The crash of breaking trees grew louder, and my Observation Haki painted a clear picture of what was approaching. Something massive. Something with a very familiar silhouette that made my blood run cold.
"Oh my god, that's a T-rex," I whispered, watching through my enhanced senses as the creature emerged from the treeline. "Oh my god, oh my god, that's a real fucking T-rex!"
The beast stood at least twenty feet tall, its massive head swiveling as it caught my scent. Yellowed teeth the size of daggers gleamed in the sunlight, and those tiny arms that looked so comical in movies suddenly seemed a lot less funny when attached to several tons of prehistoric murder machine.
It let out a roar that shook the very ground beneath my feet.
"Okay, okay, don't panic," I muttered, raising my ring-bearing hand. My stamina had recovered to 20/30 in the fifteen minutes since my magic practice. "You've got this. Just aim for center mass and—"
The T-rex charged.
"CONFRINGO!"
The blazing fireball struck the dinosaur square in the chest, and the effect was immediate. The creature staggered backward, a smoking crater appearing in its hide where the spell had connected. It roared in pain and fury, but it was still very much alive and very much angry.
"Holy shit, it actually worked!" I couldn't help but grin despite the mortal danger. "But one wasn't enough. Let's try—CONFRINGO! CONFRINGO! CONFRINGO!"
Three more fireballs erupted from my ring in rapid succession. The first struck the T-rex's shoulder, spinning it sideways. The second caught it in the ribs with a sickening crack. The third hit its leg, and finally—finally—the massive predator toppled over with a ground-shaking thud.
Steam rose from its smoldering corpse.
"CONFRINGO!" I fired one more blast just to be sure, the spell painting the beach in orange light.
And then... silence.
I stood there, breathing heavily, staring at the dead dinosaur. My stamina bar showed 5/30, but that wasn't what had my attention.
It was the feeling.
Pure, intoxicating power flowed through my veins like liquid fire. I had just killed a T-rex—a goddamn T-rex—with magic from my fingertips. The rush was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. Better than any video game victory, better than solving the most complex coding problem, better than—
"Oh my holy goddess, don't let me get corrupted by this ecstasy," I whispered, forcing myself to sit down on the sand before the power went to my head completely.
The feeling was addictive. Dangerous. I could already imagine myself drunk on this sensation, casting spells just for the thrill of watching things explode. That way lay madness—or worse, becoming the kind of person who hurt others just because they could.
I took deep breaths, centering myself as the adrenaline slowly faded. The T-rex wasn't moving. I'd won my first real fight in this new world.
Fifteen minutes passed as I sat there, processing what had just happened. When I checked my stamina bar again, it read 20/30.
"Hmm, one stamina point per minute," I noted, filing that information away. "Useful to know."
By the time another fifteen minutes had passed, I was back to full stamina and feeling restless. The forest beyond the beach continued to echo with sounds of prehistoric life. Now that I knew I could handle at least one dinosaur, curiosity was winning out over caution.
I walked toward the treeline, sword at my hip and magic at my fingertips.
The second dinosaur I encountered was some kind of massive herbivore—think triceratops but the size of a small building. It was peacefully munching on ferns when I found it.
"Sorry, big guy," I said, raising my hand. "But I need to test my limits."
"CONFRINGO! CONFRINGO! CONFRINGO! CONFRINGO! CONFRINGO!"
The creature barely had time to register my presence before the barrage of fireballs brought it down. This one took all five shots, its thick hide proving more resistant than the T-rex, but the result was the same.
The rush of power hit me again, and this time I was ready for it. I sat down immediately, forcing myself to wait out the intoxication before moving on.
"Power without restraint is just destruction," I reminded myself, though part of me was already planning my next target.
The pattern repeated itself throughout the day. Find dinosaur, blast dinosaur, wait for stamina to recover, find another dinosaur. Some were easier kills than others—a pack of smaller raptors fell to just two spells each, while an armored ankylosaur required nearly my entire stamina bar to bring down.
By the time the sun began to set, I'd lost count of exactly how many prehistoric beasts I'd slaughtered. Fifteen? Twenty? The forest floor was littered with smoking corpses, and I was starting to feel... bored.
"Is this really all there is?" I wondered aloud, stepping over the remains of what might have been a stegosaurus. "Just find enemy, cast spell until dead, repeat?"
The repetitive nature was starting to wear on me. Sure, the power rush was incredible each time, but there was no real challenge anymore. No strategy required beyond "point and shoot until it stops moving."
As darkness began to fall, I spotted a cave entrance carved into a rocky hillside. My Observation Haki revealed it was empty of any large predators, making it perfect for shelter.
I settled in for the night, using my sword to scrape together some dry wood for a campfire. The flames cast dancing shadows on the cave walls as I contemplated my first day in this strange new world.
"Tomorrow I need to explore more," I decided, watching sparks drift up toward the cave ceiling. "Figure out where exactly I am, what the timeline is, maybe find some actual people to talk to."
The sound of my own voice echoing in the cave reminded me how alone I was. In my previous life, I'd been something of a loner by choice, but this was different. This was isolation on a level I'd never experienced.
Sleep came eventually, though my dreams were filled with roaring dinosaurs and exploding fireballs.
I woke to the sound of the earth itself screaming.
A deep, resonant rumble shook the entire island, followed by what sounded like the world's largest explosion. Through my Observation Haki, I could sense something massive happening in the distance—heat signatures so enormous they defied comprehension.
I scrambled to the cave entrance and looked toward the island's interior. A column of smoke and ash was rising from what had to be a volcano, but that wasn't what made my jaw drop.
Two figures were visible even from miles away, their size so incredible that they dwarfed the massive trees around them. They were running toward each other across the landscape, and as I watched in stunned amazement, they collided with an impact that sent shockwaves rippling across the island.
Giants. Actual giants, locked in combat.
"No fucking way," I breathed, recognizing the scene from the manga I'd read in my previous life. "Little Garden. I'm on Little Garden!"
The island where Dorry and Brogy, the giant warriors, had been fighting their eternal duel for over a century. Which meant I was definitely in the One Piece world, and based on the condition of the island, this was happening well before the Straw Hats would arrive.
I watched the two massive figures separate and begin walking back to their respective sides of the island, just as they had done every day for a hundred years.
"Well," I said, grinning despite myself, "things just got a lot more interesting."
The revelation changed everything. I wasn't just stuck on some random prehistoric island—I was in the Grand Line, in one of the most famous locations from the series. And if I was here now, before the main story began, that meant I had opportunities to change things.
But first, I needed to get stronger. Much stronger.
I looked back toward the forest where yesterday's dinosaur corpses were probably already being cleaned up by scavengers. The repetitive grinding had been boring, but maybe that was exactly what I needed right now.
"Alright, Slytherin," I said to myself, drawing my sword and checking my stamina bar. "Time to get serious about this training."
The sound of distant giants would be my training soundtrack, and prehistoric predators my sparring partners.
This was going to be one hell of an adventure.