Goa Kingdom
Dadan's House
At four in the morning, Luffy woke up from his sleep.
Dadan's House was still very quiet. Outside the window, the sky had not yet shown any signs of morning. The forest surrounding the house was still dark, while the sounds of nocturnal insects could be faintly heard in the distance. Cold wind occasionally entered through the gaps in the window, causing the old curtains inside the room to move slowly.
Normally, Luffy would pull his blanket back over himself and continue sleeping until morning.
However, this time, his mind was too full.
Luffy sat on his bed while staring into the darkness outside the window. After a while, he began trying to sort through the fragments of memories he had obtained from that transmigrator.
There were countless memories, but most of them were incomplete. It felt like watching a story that constantly jumped from one part to another without any clear order. Sometimes, he would see the middle of an event without knowing how it began or how it ended. There were also memories that showed the beginning of an event, only to suddenly jump to something else before he could find out what happened next.
The order was completely chaotic as well. It felt like watching someone's life from childhood, only for that person to suddenly be in college, before the memories returned to their elementary school days again. Everything was mixed together without any clear pattern.
Even so, some fragments of those memories still provided quite useful information.
One of them was the future of this world.
The more he saw, the more Luffy felt that some of those memories had a very close connection to him. It felt like he was seeing something that would happen to himself, even though he did not truly understand everything.
He saw seven people who seemed like they would become members of his crew in the future.
Luffy did not know when or where he would meet them. However, from the fragments of memories he possessed, there was one thing he could be sure of: they all looked interesting.
And that was enough for him.
Luffy had never cared much about where someone came from or what their past was like. As long as someone was interesting and got along with him, he would not mind inviting them to sail together.
However, not everything he saw made him happy.
The smile on Luffy's face slowly disappeared when another memory appeared.
Going Merry.
Their first ship.
In that fragment of memory, the Going Merry could no longer continue its journey. The ship suffered increasingly severe damage until it was eventually impossible to use anymore.
In the end, it had to sink into the middle of the sea.
Luffy remained silent for quite a long time as he remembered that scene.
For some reason, simply seeing it as a fragment of memory was already enough to make his chest feel uncomfortable. The Going Merry would become their first ship, the ship that would carry him and his friends on their journey.
He did not want that to happen.
Because of that, Luffy began thinking of a way to change it.
Fortunately, he already had an idea.
He wanted to make the ship spirit of the Going Merry eat a Devil Fruit so that Merry could continue traveling with them. The idea came to him after remembering something about Spandam giving a Devil Fruit to his sword.
If an object could eat a Devil Fruit, then perhaps a ship spirit could do the same.
Luffy did not yet know whether his idea would truly work, but he could think about that later. For now, he continued searching through the other fragments of memories.
The further he looked into the future, the more strange things he found.
For some reason, his future self seemed to always become involved with various institutions belonging to the World Government, the place where his grandfather worked.
Enies Lobby.
Impel Down.
And the last one was Marine Headquarters.
In one fragment of memory, Luffy even saw himself fighting against the Marines there. From what he could understand, it seemed that he had gone to that place to save someone.
However, the memory was far too incomplete.
He did not know who the person he wanted to save was. All he knew was that the person seemed to be so important to him that his future self was willing to go to a place like that.
Luffy scratched his head and sighed.
"Too much is missing."
He did not like seeing something so incomplete. If only those fragments of memories had been more complete, perhaps he could have known what would truly happen in the future.
However, after seeing several battles in those memories, Luffy realized something more important.
He would face many powerful people.
And some of them were far stronger than he was right now.
Luffy did not want to wait until all of that truly happened before beginning to prepare himself. He still had one year before turning seventeen and beginning his journey as a pirate.
During that one year, he would train as hard as possible.
After making that decision, Luffy turned his attention to the System he had just obtained.
So far, he had only learned that the System could display his status and some information about himself. However, after examining it further, he discovered two other functions.
Inventory and Simulation.
Inventory was quite easy to understand. That function allowed him to store objects inside a special space and retrieve them whenever he wanted.
Luffy immediately felt that ability was quite useful.
That way, he would no longer need to carry too many things whenever he went somewhere. Even food could probably be stored inside it.
However, the next function was far more interesting to him.
Simulation allowed Luffy to enter a virtual world that was ninety-nine percent similar to the real world. He could do anything inside it, while time in the outside world and the simulation space had a ratio of one to three.
One hour in the outside world was equal to three hours inside the Simulation.
In addition, if Luffy had ever touched someone, the System could copy that person into the Simulation space to be used as an opponent.
Luffy's eyes immediately lit up when he understood that function.
"That's interesting."
He could fight against powerful people without being afraid of dying. If he lost, he only needed to try again. He could continue fighting and search for ways to defeat his opponents without having to risk his life in the real world.
For Luffy, that was the most interesting function of the entire System.
With that ability, he could become stronger much faster.
However, before trying the Simulation, there was something else he wanted to do first.
Luffy looked at the System screen in front of him.
"Open the beginner's gift."
Ding!
Congratulations! You have obtained the Rokushiki Training Book.
Congratulations! You have obtained the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.
Congratulations! You have obtained Garp's Fist Training Notes.
Luffy's eyes immediately widened when he read the final reward.
"Grandpa's training book?"
He stared at the screen suspiciously.
"Can that really be trusted?"
His doubts were quite reasonable.
All this time, Garp's training methods had often felt more like his grandfather was looking for new ways to make Luffy suffer. Luffy could still remember the various strange training exercises his grandfather had put him through since childhood, so it was difficult for him to imagine that the old man actually possessed a proper and organized training book.
Even so, Luffy still decided to examine all of his rewards one by one.
Rokushiki Training Book
The book explained how to gradually train in Rokushiki, the techniques used by the Marines.
Devil Fruit Encyclopedia
A book containing information about Devil Fruits that had appeared in the world.
Luffy immediately became interested in the second book.
He wanted to know more about the Devil Fruit he possessed himself.
After opening the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, Luffy began turning the pages one by one. At first, he was quite relaxed, but as time passed, his expression slowly began to change.
Nothing.
He checked the pages he had already gone through again. After that, he even started from the very first page once more to make sure that he had not missed anything.
The result remained the same.
There was not a single piece of information about the Gomu Gomu no Mi.
There was also no explanation about the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika, the name of the Devil Fruit that the System had previously shown him.
Luffy scratched his head.
"Is this book incomplete?"
He looked at the pages in his hands again before frowning.
"Or could it be that my Devil Fruit has only appeared for the first time?"
The more he thought about it, the more curious Luffy became about his own Devil Fruit. However, since he could not find any information that could help him, he eventually decided to look for the answer later.
Besides, he might be able to ask Garp.
His grandfather had sailed the seas for many years and worked for the Marines. Perhaps he knew something about Devil Fruits or the Haki that the System had previously shown him.
Luffy himself had already tried asking the System several times to determine whether the thing possessed intelligence.
However, there was no answer.
After trying repeatedly, he finally understood that the System only provided functions and information. He had to find the answers himself for the various things he did not yet know.
With that in mind, Luffy opened the final reward.
Garp's Fist Training Notes
Personal notes containing brutal physical training methods used by a legendary Marine soldier. There are no complicated techniques inside. There is only one simple principle. If your body is not strong enough, punch something until your body becomes stronger.
Luffy read the description with a blank expression.
Then he slowly nodded.
"Yeah, this definitely belongs to Grandpa."
The description fit too perfectly.
Luffy then began reading the contents of the book more seriously. At first, he thought the book only contained brutal training methods like the ones Garp usually used, but after examining several pages, he realized that its contents were far more organized than he had imagined.
The notes contained various clear physical training methods that appeared quite efficient.
Perhaps this really was how Marine soldiers at Headquarters trained their physical strength.
Without realizing it, time continued to pass.
When Luffy turned toward the window again, the sky that had previously been dark had already begun to brighten. The morning sunlight slowly entered the room and fell across his face.
Luffy narrowed his eyes before smiling.
He already knew what he had to do today.
First, he would go into the forest to look for food.
After that, he would study the System further.
And of course...
Start training.