The cerulean ocean surface didn't have the slightest ripple. Its tranquil appearance was like an impossibly huge mirror, extraordinarily eerie.
Floating on the sea was a somewhat weathered gaff-rigged vessel. Its cute, innocent sheep figurehead and the Jolly Roger with a straw hat on its mast proclaimed the identity of this ship.
"Am I dreaming?"
Sherlock stood on the deck and looked around, gently pushing up his glasses.
"Is this the Merry? But where is everyone else?"
These were surroundings he was extremely familiar with, except that for some reason, the scenery in Sherlock's eyes looked like a very old oil painting, filled with an illusory, unreal feeling.
Not only that, but a certain glasses-guy keenly noticed a very peculiar detail.
"How do I feel like everything here is reversed... just like in a mirror."
Sherlock's expression shifted slightly. He suddenly realized what was going on.
(Heh, interesting...)
Narrowing his eyes slightly, Sherlock sensed his surroundings for a moment before walking straight toward the cabin, pushing the door open without hesitation.
Unsurprisingly for a certain glasses-man, sitting right at the long table usually used by the Straw Hats for meals was a familiar figure.
Black hair, dark eyes, silver-rimmed glasses, and a magnificent, suit-like black robe that looked like formal wear. A faint smile hung at the corners of his lips—elegant and mysterious.
In his hands, he was turning the crank of a machine. Sherlock looked closely and realized it was the very coffee grinder that Sanji and Robin often used.
Judging by the other items laid out on the table, it seemed his mirror counterpart was leisurely brewing coffee.
"We meet again, Sherlock. Please, have a seat."
He said softly, his casual tone making him sound like a host preparing to entertain guests in his own home.
Though in a sense, this world inside the mirror was indeed his "home."
Sherlock didn't reply. He quietly sat down on the other side of the dining table without saying a word.
Inside the quiet cabin, two glasses-guys who were nearly identical except for a slight difference in hair color sat quietly on opposite sides of the dining table—a scene that was quite eerie.
One silently brewed coffee, his fluid, skillful movements quite captivating to watch.
The other quietly watched his mirrored self, light reflecting off his lenses and obscuring his eyes, making it impossible to discern his exact expression at the moment.
A moment later, a cup of rich, hot coffee came into being—though it was the only cup.
"My bad, looks like I put in a few too many coffee beans. But no matter."
With that, the mirrored Sherlock snapped his fingers. Then, as if performing magic, another cup of hot, steaming coffee materialized out of thin air right in front of Sherlock.
(A mirror manifestation?)
Sherlock didn't touch the cup of coffee. Naturally, he was extremely familiar with this ability, so he knew full well that mirrored food possessed no taste whatsoever.
And as if sensing what Sherlock was thinking, his mirror counterpart smiled slightly and said:
"Give it a try. I'm actually quite confident in my blended coffee."
Sherlock glanced at the opposite side. This absurd feeling of staring into a mirror was truly beyond words. He stared into those dark eyes that were no different from his own, let out a sigh, and then picked up the coffee cup to take a small sip.
Instantly, a slightly bitter and familiar taste flooded a certain glasses-guy's mouth, causing his expression to change slightly.
(How strange... why does mirrored food have a taste? Is it because this isn't the real world, or because of his ability...)
Sherlock suppressed the urge to question the matter further and placed the coffee cup back on the table.
"It does taste quite good. However, you didn't contact me this time just to treat me to a cup of coffee, did you?"
A certain glasses-guy looked at his mirror counterpart with a calm gaze.
"Also, is this the world inside the mirror? As I recall back on Skypiea, it wasn't like this."
The mirror Sherlock smiled without saying a word. Instead of rushing to answer, he picked up his coffee, took a small sip, and then slowly said in a soft voice:
"To put it simply, you're actually dreaming right now."
"Dreaming?" Sherlock frowned.
"Yes, except this dream is a bit special. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to meet up with you again."
The mirror Sherlock pushed up his glasses. Though he used the opposite hand, that familiar gesture still felt deeply strange to Sherlock.
"Even though our Devil Fruit ability can't control dreams, a dream is ultimately something unreal after all."
"And to entice you into having this rather special dream, I spent quite a bit of effort and tried for a long time before succeeding."
(Entice...)
Sherlock's heart stirred violently. Although the other party had said this sentence very casually, when analyzed carefully, the meaning contained within was utterly terrifying!
Which was: this mirror counterpart of his might already possess the ability to affect the real-world Sherlock!
(It seems that as I continue to develop my Devil Fruit ability, my mirror self will become stronger and stronger as well.)
Sherlock showed no outward sign, but inside, a trace of worry began to creep into his mind.
The Mirror-Mirror Fruit's ability was to manipulate the boundary between illusion and reality. This power was immensely formidable, unpredictable, and bizarre to the extreme.
And not long ago, Sherlock had even mastered [Phasing], an almost BUG-like skill, which was practically the same as the elemental transformation of a Logia type.
Then didn't that also imply that this mirror Sherlock had likewise mastered a similar ability akin to "Materialization"?
(The real illusion, the illusory reality... materializing the mirrored images inside the mirror, and illusionizing the real objects outside the mirror...)
Sherlock's eyes unfocused slightly as enlightenment suddenly dawned in his heart.
Just as a mirror had a real side and a virtual side, if the Mirror-Mirror Fruit's abilities could be developed to a higher level, they might split into two completely opposite and entirely opposing abilities.
And thinking that perhaps in the near future, this mirror counterpart of his might jump straight out of the mirror like a scene from a horror novel, a certain glasses-guy couldn't help but look at the other party with a peculiar gaze.
"Meeting with you this time is mainly to tell you something."
The mirror Sherlock seemed unaware of the shift in the other's eyes and drank the rest of his coffee in one gulp.
"You're very strong, Sherlock. But that's only relative to those insignificant small fry. Once you face an enemy with even a bit of real strength, it's an unknown whether you can even successfully escape."
Sherlock was noncommittal about this. That sense of powerlessness when facing Blackbeard and Rear Admiral Alan before was still vivid in his memory.
"I am the 'you' inside the mirror, and just as I said before, as the sole 'reality,' if you die, I as the 'illusion' won't be able to survive alone either. So..."
"So you plan to lend a hand whenever I encounter a crisis in the future?" Sherlock picked up the thought.
"Mm, you can understand it that way."
The mirror Sherlock let out a smile that could be described as evil and charming. He pushed up his glasses, his pitch-black eyes flashing with an inexplicable light.
"In the future, if you encounter an enemy you can't defeat again, you can call my name. I will come to help you."
"Your name?"
A certain glasses-guy's expression shifted. It seemed this mirror counterpart of his had given himself a new name.
"That's right. Although you and I are originally the same Sherlock, to make it easier to distinguish, I gave myself a new name."
Saying that, the mirror Sherlock extended his index finger and began writing on the table.
He didn't seem to exert any force, but under the sliding of his fingertip, the hard wooden table was carved with a line of elegant small letters as if it were un-dried cement.
Sherlock
"This is your name, Sherlock." The mirror Sherlock pointed at that row of eight letters on the table.
"And as the reversed 'you' in the mirror world, my name should naturally be the opposite as well..."
SNAP~
With a crisp snap of his fingers, each of the letters on the tabletop instantly squirmed as if coming alive. Swapping head to tail, they formed a brand-new name.
Kcolrehs
"This is my new name—Kcolrehs. Pleased to meet you."
Kcolrehs intertwined his ten fingers, his smile becoming increasingly mysterious and sinister.
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