Chapter 1:
"Gonna die! Gonna die! Gonna die!"
Cheng Lang stuck his tongue out, sprinting like mad ahead while a three-meter-tall wild boar with two massive tusks sticking out charged wildly behind him.
Right at the life-or-death moment when the boar was about to smash into him, a gigantic meatball flew in from the horizon and slammed straight into the boar. The enormous wild boar got knocked so hard its eyes rolled back; after toppling several giant trees, it let out one final miserable grunt and died.
But Cheng Lang, still tongue-out and charging forward, didn't notice the chaos behind him at all. By now he was running in a complete daze.
After all, anyone suddenly face-to-face with a three-meter-tall, three-meter-wide wild boar would be scared out of their wits.
Especially a gaming otaku like him—being able to run at all was already impressive.
Purely fueled by adrenaline, Cheng Lang wasn't paying attention and tripped over a protruding tree root, face-planting straight into the mud in a classic dog-eating-shit fall.
His lungs felt like a broken bellows.
Sharp pain shot through every part of his body.
Only one thought filled Cheng Lang's mind:
Gonna die.
But he waited a long time, and nothing happened.
The tank-like wild boar behind him had vanished.
The forest was eerily quiet.
Rubbing his eyes, Cheng Lang stood up, gasping for breath.
He looked around cautiously.
Just ten minutes earlier, he had been playing Minecraft, fresh off beating the Ender Dragon and returning to the overworld.
Then his vision blacked out, and he arrived here—right in eye contact with a three-meter-tall wild boar.
"Fuck, did I transmigrate? Or did I eat some bad mushrooms and hallucinate?"
After carefully checking and confirming the boar was really gone, he finally leaned against a giant tree to catch his breath.
He pinched himself hard—felt the pain. His pounding heart finally calmed. Not a dream, not mushroom poisoning. He'd really transmigrated.
"I didn't win any lottery or anything. Why the hell did I transmigrate? Where's the system? Where's my golden finger? Come save me already!"
As if answering his desperate plea,
A perfectly square fruit dropped from the giant tree above.
It landed squarely in Cheng Lang's hand.
He caught it steadily and froze for a second.
Looking at the blocky fruit, he glanced up at the sky, then back at it.
It was square, covered in thread-like patterns, and the color scheme was way too familiar.
Familiar because he'd literally been messing with it ten minutes ago.
Green on top, dirt-brown below.
At first glance, it looked exactly like a grass block.
"This… this can't be a Devil Fruit, right?"
He stood up and scanned around.
Then he spotted the collapsed giant trees behind him, that fat figure, and the squashed wild boar.
Staring at the pockmarked, extremely plump body—
"Alvida?!"
"This is definitely the One Piece world. So this fruit—is it the Slippery-Slippery Fruit? No, that one's pink. This clearly isn't." Cheng Lang quickly looked left and right. Spotting something pink in the forest was easy.
And mainly because that pink fruit was pretty close to him too.
Looking at the two Devil Fruits in his hands, Cheng Lang still felt like he was dreaming.
But he quickly gave up on the Slippery-Slippery Fruit.
Staring at the square one instead.
"Fuck it!"
It crunched when he bit into it, but almost immediately an indescribable taste exploded in his mouth.
Sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, salty, fishy, stinky—every horrible flavor mixed together, shooting straight to his brain. It was like a homeless guy who hadn't showered in twenty years was using his foot rag to scrub the inside of Cheng Lang's mouth.
He forced it down with great difficulty, tears streaming out uncontrollably.
"As expected… tastes like absolute shit."
Even though Devil Fruits grant full power from just one bite,
Cheng Lang still swallowed the entire fruit.
After the last bite went down, he felt like his soul was ascending.
Luckily the awful taste came fast and left fast too.
His vision blurred.
He looked down at his body—no changes.
Still that handsome (skinny) guy.
Still that dry, meatless frame.
"Hiss… no effect? Or is this just some nasty local fruit from the One Piece world?"
Rubbing his chin, he glanced at the giant tree nearby.
A strange feeling rose from deep inside.
Following that instinct, he walked over to the tree.
He tapped the trunk lightly.
Didn't use much strength, but it cracked.
With a scratching/puling sound—
Pop.
The wood turned into a small cube and fell to the ground.
Then, as if attracted, it flew straight into his inventory.
On instinct, he opened his backpack.
And there it was—the familiar yet surreal sight.
Minecraft's Steve player inventory.
He placed the log in the 2x2 crafting grid—four planks came out.
He crafted a crafting table and placed it on the ground.
Only then did Cheng Lang realize what he'd just done, and pure ecstasy hit him.
Golden finger GET!
But why the hell did his cheat come as a Devil Fruit?
Whatever, if he couldn't figure it out, no point thinking.
To get rich, first punch trees—the survival instinct carved into his bones kicked in smoothly.
Punch trees, dig down.
But after digging for a while underground, it was just dirt.
After getting almost a full stack of dirt in his bag, he finally hit stone.
Mined three stone, retired from wood-punching.
Naturally, Cheng Lang started proper mining.
Fishbone pattern (zigzag strip mining).
Torches? Nah. Real men don't place torches.
Finally, looking at a backpack full of stone and dirt…
"Why was this mining trip so trash? Wait… I'm not in a game anymore!"
He hurriedly returned to the surface.
Alvida was still lying there.
Looking like she was out cold, life and death unknown."
Cheng Lang felt a bit troubled.
What now?
Alvida was a villain in the early anime.
After eating the Slippery-Slippery Fruit and becoming beautiful, she seemed to have become a bit kinder.
At that moment.
Alvida, who had been unconscious until now, slowly woke up.
She opened her eyes and immediately saw a man staring at her with a weird look.
"Kid, never seen a beauty before?"
"…"
Cheng Lang rolled his eyes.
He glanced at the Slippery-Slippery Fruit in his hand.
"I have, but you're definitely not one right now."
"What did you say?!"
Visibly, the fat lady Alvida's hair started floating up. Clearly, someone who cared extremely about her appearance couldn't tolerate that. She stood up, ready to teach this guy in front of her a lesson.
But as soon as she got up, intense pain shot through her stomach.
Her rage bar instantly cleared.
"I'll give you a choice: follow me, and I'll give you beauty no less than the Pirate Empress."
"What did you say?!"
Alvida's eyes widened instantly. The pain in her stomach couldn't stop her. She stood up, eyes like a vicious wolf, nostrils flaring with white steam.
She was clearly excited to the max.
"How about it?"
"Can you really make me as beautiful as the Empress?"
"First off, no less than the Empress. You have to know, women's beauty comes in different forms. I can guarantee that if you follow me, every man will sincerely call you a beauty."
Cheng Lang started painting a big pie.
Alvida: This pie smells so good!
But her remaining rationality told her she needed to see proof.
Before she could speak,
Cheng Lang shook the Devil Fruit in his hand.
"Recognize this? It's called a Devil Fruit. The Straw Hat kid who sent you flying ate one too. If you eat it, not only can you get revenge, but you can also become beautiful."