Chapter 124: New Group Member!
RawrSoFierce: [image] [image] [image] — Beat up a giant fox today. Pretty sure foxes this size are rare, right?
The three images Ryū had posted to the Dimensional Chat Group were high-definition shots of Kurama's most undignified moments: its face caved in and eyes rolled back; the full-body faceplant crater; every humiliating detail in crystal clarity.
A portion of Kurama's lifetime collection of embarrassing moments, immortalized forever.
Yes. Ryū was, in fact, a monster.
* * *
Kaguya-sama: Huh? Is that a fox? It has nine tails.
Kaguya-sama: Could this be the legendary nine-tailed fox spirit?
Eternally Seventeen: My my~ Looks like a big male fox. Bit rough around the edges, though—not handsome enough for my Ran.
Eternally Seventeen: Although… something about it seems off. Its body feels like it's made of pure energy. Whoever created it knew what they were doing.
RawrSoFierce: You're right—it's a body composed entirely of a special energy. You can beat it all day and it won't bleed. Even when you knock its teeth out, the teeth dissolve back into pure energy.
Edward Newgate: Gurararara! Looks like someone got absolutely demolished.
Crazy Diamond: Its entire skull is caved in by half. Any normal creature would be long dead, right? But it doesn't seem to have actually kicked the bucket.
Eternally Seventeen: The real question is whether fox meat is edible.
RawrSoFierce: …
* * *
If Kurama ever learned that someone in the Dimensional Chat Group was discussing whether its flesh was edible, one could only imagine the existential crisis that would follow.
Especially since the person asking could, in all likelihood, pin Kurama to the ground and grind it into the dirt.
Yakumo Yukari's combat power absolutely eclipsed the Nine-Tails. Not even close.
Could you actually eat the Nine-Tails, though? Its flesh is pure chakra. A normal person ingesting raw Nine-Tails chakra would probably die horribly. The only canon precedent was the Gold and Silver Brothers—Kinkaku and Ginkaku—who survived being eaten by the Nine-Tails and emerged with partial Tailed Beast transformation abilities. If memory serves.
* * *
RawrSoFierce: By the way, @WolfKingOfQingQingGrasslands — any interest in this? It's a local specialty from my world.
RawrSoFierce: [image] — These are called Sharingan. At max upgrade they supposedly evolve into something called the Rinnegan, which has world-ending power.
Eternally Seventeen: World-ending EYES and the Admin just… gouged them out?!
RawrSoFierce: …These are just the lowest-tier one-tomoe Sharingan.
WolfKingOfQingQingGrasslands: *surfaces*
WolfKingOfQingQingGrasslands: Eyes that can upgrade to world-ending power? And they're a LOCAL SPECIALTY of the Admin's world? Of COURSE I'm interested! Are you giving them to me??
RawrSoFierce: Yeah, they're useless to me. Might as well send them your way for research.
RawrSoFierce: Red packet sent via DM.
WolfKingOfQingQingGrasslands: Received! Admin is the GOAT!
* * *
The Sharingan genuinely was useless to Ryū at the moment. Operating them required chakra, and he had no chakra whatsoever. Was he supposed to learn chakra refinement for the sake of a single-tomoe Sharingan?
Or burn Chat Group Points to somehow generate chakra from nothing?
Neither option makes sense. And a one-tomoe Sharingan isn't remotely interesting enough to justify the investment.
Better to hand them to Wolffy for research. Maybe the wolf genius would find something useful in the cross-dimensional biology.
* * *
Just as Ryū was about to log off, a crisp notification chimed—and a new system message appeared in the chat.
Every member could see it.
[Ding! "Admiral Kizaru" has joined the Dimensional Chat Group!]
Ryū: ?!
What the—?
* * *
Admiral Kizaru: This is… a Devil Fruit user? Someone's causing trouble inside Marine Headquarters. Ohhh my, how scary~ But a fruit that can create illusions… that's actually a pretty nice ability.
Admiral Kizaru: I wonder which Marine is playing a prank on this old man?
Admiral Kizaru: Or maybe a pirate snuck into HQ?
Wandering Little Planet: Pirates, Marines, Devil Fruits—that's a lot of keywords at once.
Kaguya-sama: Devil Fruits… shouldn't we @Whitebeard-ojisan?
Kaguya-sama: And probably @Admin-san too!
Admiral Kizaru: Whitebeard? Admin? Whitebeard… are you people from the Whitebeard Pirates? Pirates… oh my, how frightening~
Admiral Kizaru: Does this mean the Whitebeard Pirates want to wage war on Marine HQ? But it's after hours… what a hassle.
Edward Newgate: Gurararara! An interesting brat has joined.
Admiral Kizaru: Edward Newgate. So it really is you… Whitebeard.
RawrSoFierce: …
RawrSoFierce: @Admiral Kizaru — New members should read the Group Bulletin. It has everything you need to know. And we're not the Whitebeard Pirates—although Whitebeard is in the group, yes.
* * *
Meanwhile, in the One Piece world—the first half of the Grand Line, Marine Headquarters—
Borsalino, who had just clocked out and was heading home, slowly furrowed his sparse eyebrows. His typically languid expression sharpened into something resembling actual thought.
His formidable Observation Haki swept the area around him.
Nothing. No trace of an intruder.
That person just called Whitebeard by his real name—right in front of Whitebeard—and the old man didn't even react. Like it was normal?
Staring at the bizarre chat interface floating in his consciousness, Kizaru's mind filled with questions.
Something called a "Group Bulletin." Where do I find that, again?
Everything about this feels strange. But if these were really Whitebeard Pirates, they wouldn't be making small talk—they'd have attacked already, right?
While Kizaru stood there in confused contemplation, a familiar voice came from behind: "Borsalino? It's past quitting time—why are you still here?"
He turned. A tall man—yawning hugely, looking perpetually half-asleep—stood behind him.
"Oh… it's you, Kuzan. Just thinking about something. I'll head out in a bit."
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