Plug-in, ACTIVATE!!!
Potato stew with beef.
That was the meal Nami and Nojiko prepared for him.
Nothing fancy—
but the aroma rising from the bowl made Adrian's stomach growl on the spot.
Beside it was a piece of bread, clearly meant to be dipped into the stew.
"You two didn't poison this, right?"
Adrian asked before even taking a bite.
At his words, both sisters stiffened.
"N-No! Absolutely not! Boss, if you don't believe us, I can take the first bite!"
Nami blurted quickly.
She could feel the murderous pressure coming from Zabuza and Yoriichi—
even though they stood silently behind Adrian.
If she didn't explain herself immediately,
she really might die right here.
Truthfully, they had considered poisoning him.
Just a mild sleeping drug—
neither sister had the nerve to kill anyone.
But Nami shot the idea down.
There were two of them—
even if one was fooled,
the other would instantly kill the sisters.
Not worth the risk.
"Good."
Adrian nodded and started eating.
Poison?
He wasn't worried.
Nami was a thief, not a killer—
and her heart knot with Arlong wasn't undone yet.
Trying to poison him?
She didn't have that resolve.
Nojiko—same story.
And even if they tried something as mild as sleeping powder,
he had Zabuza and Yoriichi behind him.
If the sisters attempted anything foolish,
they'd face consequences they absolutely couldn't handle.
Adrian dug in.
He had transmigrated hours ago,
and hadn't eaten before that either.
The stew's fragrance,
mixed with the warmth of fresh bread,
made it impossible to resist.
Soon, he finished to a comfortable seven-tenths full—
more than enough for him.
"Not bad. Who cooked this?"
Nojiko raised her hand timidly.
"I did."
"No wonder I picked you as the cook. My eye for talent is amazing. From now on, you'll handle all meals for my outlaw crew. Honestly, if your cooking had been bad, I would've kicked you out."
Adrian praised openly.
Nojiko's face collapsed immediately.
"You—you should've said that earlier!
If I'd known, I would've made the worst meal of my life!"
She was drowning in regret.
If she had known making a bad meal meant getting kicked out,
she would've delivered pure culinary disaster.
But now the chance was gone.
"Pfft—!"
Nami couldn't help laughing.
Nojiko shot her a glare, causing her to quickly straighten up.
Adrian glanced at them briefly, amused,
then returned his attention to something only he could see.
**[Host]: Adrian
[Stats]: Physique (Ordinary)
[Abilities]: Steel Skin (Extraordinary), High-Speed Regeneration (Citycrusher)
[Items]: AK-47 (Infinite Magazine)
[Subordinates]: Zabuza Momochi (Warbreaker), Yoriichi Tsugikuni (Citycrusher)
[Reputation Points]: 10001**
His personal status panel.
He hadn't checked earlier because he was starving.
But now that he'd eaten—
It was time to plan upgrades.
After completing an A-rank outlaw mission,
he had earned a massive amount of reputation.
Enough to significantly boost his stats.
Of course—
Upgrading High-Speed Regeneration was impossible for now.
It was already at Citycrusher level,
and upgrading it to Nationbreaker required 100,000 reputation points.
He only had 10001.
Barely enough to scratch the surface.
So his eyes naturally turned to the two things he could realistically upgrade:
Physique and Steel Skin.
He didn't know why his status panel had Physique but not Spirit or Soul.
He had no idea how the system evaluated these things.
But if the system offered upgrades—
why question it?
Questions only led to headaches.
"Shame I can only upgrade myself.
If I could use reputation on my subordinates…
I'd have two Citycrusher-level monsters right away."
Adrian sighed.
Only his own stats and abilities could be upgraded.
Everything else was off-limits.
"Fine, whatever."
He placed a hand on his status panel and muttered with a grin:
"Heaven did not give birth to me, the ultimate cheater—
so the world remained shrouded in darkness!"
"Plug-in!"
"ACTIVATE!!!"
When you were a transmigrator,
why train?
You had a system—
the whole point was to cheat!
Translator's Thoughts:
Adrian finally sits down for his first proper meal in this world—and immediately reminds us he's a menace. Poor Nojiko cooks seriously to avoid dying, only to learn that a bad meal would've gotten her released from the outlaw crew. Meanwhile, Adrian opens his status like he's checking patch notes and casually prepares to cheat his way through the power system instead of training like a normal protagonist.
With 10,001 reputation points in hand and a plug-in mentality activated, Adrian is officially embracing the life of a system-powered outlaw.
Next chapter: time to see just how broken he becomes after upgrading!
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews.
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the advance chapters on P@treon if you're interested:
patreon.com/MugiwaraTL