal state.
But the twitches and spasms from the lightning strike remained. Still wincing, she pulled out a healing pill and took it too, hoping it might help with the muscle spasms. Then she looked around.
Her Nimbus Staff was lodged deep into the ground nearby. Stretching her hand, she tried to will it back to her—but it didn't budge.
Her mind throbbed—too much mental strain. Clutching her head with a soft groan, she pushed herself up and staggered toward the staff. It was buried deep. She wrapped both hands around it, gritted her teeth, and with a sharp breath, yanked it out with force.
"That really took a lot out of me..." she muttered aloud, glancing back toward the sea. The black clouds and thunder still lingered in the distance.
Turning away, she focused on the forest ahead. Pulling out water and a few snacks, she began walking forward while munching slowly, keeping her Observation Haki active. The moment she stepped deeper—
Whoosh.
A faint rush of movement cut through the silence and she noticed a figure through her haki.
Without hesitation, she spun her staff and hurled it toward the direction of the presence she sensed—right into the path where the figure might come. A thud confirmed the hit.
She willed her staff back, and as it returned, she vanished using Soru, catching the staff mid-run as she darted forward. When she reached the spot—
The figure was already down, unconscious.
It was a monkey—but unlike a normal one. It wore clothes, carried a dagger, and wielded a staff like a human warrior.
Before she could think further—her haki flared again
SLINK.
The sound of metal slicing the air behind her. She tilted her head just in time as a dagger grazed past.
More figures started creeping from behind trees, perched in branches, surrounding her from all sides.
Without warning they came at her, shrieking, howling, they charged at her from all sides.
Selina immediately lengthened her Nimbus Staff and swung it in a wide arc, the strike smashing through several attackers and sending them flying.
She launched herself upward with Geppo. Midair, she enlarged the staff again thicker and brought it crashing down the ground—
The ground split, chunks of shattered land flew into the air. Selina willed her staff back to its regular size and vanished using Soru, weaving between the flying pieces of stone.
With her Observation Haki guiding her, she struck from between the airborne debris—attacking hidden enemies, flushing them out, or knocking them flat.
Twisting her staff faster, she built momentum and released a wave of slicing wind, slashing down enemies in groups. But even then, too many enemies started pouring fast from every direction.
So, she activated Tekkai, and layered herself in Armament Haki and charged into them. Spinning, ducking, striking them hard with staff. Even with her Armament, their attacks slammed into her with force making her wince.
She understood that these guys are using their weapons imbued with Armament and her attacks also seems having less effect on them.
Her mind flashed back to the moment she had tried to protect her staff from the lightning, when she felt that she extended her Haki into it.
She steadied her breathing—calmed her mind—and focused tried to remember that feel even while in the middle of battle tried to feel the flow of her Armament into her staff making it her own extension.
She knew it had happened in that exact moment — when the lightning struck, her instinct took over, making her Armament Haki surged into her staff for the first time. Now, even in mid-battle, she clung to that memory, hoping to feel it again.
She began to push her Haki outward, trying to merge with her staff. Initially it was not perfect but she tried continuously. And after sometime what felt like hours while fighting her opponents she did it and finally achieved coating her staff.
With a fierce grin, Selina shouted, "Come at me now!" She fought without holding back.
Her staff, now covered with her Haki, slammed through their defenses and shattered enemy. She flipped, twisted striked them, dodge the attacks meanwhile also counter attacking.
She used everything in her arsenal — Rankyaku, Shigan, and the full range of Rokushiki techniques. As the battle flowed, so did she, switching between her staff and hand-to-hand moves with ease. Each shift sharpened her mastery and pushed her combat skills to new heights.
The battle continued to rage on and more and more came at her continuously but as time went on the numbers began to go down.
Selina slammed her staff into the last attacker's face so hard that bones cracked, teeth flew, blood sprayed across the dirt and finishing all of them.
Selina dropped to one knee; her staff stabbed into the ground for support. Her other hand on the ground as she panted, chest rising and falling hard.
She took a basic healing potion from her inventory bag, downed it quickly. The bruises and minor injuries on her body began to fade, healing bit by bit.
Taking a deep breath, Selina pushed herself to her feet, stretching her limbs with a groan. Her Nimbus Staff now rested across her shoulders, both arms draped over it.
"Sheesh… I thought there was no end to these guys," she muttered. "They just kept coming at me the whole time."
With a lazy scratch to the side of her head, she glanced around her. "Anyways… I hope it's done now, right?" she said, groaning slightly.…Or is there more?"
As if answering her question, the sand beneath her feet began to shift, spiraling slowly and from the surrounding trees, leaves rustled and lifted into the air, doing same gathered in front of her, twisting into humanoid forms.
The first made of sand—is the same figure she'd met at the start of this trial. While the second emerged made of leaves beside it, resembled the third head from the first trial.
The sand figure spoke with a calm voice:
"Child of Rebellion… you have passed the Trial of Adaptability."
"You adapted, endured—and overcame the path laid before you."
Then the leaf-formed spoke with same calm voice:
"Your body and soul might have learned to adapt—but what of deceit? Illusion? Infiltration?"
"Can you see through deceit? Through illusion? Can your eyes distinguish not just truth from lies… but reality from what pretends to be real?"
Selina shrugged, her grip on the staff loose across her shoulders. "I've come this far. Whatever it is. I'm ready."
The leaf figure waves his hand. A swirling portal bloomed open beside them through the shimmer, a towering palace revealed itself.
"Your goal lies within," the leaf figure said, pointing toward the palace. "There… you must move unseen, discern the real from the false. Only then will you find what you truly came for. But beware… at the heart of every path—one must always face the shadow of themselves."
Selina exhaled slowly, placing one hand at the back of her neck, "So… this is the final one, huh?"
She then lowered her head gave them a quiet nod of respect. "Thanks for showing me the way this far."
She glanced toward the swirling portal, then back at the two figures. "If I make it through… I hope I'll see you both on the other side."
And with that, she stepped forward— vanishing into the portal to face her final trail.
{}
As Selina stepped out of the portal, her feet landed on rough stone. Before her stood the palace's outer wall. She immediately, vanished with a quick Soru, and slipped behind a broken pillar near the wall's edge.
Slipping her hand into her inventory bag for the Mask of Alteration and wore it and became invisible. Then she closed her eyes and activated her Observation Haki.
She could see guards—plenty of them—spread across the place. The palace seems to have 6 floors, each one with its own patrol. The higher the floor, the stronger the presence she felt.
Especially the top level—her senses pricked the strongest.
Selina then saw then clearly, they looked like those monkey-like attackers from last trail. Except these guys are in armor, and looks more disciplined.
Then she noticed one of the outer guards from the lower level was approaching her position. Selina stayed still, letting him come closer.
Once the guard got close, Selina moved with a clean slice to the neck knocked him out. She caught him before his body could hit the ground, and dragged him back behind the pillar she hid.
Within seconds, her form shifted into his—face, body, armor—everything. She didn't miss a detail.
She walked towards entrance like she belonged, calmly after sometime she blended into them and entered the palace without rising any suspicion.
Inside, the palace was massive—stone halls wide enough for giants, walls carved with clouds, mountains, peach trees, monkey like figures.
She kept her Observation Haki up, tracking patrols and finding blind spots and moved up to the next floor.
The first floor was free pass, she easily slipped through the guards as they seem to be same rank as she disguised but second floor, a bit tighter and also guards rank seems different based on their armor compared to her.
She immediately turned invisible, slipped past them finding blind spots carefully she spotted with observation and reached to the third floor.
Still invisible, she bolted full speed using Soru, and when she reached the hallway group of guards are walking having no space to slip through them, so she shot up to the ceiling and hung there willing her gloves to stick.
She waited till all of them passed through and she started moving again towards the fourth floor.
Guards were much tighter again, she waited and picked one off them when he split from the group plucking him like a weed standing upside down just above him and then she came behind a column.
She did same as the first guard she took out and hid him after taking appearance and walked back like nothing happened.
And same with the fifth floor she had to do again same.
As Selina stepped onto the sixth floor, she was surprised to see there were no guards in sight. She remembered sensing guards through her haki at the beginning.
She paused for a moment, thinking maybe her Haki still needed refining to get better and so she might have been mistaken. She shrugged it off, dispelling her invisibility and disguise, and stored the mask back in her inventory.
Her eyes immediately landed on her goal, the vault door she had been looking for. Smirking, she started walking toward it, thinking she had reached her destination.
But no matter how much she walked, the distance between her and the vault never changed. She started running, but it felt like she was going nowhere. After a while, she stopped, sensing something was off.
She looked around. Still nothing only her alone here. Then, the words of the leaf figure came back to her about her finding truth in false. Then it hit her this was what he had warned her about. An illusion.
So, she closed her eyes, focusing her mind and activating her Observation Haki to its full strength. She walked forward, letting the haki guide her, and soon reached a door and she entered opening it.
Selina opened her eyes as she stepped through the door, and there they were—the guards. "I knew it. I was correct. I did feel their presence at the start," she muttered under her breath.
Meanwhile the guards, as soon as they saw her, they lunged forward, not even giving her a moment to react.
"Tch…." she clicked her tongue breath, quickly covering her body with Tekkai and layering it with Armament haki again. Gripping her staff, she coated it with haki as well, went head on to face them.
She activated Soru, running straight at them then jumped into the air using Geppo, bashing one of them hard with her staff. Without hesitation, she followed up with a precise Shigan, driving her finger into other guard's forehead through helmet and taking him out in an instant.
More guards came at her at a time, but she blocked their incoming attacks with her staff lengthening it and pushed them back with force. Despite their better armor and weapons, Selina moved faster, striking them down one by one.
Using Geppo again, she leapt into the air, releasing a powerful Rankyaku. The wind blade sliced through their ranks, knocking back the remaining guards but not taking them out fully.
Unlike the previous floors, these guys sure are stronger, with better armor and weapons, only attacks with armament seems more effective than normal attacks.
The fight was intense, as time went by. But, one by one, she took them all down. And her injuries were fewer compared to before.
With the last of them down, she took a deep breath, walks towards the vault.
The vault door before her was massive. She had to summon all her strength to push it open. When it finally creaked open with a groan, she stepped inside.
The moment she is inside, the door slammed shut behind her, the room plunging into near darkness. The only light was a single, solitary beam shining down from the ceiling, with something floating.
Selina squinted her eyes, immediately recognizing it is a Devil Fruit by its shape and look. But something about this didn't feel right to her.
"This can't be that easy," Selina muttered to herself. "From the clue at the beginning, didn't the guy also say something about facing the shadow of themselves at the end in his riddle?"
So, she closed her eyes, reaching out with her Haki to sense the area, but she sensed nothing not even sense the Devil Fruit in front of her. She reopened her eyes and muttered aloud, "Wait... I also couldn't sense the fruit. Does that mean it's not real?"
As soon as the words left her lips, the floating fruit began to swirl turned dark, black tendrils twisting around it, shifting in the single ray of light.
Slowly, the room also began to brighten, the black tendrils growing more intense until they coiled and morphed into a perfect replica of herself.
"So, it means I literally need to fight and conquer my own self, huh?" she muttered, the realization sinking in. The figure before her didn't move but stood still.
Selina raised her staff got into a fighting stance. The shadow also poised its own. A moment of stillness passed between them, both sizing each other up.
Then, without warning, they both lunged forward simultaneously, their staffs clashing with a sharp crack that echoed through the room.
The fight continued in a blur of rapid movements. Each time Selina struck, the shadow either blocked or evaded with perfect precision.
She threw powerful blows, trying to overwhelm it, but the shadow always counters effortlessly with flawless parries.
And every time she tried to defend herself, the shadow break through them with ease. Despite her haki enhancing her ability to dodge and avoid attacks, the shadow anticipated every move she made.
But still neither of them had landed a hit on the other—yet.
Each time Selina thought she saw an opening, the shadow would block or redirect her strike, using her own patterns against her. Even her attacks, were now being turned back on her with frightening efficiency.
With each passing second, the realization hit her harder.
She understood that the shadow didn't just copy her body—it copied her every move, every pattern, every attack, every single thing about her and it was executing them with a level of precision far beyond her own.
Selina paused for a split second in the middle of their clash and seated gaining a distance and stopped attacking, as the weight of the realization settling in.
"So…. not only are my skills and attack patterns being copied..." she thought to herself, "...but it can also see through the flaws in my attacks and patterns.
Her eyes narrowed and she mutters out loud, "So this is what it truly means to fight yourself."
Selina lunged again, using Soru to move fast with her attacks. She tried to mix her moves with Rokushiki techniques or trying combo moves, putting everything she had into the fight.
But no matter what she tried, she couldn't land a hit. The longer the fight went on, the clearer it became what she is doing was no use and even using haki doesn't give result.
She gritted her teeth, frustrated, yet somehow enlightened. She understood how much room she still had to grow, her limitations, her flaws, and her potential for growth.
As the fight went on, Selina, who had been attacking at least a few times, gradually found herself going on complete defensive.
The shadow started attacking her faster, stronger and more relentlessly. What had once been a back-and-forth exchange now turned to with only her being overwhelmed.
At one point, she couldn't even react fast enough to raise her staff to block as blow after blow landed—hard and fast—each one pushing her further back.
Selina became no longer in control of the fight. Suddenly, the shadow's staff slammed into her chest with a brutal crack, sending a shockwave of pain through her body even with her defence still holding. She staggered backward, only to be met by another punishing blow across her ribs.
Her vision blurred, the pain searing through her muscles and bones. Selina tried to fight back, but the shadow didn't give her the time, even her haki couldn't keep up with the relentless onslaught.
The shadow's staff hit her again, this time in the back, forcing her to bend forward, gasping for air.
Her body screaming in pain as blood dripped from her mouth as she coughed, trying to catch her breath.
Then, with one final strike, the shadow's staff slammed into her stomach, forcing the air out of her lungs. Selina crumpled to the ground, unable to stand. She spat blood, as her body trembling from the impact.
Selina knelt down with her staff aiding as support as the shadow stopped its attack. While thinking how to defeat her own shadow she remembered Ash's words: "You might have skills and weapons to fight, but never forget at the core who you are, where you came from."
Memories of her days with Ace before she even met Ash and others—times when they fought without haki, without special techniques. How they relied on instinct, quick thinking, and dirty tricks to survive.
She now understood that sometimes there is no need polished skills to win a fight. She pushed herself up using her staff for support, blood still dripping from the corner of her mouth.
"You might have copied all my skills, my moves, my pattern of attacking" she spoke out loud to the shadow she spat blood from her mouth at side, "and be even better at them than me... but at the end you're still not me."
Without waiting, she sprang forward. But this time, she fought differently.
She swung wide on purpose, baiting the shadow. She used feints—faking like high attacks before striking low, suddenly twisting her wrist mid-swing to change the angle.
Sometimes she even pretended to stumble, only to unleash a lightning-fast counterattack or stabbing its leg with staff and jumping to its back and kicking it.
The shadow, for the first time it started to stumbled under her unpredictable rhythm. Selina smirked slightly noting this and continues with her attacks mixing with feints and her own skills.
Then after some time deciding to finish, she made her move. She intentionally left a small, tempting opening enough that the shadow can exploit. The shadow took the bait immediately, thrusting its staff straight at her.
But she was already ready. At the last second, she twisted her body, letting the shadow's attack miss by a hair's breadth.
Using the momentum, she stepped inside its guard, reversed her grip on her staff, and drove the blunt end hard into the shadow's chest with a powerful thrust, cracking through the black swirling body.
The shadow staggered backward, a black crack running through it. With a shout, Selina spun her staff overhead and brought it crashing down, delivering the final blow that shattered the shadow into nothingness.
Selina lowered her staff, breathing heavily, her heart pounding with excitement. A grin spread across her face as she yelled, "Yes! I did it, finally! Whooo whooo!"
She couldn't help but jump around a little, the rush of victory overwhelming her.
But her celebration quickly faded when the air around her started to shift again. The room darkened slightly, and the three guiding figures who guided through her trails appeared once again.
Their voices rang out in unison:
"We congratulate you, child of rebellion, we meet again."
"You have defied the path, rebelled against what was meant for you, and chosen the path to the unknown."
"You have overcome the adversities laid before you, and emerged as victor."
//
"You sought truth in lies, and through it all, you conquered yourself."
"We deem you worthy to bear the crown of the king."
"But are you willing to bear its burden and follow the path you have chosen?"
Selina stood still for a moment, reflecting on their words. Then, she took a step forward and nodded firmly. "I'm willing and ready for anything," she said, her voice full of resolve.
The figures waved their hands, and the place where the shadow she had just defeated began to rise.
At first, it formed into her appearance, but instead of fighting her again, it began to disperse and condense into a smooth, plain sphere, but into a rounded, slightly uneven pod, almost mustard-like in shape, tapering subtly at the ends.
Selina then noticed swirling lines slowly began to appear on the surface. The swirls didn't remain smooth; as they stopped, they enlarged outwards, and bumps formed in the shapes of the swirls on the smooth plain surface.
Then, a small stem formed, curling upward with two tiny leaves before stopping completely.
The fruit then started to crack, like a crust breaking open. The black surface slowly began to peel away, revealing a deep burnt orange-brown color underneath. The swirling patterns remained, thick and dark, wrapping over the surface like living etchings.
It floated toward Selina. As she observed the Devil Fruit, the bright orange color was striking, though the glaring bumps around it gave the appearance of clouds from what she could make out.
Beneath the stem, she noticed what looked like a golden circlet nestled within the swirls, resembling a crown.
Selina studied the fruit, her eyes tracing the intricate swirling patterns as she then asked them, "What power does this fruit hold?"
The figures remained silent for a moment before their voices echoed softly, as if they came from all around her.
"Fear not, child of rebellion, for you are deemed worthy to wield the power."
"In time, you will come to understand the power you will come to possess."
"For you have been chosen to bear the crown of the king."
Before Selina could ask anything further, they gave her a gentle push, sending her stumbling back slightly into a portal.
She was caught by surprise. She yelled, her voice echoing as she fell through the swirling light. "Wait, at least tell me—whose crown am I bearing? Who is the king you're talking about?"
But instead of a response, a blinding light erupted around her, engulfing her in its brilliance. She tried to reach out, but the light was overwhelming. It grew brighter, overwhelming every thought, every word, until there was nothing left.
And then, in an instant, she was gone.
To be continued...
Hey everyone! I'm always looking for ways to make this story even better, and I'd love to hear your ideas. What powers do you think should be available in Ash's store? Maybe you have some cool concepts for abilities, weapons, or items that could make the adventure even more exciting!
Feel free to drop your suggestions in the comments, and if there's anything specific, you'd love to see in future chapters, let me know! I might even integrate your ideas into the story.
Also, don't forget to give some Power Stones if you're enjoying the journey! Your support means the world. 😊