"How do I even explain this?" Marcus muttered, thinking for a moment.
Then he started experimenting.
He plucked a small piece off the cloud house, kneading and shaping it until he'd formed a white ball about the size of his fist.
"Your ability makes any object frictionless, right? But here's the thing, if two objects that are both at zero friction meet, they don't slide off each other. They can't, because they never make contact. No contact means no sliding."
He held up the cloud ball. "So when two frictionless things touch, they don't register each other at all. They just pass right through. But if one side releases the slippery effect while the other stays frictionless..."
He pressed his palms together around the cloud ball, keeping himself frictionless while removing the property from the ball.
Boing!
The instant his hands made contact, the ball shot upward like it had been launched from a catapult, bouncing straight into the ceiling.
"The lighter object gets launched. Which one gets bounced depends on their masses, the heavier something is, the harder it throws the lighter object."
"Wait, so..." Alvida's eyes widened. "You just pushed my fruit straight to Awakening, didn't you?"
Marcus shrugged innocently. "I was just testing it a little."
Alvida stared at him, completely speechless. She'd never imagined Marcus could just awaken her Devil Fruit ability like it was nothing. Did this mean she could transition into an awakened state without any of the usual years of training? Wasn't this basically getting power-leveled by a cheat code?
"With this ability, couldn't I just ignore basically any attack?"
Before, the Slip-Slip Fruit could deflect impacts, but she still felt the force behind them. Explosions had always been her weakness, the shockwave and heat could hurt her even if the shrapnel slid off.
But now, if she could just grant incoming explosions the slippery property as they approached, wouldn't she phase right through them?
Marcus immediately shot down that train of thought. "If someone's using Haki, they'll probably still hit you. And you'd still need to touch their fist to make it slippery in the first place."
He gestured as he explained. "The Slip-Slip Fruit can't create effects out of thin air. You need contact, you have to touch something to grant it the property. And in high-level fights, your opponent's body is already coated in Haki. Trying to touch their hands mid-punch to disable them... I mean, maybe if you're fast enough? But whether Haki itself can be made slippery, that's unknown territory."
Marcus crossed his arms, thinking it through. "Originally, zero-friction surfaces can still be sensed and hit by Haki. But if both the attacker and defender are completely frictionless, can Armament Haki still connect? That's the real question."
"Only one way to find out," Alvida said firmly.
She concentrated, reaching for the Haki flowing through Marcus' body. It was strange, trying to channel energy through someone else's system, but after a moment she managed to coat his hands.
"Try attacking me."
She maintained the Haki coating, focusing intensely. This wasn't her body, and getting used to someone else's muscle structure and power generation was incredibly difficult. Every little movement felt slightly wrong, like wearing shoes that were half a size too small.
You could see this problem clearly with Bon Kurei and his Clone-Clone Fruit. He could perfectly replicate someone's body, but using it in combat was always awkward because everyone had different muscle memory and fighting instincts.
Energy manipulation was even harder. If you'd used a body before, you could directly invoke its systems, but running your own control scheme through someone else's hardware? Possible, but definitely not optimal.
Right now, she had to concentrate fully just to keep Marcus' body standing upright and maintain the Haki coating. Meanwhile, Marcus, watching from her body, looked completely comfortable and natural, as if he'd always been in that form.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Alvida carefully tested an attack.
The Haki-coated hand swung forward and passed straight through Marcus' chest without resistance.
"It worked!"
If this was really possible, then once she mastered the awakened ability, she could hit anyone she wanted while never being touched herself. The perfect offense and defense in one package.
Marcus was genuinely surprised too. It actually worked?
Armament Haki was supposed to counter Devil Fruits. That was its whole purpose. Could the Haki concentration just not be high enough? Or did the phasing effect somehow bypass the interaction entirely?
If even Haki could slip through, the Slip-Slip Fruit really was broken as hell.
"This is insane," he said, impressed by how powerful the fruit had become.
The only problem was that among the Straw Hats, he probably had the strongest Haki. If even his Haki couldn't make contact with the awakened Slip-Slip Fruit, running more thorough tests would be extremely difficult.
"Want to switch back and try it from your own body?"
Alvida nodded enthusiastically.
But the moment their souls swapped back, a wave of exhaustion crashed over her. Her legs gave out immediately and she collapsed onto the cloud floor, feeling like every drop of energy had been drained from her body.
She looked at Marcus with confused eyes. Then those eyes rolled back and she went limp, completely unconscious.
"Shit." Marcus stared at her in confusion. He hadn't pushed that hard, had he? The stamina drain shouldn't have been that severe.
Alvida's physical constitution was pretty damn good. She'd fought for hours before without showing this kind of extreme fatigue.
Was this some kind of negative side effect from the awakening?
Marcus quickly pulled out a bucket of milk and tried to pour some into her mouth, but she was too far gone to swallow. The liquid just dribbled down her chin.
"Damn it."
Was this a life force issue? Or Haki depletion?
He rummaged through his inventory and found healing potions and energy restoration items, smashing them on the floor near Alvida's body. Rippling spiral patterns spread through the house as the potion effects activated.
But Alvida still didn't wake up.
He felt panic creeping in now. He'd never seen someone react this badly to his Soul Possession before.
"Chopper! I need Chopper!"
Within minutes, the entire Straw Hat crew knew something had gone wrong. They gathered around the house.
Some of them immediately suspected foul play, poison, maybe, or an enemy they'd missed during the celebration. But after Marcus explained what had actually happened, everyone's expressions shifted to awkward amusement.
"So let me get this straight," Sanji said. "You pushed too hard and knocked Alvida out cold?"
"Okay, yes, that's technically what happened," Marcus said defensively, "but she asked me to help develop her fruit ability! This wasn't just me experimenting on people for fun."
Sanji lit a cigarette. "You should be more careful with women, you know. They're not punching bags."
"I know that." Marcus scratched his head. "I didn't think this would happen."
The crew exchanged glances, clearly unsure what to make of the situation.
Finally, all eyes turned to Kira and Usopp.
"Why are you looking at us?" Usopp asked warily.
"Because you've both been through Marcus' training sessions," Nami said bluntly. "Did either of you experience anything like this?"
Usopp shook his head quickly. "I felt like my whole body was being stabbed with needles, but I stayed conscious the entire time. It hurt like hell, but I didn't pass out."
Kira thought for a moment. "I remember feeling like I was about to black out once... but I ate a golden apple and the feeling went away immediately. Maybe Alvida needs one too?"
Everyone turned to look at Alvida's unconscious form.
"Well, she can't exactly eat anything right now," Zoro pointed out.
"I could chew it up and—" Sanji started.
"I'll do it," Shira said quickly, cutting him off. "Girl to girl, it's less awkward."
Nobody objected to that logic.
Then, while everyone was still discussing the best approach, Marcus scooped Alvida up in his arms and started carrying her toward the storage area where they kept emergency supplies.
"I can just possess her body and make her eat it," he said simply.
"Oh! Right!" Several people smacked their foreheads, feeling stupid for not thinking of that obvious solution.
But there was a problem.
Marcus tried to initiate Soul Possession, but nothing happened. The ability simply wouldn't activate.
Because Alvida was completely unconscious, she had no active awareness to accept the possession. The ability required the target's soul to be present and receptive, even if just passively. An unconscious person's soul was too deeply withdrawn to make contact with.
So possessing her to force-feed her the apple was impossible.
He scratched his head, troubled by the situation.
The plan was simple enough, use a golden apple to revive her. But there was one massive problem: How was he supposed to feed it to someone who was completely knocked out?
Chewing it up and mouth-to-mouth feeding? Yeah, that wasn't happening. He wasn't some creep.
Just shoving it whole into her mouth? Even worse.
Fortunately, Minecraft golden apples still shared some properties with regular food, they could be cut up and cooked into something more manageable.
He reached for the Shichiseiken to use as a cutting tool, but the moment his hand touched the hilt, ghostly energy began swirling around the blade.
"Knock it off, I'm trying to save someone here!"
The Shichiseiken responded with a series of resonant sword cries, the ghostly aura pulsing with what Marcus could only describe as enthusiasm.
He stared at the sword, trying to understand what it was communicating through the fluctuations in its energy.
"You're saying you can use your ghost aura to control her body and make her eat the apple herself?"
The ghostly energy jumped excitedly, confirming his interpretation.
He looked down at the sword in his hand, and something about the whole situation felt deeply wrong. He'd seen what the Shichiseiken's ghost aura did to people. The way it overrode their will, twisted their loyalty into absolute obedience...
Even Wyper, who had iron-strong willpower, had been affected by that corrupting influence. What would happen to someone less resistant?
The sword seemed to sense his hesitation and doubt. Like a sulking child whose feelings had been hurt, it immediately stopped releasing any ghostly energy. No matter how much Marcus tried to coax it, prod it, or reason with it, the blade remained stubbornly silent.
Clearly, it was deeply offended by his lack of trust.
He sighed and placed the Shichiseiken on Alvida's chest, giving it one more chance.
Almost immediately, the ghostly aura began seeping into her unconscious body.
Alvida's fingers twitched first, then her arms shifted slightly. Her torso moved as if she were waking from a deep sleep. Finally, her eyes snapped open, but something was wrong.
"Hahahaha! Finally! I'm free of that damned blade! And you, worm, this woman's body belongs to me now!"
The voice coming from Alvida's mouth was hers, but the arrogance was something else entirely.
"Sit down," Marcus said flatly.
"Of course~" Alvida's body immediately dropped onto the soft cloud cushion.
Then her expression shattered into confusion. "Wait, what? I broke free of the Shichiseiken! Why can't I... What did you do to me?"
Marcus watched the possessed Alvida glare at him with murderous rage, and shook his head.
"Anyone influenced by your ghost aura gets hit with Loyalty VI," he explained. "You forgot about that little detail?"
"If you hadn't been strong enough to forcibly bind me to that cursed form, if you hadn't remade my essence, I wouldn't be in this pathetic state!"
Marcus pulled out the enchanted golden apple.
"Here. Eat this."
"I will not surrender so easily! I can still resist your commands!" The sword spirit spoke with lofty arrogance, but Alvida's hands were already moving automatically, taking the golden apple from Marcus. "Curse you! You won't... mmph!"
And then she started eating the apple bite by bite, unable to stop herself despite the angry protests still coming from her mouth.
Watching the sword spirit's complete lack of coordination between speech and action was weird. The left and right sides of its brain were clearly having very different experiences.
As Alvida finished the last bite of the enchanted golden apple, the malevolent intelligence behind her eyes flickered, and another consciousness began stirring.
"This woman's will is waking up. I won't give up that easily!" The sword spirit's voice turned desperate, eyes filling with disgust.
Meanwhile, the real Alvida opened her eyes, consciousness returning in a dazed fog. Then she heard the bizarre one-sided conversation and felt something fighting for control inside her own head.
"What is happening?"
She was disoriented, her face showing two completely different expressions simultaneously, one side showing the sword spirit's contempt, the other showing Alvida's confusion.
The split-face effect reminded Marcus of Cavendish, constantly battling with his alter ego Hakuba. Except Cavendish had been born that way, while this was clearly an artificial possession.
"You okay?"
Alvida tried to assess her condition. She felt strange, like there was a slight resistance when she tried to move, as if another consciousness was fighting against her control. But when she pushed harder, that resistance would dissolve.
"It's... weird," she said carefully, testing the words. "My body feels sluggish, like I'm moving through water. But other than that, I think I'm fine?"
The other "Alvida" sneered. "You only resist me because of that apple's power! Once it fades, you'll be suppressed in the depths of your own consciousness forever!"
Alvida felt that foreign presence in her mind and panicked, looking to Marcus for explanation.
"Do I have split personality now?"
Marcus gave the Shichiseiken a glare and commanded, "Get back in the sword. Now."
"I am—"
Before the sword spirit could finish, Alvida's body moved on its own, reaching out and grabbing the Shichiseiken. The ghostly energy immediately retracted, flowing back into the blade.
The sword trembled twice, then went completely still.
Marcus picked up the blade and examined it. "What, quiet now?"
Mhmm Mhmm...
The sword gave a tiny, apologetic vibration. The ghostly energy pulsed weakly, seemingly saying: I was only joking. You won't stay angry, right?
Marcus couldn't help but laugh at the sword's sudden meekness. The Shichiseiken was definitely a troublemaker that never stayed out of mischief for long.
Meanwhile, Alvida felt full control of her body return. That sluggish, resistant feeling completely disappeared.
She immediately began checking herself over, running her hands over her arms, torso, and legs. She even discreetly lifted her shirt to make sure nothing inappropriate had happened while she was possessed. Finding everything intact and her clothes still properly arranged, she finally relaxed.
"Okay, seriously, what just happened?"
Marcus looked at her. "You don't remember any of it?"
"Remember what? Are you saying I was possessed by a sword?" Alvida immediately jumped to that conclusion.
Marcus shook his head. "Not exactly. You switched back to your own body from mine, and then you just... passed out."
Alvida's eyes went distant as her memory slowly began returning in fragments. Then she just froze, staring into space with a completely blank expression.
Marcus watched her unresponsive state. Was she better or not? The vacant look on her face suggested she might be experiencing some kind of aftereffect.