*It was explained to me that Whitebeard actually referred to Oden as his brother and not as another son in canon, which I did not remember or stumble upon during my research, so I'll just say that it's my bad. One Piece has way too many details to remember everything.
As a result, minor AU adjustment.
Wouldn't have changed much in general, just that Whitebeard now has a 'Grandson' instead of a nephew.
It was mostly a little fun I wanted to have with his adoption habit anyway.*
*For those who read this when it first popped out, be warned that I did change 23's gender after some consideration.*
Haunt 11: Blood Colosseum
-2 1/2 years later (16/15 years ago on One Piece Timeline with Adam being near 14 years old if it helps), Near Paradise Island, New World
"Big Bro Marco, why did Gramps suddenly decide to have us raid this place?" Adam asked as he and Marco flew in the sky.
Over two years with the Whitebeard pirates had done him a lot of good in terms of growth and experience in this world, allowing him to temper himself in the flames and blood of conflict while clashing against some of the strongest the world had to offer.
The fact that they could hunt Sea Kings reliably was a great boon as well.
From his previous stature, he was now standing at 8'2"(248.92cm) and with tightly packed muscles brimming on his maturing body, his constant training, workouts, spars and fights removing any traces of baby fat on his face as the sharpness in his features carved a wild edge on his handsome face. His icy blue eyes decorated with arching eyebrows making his gaze incredibly piercing, with the crescent scar visible on the right side of his lips as it smoothly transitioned from one to the other adding a small imperfection which seemed to further his edge, wild hair tied in a simple ponytail hanging down to his lower back. His open and flapping blue haori with ethereal flame pattern showcasing his intense efforts and a few small slashes and punctures which have left their marks around a larger scar over his left shoulder.
Regarding his lower body, below a green sash on his hip, it was currently a sort of semi-transparent tail which propelled him through the sky thanks to his devil fruit.
Although only technically an apprentice with the Whitebeards, after the last two years it had become an open secret that at this point only Whitebeard and Marco could actually manage to defeat the teen. Their Captain simply because he wasn't at that level, not for lack of effort or attempts as most of his scars come from the man, including his largest being a result of Adam losing a clash against Whitebeard's Murakumogiri, while he couldn't manage to damage Marco enough due to his devil fruit giving him so much survivability and with him being a more experienced combatant.
Adam might have gotten a lot closer to clenching a victory against the immortal bird thanks to finally having progressed to Ryuo from clashing against Whitebeard, who knew the technique very well, but he still hadn't managed to mix everything together properly to form a strong enough finishing blow against a pirate Adam would likely deem to have the fruit with the highest survivability. Heck, neither him nor Marco were even sure death would actually stick to the man because of how famous Phoenixes were to come back from that through self reincarnation.
But thanks to his strength and rapid gain of merit amongst the crew from fighting against other crews, cooking in the 4th division, helping/learning under Marco and his medical team, and doing some navigation work while honing his natural instincts and understanding of these seas, he quickly became a trusted and secret asset of the Whitebeard Pirates. His fruit allowing him to actually alter his physical form when in use since he does become an interesting mix of 'ectoplasmic energy' (or ecto for short) and his own spirit, thus his malleability and ability to alter himself.
One just needs to cover his head and act a certain way to make sure no one outside more important members of the crew knew that Adam was the mysterious 'Reaping Blade' which had started to become Infamous amongst pirates in the New World. Nothing on the Marine side since Newgate wanted to allow Adam to start with a 'fresh slate' once he goes off on his own, so no bounty even if they had heard rumors.
And today, 'Gramps/Pops' had assigned him a personal mission alongside Marco deemed extremely important.
"I mean, everyone knows Paradise Island is a slaving hub, but usually he doesn't want to piss off the Celestial Worms too much." Adam continued as they flew. "And after Fisher Tiger freed all their slaves and started the Sun Pirates, they've been very protective of that fucking 'occupation'."
"Well you see, it appears that certain slavers decided to do some raids on an island of ours, taking with them supplies needed for Sphinx Island and enslaving merchant vessels at the same time." Marco answered with a carefree shrug.
He honestly wasn't worried at all about the repercussions simply because there wouldn't be any true consequences for what they were about to do. The Marines just didn't have what it took to push into the New World because they got some payback against actual slavers for targeting people they shouldn't have. It just wasn't worth conflict against Whitebeard for that when the slavers tickled the sleeping dragon on their own.
"Huh. That was stupid. I'm guessing you'll be the big flashy distraction before the guys come in and I'll be sneaking out back to free and/or protect the slaves." The taller teen summarized.
It wasn't the first time he had done these sorts of things after all. His fruit was a godsend for infiltration and it would be stupid to not take advantage of it.
Learning sneakier approaches from Izou was quite funny as the mild cross dresser immediately prostrated himself when he met Adam and insisted on using -sama when referring or talking to him. Being someone with great respect for Oden for having uplifted him and his sister from poverty and whatnot, Izou was very enthusiastic even after Adam asked him if he simply enjoyed women's apparels or was something like an Okama.
It was the former, but Adam was just curious since he would have recommended seeing Ivankov for a sex change if Izou did want to become a woman.
The young ghost human wasn't really the sneakiest by nature, but he could more than get by with his devil fruit abilities. Having learnt to mask his 'self' from Observation Haki outside of combat using his 'ecto' to form a sort of camouflage over his presence, was something he learnt to do under the man.
Speaking of his devil fruit abilities though, he had come to learn quite a bit about said over the last two years.
First was the basics: the 'physical' aspects.
The Human-Human Fruit, Model: Ghost's transformative ability was remarkably similar to Marco's Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Phoenix once looked at in broader terms. This train of thought was born because both transformations give some basic parameters linked to their fruits like Adam essentially losing his physical shell and Marco gaining wings and talons, which allow for both to fly, become stronger and gain edges like Phasing and clawing capabilities. The fact that they both lacked the true hybrid states was also a common denominator as they could only selectively transform some parts of their bodies or fully.
The second and most important part which separates normal Zoans from the truly mythical ones is that they offer access to a new energy/power. In their cases, Adam gained access to Ectoplasmic Energy while Marco received Phoenix Flames. This is the energy which allows them both to almost act as Logia types and use various powers.
In Marco's case, he can turn portions of his body into pure flames, allowing attacks to pass through him like Aokiji and Katekuri were shown to do, obviously had fire based attacks even if not on the scale of Ace but with somewhat higher intensity, could heal from most attacks not involving Conquerors infused Armament and even heal others with his flames.
Adam on the other hand, instead of being capable of his body becoming shrouded in Phoenix Fire, he actually loses his physical body and replaces it with a sort of shell completely compromised of Ecto and Spiritual energy. He loses physical limitations, gaining greater striking abilities matching his spirit as it mixes with his ecto to become his source of power while also turning incredibly malleable since he isn't really a physical being anymore, thus becoming as durable or resistant as he can really believe himself to be. After a lot of training, he also managed to use his ecto as blasts, striking support by wrapping it around his hands or blade, form barriers, shroud his spiritual state from Observation as mentioned before, and a good number of other tricks.
But unlike Marco, his state of being did come with some downsides he was just starting to really eliminate.
First off, being a spirit freed him from worrying about physical attacks, but it made spiritual ones more effective on him. Meaning, Conquerors and Armament were even bigger counters to him than most Logia types. Luckily, Adam himself was a Conqueror, and a rather strong one at that after clashing with Whitebeard so often regarding him staying as part of his crew over Adam's desire to sail freely, so unless one could match that monster he could easily bat any efforts from there.
The real issue had come from Armament because without a physical body, Adam was actually unable to coat himself for protection against it, having to rely on his ecto to physically protect himself or Observation to dodge and form holes for attacks to pass through, only really starting to get around the issue when he properly learnt Ryuo. It was actually how he had earned his largest scar, not being to defend himself from Whitebeard's attack.
It wasn't something Adam had actually thought about since other ghosts wouldn't be a thing and he had just believed that Haki would work like normal, but without a body acting as a boundary, haki becomes pure spiritual damage. A bit like how Blackbeard's Fruit doubles the pain he feels and removes the traditional ability of a Logia in exchanged for Devil Fruit nullifying powers.
Normal Armament only served to allow him to basically form a ghostly version of Tekkai on defense, which was much stronger than the physical version due to Adam's monstrous talents in the field, but it was still painful for him to receive Armament imbued attacks even if he could resist them. Only after getting into Ryuo did he manage to start fully disabling that weakness as it forms outside the body, ironically being something which Adam receives a tremendous boost in efficiency and power because his body isn't in the way of it, only having been difficult to grasp the concept and now learning to properly control it since it was so potent in his ghostly form.
It was an interesting set of discoveries really.
His Conquerors Haki strengthened his overall ghostly abilities while Armament doubled in effectiveness against him until he mastered Ryuo and could form a proper defense.
And honestly, Adam didn't really mind that setback.
He needed something to help strengthen his will after it had stagnated and nothing could compare to Whitebeard level punches as he tried to convince you to stay on his crew with his version of the Fist of Love when being extra vulnerable to it.
It was honestly funny to Adam how Garp and Whitebeard mirrored each other when it came to him and Luffy. One wanted his grandchild to not be a pirate while the other wanted to convince him to be one under him, but both through beatings and insane training.
Well it would be funnier if it wasn't happening to him, his hot-bloodedness certainly compensated for that with the rush he felt fighting the old man.
"Pretty much." The Phoenix-man nodded. "Pops isn't gonna move on this one, but the 7th is going to be there as support and to move people and plunder out."
"Uncle Rakuyo is really going to be annoyed to not be able to show off his chops." Adam grinned as he could imagine the man's exaggerated reactions with his chained chompa.
"*Chuckle* Well, Pops wanted me to stretch my wings and I tend to leave clearer messages." Marco acknowledged playfully as we could both imagine the island aflame.
Not something most Division Commanders could do like Marco.
Continuing along their flight path as they checked their Log Poses from time to time, the duo reached the summer island of Paradise quite smoothly, having avoided most weather phenomenons by going above them.
The place seemed to hold up to its name if one looked at it from a distance, but just like Sabaody and Mary Geoise it was only a facade to conceal the darkness beneath a thin veneer.
While we could see a thriving trading hub on a lush Island filled with rolling landscapes, bountiful forests with few predators, clean lakes and towns, trained eyes could also spot the large number of guards and even Marines, plus some hidden Cipher Pol members obviously on site to protect such an 'important asset'.
"You're not stupid, so you know where to look." Marco slowly spoke as he critically looked around the island as he aimed to choose his targets. "Keep it quiet since Pops'll get huffy is you get caught."
"Yeah yeah fire flamingo." Adam responded as he concealed himself fully from all senses.
Said flamingo could only ruefully chuckle as even Pops couldn't sense Adam when he went full stealth, well until the kid acted in an offensive manner anyway, waiting a few minutes to give him the time needed for him to infiltrate the holding areas of this town.
"Let's see... Eeny, meeny, miny... that one." Marco chose as he the building he would dive bomb.
It was filled with the slavers guild regional headquarters after all and it would make for lovely kindling.
Wrapping himself up in flames, he shot down like an arrow from God.
Booom*
Down below the earth, beneath a large carnival tent which served to delight and amuse during the day while at night was a showcase of humanity's worst symbols of greed for sale, Adam passed through an earthen walls as he felt a small bit of trembling with a smirk on his face due to knowing what Marco had just done.
Looking around, he found dimly lit tunnels heading out in multiple directions, perfect environment for someone like himself as he smirked mischievously.
Focusing on his ecto, he created a few little will-o-wisps and sent them off in multiple directions.
They would act as scouters while he headed towards the largest gathering of people.
Adam could feel them and rather intense emotions.
But what he could feel the most were the deaths and grudges seeping the very grounds he was in, so as a ghost he would let the living feel their anguish and despair for themselves. He was the closest to the afterlife after all, and that came with certain things Adam believed to be his duty.
To lay matters to rest was one of them.
As he walked, Adam received a notice that his Will-o-wisps had found other slave areas and were terrifying the superstitious guards for their amusement. It was always fascinating how they behaved, listening to orders, but because they required somewhat mischievous or playful thoughts to create them, it influences their 'behavior'.
His ghostly powers were very odd at times since they are linked to a level of existence most aren't even truly aware exists, hence why things like reincarnation, inheritance of powers like Poseidon, and Brooks' devil fruit powers work. This was one of the reasons Adam was incredibly careful in revealing just to what extents his fruit changed him over time.
For you see, once Adam spreads out his ecto energy over an area with particularly deep seethed emotions, he basically brings out shades of it from the various times such things were imprinted. And if a single person was a particularly strong influence on the imprint, he could essentially bring a semi-conscious shade of that person forward.
Depending on the person and their state of mind upon death, with the negative states being much likelier to leave anything behind, one could actually learn many secrets of the past. Adam had actually learnt that his ecto energy grew as he resolves or causes 'grudges' of these types of remnants, taking them into himself in a manner of speaking to do so.
And today, he would be settling many powerful grudges.
So as he walked forward, covering his figure in a robe of darkness, his steps echoing through the living world and land of the dead, he let out his energy as a beacon, slowly gathering the down beaten, the betrayed, those who suffered through injustice and torment over the decades, forming a death March accompanied by the sound of ethereal chains.
Adam walked down the long corridor, now passing cages built into the earth with horrible conditions and smells coming from them.
His figure horrifying the captured slaves beyond anything, especially with how he seemed to be death itself having come to bring them to the afterlife. Only once he passed and they realized that their chains had been cut and cell doors were broken did they understand that this wasn't the case.
Only after hearing the whispers of the vengeful ghosts did they understand that it wasn't them being called to the afterlife, but the slavers and buyers beyond. Although the floating message made up of green flames certainly did help clarify matters even more regarding the Whitebeard pirates raiding the island and where to go for safety.
Adam couldn't trust desperate people to not do something stupid, but at least he told them what was happening.
Heck, as he walked by, some healthier or stronger slaves clearly meant for what was ahead joined this march of the vengeful as they neared it.
The Hell Colosseum.
The other side to Paradise Island.
Where slaves are put in death matches designed to attain the greatest amount of carnage possible for the amusement of the rich and powerful on both sides of this world, even catering to actual Celestial Dragons from time to time when they wanted to buy the most 'durable' slaves and required proof.
"There you have it folks!" The announcer shouted enthusiastically as crowds of roaring 'elites' either celebrated or cried out in anger over the results they witnessed on the red sand filled fighting area containing a cut to near ribbons overweight man splattered around it by a skinny bald man shivering in delight as he almost grinded against his blade. "'Blade Lover' Kan has sliced up 'Bounding' Bloaty for the right to face the reigning champion of our colosseum, finishing our gauntlet of the Damned!!!"
His words immediately changed the half and half atmosphere into tense excitement as they truly desired to witness the fight. Rapid fire orders were even ringing out for bets to be placed as well now that both combatants had been chosen.
But before they could really get into things after the announcer's bosses told him the betting windows were closed, a sound stopped him.
*Clink...clink...clink*
Rhythmically it drew closer as the audience became aware of this familiar sound resounding not in their ears, but like it caused their souls to shiver.
Clink...Clink...Clink*
Growing louder every moment, a chilling wind flowing from the 'challenger' entrance as lights seemed to dim.
Clink...Clink...Clink!*
Walking out came Adam as if a black shadowed wraith from the nightmares of men, lifting his hand as ghostly figures appeared all around him, gifting them enough ecto energy to solidly themselves around their striking points, weapons and chains.
The apparence of spirits in chains, some regulars could even recognized as having passed, caused some to lose control of their bowels immediately, even more when Adam let loose his Conquerors Haki in a baleful style.
"Revenge is yours." He declared, causing ghostly wails of unholy wrath and release to echo as the marching ghosts swarmed into the colosseum in a made scramble for the living.
They wouldn't last too long in this kind of form since it was taxing on his energy reserves, but a good 5 minutes was all Adam would need anyway.
'Blade Lover' on the other hand, well he saw Moonlit on Adam's hip and acted immediately to obtain it. And that means killing the owner for it.
He was fast for a gladiator slave, but Adam cut him down in a smooth quick draw as the deranged man passed him by, causing him to stumble on the floor while his head flew away and his legs gave out from a disgusting orgasm due to feeling a blade pass through his body.
One could never underestimate how fucked someone could become on the seas.
Moving on without sparing a glance at the psychopath, Adam looked at the 'Master' booth to see the panicking residents yelling at their guards to act, save them and everything in between, likely also finding out that the rest of the town was on fire and suffering from Marco's fireworks display, not allowing them to spare reinforcements either. The situation further devolved when the rest of the gladiator slaves were freed and took up the fight for freedom and revenge.
Interestingly, they seemed to have decided to release their 'Champion' to try and find the opportunity to escape or have it kill as many people as possible.
From the scared mumbling Adam could pick up out of those gladiator slaves who noticed the dramatic opening of the most elaborate gate in the arena, the Champion was supposedly a beast which craved blood and violence, being undefeated for over 4 years now. Trained from near birth to fight and kill for the entertainment of the 'guests' and 'customers', but surprisingly never sold.
Adam impassively stood in the middle of the arena, his black figure sensing the rapidly approaching being, but what he found to be fascinating was that a wild and utterly unrestrained Conquerors Haki rushing forward as it approached. Something so dominant with its status as Alpha and the top predator as it utterly screamed its animalistic intent to slaughter any challenger.
That made him very interested as to what kind of beast would come out.
But then, to his surprise, it turned out to be rather small. The thing that came out of the gate screaming like a wild animal as it furiously clawed at Adam's much larger frame.
It was under 4 feet in height, even if it wasn't in a beast-like stance, with long and dirty black hair matted and unkempt after seemingly receiving minimal care, a somewhat thin body even if his trained eyes could tell they were packed with hyper specialized muscles aimed at fighting, killing and hunting thanks to the rough tunic with stains one could barely identify and much evidence of it having been fixed.
The little thing snarled and growled as it bounced around trying to hit the calmly swaying Adam while he analyzed it.
It was certainly something.
If the sword-sexual he had decapitated earlier was any indicator of the general level for challengers to this champion, it was quite above him in terms of raw physical abilities even if it had zero technique and relied wholly of its instincts, which to be fair were incredible as Adam sent little intents for attacks and it reacted almost before he could do so. From his observations, this little beast also seemed to be human, or at least half of one due to the fact that it had canine ears hidden in the unkempt mess that is its hair, a small dog-ish tail visible during kicks, and much sharper nails and teeth than most.
A possibility for it to be devil fruit related was there, but that wasn't how Zoan fruits worked, even during the 'hybrid' form. Best guest was some Mink ancestry somehow.
Could explain how it got here.
But then, something changed as the little beast seemed to have become enraged or insulted by how its 'prey' was acting towards it. Its Haki blasting out with small sparks of electricity as it tried to crush Adam, but it was easily held at bay.
What came next was actually a Zoan transformation as the little beast grew larger, not to extreme proportions, but to the decent size of a predatory feline like a jaguar or tiger, only it wasn't. It had stouter legs with its streamlined body, a wider face, longer claws and a black coat matching its untransformed hair.
Honestly, it reminded Adam of a very large Wolverine.
Then, with a much greater burst of speed gained from the Zoan fruit, it swiped its now Haki coated claws at Adam with renewed ferocity.
"Hahaha!! Take that you abomination!" Adam suddenly heard from above, causing him to look up while using Observation to continue dodging since the beast really couldn't overcome it due to its obvious intent. "Even if it's a bit lackluster compared to others, we still made 23 eat an Ancient Zoan, turning it into a true monster!!"
Adam couldn't understand why a rich looking idiot with sleek black hair, long goatee and twirly mustache was gloating instead of trying to escape, but he silently thanked him for the exposition before his strangled death squeals started sounding out since he revealed his location to a bunch of vengeful spirits. Basically just deducing that since there was a heavy resemblance, the fruit might basically be for the ancestor of wolverines and badgers, so something like the Weasel-Weasel Fruit, Model: ??? since those kinds of animals have their own 'family'.
He couldn't really care though, but he was curious regarding the one who ate it since it was his first time seeing a Mink hybrid after having actually seen a few Minks in Whitebeard's crew as Division Officers.
Deciding to put an end to this little situation since the spirits were wrapping up and he still needed to handle the other slave pens, Adam let out his full baleful Conquerors Haki, focusing it fully on the transformed 'champion', causing it to stop immediately and jump back as it shook, trying to stand defiantly with its growls and unintended whimpers. Not wanting to drag it on, he then channeled Ryuo into his sheathed blade and vanished with pure speed to behind it, almost getting a reaction from its instincts before the strike came.
Deep Sea Style: Atsuryoku hanmā (Pressure Hammer).
Knocking it out from the internal damage directly targeting the brain while his Conquerors was putting enormous pressure on the opponent. A safe technique to capture enemies basically since he felt like he should.
Even then, Adam could feel how it tried to resist and even managed to apply a minor coat of Armament to its head before the blow came, even if it wasn't very useful in front of a much stronger foe with better Haki.
Feeling like the little beast changing back in his arms was rather pitiful and deserved to be free, he decided to take responsibility and do so himself. No being should live its whole life in a cage. So figuring he could train it, he decided to make this a forced adoption as he hoisted it under his arm and went off to complete the rest of his mission.
There were moments where he pondered on how much of an influence Whitebeard really has been on him and if he was channeling future Luffy with his decision making, but this felt right so he didn't care. This was a world where one should listen to their instincts after all, and his was sternly telling him to take the little beast with him.
Quickly freeing the rest of the slaves, with help from some of the gladiators, Adam went to where Marco was calmly lazing about, surrounded by dozens of unconscious and dead grunts who tried to stop him from burning this place to the ground. They really stood no chance without any top Emperor Commander level combatants or Vice-to-Full Admiral officers.
"Yo kiddo. What's with the package?" The laidback man asked with a curious look.
"Not sure, but my gut is telling me to follow Gramps' example." Adam shrugged as the slaves fearfully spread out around the area, mostly being careful around the bodies and fire as Whitebeard Ships approached.
"Ah. Forced adoption." He nodded in understanding, having seen it in action a lot. "Any special reason?"
"Basically born into slavery. I think he/she is a Wolf Mink hybrid and has an Ancient Zoan related to wolverines or badgers. Also a Conqueror and Armament user, possibly Observation, but all animalistic and instinctual." Was the answer.
"*Impressed Whistle* That sounds like something Kaidou would salivate to have join his crew." Marco commented as he eyed the 'package' subtly. "It's a boy by the way."
"Really? How'd you know?" The large teen asked with wide eyes.
"I see no signs of breasts developing from the head hole of his tunic." The fiery medical expert answered with a smug smile as he liked rubbing his 'skills' in his younger 'brother's' face sometimes.
"Pervert." Was Adam's reply as he put on a look of disgust, causing the smugness to evaporate like a popped bubble.
"What?! How am I a pervert?!" Marco exclaimed defensively.
"You immediately looked at the breasts region of a young child, so you're a pervert. A lolicon on top of that." Adam coldly explained.
"I'm not a damn lolicon! I'm a doctor!" The suspected pedoctor cried out with a glare, simply earning the sight of Adam shifting is package to be further out of his grasp, causing bickering to ensue until the 7th Division arrived to break it up.
That raid was soon plastered on Newspapers as Marco senselessly massacring an innocent town unprovoked and killing men, women and children alongside any 'brave' marine who stood in his way, upping his bounty to 1.125 billion Beli as Adam flew completely under the radar from his slaughter and freeing of slaves being attributed to Marco as well.
Author Notes:
Small time skip and new crew member get!
This chapter was kind of planned to happen like since imma be jumping through the apprenticeship to get to Adam enjoying the seas in general, mostly using the Whitebeards as a good connection and for future plot reasons.
But what has changed is who I chose to introduce because that was just a sudden stroke of inspiration.
Originally, I was planning on having Ghislaine Dedoldia from Mushoku Tensei as the Slave Gladiator who was basically raised as an animal since it matched well with her kind of backstory, having her as I broadsword wielding half-lion mink daughter of Nekomamushi from when he was travelling around and Oden was being a bad influence.
But then I had a sudden cognitive flash as the very popular X-23 popped in and ideas just started flowing in as she too had a 'childhood' which could be emulated in One Piece while still keeping my desire for a half-mink, while also going a route with fewer sword users since I already have Adam and Harribel.
After that idea stuck, i decided to see if it was possible to basically make a one piece version of X-23 who currently has the Wolverine Mantle, resulting in her being a half-wolf Mink since I want and animal girl, then gave her a Wolverine related devil fruit on steroids, this being the Ancient Zoan; Weasel-Weasel Fruit, Model: Megalictis. The largest ancestor of the wolverines and badgers.
So because of her innate beast side, then boost it up due to an ancient zoan and you have quite the little monster.
For now, she was pretty much dominated because she is basically a wild animal right now, plus she's about 11 and only has very choppy Haki because it's all instinct and no real understanding or focus. It is on record that animals in One Piece can use Haki, so I'm also not thinking it's a stretch that someone like little 23 can use Conquerors and Armament if she faced it or awakened it from her extreme situation.
*New Note
After pondering some comments, the gender was changed to bring more balance to the gender ration involved in those potential crew members since a good number are female.
Basically, Adam be channeling Whitebeard, Luffy and Oden right now.
As for Adam, after over two years directly under Whitebeard and with where he was before joining, I think him being above the current division commanders but bellow Marco and Whitebeard would be a good estimate.
But now, before people get huffy with me for the Fruit Weaknesses, I just need to say that it kind of needed one.
Adam's devil fruit is op as heck, so I needed a way to somewhat balance the ridiculous advantages with him essentially being a logia while getting flight, invisibility and intangibility. So I though, why not make spiritual attacks, why is really what Haki is in essence, more effective against Adam since he becomes a being comprised of his spirit and fruit power? Basically a less broad weakness than Blackbeard's.
To clarify, his Armament Coating is not useless when in ghost form, it just doesn't have the same effects on the defensive while still keeping the offensive capabilities, especially on his blade. It's only that he needed to learn Ryuo and figure out how to use it defensively to really protect himself.
I even made up for these weaknesses by having Ryuo be more powerful while Conquerors has a boosting effect on him.
As for the ecto stuff, well most of it is for later, but I enjoyed having a Sung Jin Woo/Talion from Shadow of War moment. He's still very much in the process of learning his fully capabilities but I do have many ideas.
Hope you enjoyed regardless.
Next I'm thinking of having a little intermediary chapter for a bit of what Harribel and Morgiana have been up to with some nonsense over how Adam is going to 'domesticate' 23.
