Aiden still couldn't fully process it.
How it happened? No clue.
But somehow, some ridiculous, world-shattering somehow, he was now inside the last video game he played... and inhabiting the body of the last anime character he'd watched.
Minecraft.
Zoro.
The realization made him sit down for a moment, hands resting on his knees as he stared blankly at the pixelated grass underfoot.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"I mean… seriously?" he muttered under his breath, lips curling into a disbelieving half-smile. "This kind of stuff only happens in fictions."
His fingers dug into the ground slightly. It felt real.
Crisp. Textured in a blocky sort of way. The air smelled like fresh pine. There was even birdsong in the distance. It was too vivid to be a dream. Too wrong to be real.
And yet… he was here.
"Okay. Think," he whispered, rubbing his temples.
He ran through the sequence again.
He'd watched an episode of One Piece, the "Finding Zoro" arc, specifically. Classic Zoro, getting lost somewhere he had no business being, forcing the rest of the crew to drop everything and go on a wild goose chase. He hadn't even finished the episode before booting up Minecraft, planning to build a mountain fortress. Then… sleep. Blackout.
And now this.
He looked down at his green haramaki. The three sheathed swords.
"This is actually insane," he muttered.
He remembered those memes on the internet, the ones where fans edited Zoro into random universes, Dragon Ball, Naruto, and joked about him getting lost in every one of them.
Was that what this was?
"Zoro got lost in Minecraft," Aiden chuckled dryly. "And I ended up in his body."
The more he thought about it, the dumber it sounded. But that didn't stop a stupid grin from forming on his face.
'If this is a dream, I might as well enjoy it. And if it's real…' His grin widened. 'I might as well enjoy it too.'
But that fleeting peace didn't last long.
His eyes drifted up to the sky, brilliant blue, a few scattered clouds floating lazily across it.
Morning.
Which meant, eventually, night would fall.
And in Minecraft, nightfall wasn't just "dark." It was dangerous. Hostile. Unforgiving.
Zombies. Skeletons. Spiders. Creepers.
Things that didn't care how many swords you had on your hip.
He swallowed hard.
"I need shelter. Fast."
Aiden scanned the landscape. The terrain was thick with trees, oak, if he wasn't mistaken, and grass stretched in every direction. Good news, though, that meant building materials were everywhere.
He just needed to collect them.
But... how?
His gaze shifted to the nearest tree. Thick trunk. Rough bark. No tools in sight.
In the game, players with no cutting material, just punch trees to break them.
He stared at his hand.
"Punching a tree. Yeah. Sure. Sounds smart."
He approached the nearest oak, hesitated, then balled his fist and gave it a tentative jab.
Nothing.
He tried again, harder this time. A dull thud echoed.
Still nothing, until he noticed it.
Tiny cracks beginning to spider across the surface of the bark.
His eyes widened.
"No way…"
Aiden struck again, this time with more confidence. The cracks deepened. Surprisingly, his hand didn't throb in pain. In fact, it barely stung at all.
By the sixth hit, the block popped loose from the trunk and into his hands.
He stared at the floating chunk of oak wood like it was a holy relic.
"It actually worked."
There was no time to celebrate. The sky, though still bright, was inching toward orange. He needed to build something. Anything. Even a crude dirt hut would do, but he had trees, so he could do better.
He rolled his shoulders, took a deep breath, and got to work.
The hours passed in a blur of swinging arms and splintered bark. Aiden worked like a man possessed, circling trees, breaking them down one by one. It was repetitive. Exhausting. But also… oddly therapeutic.
By the time he realized how much he had gathered, the sky was already starting to dim.
He stood amidst a loose pile of wood blocks, chest heaving from exertion.
"That seems to be all I can gather for now," he said aloud, wiping sweat from his brow.
A shimmering inventory screen floated in front of him as if in response.
=======
Inventory
Oak Wood (64)
Oak Wood (14)
=======
"Seventy-eight blocks," he murmured. "I'm either a legend… or I'm about to pass out."
His limbs felt like jelly. His muscles ached with a deep, hollow fatigue. But there was no time to rest.
The sun had dipped below the horizon.
Aiden looked up, eyes narrowing.
The warm glow was fading fast, replaced by a creeping blue, and a shadowed black just behind it.
"No, no, no, crap!" he shouted, scrambling to collect the last bits of wood.
His heart hammered in his chest.
He needed to build. Now.
And that's when he heard it.
Growwwwwllllll…
Aiden froze.
The sound slithered through the trees like a warning. Low. Guttural. Wet.
His skin prickled. The hairs on the back of his neck stood tall.
He turned slowly, eyes scanning the trees behind him.
Nothing.
But he knew he'd heard it.
Another sound echoed, closer this time.
A shuffle.
A rustle.
And then… another growl.
More distinct.
More terrifying.
"Don't be what I am thinking… please don't be what I am thinking…" he whispered, drawing the first of his three swords with trembling hands.
The metal glinted faintly in the dying light.
This was not the game anymore.
And he wasn't just some overpowered anime character.
He was Aiden.
Alone.
In the woods.
At night.
And something was coming.