The truck's brakes whined like a dying animal as it scraped against the curb. Marvin spat out his toothpick, watching rain slide down the windshield in greasy trails. He adjusted the rearview mirror. A cracked leather wallet glared back at him, stuffed with nothing but expired coupons and a faded picture of a terrier.
Cold seeped through his threadbare jacket. He drummed fingers on the steering wheel—stubby, calloused things that had never held anything remarkable. Outside, neon signs bled color into puddles. Another Tuesday. Another delivery run for cheap noodles and cheaper dreams.
The radio crackled. Static swallowed the weather report. Marvin sighed, breath fogging the glass. He traced the dog's face in the photo. It'd been his mom's. Died three winters back. Just like everything else worth keeping
He turned the key. The engine coughed, then died. Silence pressed in. Then—pain. Sudden. White-hot. Like a freight train plowing through his skull. No sound. No light. Just the smell of burning rubber and the taste of copper. The terrier's eyes vanished last.
***
Heat condensed against skin. Sunlight speared through purple leaves. Breathing came shallow, clumsy, limbs tangled in moss thick as wet sponges. Marvin gagged, pushing himself upright against a tree trunk. Cold dread coiled low. These weren't city-block-wide oaks. He stared at trunks wider than buildings, roots arching like subway tunnels. Overhead, something shrieked—long, alien. Not a bird.
***
He pinched his arm. Bruises bloomed purple. Real. Not dead. **Definitely** not Kansas. Movement flickered—a lizard the size of a pitbull scuttled away, scales shimmering poisonous green. Sweat glued his shirt to his back. Then, jarringly bright, a flash of orange-blue streaked across a distant gap in the canopy. A blur trailing… golden hair? Adrenaline spiked. Dragon Ball. The name punched his gut. He'd seen the reruns. What came here? Monkeys? Dinosaurs? Androids?
***
He stumbled forward, vines snagging his ankles. A roar echoed—deep as an earthquake. Marvin froze. Not animal. Primal. Hungry. It vibrated in his ribs. Instinct screamed to hide. He scrambled into dense ferns. Through the fronds, a shadow swallowed the light. Massive. Horned. Snorting steam. His breath hitched. Run. **Now**. Just—move. But something else sparked beneath the terror. Warmth flickered deep in his belly. Unfamiliar. Ancient. Like tectonic plates shifting, flooding veins with liquid heat. His fists clenched. Knuckles popped. Skin prickled… stretching impossibly tight.
The beast lumbered closer. Trees snapped like toothpicks. Its eye—a pit of molten gold—scanned the undergrowth. Directly toward him. Pressure built behind his ribs. Sharp. Electric. Tension coiled him into a spring. Shoulders shook. Not fear now. Something else entirely bubbled up. Bubbles rising through heavy syrup. Slow. Then breaking surface. A chuckle escaped his lips. Dry. Cracked. Then another—deeper. Rawer. Muscles quivered along his forearms, feeling strange… elastic? He didn't stop it. Couldn't. He tipped his head back against the moss. The chuckle erupted into full-throated laughter—wild, uncontrolled, echoing the dinosaur's roar. It ripped free, scraping his throat raw, flooding the humid air with defiance.
His cheeks stretched. Wider. Wider still. Far beyond normal. Painless. Effortless. Teeth bared in a crescent moon grin. Unsettlingly wide. Unhinged. Pure, absurd joy surged up his spine. Tears streamed down his temples. This impossible world. That toothpick back in the truck. The terrier's photo dissolving. It was all… ridiculous! **Too** ridiculous! The laugh tore through him again, shaking his whole frame. Bright pink flushed his skin—hotter than fire—pulsing with impossible energy. Ribbons of steam hissed from his pores. His hair lifted—not floating… *writhing*. Like living ink-black smoke curling toward the treetops. He felt… ridiculous. Ridiculously powerful. Ridiculously free.
The dinosaur towered over the fern thicket. One taloned foot crashed down. Marvin didn't flinch. The laughter subsided abruptly. Silence hung heavy. Then, the grin widened impossibly further. His eyes, now startlingly white, locked onto the giant reptile. Whispers like distant drums pulsed in his skull: *Stretch…* *Push…* *Rubber…* With a sound like tearing canvas, his arm shot forward—not punching—*stretching* impossibly far past the ferns, wrapping thickly, comically, around the creature's thick ankle. He blinked, marveling at his own elastic limb. The dinosaur stared down. Confused. Roaring. Marvin tilted his head. His grin softened, playful now. "Gomu Gomu no..." he murmured, tasting weirdly like cinnamon smoke. "...Hi!" The fist clenched instinctively, a phantom bell ringing faintly, *DONG*. The world blurred around him as his coiled legs propelled him skyward like a spring released, trailing steam and laughter. The dinosaur roared again—not anger this time. Shock. Utter bewilderment.
Air whipped past his face, drying the tears instantly. He soared. Higher. The canopy rushed towards him—a tapestry of purple, venom green, and impossible blues. Branches thicker than city buses parted before him as easily as wet paper. He didn't fly—he *ricocheted*, limbs snapping out to grab vines or trunks, launching himself with impossible force, laughing louder with each rebound. The wind roared in his ears, yet his own manic giggling pierced through it. He felt weightless. Endless. Free! Sunlight struck his skin—a physical embrace, warm and liquid and utterly alien after the perpetual drizzle of Earth. Below, the jungle sprawled: giant insects hummed, rivers snaked molten silver, and distant mountains scraped clouds like jagged teeth. He carved chaotic arcs through the air, a dark comet trailing pinkish steam and pure, unadulterated joy.
He spotted a clearing below—a splash of emerald grass beside a mirrored pool. Instinct seized him. Not thought. Pure feeling. He inhaled deeply, tasting ozone and jungle rot. His spine arched impossibly. Muscles coiled tighter than steel springs beneath suddenly pink, steam-whispering skin. He pointed one finger downward. *"Gomu Gomu no..."* The grin widened, eyes crescent slits, pure chaotic glee. "...Rocket!" His finger stretched impossibly thin, then snapped taut against the ground near the pool with a thunderous ***CRACK!*** The force slammed him earthward like a meteorite. Knees bent impossibly, absorbing the impact without a tremor. Dust billowed. Steam hissed from his pores. Silence descended, thick and sudden. His hair drifted down like ink-black smoke settling.
The dust cleared slowly. Marvin stood, shoulders shaking slightly, not from effort, but leftover mirth. He caught sight of his reflection in the still pool beside him. The steam curling from his shoulders dissipated in wisps. The pink flush faded slowly from his skin. A man stared back from the darkened water... but it wasn't Marvin. The face was leaner, sharper. Eyes impossibly wide and startlingly Red—not blind, but seeing *everything*. Hair, wildly untamed looked like clouds, lifting slightly at the roots as if possessed by static. And the grin... that impossible, unsettlingly wide grin splitting the face like a joyous wound, radiating pure, boundless freedom. Recognition flickered—not his own features, but a cartoon hero impossibly made flesh. He leaned closer, mesmerized. The reflection mirrored him precisely. Then, slowly, deliberately, it winked one bright, white eye. Marvin-Become-Luffy laughed again, a sound like snapping rubber bands and chiming bells. This wasn't a dream. This was pure, ridiculous possibility.
He lowered himself onto the cool emerald grass, feeling the unfamiliar texture prickling his palms—still unnervingly stretchy. The manic energy ebbed, replaced by a profound stillness inside the lingering joy. *Okay,* he thought, the voice inside his head remarkably calm amidst the absurdity. *This is Dragon Ball. Definitely.* He scanned the skyline. Those jagged mountains weren't Earth's. The trees weren't Earth's. And the dinosaur? Pure DBZ-era weirdness. But *when?* Knowing made survival critical. Was he in the Saiyan arc? Those mountains looked too pristine, untouched by alien invasion. Namek? The sky wasn't green. Maybe Planet Vegeta? Then he'd be atomized already. Or... Super? That came after Buu. GT? Daima? Some manga-only filler hell? Panic briefly surged, but dissolved instantly into another ripple of laughter bubbling in his chest. The sheer impossibility of it washed over him—a delivery driver fused with a rubbery pirate god in a world of ki blasts and monkey tails. It was utterly, stupidly exhilarating.
He closed his eyes, focusing past the elastic hum in his veins. He needed markers. The Golden Hair Streak flashed in his memory—pure Super Saiyan speed. Goku? Vegeta? Caulifla? That narrowed it *somewhat* to Z or Super. The sheer scale of the jungle… felt ancient. Primordial. Like King Kai's planet but denser, wilder. Definitely not Earth. Perhaps a training world? Or uncharted wilderness? He pictured Bulma's Capsule Corp tech, the sleek cities shown later… absent here. This felt… early. Crude. Dangerous. Maybe even *before* Raditz? The dread came cold now. Before Raditz meant Piccolo Daimao, King Piccolo terrorizing the world… a world lacking Z Fighters strong enough to save *him*. He choked back another laugh, this one tinged with frantic energy. Okay. Survival first. Training second. Figure out the timeline *while* dodging dinosaurs and whatever planet-sized crabs lived here.
A low growl vibrated through the grass beneath him, deeper and more resonant than the T-Rex's roar. Marvin's eyes snapped open, instantly Red Ringed. He didn't spring up. Instead, he tilted his head slowly, the wide grin softening into something curiously alert. From the mirrored pool's edge, a pair of eyes the size of dinner plates emerged—chartreuse slits glowing with predatory intelligence beneath a thick canopy of dripping moss. Jagged spines, dripping pond slime, traced the creature's ridged spine. It hauled its immense, turtle-like bulk onto the bank with soil-churning groans, water cascading off armored plates inscribed with glowing glyphs. The smell hit Marvin next—wet reptile, ozone, and a sharp tang like ignited gunpowder. This wasn't a dumb beast. This thing watched him like a chess master sizing up a pawn.
The armored colossus inhaled, its chest swelling impossibly wide. Air screamed towards its jagged maw like water down a drain. Heat radiated off its plates in visible waves. Marvin tensed, gears humming beneath his skin—ready to snap, twist, recoil. But the creature didn't charge. Its great obsidian claws dug into the mud with deliberate slowness. Instead, disturbing intelligence flickered in those glowing green eyes. They traced him—the drifting cloud-hair, the residual steam rising from pink shoulders, the unnatural smile still lingering at the corners of his mouth. Its nostrils flared wide. The ozone-gunpowder scent intensified… mingling oddly with recognition? Not hostility. Something ancient stirred in the beast's gaze, ancient as bedrock yet sharp as shattered glass. Its massive head dipped fractionally, a gesture almost… formal.
Marvin's pulse hammered against his ribs—not frantic fear now, but deep, resonant thuds. *THOOM. THOOM. THOOM.* Like immense drums beaten far below the earth. The armored turtle-thing froze. Its ear-hole flaps twitched. It tilted its head, reptilian eyes narrowing with impossible focus. The beat intensified. Syncopated. Primal. The creature shuddered; its spiked tail swept a trench through the emerald grass. Glyphs etched on its carapace flared softly with pale amber light—rhythmically. In time with his heartbeat. Above the pool, dragonflies the size of eagles hovered, wings humming the same cadence. Marvin gulped air tasting of lightning and moss. This wasn't coincidence. The rhythm pulsed outward from his core—a vibration humming beneath stretched skin, resonating with the humid jungle air itself. The giant turtle exhaled softly. Steam curled from its nostrils… mimicking his own. Recognition solidified into certainty in its reptilian stare. Not predator and prey. Something… else. Something innate.
Silence stretched taut. Marvin held his breath. The drumbeat inside his chest seemed to swell, filling the clearing. The armored titan shifted its immense weight, scaled knees groaning under the strain. Slowly, deliberately, it lowered the bridge of its massive horned skull towards the trampled grass. Not an attack posture. A bow. Deep. Reverent. Water droplets cascaded from armored ridges onto the muddy shore. The glyphs on its back pulsed brighter with each echoing *THOOM* radiating from Marvin's chest. He heard it now—not just his heartbeat, but a deeper vibration resonating *through* him, rippling the pool's surface in concentric rings. A phantom melody played on stretched nerves: *Rubber… Rhythm… Sun…* The impossible truth slammed into him. The laughter bubbled again, unbidden. Not manic joy now, but awe tinged with terrifying understanding. This creature didn't fear Gear Fifth. It knew it. Revered it. Recognized the beat of *Nika*.
A choked chuckle escaped him, breaking the silence. Instantly, the giant reptile's head snapped up. Its eyes, glowing with ancestral wisdom, locked onto his widened crimson ones. Recognition sparked anew. It wasn't just the heartbeat. It saw *him*. The delivery driver merged with the Warrior of Liberation. Its gaze held millennia—stories etched in cosmic dust and primordial ash. It understood the absurdity. It understood the power. A low rumble built in its throat, not threatening, but resonant—a greeting. Or a challenge accepted. The glyphs blazed brighter, projecting hazy symbols onto the canopy above: a stretched fist, a laughing sun. Marvin's grin returned, wide and impossibly sharp beneath the jungle sun. He felt the elastic potential coil tightly in his calves. "Okay, big guy," he breathed, steam whispering from his lips. "Show me." The armored titan's jaws parted slowly, revealing furnace-hot fire gathering deep within its throat. The kingly beat hammered on.