"Does this guy still not understand what's important?" Shin muttered, rubbing his forehead in frustration. "Forget it, I'll go help him myself." Without waiting for the Ancient One to open a portal, Shin turned into a streak of light and vanished from sight.
He understood all too well that so-called superheroes often had an intense sense of territorialism. They cared most about their own cities, and some even resisted the presence of outside heroes. But now, this wasn't a local crisis, it was a global catastrophe. For Batman, Bruce Wayne, to still obsess over Gotham instead of the larger threat felt utterly irrational.
Especially when the whole disaster was, in large part, his fault to begin with.
As he flew through the sky, Shin activated the power of the Munch-Munch Fruit and shifted his attention toward Superman. The controlled Kryptonian had been sealed in the dark dimension. Shin had already embedded kryptonite into his body to suppress his resistance, while the oppressive environment of the dark dimension ensured Superman remained unconscious.
Shin then took out the magical water from the Legendary Spring of the Drowned Twin and poured it over Superman, creating a second version of him. With both Supermen unconscious, he began extracting cellular samples such as blood, bone marrow, and tissue and infused them into his own body.
He continued the extraction until the duplicated Superman appeared frail and emaciated, at least a quarter lighter than before. Any further and he risked killing him, so Shin finally stopped.
Fortunately, Superman's regenerative abilities under the sun were extraordinary. As long as he wasn't dead, full recovery was inevitable. Shin had no qualms about taking what he needed.
As for explaining Superman's condition later, that was simple. Shin would claim he had to purge all the Brother Eye nanobots from Superman's body, and that the collateral damage was unavoidable. With Superman's noble temperament, he'd probably thank him instead of complain.
Once the harvesting was complete, Shin used the water from Legendary Spring of the Drowned Man to merge the two Supermen back into one. He was relieved to find that the process didn't strip away Superman's Kryptonian physiology. If it had reset his body to human form, Shin would have been in deep trouble.
On the upside, the duplication process had allowed Shin to harvest twice the genetic material an invaluable opportunity. And the risk? It wasn't his risk to begin with.
Now, having absorbed so much of Superman's DNA, the Kryptonian portion of Shin's bloodline had reached a staggering three-quarters. The changes were immediate and profound. Where he once had to consciously manipulate gravity to fly, it now felt like a natural instinct.
His hearing and vision expanded rapidly, reaching new and overwhelming levels. The sensory prowess of his observation Haki fused with Kryptonian super-senses, giving him a mental map that covered nearly all of America in a blink.
For a moment, Shin's brain was flooded with chaotic input. He staggered mid-air, nearly losing control. But his mental faculties, now empowered by his evolving Kryptonian brain, kicked into overdrive. Thoughts that once took minutes now took milliseconds. His mind was processing faster than some artificial intelligence.
'Super vision, super hearing, flight, super intellect… Now all I'm missing are heat vision and freeze breath,' Shin mused with a grin. 'Looks like I'm not far from becoming a full-fledged Superman.'
Even better, his internal solar energy reserves, supplemented by chakra and Devil Fruit energy made him far stronger than the current Superman. Unlike Clark, Shin wasn't fully susceptible to kryptonite or the red sun. Those weaknesses merely suppressed his Kryptonian powers but left his ninjutsu and Devil Fruit abilities untouched.
Feeling triumphant, Shin accelerated midair. His flight speed surged, nearly hitting Mach 10,000. In a flash, he overshot the mainland entirely and found himself hovering above the Pacific Ocean.
"I miscalculated… or rather, I'm not used to this new super brain," he muttered. But the adjustment time was brief. Within seconds, his mind adapted, regulating the sensory influx and syncing perfectly with his new abilities.
Moments later, he arrived over Gotham City. The scene below was chaotic and surreal. Unlike other cities, where civilians hunkered down indoors, Gotham was in full-blown anarchy.
"Other places have looters at most. Here, it's a full-blown carnival," Shin said, shaking his head.
Thousands of people roamed the streets, smashing windows, setting fires, and looting stores. There weren't just super-criminals here Gotham's general population seemed equally inclined toward madness. Perhaps the only difference between them and Arkham inmates was the lack of powers or schemes.
"No wonder Batman swore never to kill. If he followed Punisher's criminal code, at least a tenth of Gotham would be executed, and half the city would be serving life sentences," Shin murmured.
Even without any toxins or viruses, such mass carnage would break anyone mentally. Batman could easily evolve into a new version of the Joker just from the trauma.
"I remember that in the comics, Gotham's soil was infused with evil essence from the tomb of an evil warlock called Doctor Gotham. It was also mentioned that diluted Dionesium got into the rainwater supply… No wonder the place turned into a nest of lunatics and sociopaths."
[T/N: There is a theory that Gotham being the burial spot of this ancient warlock corrupted the land with its evil essence in addition to the corrupted Dionesium which slowly drives people crazy. This solution also accelerates healing which can be observed from Joker and Gotham-based villains.]
"Those enhancements were designed around Batman. Before he debuted, Gotham was just a gang-run cesspool. After his appearance, it became a carnival of the damned."
He paused, then chuckled darkly. "Of course, this isn't the comic world. Dionesium is rare here... maybe enough to find a pit or two if you're lucky. If Gotham has even a bathtub of it, I'd be shocked."
So, in this world, Gotham's madness couldn't be blamed solely on the environment. Perhaps some high-dimensional reflection was at play, an echo of the chaotic comic world bleeding into this one.
Hovering above the burning city, Shin allowed his thoughts to wander. The flames reflected in his eyes, flickering like omens of the battles still to come.
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