Dud woke up to the notification and absentmindedly engaged it, getting
[Portal Creation]
|Epic Ability|
Allows you to create portals to anywhere in your sensory range or anywhere you have stepped foot into; the size of the portal can be altered, but the portal cannot be closed while something is inside of it.
Dud read it and started laughing hysterically. Dud calmed down after a few minutes, wiping his tears and still chuckling, equipped it to his second slot, and portaled to the bathroom. Going from sleeping to standing, he was in his mind invincible.
Dud, after finishing up, portaled to the restaurant, had breakfast, and portaled to the shipyard and paid for his ship and made arrangements with Hank, agreeing to meet him that night to buy him that drink and his classes on maintaining his new ship.
Dud Portaled to the clearing, switched [Portal Creation] with [Blood Manipulation], and summoned the [Blood Sword]. Dud felt the changes more clearly now, having recovered and not panicking. The sword was more responsive, and as long as he held it, he could change its shape, but it took some of his focus. Dud played around with it but decided he needed a teacher and summoned SC.
"Hey," he greeted the stoic knight, who gave no response but simply stared at him.
"Right," muttered Dud, smacking his own face. "Teach me how to master this, please," commanded Dud, lifting the [Blood Sword]. SC lifted its own sword and got into a stance better suited for Dud and the [Blood Sword], and Dud mimicked it.
Dud and SC spent the rest of the morning sparring, where SC corrected his technique and gave him experience. Dud then had lunch and spent the evening in the shipyard learning how to maintain a ship and learning various things about living in the sea from the many sailors and shipwrights present in the shipyard.
Just like that, 2 weeks had passed, and Dud was as ready as he could be to begin his journey.
"Thanks for everything!" yelled Dud as he waved good bye at the shipwrights that were there to see him off. Dud had named his boat Pandora because he had no idea of what he would discover.
Dud made sure everything was in place and he wasn't going off course and spent some time relaxing and enjoying the wind in his hair. He was planning on exploring most of the North Blue before heading to the Grand Line; he had no grand ambition; he just wanted to explore and visit the beautiful and fantastical places the world has to offer.
Dud had his lunch and decided he was far enough away that no one would see him manipulate the sea. He tied a rope to the mast and jumped overboard, activating the [Wheel of Mahoraga] and [Water Manipulation].
Dud woke up on the shore of a deserted island buried in sand; he was in extreme pain, and his throat felt like sandpaper. The moment he tried to stand, he was overcome with dizziness and fell back on the sand. He summoned a flask containing fresh water and nearly drowned himself as he drank it.
Dug lay on the sand recovering his strength. "Wha... What happened?" he asked the sky, his voice barely a whisper and very rough. He brought his hands to his face; they were no longer muscular and looked like a skeleton wearing super tight synthetic skin. Dud slowly raised himself to the point where he was sitting up and felt dread.
He was surrounded by what remained of his boat, which looked like a giant had squished it into a ball and thrown it away carelessly. Dud slowly rose and checked the wreckage and found nothing that would clue him in to what happened. After a few more minutes of checking, he sat down, leaning on one of the large pieces of wreckage, and summoned a fruit and ate it since he doubted he would be able to eat solid food anytime soon.
With nothing immediately urgent, he opened the notification for the Gacha that was pestering him.
{Achievement: Independence!
1X Diamond Ticket}
{Achievement: Piss off the benevolent spirit of the sea! How did you even manage that?
1X Legendary Ticket}
{Achievement: Die. Don't do that again.
1X Diamond Ticket, all abilities locked for 1 month}
{Curse: May you live in interesting times.
Effect: Each day spent not working to resolve this curse attracts increasingly dangerous crises to you; making progress towards resolution grants you boons, luck, and the tools necessary to resolve this curse.
Resolution: Reach Laugh Tale.
Reward: One femto request of ነⶴ፪ነጋቻ, the great maker.
{Curse: Partial curse of the sea.
Effect: You cannot eat a devil fruit; you will permanently die.
Resolution: none.
Reward: 1X Gold Ticket}
{Achievement: Get Cursed.
1X Platinum Ticket, Curse Gacha unlocked}
{Achievement: Be resurrected; this is the last time.
1X Mythical Ticket.}
{Achievement: lose an ability.
1X Platinum Ticket, all entries that can cause this fiasco have been removed.}
{Achievement: New Island.
1X Bronze ticket.}
Dud read through the notification list and laughed. He laughed like a madman, or rather, like someone who just survived something insane. He got up still laughing, still in pain and desperation in his eyes, and threw himself into the waves, not bothering to swim, and was promptly thrown back to the beach; he might have gone temporarily insane.
Dud lay on the beach and cried in relief, his mind repeating, 'I am not hated by the ocean' over and over. Dud did not remember his life from before he woke up in this world. He knew he was reincarnated; he knew what would be considered common knowledge by new world standards but nothing from before he woke up on that beach on the first day except one thing: he loved the ocean.
If the ocean were a person, then he would be the biggest fan, admirer, and devotee. He wanted to sail every inch of the surface, explore every nook and cranny of the ocean floor, and catalog every single life form to be found in it, and so so! much more. He would rather die than be hated by the one thing that gave him the will to live.
Dud drifted into unconsciousness from a combination of his weakness and emotional breakdown. Dud woke up to the sound of waves lapping the beach and found himself floating away from the island. Dud, with a jolt, quickly swam back to the island and collapsed in exhaustion.
Dud summoned SC, who appeared with rusted armor mirroring Dud's weakened state. SC helped Dud find shelter under a tree and disappeared. Dud then summoned Herbie.
(Cheerful beep turning worried)
"Hey bud, yeah, I am fine now, just exhausted." Dud said with a smile.
(Worried beep)
"It's complicated," said Dud before telling the sentient car everything that happened to him since the first day, one and a half months ago. "And that's how I ended up like this," he finished pointing to himself as he slowly drank from a canteen.
(soothing beep)
"Yeah, at least it can't happen again. Can you stay with me? I don't want to be alone right now." Said Dud, his voice going quieter.
(Reassuring Beep)
"Thanks," Dud said, summoning Orochi. It was a massive white anaconda that stared down at him with emotionless eyes. Dud felt that the snake was more like a robot; it would obey his orders, but it did not have a will of its own.
"Protect us." Dud ordered, and the snake loosely coiled around him and the car.
(Curious beep)
"Yeah, it is massive." Dud agreed, bringing more fruits out of his inventory and eating them.
(Beep)
"Sure, just stay close so Orochi can reach you if you are in trouble."
(Dismissive beep)
Herbie then left the coil and started exploring the tiny island they found themselves in. Dud finished eating as much as he could, which was 2 oranges, and took a look at the notifications again.
"Let's get this over with," he said to himself and engaged all tickets.
Bronze:
[Silent Steps]
|Uncommon Trait|
You naturally walk silently and softly like an assassin or a cat.
Gold:
[Nazar]
|Rare Item|
An eye-shaped blue glass charm that passively grants the user decent resistance to curses and negative energy. If the user is afflicted with an Epic rank or above curse, the Nazar will break to nullify the curse.
Platinum:
[Clock blocker]
|Epic Ability|
Worm - Allows you to freeze an object in spacetime; while frozen, the object is completely inviolable and invulnerable. Duration depends on energy spent, and freezing a stronger target requires more energy. Strong enough targets are immune to this effect.
[Iron Golem]
|Uncommon Familiar|
{HOTA} - Iron Golems created from a mix of excellent craftsmanship and magic. Iron Golems are very resistant against magic and have incredible defense paired with powerful physical abilities, being able to tear a grown man in half with ease. You start with 4 golems and are able to summon more, scaling with your maximum energy levels and physical abilities.
Diamond:
[Grimoire of the Pyromancer]
|Elite Item|
A tome containing a variety of spells about fire and flame, allowing the reader to learn fire magic from it.
[Imp]
|Legendary Ability|
Worm - People are incapable of perceiving you or acknowledging you exist; the moment someone tries to, you are wiped from their mind as long as your ability is active. This extends to even recordings; you are effectively invisible to all forms of perception, but people are still capable of deducing your existence and taking countermeasures even if they cannot remember you.
Legendary:
[Divine Hand-to-Hand Combat]
|Mythical Skill|
Your skill and talent with martial arts are something that can only be described as godly. You can learn someone's martial art just by exchanging blows with them; you can make up your martial arts on the spot that would normally take masters tens of years to come up with.
Mythical:
[New Order]
|Mythical Ability|
{MHA} - Allows you to place or decide a RULE on the world or on an object; the rule is only as strong as you are, so you cannot put in absolute commands. You can give yourself commands such as "strength" to make an object stronger or "can grab lightning" to make yourself be able to grab lightning. For the ability to work, you must know the name of the target that they associate with themselves; there is no need for it against inanimate objects. Can only place 2 orders at a time. The stronger an order, the more energy you need to expend.
Dud grinned, feeling something yell at him to go do something, but the reality of his body made sure he couldn't do anything. Dud slept resolving himself to heal and be better.