Jaden lay on the ground, stared at the reward-claim option on the panel interface, and pressed it without hesitation.
To be honest, he was curious.
He wanted to know what the final completion reward of the Garp panel-[Iron Fist]-actually was.
Although he had completed a special template before, the Garp panel was clearly different from the Pickle one.
Pickle's Dragon Form was an innate ability. When Jaden completed Pickle's fusion, the final one percent-from ninety-nine to one hundred-corresponded exactly to that Dragon Form.
But Garp...
Jaden's fusion degree with Garp had already reached one hundred percent, yet Garp had no memory of anything called [Iron Fist].
Jaden already possessed everything Garp had.
Garp himself didn't know any technique by that name.
With that confusion in mind, Jaden claimed the reward.
[Iron Fist: Title-class item, proof that Monkey D. Garp defeated the ruler of the seas with his fists]
Jaden froze.
Then, as golden light washed over the panel, the description changed before his eyes.
[Iron Fist: Title-class item, proof that Jaden defeated the gods with his fists]
"I see..."
So that was it.
Iron Fist wasn't a skill.
It wasn't an item.
It didn't even provide a buff.
If anything, it was closer to an achievement. A medal. A piece of proof recorded by the system.
Seeing this, Jaden couldn't help but think back.
"Even though it hasn't been that long... compared to when I first came to this world-when I'd still rely on curses against opponents I could clearly beat, and even let other people's thoughts influence me mid-match-I really have changed."
Back then, even after fusing Jack Hanma's panel, he always found excuses to use curses.
At that time, he really was just an ordinary person who had suddenly gained power.
His mindset was cautious to the extreme. The kind that even the latent fighting instinct in his bloodline couldn't drag out. He would even lie to himself just to feel safe.
But at least-
Even then, he still had a bottom line.
He only fought in underground arenas like Kengan. Using tactics there didn't break any rules.
If he had used those same methods to gain fame in official competitions, he would probably feel embarrassed just thinking about it now.
"The purity of my past self was way too low."
And-
Jaden looked at the [Iron Fist] title again and felt oddly satisfied.
He was terrible at naming things.
When he entered Kengan, he outright plagiarized the title "Tiger." The name "Demon Spear" was something Erina came up with. Even his pen name for writing was "Kiryu Setsuna."
"When I get back, I'll check. If there's no issue, I'll have Erina change 'Demon Spear' to 'Iron Fist.'"
That should be fine.
After all, outside of the Kengan Association, most people already called him-
"The Strongest Creature on Earth."
The moment he saw the Iron Fist title, a lot of thoughts passed through his mind.
But in the end-
He just smiled.
After closing that panel, Jaden turned his attention to the new one.
[Progressive Designated Character Template: Designate a character template currently being fused. Upon completion of that template's fusion, a randomly selected character template superior to the designated one will be drawn]
This item had been used on the Garp panel.
Now that Garp's fusion was complete, he had one chance to draw a character template superior to Garp's.
So Jaden immediately initiated the draw.
He stared at the rapidly spinning wheel and felt anticipation creeping in.
"Kakarot... Kakarot..."
"The pool's smaller this time. If I get Kakarot, that'd be perfect."
He'd been looking forward to the Kakarot panel for a long time.
First-because he was strong.
Second-
Because he was cool.
Honestly, in the world Jaden was in now, whether it was fighting or playing cards, Kakarot would be absurdly well-suited.
In combat, based on everyone Jaden had met so far-including himself-none of them could beat Kakarot.
Even if you were being generous, if you put Slifer the Sky Dragon against Kakarot in a straight fight, could Slifer really win?
Maybe only if Slifer had two Tributes. Maybe.
And as for card games-
That didn't even need explaining.
From Jaden's experience reading Yu-Gi-Oh!, anyone who was good at card games needed an amazing hairstyle.
His current hairstyle wasn't enough.
But Super Saiyan hair?
That was perfect.
If you went Super Saiyan mid-duel, you'd win just from intimidation alone.
Long hair. Short hair. Hair spiking upward. Hair falling down.
A Super Saiyan had all of it.
So-
Kakarot.
Kakarot.
Please.
As those thoughts ran through his mind, the wheel began to slow.
Then slower.
Then finally-
It stopped.
[New Panel Acquired]
[Panel: Kakarot (Infant) Acquisition Successful. Fuse?]
[Yes / No]
"I got-huh?"
Jaden froze for a split second.
Then he immediately selected Yes.
There was no fusion time.
The moment he confirmed, the progress bar jumped straight to one hundred percent.
And then-
Jaden grew a monkey tail.
At the same time, his physical parameters surged upward explosively.
Jaden had already researched this.
Panel enhancement wasn't simple addition.
It was fusion.
A Frankenstein-style fusion.
At first, he had only fused Jack Hanma.
Back then, he was Jack Hanma with a hidden royal bloodline.
After Pickle, he became Jack Hanma-the Super Primitive Man-with that same bloodline.
King added a powerful heart and some inherent traits.
Then Garp contributed the Monkey family's physique, Haki, and decades of training and experience.
If you drew a line through the fusion process, the base was always bloodline.
Multiple bloodlines fused together, with conflicts, degeneration, and incompatibility completely nullified.
From that fused bloodline onward, training, injuries, and experience stacked additively.
Even the total amount of Armament Haki worked that way.
So the Kakarot (Infant) panel-
Though it was technically just the bloodline of a low-class Saiyan warrior with potential-
Because bloodline fusion came first, all subsequent experiences were applied directly to the Saiyan body.
Garp's experiences didn't stimulate the Saiyan bloodline much.
Though Garp had trained brutally and been injured countless times, for a Saiyan-
It was only decent.
Pickle and King were similar.
When Kakarot was first born, his combat power was extremely low. Adding their experiences might raise it to one hundred.
Maybe less.
But Jack Hanma was different.
Jack's training, by human standards, was insane. But compared to the Dragon Ball world, it wasn't the volume that mattered.
It was that Jack had essentially thrown away his future.
The number of times he'd come close to death was unknown.
And for a Saiyan-
Every time they recovered from near death before hitting their absolute limit, their power increased.
Combat power wasn't something Jaden could measure without a Frieza Force scouter.
He didn't know how strong he was now.
The Kakarot (Infant) panel also didn't grant techniques.
No Kamehameha.
No Instant Transmission.
No Kaio-ken.
But-
Once his energy increased, there were things a Saiyan simply knew.
Instinctively.
Jaden felt the power surge and slowly stood up.
He clenched his fists.
In an instant, invisible ki twisted around his body. His hair lifted slightly under the pressure.
He opened his right hand.
Blue lightning flickered along his wrist and flowed into his palm.
A flash of blue light erupted.
A brilliant sphere of energy formed in his hand.
He glanced around the void and spotted a large fragment of earth drifting nearby.
He raised his arm.
The sphere flew out.
Boom-
Lightning and flame exploded in the void.
The fragment of earth was instantly reduced to nothing.
Jaden felt the energy coursing through him and slowly smiled.
"Even without specialized techniques... I should be able to erase mountains or flatten entire ranges just by releasing energy now, right?"
The Kakarot Jaden kept talking about was obviously not the infant version.
But-
Even the infant version was more than enough.
-Way more than enough.