At the break of dawn, as the sky began to brighten with soft streaks of light, Kaos was already at the foot of a cliff deep in the mountains — continuing his daily routine: mastering the powers of the Gold-Gold Fruit.
He stretched out both hands, palms facing the ground. With a thought, gold from up to ten meters below the earth burst free, tearing through soil and rock, rising into the air before him like puppets on strings.
With another command, the floating gold reshaped into an array of weapons — swords, spears, halberds, daggers . He compressed the gold further, creating needles as thin as hair that shot forward like bullets, effortlessly piercing trees and stone alike.
This was hardened gold — sharp, deadly, and devastating.
Next, the gold reassembled itself into a cube roughly one meter in size. It was heavy — solid — the product of three years of scavenging and mining. It was, more or less, every ounce of gold the entire island had to offer, all collected and buried here by Kaos himself.
Under his control, the gold softened, flowed, and reformed into a thick, serpentine coil — a golden snake that slithered forward and coiled around a tree trunk, tightening until crack! — the tree snapped in two.
His control was reaching Magneto-level manipulation — but with gold, not metal.
It was powerful — no doubt — but only under the condition that gold was present.
He still couldn't create gold from nothing or transmute other materials into it. His abilities remained limited to converting his own body into gold and manipulating existing gold nearby.
Even Gild Tesoro, the Gold Emperor from the movie, couldn't conjure gold out of thin air — and that was post-Devil Fruit awakening.
Maybe if Kaos pushed the ability further, deeper... it could become reality.
The golden snake writhed across the ground like a living creature, slithering and twisting, pliable and fluid. A flick of his wrist, and the snake rose upright, transforming midair into a massive golden polearm — a three-meter-long halberd. Kaos grabbed it and spun it with ease, the sheer wind pressure kicking up dust as the weapon tore lines into the ground.
With a light toss, the halberd broke apart into a dozen golden longswords, which floated behind him before launching forward — shrieking through the air like meteors, slamming deep into a cliff face in the distance.
The scene looked eerily similar to Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon.
Long-range attacks? ✔️
Weapon manipulation? ✔️
And once he unlocked Armament Haki, those attacks would pack a hell of a punch. Add Observation Haki into the mix? He'd be able to fire precisely, instinctively — point-and-shoot combat.
After unleashing a barrage, Kaos raised his hand, and the golden blades whirled back around him. With a clash of metal, they melted and merged, flowing over his skin like liquid light, wrapping his limbs, torso, and head in seamless plates.
In just a few breaths, Kaos was clad in full-body golden armor — gleaming, airtight, and imposing.
It looked exactly like the nano-tech Iron Man suit from Avengers: Endgame.
He took a few steps — no stiffness, no awkwardness. The armor obeyed his will completely. If he wanted it soft, it was soft. If he needed it hard, it hardened instantly.
"Whoosh!"
With a blur, he vanished and reappeared three meters away. His armored fist slammed into a tree as thick as his leg, crack!, snapping it cleanly. He followed with a clean sweep — a golden sword forming along his arm — slicing the trunk in half like butter.
With long-range attacks, full-body armor, and morphing weapons, Kaos had become a mobile fortress. Whether it was close combat or ranged warfare, he had no obvious weaknesses.
Even better, he could turn his own body into gold while wearing the golden armor. Double defense. Once he unlocked Tekkai or Armament Haki, his defense would be nigh-impenetrable.
The armor retracted into his body as he took a breath and raised his arms.
Then the real miracle began.
Kaos started to float.
He rose off the ground, slowly, until he hovered ten meters in the air. His face split into a wide grin as he gazed down at the island from above.
Even though he hadn't mastered Geppo (Moonwalk), he could fly just by manipulating gold.
When he first tried this, he'd nearly plummeted to his death every day. Flying with gold was like walking a tightrope — slippery, unstable, and terrifying.
But now?
Smooth as silk.
Boom—
He rocketed across the sky, cutting through clouds, soaring over the island. Another launch — this time vertically — took him above the cloud line, surrounded by endless white fluff. Arms spread wide, eyes closed, Kaos floated in silence.
Like a bird that owned the heavens.
Then the golden armor under his feet extended, shaping into a massive golden sword.
And with a flash—
He was flying on a sword.
Flying sword mode: unlocked.
This — this was why he dared to leave the island.
Because flight was survival.
On the Grand Line, if you couldn't fly, you'd die.
"WOOOO!"
Kaos laughed like a madman, soaring between clouds like a golden missile. The sense of freedom — of dominion over the sky — was exhilarating.
The sword beneath him softened and crawled up his back, transforming into two massive golden wings, flapping with enough force to stir up gales as he dipped and rose through the sky like a mythic birdman.
He soared again into the clouds, and this time, the wings broke apart into dozens of palm-sized golden blades, all howling through the air like bullets, forming a shimmering barrage that tore through the clouds in golden streaks.
Each of his feet now stood on a blade, and he was surrounded by a storm of spinning swords, their clashing forming a symphony of metal and power that made his blood boil.
For nearly an hour, Kaos tore through the sky, pushing the boundaries of his abilities. Eventually, drained and winded, he fell back toward the island in a controlled drop.
He landed lightly a few feet off the ground, the armor falling off in clanging sheets around him — each piece heavy and dense.
He didn't even flinch.
He was used to it now.
If only there were more gold on this island. Just wearing the armor daily would be a form of weighted training.
He sat cross-legged and waved his hand at the scattered gold. The metal slithered together and formed a golden clone — a humanoid figure about 1.7 meters tall. Under his control, the clone performed backflips, high jumps, and even a few goofy calisthenics.
"Golden Warrior."
This was his version of a golden clone — inspired by Doflamingo's String Clone.
Like his other techniques — the armor, the flying sword, the storm of blades — Kaos had pulled ideas from pop culture: Iron Man, Magneto, Gilgamesh, Doflamingo. Anything with flair, he adapted into gold.
Compared to the stiff, repetitive use of Tesoro's powers in the movie, Kaos's approach was pure creativity.
Sword flight? Tesoro never even thought of it.
This was the power of imagination.
With enough control and concept grounding, anything he imagined could become real — within limits.
Some ideas, of course, were too far-fetched. Without a foundation, they remained fantasy.
The Golden Warrior was still rough around the edges. Its movements weren't fluid, and it couldn't match Doflamingo's clone in realism or precision.
But someday…
Someday it would move like Kaos himself.
Imagine an enemy pouring everything they had into beating the clone — only to realize it wasn't even him. Just a remote-controlled puppet.
Their face?
Instantly green.
There were limits, though. Right now, the clone couldn't move more than ten meters from Kaos. Any farther and he lost control.
"If only I had Observation Haki..."
Kaos sighed.
If he could tie the clone's range to his Observation Haki perception, the farther he could sense, the farther he could control.
Despite his soul having been "purified" by transmigration, he still hadn't awakened a single Haki in three years.
Which was honestly ridiculous.
If not for the "soul buff," it might've taken him a lifetime just to reach his current level.
Frustrating.
Then there was Geppo.
Sure, he could fly using gold, but Kaos was dead set on mastering Moonwalk.
What if one day he lost his Devil Fruit?
Or ran out of gold?
Being able to leap and move freely through the air could be the key to survival.
That's a non-negotiable.
Not just Geppo — he wanted to master all Six Powers, and maybe even unlock Life Return.
Physical strength was the cornerstone of power — resilience, recovery, stamina, endurance.
In the One Piece world, body came before all else.
And Kaos was building his from the ground up.