Chapter 2: The Blue-Haired Maid and the Vermillion Flame
"Holy crap! It's... it's actually Rem!!"
The name escaped Suzaku's lips as a breathless whisper, lost amidst the whistling sea wind.
The familiar figure had appeared like a phantom woven from starlight. With a flash of demonic purple radiance, she had forcefully intercepted the fatal blow meant for his neck.
Suzaku froze on the spot, his back still pressed against the rough wood of the mast. A surge of uncontrollable ecstasy rushed from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, nearly causing him to shout aloud in sheer joy.
He forcefully suppressed the urge to scream, cheering wildly only in the sanctuary of his mind.
System! Oh, you glorious, magnificent System! You really came through this time! First pull and it's an SSR character? Is my luck finally turning around?
The dust on the deck settled, revealing the girl in all her glory. The pristine white apron, the black dress, the flower ribbon in her hair—it was a perfect recreation of the character he knew from his previous life.
Just then, Rem turned her head.
Her large, light-blue eyes, clear as a mountain spring yet cold as winter ice, locked onto him. Perhaps it was the natural connection formed by the [Multiverse Summoning System], or an invisible tether binding summoner and servant, but she felt a faint, subtle sense of familiarity emanating from this battered young man.
It was a feeling of belonging, yet...
His undisguised stare was too intense. It was the look of a starving man seeing a feast, mixed with a fanaticism that made her skin crawl slightly.
Rem frowned, her delicate brows knitting together.
"Do... do you know Rem?"
She spoke with slight caution, her voice soft but firm. "Please don't stare at Rem like that."
She shifted her stance slightly, the massive iron flail in her hand scraping against the wooden deck with a heavy, threatening rasp.
"Rem finds your behavior... a bit rude."
She paused, her eyes narrowing further as she scrutinized his expression.
"Are you a pervert?"
Suzaku choked on his own saliva.
"Elder Sister is not here, so Rem needs to be extra careful. Men with such lecherous gazes are usually dangerous."
Suzaku's face flushed a deep crimson, the heat rising to his ears. The romantic reunion he had hallucinated in his mind shattered instantly against the wall of her sharp tongue. He quickly cleared his throat a few times, desperate to salvage his dignity.
"Ahem... No! Absolutely not! My apologies!"
He struggled against the hemp ropes binding him, twisting his torso to emphasize his helplessness.
"Listen, Miss Rem. This is urgent. I am the one who brought you here—I am your Summoner. And everyone surrounding us right now is an enemy who wants to kill us both."
He gestured with his chin toward the circle of stunned pirates.
"Could you please deal with them first and save me? I promise to explain everything—your arrival, this world, and our connection—the moment we are safe!"
Rem glanced at the surrounding enemies, her gaze sweeping over their dirty clothes, their rusted weapons, and their expressions of vulgar shock. Then, she looked back at the bound Suzaku.
She slowly raised the heavy flail in her hand. The spikes on the iron ball glinted menacingly in the sunlight.
"Although Rem cannot fully believe your words yet, Rem senses that they indeed harbor malice. The scent of blood and depravity on them is thick."
She turned her back to him, facing the pirate crew. Her posture was impeccable, her spine straight, looking every bit the perfect maid despite the battlefield.
"Rem will deal with the trash first. But afterward, you must give Rem a detailed explanation."
The pirates, who had been stunned into silence by the sudden appearance of the girl and her superhuman feat of strength, finally began to recover their wits.
The deck of the ship, usually filled with the sounds of swearing and gambling, had been quiet for too long. Once they processed that the newcomer was just a petite teenage girl in a strange, frilly costume, the tension broke.
It was replaced by a wave of jeering laughter and lewd whistles.
"Oi, Suzaku! Is this little girl your reinforcement?"
"Bwahahaha! Look at what she's wearing! Is she a waitress? Did she take a wrong turn on her way to serve drinks?"
"Where did this little doll come from? Did she fall from the sky?"
A pirate with rotting teeth stepped forward, waving his cutlass casually. "Hey, girly! Our Captain is 'Brute Strength' Corliss, a man with a bounty of five million Berries! If you know what's good for you, drop that toy hammer and scram! Or better yet... stay and entertain us!"
The crew erupted into laughter, their eyes roaming over Rem's figure with disgusting intent.
Just as the crowd was mocking her, a pirate with a heavily scarred face—the ship's boatswain—stepped forward with a sneer. He was a large man, standing nearly two meters tall, covered in muscle.
"Little Girl, who are you trying to scare wearing a maid outfit? Do you think this is a game?"
He reached out a hairy hand, intending to grab Rem by the shoulder.
"Let Uncle teach you about the harshness of the s—"
Whoosh.
Before he could finish his sentence, a terrifying sound tore through the air. It was the low-pitched hum of heavy metal displacing wind at high velocity.
"Boom—!!"
Accompanied by the sickening crunch of bone and the loud crash of timber splintering, the arrogant boatswain vanished.
He was smashed entirely into the deck. The massive iron flail had descended like a meteor, crushing his chest cavity and driving him through the sturdy oak planks, leaving only a man-shaped hole in the planking. Blood sprayed outward in a fine mist, painting the nearby railing red.
Rem retrieved her weapon expressionlessly. With a flick of her wrist, the chain retracted, and the blood-stained iron ball returned to her hand. Her skirt remained perfectly still in the sea breeze, not a ruffle out of place.
"Rude fools have no right to comment on Rem's attire."
Her voice was calm, contrasting horrifyingly with the violence she had just unleashed.
The loud impact and the sudden disappearance of their comrade instantly sobered the surrounding pirates. The laughter died in their throats, replaced by the cold grip of fear.
The "Little Girl" before them was definitely not someone they could easily handle. She was a monster in human skin.
"C-Captain...!" one pirate stammered, backing away. "Th-this is a tough one!"
"Did you see that? She smashed iron-wood planks like they were paper!"
"Captain Corliss! You need to step in yourself!"
Captain Corliss, standing near the helm, felt a bead of cold sweat slide down his temple. He had survived in these waters by preying on the weak, not by fighting monsters. But with his entire crew watching, he couldn't show weakness.
He roared, his voice cracking slightly, "What are you afraid of?! She's just one person! A little girl!"
He drew a flintlock pistol with his left hand while brandishing his cutlass with his right.
"All of you, attack! Swarm her! Even a master can't block twenty blades at once! I'll cover the rear here!"
"K-Kill them—!!"
Roused by his shout—and the fear of his punishment—the crowd reluctantly mustered their courage. Screaming to drown out their terror, they raised their weapons and swarmed forward like a tide of filth.
"Die, witch!"
"Get her!"
Rem watched the approaching mob without a flicker of emotion. She didn't retreat. She didn't dodge.
She simply began to dance.
It was a dance of death. The flail spun, creating a deadly zone of vacuum around her. Every swing resulted in a broken limb or a crushed skull. But she wasn't just using brute force.
"Huma."
She whispered a single word.
The temperature on the deck plummeted instantly. Frost began to creep across the wooden planks. Sharp, crystalline icicles materialized in the air around her, hovering like obedient soldiers.
With a wave of her empty hand, the ice shards shot forward, piercing through the pirates' shoulders and legs, pinning them to the deck or the ship's railing.
While his subordinates rushed forward to be slaughtered, Captain Corliss didn't hesitate.
He turned and slipped toward the edge of the ship.
The only reason he had managed to survive on the seas for so long, accumulating a bounty of 5,000,000 Berries, was his ability to size up a situation. He had an animalistic instinct for danger.
Regardless of the maid girl's strange entrance or the power she displayed, she was clearly not a normal human. Was she a Devil Fruit user? A monster from the Grand Line?
It didn't matter. If he didn't run now, he would be dead in a minute.
Idiots, Corliss thought, listening to the screams of his crew behind him. Buy me some time. I'll rebuild the crew later!
He reached the starboard side of the ship, preparing to jump overboard and swim to the lifeboat trailing behind.
Crack.
Several gleaming ice spikes suddenly slammed into the wood right in front of his face, blocking his path. The cold air radiating from them froze his eyebrows.
Rem's cold voice came from behind him, cutting through the chaos.
"To send your subordinates to their deaths while running away yourself... Rem looks down on you."
Corliss froze. His heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird.
He slowly spun around. The scene that greeted him made his blood run cold.
His subordinates—all twenty of them—were lying scattered across the deck. Some were groaning in agony, limbs bent at unnatural angles. Others were frozen in blocks of ice. The deck was a mess of blood and frost.
And in the center of it all stood the maid, not a drop of blood on her white apron.
"How is that possible... So fast?!"
A chill ran through Corliss, penetrating deeper than the ice. He looked at the blue-haired girl, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"You can conjure ice... Don't tell me... you're a Logia? A legendary Devil Fruit user?!"
In the East Blue, Devil Fruits were myths. To encounter one here was the worst possible luck.
Corliss spat on the deck, gritted his teeth, and yelled, "Damn it! I don't believe my luck is this bad! Even if you're a Devil Fruit user, you're just a kid!"
"Die!!"
He tried to drown out his internal fear with rage. Corliss channeled all his "Brute Strength," his muscles bulging as he raised his massive fist and charged toward the blue-haired girl. He would crush her skull before she could cast another spell!
However, the attack hit nothing but air.
He felt a blur before his eyes. The target had vanished.
"Wh-where is she?!"
He froze in place, looking frantically around, his momentum carrying him forward.
Just then, a shadow fell over him. Instinctively, he looked up and behind him.
Rem was mid-air, spinning gracefully.
A cold, metal spiked mace was already rushing toward his face, filling his entire field of vision.
"Goodnight."
He didn't even have time to scream.
THUD!
A heavy, muffled sound echoed across the silent ship. Captain Corliss, the terror of the local merchant lanes, collapsed instantly, foaming at the mouth, his nose flattened and his eyes rolled back in his head.
Complete silence descended upon the ship.
Suzaku, who was still tied to the mast nearby, watched the entire battle with his mouth slightly agape.
"Strong..." he muttered. "She is incredibly strong. Even without her full Demon Form, she wiped out a 5-million Berry pirate crew in less than a minute."
While Rem was dealing with the enemies, Suzaku hadn't been idle. He knew he couldn't rely on her forever; he needed his own strength.
He focused his mind, calling up the translucent blue interface that only he could see.
[Multiverse Summoning System]
[Status: Active]
[Host: Suzaku Yareon]
[Current World: One Piece]
[System Mechanics: Accumulate Legend Points to summon characters, items, and abilities from the myriad worlds!]
[Summoning Tiers:]
[Normal: 100 Legend Points (Random items/consumables)]
[Advanced: 2,000 Legend Points (Characters/High-tier abilities)]
[Rare: Locked (Requires specific achievements)]
[Legend Point Acquisition: Gain points by increasing fame, bounty, and influence in the world!]
[Bond System: Increasing Bond Level with summoned characters grants special rewards! (Levels: Stranger -> Friendly -> Close Friend -> Sworn Until Death)]
[Novice Package Results:]
[1. One Advanced Summon: (Used - Result: Rem from Re:Zero)]
[2. Special Bloodline Interpretation:]
[Condition: Host detected in the One Piece World.]
[Action: System is adapting the "Novice Bloodline Reward" to fit local laws of physics (Devil Fruit/Haki logic).]
[Reward: [Vermillion Bird Bloodline] (Mythical Zoan Equivalent).]
[Status: Pending Fusion.]
Mythological Origin: One of the Four Symbols of Ancient Eastern Mythology. The God of the South. It presides over the scorching summer and the flames of resurrection. In this world, it rivals the power of the Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Phoenix, but focuses on destruction and rebirth through holy fire.
Suzaku read the description, his eyes widening until they hurt.
"???"
"Holy hell!!!"
His heart skipped a beat, then began to race violently.
The Vermillion Bird? The Vermillion Bird?
That was a creature on par with Kaido's Azure Dragon! In terms of firepower, it might even surpass Ace's Mera Mera no Mi. It was a top-tier Mythical power right out of the gate!
"Fuse! Fuse immediately!!!" he screamed in his mind.
Suzaku Yareon felt that hesitating for even a second was disrespectful to the legendary beast. "If I have this thing in the Pirate World, won't I be instantly invincible??"
[Initiating Fusion...]
In an instant, the world disappeared.
A scorching heat erupted from the deepest part of his heart. It didn't start on his skin; it started in the marrow of his bones.
"Guh... aaahhhh!!"
It wasn't just fire. It was a torrential flood of energy—a sensation akin to swallowing the sun. The divine fire of immortality compressed itself into his fragile human bloodline, rewriting his DNA strand by strand.
His entire body trembled violently against the mast. Every inch of his skeleton felt as if it were being melted down, hammered on a divine anvil, and reshaped into something stronger. Something ancient.
His physical strength, which was originally only at the level of an average, malnourished pirate deckhand, was completely penetrated. The energy scoured his muscles, burning away impurities and expanding his potential by a savage magnitude.
He could clearly "hear" his blood rushing like molten rock through his veins. An unprecedented vitality swept repeatedly through his limbs and body like a tide.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heartbeat became heavy and rhythmic, sounding like a war drum in his ears.
He looked down at his chest. Through his ragged shirt, he could see streaks of crimson-gold light flashing beneath his skin, tracing the path of his arteries.
"Hot... it's so hot..."
But it wasn't painful anymore. It was euphoric.
The limits of his mortal body were like fragile dams, instantly shattered by the surging flow of the Vermillion Fire.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. His irises, once a dull brown, now glowed with a faint, golden vertical slit.
BOOM!
A burst of crimson flame suddenly erupted from his body, not burning his clothes, but incinerating the hemp ropes that bound him to ash in a fraction of a second.
Suzaku dropped heavily to his knees, his hands planting firmly on the scorched deck.
"Hah... hah..."
Every breath he took was hot, causing the surrounding air to shimmer and distort.
Rem, who had just finished tying up the unconscious Corliss, spun around, her eyes widening in surprise. She felt a sudden, terrifying wave of heat and pressure—a presence that felt distinctively like Conqueror's Haki—explode from the boy she had just saved.
Suzaku slowly stood up. He clenched his fists, feeling the raw power coursing through him. It took a moment for him to recover, an abundant sense of power filling his entire being!
However—
He frowned slightly.
It was still not enough.
He could feel that the power of the Vermillion Bird was far, far greater than this. He could "touch" the source of that power in his soul—magnificent, ancient, capable of setting the very sky and ocean ablaze.
Yet, currently, he was like a child trying to wield a divine sword. It was too heavy. He was utterly incapable of delivering a true strike or entering the full transformation.
His body was still that of a human. His physical capacity, even multiplied dozens of times by the initial fusion, was still like a small vessel unable to contain the entirety of the scorching summer sun.
"So this is... the Vermillion Bird's bloodline..." he whispered, gasping for breath, raising his hand to stare at his palm. Small wisps of golden flame danced between his fingers before fading.
"Although I can only utilize one ten-thousandth of it right now," Suzaku murmured, a confident smile slowly spreading across his face, "I am absolutely certain."
He looked at Rem, who was watching him with a new, guarded curiosity.
"As my strength grows, the day will come when I will truly command this power. And when that day comes... this world will tremble."
Rem tilted her head, the hostility in her eyes fading slightly, replaced by intrigue. She sensed that the "pervert" she had just saved was hiding a monster inside him far scarier than the one she served.
"Are you... finished burning things?" Rem asked, her tone dry.
Suzaku laughed, the sound bright and free for the first time in two lives.
"Yes. I'm finished." He stepped forward, extending a hand towards her, not as a master to a servant, but as a partner. "Thank you for saving me, Rem. Welcome to the crew."
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