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On a small, lonely island located in the weaker part of the East Blue, what seemed like a chase was happening. The pursuer? A huge monitor lizard, easily 9 meters long and 2 meters tall. The pursued? A young Oni who didn't seem to be having the best of days.
"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!!!" While running with all his strength and screaming—understandably, given the situation—our protagonist's eyes darted around, searching for a possible escape route. "IT WAS JUST AN EGG, YOU BASTARD!"
From the corner of his peripheral vision, he saw his salvation: a tree big enough that the lizard couldn't climb or knock it down. Unlike the lizard's cousins in his old world, this mini-bus-shaped reptile could barely lift its own body off the ground, let alone climb.
With a skilled move, the Oni leapt onto the tree, grabbing it like a koala and climbing with all the strength in his limbs. After reaching a safe height, the young Oni sat on a large branch and looked down.
The lizard, after a few attempts to break the trunk with its enormous claws, gave up. Instead, it moved away from the tree just enough to vanish into the denser vegetation, its skin slowly blending with the surroundings.
"Okay, that's new." Furrowing his brows, the hungry Oni continued: "Ambush predator, huh? This little bastard is gonna stay down there all night, well, if the fat lizard doesn't leave this area by dawn, I'll climb higher and swing like the old days… Return to monkey, you know?"
Calmly and with a wide grin, the young Oni grabbed from his primitive bag—previously his own shirt—a large egg, the size of an ostrich egg. 'Shit, worth it. Protein, baby.'
"Hard as a rock, just as I thought." After a few attempts to crack the egg with his hands and a sharp stone he had made for potential confrontations with the local fauna—'not that it would help much with guys like that around'—he resorted to his secret weapon: his horns.
"These things are harder than rocks and sharper than any knife I've ever used." While speaking, he pressed the egg against his horns, forming a small hole with a little pressure. "Daily protein goal: check."
While drinking the egg's contents, the Oni began reflecting: 'I'm more used to this than I ever imagined… Ever since the day I discovered I was in the world of One Piece, leaving this island stopped being my number one priority.'
Finishing the egg, he tossed it carelessly to where he imagined his father's (or mother's?) head would be. *HISSS!* "Shut the fuck up, scaly ass".
'Finding a pirate in my current state is death, without a doubt. A Sea King? I could already start preparing my coffin the moment I knew I'd have to face one… My best bet is to get strong enough to make sure I won't get my ass beaten the second I step off this island or try my luck with the marines.'
While thinking about his strength, the Oni began observing the changes in his own body, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep.
'Honestly, it's kind of ridiculous how fast I went from malnourished to being in shape.' His previous self was unrecognizable. During the three weeks he spent on the island, he evolved from pure bones, barely able to stand, into a relatively muscular body. "This race has its strengths, and the bulking"
'It wasn't too hard to know what I am once I knew what world I was in and what kind of bullshit I was dealing with'
But muscles weren't the only change: his skin darkened, acquiring a tan typical of the tropical climate; his left horn seemed to be growing back, now forming a small cone at the tip, and his height had increased to 2.10 meters standing upright.
'Seems like this is just the beginning of the whole transformation… Either I'm a dwarf Oni, or this body is really young. If I'm not mistaken, Yamato has like? 2.80 meters? Not to mention Kaidou, that bastard is what? 7 meters?' Remembering the Onis from the anime, the young Oni furrowed his brows.
'What I need most right now is food. This body is naturally strong, but still undernourished, and… judging by the marks on my back, I know why.' Running his hand over the thick scars hiding a tattoo—a mark of slavery—he thought: 'If I hadn't tried bathing in that lake, I'd have discovered it at the worst possible time.' Furrowing his brows, our Oni, no longer so hungry, prepared to sleep.
[TIME BREAK]
"Shit, my pants are always full of sand." A few days after the giant lizard chase, our protagonist tried to find a way to get a substantial meal without getting eaten in the process.
"Looks like my only option will be fishing near the reefs around the island. The Sea King is way too big to be in such shallow waters if it's still around, and it's not worth the risk of getting stranded. I'd barely fit between its teeth anyway." In his hand was an improvised wooden spear, its tip split into several smaller points.
"It's harder for the fish to escape when I pierce it. No idea why, but if professional underwater fishing spears are like this, why doubt it?" As he approached the part of the beach closest to the reefs, the Oni couldn't help but salivate. 'I don't even like fish, but a beggar can't choose.'
After a few minutes, he was directly above a living coral reef—a perfect hunting ground for those who know how to find good prey. 'Shit, if there's a lobster down there, it's coming with me.' Taking a deep breath and holding it, the Oni began descending in search of his next meal.
'Damn, my eyes burn! Of course, idiot, it's seawater! Shit… I've been alone too long, arguing with myself in my head is crazy.' As he explored the corals and crevices that could hide prey, some thoughts crossed the not-so-bright Oni's mind.
'Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, fish…' Like a broken record, his mind was at full speed. His body didn't seem affected by the water pressure—normally, an inexperienced human diver would feel ear pain.
'Fish, fish, fish… Crab!' As soon as he saw a small bluish claw peeking out from behind a rock, all four limbs worked in sync. Like a missile, he lunged toward the "poor crab," only realizing the danger when he got too close: 'HOLY SHIT.'
[BEACH: 1 HOUR LATER]
"Bullshit, pure bullshit." Emerging from the water, our protagonist carried his dinner—a giant blue crab, 2.5 meters long, with one comically small claw and one huge claw. New wounds marked the Oni's body.
"No, no, that was my mistake. Damn, of course it was my mistake. This is a world where people kick the ground so hard and fast that they teleport, shit." As he roasted the crab limbs and meat, over a fire that had been kept alive for weeks, made with a lot of luck and calluses on the hands, the Oni reflected on the future now that he had a reliable food source.
'I need to eat as much as possible… This body is constantly hungry, probably trying to compensate for all the damage from the malnutrition… And I need to train, a lot. I know being an Oni alone won't carry me to a safe level of strength, just by genetics.' As he pulled a crab leg and extracted the meat, an idea came to mind: 'A new name… Yes, a new name for a fresh start.'
Looking at the horizon and eating the plain meat, a name came to mind—a name that suited him perfectly, a forever-hungry Oni: "Goraku." A name that represented everything he was up to that moment: a being with an 'Eternal Hunger.' "That's a good name."
Chapter 3 alternative title: Say my name (ahh reference)