------
------
Morin had originally wanted to figure out what category his so-called "Four-Dimensional Treasure Pouch" ability belonged to.
But looking around at this bare, depressing shack—so empty that even a mouse would starve to tears—he realized there wasn't even a cup or a drop of water to test with. For now, he had to shelve that idea.
"Guess I should see what kind of item I'll pull today instead~!"
With that thought, his mind sank into his nen ability.
Inside, the pouch's space stretched into a gray void that looked endless. It wasn't just for storing the tools he drew—it could also serve as a massive storage room.
After all, Doraemon's four-dimensional pocket was designed to hold anything, no matter how big. It was, at its core, a storage item.
"Draw!"
At his command, something materialized before him—a strange, square lump covered with black dots, looking suspiciously like a brick.
"This is… the Translation Konjac?!"
In reality, Morin reached into the pouch and pulled out the soft, squishy object.
From the moment his consciousness dipped into the pouch to select an item, to actually holding it in his hands, it felt like the process took some time. But in the real world, only an instant had passed.
The moment it appeared, he recognized it immediately.
This little thing had shown up far too often—almost every Doraemon movie had used it at some point.
Item: Translation Konjac.
Effect: Lets you understand and speak any language—foreign, alien, or otherwise incomprehensible. Works on both spoken and written forms.
That was Morin's own summary as he sorted through the item's functions.
The usage was simple: just eat it. Once swallowed, the eater could understand any strange language and communicate in it as well.
Of course, there was a drawback—one piece of Translation Konjac only worked for a single language.
Still, this thing had been indispensable in Doraemon's long-form adventures. In movies like Nobita's Great Adventure into the Underworld, Nobita and the Castle of the Undersea Devil, Nobita and the Birth of Japan—at least eight or nine films—it had made an appearance.
Whenever Doraemon and the gang encountered new races—underground dwellers, sea folk, aliens, sky people—he always had to pop one of these into his mouth.
Flaws aside, this tool was exactly what Morin needed right now.
"The world of Hunter x Hunter is full of those scribble-like characters. If I had to learn everything from scratch, I'm not sure I'd ever pull it off…"
Shaking his head, he tossed the Konjac into his mouth.
At the same time, he felt a noticeable drain in both his nen and aura reserves.
Every item had a cost to use, and with the Translation Konjac, the "activation" method was literally eating it.
"This ability of mine has two main limits," Morin reflected as he chewed, "First, I can only draw one item a day at random, and I won't know what it'll be ahead of time. Second, every use consumes nen and aura."
He swallowed and kept analyzing.
"The randomness is out of my hands—it's all down to luck. But no matter what I pull, I'll always know what it does."
"So really, the only meaningful restriction is the cost of nen and aura."
"In that case… could I set up a stronger restriction in one area to reduce the cost in another?"
"A contract and an oath…?"
He mulled it over, finishing most of the block of Konjac as he did.
To be fair, it wasn't bad—it tasted like a chewy, sticky piece of yam. And there was a lot of it. Filling, even.
By the time he was almost done, he actually felt a bit full.
Just as he swallowed the last bite and was about to turn his thoughts back to how he might boost his nen and aura—and how to handle the whole oath-and-vow business—
Creeeeak.
The old wooden door of the rundown house squealed open, loud and grating.
A girl with light purple hair and golden eyes stepped inside.
"You're awake?"
Her voice was flat, her expression unreadable. Even her striking golden eyes showed no ripple of emotion, as calm as the surface of a windless lake.
"Mm."
Morin kept his face neutral, answering simply—though inside, he let out a huge sigh of relief.
The Translation Konjac worked. He could actually understand her!
He quickly took stock of the girl in front of him. From the look of it, she was probably the one who had pulled him out of the trash heap earlier.
She was petite, maybe eleven or twelve years old, with a short bob of pretty lavender hair. Her eyebrows were thin, her features delicate, and those golden eyes were unusually large and bright.
She wore a white outfit that looked like a modified judo gi, except the lower half was styled like a skirt. Underneath, she had on black fitted shorts that ran a bit longer than the skirt itself.
Normally, staring at a girl that age might come across… questionable.
But one—Morin's current body wasn't that much older than hers.
And two—
"Why do I feel like she looks a little familiar…?"
Morin muttered inwardly, his curiosity piqued.
"....."