The white-haired sage's voice grew more ghostly, fading into the void, and at that very moment, Satoru slowly, reluctantly pried open his heavy eyelids.
"Was that... a dream?" the thought flashed. He looked around in confusion. His modest dwelling was unchanged, everything in its place, but his head felt surprisingly clear, as if rinsed with ice water.
Once the transmigrator fully shook off the remnants of sleep, he discovered with amazement that he could now see something... strange, previously invisible to his eyes.
"Wh-what... what is this?!"
A light chill ran down his spine. Nearby in the air, numerous streams of some azure, pulsing energy writhed and intertwined. This frightening, inexplicable sight made Satoru's heart clench anxiously; for a moment, he even thought he was seeing real ghosts...
"Is th-this... on me too?" he whispered, noticing his own body shrouded in the same ghostly bluish glow. And then it hit him—he realized what this mysterious substance was.
"Is this... chakra? Can I... can I see chakra now?!" the boy muttered in disbelief.
"Naturally. Seems you're not as dumb as you looked," a voice suddenly said. But it wasn't the wise old man from the dream speaking—it was someone completely unfamiliar. The voice was devoid of emotion, cold and somewhat... mechanical.
"You...? You're the System the old man talked about?" Satoru guessed immediately, turning toward the sound.
"Correct. I am the System. And not just any ordinary one, but the Devil Fruit System!" The voice practically dripped with pride.
"Devil Fruit?" Satoru echoed, eyes widening. "But that's... from the One Piece world, right?"
"Precisely!" the System confirmed with unshakeable confidence. "Didn't you eat that pill? Only by swallowing it could you break the dimensional barrier and receive a system like me as a reward—from a completely different world!"
"By the way, since you're a newbie, the System grants you a special Beginner's Gift Pack! Would you like to open it?" the mechanical voice inquired briskly.
"Naturally!" Satoru blurted without a second's hesitation. As if he'd pass that up!
Congratulations! Congratulations, Master! You have received a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit — Bara Bara no Mi!
"What?!" Satoru nearly jumped out of his skin at the System's sudden announcement, his heart pounding like it would burst from his chest.
"Bara-Bara Fruit? That's... Buggy the Clown's power from One Piece! You mean I have his ability now?" raced through his feverish mind.
Buggy the Clown's power in the "One Piece" world wasn't anything special, and his Bara-Bara Fruit paled especially compared to the near-divine abilities of Logia fruits, seeming downright weak and not very useful.
"System, uh... can we exchange it somehow?" Satoru asked hopefully. "This ability looks pretty... lame, honestly." The Bara-Bara Fruit didn't impress him at all. Big deal, splitting into parts... sure, you could catch someone off guard, but what else?
Who'd have thought the System would retort indignantly:
"Master, don't be so ungrateful after receiving such a gift!"
"You're in the ninja world!" the mechanical voice pressed on. "Just imagine: an enemy, clueless about your unique power, lunges at you with a sword, and at the last second, you suddenly use Bara-Bara power... Isn't that...?" The System trailed off meaningfully, but Satoru got the hint without further words.
"You know, you're right..." The system bearer thoughtfully rubbed his chin. If he thought about it, it wasn't so bad. Though body-splitting seemed pretty useless "chicken ribs" in "One Piece," here in the shinobi world, if it could just confuse an opponent for a split second, cause a momentary hesitation, that might be enough to decide the fight's outcome.
After all, in clashes between true masters, a single instant, one fleeting mistake, decides everything—life or death.
"Fine! You convinced me!" the young man conceded. "Since you're the Devil Fruit System, how do I get new rewards? How do I obtain other Devil Fruits?"
"Naturally!" the System replied at once. "The Beginner's Gift Pack is just a nice bonus. As a System, I've naturally prepared far more valuable and desirable rewards for you!
"To get rewards, you need to accumulate Points and then exchange them!" the System explained.
"Exchange for Points?" Satoru echoed. "And how do I earn those Points? That's the key part, right?"
"Points can be earned in at least three ways," the System began listing. "First, by killing enemies or defeating opponents. You'll get Points for that. The stronger and higher-level the enemy you defeat, the more Points you'll receive!
"Second, by convincing enemies to surrender and join your side. If an enemy becomes your ally, you'll get Points as a reward.
"Third, we'll periodically issue special Quests. Completing these Quests successfully nets you a surprise—ten consecutive summons! And those ten summons might contain huge sums of Points as rewards.
"Every 100 Points can be exchanged for one reward."
"Got it," the Earth native nodded to himself. He fully grasped the System's mechanics. In simple terms: fight, kill, complete quests.
Just as Satoru was about to mentally close the System interface, it suddenly emitted a series of piercing chimes: "Ding-ding-ding!"
"What is it, System?" he asked, instantly alarmed.
"What an incredible coincidence! I didn't expect you to activate a Quest right after awakening me!"
"What Quest?!" the orphan's eyes lit up with excitement. Completing a Quest meant ten summons! Ten! And whatever the System gave wouldn't be useless junk!
Quest: Concentrate chakra! Learn to control it and, using chakra, climb to the top of the designated tree! Time limit: one week!
Satoru's initial excitement instantly turned to deep gloom. He was only three years old! His body was still completely undeveloped, unstrengthened. Though he could now concentrate chakra, before, whenever he gathered even a drop, that white-haired old man would absorb it right away.
"One week! System, are you mocking me? You want me dead?!" the boy cried in despair.
"Pfft, as if! I don't want you dead at all!" the System snorted. "You're my Master. Climbing a tree with chakra in one week is totally doable! You're so smart and persistent; I'm sure you'll figure something out and succeed! Alright, I'll wait for your triumphant return—then I'll appear again! Oh, and one more condition: no using Devil Fruit abilities!"
With that, the System vanished as abruptly as it had appeared, leaving its bearer alone with grim thoughts and doubts.
"One week... Climb a tree... Concentrate chakra..." he muttered in bewilderment. Satoru well remembered that in the original story, even geniuses like Naruto and Sasuke struggled with tree-climbing training. He didn't know exactly how long it took them, but it was definitely no easy feat.
"Enough moping," he decided, shaking his head. "To learn chakra control, I first need to concentrate it properly! Let's start with that!"
Before, the transmigrator had thought concentrating chakra was an incredibly complex process—none of his attempts had succeeded. But this time, he was surprised to find that with just a thought, he could clearly and distinctly see all the chakra channels and flows inside his body.
"Probably thanks to that miracle pill that breaks dimensional barriers?" he mused. After that, Satoru effortlessly concentrated his chakra, and his whole body was enveloped in a soft blue glow.
"Not bad at all!" the boy smirked smugly, feeling a surge of power. "Among my peers, probably no one has as much chakra as I do now!"
He smiled and dispersed the glow, deciding not to push further for now.
This time, Satoru didn't delve deeper into chakra control intricacies. Instead, he decisively shouted:
"Bara-Bara!"
And sure enough, his body immediately split into parts: left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg...
Seeing his new ability in action firsthand, a promising idea suddenly struck the boy.
"When Buggy the Clown uses his Bara-Bara power, his body parts can fly freely, but his feet must stay on the ground. That's a sort of minor drawback, a glitch. But... if I learn to climb trees, stick my feet to surfaces with chakra, then my legs will be way more mobile and maneuverable!"
In just minutes, Satoru had thoroughly mastered all the features and nuances of his Bara-Bara Fruit. Essentially, slashing attacks were now completely harmless to him. If someone unaware of his power tried to strike him with a sword, he could catch them off guard in that instant and take their life!
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: Granulan