Chapter 1

"Am I... still alive?"

Mude opened his eyes and abruptly sat up, only to find himself lying on a simple wooden bed.

Before he could take in his surroundings, a sudden sharp pain shot through his head.

A series of images, etched with fine lines, rapidly spun in his mind.

Unfamiliar.

Clear.

Blurred.

These various memory fragments mixed together, seemingly the cause of the sharp pain.

"I was clearly already..."

The pain left Mude with a look of bewilderment.

He clearly remembered being caught in the turmoil at the Hunter Association's hall, unfortunately affected by the power of the wish-granting machine of the Zoldyck family.

Almost instantly, without a chance to resist, his body was twisted like a rope.

The sudden and unexpected change brought intense pain, casting a shadow of death over Mude's thoughts.

He could still faintly feel the tearing pain from his skin.

After a long while, the negative feelings brought by the shadow of death slowly dissipated.

Still alive.

That was enough.

Only then did Mude have the chance to examine his surroundings.

This was a wooden room smaller than ten square meters, with a faint musty smell in the air.

The wooden walls and floor were visibly cracked.

The room's furnishings were extremely simple, with only a single bed where Mude lay, a set of plain wooden table and chairs, and a mirror hanging on the wall.

A low-wattage yellow incandescent lamp hung from the ceiling, providing limited light.

Apart from these, the room contained nothing else, not even a window.

His gaze slowly swept over the heavily dusted table and chairs, finally settling on the mirror covered with a thin layer of dust.

Through the reflection in the mirror, Mude saw a strange black-haired boy.

The boy in the mirror was about fifteen or sixteen years old, with features that, while not handsome, were clear and pleasant to look at.

The boy's forehead was wrapped in bloodstained bandages, and his face was pale, looking frail and weak.

Mude stared blankly at the "himself" in the mirror, and the unfamiliar memories in his mind gradually became clearer.

Under the brief洗礼 of these unfamiliar memories, Mude, enduring the pain, showed increasing signs of surprise and uncertainty.

"So it's like this..."

He had crossed over again.

And this time, it wasn't a body swap, but a soul transfer.

So, he had survived in this way.

He slowly exhaled, not eager to get out of bed to further investigate his surroundings, but closed his eyes and slowly accepted the memories left by this body, trying to extract useful information from them.

After a long while, Mude opened his eyes, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his pale face.

"Slave ship and pirate ship, huh..."

He lightly wiped the sweat from his cheek with his index finger, his head bowed as he muttered to himself.

He had figured out the origin of this body.

His predecessor was from a merchant family and was unfortunately captured by pirates during a cargo run.

All the adults on the merchant ship, including his parents, were slaughtered by the pirates, leaving only the young boys like his predecessor.

After that, his predecessor was sold to a slave ship and confined in a room filled with hay with other young people.

A few days later, the slave ship was suddenly attacked, and a cannonball blew open the room where his predecessor was held.

His recent memories ended there.

After that...

Mude touched the bandages on his forehead; the wound didn't hurt much.

He had no memory of how he ended up in this room.

But to survive in this way, Mude felt both relieved and happy.

"Pirates, pirates... Could this be the world of One Piece?"

Mude pondered.

He was somewhat uncertain.

But the only thing he could be sure of was that everything had to start over.

Including the five years of cultivation and the Nen abilities he had developed in the Hunter world.

"If only the abilities were still there."

Mude thought to himself.

As the thought arose, a thin black notebook suddenly appeared in his hand without any warning.

The cover of the black notebook was adorned with two Chinese characters in silver, "Hunter."

Below the "Hunter" characters were four blank parallel silver lines, and a quill pen without ink was attached to the spine of the notebook.

Seeing the materialized black notebook and quill pen, Mude's eyes widened.

Clearly without Nen, the ability had activated.

And...

Mude looked at the blank spaces on the silver lines.

The lines should have reflected his "needs," but they were now empty.

Mude flipped open the notebook.

What met his eyes was still a blank page.

Rustle—

Flipping to the second page, the third page...

Still blank!

The pages originally recorded his four years of "hunting" achievements, but now they were all gone.

"Reset? No wonder I can't feel any 'enhancements.'"

Although the hunting achievements were reset, the ability was still there, which was enough to make Mude ecstatic.

The Hunter Notebook was a growth-type ability that Mude had developed in the Hunter world to maximize the advantage of the穿越者's information, converting information into strength.

To activate the ability, five steps were required:

1. Set the hunting needs → 2. Find the hunting target → 3. Prepare for the hunt → 4. Complete the hunting action → 5. Harvest the hunting results.

The first step involved recording four different needs on the silver lines. Mude's original four needs were: Nen techniques, Heart Drop Fist, latent energy, and manifest energy.

However, these needs were clearly not applicable in the world of One Piece.

But some needs could be universal.

For example, physical techniques, swordsmanship, physical strength, Devil Fruit abilities, and Haki experience...

After recording the "needs," writing the target's name on the notebook page and visualizing the target's appearance in his mind completed the second step of finding the hunting target.

The third step of hunting preparation involved recording accurate information about the target's abilities. The more detailed the information recorded, the more substantial the results after personally hunting down the target.

With the ability still intact, even if he had to start over, he could grow at the fastest speed.

Mude was very excited, but he quickly calmed down.

He realized a problem.

Although the Hunter Notebook was still there, he was unsure if it was applicable to the current world.

If it wasn't, it would be a false hope.

Slowly closing the Hunter Notebook, Mude muttered to himself, "At least it's a good start, but I need to quickly figure out the current situation."

As he spoke, a gunshot suddenly rang out from outside.

Mude's face changed, and he reflexively leaped off the bed, looking warily at the closed door.

The gunshots became more frequent, like distant fireworks, but they were some distance away.

Realizing the source of the gunshots was outside the house, Mude did not relax his vigilance and subconsciously gripped the Hunter Notebook.

In his current state, if he encountered an emergency, he would be like a fish on a chopping board, at the mercy of others.

The gunshots continued for about five minutes before gradually subsiding, and Mude had been staring at the door for more than five minutes.

The gunshots gave him a preliminary sense of the chaos in this world.

Tightly gripping the Hunter Notebook, he felt no sense of security.

Because, the Hunter Notebook was now virtually useless, and only by successfully completing a hunt could he gain tangible benefits.

Thump thump—

Just as the gunshots subsided, Mude heard footsteps approaching from a distance, his pupils slightly contracting as he put away the Hunter Notebook.

He quickly got up, light on his feet, and leaned against the wall to the right of the door.

In an unknown situation, being in a position by the door was more advantageous than crouching by the empty wooden bed.

The footsteps soon approached.

Mude tilted his head, staring intently to the right, holding his breath.

Creak—

The wooden door was pushed open, making a harsh, unpleasant sound.

However, no one entered the room; instead, a dark gun barrel poked in.

The gun barrel was aimed at Mude at an odd angle.

In that instant, Mude's body went cold, and his heart skipped a beat.