The white space shimmered softly around them, quiet and seemingly infinite—almost like a waiting room suspended between different realities. In this place beyond normal time and space, three versions of the same soul stood together, each from a completely different world, each carrying a different burden.
His old room from Earth had been good enough at first, but it was getting seriously cramped with three of them occupying it now. So they'd moved outside. Or whatever counted as "outside" in this endless white void.
The youngest among them—Elric from the Naruto world—sat cross-legged on the floor, rubbing his temples with both hands, a pained look etched on his young face.
"...Then I lost consciousness completely," he said quietly, his voice still noticeably shaky. "And after waking up, I was here in this place." He paused, frowning slightly. "Oh—there's another thing. Right before I passed out in that darkness... I saw a huge hand. Like, really huge. Grabbing toward me. But I was really dizzy at the time, so maybe I was just hallucinating or imagining things..."
His voice trailed off uncertainly, fading into the surrounding silence.
Marvel Elric and One Piece Elric exchanged meaningful glances with each other, then both fell into deep silence, heads lowered slightly in serious thought.
After a long moment, Marvel Elric finally spoke, his voice calm but carrying a heavy weight. "...Here, probably no other soul can survive except us." His words hung in the air like thick mist. "It's likely that's exactly why, when you entered this space, Isshiki's soul got completely deleted. Erased. Leaving only his power behind for you to absorb."
Naruto Elric blinked in confusion. "I don't really know. My memory's all really fuzzy about what just happened to me..."
"It should only affect foreign souls," Marvel Elric continued, thinking out loud as he analyzed. "There are countless bacteria inside our bodies that don't strictly belong to us genetically. If they were all killed just by entering here, we'd already be feeling serious effects... So, this place must only reject things that carry an actual soul."
"So..." One Piece Elric leaned back casually, balancing his weight on one hand. "Only 'soulless' objects or creatures get rejected. Or straight up deleted from existence."
"Exactly," Marvel Elric confirmed with a nod.
But even with that reasonable explanation, none of them felt entirely sure about it. They stopped thinking too hard about the mechanics of it all. After all, what real use was endless speculation?
"...Well, not like we can actually do anything about it anyway," One Piece Elric said with a casual shrug. "I say, if we can't help or change something, we shouldn't let it ruin our entire day."
Marvel Elric nodded in agreement. "Whatever it is, it seems to be helping us. Or at least pretending to help us for some reason." He subtly glanced around the endless white space surrounding them. "Why or how it's doing that doesn't really matter right now."
Maybe whatever that mysterious thing was, it was just doing all this for its own entertainment.
"...Hey," One Piece Elric suddenly grinned mischievously. "What happens if one day... a zombie version of one of us shows up here?"
All three of them jolted slightly, caught completely off guard by the question.
Marvel Elric blinked rapidly. "That... that is actually a genuinely terrifying possibility."
"A very real one too," added One Piece Elric, looking far too amused with his own disturbing idea.
"...So what?" Naruto Elric—who had been sitting quietly in silence—finally spoke up, his tone flat and unimpressed. "You want us to start wearing full quarantine suits every time we come here now?"
"I mean... it honestly might not be such a bad idea," Marvel Elric replied seriously, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "There's absolutely no harm in preparing for the worst-case scenario, right?" He gave a small nod to himself, almost convinced by his own logic. "Next time I come here, I'll definitely bring a proper safety suit. Just in case something goes wrong."
"When are you coming next?" One Piece Elric asked, his voice curious.
"What do you mean, 'when'?" Marvel Elric blinked in confusion. "How should I possibly know when this space will pull me in again? I've never had any control over that timing."
"...Wait, you mean you can't come here on your own?" One Piece Elric asked, his eyebrows raising with surprise.
There was a noticeable pause. Marvel Elric stared at him blankly, then slowly frowned. "...You can?"
An awkward silence fell heavily between them. Both older boys stared at each other, their faces slowly morphing into identical expressions of mutual surprise and confusion.
Now that he actually thought about it carefully, Marvel Elric realized something embarrassing—he had never once tried to enter this space of his own will. He had always just assumed automatically that he had to wait passively to be pulled in. His cheeks flushed slightly with embarrassment at the realization. But then he quickly reminded himself—they were all literally him. There was absolutely no need to feel embarrassed in front of yourself.
One Piece Elric gave a small laugh, shaking his head, a faint, amused smile rising on his face. "I always thought it was really weird—why I never ran into you before this, especially since I've been coming here almost every single day to practice and think."
Marvel Elric quickly waved his hand dismissively. "Okay, okay, there's no need to continue this topic any further," he said hurriedly, clearly wanting to steer the conversation elsewhere before it got more awkward. "Anyway, we really should thank that unlucky bastard for generously giving us all his power."
The attempt to change the subject was painfully obvious—but it worked.
A beat of silence passed—then all three of them burst into genuine laughter.
"We hit the absolute jackpot this time!" One Piece Elric's voice rang out clearly in the endless white space, his tone bursting with pure excitement. He clenched both fists triumphantly in front of him, practically bouncing on his heels. "I'm probably invincible in my world now! At least Oda did not screw him over!"
Marvel Elric couldn't help but smile at his counterpart's infectious enthusiasm. A rare expression of genuine excitement crossed his usually calm, measured face. Even he had to honestly admit—it was really hard not to feel thrilled about this.
In the broader Marvel Universe as a whole, the power of someone like Isshiki Ōtsutsuki might not be anything too groundbreaking or special. But on Earth specifically? That was a completely different story. Earth's defenders were definitely strong, yes, very strong. But very few of them possessed the sheer raw capacity to genuinely threaten him.
And more importantly, Isshiki's unique ability to manipulate and access a personal pocket dimension—that alone changed absolutely everything strategically. A hidden space that only he could access freely, a place to retreat safely, to regroup, to vanish completely from any pursuer.
If someone truly wanted to kill him now, they'd need power on at least a universal scale. Cosmic-level threats. And how many beings in the universe actually had that kind of power? Perhaps a handful at most. And even then, could they really finish him off permanently if he could just retreat to another dimension? His survival rate had increased drastically overnight.
Still, he wasn't getting ahead of himself or letting excitement cloud his judgment. He narrowed his eyes slightly, lost in careful thought. I still don't know for certain if this version of Marvel is the live-action cinematic one or the comic book one.
That was an absolutely critical detail he needed to determine. If it turned out to be the comic universe, then there was no need to act recklessly at all. He could take his time, gather strength slowly and carefully, wait patiently for the right opportunities. Patience would be his greatest weapon in that scenario.
But if it was the cinematic universe? Then things were quite different. He could afford to act more boldly—slowly and subtly, yes, but with more freedom. Move through the shadows and take the first real steps in his long-term plan. For now, only the Ancient One might pose a genuine threat, and perhaps a few other hidden figures he didn't know about yet. But even then, he had real options now. Actual choices.
Just as he was carefully organizing his thoughts and planning out his possible futures, the entire white space began to tremble noticeably. A low hum resonated through the groundless void, a gentle quake rippling through their feet despite there being no actual ground.
"...Here it comes again," Marvel Elric muttered quietly, glancing up with faint anticipation. He had half expected this. The way he and One Piece Elric had been summoned together earlier—this time felt exactly the same. Another arrival was imminent. A fourth version of himself.
"What's happening?" Naruto Elric asked, tilting his head with confusion, his face still childlike and innocent, showing genuine curiosity.
"Nothing too serious," Marvel Elric replied calmly. "It's just... another one of us arriving."
The three existing versions of Elric exchanged brief glances with each other, then turned together to face the center of the space. Waiting.
A few seconds passed in tense anticipation. Then—flash!
A sharp distortion appeared in the space, like rippling water disturbed by a stone. And out of that ripple emerged a figure—tall, around sixteen years old, dressed in completely unfamiliar clothes. Modern clothing, but not from any world they recognized immediately.
The fourth Elric stood there, groggily blinking as he tried desperately to understand where he was.
Marvel and One Piece Elric both took an instinctive, cautious step backward, their instincts alert. Even young Naruto Elric noticed their defensive movements and, though confused about why, chose to mimic them carefully. Better safe than sorry, after all.
The young Naruto Elric tilted his head and whispered quietly, "Eh? What's going on? Why are we backing up?"
One Piece Elric smirked knowingly and leaned in, whispering back, "If he's from some messed-up dangerous place like Marvel, it's way better not to stand too close initially. First thing that happens when they arrive? You get punched hard in the face." He rubbed his jaw dramatically, as if vividly recalling the pain. "Personal experience," he added with a knowing chuckle.
The newly arrived Elric finally rubbed the lingering sleep from his eyes completely, his expression full of utter disbelief. Before him stood three versions of himself—well, more or less himself. There were subtle differences he noticed immediately: skin tone variations, slightly different hairstyles, different heights, different auras emanating from each. But the core resemblance was absolutely unmistakable.
He looked again, this time much more carefully, taking in every detail.
"...What the hell is this?" he finally said, his voice hoarse and confused. His gaze drifted specifically to Naruto Elric, the youngest one with bright red hair, his eyes narrowing slightly with suspicion.
He wasn't panicking yet—but he was definitely very confused. Maybe this was some kind of elaborate prank someone was pulling on him? Or some kind of incredibly high-end simulation? After all, in his world, VR technology had evolved to absolutely terrifying levels of realism. Full-dive experiences were common now, completely immersive. It wasn't entirely impossible that he'd somehow gotten stuck inside an advanced simulation without realizing it.
And so, with a confident tone, he raised his voice clearly and declared: "End Eight!"
The universal code phrase for exiting VR simulations. A common command everyone knew. He stood tall, waiting expectantly for the world to dissolve around him, for the headset to be lifted, for the virtual constructs to vanish.
One minute passed slowly. Then two. Absolutely nothing happened. The white space remained perfectly still, unchanged.
The other three Elrics just looked at each other awkwardly, unsure how to respond.
"...Guess that didn't work," One Piece Elric finally said with a lopsided grin.
Marvel Elric sighed heavily, crossing his arms. "Looks like this one's gonna take a bit longer to figure things out."
[Marvel will start in 3 chapters]
[Are you guys interested in reading R18, I think it will be decent]