Sea Circle Calendar 1512, December 1
"Xiaoliang, a customer ordered stir-fried chicken. Go kill the bird in the kitchen and chop it into chunks for me."
"On it, Uncle Nar!" Yan Xiaoliang took the cleaver from the head chef. Two years in—one single perk of being a transmigrator, zilch. Just wild veggies and dried fish with Uncle Obito up in the hills. Watching his body finally fill out, he'd asked a few days ago to work at the village diner—room and board included. Uncle Obito could only sigh and nod at the scrawny kid.
"Xiaoliang, first time killing a chicken? If you're scared, let Uncle Nar handle it," the chef offered, eyeing the zoned-out teen.
"No need, Uncle Nar. First time, sure—but just wait for your prepped ingredients." Yan Xiaoliang gripped the knife, grabbed a hen with grim resolve, shut his eyes, and brought the blade down.
DING
"What was that?"
Binding transmigrator identity…Name: Yan Xiaoliang (Gol D. Yujie) Age: Nearly 18 Stamina: 3 (normal adult: 5) Strength: 2 Speed: 2 Defense: 2 Spirit: 7 Armament Haki: None Observation Haki: None Conqueror's Haki: None Swordsmanship: Too scared to kill a chicken—total rookie Devil Fruit: None Absorbed Item: Chicken Essence 0.01%
Confusion. Euphoria. Trembling. Yan Xiaoliang stared at the cleaver through hot tears, nearly planting a kiss on the steel. Two years of wood-chopping, training, hustling—all to trigger the system. And it took one chicken? What the hell have I been wasting my life on?
Focusing on the 0.01% Chicken Essence, he asked, "System, what's Chicken Essence?"
DING. Host, Chicken Essence restores spirit, energy, and focus. Keep absorbing!
He tapped it. A faint breeze swept through him; the day's exhaustion melted like sipping room-temperature water under a blazing summer sun. (Why not ice-cold cola? Dude, it's 0.01%—dream on.)
"Looks like I've got a path to power now."
A month flashed by.
Name: Yan Xiaoliang (Gol D. Yujie) Age: 18 Stamina: 3 Strength: 2.5 Speed: 2 Defense: 2 Spirit: 7.1 Swordsmanship: Barely kitchen-knife competent—still a rookie Absorbed Items:
Chicken Essence 7% (minor spirit recovery) Duck Buoyancy 4% (random duck-like float; max level = float on water, ignores Devil Fruit weakness) Bovine Might 5% (every 1% = permanent +0.1 Strength)
The kitchen's pickings were slim. With the diner owner's blessing, he transferred to the village slaughterhouse.
Day after day, month after month—chickens, ducks, cattle, pigs.
Absorbed Items:
Chicken Essence 100% (maxed; restores spirit for self/others; replenishes via sleep) Duck Buoyancy 100% (maxed; float on water, Devil Fruit rules ignored) Bovine Might 100% (maxed; permanent +10 Strength) Porcine Stomach 100% (maxed; convert food into stamina)
Another year gone. Hard-working Yan Xiaoliang turned 19 and decided to leave the village he'd called home for three years.
Staring at the vast sea, he clenched his fist. "It's late 1513 now. Only a few years left until Ace's execution. I'll tell Uncle Obito—time to set sail."