23
To Make a Name for Oneself, One Needs a Background
Mystic Space Calendar Year 1, November 2nd.
Bleach Luke awakened his zanpakuto Gui Xu, intending to raise an army in rebellion and proclaim himself emperor of the world.
Four Lukes immediately shared the backlash, simultaneously drawing four Gui Xu blades, surrounding and suppressing Bleach Luke. The entire battle lasted only three minutes and seventeen seconds. Bleach Luke was defeated and demoted to a bottom-tier Luke, stripped of political rights for life.
This conflict would later be recorded in history as—the Gui Xu Rebellion.
Listed in the Mystic Space Chronicles as Entry 01.
…
East Blue, Windmill Village, Harbor.
Luke attempted for the twenty-first time to summon his zanpakuto in the real world, but failed.
Within the mystic space, the Lukes’ abilities faced no restrictions, and they could materialize their zanpakuto. However, in the real world, summoning a zanpakuto seemed to require a medium.
“Screw this! Kurosaki Ichigo got his Shinigami powers and immediately wielded Zangetsu. Why can’t I use Gui Xu?” Luke couldn’t help but flip off the sky.
Don’t talk to him about protagonist privileges, about being a trinity hybrid, or about Yhwach’s contingency plans—he wasn’t listening!
If a zanpakuto is one’s other half, it should be available on demand. Why would he need an Asauchi? Were all these prerequisites even meant for humans?
Oh, right—they’re for Shinigami.
But that’s still no excuse!
Even certain body parts can be accessed anytime—why can’t a zanpakuto? If it can’t even manage that, isn’t it worse than those parts?
“Tch, not even half as good as my little brother.”
Luke grumbled as he left a negative review, then picked up Falcon at his waist. “Isn’t our little guy here cooler than that crappy blade?”
Falcon transmitted a faint sense of displeasure. Although its master was praising it, it clearly sensed his insincerity—he was practically drooling over the zanpakuto, itching to lick it a couple of times!
And unlike when he’d licked it in front of his previous owner just to make him dislike it, this time, his master genuinely wanted to kneel down and lick that zanpakuto!
Feeling the sword sulking in his hand, Luke frowned and immediately slapped Falcon twice through its scabbard.
“Don’t throw a tantrum on me. If you want to act up, at least know your place.”
What tier of sword did it think it was? To deserve getting angry, it should at least be on the level of Mjolnir or Stormbreaker.
After seeing the zanpakuto, Luke had lost all affection for Falcon, which he’d once coveted.
It was just a substitute until he got his hands on a zanpakuto.
Falcon: All the love and time we shared these past days—it was all for nothing!
It might not be human, but its master was truly a dog. If provoked a couple more times, it would consider learning from the notorious Demon Blade Kitetsu next door and rebel against its master every now and then.
Walking inland from the harbor, Luke spotted signs of people in the distance. He smoothed his hair, straightened his clothes, cleared his throat, and his handsome, heroic face instantly took on an upright and righteous expression, appearing exceptionally pure and innocent.
At first glance, he looked like an honest, good kid.
But before he could take more than a couple of pretentious steps, he saw a small figure sprinting toward him.
“Gomu Gomu no…”
“Headbutt!”
Two hands, stretched like rubber bands to their limit, grabbed Luke’s shoulders, followed by a teenager launching himself forward.
The boy wore a red vest and blue shorts, with straw sandals that exposed his toes, and a yellow straw hat on his head.
BAM!
After colliding with Luke’s sturdy frame, the boy’s body flew backward from the tremendous recoil, only to swing forward again by clinging tightly to Luke’s arm.
Despite such a massive impact, the boy remained completely unharmed.
Luffy—son of the revolutionary Dragon, grandson of the naval hero Garp, investment target of one of the Four Emperors Shanks, and possessor of the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Nika Model.
What does it mean to be the chosen one?
The three protagonists of the big three shonen series all seemed to be about hot-bloodedness at first, but in the end, it all came down to their damn backgrounds. It just goes to show that in this day and age, talent and hard work are all bullshit if you want to get ahead.
You still need connections up top!
“Yo, Luffy, long time no see.”
Running into an acquaintance right after returning, Luke greeted him with a smile. Before his cheat code arrived, he had deliberately built a good relationship with Luffy. Winning him over was simple—just feed him some meat and juice, and his favorability would skyrocket.
The friendship of protagonists was so easy to earn, especially with a hot-blooded fool like him. Except for that useless mafia boss with “hyper intuition”—that kind of person could easily tell if someone approaching had ulterior motives.
Actually, those days of grinding favorability were quite nostalgic. The loud, energetic kid was fun to be around, just a bit mischievous. Toss him a couple pieces of meat, and he’d be more obedient than anyone.
But Luffy seemed to ignore his greeting, hugging him while looking left and right as if searching for something.
“Luffy, what are you looking for? Dad…Pah, bro will help you find it.”
Luke patted his face, turning it toward himself.
“So weird, you smell like Luke, but I can’t see you anywhere?”
Luffy released Luke, twitching his nose, his small eyes filled with big confusion.
Are you a dog?
“I am Luke.” Luke pulled Luffy’s cheeks outward with a face full of exasperation. The highly elastic rubber man was easily stretched to an exaggerated length before Luke let go.
Snap!
Luffy’s face snapped back into place completely unharmed. He grinned and slapped Luke’s thigh, “Hahaha, no way, you’re definitely not Luke.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Luke looks super ordinary, totally different from you.”
“…”
Thump!
“Ouch!”
A large bump swelled on Luffy’s head, making him clutch it in a defensive crouch as he looked pitifully at Luke.
“That hurt even more than when Grandpa hits me. How’d you do that?”
“That was a soul-piercing punch. Not bad, right?”
Luke blew imaginary smoke off his fist. The energy possessing the triple attributes of chakra, Qi, and spiritual pressure worked remarkably well against opponents like Luffy who were immune to pure physical attacks.
“So you really are Luke? Wow, how’d you suddenly get so handsome? Ooh, such a cool sword—can I play with it for a while?”
Once confirming the person before him was Luke, Luffy’s mood visibly skyrocketed. He showed immense interest in the changes and items on Luke.
“Hey, why do you feel taller?” Luffy measured with his hand and noticed something off. “Darn it, I could reach your belly button before, but now that I’ve grown taller, I can only reach your crotch.”
Another 160cm shorty—Luffy would need two more years to reach 172cm.
Thump!
Another bump stacked atop the previous one. Luffy crouched defensively again, clutching his head. “Why did you hit me again?”
“Beat you when I feel like it, do I need to pick a date?” Luke had no expectations that this guy—who could so naturally show his lower half to women upon arriving at Amazon Lily—would have any sensitivity about such matters.
Unlike Naruto, a genius who developed the Harem Jutsu at a young age, a simple-minded guy like Luffy had never given any thought to male-female relationships. Over a thousand chapters, not once had he shown an embarrassed blush—even when the Pirate Empress threw herself at him, he felt nothing.
Hiss… Thinking about it this way, Boa Hancock really had it tough, Luke mused while stroking his chin. The mighty Pirate Empress was stuck in unrequited love—someone ought to save her.
He had zero resistance to girls who appeared noble and aloof to outsiders but were shy and adorable in private.
“Luke, Luke, what are you spacing out for?”
Luffy waved his hand back and forth in front of Luke’s face.
“Thinking about how to cuck—ahem, nothing.” Guiltily, Luke hoisted Luffy onto his shoulders. “To celebrate my return, I’m treating you to a feast today.”
“Really? I want meat! Lots and lots of meat!” The moment Luffy heard about food, his entire being lit up with joy. “Luke, you’re the best!”
“Right? I think so too.” Luke nodded with feigned seriousness. “Eat to your heart’s content. Your big bro’s covering all your expenses today—consider it making it up to you.”
“Why make it up? Did you do something bad to me?” Luffy asked foolishly.
Luke patted his no-longer-aching conscience and declared righteously, “Of course not.”
He just planned to take out a few Celestial Dragons before Luffy set sail—nothing more, purely because he couldn’t stand those parasites!
Thanks to the King of Cuteness and Brother Gao for their monthly votes.
Climbed a few more spots on the New Releases chart—just a bit more to squeeze into the overall ranking of the Infinite Multiverse category. I successfully signed the contract on the 25th, got into the system on the 26th, and that’s when the stats started picking up. To achieve this in just a few days—feeling a little proud (￣▽￣)*. Though I doubt anyone specifically looks for new Infinite Multiverse authors on the New Releases chart, so the traffic diversion effect isn’t really significant.