Chapter 1: A Chaotic New World
The New World.
Staring at the corpse lying on the floor, Yumesaki couldn't help but fall into a deep, heavy silence.
This situation wasn't right.
After all, he had crossed dimensions multiple times now. Every single time he pushed open a door, he would find himself in a completely different place and run into all sorts of girls.
This time was supposed to be no exception.
The problem, however, was that the girl he encountered this time wasn't among the living. She was a corpse.
This was definitely not right.
Ah, this is...
Just one minute ago, Yumesaki had finally braced himself and pushed open the door to a new world. The very next second, a pale-faced corpse appeared right in front of him.
Staring down at the body, Yumesaki actually began to question his life choices.
Because this corpse looked incredibly familiar. So familiar, in fact, that he felt like he had definitely seen her somewhere before.
Long, chestnut-colored hair, delicate facial features... After staring intently for a good while, a sudden realization hit Yumesaki.
Wait, isn't this Doujin-na?
Ahem, no, to be precise, it should be Asuna. Oh, no, her actual name is Yuuki Asuna.
Strange. Very strange. Isn't this person supposed to be a main character? Why is she dead?
What kind of situation is this? What on earth actually happened here? Yumesaki felt completely bewildered, utterly unable to make sense of it.
He scanned his surroundings. Pristine white walls, pink curtains, a neatly organized desk, and bedsheets covered in various fruit patterns... No matter how you looked at it, this was clearly a teenage girl's private bedroom.
But having a girl's corpse sitting right in the middle of her own bedroom made the whole scene incredibly eerie.
Besides, what could have possibly happened to make a girl from Sword Art Online die in her own room?
This completely defied science.
Driven by an intense curiosity, Yumesaki walked over, crouched down, and lightly tapped Yuuki Asuna's face.
Since he couldn't figure it out on his own, it was probably best to just ask the person involved directly.
Power of Underworld. Yin Yang Inversion. From Death to Life.
In an instant, the breathless Yuuki Asuna regained her respiration. Her deathly pale face gradually flushed with a healthy color, and her stiff corpse began to soften up.
A few seconds later, the daughter of the Yuuki family—who by all rights should have been completely dead—suddenly snapped her eyes open and sat up straight from the floor.
"I... I'm not dead?"
Yuuki Asuna reflexively touched her own neck. She clearly remembered that her neck had been snapped by something.
Even the classic flashback phenomenon right before death had appeared to her. So why was she still alive?
"No, you were dead. It's just that I brought you back to life."
Right at that moment, a voice echoed in Yuuki Asuna's ears.
Yuuki Asuna whipped her head around and saw an unknown but quite handsome man crouching right behind her.
And right behind that man stood a floating Air Door.
Through the opening of the Air Door, several beautiful girls were standing there, watching her with immense interest.
Ah, this... What kind of situation is this?
"Who are you?"
"Me? My name is Yumesaki. You can just think of me as a traveler," Yumesaki replied with a casual smile. "By the way, you haven't told me yet. How exactly did you die?"
"I..." Yuuki Asuna stared at her hands, finding it hard to believe. "I was really brought back to life by you?"
"One hundred percent real, no gimmicks."
"You can actually resurrect people?" Yuuki Asuna's eyes widened to the size of saucers, her voice filled with absolute disbelief.
Seeing Yuuki Asuna do nothing but repeat these same two sentences, Yumesaki felt a little speechless. However, considering the fact that the other party was a girl—and a very beautiful one at that—he maintained his composure.
Calming himself down, Yumesaki said, "Yes, that's right. I can indeed resurrect people. Now, can you tell me why you died? Miss Yuuki Asuna."
"You know me?" Hearing her name drop so casually out of his mouth, Yuuki Asuna was visibly startled.
Yumesaki rolled his eyes. "I can literally bring you back from the dead, so knowing your name shouldn't really be that shocking. Also, aren't you completely missing the main point here?"
"I've been asking you this whole time: why did you die, and who killed you?"
One had to remember that in the original plot of Sword Art Online, there was absolutely no storyline like this.
Which meant there was something seriously wrong with this world.
Yuuki Asuna finally noticed Yumesaki's growing annoyance. Startled, she immediately curled into herself and looked up at Yumesaki quite timidly.
"I... I don't know."
"Huh?" Yumesaki was utterly flabbergasted, left completely staring.
"Someone snapped your neck, and you seriously don't even know who killed you?"
It turned out this girl was a bit of an airhead. She didn't even know how she had lost her own life.
"Actually... it's not that I don't know, it's just that I'm not entirely sure myself," Yuuki Asuna knitted her brows, thinking back deeply. "It felt like... I was killed by a Youkai."
"A Youkai?"
Yumesaki fell into a profound silence. Sword Art Online was supposed to be a perfectly ordinary world with just slightly advanced technology. Why would something entirely unscientific like a Youkai pop up here?
Moreover, this Youkai had gone ahead and murdered Yuuki Asuna, the main female protagonist.
This development was truly getting way too bizarre.
Yumesaki massaged his temples, channeled his Clairvoyance magic, and cast his gaze out into the wider world.
What he saw instantly gave him a shock.
Under the broad daylight and clear blue sky, out on the streets, inside residential roofs, inside schools, tucked away in dark and gloomy corners, and hidden within abandoned buildings—there were countless Onryo of all kinds of grotesque shapes crawling absolutely everywhere.
Wait, what kind of setting is this? Why is this world so distorted?
Yumesaki pushed his perception further, scanning several surrounding cities, focusing primarily on the high schools.
After all, the vast majority of male and female protagonists in Japanese anime were high school students.
Soon enough, Yumesaki spotted Chiba Sobu High School. He saw Toyogasaki Academy, Totsuki Academy, Seigaku Academy, Kanagawa Shohoku High School, and Seirin High School.
Honestly, these ones weren't even that big of a deal. At most, they just proved that this world had a rather strong youth-centric vibe to it.
After all, whether they were playing basketball or tennis, falling in love or breaking hearts, didn't it all just point to this being a vibrant, youthful world?
But the next few schools he spotted were completely out of bounds.
For instance, Prefectural Furumitsu High School. Or Private Naoetsu High School. Yomiyama North Middle School, Toudou Academy, and Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical High School, just to name a few.
Natsume's Book of Friends, the Monogatari Series, History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi, Tenjou Tenge, Jujutsu Kaisen...
Holy cow. Martial arts masters, Youkai, Oddities, Cursed Spirits... Just about every single demon, monster, and supernatural entity was packed together in one place.
This world was honestly way too much of a chaotic crossover.
Why did they have to throw everything into a single pot without considering whether this world could even handle the weight?
No wonder Yuuki Asuna got taken out by a Youkai.
In a world this infested with monstrous chaos, even having a protagonist's plot armor wouldn't save you.
Pulling his gaze back, Yumesaki looked at Yuuki Asuna and gave her shoulder a sympathetic pat, his face full of pity.
"Don't doubt your judgment. Your guess is spot on. Barring any crazy anomalies, you were indeed murdered by a Youkai."
"Huh?"
"How should I put it... the composition of this world of yours is just way too convoluted. Best of luck out there."
"Wait, hold on a second!"
Seeing that Yumesaki was already preparing to stand up and leave, Yuuki Asuna completely forgot her fear. She threw herself forward and grabbed Yumesaki's arm. "Please, please explain it to me clearly!"
"Are you sure about that?" Yumesaki stood up slowly, his tone turning dead serious. "In my opinion, there are some things in this life that are better left unknown."
"But I already know about it," Yuuki Asuna gathered her courage and argued back. "And I've already died once. I really don't want to die a second time completely clueless."
"Fair point."
Yumesaki pondered for a moment, realizing that Yuuki Asuna actually made sense. There were some things you just couldn't run away from even if you tried.
With that, Yumesaki slowly sat back down. He waved his hand toward Yamato, Medea, Nero, and Cosette, signaling for them to come inside and find a place to sit.
Medea and Yamato sat right next to Yumesaki. Nero took a seat on the bed, while Cosette claimed a nearby chair.
As for Smoothie, she passed.
A person like Smoothie stood at an imposing four meters tall, whereas the ceiling of this bedroom was only about three meters high. Coming inside would mean staying constantly hunched over, which was completely uncomfortable.
So, Smoothie decided to just sit comfortably right across the Air Door.
Yumesaki spoke up, "Allow me to introduce us. These people are my companions. This is Medea—yes, the Medea from Greek mythology. This is Yamato, Cosette, and the Tyrant Nero. That's right, Nero the tyrant of the Roman Empire."
The moment Yumesaki said those words, Nero immediately voiced her objection, "Umu! Master, I am not a tyrant! Even if it is Master saying it, I will still get angry!"
Yumesaki completely ignored the umu-loving girl and pointed toward Smoothie, who was sitting just on the other side of the Air Door.
"That's Charlotte Smoothie. Since her size is a bit too massive, she didn't come inside."
Right then, Yuuki Asuna acted like an exemplary elementary school student and raised her right hand.
Yumesaki rolled his eyes. "If you have something to say, just say it. Don't raise your hand. What are you, a kid?"
Yuuki Asuna stole a glance at Smoothie, then asked hesitantly, "This Smoothie you mentioned... could she happen to be one of the Sweet Three Generals of the Big Mom Pirates? The Wring Wring no Mi fruit user, Charlotte Smoothie?"
"Well, color me surprised. I didn't expect a high-class young lady like you to actually read manga."
Yumesaki remarked with a look of wonder. As for the fact that the One Piece manga existed in this world, Yumesaki wasn't surprised at all. What shocked him was that Yuuki Asuna actually recognized Smoothie.
Yuuki Asuna immediately defended herself, "Even though I don't read a ton of them, I obviously still know about Dragon Ball, Doraemon, One Piece, and Naruto!"
Yumesaki nodded understandingly. "True. They are national-tier manga, after all."
These series were famous worldwide, so it would actually be weirder if Yuuki Asuna, being Japanese, didn't know about them.
Yuuki Asuna nodded, staring at Smoothie with a very bizarre expression. "But I really never imagined that the world of One Piece actually exists... This is just way too unbelievable."
To be perfectly honest, the sheer impact of this revelation was staggering.
If this had happened at any other time, Yuuki Asuna felt like she definitely wouldn't have been able to process it.
But right now...
She had literally already died once. Suddenly finding out that the One Piece world actually existed didn't seem all that difficult to accept in comparison.
Turning her attention back, however, Yuuki Asuna locked her gaze tightly onto Yumesaki.
"Who exactly are you? There shouldn't be anyone like you in the One Piece world."
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
50 Power Stone = 1 Bonus Chapter (Up to 5 bonus chapters per week).
Join my Patreon to get access to more chapters from Webnovel here:
patreon.com/FaaanzKun