The dazed expression on Alvida's face cleared up surprisingly fast, like someone snapping out of a trance.
"So?" Marcus asked cautiously. "How was it? What happened?"
Alvida looked at him with an expression he couldn't quite read.
"You're... way too big."
Marcus blinked. "Uh... what?"
"I mean—" Alvida seemed to realize how that sounded and quickly clarified, "Your soul, your presence, whatever you want to call it. It's massive."
"Okay, even if you're trying to flatter me, I still need details here." Marcus gave a light cough, preparing himself for whatever bizarre explanation was coming.
Alvida looked down at her own hands, flexing her fingers. Then she looked back at Marcus and placed one hand on his chest, clearly trying to activate something.
Nothing happened.
She tried again, concentrating harder this time. Still nothing.
The smooth, slippery effect she'd been expecting to grant his upper body just wouldn't activate at all.
She let out a sigh and dropped her hand.
"No one should compare themselves to you. It'll just piss them off."
"What does that mean?" Marcus was getting more confused by the second.
Seeing his expression, Alvida finally smiled and started explaining properly. "You used too much force when you were possessing me. You went way past what my body could handle. Basically, you kicked down the door to Devil Fruit awakening so hard that you broke the entire doorframe, and that's why I passed out."
Marcus thought about Kira, who'd recovered relatively quickly from his possession. "Then why was Kira fine?"
"Maybe you kicked her door so hard it flew off the hinges completely, so there was nothing left to break?" Alvida suggested.
"Seriously?" Marcus felt something was off about that explanation. When he'd possessed Kira, he remembered sensing something like an awakening threshold, but it had been incredibly faint, almost nonexistent, like it was barely there at all.
Then he suddenly remembered that scream he'd heard during one of the possessions.
Could that really have been the demon that supposedly resided in every Devil Fruit? Had his rough "driving" overloaded them somehow?
Were the fruit demons really that fragile?
"Didn't Kira lose access to her ability for several days afterward?" Alvida continued her explanation, getting into more details. "Mine's comparatively better, I think. It was more like a forced breakthrough. When I returned to my own body, the ability suddenly drained a massive amount of my mental energy all at once, and I just collapsed. But the ability itself should still work normally, at least in theory."
She paused, clearly frustrated. "The problem is... I didn't step through the awakening threshold. But my body seems like it can handle awakening now. I can feel that I should be able to use the awakened version of my power, but somehow I can't actually make it work. It's like knowing how to ride a bike but your legs won't move."
Marcus looked at her conflicted expression.
"So you're saying both your body and your Devil Fruit have been... reshaped to match my frequency or something? And now you can't use it properly?"
"That's one way to put it, yeah."
Marcus' expression twisted into something complicated. The situation felt bizarrely like a husband taking in a con, and then the wife and con having to live together obediently as a trio. Except in this metaphor, the wife and concubine couldn't even survive without the husband present.
What a weirdly specific sense of déjà vu.
"Forget about that for a second," he said, changing the subject before his brain went further down that disturbing rabbit hole. "Why did your mental energy get drained so suddenly? Can you explain that part clearly?"
Alvida thought seriously for a moment, then answered, "How do I put this... it's kind of like... a woman's intuition? I just somehow knew that I'd fainted because all my mental energy got sucked dry. I can't explain how I know, I just do."
From her vague explanation, it was clear she wasn't entirely sure herself why she had that knowledge.
"It was probably your Devil Fruit telling you," Marcus suggested. "Like, direct information transfer from the fruit to your consciousness."
"Maybe?" Alvida didn't sound convinced.
But she had a clearer picture of what had actually happened. That instinctive knowledge told her that her unconsciousness had been caused by extreme mental exhaustion. And it had hit her all at once when she returned to her own body. The reason was simple, like Alvida had said: He was too big. His soul, his presence, whatever it was, it was so massive that her body couldn't "withhold the deduction." Her body couldn't process the energy drain gradually.
When she'd finally returned to her own body, all of that debt had to be paid immediately in one lump sum.
Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have been able to recover for at least a month. She wouldn't have been able to use her ability at all, and she'd probably have remained unconscious the entire time, her body trying to regenerate the burned-out mental reserves.
But the enchanted golden apple had restored what she'd lost, which was the only reason she'd woken up so quickly.
However, because Alvida had recovered so abruptly, jumping from completely depleted to fully restored in seconds, her ability had ended up in this strange half-working state. She could vaguely feel that awakening was possible now, that she could use those advanced techniques, but she couldn't actually activate them.
It was all because of the enchanted golden apple. Marcus had forcefully pried open the awakening threshold, and the apple had restored it. But Alvida had already seen what was on the other side.
To put it metaphorically: awakening was like a reinforced security door, but the homeowner didn't have a key.
Then Marcus, using brute force and his absurd soul presence, had kicked that door clean off its hinges.
Theoretically, he should compensate the homeowner for the property damage. But since he was basically a bandit who didn't play by normal rules, he'd refused to pay and just ran away.
The homeowner, Alvida's body, had no choice but to accept the situation. But since the door was broken, the body had patched it up however it could. Still, it wasn't all bad, the door could now be opened by the homeowner, meaning it had essentially become her door. She had access to awakening, at least theoretically.
But then Marcus had apparently felt a little guilty and tried to "repair" it. Except he hadn't really fixed it properly, he'd just welded a few iron bars across the doorway.
Now the homeowner was blocked from actually going through the doorway, but she could still see everything inside. She could even reach her hand through the bars and touch the awakened abilities, but she couldn't pull them out and actually use them.
Alvida shook her head, giving up on finding a better explanation. "You know what, forget it. Let's just leave it at that. I'll figure it out eventually."
Marcus let out a breath of relief. As long as she was okay and not permanently damaged, they could work with this.
"Alright, so now... tell me what happened with the Shichiseiken."
He reluctantly explained the whole bizarre story, how the sword had offered to possess Alvida's unconscious body, how it had taken control and tried to claim her form, how the Loyalty VI effect had immediately kicked in and made the sword spirit obedient against its will.
After hearing the explanation, Alvida flicked the sword hilt irritably with her finger. "I knew you had a strong spirit, but I didn't expect you'd try to steal my body outright. By the way, can consciousness really be transferred like that? If the Shichiseiken had succeeded in taking my body, would that count as becoming a complete person?"
"I don't know," Marcus admitted. He'd had no idea the Shichiseiken could even attempt to transfer its consciousness into a living host. That was disturbing.
Meanwhile, the subject of their discussion remained perfectly still and silent. It wasn't releasing even the faintest wisp of ghostly aura, acting completely harmless, as if it really were just an ordinary blade.
Clearly, both Marcus and Alvida were far too curious to let this go without getting answers.
Two pairs of eyes stared at the sword with increasing intensity.
The Shichiseiken couldn't hold back anymore under that pressure. Ghostly aura began leaking out involuntarily as the blade trembled. "I am just a sword... I don't know anything."
After Marcus translated the sword's protestation, Alvida laughed and shook her head.
"Sure. Keep playing innocent. We totally believe you."
Marcus, however, was growing curious rather than just suspicious. The Shichiseiken was proving far more remarkable and intelligent than he'd originally thought. Spending seven hundred million EMC to upgrade it hadn't just improved the blade's physical properties, its spiritual intelligence and self-awareness had apparently increased exponentially.
But something didn't add up. If possession through ghostly corruption was possible, then logically...
"If you can possess people through your ghost aura..." Marcus said slowly. "Wyper should have become your vessel, right? He's been exposed to your influence more than anyone. Why didn't you try to take him over?"
The Shichiseiken's blade trembled more violently, and after a long reluctant pause, it began explaining through the ghostly energy fluctuations.
Alvida couldn't hear the sword's voice directly, so she watched Marcus' face as he listened to the explanation.
When the sword finally finished, Marcus' expression had turned very, very strange.
"So basically," he said, translating for Alvida, "your mental energy was completely drained. Your body was in an extremely weak state with zero resistance. The sword attached its spirit, calling it a soul is probably more accurate, to your body while you were vulnerable. Then it would only need to keep suppressing your consciousness to become a complete person. And if your soul had eventually faded away completely, it would have become you."
There was a long silence.
Alvida's expression went completely blank for a moment, then shifted into something cold.
"Can I borrow the sword for a minute?"
"Please, be my guest." Marcus handed over the Shichiseiken without the slightest hesitation.
He walked out of the room, and immediately every member of the Straw Hat crew turned to stare at him. Not that he was surprised. He'd noticed them all pressed against the wall earlier, clearly eavesdropping on whatever was happening inside.
Pretty much everyone on the ship had picked up on the weird tension between Marcus and Alvida over the past few hours. So naturally, they'd all congregated outside the door to listen in.
Especially when they'd started hearing fragments of conversation drift through, words like "This woman's will is waking up. I won't give up that easily!" and something about a sword. The voices had been muffled and distorted, but certain phrases had come through loud and clear.
And now everyone was looking at Marcus like he'd just confessed to some deeply embarrassing secret.
So the crew had apparently reached a consensus.
Marcus was into cross-dressing. Or body-swapping. Or... something along those lines.
After all, here was a guy who could possess other people's bodies at will, including women's bodies. If he wasn't doing something questionable while inhabiting a female form, then what was the point of having that ability?
Sanji walked up and put a hand on Marcus' shoulder. "Stay strong, man."
"What?"
Then Bon Kurei appeared on his other side, placing a hand on Marcus' opposite shoulder and giving him a look that screamed "Ah, I've found my people."
"I understand completely."
"What are you two talking about?"
Marcus shook off both their hands irritably, already regretting coming out here.
Without warning, Bon Kurei burst into a ballet pose, spinning dramatically. "Whether you're into men or women or both, we're not gonna judge. Don't suppress who you are. Men~ women~ they are all beautiful~ Don't let society's narrow views change you~ Come! Let us gallop freely together down the path of self-expression~"
The rest of the crew was nodding along encouragingly, like they'd all decided this was an intervention.
"I'm not suppressing anything!" Marcus snapped, trying to dispel the absurd atmosphere that had somehow formed. "The Shichiseiken can control people's bodies too, there was just a small accident with possession, that's all."
Everyone gave him the universal look of "sure, buddy, we totally believe you."
Seeing their faces, he rolled his eyes so hard it hurt and simply pointed his thumb back toward the room, where Alvida was currently "educating" the Shichiseiken about boundaries and consequences.
The crew turned to look, and what they saw was... confusing, to say the least.
Alvida was holding the Shichiseiken in one hand, striking an exaggerated aristocratic pose like some kind of haughty noblewoman from a historical drama.
"Ohohoho~" she laughed in that distinctive rich-lady way. "I am far beyond what a mere twenty-something girl's spiritual power could suppress! Do you think I didn't resist on purpose?"
"What the fuck?" Usopp whispered.
Then they heard Alvida's voice shift to something much angrier, clearly her own personality coming back through. "So what if you left a backup plan inside my body? Where exactly are you planning to run? The exit is right there, with Marcus and everyone else guarding it."
The "possessed" version of Alvida continued, sounding increasingly desperate. "Think me witless? I have seen the power that awakened within you. Though you may falter in wielding it, I shall not. With your strength as my vessel, I shall break these confines, and beyond these walls, the world itself shall bend to my will! I will—"
Halfway through that declaration, the Shichiseiken apparently noticed its audience.
The possessed-Alvida froze mid-gesture and stiffly turned her head toward the Straw Hat crew standing in the doorway. More specifically, toward Marcus.
"Ahem. I am... uh... Alvida. Pleased to make everyone's acquaintance?"
"Like hell you are!" someone yelled.
"Get back in the sword," Marcus said flatly.
A moment later, the ghostly aura dissipated and Alvida stumbled slightly as she regained full control of her own body. She looked unwell, her face pale and her hands shaking.
She glared at the Shichiseiken.
Just moments ago, she'd picked up the sword intending to give it a good beating with a hammer for its earlier stunt. But the instant she'd touched the blade, ghostly aura had erupted and completely engulfed her. The sensation that followed had been terrifying, not the minor resistance or sluggishness from before, but real helplessness as something else slowly seized control of her body piece by piece.
She was furious, but there wasn't much she could do about it.
Breaking the Shichiseiken wasn't an option. The sword was absurdly durable, and it apparently had some kind of self-repair capability. Even if she did manage to snap the blade, it would probably just fix itself somehow.
She threw the sword back at Marcus without saying a word.
But Marcus understood perfectly. The message was clear: You see what your damn sword just did to me? Handle it.
He caught the blade and held it up for everyone to see. "See? I told you it wasn't me doing weird possession stuff."
"That weapon really is dangerous," Usopp said, unconsciously taking a step back. "Before it could only control people from the outside, but now it can actually possess them and take over their bodies. If someone stayed controlled for a long time..." He shuddered, clearly remembering the day Marcus himself had been briefly controlled by the sword.
The others swallowed nervously, their earlier amusement completely gone.
This sword that could manipulate and possess people was a serious problem, not a joke.
Zoro stared at the Shichiseiken.
"Cursed blade," he muttered, and nobody disagreed.
Robin spoke up, voicing what everyone was thinking. "If it really managed to fully possess Alvida while Marcus wasn't around to intervene... that could be bad. And we have no idea if it could do the same to the rest of us. If it can..."
She didn't need to finish. Even the usually fearless Straw Hats looked unsettled by how dangerous the Shichiseiken was proving to be.
Nami didn't hesitate. "Marcus, maybe you should just seal it away completely. Lock it in the Nether or whatever. This sword is way beyond our ability to safely control."
The Shichiseiken trembled in Marcus' hand, and ghostly aura began seeping from the blade. The target was obvious, Nami, who'd suggested sealing it away.
The dark energy crept toward her across the deck, and she immediately took several quick steps backward, putting Usopp between herself and the approaching threat.
"Hey! Don't use me as a shield!" Usopp yelped.
But before the ghostly aura could reach either of them, Marcus rapped his knuckles sharply against the sword's hilt. The dark energy vanished like someone had flipped a switch.
"I've got a solution."
He held up the Shichiseiken so everyone could see it clearly. "New rules. First, you are not allowed to harm anyone in the Straw Hat crew under any circumstances. Second, if you possess Alvida, or anyone else, or even an animal, you must return to my side immediately at maximum speed. Third: even if you're just controlling someone instead of fully possessing them, rules one and two still apply. No exceptions."
The Shichiseiken trembled twice in his grip, and Marcus could feel something like resistance through the blade, but it was weak and quickly faded.
"That's it? Problem solved?" Usopp sounded skeptical.
Marcus nodded. "The Loyalty VI enchantment isn't a joke. When I give it a direct order, it can't refuse."
He'd discovered an interesting loophole earlier, something he hadn't anticipated. He'd never imagined the sword could relocate its own consciousness like that. Who would? A sword spirit suddenly deciding it was tired of being a sword and attempting to steal someone's body was not a predictable scenario.
But what really surprised him was that the Loyalty enchantment apparently wasn't just attached to the physical sword. It was bound to the Shichiseiken's core essence, its soul or spirit or whatever you wanted to call it.
When the sword had abandoned its physical form to possess Alvida, the enchantment should theoretically have lost its hold. But it hadn't. The loyalty binding remained active, and its target was still Marcus.
"It's handled."
The crew visibly relaxed.
But Marcus wasn't quite done. He looked down at the Shichiseiken with a thoughtful expression. "However, there's still the matter of punishment for that little stunt you just pulled. So what'll it be, locked in a dark storage room for a week, or would you prefer being submerged in the kitchen waste composter?"
The sword went very, very still.