Li Ke's Conqueror's Haki had brought an abrupt end to the war. From that moment on, while he still wasn't powerful enough to physically pulverize an entire nation in the One Piece world, he now possessed the terrifying ability to throw a city's or country's economy and civil life into absolute chaos.
If a particular nation rubbed him the wrong way, he could simply show up every few days and unleash a wave of Conqueror's Haki. That alone would easily force their rulers to frantically scream for the Marines or fall to their knees begging for mercy.
With Alabasta's rebellion thoroughly neutralized, however, a new problem arose.
Li Ke found himself with absolutely nothing to do.
Construction on his ship had officially begun. But because it was a massive, incredibly expensive project, it would take at least three to four months to complete. During this downtime, Li Ke was expected to just hang around Alabasta.
He absolutely hated the idea of staying in this desert wasteland.
While he could pass the time supervising Nami's training sessions, watching her only left him increasingly frustrated. Her body hadn't fully developed yet. She was entirely different from Robin, who only needed a quick change of clothes and a new hairstyle to seamlessly cosplay her older, three-years-later self. Nami still needed time to mature.
And Li Ke had no interest in tasting unripe fruit.
Sleeping with the other women around the palace was an option, and the handmaidens were basically his for the taking, but the energy points they provided were abysmal. Grinding away for hours only netted him a handful of points, which felt like a massive waste of effort. Once the situation in Alabasta fully stabilized, Li Ke made a firm decision.
"Time to head back to Food Wars! (Shokugeki no Soma)."
Looking at the attribute points he had accumulated from his sessions with Robin and Nojiko, Li Ke locked in his choice.
His main goal was to test exactly how much his combat power would drop once he left the One Piece universe. He also wanted to see how many exotic ingredients from this world he could successfully smuggle out with him.
Li Ke headed down to the shore and hunted a massive sea beast. After pulling it in, he caught up with Robin to set up a signaling protocol. They agreed on specific check-in times; as long as she made a predetermined, safe expression and hand gesture, he would know everything on her end was clear. With that settled, he dragged a massive fish out to sea, stood on its back, and opened his World Travel directory.
He tapped on Erina Nakiri's profile icon. The image immediately animated, showing her looking thoroughly bored.
Peering through the icon's perspective, he saw her sitting in a classroom, half-listening to a teacher's lecture. He decided to wait it out. He held off on the teleportation until Erina finally returned to her mansion.
But as he stood balanced on the giant fish—left hand gripping his aquatic mount, right arm hoisting a five-meter-tall slab of meat and a ten-meter-long staff—a sudden thought struck him.
"System, transport me to the exact moment right after I left."
A prompt flashed before his eyes instantly:
[Current time anchor has been locked. You cannot travel to a previous anchor point; you can only teleport to the time anchor currently synced with your status.]
"Huh?"
Li Ke blinked in surprise, but the logic clicked a second later.
By actively opening the menu to observe Erina's current actions, he had accidentally "anchored" the timelines. If he hadn't peeked at her status beforehand, he could have used the raw power of the world boundaries to travel back to the exact second he had vanished from her side.
But once the time anchor was set, it was final; he was forced to travel to Erina's exact present timeline.
"The observer effect, huh? Well, this actually plays to my advantage!"
Li Ke finally pieced together the mechanics of the system and nodded with satisfaction. This feature allowed him to completely bypass unwanted "dead time" in a world without causing a chaotic mess in his personal timeline. For example, he could skip right past the tedious three-to-four-month waiting period while his ship was being built in Alabasta!
"The only issue is the lack of system notifications! What a rip-off!"
Li Ke muttered a quick complaint and initiated the world-hop.
In the next heartbeat, his body materialized just two meters away from Erina. Every piece of raw material he had brought along survived the trip, provided it fit within that strict two-meter radius.
Looking down at the edge of the massive fish meat, which had been sliced as cleanly as if a laser had run through it, Li Ke stood speechless. It was clear that his transport capacity was limited to a two-meter boundary extending from the surface of his skin. Anything hanging outside that field was ruthlessly cleaved off and deleted from existence.
"Huh. I could definitely use this mechanic to ambush someone," Li Ke thought. A flurry of tactical applications crossed his mind—like initiating a sudden teleport to carve a massive enemy's body in half, then jumping back using the world bounds to finish them off while they were split wide open.
He turned his focus to inspecting the cargo he had smuggled across universes.
The fertilized chicken eggs and fish roe from the One Piece world had successfully made the transit. The grain and spice seeds were intact too. However, the live fingerlings and actual chickens he had packed were completely missing.
"So, living creatures with a defined sense of self can't be brought over?"
Once he confirmed this rule, he finally looked up at Erina, who was staring in absolute shock at the mountain of cargo that had just materialized in her room.
"Yo! Did you miss me?"
"Like hell I did! You suddenly vanish for ages without a word!" Erina snapped with a cold huff. Yet despite her sharp tongue, she stepped forward and tenderly began smoothing out the wrinkles in his clothes. "Which world did you run off to this time? Why did you bring back such a monstrous slab of fish? Is it dangerous over there?"
"Yeah, it's a pretty intense place. Have you ever heard of One Piece?"
"I've heard of it," Erina replied with a nod. While she had never personally sat down to watch the mainstream battle shonen series, she was well aware of its cultural footprint. Anime and pop-culture media were major economic pillars in her world, serving as one of the most accessible avenues for ordinary people to achieve upward social mobility. It was impossible for someone in her position not to know about it.
"The world I visited this time was actually One Piece."
Li Ke smiled, pulling out a classic hunk of manga meat—the quintessential meat-on-a-bone. Erina's eyes immediately lit up, but her gaze quickly drifted down to the visible scars on his body. During his intense training, even Li Ke had sustained various cuts. He had intentionally kept these scars as a personal lesson, so they hadn't faded just yet.
"It looks incredibly dangerous..." Erina said softly, tracing a scar left by the razor-sharp scales of a Sea King. She looked up at him. "You didn't push your luck and put yourself in danger just for ingredients, did you?" She was genuinely worried about his recklessness.
"Well, I was definitely fighting for food, but I wasn't reckless. I'm incredibly strong now!" Li Ke laughed, gently cupping Erina's chin to plant a kiss on her soft, pink lips. To make absolutely sure she wouldn't taste another woman on his tongue, he had deliberately refrained from kissing anyone else for the past half month!
"Smooth talker. Just hand these over to me," Erina said, blushing as she pushed him away. She took the bags from his hands to help organize the haul, only to gasp in surprise. "Wait... you actually managed to bring back fish roe and fertilized eggs..."
She looked at the items with pure delight. The spice seeds Li Ke had previously brought back from Arad had already sprouted, and some were even bearing fruit. Though the domestic harvest tasted vastly inferior to the original versions from Arad—a difference even an ordinary person could easily spot—it still introduced entirely new flavors and exciting culinary possibilities to this world.
"Heh, that's not all," Li Ke smirked, waving a small booklet in front of her. It contained recipes and detailed culinary characteristics of the items he had brought back, which he had specifically requested before leaving. Luckily, the One Piece world utilized English, saving him the tedious effort of translating and rewriting everything by hand.
"Give it to me!" Erina cried out, reaching for the notebook.
Li Ke held it high out of her reach. To get to it, Erina had to press her full figure tightly against him. Her soft chest rubbed against his torso as he breathed in her pleasant, familiar scent. Li Ke slid his hand around her waist, fully intending to drag her along for a shower, but right at that moment—
"Ahem."
The stern voice of Senzaemon Nakiri echoed through the space. "Flirting right at the entrance? Have you no sense of propriety!"
The old man tried his best to look strictly at the couple rather than staring at the pile of exotic ingredients littering the floor. The servants, knowing their duties, had already stepped up to carefully organize the fresh cargo. Behind him stood Alice Nakiri, her white hair and crimson eyes gleaming as she stared wide-eyed at the massive slabs of fish. Her culinary instincts told her that this giant cut was just a fraction of the creature, and that the original fish had to be at least ten meters long.
"Are these really ingredients from another world?!" Alice gasped.
But just as she moved to touch them, Erina stepped in front of her, a smug look plastered across her face that practically screamed They're all mine!
Alice was so vexed she almost laughed. Meanwhile, under the deeply displeased glare of Senzaemon Nakiri, Li Ke had no choice but to let go of Erina. Erina was different from the others, so he fully intended to play the part of a good future son-in-law.
"Alright, go take a shower already. You smell terrible," Erina said, giving Li Ke's chest a playful swat. She then quickly huddling up with Alice, who had forced her way over, to flip through the booklet and start matching the recipes against the meat.
It was only then that Li Ke noticed Ikumi Mito was also present. She had kept her distance because she was visibly covered in sweat from a heavy workout.
"Hmph!"
Senzaemon let out a deeply dissatisfied grunt. He truly despised Li Ke's playboy nature. He would gladly forgo any exotic interdimensional ingredients if it meant keeping Erina away from such a womanizer. Unfortunately, his granddaughter was just like her mother before her—once her mind was made up, there was no changing it. He was forced to just stand by and watch this scoundrel flirt with women from other elite families right in front of his face.
Visibly annoyed, the old man turned and marched toward the drawing room. As for the legendary ingredients? Erina would obviously serve him a portion once she finished cooking anyway.
Li Ke wasn't bothered by the reaction. From a normal perspective, their relationship was admittedly unconventional, so it was perfectly natural for Senzaemon to be upset. As long as he and Erina were happy, there was no need to overthink it.
Turning his gaze toward Ikumi—popularly known as Nikumi—he noticed she was staring shyly at him rather than inspecting the giant cuts of manga meat on the floor. Curiously, he asked, "Aren't you interested in the meat?"
Nikumi's face flushed a deep crimson under his gaze. Just being looked at by Li Ke made her feel like a prime piece of A5 Wagyu sizzling away on a hot grill.
"Um... well, because I'm covered in so much sweat right now... I—I might contaminate the meat," she murmured softly.
She had been working out right before coming over. Since her curriculum at the academy differed from Erina's, their class and training schedules didn't perfectly align.
"Just perfect! I'm soaking wet too!" Li Ke laughed loudly. "Time to wash this piece of meat properly!"
He hoisted Ikumi onto his shoulder like a sack of meat, carrying her with big, confident strides toward the bathroom. Erina simply shook her head at his back and returned to her booklet. She would let Ikumi take the first round. She'd wait until Li Ke had calmed down a bit.
The moment they entered the bathroom, Li Ke set Ikumi down and pulled her close. His hands moved with hungry impatience, stripping her out of her tight clothes. He peeled her top off slowly, letting her full, heavy breasts bounce free. Then he yanked her shorts and panties down in one motion, revealing her toned ass and the small patch of soft golden pubic hair. Ikumi's cheeks burned, but she didn't resist — she even helped him pull his own shirt off, then eagerly tugged his pants down, freeing his already half-hard cock.
Completely naked, Li Ke turned on the shower, letting hot water cascade over both of them.
In the steamy bathroom, Ikumi covered herself generously with fragrant body wash. She pressed her soft, slippery breasts against Li Ke's chest and began washing him using her own body as a living sponge. She rubbed her heavy tits all over his muscular torso, sliding them up and down, letting her hard nipples trace across his skin. Turning around, she pressed her plump ass against his crotch, grinding between his cock and her ass cheeks while soaping his thighs and abs. Her movements became more sensual as she grew excited — her breathing quickened, and her pink nipples stiffened into firm little peaks.
Li Ke could clearly feel her arousal building. Her "strawberries" had become rock hard.
He loved playing with this girl who still got shy even now.
He pulled her into his arms, her back against his chest, and reached for the manual razor Erina had left in the bathroom. His large hand gently cupped her mound, fingers playing with her sparse golden pubic hair.
"Before I eat this delicious piece of meat… shouldn't I shave it nice and clean first, Ikumi?"
The way he kept comparing her to food made Ikumi's heart race with excitement. Her nickname "Nikumi" literally meant "charming meat," and her body — curvy, bouncy, and made to be devoured — perfectly matched that image. Even after following Li Ke, she was still his favorite piece of fiery, tempting roasted meat.
"Y-Yes…" Ikumi closed her eyes, surrendering.
Li Ke spread warm foam over her mound, his fingers massaging the soap into her sensitive skin. His thick cock rested between her ass cheeks, twitching and leaking precum, sliding up and down her crack teasingly but never entering her yet. This only made Ikumi drip even more, her juices mixing with the soap until her thighs were slick.
"Good girl."
Li Ke took her soft hand in his, guiding her delicate fingers to hold the razor. Together, they slowly shaved away her golden pubic hair with gentle, careful strokes. The soft scraping sound and the intimate sensation of being shaved made Ikumi tremble. She felt like a piece of premium meat laid out on a cutting board — from the very beginning, she had always been food in Li Ke's eyes.
"Li Ke… Li Ke…" she moaned his name breathlessly.
The moment the last hair was gone, Ikumi tossed the razor aside. Like a playful mermaid, she twisted in his arms, facing him. She hugged his arm tightly, kissing and licking it passionately, then lifted her hips. With Li Ke's guidance, she lowered herself onto his thick, hard cock in one smooth motion.
"Ahhhn…!"
She rode him wildly, completely losing herself. The shy girl had turned into a ravenous piece of meat eagerly jumping into the predator's mouth. Her hips slammed down again and again, her heavy breasts bouncing violently as hot water poured over their joined bodies. Her tight, velvety pussy squeezed and milked him desperately, wet sounds echoing in the steamy bathroom.
Her intense enthusiasm surprised even Li Ke. Their shower lasted nearly three hours. He fucked her against the wall, bent her over, and made her ride him until her legs gave out. Finally, with a deep groan, he buried himself to the hilt inside her and came hard, pumping thick, hot loads of cum deep into her womb.
Afterward, he used his healing ability to gently soothe her swollen, red pussy, restoring her tightness and purity as if she were untouched again. He then carried the exhausted but satisfied girl back to the bedroom so she could rest properly.
------------------------------------------------
He made his way directly to the kitchen.
Exactly as he had anticipated, Erina was already deep into her culinary experiments. She was busy testing out various cooking methods, familiarizing herself with the distinct textures of the diverse ingredients he had smuggled back.
After watching her work for a brief moment, Li Ke stepped out into the courtyard just beyond the kitchen. He sat down cross-legged on the grass and closed his eyes to meditate.
The moment he had materialized back into this universe, that seamless, effortless flow of power he had enjoyed in the One Piece world vanished. Now that he had calmed his mind to thoroughly audit his status, his suspicions were officially confirmed.
"Just as I thought. Observation Haki is completely gone!"
Li Ke opened his eyes and stared at his own fist. While his physical senses in this world were significantly sharper than a normal human's, and he could still actively project an intimidating aura, the god-tier feats were entirely locked out. Blasting Conqueror's Haki across a dozen kilometers, automatically hardening his skin with Armament Haki, or utilizing Observation Haki to read minds and hear the voice of all things was completely out of the question.
His Conqueror's Haki had reverted back into a standard, albeit intense, psychological pressure. Activating his remaining trace of Observation Haki merely heightened his basic reflexes. As for Armament Haki? That particular technique had suffered the most brutal elimination—it was completely non-existent here.
However, his monstrous physical stats remained perfectly intact. The sheer biological endurance and strength he had built up had fully carried over. During his earlier private match with Nikumi, she had thrown every single technique in her repertoire at him, yet he hadn't felt even a shred of exhaustion. By the end of it, she was the one left completely paralyzed from fatigue, unable to move a muscle.
Li Ke hadn't dared to use his dragon fire to fully heal her while she was still conscious. The girl already harbored slightly masochistic tendencies; if the burning sensation of the mystical flames caused her to awaken some truly bizarre, extreme fetishes, it would lead to a logistical nightmare.
After all, this was a culinary-focused world. If one wasn't careful, things could easily spiral into psychological horror territory.
Nevertheless, this transition vividly demonstrated just how drastically differing world rules could suppress or alter a person's individual power level. If he had to fight the Sand Crocodile under his current limitations, his physical speed would still completely blitz the Shichibukai, but securing a clean victory would likely force him to rely heavily on his Waterbending abilities.
Standing up slowly, Li Ke began going through the fluid, rhythmic motions of Waterbending forms. These physical kata were highly effective at smoothing out the internal circulation of his elemental energy. According to the lore, these exact movements were originally derived from mimicking the natural energy flow within ancient, mystical beasts.
Yet, Li Ke could instinctively feel a difference. His specific brand of Waterbending felt significantly more frictionless and adaptive than the traditional style.
Once he had firmly mapped out his current combat capabilities, a confident smirk returned to his face.
"In the end, the only things I can truly bet my life on are my hard-coded system skills and my own raw physical form!"
His single greatest haul from the One Piece universe was the massive leap in his baseline physical attributes. That had been his primary objective from the very start. The three types of Haki, which had been nerfed exactly as he predicted, were elements he had wisely chosen not to over-invest his training time into from day one.
After all, Haki was entirely dependent on a simple rule: the stronger the baseline physique, the more monstrous the Haki. Heavy, repetitive technical practice was practically pointless. Techniques like Advanced Armament (Ryou) or Conqueror's Coating were ultimately nothing but a numbers game—if your physical container was absolute peak tier, the raw force of your Haki would naturally blow right through any barrier without an issue!
However, Li Ke had vastly underestimated just how utterly obsessive these elite chefs could be when introduced to unprecedented, legendary ingredients. Erina, Alice, and Nikumi pulled an absolute all-nighter. Once Nikumi finally recovered from her profound exhaustion, she threw herself straight into the culinary research team without looking back.
This hyper-focus led to a rather tragic realization for Li Ke.
"Literally nobody is paying attention to me..."
Watching the trio working with frantic, mad-scientist enthusiasm, Li Ke walked over and playfully smacked the behinds of two of them. But the very same women who had treated him with tender vulnerability just a day prior spun around simultaneously. Gripping their kitchen knives, they locked onto him with glares that were bone-chillingly cold.
"Li Ke, I know you're... restless," Erina snapped, her voice flat. "But if you can't help it, take this block of konjac jelly and go handle it yourself."
"Erina-sama, konjac jelly is a bit too harsh..." Nikumi murmured hesitantly, before shifting her cold gaze back to Li Ke. "Li Ke, if you really need to, I can provide a thick slab of raw A5 Wagyu for you to use."
Li Ke was left completely speechless.
Looking into their unyielding eyes, he recognized that exact flavor of burning rage—it was the profound fury of a hobbyist who was halfway through meticulously painting a custom Gundam model, only to be rudely disrupted by a loud-mouthed brat screaming about a mobile game.
He understood completely. He could play games later.
Right now, it was their Gundam time.
"Understood!" Li Ke gave them a swift, respectful thumbs-up and smoothly took a few steps back.
When the women had a genuine, life-long passion they deeply loved, what choice did he have but to fully back them up? He could instinctively feel that this intense research brought them a profound sense of fulfillment. It was a different kind of joy compared to their intimate time with him—neither was superior to the other, but their love for the culinary arts was pure and absolute. There was truly no reason to sabotage their flow just to satisfy his own immediate urges.
Feeling a bit dejected, Li Ke retreated back to the bedroom to pass the time reading. He resolved to hunt down a few stunning women who absolutely hated cooking for his future trips. But as he mentally reviewed the plot of this universe, he realized that aside from a certain highly refined, fully matured personal secretary, this entire world was practically devoid of beautiful girls who weren't obsessed with the kitchen.
"What a ridiculous setting..."
Sighing at his realization, Li Ke sat up on the edge of the mattress.
But at that exact microsecond, a sudden, violent tremor vibrated deep within his soul. In the next heartbeat, a raw spiritual pull manifested in his consciousness.
It was a tracking signal originating from a world fragment!
He immediately pulled up his character interface and confirmed his theory. His existing 7 Days to Die world fragment had resonated with an active signal from an interconnected universe.
Li Ke calculated his current inventory. Seeing that his total system resource pool had accumulated to a massive 36,271 Energy Points, he tapped the confirmation option without a shred of hesitation.
Instantly, an immense, gravitational force dragged his consciousness straight out of the universe, plunging him into the spatial void toward another world.
But before his vision could even fully adjust to the new environment, a horrifying, apocalyptic landscape materialized before his eyes—
Zombies. A literal, horizon-spanning sea of rotting zombies!
Li Ke stared into the massive horde in utter silence for a brief second. He then reached down, gripped the hilt of his blade, and let out an exasperated sigh.
"I am never going to get rid of you guys, am I?!"