The first two weeks of work flew by before Ryan even realized it.
The days started early at Minamoto's carpentry shop. The work was brutal, hauling wood around and carrying tools back and forth wore Ryan down, the kind of exhaustion that felt like it sank straight into his bones.
By the third day, he noticed something was off.
His posture was fixing itself. Wooden beams and tools fit his hands better. What used to be pure brute force slowly turned into technique. Minamoto explained things once, sometimes not even that and Ryan's body just… got it.
"Kid," Minamoto said one morning, watching Ryan hold a large piece without letting it slip out of alignment. "Be honest. Have you worked with wood before?"
Ryan thought for half a second. "No, sir. Did I mess something up?"
Minamoto muttered something unintelligible and went back to his hammer. "On the contrary. If that's the case, then keep going."
The Essence of the Blank didn't show up as a voice or some flashy glow. It worked through instinct, taking over his body and engraving every process straight into his mind.
He learned from every mistake in real time. His body discarded what didn't work and kept everything else.
Ryan felt a small chill run down his spine. "This is… kinda unfair. But hey, at least it's happening to me"
The same thing happened at Chicken's shop.
There, learning was about patience.
Mending fishing nets demanded fine coordination. One mistake meant starting all over again, and Ryan lost count of how many times he messed up. Chicken was his harshest critic, exactly as promised.
"Look, kid" Chicken said, placing the needle on the table. "This'll come apart with the first pull. You don't need to rush."
Ryan listened in silence and kept going like his life depended on it.
From that point on, things started to click. After a few days, Chicken wasn't complaining anymore.
"Now stitch here and pull the thread just a bit…" she said, almost without realizing she was genuinely teaching him.
Ryan nodded, absorbing the knowledge and turning it straight into action. Every fabric had its own personality, its own rules and he was learning way faster than what should be normal.
Chicken narrowed her eyes at one point. "Looks like you've been sewing in your free time"
"Maybe?" Ryan smiled slightly.
"Go grab more thread" Chicken replied, rolling her eyes.
—
What would you do if you met one of your favorite characters in real life?
Ryan had thought about that plenty of times. He always said he'd go on an adventure with them, but given his current situation, the chances of that were basically zero.
Still, he met Monkey D. Luffy. A dream come true for any fan.
It happened on an ordinary afternoon. Ryan was leaving the carpentry shop after a hectic morning when he bumped into a black-haired kid wearing a white shirt with an anchor symbol and blue shorts.
"Oops, sorry about that" Ryan said, helping Luffy up.
Luffy just stared at him in silence, like he was trying to figure something out.
This is kinda weird. He does this sometimes in the anime, like he's… oh my god. I'm being judged by the protagonist, Ryan thought.
Ryan pulled out a piece of chocolate he'd bought earlier and offered it to Luffy, whose eyes immediately lit up.
"Thanks" Luffy said, taking the chocolate. "You're a good person."
In that moment, they were just two kids sharing sugar in a world that rarely offered kindness for free.
When Ryan walked away, Luffy looked back one more time. Ryan didn't notice.
He kept walking, distracted, until he passed by a shop selling red tomatoes and sacks of flour. He put his hand in his pocket and counted his money.
"I know what to do with this" Ryan muttered as he walked inside.
When night came, Ryan was in the orphanage kitchen, surrounded by old pots and ingredients spread across the counter. Aoi took care of the place and pulled miracles out of almost nothing, but even miracles get tiring.
Ryan had asked for permission, and after a lot of bargaining, he finally got the green light.
As a single middle-aged man in his previous life, making pasta was no big deal. He had everything he needed thanks to his earlier shopping.
The kitchen soon filled with the smell of red sauce, and little by little, curious kids sat at the table, staring at Ryan with wide eyes.
"What's Ryan doing?"
"Since when does he know how to cook?"
"It smells so good!"
"Do you think he'll let us eat?"
That last question made Ryan's chest ache. Kids were his weak spot, and hearing one ask if they were allowed to eat something as simple as pasta hit hard.
"You can eat as much as you want," Ryan said without looking at them.
When he finished, Aoi was the first to taste it.
"Well, it's not poisoned" Aoi joked, wiping her mouth with a napkin.
"Ha. Ha" Ryan replied, rolling his eyes.
The kids were next, and the result was amazing. Happy faces, full stomachs and Ryan finally understood why Sanji loved doing this. Cooking for others was new to him, and he couldn't say he hated it.
Ryan washed the pots afterward, feeling that good kind of tiredness in his arms.
Two weeks in this world, and he already felt more alive than ever.
And his journey was only just beginning.