Before Me, What Is "Distance," Anyway? / The Cute Green-Haired Kid

One Piece: Invincible Right Out of the Gate Author: Xin Jia

Synopsis:

([One Piece] + [Adventure] + [Heroic] + [Invincible]) Civilians: "Heroes, who on earth are you guys?" Pirates: "You guys, just who are you anyway?" Marines: "Are you punks trying to steal our capes?" Kuta: "Since you so earnestly ask, I shall mercifully tell you: to prevent the world from destruction, to protect the peace of the world..." Author yells: "You bunch of bastards, are you in the wrong theater?!" Actually, this is a story about a transmigrator who sets sail to adventure and be a hero on the sea, alongside his childhood sweetheart who grew up with him and a few little companions.

Chapter 1 Right in front of me, "distance", what is that?

East Blue.

Shimotsuki Village.

Isshin Dojo.

From inside the central dojo came a burst of hey, hey, hey... and the buzzing sound of bamboo swords cutting through the air.

On the lawn under the cherry blossom tree in the back courtyard, a young boy of around eleven with silver hair was lying flat.

His face was covered by a book, and the title on the cover was "Log of an Unknown Navigator".

The spring breeze blew, and cherry blossom petals fluttered gracefully, sparkling in the morning sunlight alongside the unconverged dew.

"Kuta, why are you slacking off again?"

A young girl of around ten, wearing a white T-shirt and baggy shorts, with dark blue hair, ran out of the dojo carrying a bamboo sword.

Her slightly chubby cheeks, still retaining a childish innocence, puffed up, and a pair of bright, sparkling eyes reflected the fluttering cherry blossoms as she looked at the young boy lying under the tree.

"It's time to train."

Kuta, who was lying under the tree enjoying the early morning sun, picked up the book placed over his eyes to block the light, revealing a cute and delicate young face underneath.

He narrowed his eyes, looked up at the young girl standing beside him, yawned, and gently shook his head.

"Oh, it's Kuina! The weather is so nice, let me sleep a little longer, un... just a little longer."

The warm sunlight was extremely comfortable and cozy, making him narrow his eyes once more and roll over.

Kuina looked at Kuta's salted-fish appearance, rolled her eyes helplessly, pouted, squatted down, pulled his hand, and shook it.

"Kuta..., get up already..., why have you been so lazy lately? You clearly used to train like your life depended on it."

Without even opening his eyes, he said lazily: "Who knows! Maybe my period has started! I just don't feel like moving."

"Kuta..." Kuina forcefully shook off Kuta's hand, clenched her fists, and lightly punched him a few times.

"Can't you speak like a normal person."

"I've hit a bottleneck lately, working hard doesn't do much. I asked the master, and he said once you attain enlightenment you naturally break through—sounds just like nonsense, so I'm trying to figure out how to smash through this bottleneck."

"Does that mean you'll be able to reach the Swordmaster Realm soon, Kuta? That's amazing!" Kuina looked at Kuta with a face full of smiles.

Then, as if she thought of something, her expression gradually shifted from joy to sorrow.

"Hey! Kuta, when do you think I'll be able to become a swordmaster? Father always says female swordsmen have flaws and can never become the strongest. I understand what the flaw is, but I'm just not resigned to it!"

Feeling the grip on his arm gradually tighten, Kuta turned to the side and opened his eyes.

His pupils were an azure blue tinged with silver mist, with nebulae drifting around them, resembling a starry sky on a night, making anyone who looked at them fall helplessly into the depths.

His originally unremarkable features, combined with this pair of supremely beautiful eyes, instantly became even more handsome.

Kuta's gentle eyes gazed at Kuina, and he extended

his right hand to smooth out her frown, placing his warm palm gently atop her head to ruffle her hair as he spoke in a firm and powerful voice.

"Of course, Kuina will definitely become the world's strongest female swordmaster in the future. Promise me, Kuina."

"What..."

"Don't hesitate, don't sorrow. You only need to forge ahead with a firm will. With me here, you will definitely become the strongest."

Listening to Kuta's encouraging words, Kuina leaned down, resting her head against Kuta's chest, and as she listened to his slow and steady heartbeat, the confusion in her heart gradually faded away.

"Un... Kuta, it's so good to have you."

Then her voice grew increasingly resolute.

"I promise you."

Kuta narrowed his eyes as he looked up at the sun, reminiscence in his gaze.

It had been almost five years since he came to this world, and he still hadn't figured out how he had transmigrated in the first place.

He was originally an ordinary programmer and wage slave on Earth, with the real name Li Xiaokong. When he first arrived in this world, due to the language barrier, he even thought he had transmigrated to ancient Japan since everyone spoke Japanese.

In the very beginning, neither Koshiro nor Kuina understood what he was saying. When he stated his name, the only part they could catch was "Kong", so they kept calling him by that name ever since.

One character was fine, too! Later on, feeling that a single character didn't sound nice, he simply added "ta" to the end.

Having grown up in an orphanage since childhood, his personality was reclusive and introverted, and he didn't have many friends. Coupled with getting hooked on ACG during his university years, he had thoroughly transformed into a happy otaku.

At thirty years old, he actually had both a car and a house—it was just that he lacked hair and a wife.

He had originally intended to turn over a new leaf and work hard to find a girlfriend, but who could have known that when he woke up, he would be drifting on the open sea.

His Simmons mattress was gone, his hundred-and-twenty-square-meter three-bedroom apartment was gone, and his body had even regressed into a five-year-old brat.

God knows what kind of mood he was in back then; even now, lingering fear gripped his heart.

Fortunately, he had the standard-issue golden finger for transmigrators, which caused his body to mutate during the crossing.

It made his body as if it were constantly in a different dimension, with countless layers of space covering his skin so that seawater could never reach him.

He drifted on the ocean for two days in this manner, and fortunately, he did not encounter any attacking marine beasts during this time.

Just as he was about to faint from hunger, he met Koshiro, who was out on the island for business.

At first, he could not control his ability freely.

No one could touch his body, and anything that came within a finger's width of him could go no further.

Only when he wanted others to could they touch him.

About a year after coming to this world, he gradually learned the language of this world and figured out that this world was actually the Pirate King world, which explained why he always felt like he had seen Koshiro somewhere before.

As for why his eyes and hair turned silver-white, he also basically figured it out.

Simply put, when he crossed through time and space, his body mutated, and he called this mutated constitution the "Spatial Constitution".

This constitution constantly radiated layers of space, thereby stacking infinite space around his body.

The closer someone was to him, the more layers of space there were, so the distance was actually farther relatively speaking; what looked right in front of him was actually worlds apart.

Only when he wanted others to approach him could they cross this infinite space to touch him, which was the reason why he did not sink into the sea when he first crossed over.

Over the next few years, he gradually mastered a part of this ability, allowing the infinite space on the outer periphery of his body to become active.

In this way, he could expand it outward, transforming it into a space similar to a Space Domain. In this space, as long as he was willing, he could achieve the level of spatial freezing, though of course it also depended on the target's strength.

Moreover, the more layers there were and the greater the control, the more physical and mental energy it consumed.

Because his physical constitution was spatialized, it allowed him to see the dense spatial nodes around him, which enabled him to step on spatial nodes for Teleportation, and this kind of Teleportation was as relaxed and natural as walking normally.

The mutation brought by the crossing was not limited to his physical body; his spirit had also been greatly strengthened, and in less than a year of coming to this world, he awakened Observation Haki.

With this, his spirit could attach Observation Haki to perceive the spatial nodes around him.

Therefore, later on, he did not even need to use his eyes to see the spatial nodes; after all, visual range was limited, whereas the spirit had no limits.

Although it seemed like he was already invincible as he was now, that was just defense. If his attack wasn't enough, he could only watch helplessly with nothing he could do against enemies, and thus he would also be unable to protect the people around him.

When he first learned this was the Pirate King world, he was actually very scared, as goodness knows what kind of abilities existed in this world that could kill him.

Subsequent discoveries gradually put his anxiety to rest.

Because he found that his body was growing stronger every moment, which should be an added benefit brought by the infinite space around his body, and this change was further increasing as he grew.

Coupled with his desperate training, he believed that it wouldn't be long before he reached the point of awakening Armament Haki.

This feeling of growing stronger made him more and more confident, and he believed that he would definitely be able to stand at the pinnacle of this world.

"Kuina." Koshiro's voice came from inside the Sword Hall at that moment.

"Coming." Kuina, who was kneeling at the side, replied and quickly stood up, walking toward the dojo.

Kuta snapped out of it.

He turned his head to look at Kuina's back, listening to the commotion in the dojo and the childish, unique challenge in his ears, and a strange smile gradually appeared on his face.

He slowly stood up, patted the dust off his trousers, and bent down to pick up the bamboo sword and books that were leaning against the tree.

He shoved the bamboo sword into the weapon rack nearby, held the book in his left hand, and rested his head on his right hand as he walked toward the Sword Hall.

An interesting fellow had arrived.

Seeing the green-haired little ghost standing in the middle of the Sword Hall, standing opposite Kuina, Kuta couldn't help laughing out loud.

This guy was cute enough, thinking that more swords meant he was stronger, and even dropped the bamboo sword clenched in his mouth while talking.

Was this Zoro? He really was quite cute as a child; bullying him must feel great!

"Hahaha..."

The people around looked at the laughing Kuta with question marks all over their faces.

Zoro listened to the laughter, furrowed his brow, and opened his eyes wide as he looked at Kuta.

His intuition told him that guy was laughing at him.

"Hey! That silver-haired one over there."

Kuta looked left and right, pointing at himself, "Are you calling me?"

"Right, it's you. Stop looking around. What are you laughing at? Do you want to fight?"

Kuta waved his hands repeatedly, "You guys go on, I just thought of something happy." Then he covered his mouth, his shoulders shaking, and anyone with eyes could tell he was holding back his laughter.

That silver-haired guy must be laughing at him. Once he dealt with this woman, he would definitely make him feel the might of yours truly.

Koshiro glanced helplessly at Kuta and reached out to adjust his glasses frame, "Now then, get ready. Bow to the shrine."

Kuina and Zoro turned to face the shrine and bowed.

Kuina cast a contemptuous glance at the green-haired little ghost standing opposite her, gripped the hilt of her sword with both hands, swept it upward, and slashed forward rapidly.

Because of the sufficient speed, Zoro was too late to parry and could only cross his hands and hold his swords above his head.

Clack--!

He had just defended against that sword when another one followed right after, and this time with even greater force, knocking him flying away in an instant and scattering the bamboo swords all over the ground.

Damn it.

He quickly stood up, picked up two bamboo swords nearby, turned sideways with one hand forward and one back, and assumed the Two-Sword Style sword stance.

Kuina looked at Zoro with a slightly strange expression. "Have you ever studied Two-Sword-Style swordsmanship?"

"Of course not! Today is the first time I've ever held a bamboo sword." Zoro glared at Kuina, opening his mouth and shouting loudly.

Damn it, I am very strong, and I'm going to be even stronger in the future. How can I lose to a woman like this! Then he raised his swords with both hands and rushed toward her with a roar.

"Ah..."

Kuina watched the charging Zoro, gripped her sword with both hands to sweep upward, took a step forward, and slashed down with a fast sword.

"Step-in Slash."

It was so fast that Zoro simply couldn't react in time before the sword struck his forehead.

Clack--!

The crisp sound of the bamboo sword could be heard even outside the Sword Hall. Zoro rolled his eyes, froze in place, and then collapsed onto the floor.

The sausage-mouthed boy, the flat-topped boy, and the chubby boy with glasses watching the match from the edge of the hall stared with wide eyes as Zoro fell to the ground.

"Hiss... It hurts, hurts, hurts." A-Luo with the flat top shrank back, his mouth twitching and cold sweat pouring down as he looked like he had suffered the exact same fate.

"Why didn't he dodge!" A-Tao with the sausage mouth frowned, her face full of confusion.