“Folks!
The secret treasure of the sea!
The chance to change your destiny!
It’s right here!”
“The Great Pirate Treasure is now live!”
“Today’s limited product is—Devil Fruits that can change your life!”
Suo Suto stared blankly at the glowing panel floating in front of him.
It displayed all kinds of strange, glittering fruits, while an extremely passionate sales-pitch voice rang out from who knew where, sounding exactly like a sketchy salesman.
“Do you see this shine?
These patterns?
Pure, natural, pollution-free, and specially supplied by the Grand Line!
Every single one is a miracle of nature!
Every single one represents an invincible superpower!”
Suto’s expression turned a little strange.
According to the anime he had watched before, Devil Fruits did indeed grant powerful supernatural abilities, but their users would also be rejected by the sea forever.
They would lose the ability to swim, become completely weak when touching or soaking in seawater, lose the ability to move on their own, and might even drown to death.
Most importantly, this thing only seemed useful in its original world…
Sure enough, ads were the same no matter where you went.
To sell their products, they hyped them up like crazy, only talked about the benefits, and didn’t mention a single word about the side effects.
“Don’t hesitate!
Buy now!
For only 99 gold coins, you can immediately receive one Devil Fruit mystery box!”
A [Buy Now] button popped up on the panel.
Suto’s heart stirred.
He stretched out his slightly illusory finger and tried tapping it.
The next moment, a notification immediately jumped onto the screen.
[Your wallet balance is insufficient.
The purchase failed.]
[Current wallet: 0 gold coins, 0 silver coins, 0 copper coins.]
Suto silently withdrew his hand.
All right, sorry for bothering you.
He glanced at the upper-right corner of the ad.
There was a countdown there.
[00:00:20]
It seemed to represent that this strange [Devil Fruit] ad still had 20 seconds left.
At this point, the ad had already finished playing.
It stayed on the final [Buy Now] page without any other changes.
Suto turned his head and looked around again.
It was still covered in mist.
This place didn’t really look like the underworld or hell, and it probably wasn’t heaven either.
So where exactly did that stroke of ‘luck’ send me?
Suto slowly withdrew his gaze and looked at the panel again.
The countdown on it was almost at the end.
[00:00:03]
[00:00:02]
[00:00:01]
As the countdown ended, the ad on the panel disappeared and was replaced by a line of text.
[Ad viewing complete.
You have received one chance to revive.
Revive immediately?]
Huh?
There’s a good thing like that?
Suto once again stretched out his slightly illusory finger and tapped [Confirm].
A burst of white light lit up around his body, somewhat dazzling.
Suto couldn’t help closing his eyes.
Right after that, he felt a strange sensation, as if his body were falling at high speed.
That feeling suddenly stopped.
Suto’s eyes snapped open.
He found himself lying on a soft, sloping grass field.
The orange glow of the setting sun fell across his face.
Suto sat up while holding his still-uncomfortable head.
In front of him was a small river, and behind him was a road.
Several cherry blossom trees were blooming beside the road, and pedestrians were passing by while chatting and laughing.
He turned to look to his right.
Not far away, a boy wearing glasses was also sitting there, holding a book in one hand and reading with his head lowered, a schoolbag placed beside him.
Suto studied him for a couple of seconds, but the other boy was focused on his book and didn’t notice.
He withdrew his gaze and looked at the tall billboard across the river.
The good news was that he had really revived.
The bad news was that the place he revived in didn’t seem to be his original world.
“The words on that billboard seem to be… Japanese?”
Suto wasn’t completely sure.
[Ding—]
At that moment, the illusory panel appeared in front of him again.
There was no ad this time.
This time, it was a page that looked like an inventory.
It was empty, except for the first slot, which contained something that looked like a gift box.
Suto reached out and tapped the gift box.
[Open Beginner Gift Pack?]
[Confirm]
The gift box lit up with a burst effect.
[Obtained Identity Card x1, Talent Card x1, Gold Coin x1.]
The gift box in the inventory disappeared and was replaced by two brand-new cards.
Suto opened them one by one and checked them.
[Identity Card]
Quality: Special.
Type: Consumable.
Effect: After use, you can obtain an identity highly compatible with you in the current world, along with common sense matching that identity.
[Talent Card]
Quality: Special.
Type: Consumable.
Effect: After use, you can randomly obtain a talent highly compatible with you.
Their descriptions were clear and easy to understand.
One glance was enough to know what they were used for.
As expected of a Beginner Gift Pack.
The things it gave were exactly what Suto needed right now.
After all, as an outsider who had arrived in a new world, the first thing he needed to consider was his identity.
Only with an identity could he smoothly integrate into society.
Next was talent.
If he wanted to live a better life, he needed something that made him better than ordinary people.
As for the last gold coin…
Suto looked at the upper-left corner of the inventory.
There was an icon that looked like a wallet, followed by [1 gold coin, 0 silver coins, 0 copper coins].
Great.
Now he even had starting funds.
Although he still couldn’t afford the Devil Fruit mystery box from the ad for the time being, if he worked hard and saved enough, maybe he would get a chance in the future.
Suto tried moving his thoughts, and the inventory vanished from his eyes.
Sure enough, this panel didn’t require him to physically tap it.
He could operate it with just his thoughts.
Suto stood up from the grass.
He noticed that there was a bridge downstream along the small river.
The space beneath the bridge looked quiet, and no one was there, making it a relatively hidden place.
He should go there to use the [Identity Card] and [Talent Card] he had just received.
If he happened to draw some strange talent and caused an unusual phenomenon, it wouldn’t attract too much attention or hurt anyone nearby.
The wind by the river carried a faint chill.
Suto’s steps paused slightly.
He had actually wanted to remind that stranger that reading in the evening wasn’t very good for his eyes.
However, because he didn’t understand the language, Suto could only give up on that idea.
Although he had a Japanese name, he didn’t actually live in Japan in his past life.
The boy wearing glasses raised his head and glanced at Suto’s back, then lowered his head again and continued reading.
After arriving under the bridge, Suto saw two small wooden stools that had been left there.
There were also some leftover traces of bait on the ground.
They had probably been left behind by some fishermen.
Suto sat down on one of the small wooden stools, and with a thought, the panel appeared in front of him.
Looking at the two cards inside, Suto thought for a moment and decided to use the [Talent Card] first.
That was because the [Identity Card] would draw an identity highly compatible with him.
Originally, he had only been an ordinary person without any outstanding talent.
If he drew directly, the identity he obtained would most likely be some regular office worker connected to the field he had studied in university.
But if he drew a talent first and then drew an identity, his new identity would probably be much more suited to his new talent.
After making his decision, a golden card covered in mysterious patterns appeared in Suto’s hand.
He silently thought, “Use.”
The next moment, the card turned into countless golden motes of light and merged into his body.
[You have obtained the Epic-grade Talent: Death Declaration.]
Suto lowered his head and looked at his reflection on the river’s surface.
The face staring back at him had suddenly become much younger, belonging to a handsome highschool boy with short black hair, clear black eyes, and refined features that still carried the freshness of youth.
Yet his body was already tall and well-proportioned, standing around 180 centimeters, making the strange return to adolescence feel even more unreal.
…
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