(Brain-Brain Fruit users, please line up to deposit your brains here; I promise to keep them safe for the duration of the story.)
A sharp, stabbing pain in the back of his head forcibly dragged Ren's consciousness out of the endless darkness.
First to return was his sense of smell.
A pungent stench—a mix of low-quality rum and sour sweat—hit his nostrils like a heavy punch, making his stomach churn. Next was his hearing. In the distance, he heard crude shouting and the clinking of glasses; nearby, the "drip-drop" of water sliding down moss-covered walls into stagnant sewage.
Ren snapped his eyes open.
What met his gaze wasn't his familiar ceiling, but a dim sky sliced into fragments by dilapidated buildings. He was lying in a dark, trash-filled alleyway overflowing with filth.
"...What's going on?"
Ren struggled to sit up. His memory stopped at the previous second—he had been drinking cola in front of his computer, watching an analysis video about the "God Valley" incident in One Piece. Looking down at his anime-printed T-shirt and casual pants, he looked completely out of place in this grimy environment.
A cold, absurd, and deeply unsettling feeling flooded his heart like a tide. The light at the mouth of the alley was suddenly blocked by three tall figures.
"Hey, look what we have here—a lost little lamb." A fat pirate with a massive beer belly panted heavily, his rusted cutlass reflecting a nauseating, greasy sheen in the dim light.
Another tall, thin man licked his lips, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth as his greedy eyes swept over Ren's clean clothes. "Look at that fabric. He's definitely not one of those disease-ridden paupers from the island. Selling him off should fetch us a few barrels of good rum."
The third pirate didn't speak. He just cracked his knuckles with a crisp snap, his eyes sizing up Ren like a butcher eyeing livestock.
Ren's blood ran cold. The outfits, the lawless aura, the way they spoke... there was no doubt. These were pirates!
He had transmigrated. No system, no guide—just dropped directly into a world that was arguably the most dangerous place anyone could be.
"Wait! I don't have any money!" Ren's voice was dry with fear as he scrambled backward.
The fat pirate let out a low, mocking laugh. Good news: communication works. Bad news: swords don't have eyes.
Before the laughter faded, the thin pirate lunged forward, his short blade tracing a wicked arc toward Ren's neck. Survival instinct overrode everything. Ren jerked backward, slamming into a trash pile as the blade grazed the tip of his nose.
"Run!"
That was the only word in his mind. Ren scrambled to his feet and bolted deeper into the alley. He was just an average modern office worker whose stamina had been eroded by a sedentary lifestyle, but the adrenaline surge gave him unprecedented speed.
"You think you can run? Catch him!"
The roars and frantic footsteps behind him were like the rhythmic drums of a death sentence. Ren ran like a headless fly through the maze of alleyways until his lungs burned and the taste of blood filled his mouth.
Then, he hit a high wall. A dead end.
Ren's heart sank. He turned back in despair to see the three pirates blocking the exit, approaching with sinister grins.
"Run. Why aren't you running anymore?" The thin one mocked, picking at his fingernails with his knife.
Ren gasped for air, his eyes frantically scanning for any sliver of hope. His gaze landed on a pile of smashed crates in the corner. Driven by instinct, he curled up in their shadow like a sacrificial lamb. As he shrank into the corner, he spotted a broken crate containing a single, eerie purple fruit covered in strange spiral patterns.
A Devil Fruit!
Ren's pupils contracted. He recognized it instantly. He didn't know its specific power, but any fruit would provide a physical boost. Without hesitation, he grabbed it and shoved it into his mouth, ignoring the filth.
The taste—like rotten mud mixed with stinking socks—exploded in his mouth. He forced it down, nearly gagging. There was no immediate surge of power, only dizziness and nausea. But within the chaos, a strange flow of information was branded into his soul.
[Paramecia Type: Resonance Fruit]
Resonance? How do I use it?! He didn't have a second to think. The fat pirate's blade was already swinging down at his head!
In that split second, as the pirate closed in, Ren felt a minuscule spark of strength emerge in his aching legs. It was as if a warm current was being transmitted wirelessly from his opponent, nourishing his exhausted body.
That tiny bit of strength gave him the window he needed. He rolled to the left just as the lethal cutlass slammed into the stone where he had been, sending sparks flying.
"Huh?" The fat pirate was stunned.
Ren didn't stop. He slammed into a nearby rack of empty wine bottles. The rotten wood gave way, collapsing toward the pirates and raining glass and debris on them. The fat pirate and the brute were stalled, fumbling through the mess.
But the thin pirate sidestepped the debris, his eyes gleaming. "Kill him!" He thrust his knife toward Ren's heart.
Ren couldn't fully dodge. The blade carved a deep wound into his arm. The sharp pain triggered a hidden ferocity in Ren's bones. Ignoring the injury, he used his left hand to grip the pirate's wrist like a vice and slammed his head into the man's chest!
At the moment of contact, a warm current—far stronger than before—flooded from the pirate into Ren's body! He felt his muscles greedily absorbing the man's power. His grip strength spiked.
Now!
Ren gripped a glass shard he had snatched from the floor and thrust it upward into the pirate's soft abdomen, slicing across!
"Ugh..." The pirate froze, staring in disbelief at his spilling entrails. Ren kicked him away.
BOOM!
A massive torrent of power erupted from the falling corpse, washing through Ren's limbs like a breaking dam! The wound on his arm began to itch as the bleeding slowed. His weak legs were now brimming with strength. The brute force the pirate had spent years developing was now completely inherited by Ren!
"You bastard!"
The fat pirate charged, red-eyed with rage. But this time, his movements looked slow. Ren sidestepped the blade with ease, snatched up the fallen short knife, and cleanly slit the fat man's throat as they crossed paths.
The fat pirate staggered, clutching his neck before collapsing. Another surge of power erupted, and Ren absorbed it all.
Only the last brute remained. His ferocity was gone, replaced by pure terror as he looked at the blood-soaked man who was a "lamb" just moments ago.
"Don't... don't come any closer!"
Ren didn't answer. With the combined strength of the two pirates, his speed and power had surpassed ordinary human limits. He blurred across the distance, his hand gripping the brute's throat and lifting him off the ground.
Under the man's despairing gaze, Ren swung the knife.
Everything went silent.