"An extra talent… seriously?!"
"Double mental power? Is this because I'm a transmigrator?!"
"As expected, even without a cheat, a transmigrator always gets some hidden perks."
Damian's heart trembled as he immediately checked the new talent granted because of his enhanced mental strength:
Crew Enhancement, Equal Return.
[Talent Description: When you become a pirate captain, strengthening your crewmates will also strengthen you. The stronger your crew grows, the stronger their captain becomes.]
"Interesting. So using my points to strengthen my partners will strengthen me too."
"That basically doubles my resources."
"Is the system hinting that I shouldn't join a crew, but form one myself?"
"Well… that works. Once I copy Blackbeard Teach's Dark-Dark Fruit…"
"With that ability, I can steal Devil Fruits from others and give them to my crew members."
Looking at the talent interface, Damian set his first major objective immediately:Copy the Dark-Dark Fruit.
As for Luffy's Nika Fruit—sure, it was powerful, but the development curve was absurdly long, and it couldn't steal other fruits. Damian had no interest in it.
Once the Dark-Dark Fruit was his, his next step was clear: build his own pirate crew using his second talent, Crew Enhancement, Equal Return, and grow exponentially together.
He thought of the One Piece characters he'd known in his past life—Nami, Nico Robin, Hancock, Bonney, Yamato… all iconic beauties.
Damian couldn't help feeling a wave of anticipation.
Having beautiful crewmates wasn't necessary… but it certainly made the journey more pleasant.
After finalizing his plans, Damian's gaze swept across the shrinking selection list of One Piece characters and finally locked onto Blackbeard Teach.
[Marshall D. Teach: A man preparing to form his own pirate crew, currently without companions. Former member of the Whitebeard Pirates' 2nd Division. Murdered 4th Division Captain Thatch to obtain the Dark-Dark Fruit. Currently being hunted by 2nd Division Captain Ace…]
Damian skimmed the information, confirmed the timeline, and pressed Teach's portrait.
A flash of light swallowed his vision, warm energy wrapped around his body, and—
Damian lost consciousness.
International Reaction
[What the hell?! Is China's Damian insane?! He actually chose Marshall D. Teach!]
[What's wrong with that? He looks ugly, sure, but he seems strong. Having him as captain should be fine, right?]
[Bro, look at Teach's info! He murdered a division captain of the Whitebeard Pirates and is now being hunted by Ace! And Whitebeard was available too!]
[Holy crap! Whitebeard is one of the Four Emperors! Strongest man in the world! His crew is overflowing with monsters!]
[Damian is finished. If he joins Teach, China might lose a Reincarnator immediately.]
[Tsk. If it were me, I'd make a better choice than that Damian guy!]
[United Kingdom: China's Damian is pathetic. Our Reincarnator chose Whitebeard—the strongest man alive. Once he joins the Whitebeard Pirates, our representative will grow without obstacles!]
[India: Whitebeard? Please. Our Reincarnator chose Kaido. The strongest creature in the world! Whitebeard would kneel before him.]
[United States: So Whitebeard and Kaido were taken… meanwhile our guy picked Bellamy. Seriously?!]
[Japan: Our Reincarnator chose a rookie pirate, but even that's better than Damian. Heh, I can already picture Ace killing him.]
[Damn it, are you foreigners picking a fight? Brothers! Flame them back!]
The international livestream chat detonated into chaos.
Arrival
Grand Line — Jaya Island — Mock Town.
Damian materialized inside a bar.
Thanks to the Dungeon Space's seamless concealment, no one reacted to his sudden appearance. To the bar patrons, Damian looked as if he had always been there.
'A bar… Then that guy eating pizza should be Teach.'
Damian's eyes locked onto the massive man seated at the counter.
Damian didn't walk straight up to Blackbeard. Instead, he carefully took in the surroundings.
'These guys in the bar… they're all built like walking battering rams.'
'With my current ordinary human body, any random drunk here could flatten me.'
'Right now, gaining immediate strength might be far more useful than buying a revival token.'
Deep in thought, Damian opened his personal attribute panel.
The dungeon had given him 100 starting points, which could be exchanged for a revival token.
But Damian knew: even if he revived once, waking up in a place this dangerous meant he could easily die twice.
The revival token was precious, yes, but not as important as power.
'Huh? There's even a trading interface? So Reincarnators can trade with each other?'
'Tradable items include Devil Fruits, named swords, and rare weapons… and the currency is points.'
'There's even a communication chat? This really is like an MMO.'
'But with the way countries are treating each other right now, cross-nation trading will be difficult.'
'And giving strong items to another country's Reincarnator is basically raising a future enemy.'
'If I ever trade, it should be with Reincarnators from China.'
'Hmm… ultimately, it depends on how many points people have.'
After organizing his thoughts, Damian confirmed Blackbeard wasn't leaving anytime soon. He found an empty seat and studied the system interface carefully.
Soon, he located the global chat channel for Reincarnators.
[South Korea – Lee Gaomin: Amazing! I actually got the talent "Race Transformation"! I turned into a Fishman—ugly, but super strong! If any of you want to sponsor me with points, I might help you in the future!]
[Japan – Kujō Ken: Hmph. Kimchi Boy, that's nothing. I got the talent "Possession." As long as the target isn't too strong, I can take over the body of a Devil Fruit user. My starting point is way above yours. Why would I need your protection?]
[United States – Ethan: Oh? A possession talent? Something like that must come with strict conditions. Are there prerequisite missions?]
[Russia – Tatiana: Wait… the Eagle Empire's Reincarnator is the legendary special forces soldier Ethan? Now I'm curious about your talent.]
[United States – Ethan: Tatiana, do you really think I'd reveal my talent publicly like those two fools?]
[India – Kiran: I'm curious about the talents obtained by China's Reincarnators. China, do you dare share them?]
[China – Ouyang Mulan: How about you go first?]
Damian glanced at the heated arguments, then immediately closed the chat.
Ethan was right: revealing your talent publicly was no different from nurturing an enemy.
Damian wasn't a soldier, but he understood that much.
And besides… he had two talents.
'Still, that "Possession" talent… If that Japanese guy Kujō Ken succeeds, he really might get ahead.'
'I need to move fast.'
With that thought, Damian looked up toward the massive man devouring cherry pie pizza: Blackbeard Teach.