The screen stopped for a second.
Then—
*Transaction Successful.*
Rui blinked. "Wait… what? That's it?"
No loading screen. No confirmation email. Just those two glowing words pulsing softly in the middle of his monitor.
He frowned, leaning closer. "That was… fast."
Then, a small file began to auto-download — drexus.acc085.exe.
The file finished downloading almost instantly, the icon shimmered faintly on his desktop — a sleek black hexagon with a silver infinity loop inside.
DREXUS.acc085 pulsed once, like a heartbeat. Rui hovered his cursor over it.
For a moment, he hesitated. The rational part of him screamed not to. That this was dangerous, stupid even. It could be a virus, a scam, something that would fry his system or worse.
But the other part of him — the one that dreamed of sailing across the Grand Line, standing beside the Strawhat Crew — whispered louder: What if it's real?
He clicked.
When Rui opened it, a minimal login screen appeared:
[Welcome to Drexus Neural Interface]
Below it, in sleek silver letters: *Live where limits end.*
A chill crept up his spine. It looked… too professional to be some underground game.
He typed in his email. It auto-filled with his real name before he even finished typing.
[Account linked successfully.]
[Welcome, Rui Macher.]
Then another line appeared, blinking softly:
[Enter your player name.]
Rui hovered over the [Fill your player name] box, fingers trembling.He wanted something simple…But his chest tightened at the thought — this wasn't just any username. This could be the name that defined him in another world.
He typed one letter… then erased it.
Another idea. Gone.
Finally, he exhaled, whispering under his breath,
"I want the strawhat's to acknowledge me in my real name."
He typed quickly, *R-U-I-M-A-C-H-E-R...*
But his finger slipped on the keyboard.
*R-U-I-N…*
He blinked: "..."
"Oh no—wait, I meant Macher!" he muttered, trying to backspace. But for some reason, the game wouldn't let him delete the last letter.
He stared at it for a second.
It was weirdly funny. He had accidentally made his username Ruin, and there was no going back.
A small notification popped up:
[Username confirmed: Ruin]
"Well... guess that's me now," he whispered.
It felt right. Not because it sounded cool — but because it was honest. His life had been nothing but fragments of what it could've been. If he was going to start over, he wanted to own it.
After setting up the profile, he hesitated for a heartbeat, then tapped the Play button anyway. The interface responded immediately.
[Neural sync initializing…]
[Do not turn off your device.]
"Neural… sync?" Rui muttered, frowning. He hadn't connected any headset, no cables, nothing—
Then the laptop's screen rippled. The silver infinity symbol started rotating, its light spilling out from the display like liquid metal. Rui jerked back, eyes wide, but the glow only grew brighter, filling the entire room with blinding blue.
"What the hell—"
[Neural pattern sync in progress. Please remain still.]
"Wait, what do you mean sync—" he started, but a sharp, tingling sensation shot through his temples. His vision blurred. The hum deepened until it felt like it was vibrating through his bones.
His limbs felt heavy, distant, as if gravity had suddenly doubled. Panic crept in. "I—can't—move…" he whispered, his voice catching in his throat.
Then the screen flared bright:
[Neural Pattern Syncing: Successful]
[Environment Calibration... Complete]
[Memory Stabilization... Complete]
[Searching Memories...]
[Success]
Rui's pulse raced. He wanted to shut the laptop, slam it closed, anything—but his hands were frozen on the keyboard.
And then—
[Searching for desired world...]
[Target world identified: ONE PIECE UNIVERSE]
[Generating environment...]
[World creation complete]
"Wait, how does it even know what I wanted?" he shouted but his voice cannot be heard by even himself.
The answer came in another line of text—
[Desire-based simulation detected. Neural imprint matched with Subject's dream frequency.]
Rui's eyes widened. "Dream frequency…?" His voice trembled. "This can't be real or might be real."
A soft chime echoed through the room.
[Connection established.]
[Please relax your mind. Synchronizing reality parameters…]
The cursor blinked once on the dark screen, then the text shifted again:
[Sending the player to destination]
The air around Rui seemed to thicken. The glow from the laptop wasn't just light anymore—it felt alive, humming against his skin, tugging at something inside his head.
Everything inside him snapped. His vision fractured into a thousand shards of light, his thoughts scattering like sand in a storm.
The walls of his room began to melt away—first the posters, then the desk, then the entire apartment. The neon glow outside his window twisted into waves of color, swirling faster and faster until he couldn't tell what was up or down.
He reached out blindly, but his fingers brushed nothing but air. His voice was gone. His breath too.
Then came a single, final line:
[Welcome to DREXUS.]
A blinding flash swallowed him whole.
And just like that—
Rui Macher was gone.
Rui Macher was gone.
Rui's vision spun like someone had shaken a snow globe. He flailed for balance and—splat!—landed face-first in something wet and slimy. Spluttering, he pushed himself up, wiping goo off his hoodie.
"…What the—"
This wasn't his room.
Before him stretched an endless blue sea, the waves glittering beneath a bright sun. He was standing on a sandy shore, the ocean breeze brushing his face.
"WOAH!" he shouted, spinning around in disbelief. "Is… is this really the One Piece world?" His grin widened. "I'm actually here?! This is insane! If Grandpa was still alive, he'd die again hearing this!"
He crouched down, scooping a handful of sand. Bringing it close, he inhaled deeply.
"The sand of the One Piece universe…" he murmured dramatically, then grinned wider. "It even smells real!"
Throwing his arms up to the sky, he shouted, "YES! This is real! I'm really gonna meet our generation's idol!"
A nearby bush rustled. Rui froze.
Then a weird little creature hopped out — a chicken with a turtle shell and three eyes, blinking curiously at him.
"Hi-hi-hi! New human!" it chirped, spinning in circles on its stubby legs.
Rui blinked, grinning. "Oh my god, even the animals here are adorable—"
Rui didn't know it was a man-eater. He wanted to be friendly—until the hybrid, chicken-looking turtle circled its tongue around its mouth, saliva dripping endlessly. With a hungry gleam in its eyes, it muttered, "Delicious… human."
"Wait, what?"