The moment those words fell, the air seemed to freeze for a few seconds.
Shanks stared fixedly at the ten-year-old in front of him. For a long moment he said nothing, then suddenly grinned and burst into an even louder laugh than before.
"Too cramped, huh... hahahaha! Interesting, that's really interesting!" Shanks slapped Aren hard on the shoulder, the force almost enough to drive him straight into the floor. "All right! Since you have that kind of resolve, I'll stop nagging. But kid, this path is much harder than being a pirate. Make sure you don't die halfway."
Just as Shanks' palm landed, a crisp electronic chime exploded in the depths of Aren's mind, a sound that only he could hear.
[Ding!
Host has remained true to his heart under the pressure of Yonko Red Hair and completely rejected faction recruitment.]
[Core condition for Foosha Village sign-in mission fulfilled.]
[Sign-in successful!]
A warm current burst out from the region of his heart without any warning and surged through Aren's entire body in an instant.
He felt as if something inside him had come alive and was growing at a frightening speed.
That warmth roared through his body without pause.
Aren felt as though every blood vessel was being filled with molten lava, yet there was no pain. Instead, a strange comfort spread through him.
His body, which had always felt a little hollow, was suddenly packed full of vast, surging energy.
This power did more than simply increase his strength. It felt like his very level of life was being lifted to a new realm.
Across his retinas, a pale blue, semi-transparent panel appeared, visible only to him. The characters hovered faintly in the air.
[Sign-in reward delivered]
[Physique obtained: All-Attribute Chakra Constitution (Perfect Grade)]
[Ninjutsu obtained: Fire Release: Ultimate Fire Technique (B-rank, Mastery)]
Chakra.
The instant that word flashed through Aren's mind, his body responded on pure instinct.
The physical energy and spiritual energy inside him felt as if some key had unlocked their shackles. They began to collide and fuse madly, then rushed along his meridians following a mysterious trajectory.
This was completely different from Haki. Haki was will turned outward. Chakra was fuel for the body.
Aren bit down on his back teeth without thinking, barely suppressing the groan that almost slipped from his throat.
His body was heating up. The sudden influx of energy even brought a faint blush to his skin, which still belonged to that of a ten-year-old child.
The big hand on his shoulder suddenly stiffened.
Shanks had been laughing, but in that moment his laughter snagged.
As a man standing at the very peak of the sea, his sensitivity to auras was razor sharp.
Just now, in that single instant, something inside this skinny little brat under his palm had awakened.
It was a wild, primal, yet astonishingly pure surge of energy.
"Hey, kid..." Shanks reined in a bit of his drunkenness. His single eye narrowed slightly as he studied Aren's flushed face with a thoughtful look. "You all right? Why's your face so red?"
Aren's heart clenched hard.
He absolutely could not expose the existence of the system here, and he definitely could not let Shanks notice how abruptly this power had appeared.
He drew in a deep breath and used the chakra control that had just been granted to him to try and forcibly press down the restless heat inside him, driving it back into the depths of his body.
"It's too noisy," Aren said, lifting his head. His black eyes were misted with moisture, making it look like he was uncomfortable from the smoke and heat in the bar. "And your breath stinks of booze."
Shanks froze for a second, then exploded into an even more exaggerated laugh and roughly ruffled Aren's hair.
"Hahahahaha! You dislike the smell on a pirate? How are you ever going to survive out on the sea then!"
With that casual gesture, the feeling of being seen through finally faded away.
Aren did not stay any longer.
The chakra rampaging inside him made him impatient to test out this brand new power.
If he remained here, he would only increase the risk of exposure.
"I'm going."
He hopped down from the high stool. The lightness in his legs when his feet touched the floor made his steps naturally quicken.
The All-Attribute Chakra Constitution had remodeled his entire body from the inside out.
The old wooden floor of Foosha Village's bar, which usually let out creaking sounds, was silent beneath his feet. Every step he took was controlled with pinpoint precision, his weight distributed so cleanly that he moved without a sound.
He pushed open the saloon doors. The noon sun outside that had been so harsh earlier now fell on his body and no longer felt scorching or irritating. Instead, it seemed like some kind of gentle nourishment.
The uproar behind him was cut off by the swinging doors, and the world turned quiet again.
Aren pressed down the brim of his hat, twisted his toes lightly against the ground, then sprinted straight toward the cliff on the eastern coast of Foosha Village.
There was a field of scattered rocks there, somewhere people rarely visited. Only the thunder of waves crashing against the reef could be heard.
He ran.
He just kept running.
The wind howled past his ears. His speed was nearly twice what it had been before.
Every breath his lungs dragged in felt like working a bellows, greedily exchanging air and feeding oxygen to this newborn power burning inside him.
Five minutes later, Aren was standing atop a massive slab of black reef.
Before him stretched the endless sea. The wind from the ocean rushed at him, heavy with salt and moisture.
The waves slammed tirelessly against the cliff beneath his feet, lifting plumes of white foam that vanished as quickly as they rose.
This was it.
Aren steadied his breathing and closed his eyes.
In his mind, the knowledge of the Ultimate Fire Technique floated up as clearly as if it had been branded into him.
How chakra should flow, how to weave the hand seals, even how the muscles in his throat should tighten, every detail was there as if he had rehearsed it millions of times.
His all-attribute constitution let him keenly sense the faint traces of fire element drifting in the air.
He snapped his eyes open. His hands blurred into motion in front of his chest.
Chakra was refined in a frenzy inside his body and swept along his meridians, gathering in his throat.
A scorching heat compressed rapidly in his mouth. It was a temperature that far surpassed ordinary flames. Even the air around him began to warp visibly under the force of the power about to erupt.
Aren's chest puffed up, muscles tensing. He faced the surging sea and swallowed once, his throat rolling.