A Confusing Beginning

Forests are incredibly beautiful things.

The swaying of trees, the majestic blue hues of the sky and the calm winds that touch the soul. Yes, a forest untouched by the hustle and bustle of man is an amazing thing, where only peace and the raw ferocity of nature thrive.

Until it isn't.

This forest was enjoying the usual calm until a quiet murmur started. Then a whistle. And suddenly a scream.

It felt like world was breaking, creaking at a suddenness that was not there before a bright light shone amidst the sounds of grinding gears. Then suddenly, it stopped as a thud was heard, and a man hit the forest floor.

This man was John, and he was in pain.

"F*ck!"

Like so.

He continued to say expletives for a few seconds, in pain and disoriented by the lights, sounds and pain he was feeling, before he quieted down to look at his surroundings.

John, from what he could tell, was in a forest, not unlike the forests he had seen before, though the lacked a green he was used to seeing in their hues. Maybe it was a warmer place than where he lived? That would also explain why the forest floor was quite barren of overgrowth and heavy vegetation, as well as the numerous insects that would normally assault his body for just being there.

To be honest, John thought the forest was quite lovely how it was. It was like a photo taken without an expensive filter, or a well-drawn painting, though it could definitely use a rabbit or deer to make the surrounding seem more picturesque.

As John continued to question his immediate surroundings, he immediately stopped, because this was not the most important thing that has happened to him at this moment.

John put his hands to the floor, and with his mind disoriented stood up.

"Alex?" He questioned as he was now looking around. No response.

"Come on man, this isn't funny." A call filled with anger, annoyance, and a dash of fear. Always need that fear.

Naturally, no voices responded, only emphasizing the quietness of the forest and the isolation John was in now. John, not sure of what exactly to do next decided to sit his ass back down and think for a bit. He was not going to go exploring a forest he was in the middle of without an explanation, or a plan.

So, John decided to think about what he recalled last. A conversation with Alex in his café, something about starting a new chapter in his life, a handshake…

The handshake! John remembered a feeling like he was just struck by something heavy when he grasped Alex's hand, and then there was a light, and the grinding gears. Whatever happened was because of him touching Alex. Maybe he was shocked by something and left here? Perhaps drugged?

After a bit of thinking John decided he needed to stand up again, the forest floor was not particularly comfortable. John could not reasonably think of what Alex did to him, or why he was where he was. Was all this part of that promised adventure Alex had mentioned?

It was at that moment when John thought of the adventure again that the world seemed to crack again, and the grinding gears started again, and holy hell were they loud!

"Agh!" John exclaimed as he clutched at his head, pain seeming to shoot into brain from some external force, like a needle injecting into his blood. The pain was not physical or "real" by any atomic metric, but it sure as hell hurt.

So, John screamed for a bit.

And screamed

And clutched at his head.

And screamed some more.

Then he just stopped. Lowering his hands to his side and looking up to the forest in front of him.

"I see now."

John's eyes were now filled with a quiet understanding of what happened to him. The creaks and fissures that assaulted him were imprinting knowledge into his brain, a raw unfettered stream of information filled with seemingly no bias or emotion, just words and instructions.

John continued to look ahead before speaking aloud once more.

"Status."

The world seemed to slow at this point in John's perception as information appeared into his mind. It was difficult for John to parse what was happening, but it was like what he knew instinctively about himself was splayed before him, and he just decided he needed to see it for himself. Like needing to see the ingredient list for a cooked meal, or the lines of programming code.

As mentioned, John didn't understand it himself.

{John Capet [Wanderer]}

{Attributes}

Strength- 20

Constitution- 20

Dexterity- 30

Intelligence- 35

Wisdom- 50

Charisma- 50

{Skills}

{Abilities}

{Traits}

Somehow, John realized that he had acquired a system of some sort. He did not remember getting it from somewhere or learning about it or talking to some deity to get it. He just had it now, and it felt as if he had always had it.

From what he could "remember", this system was not one he could dump points into to get miraculously stronger or suddenly get smarter, it was just a way to visualize what he was and allow him to imagine what he could be. It was like looking at a step counter or a weighing scale, that just told him finer details about himself he may not have necessarily known.

Too bad it hurt so much just to see some numbers. Seriously.

He immediately recognized that this status page materializing was likely from whatever just happened moments ago, he knew that he did not have this ability moments ago even if recollection states he had it his whole life. Was this some weird brainwashing thing?

Regardless, John was now aware that he could call up a status thing in his mind, and that it was based on the "averages" of this world, whatever that meant. Does that mean he was extremely physically weak? And what does a high Wisdom even look like in a person, are they good at reading the mood?

This line of questioning was immediately stopped by his next thought. Why did he think "averages of 'this world?'" Was he not on Earth anymore, or was he just in some forest somewhere?

"What is happening!" John quietly says to himself and the surrounding trees, hoping for some sort of answer. Of course, nothing responds.

There was just not enough information. Where was Alex? Where am I? Why do I now have this system thing?

How will I survive?

This last thing, John decided, was the most important thing now. Now that he realized that he had the ability to see his own status, and that no-one was likely going to explain anything to him, John decided it was time to get moving and find something, whether it was water, food, shelter or civilization. Taking one last look around, John saw nothing of immediate use and decided to head off in the direction he was facing, which he tentatively decided to label "North".

This decision lasted a whole second before he missed his first footfall and landed face down on the forest floor, as his brain was once more wracked with incredible pain and the sound of moving metal.

Grinding gears, intense pain, blah blah blah.

After a much shorter time than what he experienced learning about the existence of his system, John stood up again cursing wildly.

"F*ckity f*ck f*ck!"

Like so.

This time, the information in his brain had to do with something called a "boon", and this one had both information and a memory to go with it.

Specifically, it was a memory of Alex explaining what boons were available to John. A conversation John knew for a fact they did not have before.

While there was no concrete evidence to back it up, this was basically all the information John needed to know that this was, in fact, Alex's doing. Again, John wondered what was happening. A game? New world?

Perhaps the memory would explain. Lifting himself off the ground once more, John stood perfectly still and closed his eyes, allowing the memory to surface. It was a memory of them both sitting at the cafés bar as Alex spoke holding his cigarette in his hand, surrounded by a few empty cups and glasses.

"…Luckily though, you don't have to start off at zero. You do get a starting gift, called a boon, that basically gives you a starting point in the world. Afterall, you may get dumped in a place where your smooth talking won't be immediately viable, or your growth will be slow, and you want a head start."

John immediately noticed that this memory, whatever it was going to describe, was incomplete. Judging from the look in Alex's eyes and the surrounding cups and glasses, they had been talking for a while. Why was the rest of the memory cut off? Was it too important to know? Unimportant?

Going into this new memory there was a lot John didn't know and he did not like it. He concluded that this conversation most likely happened after the handshake, so why could he not remember it? Did he agree to something he shouldn't have? And if it was his memory, why did it feel like it was implanted by the pain and sounds and not just remembered?

Too many questions, not enough answers. For now, back to this memory about boons.

"You get a couple of choices in what you want which is pretty nice, though you have to pick it shortly after you get there. You don't have a lot of time to pick your boon, it is annoying about that, but once you pick your boon you can 'claim' it whenever you want. Kind of nice if you want to save it for when things get rougher for you somewhere. Or maybe you will have it easy and will just have the boon laying around. Your choice either way."

This confirms that he was sent somewhere, not just dropped in a random spot. Good to know. John was a bit concerned about having to pick the boon quickly, but he would get to that worry later.

"One last head up, both picking the boon and 'claiming' the boon will be the only time the system will directly interfere with you or the world around you once you arrive. After the boon is picked and cashed in you are truly on your own. It will be just you, the system, and whatever the world throws at you, remember that."

Again, confirmation about how the system doesn't directly interfere with personal growth and how this world is most likely not the known Earth. Scary!

"Alright, boon time! The first boon is a simple Attribute gain, 30 points into whatever attributes you want. Want to be the strongest man ever, just dump it into Strength! Intelligence if you are feeling dumb. Remember that you can 'claim' this boon whenever, so if you want to wait until you have greatly increased your attributes and want to just suddenly be the best at something, go for it. It is harder to increase your attributes at higher levels anyway."

This boon was interesting to John, but he had no idea how to quantify it. He knew attributes went up to 100, so overall his stats were not amazing, but he knew they could be trained. The real question became how easy it was to get to 100 of any one of the categories. If it was too easy, than this boon was basically a waste. Too hard, than this would save him so much time!

"The next one is also pretty straightforward, skill creation! This boon will allow you to create any skill you want 3 times for free. This is great because some skills can take a long time to learn or need certain weird requirements to get. Please be careful what you choose though, this will only teach you the skill at level one, so you still need to practice or show proficiency to level it up. Don't get caught making the most busted skill ever only to realize you can never even train it!"

This one was appealing at first, though the warning at the end tempered John's excitement. He knew he needed training or proficiency to raise a skills level, so potentially making a dud skill was a real concern to John. That said, it was a boon that allowed him to make 3 choices, so even if he messed up, he still had other chances. Though if it were a skill he really wanted he could just try training hard until he got it the "natural" way.

"Next is the skill mastery boon, just straight up get 75 points into any skill you know. So, all you need to do is get to 25 and then use this and you are suddenly one of the best people in the world at that skill. This boon is limited by the fact that you must learn the skill first by yourself, but it is obvious why it is great."

This perk was very appealing. With skills being on a scale to 100 like attributes, this boon basically made John a master at any one thing he wanted. The only real problem was learning the skill first, and not wasting it on something stupid.

"Then there is the ability and trait boon which, as suggested, gives any one trait or ability you want. This can be good because these are usually the hardest and rarest things to get and are usually determined by genetics and other weird things. Keep in mind that if you choose something weird, like wanting the (Giant) trait, then your body will change to be the size of a giant, so watch out for that. Or if you take an ability that is bloodline or heritage exclusive than you will be considered part of that lineage, whether that has good or bad consequences, so watch out."

This one seemed sketchy but had the most potential of all the boons so far. It really depended on what sort of abilities and traits were available in this world, but it had the possibility to be broken as well. It all depended on the world John was in, so that made the decision difficult to make at this moment.

The explanation did hint at there being giants though, and potential blood inheritances, so maybe a royal line of some sort? Could John make himself a nobleman by some weird trickery?

"Finally, there is an object boon where you can choose a powerful object as your boon. For your world, the boon would spawn a random Devil Fruit for you to have, and you could do what you want with it. Eating it would be the best choice, but you could try to sell it if you are confident you won't get robbed or cheated. Keep in mind that it would be a random fruit that is not in circulation, so it truly is a gamble. That said, there are few utterly useless Devil Fruits, and they would give you a power totally unique to only you. Additionally, if you eat it early you would probably immediately get way stronger than a normal person, unless you get a terrible one, then you are truly f*cked. High risk, high reward."

It was at this moment that the memory faded away, and that John finally had a visceral reaction.

…

…

"…Devil Fruit?"

…

"…Oh no."

Then all the pieces clicked together for John.

He was in the world of One Piece.

Not sure how he got here.

With a system.

…

…

"…An adventure of a lifetime, huh Alex?"

For a while, John just stood there. He wasn't thinking or moving, just standing there. And then he laughed, perhaps the hardest he ever laughed in his whole life.

After a while, John quieted down a bit and looked to the sky with a determined look in his eyes.

"I don't quite know what is going on, but I think I will enjoy this!"