As the sun sets in the dim and lonely execution ground of the naval base, Ren lies prone on the ground, looking as miserable as Yamcha in his iconic pose.
"This is Roronoa Zoro, whom I captured with great effort. You are so close to him; do you want to die with him?"
The sinister and arrogant voice rang in Ren's ears, but he seemed not to hear it at all. He felt pain in many parts of his body, yet he appeared numb to it. All his mind was focused on a tattoo of a small blue-black snake coiled like a watch face on his right wrist!
On the thirty-first day of his time-travel, the little snake tattoo finally moved after being severely beaten.
"It must be a golden finger!" Ren gritted his teeth, his soul screaming.
Eighteen years old, Ren was a college freshman before Time-travelling and now worked as a handyman in the 153rd Navy Branch of the One Piece world.
Thirty days ago, after just finishing military training, Ren was watching the One Piece anime and doing a live broadcast in his dormitory when he suddenly felt dizzy. When he woke up, he had arrived in the world of One Piece and became a handyman at the naval base.
Time-travel—what a wonderful thing it is! Traveling through the world of One Piece is a dream that would make millions of fans envious.
Hunting for treasure, meeting anime characters, flirting with the Empress, fighting the navy, saving Ace, fighting alongside Luffy… There are countless things in One Piece that fans dream of doing!
When Ren first confirmed that he had traveled to the world of pirates, he was in disbelief and terrified. At the same time, he fantasized about having many adventures like the protagonists of all transmigration novels, eventually becoming strong enough to cover the sky with one hand and stand at the top of this world.
However, after carefully and diligently working as a handyman for thirty days and studying his soul and body several times, he tragically discovered that there was nothing special about him except for a small blue-black snake tattoo on his right wrist.
Without the power of a Devil Fruit, no Haki, no physical skills, no special identity, and physical fitness that hadn't improved since his arrival, even swimming was reduced to a few simple flutters. What use was such a person? In this pirate era, he wasn't even qualified to be cannon fodder at sea.
Today marked the thirty-first day of Ren's time-travel. After a busy day of chores, he suddenly heard that Zoro had been captured and brought to the base when night fell. He wanted to see the real-life appearance of the second protagonist for the first time. However, due to his excitement, he got too close to Zoro and was beaten up by Helmeppo, who had appeared later.
Bang!
It seemed God had heard Ren's cry. With a sound echoing from the depths of his soul, an oversized holographic screen exploded from his wrist. Ren excitedly raised his head. He was stunned for a second, and then he cursed without caring about the consequences: "This is a rip-off."
The shocking holographic screen displayed only a row of large white hollow characters in the middle—Becoming the most powerful person in the world's government.
Where is the Devil Fruit Mall? Where is the Immortal Cultivation System? Where is the Alien Technology? Where is the Space-Time Gate?
If you don't have those, a pet will do! What's the point of giving a holographic screen and a slogan?
It's so hard to survive now; how can you expect to become the highest authority in the world government of One Piece? You must be kidding me; go find someone else!
"Mission 1: Become a new recruit in the Navy and start live streaming."
As Ren's voice faded, the original row of large characters on the holographic screen quickly moved to the top, and a new row of smaller characters appeared in the middle.
"Start the live broadcast?" Ren's pupils widened instantly, and his breathing became rapid. "Is this the screen for live broadcasting? The cheat code I brought with me when I traveled through time is a live broadcast system?"
At that moment, he felt as if a gate leading to the peak of glory was slowly opening for him.
"What a rip-off? Hehe." Helmeppo, who had already walked far away, heard Ren's curse, laughed mockingly, and immediately turned back. "It seems this little handyman hasn't had enough fun. Let's go play for a while, hehe''
"Yes, young master!" The two soldiers following behind Helmeppo answered loudly and hurried to follow.
"What benefits can I get from starting live streaming?" Ren couldn't contain his excitement and asked. He had tried live streaming before and read novels about it. If the cheat code he brought with him was a live streaming system that came with the system mall, it would be awesome.
"What's the benefit? Hehe!" Helmeppo approached Ren, sneered, and raised his foot to step on Ren's back. "As long as you are not dead tomorrow, this young master will never beat you again. This is the benefit, how about it? Hehe."
A sinister smile appeared at the corner of Helmeppo's mouth as he spun his foot hard on Ren's back.
Bang!
The sound of broken ribs echoed, and Ren's eyes widened. He suddenly felt that his life was a tragedy.
"Fuck him! Am I going to die before the live broadcast even starts?"
Ren felt desolate and hopeless in an instant. However, a few seconds later, the severe pain he had imagined did not appear. Instead, his broken ribs only felt numb, and the pain in other parts of his body also disappeared inexplicably at that moment.
"Is this pain numbness, or is this the last burst of light before death?"
"Oh, not bad, you've become tougher and stopped yelling." Ren didn't react. Helmeppo was unhappy. His eyes turned cold, and he raised his foot high and stomped down heavily. "You are so tough, then I will see how long you can be tough."
Bang!
This kick broke several of Ren's ribs, but he still didn't feel any pain. Instead, a mysterious feeling emerged in his consciousness, allowing him to clearly understand the entire situation in his body.
"No pain from injuries, extremely fast recovery— is this the benefit of being a host?" The holographic screen still did not change. This thought flashed through Ren's mind as he hurriedly lowered his head to look at his right wrist.
When he saw this, his heart burned.
The dark blue snake tattoo on his wrist suddenly came alive, separating from his body, and spun and tumbled wildly above his wrist, resembling a dragon tumbling and soaring among the clouds.
Deathly long... speed... strength... weight... flight... control of inanimate objects... immortality...
A mysterious feeling appeared again, and at this moment, Ren understood all the abilities brought by this blue-black snake.
"Haha!" Ren laughed. This ability, which required suicide to improve one's strength, combined with the live streaming system and being in the world of pirates, meant he couldn't help but become the coolest anchor.
"Laugh?" Ren's laughter was extremely irritating to Helmeppo. He went berserk as soon as he heard it. He jumped up and stomped hard on Ren's back. "I'll make you laugh, I'll make you laugh! Let's see how long you can laugh."
"I say, if you keep stepping on him like this, he will die." Zoro raised his head slightly and said in a cold voice.
Zoro's voice was low and weak, but there seemed to be a special power in it. As soon as he spoke, Helmeppo's body trembled, and his raised foot paused for a moment.
However, he only paused for an instant, then stepped down even harder and more frantically.
"Die, die, die..." Helmeppo shouted as he stomped on Ren. He was so angry at Ren that he wanted to vent all his dissatisfaction caused by his fear of Zoro on Ren.
Helmeppo stomped like a madman. When he realized that Ren was neither dead nor screaming, he bared his teeth, and his toilet-lid-like hair stood up in anger. He shouted to the two henchmen on the side: "You two, get over here and stomp on him. If you kill him, you'll feed him to the fish tomorrow."
"Yes, young master!" The two followers hurriedly agreed and quickly joined in trampling Ren.
"If you kill him, I will definitely kill you!" Zoro raised his eyebrows slightly, and his tone grew colder.
"Kill me? Haha, I must step on him to death today. Let me see how you kill me." Helmeppo laughed and kicked even more crazily and forcefully.
"Brother Zoro, you are worthy of my respect. Come on, stimulate him again and make him completely crazy." Helmeppo and the other two were going wild. Ren wore a big smile on his face. The more serious the injury, the faster the blue-black little snake spun and tumbled. He could clearly feel his body growing in all aspects. If this continued, when everything recovered, he would no longer be a helpless handyman.
"In life, you really have to commit suicide to reach the pinnacle!"
"Dead, is he dead? Huhu, huff!" After a few minutes of not sensing Ren's movements or sounds, Helmeppo jumped back, bent down, and held his knees with his hands, breathing heavily. He was truly tired from jumping up and down and kicking.
The two followers then retreated, also panting heavily.
As soon as Helmeppo and the others stopped attacking, the speed of the changes in Ren's body slowed down significantly.
I haven't enjoyed the pleasure of my body's rapid changes enough; how can I slow it down?
Ren raised his head with difficulty and looked at Morgan, taking a deep breath. "Well, I'm still strong!"
"..." Zoro raised his head instantly, his eyes seeming to emit sword light as he fixed them on Ren. He was so shocked that he was speechless. How could there be people in this world who could survive even after being beaten beyond recognition?
"Ahhh!" Zoro was speechless, while Helmeppo was completely mad. Three people couldn't kill a small handyman? This was an insult to him. He danced with joy and yelled wildly, "Kill him for me! You must kill him. If you can't kill him, I will kill both of you!"
"Yes, Master!"
"Master, rest assured, I will beat him to death."
The two followers responded loudly and nervously, then jumped and came directly to crush him.
Bang!
Bang!
"This is the feeling, this is the rhythm!" The two followers began to take action. Ren smiled slightly, closed his eyes, and enjoyed the changes in his body.
"Alas, the live broadcast cannot be started yet. What a pity; otherwise, this beating would definitely bring a lot of rewards''