Sakiko also stared at Makoto in shock. However, she said nothing, merely pressing her lips together and maintaining a serious expression as she did her best to preserve the composure expected of an expert.
By now, Makoto had accomplished everything he'd set out to do, so he finally allowed himself to relax.
He reached out and tapped the air, causing an enormous Spatial Gate to appear beside him.
"The mission is about to begin. All you need to do now is stay within the area I've designated inside this gate. As long as you remain there, your safety should be practically guaranteed."
With the enormous increase in the amount of space Makoto could control, he no longer needed to manipulate his entire spatial domain whenever he used Spatial Manipulation. He could simply separate a portion of it for whatever purpose he needed.
In other words, he now possessed something equivalent to a stable, portable dimension.
Although it was still far smaller than Uchiha Obito's Kamui Dimension, it was more than sufficient for Makoto's purposes.
The others exchanged bewildered glances.
They'd already been considering how they should fight once the mission began, only to discover that all they needed to do was sit quietly in a room.
Wasn't this a little too much like being carried through the entire mission?
One of them tried to stand up and ask a question, but Makoto immediately used his Stand to prevent him from speaking.
The others quickly understood the message.
Although Makoto was offering them an almost effortless way to clear the mission, that didn't make him their babysitter. He certainly had no intention of answering every question they could think of.
In the end, all five newcomers, including Yuuki Asuna, obediently entered the Spatial Gate.
Before long, they found themselves inside a room roughly the size of a basketball court, surrounded by translucent spatial barriers. Makoto had even piled some basic living supplies in the center.
The Players who'd been wondering whether this was some kind of trap finally relaxed.
They spread out across the room, each choosing a different corner. Some sat cross-legged on the floor, while others began familiarizing themselves with their abilities.
Asuna finally let out a long breath of relief.
She couldn't help recalling everything she'd experienced since becoming trapped in the death game known as Sword Art Online, followed by everything that had happened since entering the Main God Space.
It seemed she'd finally met someone she could trust.
Back in the real world, Makoto confirmed that everyone had settled in before closing his Storage Space and turning toward Sakiko.
He was just about to explain himself when she suddenly reached up and gently cupped his cheeks.
Makoto had expected a barrage of questions.
Instead, Sakiko asked about his Sharingan.
"If I remember correctly, the Sharingan can erase an enemy's memories, can't it?"
Makoto nodded.
"Essentially, it's still genjutsu. Rather than truly erasing memories, it covers the original memories with false ones. If the target has strong mental defenses or sufficient resistance, they might eventually recover what they originally remembered."
"In other words, you can modify my memories, right?"
Sakiko's face brightened with surprise and delight.
Makoto looked at her in confusion.
"What are you planning?"
Sakiko raised her index finger and lightly touched her forehead.
"Make me forget everything I just witnessed. Knowing your secret might put you in danger."
Only then did Makoto understand what she was thinking.
His expression softened, and he gently caressed her cheek.
"Sakiko, I trust you."
"Thank you, Makoto-kun. But I don't trust myself."
Her expression remained serious.
"I might encounter someone with a mind-reading ability someday. I can't allow anyone to learn your secret through me. You understand, don't you?"
Looking at Sakiko's determined expression, Makoto knew she'd already made up her mind.
And once Sakiko made a decision, changing it was anything but easy.
He nodded.
"I understand."
Makoto began channeling Tailed Beast chakra into her body while teaching her how to refine chakra herself.
With Sakiko's current strength as a Veteran, she grasped the technique almost effortlessly. After all, the Main God Space didn't discriminate between different forms of energy. It simply classified them all under the Energy Attribute.
There was a reason Makoto had chosen this approach.
During his time in the Naruto world, he'd already confirmed that ordinary genjutsu only worked on living beings possessing chakra.
After all, the essence of genjutsu was interfering with the chakra circulating through the target's body, rather than directly manipulating their mind.
Of course, that only applied to conventional genjutsu.
Techniques like Kotoamatsukami and the Infinite Tsukuyomi, which could directly rewrite someone's consciousness, were another matter entirely.
Once the preparations were complete, the three tomoe in Makoto's Sharingan began to spin.
He cast a genjutsu on Sakiko.
It didn't take long for him to modify her memories.
According to her new recollection, Makoto had used an extraordinarily powerful single-use item to alter the activation conditions of her cursed eyes.
Although such an item was still ridiculously powerful, it shifted the dangerous implications away from Makoto himself.
Of course, Makoto understood perfectly well that the memory alterations produced by a Three-Tomoe Sharingan weren't entirely reliable.
Still, barring any unexpected developments, he and Sakiko would continue working together as teammates.
He had no intention of allowing her to encounter danger again.
A few seconds later, the familiar liveliness returned to Sakiko's eyes.
She looked at Makoto with the same warmth and gratitude as before. The only difference was that the shock of discovering his greatest secret had disappeared.
"Thank you."
Sakiko expressed her gratitude sincerely.
Makoto smiled.
"Just thank you?"
A faint blush appeared on Sakiko's cheeks. She rose onto her toes and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek before leaning closer to whisper in his ear.
"We can discuss everything else after we return to the real world."
Makoto couldn't help recalling what had happened between them the previous day, and his thoughts briefly wandered.
Fortunately, his Spirit attribute was already high enough for him to quickly suppress those distracting thoughts.
"Oh, right. That girl, Yuuki Asuna... She's probably in the same situation as Yukino and me, isn't she?"
Now that Sakiko had forgotten Makoto's secret, her mind was considerably more relaxed. Naturally, her attention returned to the question that had concerned her most earlier.
"What kind of danger did she encounter that caused her to enter the Main God Space?"
Makoto nodded.
"She became trapped in a death game called SAO..."
He casually explained Asuna's circumstances while waiting with Sakiko for the countdown to finish.
Finally, a notification sounded.
Ding!
However, the system messages that appeared before them caused both their expressions to change slightly.
[Mission World: One Piece.]
[Mission Period: Summit War.]
[Mission Location: Marine Headquarters.]
[Mission Type: Survival.]
[Mission Objective: Survive until the time limit expires.]
[Mission Difficulty: Normal-rank.]
[Mission Rewards: 1 C-rank Side Mission Token and 10,000 Mission Points.]
[Additional Rewards: Explore this world and earn the recognition of important characters to obtain hidden mission rewards.]
[Ding! Player Kitano Makoto and Player Togawa Sakiko have been detected participating in a Newcomer Reception Mission as a team while simultaneously undertaking Kitano Makoto's Veteran Qualification.]
[Recalculating and adjusting mission difficulty.]
Before Makoto and Sakiko could exchange a single word, an unusual sensation of weightlessness swept over them.
For an instant, Makoto almost thought he'd been attacked.
But he quickly realized that this sensation didn't originate from the ground beneath his feet.
It didn't even originate from the world itself.
Instead, some far greater and more terrifying power was directly altering the world, forcing reality itself to change.
[Ding! Calculations complete. Your team's updated mission details are as follows.]
[The mission type has been changed to Battlefield.]
[The newcomers under your leadership will be randomly assigned to different factions. You must locate and protect every member of your team until the war ends.]
[Only by ensuring their survival can you complete both the Newcomer Reception Mission and your Veteran Qualification.]
[Mission Difficulty: Hell-rank.]
[Failure Penalty: Veteran Qualification failed. All attributes will be reduced by 1 point.]
[For every newcomer who dies, all attributes will be reduced by an additional 1 point.]
[If any attribute falls below the required minimum, the Player will be erased.]
[Mission Rewards: 2 C-rank Side Mission Tokens, 20,000 Mission Points, and Veteran-level privileges.]
[Ding! Random faction assignments complete.]
[Kitano Makoto and Togawa Sakiko have been assigned the identities of Commodores at Marine Headquarters.]
[The remaining five Players will be randomly assigned to either the Whitebeard Pirates or the Impel Down escapees, where they will assume the identities of low-ranking personnel.]
[Ding! Kitano Makoto and Togawa Sakiko have automatically entered the Summit War Battlefield Mode.]
[Battlefield Difficulty: C-rank.]
[In Battlefield Mode, each faction shares a common reward pool. Mission Points will be distributed according to each Player's final contribution percentage and may be used to redeem ultimate rewards.]
[Marine Faction Reward Pool: 100,000 Mission Points, 1 B-rank Main Mission Token, 2 B-rank Side Mission Tokens, 3 Random Devil Fruits, 4 Random Haki Training Manuals, 5 Random Great Grade Swords...]
The system messages finally disappeared.
Makoto said nothing.
Instead, he immediately opened a Spatial Gate leading directly into the dimension created by his cursed technique.
Unfortunately, it was completely empty.
The five newcomers who'd been inside moments earlier had vanished without a trace.
Makoto's expression darkened.
'Did the Main God Space just screw me over?'
He'd anticipated that the mission difficulty might increase, but directly throwing him and Sakiko into a Battlefield Mode was going a little too far, wasn't it?
Sakiko also realized something was wrong.
"Makoto-kun... this is the second time I've encountered a Hell-rank mission."
A teasing smile appeared on her lips.
"And the last time was when I was with you too."
She tilted her head slightly.
"Are you trying to drag me down to hell with you?"
Makoto tightened his grip on her hand.
"Then are you willing to go to hell with me?"
Sakiko answered with a gentle kiss.
"As long as I'm with you, even hell would feel like a warm paradise to me."
Sakiko's reassurance brought Makoto back to his senses.
His mind, which had briefly stalled under the shock of the mission's difficulty, finally began working properly again.
There was no point wondering whether the Main God Space was deliberately targeting him.
He needed to act immediately, locate the newcomers under his protection, and ensure their safety.
The Main God Space had directly linked his newcomer escort assignment to his Veteran Qualification, meaning he now had to guarantee that every single newcomer survived.
Fortunately, Makoto was fairly confident about that.
The strongest combatants participating in the Summit War might be difficult to handle, but killing Makoto would be equally difficult for them.
The greatest problem was actually his assigned identity.
As a Marine Commodore, he now had to search for his own people among the Whitebeard Pirates and the Impel Down escapees.
With both sides already at war, there was practically no possibility of approaching the pirates without being attacked.
That left him with a difficult choice.
Should he force his way through, or use his spatial abilities to infiltrate their ranks without being noticed?
It was something he needed to consider carefully.
Then there was the additional complication of Battlefield Mode.
Since the system specifically called it a battlefield, didn't that imply other Players might be participating as well?
Compared with the powerful pirates and Marines, Makoto was actually more concerned about the Players.
After all, their abilities came in countless varieties.
As a spatial ability user, Makoto might be extremely difficult to kill, but that didn't mean he was truly immortal.
He mentally reviewed the abilities and items currently at his disposal.
Several possibilities immediately came to mind.
First, he created ten Shadow Clones and infused each one with Tailed Beast chakra, instructing them to remain here on standby.
Then he took out Kaito Kid's Disguise Cloak and draped it over himself, although he didn't activate it yet.
"You're planning to infiltrate the pirates' side to look for people, aren't you?"
Sakiko seemed to understand his intentions.
"In that case, you might find this useful."
She produced a futuristic-looking suit of exoskeleton armor.
Makoto immediately examined its description.
[D-rank Thermoptic Camouflage Suit]
[Appearance: Transparent, raincoat-like suit.]
[Effect: When activated, the user becomes completely invisible, and all infrared signatures are concealed.]
[Limitations: Provides no attribute bonuses or significant physical protection. The camouflage effect fails upon contact with water.]
Makoto's eyes brightened.
It seemed this was equipment Sakiko had obtained in the Ghost in the Shell world.
Although it wouldn't provide much improvement to his overall combat strength, it was practically perfect for his current needs.
Without hesitation, he put on the camouflage suit and then draped Kaito Kid's Disguise Cloak over it.
After confirming that both items could be activated properly, he opened another Spatial Gate and allowed Sakiko to enter.
Although Sakiko now possessed an official identity in this world, there was still nowhere more convenient or secure than the dimension created by Makoto's spatial technique.
After all, only something as shameless as the Main God Space itself could forcibly remove things from his personal dimension.
Once everything was prepared, Makoto left his room.
Only then did he realize that he was still inside Marine Headquarters.
The entire headquarters had already entered a state of combat readiness.
There wasn't a single ordinary pedestrian on the streets, and even Marine soldiers were few and far between.
However, the moment Makoto appeared, a sharp shout came from behind him.
"Who are you? Why haven't you reported to your position to face the enemy?"
"Wait... Commodore?!"
"I'm sorry, sir! I didn't recognize you. Please forgive me!"
The speaker was a Marine soldier carrying a rifle, likely one of the few remaining patrolmen stationed inside headquarters.
He hurried over and saluted Makoto.
Sweat trickled down his face from nervousness. He was clearly afraid that the Commodore might punish him for speaking out of turn.
Makoto had no intention of causing unnecessary trouble.
He simply nodded in acknowledgment.
Then, under the soldier's astonished and envious gaze, Makoto stepped onto the air itself and rushed toward the massive walls at the front of Marine Headquarters.
The technique he was using was Geppo (Moonwalk), one of the Six Powers.
Its principle was simple enough.
By kicking the air with tremendous leg strength, the user could generate enough force to temporarily remain airborne, allowing them to move through the sky as though climbing an invisible staircase.
Of course, the technique couldn't keep someone suspended indefinitely.
But now that Makoto's Strength and Agility attributes had both reached 20 points, mastering the Six Powers hadn't required much effort.
And that also meant something important.
The Players he would encounter from this point onward would likely possess abilities at least comparable to his own current level.
…