Isshiki Ōtsutsuki's eyes widened in shock as he was suddenly yanked backward violently, dragged across the dirt like a discarded rag doll. His back rolled roughly across the hard ground, his plain robe stained with soil and grass, his ancient dignity shredded in an instant.
But even as he was pulled away forcefully, his iron grip on Elric's small wrist did not loosen at all. Not even slightly. He clenched it tight, desperately—desperate to hold on, desperate to complete the transfer, desperate to survive.
His golden eyes flicked upward quickly toward the child's face. Tears streamed down Elric's young cheeks freely, his face twisted with grief and pain, his eyes still flickering between his unconscious father lying in blood nearby and the strange man holding him captive.
But through the tears, through the obvious fear, Isshiki saw something else entirely. A spark. A terrifying, primal light that now glimmered dangerously in those young red eyes. A hunter's gaze.
Not prey anymore.
He's realized it now, Isshiki thought with rapidly growing dread. He knows he's different. He knows something changed. And he's not running anymore.
Elric wasn't the prey in this situation. He was about to become the predator.
"Damn it... damn it all!"
Isshiki grit his teeth hard. He wasn't composed anymore, not even close. His hands trembled visibly as he screamed internally with frustration and disbelief. It was supposed to be easy! Just a brat and a weak shinobi! How did it come to this!?
"This is your fault, you cursed brat...!" he hissed aloud.
He could feel it clearly now—the Kāma had been completely reversed, corrupted beyond recognition. The boy's body had begun devouring his carefully transformed cells, evolving faster than he could possibly react or counter. It was too late to stop it.
He had only one choice left—a desperate, final gamble. A forbidden method even among the proud Ōtsutsuki clan.
If I can't claim his body by force... then I'll overwrite him with my soul directly.
It was dangerous. Extremely so. Even among his kind, this technique was considered taboo. But it was his final card to play.
The soul and body were deeply, intimately connected. When one changed, the other naturally adapted—or perished entirely. Elric's soul had adapted unnaturally well to the physical changes induced by Kāma, and in turn, his body had been given precious time to grow and stabilize. Because of this, his soul should be weakened now. Vulnerable.
That very strength is his weakness now.
Isshiki closed his eyes tightly and forced every ounce of his soul's power into the boy's body. The world shifted violently around him. Darkness swallowed him completely whole.
Inside the Soul Realm
When he opened his eyes again, Isshiki found himself floating in a space completely devoid of light—a vast, formless void stretching endlessly in every direction. This was no physical space at all. This was the realm of the soul itself.
He floated weightlessly in the darkness, his golden eyes scanning the silent expanse carefully. Slowly, his gaze finally landed on a faint glowing form drifting aimlessly like a ghost through an abyss—Elric's soul. It pulsed dimly, still clearly dazed, still adapting to everything that had happened.
"How lucky," Isshiki whispered, his lips curling into a confident smirk. "Still weak. Still confused."
He moved toward it without any hesitation whatsoever, his fingers stretching out, reaching eagerly for the fragile flickering light.
But then he felt it. A presence. Something else was here in this space with them.
A cold shiver crawled slowly up his spine, and something deep in his ancient, battle-hardened instincts screamed at him with primal alarm. He spun around instantly.
And then he saw it clearly—emerging slowly from the absolute darkness, a hand. A colossal, impossibly massive hand made entirely of void and shadow, rippling with raw power that visibly bent reality around it. A hand that did not belong to any human being or any creature he had ever encountered.
What—
Before he could think any further, words tore from his throat involuntarily. "WHO ARE YOU!? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?"
Isshiki Ōtsutsuki—conqueror of countless galaxies, devourer of entire worlds, immortal tyrant who had lived for thousands of years—screamed in a voice heavily laced with pure, primal fear.
He genuinely couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this way. Not even when Kaguya betrayed him viciously. Not even when he nearly died that first time. This was completely different. This fear was not born from his mind or rational thought. It was instinctual, natural, primal—as if every single fiber of his being recognized the thing before him not as an enemy to fight, but as something far worse.
The massive hand didn't answer his desperate question. It didn't speak at all. It didn't even acknowledge his existence. It simply reached forward slowly, deliberately—not toward Isshiki, but toward Elric's floating soul.
"NO!!"
Isshiki tried desperately to flee. He tried to summon his power, to fight back, to run away, to do anything at all. But he couldn't move. The space around him was collapsing inward. His limbs refused to obey any commands. His form began to crack visibly—starting to dissolve like ash in wind.
His golden eyes, wide with absolute horror, watched completely helplessly as his soul began to melt away. He screamed again, louder this time. First his fingers vanished into nothing, then his arms, then his torso broke apart into dust, atom by atom.
And then there was nothing left at all.
Without any will guiding it, the rest of his power followed the greater source naturally, flowing directly into Elric. The massive hand ignored it all completely, utterly unconcerned by the vanishing intruder. It moved steadily through the void with purpose, its enormous fingers closing gently around Elric's small, fragile soul. Protective. Almost tender.
And then—complete darkness.
"...Then I blacked out," Elric muttered softly. His voice trembled slightly, not from fear now, but from deep confusion. "And when I woke up, I was here."
He looked around at the white room surrounding him, at his older selves sitting nearby, listening intently, at the impossible reality he'd just finished explaining.
Marvel Elric and One Piece Elric exchanged a long, meaningful glance. Neither of them spoke immediately. The weight of what they'd just heard hung heavy in the air.