Chapter 8: Yasha
Syrup Village
On the balcony of a luxurious mansion stood a young, frail-looking blonde girl. Her lips twitched slightly as her eyes remained fixated on the figure lying leisurely on a tree branch.
She tried hard to keep a warm smile, but her rising irritation was difficult to hide.
The figure on the tree branch seemed oblivious, passionately recounting a story with a nostalgic expression.
"A huge phantom appeared in the sky! The whole island was drowned in darkness. And guess what, Kaya? Lasers started raining from the sky! Each ray of light was enough to destroy the island. But I wasn't fazed.
With just one look from me, the lasers froze. With the second look, the shadow in the sky was destroyed. And with the third look, the whole island—along with all the villains—was obliterated."
The blonde-haired girl—Kaya—looked at her friend, who was pushing her bragging to the limit, with an expression of exasperation.
Yasha, a girl with short black hair—a mashup of Nojiko and Baccarat—was also a well-known braggart in the village and Kaya's close friend.
Yasha always cheered Kaya up with strange stories. While those tales were obviously products of Yasha's imagination, they were usually magical and fun, so Kaya didn't mind. But something changed last week—Yasha's stories became more and more exaggerated.
Kaya even started to feel like she was being ridiculed, treated like a fool. After all, who could believe this nonsense?
Celestial Dragons kneeling and begging for forgiveness?Destroyed Marine Headquarters?"Queen of the World Yasha"?!
Seriously, Kaya didn't even know how Yasha had heard of the Celestial Dragons. They were supposed to be legends—Kaya even believed they might not be real.
This week had been torture. Kaya was bombarded by Yasha's relentless, exaggerated stories to the point that her practiced fake smile was starting to fail her.
Meanwhile, Yasha continued:
"The whole world was shocked! My bounty reached the highest in history, and no one dares to cross paths with me—the peerless goddess Yasha!"
Kaya coughed lightly, trying hard not to show her displeasure.
"Ehm, Yasha-chan, I feel a little tight in my chest. I think I need to rest now. Goodbye…"
Bang.
With that, the balcony door closed, leaving Yasha bewildered.
"What's wrong with Kaya? Oh well, it doesn't matter. My cute neighbors must already be waiting to hear my stories. Anyway, it's Kaya's loss…"
Humming, Yasha happily climbed down the tree and hurried towards the secret passage, leaving the mansion to entertain the kind villagers.
If the villagers had known about her intentions, they would have already locked their doors and stayed far away from this annoying girl. Compared to Usopp, who only lied about pirates, Yasha was a professional. Under her care, the villagers were even more miserable.
And while Usopp dreamed of going to sea to become a brave man like his father, Yasha was completely different. Her goal was to go to sea, find her father, and blow the scumbag's head off.
Nautical miles away from Syrup Village, the Straw Hat Crew's small boat rode the sea waves smoothly toward the island.
Nami was fiddling with her drawing kit, while part of her attention monitored the sea.
Luffy, as usual, was comfortably sunbathing. His eyes narrowed in delight, and he even moaned from time to time, which annoyed Nami.
As for Zala and Kuina, they sat not far away, their expressions blank, dead air emanating from their bodies.
Luffy lazily changed his sleeping position and happened to meet their unpleasant gazes. He couldn't help but ask curiously:
"Why aren't you sparring?"
Zala and Kuina looked at him with dark eyes, almost scaring him.
Luffy coughed, trying to hide his fear. Just as he was about to appease them, he suddenly felt the black hole stirring. His eyes shifted toward the horizon.
Moments later, Nami shouted from the other side of the boat:
"Luffy! There's a ship ahead of us! Oh—it's a pirate ship! I see the skull flag!!"
Zala and Kuina, who had been acting autistic, suddenly came to life. They stood up, eyes shining with excitement. Finally, a chance to release their pent-up frustration at their unreliable captain.
Kuina glared at Luffy.
"Don't even think about it—they're my prey."
Zala picked up her two swords, staring at Luffy defiantly.
Luffy shrugged. He wasn't in a hurry. He was curious to see who the unlucky pirate crew would be.
After meeting Nami, Kuina, and Zala, the black hole had reacted, but only slightly. Nami's weather talent wasn't that attractive to him, and Kuina and Zala, who seemed to share Zoro's original talent, were even less so. He decided to tame them first—then he'd unlock their potential, maybe give them a slippery treatment and a curve enlargement package.
But their rebellious attitude annoyed him, so he'd been delaying it.
As he was lost in thought, shrieks and howls jolted him back. His attention quickly shifted to the pirate ship, where Zala and Kuina had already started their invasion.
The two were ruthless. Even though the enemies numbered in the dozens, they handled it easily.
Nami's eyes scanned the ship intensely, analyzing where the treasure might be.
"So it's the Black Cat Pirates… Oh, Jango is the unlucky guy."
Luffy's interest peaked. If he remembered right, Jango—the MJ wannabe—was a hypnotist?
Why do I suddenly have the urge to wear white, slick back my hair with gel, and announce to the world that I'm going to become God?
Luffy didn't hesitate. A small black hole appeared beside Jango, who was hiding behind his crewmates. The black hole shimmered briefly, then disappeared.
Jango's expression changed.
"What happened?"
He didn't know why, but it felt like he had lost something—or maybe forgotten something…
Luffy tsk-ed.
"This cheat is so damn aggressive. There's no need to defeat the enemy—not even touch them. Just a thought, and the traits get stripped. Let's see if I guessed right."
[Complete Hypnosis]
Luffy chuckled giddily, making Nami look at him like he was a madman.
Amid the background of shrieks and blood flying everywhere, Luffy was suddenly laughing happily. Nami instinctively backed away from him.
Luffy gave her a side glance, then looked at the new concept.
As he expected—he could now hypnotize anyone, creating illusions that affected not only the six senses but even the soul. No one could wake from his illusions—not even by realizing it was an illusion. No eye contact or sword light was needed. Just a thought.
The most interesting part was that he could turn illusions into reality—as long as the victim believed them.
For example, if someone was injured, and he hypnotized them into believing they were healed, the illusion would turn real, and the injury would disappear. The same went for the opposite—if someone believed they were wounded, they would be.
Even if you knew you were being hypnotized, as long as you had even a little doubt, you'd still fall victim.
He immediately started experimenting.
With a thought, the shrieking and howling around him stopped. Then, a small tsunami appeared, engulfing half of the ship and the remaining pirates.
Zala, Kuina, and Nami looked bewildered.
Nami stammered:
"What happened? Where did that tsunami come from?"
Zala and Kuina shook their heads. They had no idea.
Luffy was even more shocked. This ability was terrifying.
What if I made someone believe the world is ending?
He didn't dare to think about it further. These concepts were getting more and more terrifying.
He had already noticed that some concepts came with side effects. For example, the Freedom Concept. If he saw something that went against his freedom, he would instinctively take action.
The old Luffy wouldn't have bothered with Helmeppo. But somehow, he ended up being nosy, the concept had affected his thinking.
Luffy wiped nonexistent sweat from his forehead.
I have to be careful. Stay steady. Don't end up killing myself with this power.