Ron froze for a moment. His gaze lingered on those two pairs of enormous eyes, and he soon understood who they were.
The Nine-Tails, Kurama. The Four-Tails, Son Goku.
Wait, so they were conscious?
The system had never told him that.
Also, what did they mean by "why have we called you so many times, yet you never responded"?
Were they sure their microphone was on?
"I didn't hear anything," Ron said softly.
"Huh?" Kurama lowered his body, bringing his massive fox head closer. Those golden vertical pupils stared at Ron as if confirming whether he was lying. "Impossible."
But after thinking about it, maybe... perhaps... it was possible.
Because the person before him was a little strange.
From inside Ron, Kurama could not sense anything outside.
The only thing he could confirm was that his chakra was occasionally being drawn away.
"What about now?" the Four-Tails, Son Goku, asked in a deep, muffled voice, his huge head leaning closer from the other side.
"Heh." Ron chuckled and shrugged. "What do you think?"
"Idiot." Kurama glanced at the Four-Tails speechlessly, his tone full of disdain. "Can you stop asking questions like that?"
"What's the big deal?" The Four-Tails shook his head indifferently. "I was confirming something, wasn't I?"
Kurama ignored him. He turned his gaze back to Ron, his voice lowering, carrying the particular exhaustion of someone imprisoned for too long. "Where is this?"
"It should be... the deepest part of my mind, inside my body," Ron answered slowly, not entirely certain himself.
"That isn't what I'm asking."
"Uh." Ron paused. "Another world."
"You abducted us into another world?" Kurama's voice rose slightly.
Ron gently shook his head. "More accurately, my situation is the same as yours."
The Four-Tails froze, then muttered in that deep voice, "Damn it... so the three of us were all abducted?"
"..."
"Can we go back?" the Four-Tails asked.
Ron shook his head. "I don't know."
Kurama lay down, resting his huge fox head on his forepaws. Those golden vertical pupils stared at Ron for a long while before he said, "Let me out to play."
"Uh." Ron rubbed his chin and thought. It was not that he was unwilling, but... he did not know how. "I'll have to study it properly."
"You don't know how?" Kurama asked.
Ron nodded lightly and gave a somewhat embarrassed "Mm."
Kurama was silent for a moment. Then he slowly lowered himself and buried his head between his forepaws. "Forget it. Go back. Remember, study it properly. We're going crazy in here."
After Kurama's voice fell, the surrounding space began to blur faintly, like ink slowly dissolving in water.
Ron, who had been lying asleep, suddenly opened his eyes and sat up on instinct.
Morning light spilled through gaps in the leaves, casting broken patches of light over the grass.
"A dream?" Ron murmured softly. "Or... not a dream, but the depths of my mind?"
Just as he was unsure, a light voice drifted over from nearby. "Ron, you're awake? Come eat something."
Ron turned toward the voice and saw Kaido sitting cross-legged beside a campfire, holding a roasted leg of meat that was dripping oil. His mouth was shiny with grease.
Over the fire, half a cow was roasting. Its skin had already turned crisp and golden, and the scent of meat drifted over with the sea breeze, stirring the stomach.
On the other side of the fire, three children holding sticks stared fixedly at Kaido. Their eyes were wide, their faces full of grievance and fury.
"What's going on?" Ron slowly stood, patted the dust from his backside, and walked over. "Where did you get the cow? And who are these three kids?"
"Wild," Kaido said while chewing. "As for the kids, don't know them. They probably smelled how good it was and came begging for food. But I'm not giving them any. There isn't enough for the four of us."
"Pah!" One of the children suddenly cursed, his voice carrying tears and anger. "What wild?! What do you mean begging for food?! This is my family's cow! You bad guy! You stole my cow! You deserve to die!"
Kaido kept chewing and snorted dismissively. "Your family, my family, what difference? If it's on the road, it's wild."
"Bad guy!"
"Bad guy!"
"Bad guy!"
The three children each cursed Kaido once, tears streaming down their faces. They held sticks in their hands, but none dared actually step forward.
Ron reached into his pocket and discovered he did not have a single berry. He sighed and bowed lightly to the three children. "I'm truly sorry. I wanted to buy it, but I have no money. Put it on Rocks's tab."
Rocks, who had been sleeping in a daze nearby, suddenly lifted his head. His hair was a mess, his eyes still not fully open, but his voice already drifted over. "What are you putting on my tab?"
The three children cursed Ron as well.
"You're a bad guy too!"
"Yeah, you too!"
"He was already one of them! They're all together!"
"Shh." Ron raised a finger to his lips and lowered his voice. "Don't disturb the dead."
Then he calmly sat beside Kaido, reached out, grabbed a piece of cooked meat, blew on it, and took a bite.
"You two bastards. You're eating alone." Rocks shot up from the ground. When they arrived here last night, it had been pitch black, and he had thought this was a deserted island. He had gone to sleep without eating anything.
With that commotion, Whitebeard also woke up and joined the battle for food without another word.
"Hey, this is the cow I caught! Leave me some!" Kaido shouted anxiously.
"Idiot. Who cares about that?" Rocks replied vaguely, his mouth stuffed with meat.
"You three bastards didn't even call me!" Whitebeard protected the leg of meat he had just grabbed with one hand while pushing away Kaido's reaching hand with the other.
"Gross. Ron, can you be any more disgusting? You couldn't grab it, so you just licked it?" Kaido let go in disgust.
"If I licked it, it's mine," Ron said calmly, grease still at the corner of his mouth.
"..."
A short while later, a whole cow had been reduced to a clean skeleton.
The three children completely broke down.
They crouched beside them and wailed, tears and snot covering their faces.
There was nothing they could do. These four looked vicious and terrifying. They did not dare go up and snatch it back.
"You people really aren't human. Stealing a child's cow," Rocks said softly.
"Bastard!" Kaido sat cross-legged and shouted, "Why didn't I hear you say that while you were eating?!"
It was a cow he had caught himself. He had not even eaten his fill, and he had failed to beat those three bastards to the meat. He was currently depressed.
"Enough arguing," Whitebeard said slowly. "Does anyone have money? Just buy it from them."
In the end, the four gathered together and could not even scrape together one berry.
"Hey." Ron suddenly raised his head and looked at the three children still sobbing. "Brats, does your family have any enemies? We may not have money, but we're very good at stealing money."