"Because the one that just drenched you was from the Spring of Drowned Man. So of course, you won't turn into a woman anymore." Shin let go of his grip and spoke to Ranma.
"What? Spring of Drowned Man?" Ranma exclaimed in surprise, but before he could ask further questions, Shin's figure flickered and disappeared from sight.
With a massive amount of time-travel energy acquired, Shin had no intention of staying in this world any longer. While Ranma 1/2 had its share of bizarre martial arts, the overall power level was too low to be of interest to him. At most, he might return in the future to collect some unique abilities or artifacts.
Now, however, he had already restarted his world-hopping journey and found himself in a place far more powerful than before.
A Universe full of powerhouses.
"This is... too powerful!"
Shin's mouth twitched as he examined a map of the United States, which he had acquired from a nearby newsstand using Genjutsu.
Star City, Metropolis, Central City, Gotham...
"This is the DC Universe?!"
In any version of the DC Multiverse, the power scale ranges from super-soldier strength to galaxy-destroying beings.
Even in its simplest film adaptations, the top-tier characters vastly outclassed the strongest figures from Naruto or One Piece. If this were a comic book version, things would be even more absurd.
The most crucial factor, however, was that justice did not always triumph in this world. In many parallel versions, evil often reigned supreme, and even in the main timeline, it wasn't unusual for the heroes to suffer total defeats—only for the universe to reboot.
"At least there are no Warp Gods corrupting reality like in Warhammer 40K… And most of the action happens on Earth. Plenty of treasures to be found. Might as well stay for a while."
Of course, the most important advantage was…
Shin reached into his inventory and pulled out the Karasuki, an artifact glowing with dimensional energy.
"A universe with infinite parallel realities means endless worlds to explore!"
"And if things go south, I can just run away! This artifact will let me escape any trouble I can't face!"
In truth, the Karasuki could only function in universes with established multiversal structures. The DC Multiverse, home to countless alternate Earths, was an ideal place to leverage its abilities.
Despite the risks, the potential rewards here were staggering.
"First things first—I need a legal identity and a place to stay."
In his earlier days of world-hopping, even with genin-level chakra and transformation skills, navigating modern societies was a hassle.
No documentation. No language proficiency. No understanding of the local culture.
This time, however, things were different.
With his biochip, Shin could instantly process and speak nearly every Earth language.
Most importantly, with his Genjutsu mastery, fabricating an identity, acquiring funds, and securing residence was effortless.
By nightfall, he was comfortably checked into the most luxurious hotel in the city, with official documents already being processed.
A few days later, Shin found himself in Metropolis.
'Superman…'
Shin thought of the Man of Steel, but refrained from speaking aloud.
Even in the standard DC Universe, Superman didn't actively monitor every conversation with super-hearing, but there was no guarantee this was the standard version of the DC world.
Moreover, even the standard Superman had a habit of responding to his name being called anywhere in Metropolis.
This phenomenon led to the infamous 'Summon Superman' joke, where merely shouting "Help! Superman!" would summon the Kryptonian at speeds thousands of times faster than sound.
That was not the kind of attention Shin wanted.
Walking through the streets, he observed something peculiar—
Several police officers were casually leaning against their patrol cars, eating donuts without carrying any weapons.
"Makes sense," Shin thought, shaking his head. "What's the point of law enforcement in Superman's city?"
Murder? Theft? Assault?
Committing any crime in Metropolis was pointless.
The moment Superman heard about the crime, he can arrive in less than a second.
With zero chance of success, most criminals had long since given up.
"No wonder Lex Luthor has such a grudge against Superman. Sure, part of it is personal jealousy, but his argument that Superman is stifling human progress has some validity."
"If Superman stays in Metropolis for a few decades, there might not even be a need for police anymore."
While analyzing the city's atmosphere, Shin continued gathering intelligence.
"So, there was a Kryptonian invasion recently? Several city blocks were leveled during a battle?"
"That must have been General Zod's attack. What's next?"
Scanning through news reports, Shin pieced together the timeline.
"This matches the DC movie universe… which means the next major event should be… Doomsday."
A chill ran down his spine.
"Yeah, maybe I should relocate."
Doomsday was not something he wanted to deal with.
An unstoppable killing machine, immune to physical destruction, able to resurrect stronger every time it died, immune to whatever had previously killed it…
That monster was capable of killing Superman himself.
And it wasn't just its powers—it was its reaction speed.
Even with all his absorbed Devil Fruits and elementalization techniques, Shin wasn't sure he could survive. In the Pirate World, elementalization was passive, meaning attacks would phase through automatically.
But outside of it? Elemetalization became an active skill, meaning he had to choose to elementalize dodge attacks.
[T/N: What a nerf! I don't understand this logic at all.]
In the DC Universe, reaction speed mattered more than durability.
If he couldn't react in time, he wouldn't even get the chance to phase through attacks.
Superman and Doomsday moved at thousands of times the speed of sound.
In simpler terms?
Shin would be dead before he even realized he was under attack.
"Yeah, screw that. Time to find a safer city."
Unlike movies, where fights were contained in small areas, real-world physics dictated that when monsters like Doomsday fought, their shockwaves alone could cause 7.0 magnitude earthquakes.
A full-power clash?
It could level an entire continent.
Shin made up his mind.
"I need a plan before I get caught up in all this."
With that, he activated his invisibility and vanished into the night.
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