Today marked Kazama Yasuo's seventh consecutive day of checking in, and the system had promised a bonus lottery draw for reaching the milestone.
That was exactly why Yasuo could barely contain himself.
The moment he finished checking in, his draw count ticked up to two, and a broad, delighted grin spread across his face.
Sure, the past several days of single draws had already proven that miracles didn't come easyÔÇöbut hey, more draws were always a good thing!
"Lottery draw!"
Yasuo bellowed the words.
These past few days, to safeguard his luck, he'd made a habit of washing his hands before every draw. Not that hand-washing had anything to do with how the system actually worked, but a man needed his rituals.
"Congratulations, Host. You have drawn a Transcendent Item: one collapsible miniature sailboat."
Yasuo stared at the little ship model that had materialized in his palm, utterly bewildered.
Because the "sailboat" in his hand was barely bigger than his own palm.
He'd been thrilled at firstÔÇöa sailboat! But looking at this toy-sized vessel that couldn't fit so much as a mouse aboard, his heart shattered all over again.
"System, get out here right now!" he roared.
System: "Yes, Host? Something wrong?"
Yasuo pointed at the boat in his hand. "What exactly is this?"
The system replied with exaggerated enthusiasm: "Wow, Host actually drew a Transcendent Item! What incredible luck!"
Watching the system's theatrical delivery, Yasuo couldn't shake the feeling it was putting on a show just to mess with him.
Still, one word had caught his attention: Transcendent Item.
This was the second time he'd heard the term. The first had been during the ten-pull Beginner's Gift Pack, when a pair of flip-flops had appeared.
Those same flip-flops were currently on his feet.
"System," Yasuo asked, "what exactly does 'Transcendent Item' mean?"
System: "Huh? Didn't I already explain this to you?"
"No, you didn't," Yasuo said. "When did you ever tell me that?"
System: "Oh, is that so? Well then, allow me to explain."
"Lottery rewards are categorized by value. Ordinary Items are common things with no special propertiesÔÇöfood, drinking water, clothing, that sort of thing."
"Transcendent Items exceed the boundaries of normal understanding. Take the sailboat you just drew, for example. It has a special function: it can shrink or expand. At maximum size, it becomes a five-meter sailing vessel. At minimum, it's small enough to fit in your palm."
"Above Transcendent tier is Mythical tier. These items have functions of every imaginable kind, but without exception, they would be priceless treasures in any worldÔÇöthe sort of thing people would kill each other over. Think elixirs that grant immortality, or stones capable of annihilating an entire world."
After hearing this explanation, Yasuo stared blankly at the boat in his hand.
Mythical-tier items sounded astonishing, sure, but just from the description alone, the odds of pulling one had to be lower than winning a lottery jackpot.
Transcendent Items, thoughÔÇöthat was a different story. He hadn't even reached twenty draws yet, and he'd already pulled two of them. Those odds weren't bad at all.
And he never would have guessed this toy-sized boat could expand to a full five meters.
The thought sent a jolt of excitement through him. With an actual ship, he could finally leave this godforsaken island!
"System," he asked, "how do I actually use this thing?"
"All Transcendent Items come with instructions. Please examine the item yourself for usage details, Host."
"Instructions?"
Yasuo turned the little boat over in his hands. There didn't seem to be any instructions anywhere.
"System, are you messing with me?"
System: "Don't blame me for your own poor eyesight."
Yasuo: "Oho, look who's getting mouthy. A system, talking back to me like that."
System: "Keep talking and I'll make sure every single draw for the next month gives you nothing but stale, terrible bread."
The moment those words left the system, Yasuo's expression flipped instantly to a smile. "I take it backÔÇöyou weren't messing with me at all. I just wasn't looking carefully enough."
Yasuo was absolutely not backing down because of the threat. It was purely because that bread was disgustingly bad. Yes. That was the only reason.
After that, Yasuo examined the sailboat with far greater care, and eventually found a line of tiny text along the hull's underside.
The problem was, the text was so small his naked eye couldn't make it out. No matter how long he squinted at it, he couldn't decipher a single character.
Unable to figure out how to use the boat for now, Yasuo decided to burn through his remaining draw first.
"System, lottery draw!"
"Congratulations, Host. You have obtained one German-made C96 pistol, complete with one hundred rounds of ammunition."
"WaitÔÇöa single draw actually produced a miracle?"
Yasuo stared at the pistol that had appeared in his hand. This was a weapon he knew intimately.
The name "C96" might not ring a bell for most people, but its nickname was known the world overÔÇöthe Mauser, the "box cannon," the "mirror-surface case pistol."
As a military enthusiast, Yasuo had never once held a real firearm in his life, but that had never stopped him from devouring everything about this particular gun online.
What he'd drawn was the ten-round magazine variant.
Getting his hands on an actual pistol for the first time, Yasuo was practically giddyÔÇölike a kid who'd just been handed his favorite toy.
He couldn't put it down, turning it over and over in his hands, sighting down the barrel this way and that.
One moment he'd aim at one rock, the next moment at another.
Sometimes a man's happiness really was that simple.
But just as Yasuo was lost in his little game with the pistol, he suddenly heard a sound behind himÔÇölike something enormous breaking the surface of the water.
He spun around, and out on the distant sea, a massive red fish leapt clear of the waves.
How massive? Yasuo estimated the thing had to be at least thirty meters long.
For reference, the largest known creature on Earth was the blue whale, which topped out around thirty meters.
And here was a fishÔÇöjust a fishÔÇöthat had cleared that mark simply by leaping into the air.
Before Yasuo could even finish marveling at its size, something else broke the surface: a massive head, shaped disturbingly like a giraffe's.
It swallowed the airborne fish whole in a single bite.
Yasuo stared at the colossal head that had risen from the depths, his mind completely blank.
Having devoured the fish, the head didn't linger. It sank back beneath the waves.
*BOOM!*
The impact sent a violent wave rippling across the water's surface.
Yasuo watched the rings spread outward across the sea.
His legs felt like they'd been filled with lead, all strength drained out of them.
What in the world had that been? A thirty-meter fish swallowed whole, no chewing requiredÔÇöwhat kind of monster was that? It made Godzilla look tame by comparison.
Just moments ago, Yasuo had been thrilled about his new pistol. But after witnessing that monstrosity, he had a sinking feeling his little gun wouldn't even be enough to give the thing a decent scratch.
"Mom... I want to go home."
Once the sea had settled back into stillness, Yasuo forced himself to think through what he'd just witnessed.
Based on everything he knew: he was stranded on a sea that hadn't seen so much as a breeze in an entire week.
And now, a creature with a head alone the size of a hundred meters had just surfacedÔÇömore importantly, a creature with the head of a giraffe, living beneath the ocean.
All of it pointed toward one particular worldÔÇöOne Piece.
If the windless sea alone hadn't been enough to confirm it, that monster had settled the matter beyond any doubt. This was the world of One Piece.
After all, none of the other worlds Yasuo was familiar with housed a creature with such a distinctiveÔÇöand absurdÔÇöappearance.
Not that Yasuo disliked One Piece. Quite the opposite, actuallyÔÇöthe female characters in that world were nothing if not generous of spirit.
But he also knew all too well that the world of One Piece was crawling with monstrously powerful individuals, freaks of nature at every turn.
The three Marine Admirals, each capable of reshaping the very environment around them. Whitebeard, who could trigger earthquakes and natural disasters at will. Big Mom, who fed on people's lifespans. Kaido, whose body defied logic and who could transform into an actual dragon. And ShanksÔÇöthe man everyone gave face to, as though he carried some kind of Devil Fruit power that made respect itself bend to his will.
Just thinking about monsters like these made Yasuo feel like his own frail body wouldn't survive drawing a single deep breath in their presence.
And worse still, the world of One Piece was infested with a particularly loathsome breed of scum that everyoneÔÇödown to the very dogsÔÇödespised: the World Nobles. And wouldn't you know it, these were exactly the sort of bastards who wielded the most terrifying kind of power there was.