Satoru Gojo Mode

"No need to worry about it." With a flick of Ruidio's hand, the Seastone Handcuffs vanished into thin air.

[System inventory (4/4): Seastone x131000; Playful Cloud x1; Malevolent Shrine x1; Seastone Handcuffs x1]

Things being touched by living beings couldn't be put into the system inventory.

Ruidio himself was the exception.

"Have you ever experienced something like this?"

Robin sat down on a bench in the corridor beside him. After thinking for a moment, she described it this way: "You wake up and quickly forget what happened in your dream within a few seconds, even though it was so clear while you were dreaming..."

What did that mean?

So this was like Your Name? When in doubt, quantum mechanics?

Ruidio sat down beside her. "You mean that for an instant, you recalled some 'memories that didn't exist,' but when you tried hard to remember them, they became very blurry again?"

Robin tilted her head back and frowned slightly, her pale purple eyes fixed on a cobweb in a corner of the high ceiling above the great library's corridor. "I think I was desperately chasing after something, and I heard a name like 'Figarland'... All I can remember are fragments of images and feelings like that..."

"And I keep feeling as though I saw my mother killed by Kuzan's freezing power." She covered her face and let out a long, soft sigh. "But I remember even more clearly that nothing like that ever happened. My mother and the others died in the fire that engulfed the Tree of Knowledge. Compared to those fragments, that feels more like a memory of something that really happened..."

"Ruidio," she said, "those fragments are things that happened when you went to 'that Ohara' alone, aren't they? If it was only a false scene, why would I have those memories when I didn't go with you? But if your ability really did send you into the past, then why didn't reality change when you brought my mother and the others back to the present and changed history?"

Ruidio said, "Check and see if your mother and the others are still in the library."

Startled, Robin immediately raised a hand and used the power of the Flower-Flower Fruit. Petals traveled along the walls deep into the library corridor, and one of her pale purple eyes grew in a corner of a bookshelf. She saw her mother, Olvia, Dr. Clover, and the others still in the library, discussing the details of their resettlement with King Cobra. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.

"I can't 'return to Ohara' anymore."

Ruidio spoke with certainty beside her. "It's over. If they're still here, then they're real."

At his words, Robin's body relaxed. She smiled, as though she had put down a heavy burden.

Ruidio supported her and asked curiously, "How did these 'memories that didn't exist' appear? Did they suddenly flash through your mind and give you a jolt every time I 'came back'?"

Robin turned to look at him, then smiled. "Then I have to ask you first: when exactly did you first 'return to Ohara'?"

"It started yesterday," Ruidio said. "Did you feel anything yesterday?"

Robin shook her head. "Nothing out of the ordinary at all. No memories or images suddenly flashed through my mind..."

She thought for a moment, then said with certainty, "If I hadn't gone with you to 'that Ohara' and experienced something like this myself, and if I hadn't been expecting something and kept trying to remember 'what happened back then,' and, and if I hadn't seen you leave for 'that Ohara' again and come back after doing something there, I probably wouldn't have noticed any of these 'changes to history' at all."

Was she stacking buffs?

Ruidio was speechless.

Robin gave a bitter smile. "Actually, even now, my head is in a mess... The harder I try to remember, the more it feels like contradictory 'images' and 'feelings' are surfacing vaguely at the same time. They're almost making a complete mess of my head...

"On the one hand, I know perfectly well that these vague images are lingering in my mind because you went to 'that Ohara' and did something. Yet I still feel as though these extra images are just some absurd dreams I might have had, long since faded away."

The water was poisonous, huh?

Robin's brain couldn't process a reality so full of paradoxes, so it decisively chose to deceive itself and forced Robin to accept it.

Still, one thing was certain: this kind of mission from the system really did send him into the past, rather than creating some temporary instance.

But just how this time travel worked was still a mystery.

He had made changes, yet nothing seemed to have changed.

The only effect the changes to the past had was to leave a faint trace in Robin's mind. Even that was a "footprint" she had barely managed to find by trying hard to remember, knowing full well that Ruidio must have gone off to do something.

"Anyway, let's leave it at that for now!"

Ruidio stretched and stood up. "Mission accomplished. It's getting late, so I should head home and get some sleep."

He was more interested in the rewards this mission had dropped.

"Are you leaving?" Robin remained seated.

"We'll see each other again."

Ruidio smiled. "I told you, you're my partner. Before long, I'll put a crew together and head out to sea. I've saved you a place on the ship that's going to find Laugh Tale. Until then, consider yourself on vacation. Make up for the motherly love you missed out on."

Robin stared at him.

"Oh, right."

Ruidio remembered something before he left. "If your mother and the others can't stay in Alabasta, they can find a way to contact the Revolutionary Army. They see Ohara as the light of the revolution. Just tell them... the Revolutionary Army's future sugar daddy sent you!

"As for you, don't go anywhere. Be good and wait in the Grand Line. Nico Robin, I've already called dibs on you."

Ruidio smiled at the dazed Robin and vanished on the spot.

East Blue, Syrup Village, the courtyard of Kaya's home—

A transparent prism rotating clockwise vanished, and Ruidio appeared out of thin air.

Compared to Alabasta in the Grand Line, the sky here in East Blue was a little brighter, with the evening clouds burning crimson in the western sky.

"..."

After all those trips back to Ohara today, it felt as though several days had passed in total! It was a strange feeling, as though he had returned to a different world.

...Better not dwell on that. Time to check the rewards.

Ruidio sprinted a few steps and leaped over the wall of Kaya's courtyard. He seemed to hear Kaya's startled cry behind him, but he had already raced toward the coast and disappeared from sight.

On the way, Ruidio opened the system interface, quickly pulled up his list of completed missions, and found the rewards for Robin's five-star mission:

[Mission rewards: 268787 Essence; Satoru Gojo Transformation x1; synthesis blueprint x1]

The blueprint could wait. Ruidio immediately selected the so-called "Satoru Gojo Transformation" and examined it. It turned out to be an item resembling a bottle of eye drops, with an eye on the bottle. Its iris shone blue like a gem.

[Satoru Gojo Transformation (1 minute)]

[Description: After using this item, you will be able to transform into Satoru Gojo at his peak for 1 minute per day.]

[Note 1: The transformation cannot be interrupted while it is active.]

[Note 2: This transformation includes all of Satoru Gojo's Jujutsu powers, experience, and knowledge, but does not include his soul information.]

[Note 3: This item cannot be duplicated.]

Chapter 40: Satoru Gojo Mode

Fragments of the setting sun rose and fell on the sea as Ruidio reached the shore near Kaya's home.

Splash!

Waves crashed against the rocks, and cool spray brushed his face.

Ruidio claimed the reward, and the little bottle of eye drops immediately landed in his hand.

The sapphire-like eye on the bottle seemed to be staring at him.

There was nothing to hesitate over. Ruidio opened the cap, tilted his head back, and opened his eyes wide, dripping the concentrated deep-blue "eye drops" into each eye. There was just enough.

There was none of the mild irritation of ordinary eye drops. As soon as the deep-blue liquid touched his eyes, it turned into a cool sensation and melted into them.

The bottle disintegrated on its own, turning to powder that scattered into the sea breeze.

Ruidio blinked and took a moment to adjust. A mysterious instinct welled up within him.

He checked his Personal Information panel:

[Name: Ruidio]

[Overall strength: ★★★]

[Mastered: Satoru Gojo Transformation (1 minute), Running (mastered), Swimming (proficient), Basic Physical Techniques (proficient), Playful Cloud Staff Technique (beginner), Soru of the Six Powers (beginner), Shimotsuki Swordsmanship (initial glimpse)]

[Hired: Nami (approximately 26 days remaining), Nico Robin (approximately 10 days remaining)]

"..."

Sure enough, [Satoru Gojo Transformation (1 minute)] had appeared in his list of abilities.

With a thought from Ruidio, his pitch-black eyes abruptly turned blue and shone like a pair of brilliant sapphires. His black hair instantly changed to Satoru Gojo's white hair as well.

A surge of dark-blue energy burst from his body!

Cursed Energy!

The power of Satoru Gojo at his peak, along with his experience and knowledge of Cursed Energy, Jujutsu, and other powers, all welled up in Ruidio's mind like instincts.

Splash!

An even larger wave crashed ashore, but when it struck the white-haired, blue-eyed Ruidio, it was blocked by an invisible barrier covering his body.

Not even the hem of his clothes got wet.

"Phase, twilight, eyes of wisdom."

Ruidio smiled faintly. After spending two seconds reciting the chant, he pointed an index finger at the sea before him.

Following experience honed through countless trials, dark-blue Cursed Energy flowed into Satoru Gojo's Limitless, which had formed in his brain through mimicry. It produced a powerful "attraction," forming a dark-blue "sphere of attraction" above the sea where Ruidio pointed.

Splash, splash, splash! Vast quantities of seawater surged backward, sucked into the air by the sphere of attraction and leaving a huge hollow in the sea.

Ruidio moved his finger, and the dark-blue sphere of attraction, acting as the core, nimbly carried a huge ball of seawater back and forth through the sky.

"Phase, jackfruit, pillar of light."

Ruidio chanted again, and a dark-red "sphere of repulsion" with doubled power formed at his fingertip. After it flew over the sea, its immense repulsive force pressed an even larger "puddle" into the water.

With a thought, Ruidio remotely moved the sphere of repulsion farther out through the sea. A huge hollow beneath the surface rapidly receded into the distance, while the sphere of attraction wrapped in seawater followed it in the air.

More than a hundred meters out, the sphere of attraction descended into the sea with its enormous mass of water.

Boom...

A muffled, thunderous explosion sounded beneath the surface. The sea seemed to boil as a white pillar of water erupted into the sky and towering waves rolled outward in every direction. The tremor in the sea was so violent that even the shore where Ruidio stood seemed to shake.

The transformation is almost over...

With that thought, Ruidio raised a hand, and the Great Grade Sword Malevolent Shrine dropped from his system inventory into his grasp. Dark-blue Cursed Energy instantly covered the blade.

He raised his left hand and slashed.

Against Cursed Energy of the same origin, the barrier of "stopping power" created by Limitless around his body, which should have been able to block any attack, was passed through by Malevolent Shrine as though it weren't there.

The gleaming, razor-sharp blade brushed lightly across Ruidio's left wrist, leaving a red line.

With a patter, Ruidio's left hand fell, only to stop abruptly before it hit the ground. A sphere of attraction, "Blue," appeared in midair and pulled the severed hand back. It then rapidly compressed the hand into a tiny speck of flesh, which was ultimately annihilated.

Blood gushed from Ruidio's severed wrist.

Cursed Energy, or the power of curses, was a special energy born from negative human emotions such as anger, hatred, and jealousy.

It was a negative energy.

Multiplying two such streams of negative energy through a special method produced an unusual positive energy with excellent healing effects.

The technique used to create this positive energy was called "Reverse Cursed Technique."

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle..."