Hunter x Hunter World, Meteor City.

In the sky, airships often hover above, dumping loads of discarded items — or rather, garbage. The sky is a deep gray, seemingly separated by a veil of smog, with no hint of blue. Trucks frequently pass by, transporting piles of waste. Garbage is heaped high, forming mountains where vultures circle low, feeding on the rot.

The air is thick with a decaying stench that sours one's mood. Around the area, people in protective suits and gas masks patrol, while others, in makeshift protective gear, lurk near the mounds, waiting for a chance.

On one of these trash heaps sits a young boy. He has no protection, wearing only a white hoodie and black shorts, along with white socks and sneakers. His hair is white, his eyelashes frosty, and his eyes are as blue as the sky itself. At first glance, one might think of the word "angel" — if it weren't for the eerie black markings spreading from his face to his body.

The boy's white hoodie is stained with a large patch of blood, a warning of the danger he carries.

"Is my self-invented character really too bad?" The white-haired boy holds a worm-eaten red apple, looking conflicted as if deciding whether to take a bite.

"It's just cosplaying as Satoru Gojo after swallowing Sukuna's finger, right? I just introduced myself as Ryomen Gojo or Gojo Sukuna, that's all," he muttered, voice lowering with each word until he sighed.

"Though in the manga, Gojo is killed by Sukuna, in such a careless, clownish way — like he died just for the sake of dying…even though…"

"This setup might be a bit bad for a joke."

"But stabbing was a bit too much, really painful." The boy touches his chest, where his hoodie is soaked in blood and torn.

In fact, not long ago, a knife had been lodged there.

His name is Ryo Takakura, and he's just gone through the first major test of a highly competitive life — though not the national college entrance exam.

For some, that exam is the most important, a supposed life-changing event. But for Ryo, the college entrance exam is a milestone already far behind him.

Though still young, he's a well-known cosplayer who regularly shares his cosplay looks and makeup on social media platforms. Tiktok and Instagram, he has over a million followers, achieving financial independence at an early age.

His fans in the anime community call him "sensei."

Sometimes, he creates his own character setups.

Due to his age and height, he mainly cosplays childhood versions of characters, aside from a few originally young ones.

He's done male versions of characters like Hinamori Amu, Ai Haibara, Ran Mouri, and Rem & Ram…

He's also done young versions of Shuichi Akai, Gin, Bourbon, Osamu Dazai…

More standard characters include Megumi Fushiguro (elementary school), Chuuya Nakahara, Killua Zoldyck, and young Satoru Gojo…

At a recent anime convention, inspired by the latest Jujutsu Kaisen storyline, his mischievous side emerged, leading him to create his own self-invented setup.

It's young Satoru Gojo — but with Sukuna's fingers swallowed.

The idea? Only the strongest can contain the strongest, so the proud and confident Gojo uses himself as a cage to imprison Ryomen Sukuna.

The ultimate "strong x2," strongest to the max.

As for logic? There isn't any. The manga's already crazy; so what's the harm if his setup goes a bit off the rails too?

He excitedly wore Satoru Gojo's tracksuit, covering his face and body with Sukuna's tattoos, and eagerly headed to the anime convention.

Faced with many astonished looks — eyes wide, wondering what kind of performance this was — he initially didn't feel much. After all, most people at conventions are there for fun, and many happily lined up to take photos with him.

Besides, he was into cosplay; who cared what others thought? After all, isn't every anime fan a bit out there?

But then, a man with a crazed expression, clearly mentally unstable, suddenly rushed toward him and stabbed him, piercing right through.

Even in death, Ryo couldn't understand why he was targeted by a madman.

Did that guy just pick a random victim?

The next time he opened his eyes, he found himself floating in the air.

An entity claiming to be the "Fun System" began speaking to him.

[Welcome to the world of Jujutsu Kaisen. Please convince everyone here that your character setup truly makes you the Satoru Gojo of another world.]

[Our motto is: add a little fun to life.]

And then, he fell into a pile of trash.

*[Error detected: world positioning drop point incorrect]

"So…where am I now?" Ryo asked calmly, his head emerging from the trash heap as he was buried beneath it.

As a seasoned anime fan, he was very familiar with the routine of transmigrating to another world and being bound to a system after death.

[Current location —]

[Meteor City in the Hunter x Hunter world.]

The system's voice lowered.

[Main mission changing —]

[Please maximize your compatibility with the character.]

[Language pack loaded.]

[Please survive until the system gathers enough energy to transfer you to another world.]

[Current world danger level — extremely high.] The system's tone shifted to a cold, mechanical indifference.

"Meteor City... shit…" Ryo hesitated.

Hunter x Hunter, huh? He knew it well. Meteor City, the Spiders' home — he was familiar with that too.

Meteor City is a massive junkyard famous in the Hunter world, where the survival conditions are notorious and hellish even in fanfiction.

With his background — never having worked with his hands, never fought, and always relying on the police when in trouble — there was no way he'd last until the system gathered enough energy to send him to the Jujutsu Kaisen world. He might not even survive tonight.

"I'll probably be the fastest-dead transmigrator ever." Ryo closed his eyes, ready to rest in peace in the trash heap.

Life was a boring game, and even if he changed worlds, to him, it was just a different game level. Since it was a game, dying didn't seem like a hard thing to accept.

This was his mindset as he lived.

Until a pair of hands pulled him out of the trash heap, he remained completely calm.

He didn't know where those hands intended to drag him.

'…What does he want?' Ryo asked the system, bewildered.

[This is Meteor City.] the system reminded him.

"Oh, Meteor City…" Ryo realized.

According to the behavior of Meteor City residents described in old sources.

They were probably planning to strip him of his clothes, then divvy him up…

No, absolutely not.

He could accept death, but not that kind of death.

'System, I'm requesting newbie protection.' He tapped into his mind, trying to reach the system.

[Please work on raising your character compatibility —]

[For each level of compatibility achieved, you can gain some of the character's abilities.]

"So, should I raise my compatibility with Satoru Gojo or Ryomen Sukuna?" Ryo muttered, his expression conflicted. Even now, he showed no sign of fear, just a hint of playful indifference.

He should have known better than to create a self-invented character; now, how was he supposed to increase his compatibility? This was such a hassle.

The system was initially supposed to have him use the setup of "Satoru Gojo who swallowed Sukuna's finger" to stir things up in the Jujutsu world and astonish the other characters.

But something went wrong, and he ended up in the Hunter world.

[The host needs to simultaneously increase compatibility with both characters.] the system reminded him.

Feeling the silent crowd surrounding him, already starting to strip him and preparing to dismember him, Ryo pondered.

It seemed he sensed a certain energy within himself.

Could it be from Satoru Gojo and Sukuna? But the amount of energy felt a bit small… If it were inherited from them, it shouldn't be this little.

Thinking back, ever since he fell into this world, everything around him appeared different from what a normal person would see. The objects looked almost like thermal images, and he could see an energy radiating from the heads of the people surrounding him.

So this was the "Nen" of the Hunter world…

He could even clearly analyze all the information about the garbage surrounding him — its composition, degree of damage, and material.

So his Six Eyes had indeed manifested.

A flood of complex but useless information rushed into his mind, making his head feel several pounds heavier, as if something were weighing down on him, and his thoughts became cumbersome…

But he could bear it for now; he just needed to deal with these guys first.

Evil men need to be met with evil; he should repay them with their own methods.

A killer should be prepared to be killed, right?

He decided to use Sukuna's abilities, not knowing which one he could actually wield.

With a blank expression, he opened his eyes and glared at the people surrounding him who looked down at him. "Who allowed you to look down on me? Trash."

As he opened his eyes, an invisible slash appeared, instantly taking out several ordinary people around him.

Blood splattered everywhere, limbs scattered across the ground, truly realizing the physical meaning of a grisly scene.

[Current compatibility with Ryomen Sukuna — 10%]

[Compatibility with Satoru Gojo — 20%]

His compatibility with Satoru Gojo was surprisingly high. Oh, right; it must be because of his appearance.

He probably traversed with his own body, so his clothes were still torn, but the area where he was stabbed had already healed.

His hair was intentionally dyed white, styled to prevent the color from appearing black, and he had even applied the whitest body paint on himself. His colored contacts were custom-made to resemble the Six Eyes.

When it came to cosplay, he never hesitated to spend money.

However, after the traversal, no matter how he looked at it, his hair remained white, with no black roots, his skin appeared naturally snow-white, and his eyes looked like he was born with the Six Eyes — no trace of colored contacts could be seen.

Including his compatibility with Sukuna, it was probably due to the curse markings he had drawn on his body.

But… it seemed that the burden of the Six Eyes was greater than he had imagined?

The Six Eyes of Satoru Gojo was also a passive ability, allowing for a 360-degree view and the ability to see long distances, including energy such as cursed energy and the Nen present in the Hunter world.

Ryo noticed that his nose had begun to bleed, dripping down without him realizing it. He wiped it with his hand, but soon fresh blood flowed again.

He was just an ordinary person, and even for someone born to be a sorcerer like Satoru Gojo, the Six Eyes was a significant drain on mental energy, wasn't it? Even Gojo wore sunglasses or covered his eyes due to the strain of the Six Eyes.

Was his brain sending a warning by bleeding because it had never endured such pressure before?

Or was it due to something else? Perhaps… the so-called compatibility?

With this thought, Ryo tilted his head back, trying to stop the blood, while taking a bite of the untouched side of the worm-eaten apple.

"The taste in my mouth is kind of strange…" he murmured, his tone complex.

"I can't have bitten into a worm, can I?"

After all, it was an apple dug out of a trash heap… that seemed pretty normal.

"A worm-eaten apple really shouldn't be eaten." He tossed the apple core aside.

The progress bar representing energy collection was completely empty.

Beside it, a line of small text appeared.

[When the progress bar is filled with deep red, the system will reopen the transfer channel.]

Who knows how long that would take.

"From today on, I'm the strongest. But should I be called Ryomen Satoru, or Gojo Sukuna? Or maybe Sukuna Gojo?" Ryo sat on the garbage mountain, his head tilted back as he gazed at the overcast sky, speaking to himself in a somewhat bored tone.

If he needed to increase his compatibility with Sukuna, wouldn't he need to massacre a city? Killing thousands or millions should boost his compatibility pretty quickly, right?

Ah, but that would be too villainous; he needed to hold back.

Ryo shook off the terrible thought but also understood one thing clearly in his heart—

This was no longer the world he was familiar with. Any moral constraints no longer applied to him.

He could act without restraint.