One Piece – Halfway Broken

Warning: Chapters 121-123 were all posted back-to-back! Returning Readers, make sure you pick up where you left off!

Chapter 123: A Mystery Solved

“So, as you can see, there are three Primary and a good dozen Secondary Effects that are all stacked onto the Nymph of Asclepius.”

Luffy was gesturing at a large chalkboard he had pulled out from his inventory, he and Kaya had filled it out as they worked out each effect on the statue. A statue which, after they’d thought to retrieve Robin, had been identified by name. There was a plaque on the fountain’s reverse side, which she had translated more readily than Luffy would have been able to. Something which had ended up aiding he and Kaya as it had given proper names for the three Primary effects.

“The Healing Waters of Aphrodite is the first Primary effect. If someone bathes in the pools filled with the fountain’s waters, it slowly infuses you with spiritual energy, guiding it to reinforce your own spiritual form. The first effect of that is simple healing, but more than even that it restores. I suspect every someone affected by the Mero Mero no Mi would be slowly restored to their proper form. Likely within a matter of hours. A trick that I am frankly pleased to learn about and have some hope of replicating.”

Kaya nodded and interjected her own two belli a moment later.

“Since you wanted to know about side-effects, I can say that this one almost certainly had one. Thankfully, in this case it’s likely an entirely positive effect, as the diffused version in the water of the entire island is likely why Kuja are born exceptionally healthy and with a natural talent for Haki. The diluted spiritual infusion, gained in a constant trickle for their entire lives, almost certainly accounts for that oddity.”

Yeah, there was a reason Luffy had started with that one. Frankly, as far as he and Kaya could tell, there wasn’t a single downside to it. If someone tried to do the same thing faster, there would be. But diluted amounts over a lifetime? It should be not just safe, but genuinely beneficial. Even if it wasn’t the sort of thing short-term planners would be able to make much use of. Unfortunately, the remaining two primary effects were…less purely helpful in their side-effects.

“The Enchantment of the Lusty Maiden is the next effect. This one is a doozy. Honestly, it would probably have confirmed my theory about this place even if Robin hadn’t found what amounted to product placement ads elsewhere. For all intents and purposes, this particular trick muddles with female hormones. It’s intended effects are to cause a low level of arousal in women who bathe in the pools here, while also inhibiting pregnancy. If one only had short term exposure, it would even work entirely as advertised…”

Luffy grimaced, and Kaya took up talking about the side-effects again. They’d agreed that such would be better coming from her. Both because she was seen by Hancock as a doctor/healer, and because she herself was female and thus a bit less of a potential target for misplaced ire.

“Like the healing waters, this would unquestionably have a longer-term effect when diluted into the waters the Kuja drink. This goes from the minor mystery of why you must leave the island to get pregnant, likely even needing to stay away from the island for some time, so it works its way out of your system. To the more major issue of hormone destabilization. While I’ll have to study in more depth to be certain, I strongly suspect this to be the source of your difficult-to-control emotions. Short term exposure wouldn’t have that effect, but long-term exposure would throw your emotional control into a blender. The longer you drank the local water for, the more this would take effect.”

Kaya sighed, grimacing herself as she drew a circle around the word ‘spiritual contamination.’

“Worse, this isn’t a drug. Just like the Healing Waters, this works by manipulating the body’s response via the spirit. Which means that it can and will pass from one person to another via, for example, sparring with Haki active. Which, I imagine, lets you begin to see both why your best warriors were the most affected and how your elite fighters ending up leveling out by visiting other places spreads back to others. The spirit, like most other natural things, tries to equalize. Someone away long enough who sparred with someone who stayed, would bleed off some of the destabilizing effects from the person who stayed, absorbing it into themselves. Likewise, too much buildup of this in a spirit would become toxic. Leading to your ‘emotional sicknesses,’ I think.”

Hancock didn’t look happy, but she didn’t look riotously angry either. In fact, she felt to Luffy’s empathic sense like she was grimly pleased to have a proper answer, if anything. She wasn’t exactly calm when she spoke, but she wasn’t in danger of flying off the handle, at least.

“…and since sparring is a huge part of our culture, of course it would create a pressure relief value, of sorts. Any other side effects from this one?”

Kaya shrugged, blushing a bit.

“Umm…almost certainly a degree of increased sex drive? How much, I can’t say, but almost certainly some.”

Hancock actually chuckled at that, not seeming embarrassed at all. In fact, from the wicked smirk on her face, Luffy suspected she might well say something that would make Kaya turn into a tomato if given the chance. Quickly intervening, since they did have one more major effect to get through, he tapped the chalkboard with the pointer he’d been using, cleared his throat, and spoke up.

“The third and final Primary effect of the statue is rather interesting. Font of the Ideal Self is older than the other two effects. Enough so that my theory about this, just possibly, originally being a proper shrine holds a bit more water that before. Unlike the other two, it is meant to create long-term effects, likely on worshipers or pilgrims who visited and stayed for a period of months or years. It influences the spirit to shape the body, but instead of restoring you to what your spirit ‘knows’ to be your ‘peak state,’ it encourages your spirit to grow towards what it believes its peak state should be.”

Luffy gestured to Kaya, letting her take both the good and bad of this one, since they were interlinked. She, thankfully, had recovered from her brief embarrassment and took the cue smoothly.

“Someone bathing in these waters who wished to be more masculine, would become more masculine. Someone bathing in them that wished to be more feminine would slowly become more feminine. The same if they wished to be braver, nobler, or even greedier. It’s a slow effect. Even directly bathing in these pools for hours every day, it would take months at minimum to make a significant impact. Unfortunately, it’s also more…potent. It would dilute far less when mixed with the rest of the island’s waters and, critically, would amplify the effects of the other two ‘blessings’ over time. Not massively, but over generations? Over generations it would cause certain facts to…solidify.”

Hancock frowned, but nodded slowly as she worked through that.

“Like the fact that Kuja, even away from the island, almost always give birth to only girls. Typically beautiful ones. Hence one of the major reasons we are targeted by the World Government.”

Kaya nodded, then shrugged.

“Yes. Though it isn’t all bad. It’s likely contributed to the near-universal Haki access and generally higher physical base abilities the Kuja exhibit as well. Your entire tribe is permanently stronger and healthier than baseline humans.”

Several complicated expressions, matched by just as complicated emotions, flashed across Hancock’s face as she considered that.

“You’ve given me a great deal to think about. I will want to know about all of the Secondary effects too, of course, and any possible side effects for those. Yet, for now, I believe this is enough for me to think on and mull over. Thank both of you for your efforts. You have done the Kuja a great service in unearthing this, even if I may choose not to explain it all in full to the entire tribe.”

There was a warning look in her eyes and tiny bit of steel in her voice at the last bit, implying that they shouldn’t share it either. To which both of them nodded to without hesitation. This was a complicated knot for the Kuja, given that it had likely made their culture the way it is. Two outsiders blabbing about it before Hancock had a chance to figure out how to deal with the subject would be wildly inappropriate. At least while it wasn’t causing the locals any true harm. Which it honestly wasn’t, so far as they could tell. Not aside from the ‘emotional sickness,’ which the Kuja knew how to mitigate.

“Now, you’ve said so much about the benefits of these springs, that I suggest we enjoy them. I, for one, could use a bit of relaxation while I mull everything over.”

Kaya, Luffy, and even the watching Robin gawked as Hancock stood from using Salome as a seat. With a sensual movement that said she knew exactly what she was doing, she shed her top and skirt. Like many Kuja, she apparently didn’t wear anything under it, leaving her gloriously nude as she sauntered toward one of the steaming pools. Kaya eeped, ripped her gaze from where she’d been staring at Hancock’s hypnotic beauty…and fled back toward the gallery room.

Luffy snorted at that, then exchanged a look that spoke volumes with Robin. They were going to need to speak more about this later, but for now the exchange of glances between them resulted in a decision. Robin was the first to start stripping down herself, sending a comment toward Luffy.

“Ara, ara, Captain-san~, I do believe it is rude to ignore a beautiful woman’s invitation…let alone that of two.”

Chuckling, Luffy followed after her, losing his own clothes in the process. Interestingly, Hancock paid equal attention to both of them, raking them over with appreciative eyes, though she didn’t blush. Truly, the things the Kuja both did and didn’t get embarrassed over were very out of whack. Which didn’t at all stop Luffy from considering the implications that Hancock was completely fine walking into waters that she knew would slowly raise her arousal, while he was present. He wouldn’t have thought her to be that comfortable with any man in such a situation, given her past.

That she was with him, combined with a few of her other reactions, bore thinking about. Not to mention talking over with the women in his life, of course…

... ... ... ... ... ...

A/N 1: As Luffy himself observed, the Kuja had weirdly out of whack ideas of what is and isn't lewd ;-). Though Hancock does known what she's signaling, she's not completely oblivious...

A/N 2: Yes, despite my earlier claims, Hancock ended up added to the Harem. Th reason? I tweaked her in much the same way I made tweaks to people like Sanji and Usopp. Some of their more irritating characteristics weren't eliminated but...well...softened a bit. Sanji became a romantic who was still after the ladies but less obnoxious about it. Usopp got a chance to grow out of his cowardice. Etc. In Hancock's case I basically just dialed her back about two notches and introduced some pragmatism and proper explanations for how she behaved. Completely without intending too, this ended up making her and this version of Luffy click in a way that he frankly didn't even with Vivi and Yamato. With that staring me in the face, I groaned and faced reality. A ran a poll on my to see if people wanted her included in light of that fact, and it won with 60% voting yes, and roughly another 30% being indifferent. So Hancock got added. A case of the character having a different opinion than her writer about what was doing to happen -_-.

A/N 3: Hey everyone! Most of you should know that I have a for Early Access chapters (find the link for it in my profile, or just search 'Novus's Fanfiction Works' in your browser of choice). I'm currently updating four stories a month, with 20,000 words each, plus at least one 10,000 word extra. One Piece: Halfway Broken is updated twice every month, so there are always 20,000 words of content in Early Access. That said, none of my fanfiction work is permanently paywalled. Support is appreciated, but it will make its way here and elsewhere eventually if you're patient :-).