Blue skies, white clouds, and a clear expanse greeted the eye, with a few seagulls soaring over the vast blue ocean, chirping as they occasionally dipped to the surface, attempting to catch their lunch for the day. On the sandy beach of an island, a dazzling golden light flashed, and an uninvited guest seemed to appear on the shore. Though the golden light lasted only a few seconds, it was certainly eye-catching.
Along the coast, waves gently lapped the sand. To prove their journey to the shore, a roaring wave swept past, announcing its arrival before softly receding.
As the golden light vanished, the naked, uninvited guest on the beach showed signs of slowly regaining consciousness.
This person had fiery orange-red hair, and a resolute, handsome face that exuded a hint of coldness. With the gentle lapping of the waves, he slowly opened his eyes.
Upon closer inspection of his eyes, one would notice they were a pale violet, with concentric circles, like the annual rings of a tree, surrounding them, making one feel as if a single glance would draw them into their depths—it was truly eerie.
Undoubtedly, this person was Nagato, who had appeared out of thin air. Nagato slowly stood up and walked to the water's edge, examining his current body and appearance reflected in the sea.
The reflection in the water showed a body identical to Yahiko's in his lifetime. Although Yahiko had been resurrected by Nagato using the Six Paths' abilities after his death, it was ultimately a resurrected corpse, devoid of a Soul or any vitality, possessing only Nagato's will.
However, his current body was full of vitality. He could feel the Chakra generated by the interconnected Meridians within him, even without using a chakra rodto externally connect to Chakra.
He no longer needed to rely on external means to receive Chakra as before. This feeling… Nagatothought it was truly wonderful.
Nagato stared blankly at his reflection in the sea, thinking of Yahiko.
"Yahiko… life is unpredictable… We two brothers are actually fused into one in this way. In this life… we two brothers can finally be inseparable."
"Yahiko… don't worry… I will bring you and me to live well in this New World… From now on, there will be no Yahiko, and no Nagato. Let us make our shared name resound throughout this world!"
"My name: Pain!"
Pain slowly clenched his fist, his gaze shifting from blankness to determination, and he slowly stood up to survey his surroundings.
The environment was very unfamiliar. Observation with the naked eye did not provide Pain with any useful information. If he relied solely on his eyes, he really couldn't discern the nature of his current surroundings. Left with no choice, Pain raised his hands and quickly formed hand signs, softly chanting, "Rain Tiger at Will Technique."
As Pain's words fell, the previously clear sky suddenly began to drizzle. Pain closed his eyes, sensing his surroundings through the Rain Tiger at Will Technique. In his perception, Pain saw a group of two people walking towards him.
Perhaps the golden light had caught their attention, or perhaps they were simply passing by, but in Pain's eyes, the two were already as good as dead. Having just arrived in a New World, Pain was forced to act cautiously. The appearance of these two could only be blamed on fate's mischievous hand.
Pain put away his thoughts and continued to sense his surroundings. At the same time, Pain also felt that his current range of perception was far weaker than in his previous life. If his former perception range was Kage-level, the size of a country, then his current perception range might only be Chunin-level (Special Chunin), an area of about three thousand square meters.
Upon further examination of himself, he found that although his body's flexibility had increased and it possessed vitality, his current Chakra reserves were at most only at the Special Chunin level.
After reaching this conclusion, Pain was not worried. Although his starting point was very low now, and he didn't know what abilities existed in this New World.
But Pain was confident that as long as Ninjutsu could be used, even with only Special Chunin-level Chakrareserves, self-preservation should not be a problem.
As the two figures in the distance drew closer, their attire also came into view: loose clothing, each person equipped with a short knife and a long gun. Although he had never seen a gun, he could sense that it was likely an offensive weapon of this world, posing zero threat to him.
The two companions stopped and looked at the naked person in the distance with surprise, their faces full of questions.
"The golden light appeared right here… What's with this naked man?…"
Pain was never one for idle chatter. Although he knew the newcomers posed no threat to him, that didn't mean those behind them wouldn't. Maintaining a cautious attitude, Pain looked at the two with cold eyes while raising his right hand towards them.
"Almighty Pull!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the bodies of the two men flew uncontrollably towards Pain. Pain grabbed each by the neck, and with a 'crack,' their necks snapped, instantly taking them down.
He casually chose a set of clothes to wear. Although he was unaccustomed to the clothing of this world, it was better than being naked.
Dressed, Pain slowly walked in the direction from which he had sensed the two approaching. After about ten minutes, what appeared before Pain's eyes was a small town.
The first thing that caught Pain's attention was a noisy bar right in front of him. At the entrance, two portly men were drinking and excitedly shouting something. Listening to their language, Pain found it no different from the language of his previous life, so he had no worries about not understanding the words of this world.
Pain slowly walked towards the bar, ignoring the two noisy men at the entrance. He pushed open the door and walked straight into the bar. The two men at the door paid no attention to Pain's entry, engrossed in their conversation.
As soon as he entered the bar, the previously boisterous crowd unusually fell silent for a moment, casting questioning glances towards the door. One burly man walked directly up to Pain, placed a hand on his shoulder, and, with eyes like a bull's, asked, "Kid, did you come to the wrong place?"
Pain said nothing. In his previous life, no one dared to touch his shoulder, except for his master Jiraiya and his brother Yahiko.
Pain returned a gaze full of Killing Intent, scaring the burly man into taking a step back as if he had seen a ghost. With a soft exclamation from Pain, the burly man's body uncontrollably crashed backward.
"Shinra Tensei!"
The man who had just been so arrogant flew backward, hitting the bar counter and falling unconscious. Pain was only about seven or eight meters from the counter. Seeing that the burly man merely flew back and was knocked out, he couldn't help but frown internally.
"Only seven or eight meters?…"
"It seems that Chunin-level Chakra reserves truly cannot unleash the full power of these S-rank Ninjutsu."
The moment the burly man was repelled and thrown back, everyone present showed looks of horror. In their eyes, this newcomer had done nothing, yet their comrade had flown backward. Feeling somewhat incredulous, everyone understood that this was not someone to be trifled with, so no one dared to speak out or provoke him further.
At this moment, Pain turned his gaze towards a man who seemed to be the leader. As his eyes focused on the man, the leader felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, his whole body turning cold. He watched Painslowly approach with a terrified expression.
"Where is this?…" Pain asked, staring at the man who appeared to be the leader.
Upon hearing the question, the leader looked at Painwith a bewildered expression, unsure how to answer, his eyes similarly filled with confusion as he looked back at Pain.
Pain didn't ask any further questions. A black short rod, condensed from Chakra, suddenly appeared in his hand, and with a speed the other party couldn't possibly react to, he directly plunged it into the palm of the leader's hand.
"Ah!…"
A scream erupted. Pain had nailed the leader's palm to the table. The leader instantly broke out in a cold sweat from the Pain and again heard Pain's question.
"Where is this?… I will not ask a third time!…"
This time, the leader was smart. He answered the question directly, without any hesitation.
"This is Twin Cape, in the first half of the Grand Line." Although the leader didn't know why this suddenly appearing person was asking such common knowledge questions, under the domination of fear, he still told the truth.
"The power structure of this world?…"
Upon hearing this question, the leader hesitated for two seconds, which resulted in another black rod appearing in his hand. It wasn't that he deliberately hesitated, but rather he was thinking about how to answer the question.
When the black rod pierced him, the leader instantly understood due to the Pain, so before Pain could even ask, he blurted out all sorts of random things.
Such as how many women he had secretly watched bathe as a child, how many people he had killed as an adult, what he did for a living, how many bad deeds he had committed, and so on. Whenever his answers were not what Pain was looking for, another black rod would appear on his body.
By the sixth black rod, Pain decided this fellow was no longer worth wasting time on, so he let go of the very painful leader. Any further information he might provide would be of no help to Pain.
While everyone else was horrified by their boss's ordeal, and dared not speak out in anger, there was one person in the corner leisurely drinking, watching the events unfold with a very calm gaze, seemingly unfazed by such a scene.
"Who is he?…" Pain asked again.
The leader had learned his lesson. With a pained expression, he answered without hesitation: "He's a guy I picked up at sea, from somewhere else…"
"Ah… so painful… so painful…"
"He calls himself a navigator. I… considering my ship didn't have anyone with such talent… I… I kept him, but he's very mysterious… I still don't know his name… he won't tell me when I ask."
Pain didn't ask the pirate leader any more questions. With a wave of his left hand, all the rods disappeared. Pain slowly walked over to the navigator.
The pirate leader, as if granted a great pardon, was helped out of the bar by his subordinates. He didn't dare utter a single threat. His survival instinct told him that if they dared to speak carelessly, they might not make it out of the bar alive.
The word 'pirate' was something Pain had learned by interrogating the leader. He also gained some very important information, such as how this world was one where the World Government and pirates coexisted.
Countries either relied on the World Government or on pirates for survival. And this world also had many unknown powers besides Devil Fruit abilities; the Captain of this pirate crew couldn't elaborate on the specifics. At this moment, the navigator watched Painslowly walk towards him.
"A navigator, huh? Come with me. I need you."
"Where to?…" the navigator asked.
"The end of this world," Pain replied.
"The end of the world, huh?… That sounds like a good place, doesn't it?… I don't seem to have a reason to refuse…"
"Then, let's go!" Pain said.
The navigator said nothing more, turned, and followed Pain out of the bar. As they reached the bar's entrance, Pain suddenly thought of a question and said, "We need a ship to go to sea."
"Leave it to me…"
After the navigator spoke, a flash of white light shone, and then he disappeared…