Crash!
A violent kick shattered the locked door, and Ren strode into a lavishly decorated room.
The first thing that caught his eye was a large portrait of Nezuro.
That stern face carried an air of authority—even though the photograph was in color, it somehow felt like it should have been black-and-white.
The room was neatly arranged and luxurious: bookshelves, cabinets, desks, and a clock, all pristine and orderly.
Let's get started. Hopefully, this haul will be worth my adventure.
Ren began rummaging through everything in sight—like a reckless hero barging into an NPC's home, looting without restraint.
Before long, he had gathered over four hundred and twenty thousand Beli.
"How strange. Nezuro has been terrorizing this island for years, but he didn't have many men under him. Only this much?"
Ren first recharged all the Beli he'd found, then searched the room carefully again, but found nothing else.
He glanced at the clock—it was already 11:45 p.m.
After a moment's thought, Ren took out his Desire Compass.
With a click, he opened it and used his remaining attempt for the day.
Hum—!
The compass vibrated lightly, its pointer locking straight onto the bookshelf.
"A hidden mechanism?"
Ren stepped forward, scanning the books one by one, until he noticed one with worn edges.
The moment he pulled it out, gears clanked from within the wall.
In the next instant, the bookshelf slid aside, revealing a dark passage.
Ren grabbed an oil lamp and descended.
Down the stone steps, the dim yellow light illuminated the underground chamber—a single chest, several barrels of unknown contents, a few flintlock rifles with matching ammunition, a small bed… and a naked girl tied to it.
"…"
Ren walked over in silence, lifting the lamp closer.
The girl didn't react. Her eyes were wide open—lifeless, hollow. Blue bruises ringed her neck.
She was already dead.
"Tch."
Ren clicked his tongue, expressionless, and moved to pry open the chest with his dagger.
Inside, it was packed full of Beli and a few jewels.
He quickly checked the other items. The rifles were standard issue for Marine soldiers, and the ammunition seemed fine. He even found a technical manual on reloading procedures.
The barrels, on the other hand, were filled with kerosene—likely what Nezuro used to burn down people's homes.
In Keya's inherited memories, Ren recalled hearing stories: how the "Godfather's enemies" would die in sudden house fires that consumed entire families.
Perhaps it was precisely because of Nezuro's countless atrocities that fate had sent Ren to deliver retribution.
After a moment of thought, Ren picked up a flintlock, the manual, and some ammunition. Then he stabbed the dagger into one of the kerosene barrels.
Kerosene gushed out through the puncture, pooling across the stone floor.
Ren turned back to the chest, grabbed another handful of Beli, and pocketed it.
He still needed cash for his escape. With this, he had around six hundred thousand Beli in hand.
"Recharge."
The colorful Dimensional Roulette on the back of his hand glowed as it absorbed the money. In an instant, the piles of Beli vanished into a swirl of light.
{Recharge complete: 2,713,000 Beli added. Current token balance: 3,200,000.}
"A huge haul."
Ren smiled faintly, closing the holographic interface. Then he walked to the bed and cut the ropes binding the girl.
After a brief hesitation, he gently brushed his hand over her still-open eyes and whispered,"Nezuro—the one they called the Godfather—is dead. He suffered before he died. You can rest now."
Perhaps it was an illusion, or maybe rigor mortis hadn't yet set in, but as his hand passed over her face, her eyes slowly closed.
Ren stood silently for several seconds, a new understanding dawning on him—about the kind of evil that the powerful could inflict in this world.
In the dead girl's face, he could faintly see a reflection of Keya's past self.
She wasn't him—but also, she was him.
Back in his previous life, Ren had never understood why those heinous criminals hurt others so senselessly.
They were all humans—born to mothers, raised by fathers.
Did killing really come without any burden?
But after arriving in the world of One Piece, inheriting Keya's memories, and taking a life with his own hands… he finally understood.
It wasn't that they felt no burden.
It was that they never saw their victims as the same kind of beings as themselves.
Their lives, their status, their social circles—all of it separated them from ordinary people. From that lofty height, they looked down, dividing humanity into castes.
It was no different from his previous world—why else would the phrase "let them eat Cake" exist?
For instance, certain "fish" types, he thought darkly.
After reciting a long internal monologue about justice and freedom, Ren exhaled softly.
Sympathy, empathy—none of it changed the fact that the living had to keep moving forward.
He gave the girl one last look, then turned and climbed the stairs.
Taking her body along would only increase his risk. Even if he did, where could he safely leave her?
Leaving her here would mean discovery by the Marines—and her fate afterward was obvious.
Even the Marines of the Sixteenth Branch… still had reputations to maintain.
Whoosh!
Ren swung the oil lamp, letting it shatter against the floor. Flames roared to life, igniting the kerosene in an instant and consuming the underground chamber in a blazing inferno.
Let the fire bury it all.
When the dust settled, nothing would remain but ashes.
Leaving the warehouse, Ren made his way swiftly toward the docks.
Several ships were moored there, but they were all fishing vessels.
Fine for coastal fishing—utterly unfit for open-sea travel.
If he didn't get far enough, the Marines would catch him easily.
Ren's current strength was nowhere near that of Luffy or Ace, who could sail out to sea on tiny boats.
The sea breeze brushed against his face as he took a deep breath and prepared for another round of spins.
His luck hadn't been great so far—but that lingering question mark beside the "Luck" stat still bothered him.
From comparing the other stats, he'd noticed a pattern: the letters outside the parentheses reflected his current state, while those inside represented his original potential rating.
So… could the mysterious "?+" beside Luck represent his path to survival?
He didn't know—but it was worth a shot.
After all, things couldn't possibly get worse than an I+ rating.
When you've hit rock bottom, any step you take is upward—because there's nowhere else to fall.
Gotta risk it! Maybe a bicycle can turn into a motorcycle! Better than getting caught and executed by the Marines!"Dimensional Roulette! One hundred spins on the Intermediate Wheel!"
A hundred thousand Beli worth of chips vanished instantly.
A swirl of multicolored light enveloped the wheel as it began spinning rapidly, flinging out glowing orbs one after another.
The flood of notifications filled his vision like a cascade of messages.
{Prize obtained – Straight Sword}{Prize obtained – Delicious Rice Ball}{Prize obtained – First-Aid Kit}{Prize obtained – Chewing Gum}{Jackpot Triggered – Schrödinger's Poster/Seal!}
"What the hell?"
Ren blinked in confusion as a cylindrical scroll-like object appeared in his hand—heavy, almost metallic.
"A scroll?"
Before he could think further, the roulette's holographic interface appeared once again before him.
(End of Chapter)