"Pa!"
Under the radiant sunlight, colorful bubbles floated gently into the air, glimmering as they drifted upward. Suddenly, one popped.
Kōjin knelt on both knees beneath a massive tree, his hands bound tightly behind his back. His head hung low, and he remained silent and motionless. The cold, black barrel of a rifle was pressed against the back of his head behind him.
"Execute!"
Lieutenant Commander Karens barked the command in a low voice. His eyes lingered on the black-haired boy before him. For a fleeting moment, a trace of pity surfaced deep within his eyes.
Everyone knew the boy was not at fault. Yet, even innocence could not save him from death.
"Damn those Tenryūbito..." Karens cursed silently.
If not for them, this talented boy would have had a dazzling future under his command. But he had no choice. If the Tenryūbito didn't see this boy's corpse, then he would be the one lying dead.
Bang!
The thought had barely surfaced when the gunshot cracked through the air.
It was over.
The boy had become just another nameless casualty, one of countless others who had angered a Tenryūbito and dared to offend the Nobles. Hundreds, thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands had met the same fate. From the moment he crossed them, death had been his destiny.
Karens sighed, turned away, and started walking off.
Those stationed on the Sabaody Archipelago could never refuse such orders.
This, too, was part of his fate, and Lieutenant Commander Karens was a man who deeply believed in destiny. However, after only a few steps, he realized that something was wrong. His men weren't following him.
"What are you standing around for? Take the body and dispose of it immediately...!" Karens frowned as he turned back mid-sentence.
The sight that met his eyes froze him in place. His pupils constricted sharply.
Shock. Disbelief.
His grim face drained of color, leaving him momentarily speechless.
A small hole smoldered in the dirt at the black-haired boy's feet. The acrid scent of gunpowder still hung in the air, the unmistakable trace of a Marine rifle shot.
"He's… not dead? How can that be?"
"The bullet went straight through the back of his skull and out his forehead!"
Their voices quivered, tinged with panic.
Karens forced himself to focus on the black-haired youth, who had now lifted his head. From the moment of his capture, the boy had remained eerily calm. Even in the face of death, he had never shown fear.
Now, not even a gunshot to the head had killed him.
His eyes, dark as ink, stared back quietly. They were so calm it was chilling.
It was as if he had expected this all along.
Karens' gaze narrowed as realization dawned: there wasn't even the faintest mark on the boy's forehead. It was as if the bullet had never touched him at all.
Karens' pupils contracted.
"Use the sword," he ordered coldly.
The Marine behind Kōjin hesitated but slowly drew the military blade from his waist. He understood without further words that beheading was the next attempt. If bullets couldn't kill this boy, perhaps steel would.
The sword sliced downward in a swift, lethal arc, cutting cleanly across the boy's neck.
Everyone saw it. The angle and force were perfectly executed.
Yet, the impossible repeated itself.
The black-haired boy stood untouched. His head remained firmly in place, his face unchanged, his eyes as calm and serene as still water.
But now, fixed on Karen, there was a glint of mockery in those eyes.
"What the hell are you?" Karens roared.
A sick dread crawled up his spine.
A bullet couldn't kill him.
A blade couldn't harm him.
This boy… was not human. He was a monster.
Kōjin did not answer. His mind was elsewhere.
He had tasted death twice now, and each time, something new appeared on his Status Panel: two more points.
Ten days earlier, he arrived in this world and found himself working as a gardener for a noble family in the Sabaody Archipelago. He had made a few friends there.
Life had been tolerable until the noble family returned home.
On that day, the master of the house, a bloated man draped in luxurious silk, returned seething with rage. Rumor had it that he had been humiliated outside, and he took out his fury on his household slaves.
Four of Kōjin's friends were beaten to death. Another friend, a girl he liked, met an even crueler fate. She was stripped, forced into a giant cauldron, and slowly steamed alive before being burned.
Kōjin, Xiale in his past life, had never conceived that such depravity could exist n ths world.
Though he had been reborn as a slave, his friends had treated him kindly. The girl, in particular, would secretly leave him extra food. Whenever their eyes met, her fair cheeks would flush with two shy patches of red.
When it was his turn to die, Kōjin snapped.
He resisted with everything he had and was shot through the heart by the nobleman himself.
It was then that he discovered his first trait upon arriving in this world.
He could not die.
Any fatal blow, any strike meant to kill him, was simply nullified.
He could be injured. But death would never claim him.
Kōjin used this undying trait to endure death twenty-three times before finally slaughtering the Noble and all thirty-two of his guards.
He escaped.
Today, after a direct confrontation with a Tenryūbito, Kōjin fell into the hands of Marine Lieutenant Commander Karens.
Sometimes, he couldn't help but laugh bitterly at the irony of fate. Other transmigrators landed in glory, becoming Admirals by age eight, conquering Yonkō by age ten, or shaking the seas as living legends.
But he… became a Noble's slave.
The only thing that still baffled him was the meaning of the Points displayed on his Status Panel. They only increased when he died, but he didn't know why.
"A Devil Fruit user?"
Seeing that the boy remained silent, Karen quickly reached his own conclusion. With a body immune to bullets and blades, there could only be one explanation: the boy was a Devil Fruit ability user.
"Fire again," Karens ordered.
Five gunshots.
Three beheadings.
The black-haired boy stood untouched, his body unmarked, as if reality itself refused to acknowledge his death.
No matter what they tried, he simply would not die.
"Bring him back to the branch base," Karens commanded. "Use Seastone handcuffs, or seawater if you have to."
The Marines moved swiftly, hauling Kōjin to his feet and dragging him toward the base.
"Investigate his background," Karens added sharply. "Find out everything: who he is, where he came from, and what he's capable of!"
A boy who could kill yet could not die, it defied reason. Karens had never encountered such an ability, not even among the strangest Devil Fruits.
Curiosity burned within him. He needed to know if the "Undying Boy" truly had no end.
'How could there exist… someone who could defy death itself?'
As they neared the branch base, the gate sentry saluted and leaned close to whisper,
"The Vice Admiral is here."
Karens froze. His pulse quickened. There was only one vice admiral stationed here, the last man he wanted to meet unprepared.
"Use fire! Drown him in seawater! Poison him! Use cannons if you must!" Karens barked, regaining his composure. "Let's see if this brat can really survive it all!"
As his men scrambled to obey, Karen straightened his uniform, steadied his breath, and strode toward the base office.
Behind him, Kōjin remained silent.
His gaze was fixed on the Status Panel that only he could see.
Each death added another point.
And deep within, a single haunting thought echoed, Would there ever be a way… for him to truly die?
(End of Chapter)