Chapter 8: Something's Gone Wrong
The message Ryū had sent was only a few hundred words — a thousand at most. But it took Kaguya Shinomiya a full fifteen minutes to reply.
Because the contents of that message had delivered a devastating blow to her fragile teenage psyche.
Even now, disbelief was written all over her face.
Her crimson eyes cycled through an entire spectrum of emotions — surprise, blank shock, bewilderment, a sudden darkening of her expression, then dawning realization — one after another in rapid succession.
By the time she'd finished processing the avalanche of information, she'd entered a very strange state of mind.
"Seeing" your own future. Knowing roughly what was going to happen to you. Reading through your own embarrassing moments — your own dark history — laid out before you like a script.
For Kaguya Shinomiya, the feeling was impossible to describe.
Imagine discovering that your future self was going to fall head over heels for someone you currently had zero interest in — someone you wouldn't even bother acknowledging if they passed you in the hallway.
Your only possible thought would be: "What the hell? Does future me have brain damage?!"
That was exactly Kaguya Shinomiya's state of mind right now.
She was convinced her future self had been hit with some kind of IQ-lowering attack by a mysterious force.
To put it in even simpler, more relatable terms:
Imagine finding out that your future self was going to become a die-hard fan of a certain Canadian singer — the one who was an "amazing basketball player, super handsome, really manly" back in his trainee days.
Now imagine your reaction to learning that.
Not hard to picture, right?
Those two examples perfectly captured Kaguya Shinomiya's current emotional state.
Why would she become like that?!
It made absolutely no logical sense!
How could something like that possibly happen?!
How could she possibly turn into... that?!
Kaguya pressed her lips together tightly and forced herself to calm down.
After a moment's hesitation, she typed out a reply.
Kaguya-sama:
"My feelings are… complicated after reading all of that. But I want to thank you, Admin-dono, for letting me know the general direction of my future."
Kaguya-sama:
"If there's anything you want, please don't hesitate to ask. Anything I can obtain, I'll do my best to get it for you."
RawrSoFierce:
"…Nah, I don't need anything right now."
RawrSoFierce:
"Looks like you've come to terms with your future?"
Kaguya-sama:
"I wouldn't say I've 'come to terms' with it. It's just… that's only what happens in an anime. Even if it is my future, as long as I stay true to who I am right now, it'll be fine. There's no point worrying about it."
RawrSoFierce:
"Fair enough."
Ryū wasn't entirely sure what Kaguya meant by that.
Probably something like "just be the best version of yourself in the present"?
That was his best guess, anyway.
He had to admit, though — she was taking it remarkably well. No dramatic outbursts, no meltdowns.
Then again, with Kaguya Shinomiya's personality, throwing a tantrum would have been the truly weird reaction.
Ryū shook his head. He had no desire to play guessing games about what was going on inside that girl's head. He pulled his consciousness out of the chat group and looked toward the window.
It was already noon. The clock read 12:13.
He gazed down at his right hand, watching a faint white glow slowly gather in his palm. "Next step: learning how to develop this Devil Fruit ability."
Developing a Devil Fruit's power didn't just require stamina. It also demanded creativity — a big enough imagination to envision new applications. And ideally, a solid foundation in physics, biology, and chemistry to push the ability to its full potential.
Unfortunately, Ryū had none of those things.
Stamina? Insufficient.
Physics? Clueless.
Biology? Lost.
Chemistry? Might as well be ancient Sanskrit.
Ryū realized he was basically a walking stereotype of a web novel protagonist — completely, utterly useless the moment you took away his golden finger cheat. And to think he'd spent countless hours mocking those exact protagonists while reading novels in his past life.
Karma really was something.
"I can't increase my stamina overnight, so the only option is to develop the fruit's micro-level applications. But micro-level work requires a massive theoretical knowledge base, and I…" He trailed off with a wince. "Was I really going to have to go back to school?"
Even if he did, there wasn't enough time. The Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha was roughly one year away.
Even if he had a full 366 days...
What good was cramming at the last minute going to do?!
"Wait… I almost forgot! Points! That System Notification from earlier said I could spend Points to remove the Devil Fruit's weaknesses. So beyond that, there must be other ways to use Points, right?"
Ryū didn't actually have a clear picture of everything Points could do. The feature descriptions in the chat group were frustratingly sparse — most consisted of barely a sentence or two.
So far, he only knew of two uses. First: Dimensional Transfer. Second: removing Devil Fruit side effects.
Were there others?
As the Admin of the Dimensional Chat Group, he really ought to know these things.
Maybe he just hadn't been looking in the right places.
"If Points can be used for physical reinforcement — boosting stamina, strengthening the body — that would solve the biggest bottleneck. But how exactly does it work? This Dimensional Chat Group doesn't exactly come with a user manual."
Grumbling internally, Ryū navigated into the "Points" section of the interface. His gaze swept slowly across the screen, brow furrowing deeper with every line.
Just as he was deep in concentration, a rapid-fire series of notification chimes erupted inside his mind — ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong — one after another.
Someone was either DMing him, @-ing him, or a System Notification had triggered.
Shelving his research, Ryū entered the main group chat.
Multiple people were @-ing him.
Something had clearly happened. Something big. Whitebeard's messages were charged with a raw, barely-contained emotion that Ryū hadn't seen from the old man before.
He scrolled back through the chat history.
About thirty seconds later, he understood the situation.
Edward Newgate:
"I can't stay calm about something like this. I don't understand — why would Teach do this?! But it happened. It actually happened. This is my fault… I'm the one who failed to see the ambition festering inside that bastard."
Edward Newgate:
"A man called Red-Hair once warned me to be wary of Teach."
Edward Newgate:
"But now… DAMN YOU! Marshall D. Teach!!!"
Kaguya-sama:
"Please try to calm down a little, Newgate-san. You mentioned that one of your sons killed another one of your sons? I think you should bring the Admin in on this — he knows your future, after all!"
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden:
"Indeed. What's needed most right now is a level head."
The Little Wandering Planet:
"@RawrSoFierce Admin-dono, something terrible has happened!"
Kaguya-sama:
"@RawrSoFierce Admin-dono!"
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden:
"@RawrSoFierce Admin! Admin!!"
After reading through the chat log — it wasn't long, but the weight of it was immense — Ryū's expression hardened.
So this was where Whitebeard's timeline currently stood.
This particular point in the story.
Which meant that in a little while — at most a year, maybe less —
Edward Newgate was going to die at Marineford.