Chapter 2

Edward?

That surname sounds strangely familiar, as if you have heard it somewhere before.

Where was it? You cannot remember.

You scratch your head and decide not to dwell on it. Instead, you reach out and tug at the white beard of the blond man.

It feels softer than expected, and its shape is remarkably fixed; no matter how you pull, it springs back into its original crescent form.

The system message from a moment ago said there was something on the shore. It was probably referring to him. A yellow name usually means a neutral faction, so when he wakes, he probably will not suddenly try to kill you.

Too bad, he shows no sign of waking.

You not only pull his beard, but also tug at the hair of a color similar to your own, and even try shaking his shoulder. No good. He will not move.

What a heavy human. He looks to be only in his thirties or forties, but is this kind of physique really that of an ordinary human race? Could he be from a giant clan? You vaguely remember that games sometimes include giants as a race.

You step right onto his butt and bounce a few times. At that moment, the crab wrapped around your foot loosens its grip on its own, crawls over to the unconscious man, raises its claws high, and drives them with swift precision toward the crease between his buttocks. Very soon, you seem to catch a faint glimpse of red.

Uh.

N-none of your business.

Horrified, you quickly look away, hop off the man, and pretend nothing happened by blowing on your own foot.

A few silent seconds pass before a thunderous rumble suddenly erupts from the giant man's belly, shaking the entire beach and even the water nearby.

What the heck.

What was that sound? An earthquake?

Startled, you nearly lose your balance and sit down on the sand, but the sky above is cloudless, not at all like the prelude to rain or a tsunami caused by an earthquake.

The system says the stranger might be hungry. Go find him something to eat.

...

So this is some kind of tutorial quest?

Behind the blond uncle there is a small, wrecked wooden boat run aground on the shore. A few holes leak through the planks, and inside lies a wet yellow cloth sack.

You climb into the boat with some effort and roughly rummage through the half-man-high yellow bag, but unfortunately there is nothing edible inside.

So you really do have to go into the forest.

But you do not even know what is safe to eat. Identifying edible mushrooms is zero. Identifying wild grass and fruit is zero. You cannot hunt either. You, who came over from modern society, are just useless.

Not to mention finding food for the unconscious NPC uncle in front of you, even feeding yourself is a problem.

Come to think of it, do players in RPGs even need to eat?

Feeling awkward inside, you decide to carefully search the bag on the broken boat again and see whether there is anything usable inside.

As for whether it is rude to rummage through and take things without permission?

Nonsense! Can what a player does be called stealing?

The system says: Obtained ordinary flint x1.

The system says: Obtained a rough toothbrush that is practically worn out x1, half a tube of toothpaste x1.

The system says: Obtained ordinary hemp rope x2.

The system says: Obtained precious rum x3.5, each bottle restores 100 HP, half a bottle restores 50 HP.

Nice. Good stuff.

After digging out a pile of items, you finally find one with actual attributes. The reason it is 3.5 bottles of rum is because half of the fourth bottle has already been drunk. You stuff everything into your backpack.

You continue searching the bag, and your hand next feels a plain little mirror.

A mirror that fits in one hand clearly reflects your face: golden, slightly wavy, medium-length hair, reddish-brown eyes, and a soft, childlike complexion.

Beside the mirror there is a speech bubble marked with ellipses. You click to inspect it, and a miraculous attribute panel actually pops up.

Player Information

Name: Edward D. Monkey (Lv. 1)
Gender: Female
Age: 8
Race: Celestial Dragon
Experience: 0/45 (next level)
HP: 222/223
Stamina: 100
Charm: 6 + 5 -> 11 (pretty pink bracelet +5)
Intelligence: 8
Attack: 7 + 1 -> 8 (ordinary white shirt +1)
Defense: 11 + 3 -> 14 (ordinary white shirt +2, ordinary blue underdress +1)
Agility: 10 + 2 -> 12 (ordinary blue underdress +2)
Devil Fruit: None
Skills: None
Haki: None (locked)
Title: None
Money: 0
Backpack: Celestial Dragon oxygen hood x1, ordinary flint x1........ precious rum x3.5
Currently unlocked map: Prologue, Initial Uninhabited Island (Demo Version, 1 month remaining)
Current affinity stats: None

Ah.

So the Edward part really was something you had seen somewhere before. It was your own name.

But what the hell is Monkey?

This ID was randomly assigned by the system, and you suddenly regret how casual and careless you had been back then...

When playing through a screen, that kind of name is fine. In real life, though, forget it. Does anyone actually go by a stupid name like "Monkey"?

They probably would even say it to your face!

It is fine, it is fine. RPGs all have name-changing systems. You can only place your hopes on that. You must find a chance to change it later.

That currently unlocked map is suspicious. You remember clearly seeing words like demo version before you lost consciousness, so this is not the official version of the game. The timer is one month.

Does that mean you can go back after one month?

Or does it mean you cannot go back and will merely enter some kind of official version? You have read too many novels like this. There is definitely some huge conspiracy behind a bizarre transmigration like this.

No matter what, the mirror in your hand is a useful little item for checking attributes, so you keep it in your backpack.

Inside the yellow bag in that little boat there is also a sharp silver knife.

The system asks: Equip weapon "Sharp Dagger," Attack +15, Agility +5?

Equip.

Thinking that the gifts from the starting NPC are really plentiful, you tug at the big yellow bag and were about to keep rummaging when a louder gurgling sound than before comes from the blond uncle's stomach.

The system says: The stranger uncle is about to starve to death. Hurry and find him some food.

Fine.

If he starves to death, the quest will probably break.

For the moment you give up searching, take the little knife, and head toward the bushes not far away.

Reentering the edge of the forest, you soon discover a few mushrooms beneath a towering ancient tree.

White mushrooms with a slightly brown tint. They look very ordinary. They should not be poisonous, right?

The system says: Obtained False Brown Cloud Amanita x3, if eaten, HP -30 per minute.

Seeing the note about losing health every minute, you remain silent for a moment, then still put them into your backpack.

Better than nothing. Maybe they will be useful someday.

Beside those mushrooms there is also a clump of fungi that look exactly the same. You casually pluck them out.

The system says: Obtained Chicken-Forest Amanita x5, each restores 5 HP.

...No, what difference is there between these mushrooms and the so-called false amanita from just now?

The system says: The New World Mushroom Illustrated Guide has been unlocked! Light up entries to specific numbers and within different ranges to obtain corresponding titles.

System prompt: Currently unlocked mushroom types: 2/21486.

What, how many?

More than twenty thousand... how is that even supposed to be completed? They really think too highly of you.

Your mouth twitches. While complaining that if this is a game, why not just set it to 100 species, or at least 1000 at worst, you quickly harvest all kinds of mushrooms.

When the illustrated guide reaches 11, a black shadow suddenly darts past in front of you. Before you can even see clearly, your whole body is rammed and sent flying.

System prompt: HP -100.

That hurts! So much!!!!!

Let it be stated again: you are extremely afraid of pain, the kind who really cannot tolerate even a little.

That one hit was not just painful; it nearly took half your life. From an original 222 HP, 100 points are instantly deducted, and you slam onto the ground, your pain nerves tormented like never before.

Who was it!

Which bastard!

You brace yourself on the trembling earth and struggle to your feet. Because pain makes you tear up, your eyes widen as you finally see what attacked you.

A small wild boar, Lv. 5.

Red name.

System prompt: Entering battle mode.

You fall silent.

How could a wild boar suddenly appear here? Having lived in the city since childhood, this is your first time seeing a lively wild boar with your own eyes, and your legs immediately go weak...

Even if it is a young one, do not forget that you are only an 8-year-old brat.

What is even more terrifying is that the pig paws at the ground with its hooves, as if ready to charge.

Help!!!

You are only level 1. Is it not too fast to challenge something four levels higher right from the start?

But in such a desolate place, no one is coming to save you. You can only rely on yourself. You grip the dagger you equipped earlier, and the moment the wild boar charges, you throw yourself aside with all the strength you can muster and dodge its rush.

The boar charges at you again.

Realizing that simply dodging will not solve the problem, because it will not lose any health otherwise, you grit your teeth. As it rushes at you once more, you raise the dagger high and drive it down hard into its body.

At the same time, you are flung away again.

System prompt: HP -50.

You violently cough up a mouthful of blood, the pain making you want to roll all over the ground. The dagger in your hand has already slipped free and remains lodged in the little boar's neck.

The boar does not die on the spot. It roars and enters a state of rage, bleeding as it crazily charges at you again.

Coughing blood, you grit your teeth and crawl up, then pull a "False Brown Cloud Amanita" from your bag. As the boar snaps at you, you shove it into its mouth with all your might.

The boar stops moving.

Its thin health bar plummets at once, and with a miserable cry it collapses.

The system says: The player killed a wild boar! Gained 560 experience, boar pelt x1, raw meat x6 (each piece of raw meat restores 2 HP)

System prompt: Level up! The player has reached Lv. 6!!

Along with the crackling burst of sound, your body, which may well have suffered internal bleeding from the collision, suddenly begins to glow with specks of light. The pain gradually vanishes entirely, and the more than 70 HP left in your bar instantly refills. A relieved flush rises to your young cheeks.

...

All right. This is one of those games where leveling up restores the body and removes all debuffs.

You sit there dazed for a few seconds, then silently pick up the spoils on the ground and put them into your backpack. After gathering some branches, you, dusty and disheveled, return to the NPC whose name is also Edward.

The blond uncle shows no sign of waking.

You take out the flint you found in the wet bag, light a fire with the branches, then take out two pieces of wild boar meat and roast them over the flames while thinking.

Calling it thinking is perhaps an exaggeration, because there is not much to think about...

It is already known that this is a game world. You had also heard from friends that the game background was brutal, and the promotional video even mentioned something like the Great Pirate Era. It is definitely a very dangerous place.

The wild boar just now is a bloody lesson and warning.

First, try to get stronger. Grind levels as hard as you can. At the very least, you have to reach level 100 before anything else.

But you are really afraid of pain...

That battle with the boar has left a fresh psychological scar. It is the kind of thing you never want to remember again in this lifetime.

A mess of random thoughts flashes through your mind, and you do not notice at all that the "monstrous being" beside you, as huge as a mountain, twitches a finger. He stirs, presses a hand to his forehead, and climbs up from the beach.

"Hm? Why does my butt hurt so much..."

"Did I accidentally fall into the sea and get washed onto this island?"

Edward Newgate is as tall as a giant artificial hill. Once he sits up straight, the shadow he casts covers you completely. Perhaps because the scent of roasted meat is too obvious, his gaze goes straight to you, who is holding a sizzling, oily piece of meat over the fire.

"Little girl, who are you?"

He is awake!

Roasted meat really works. Putting food out must be one of the game's trigger conditions. Unfortunately, you do not have salt or any other seasoning. You have heard that wild boar meat tastes terrible, so you hope he will not get angry after taking it.

The system says: The player has independently understood the recipe for "awful fire-roasted boar meat," Intelligence +1.

...Bastard! This meat is clearly not even cooked through yet. The game system should not make nonsense judgments like that.

Though you gain 1 Intelligence, you are not happy at all. You raise your head and look at the blond uncle, who has fully awakened and is staring down at you from above. Swallowing nervously, you feel a little tense. His size is simply outrageous, at least five or six meters tall, with an overwhelmingly forceful presence.

Fortunately, his name is still yellow.

After asking that one question, the uncle does not move again. He looks like a stiff dummy, which somehow makes you feel even more unsettled.

Beside him there is a dialogue box marked with ellipses. You poke it with your hand, and the surrounding environment suddenly turns gray, while the standard RPG choice panel appears before you.

Choice 1: Dad! I am your daughter, Edward D. Monkey. You have finally awakened!

Choice 2: Leave.

Please, no!!!

You do not want to call yourself by such a laborer's name. It sounds so miserable, and you absolutely do not want to say it out loud... Good heavens, you will never act this absurd again.

You choose option 2. Although you successfully exit the choice page, Edward Newgate still stares at you with a bizarre, unblinking gaze, making no move at all. He is like a rubber dummy from a 3D game.

Terrifying.

But remaining at an impasse is not an option.

Realizing that you cannot continue the story without choosing the first option, you can only click [ ... ] again and recite choice 1.

"Dad, d-dad!"

"I am your daughter... you have finally awakened."

The blond uncle shows no reaction.

In the endless silence, you draw a deep breath and force yourself to repeat, "Dad! I am your daughter, Edward D..."

"......"

"D, Mon..."

No, you simply cannot say it. Spare me!

For the umpteenth time, you regret having been so careless at the start. You want nothing more than to travel back to the moment you were naming yourself and slap yourself hard.

After a full ten minutes of inner struggle, you finally steel yourself. Still holding the wooden stick aloft, you dash over, wrap your arms around his arm, and in a complete surrender to fate shout, "Dad, I am your daughter, Edward D. Monkey. You have finally awakened!!"

Come to think of it, was he really your old man? No wonder you share the same surname.

Maybe you are both Celestial Dragons who went out together and accidentally drifted onto this deserted island. That must be the game's backstory. Easy enough to guess.

After you make your choice, the immovable blond uncle finally ceases to wear that rigid, dead-faced expression and instead shows a lively look. He throws his head back and laughs.

"My daughter?"

"Gurarara! I do not remember having such a little bean sprout!"

Choice 1: It is true. While you were unconscious, you unknowingly ate pregnancy mushrooms for eight whole years and gave birth to me all by yourself.

Choice 2: Oh? So you found out? In that case, why are you not kneeling? Do you know who stands before you, you damn commoner? I am a Celestial Dragon!

Choice 3: Leave.

...Is there not even one normal choice?

This is awkward. So this uncle is not your real father. Judging from the choices and his reaction, he probably is not. What kind of father would ask his child "Who are you?" and deny them outright?

At least he did not mock your name.

The only surprising thing is that the moment you finished shouting "Dad," the name above Edward Newgate's head immediately turned green.

Green names signify a friendly attitude.

Wonderful. It looks like he will not beat you up. The only question is whether he will start hitting people after you finish reading the new options...

And what pregnancy mushrooms? There is no such ridiculous fictional thing here. That is too absurd.

"It, it is true."

A little guilty, you let go of the arms you had been hugging and, holding the roasted meat, say with your head tilted up, "While you were unconscious, you unknowingly ate pregnancy mushrooms for eight whole years and gave birth to me all by yourself."

The system says: The player has independently understood the information for "pregnancy mushroom"; current New World Mushroom Illustrated Guide: 12/21486.

System prompt: Pregnancy mushroom. It grows in unknown regions of the New World, and its effects are renowned across the world, though it is nearly extinct. Men, women, young, and old alike can become pregnant after eating it. The gestation period is one week. The child's age is determined by the number of years of the mushroom. The child automatically draws knowledge from the "mother" body, but 90 percent of the children die after one month.

You: "..."

It really exists?

Compared with your own silence, you notice that the blond uncle, who had originally been laughing with a strange "gurara" sound, suddenly stops laughing as well.

He looks at you, then at his own hair, which is exactly the same as yours and even slightly curly and golden...

Then he touches his butt, staring at the inexplicable red fluid smeared on his hand, and for the first time in his life wears an expression mixed with confusion and dazed disbelief.