Darkness. Then, a spark.
Deep within my subconscious, a massive, ancient mechanism groaned into life. It was the Mindwheel—a conceptual engine synthesizing the memories of my past life with the high-concept powers of this new reality.
Around the rim of the wheel, twelve stone slots existed, each carved with the visage of the Chinese Zodiac. Eleven of them—the Rat, the Ox, the Tiger, the Rabbit, the Snake, the Horse, the Goat, the Monkey, the Rooster, the Dog, and the Pig—were dim, cold, and unlit.
But the twelfth slot began to burn with a sickly, ethereal green flame.
[Mindwheel Synthesis: Initializing...]
Definition: Mindwheel Synthesis is the process of converting "World Data" (Mechanics, Logic, and Science) into tangible "Law" within this universe.
[Zodiac Status: 11/12 Dormant]
[Processing Zodiac: THE DRAGON]
I woke up to the taste of salt. I was seven years old, small and shivering, clinging to a jagged piece of driftwood in the middle of a vast, predatory ocean. My mind was a fog of two lives, but the immediate threat was very real.
A shadow loomed beneath the waves—a dark, serpentine shape longer than a naval ship. The water began to bulge as a Sea King rose. Its skin was mottled green, its eyes like yellow dinner plates, and its teeth were rows of ivory spears. It looked at me not as a person, but as a morsel.
I couldn't move. My tiny heart hammered against my ribs. As the beast opened its maw, the final gear of the Mindwheel clicked into place.
[Loading Dragon Talisman Ability: 15%... 45%... 82%... 100%]
[Synthesis Successful.]
Suddenly, the air around the driftwood didn't just turn cold—it turned heavy.
The Sea King's jaws were inches from the water's surface when it suddenly froze. Its pupils dilated until the yellow of its eyes was swallowed by black. A primal, bone-deep terror struck the creature. It didn't see a boy; it felt an ancient, oppressive presence that treated the very concept of life as a harvestable resource.
The massive creature recoiled. It thrashed in a frantic, desperate attempt to put distance between itself and the driftwood, fleeing as if it had looked into the eyes of Death itself.
"WAHAHAHA! Now that's something you don't see every day!"
I looked up, squinting against the sun. High above the waves, a figure was literally flying through the air, kicking the atmosphere itself with the sound of cannon blasts. He was a mountain of a man wearing a white Marine coat and a distinctive dog-hood mask. He plummeted toward the sea like a meteor, landing on a nearby piece of wreckage with a crash.
It was Monkey D. Garp, the Hero of the Marines.
He stared at me, his eyes wide with a rare, piercing curiosity. He had seen the Sea King recoil. More importantly, he had felt that brief, chilling spike of authority that shouldn't belong to a child.
"Oi, brat," Garp called out, his grin more of a predatory baring of teeth. "I've seen a lot of things in this sea... but I've never seen a Sea King beg for mercy from a piece of wood. Who the hell are you?"
"Ryujin," I managed to croak out, my throat raw from the salt
"Ryujin, eh? 'Dragon God'?" Garp laughed, a booming sound that shook my very bones.
"You've got a strange look in your eyes, kid. You're coming with me. I'm heading back to my home island to check on my troublesome grandson. You two can beat the sense into each other!"