In the Calm Belt, on a barren little island, a young man stood pointing at the sky, cursing at the top of his lungs.
"Damn you, old man in the sky! Fine, transmigrate me, I get itÔÇöbut why did you have to dump me in the world of One Piece, of all the dangerous places in existence!"
The young man's name was Kazama Yasuo. Until recently, he'd been an ordinary resident of Earth.
As for how he'd ended up hereÔÇöwell, obviously, he'd been transmigrated.
And the manner of his transmigration was, without exaggeration, one of a kind.
The story began a week earlier.
Kazama Yasuo was an orphan, and on his day off, he'd gone for a walk along the riverside.
As he passed a man fishing at the water's edge, the middle-aged angler called out to him.
"Young man, my stomach's giving me trouble. Would you mind watching my rod for a bit?"
Yasuo's first instinct was to decline.
But the fisherman, perhaps sensing his reluctance, quickly added, "Just ten minutes! I'll give you a hundred yuan for it!"
The moment he heard "a hundred yuan," Yasuo's eyes lit up.
He immediately declared that, as an upstanding young citizen of the twenty-first century, he was always happy to lend a helping hand.
Definitely not because of the money. Absolutely not.
So, after pocketing the hundred yuan, Yasuo took the man's place at the water's edge.
Who could have known that not two minutes after he sat down, something bit the line.
Yasuo had never fished in his life, but he'd certainly watched enough people do itÔÇöhow hard could it be?
He yanked the rod back without hesitation.
As it turned out, whatever had taken the bait was far stronger than expected. Yasuo lost his footing, slipped, and plunged straight into the water.
Despite being a southerner, Yasuo swam like a brick.
He immediately began thrashing wildly in a panic.
Fortunately, he hadn't drifted far from the bank, and after a few desperate strokes, he managed to claw his way back onto solid ground.
But when Yasuo finally hauled himself out of the water, he realized something was very wrong. He was no longer by the river at allÔÇöhe was on some kind of island in the middle of the sea.
Staring at the few hundred square meters of land before him, his mind went blank with static.
Wasn't he just watching someone's fishing rod by a river? How had he ended up on an island?
Had he... transmigrated?
As a modern young man well-versed in fiction, the concept of transmigration wasn't foreign to himÔÇöcountless novels were built entirely around the premise. But now that it was actually happening to him, Yasuo found it difficult to process.
Before he could even begin to make sense of things, a voice suddenly rang out inside his head.
[System binding initiated. Current progress: 1%.]
"Who's there?!"
Yasuo shouted, spinning around to scan the empty island.
There was no one in sight.
Then the voice returned.
[Current progress: 2%.]
That was when it finally clickedÔÇöthe voice wasn't coming from anywhere around him. It was coming from inside his own head.
His jaw dropped.
If he'd heard correctly, that voice belonged to some kind of system.
"System! System, is that you? Are you a system?" Yasuo called out frantically.
But there was no replyÔÇöonly the occasional progress update, confirming that something was indeed there.
After several minutes of shouting questions into the void with no response, Yasuo decided to focus on his immediate surroundings instead.
He stood and looked around. The island wasn't large, barren and exposed, dotted with large boulders but seemingly devoid of any plant life.
The sea stretched out in every direction. As far as he could see, there wasn't another island in sight.
The sky above was a clear, cloudless blue.
Yasuo decided his first priority should be drying his clothes.
He stripped down to his underwear, wrung out his shirt and pants as best he could, and laid them across a flat rock to bake in the sun.
Thanks to the intense heat and the fact that his clothes were lightweight summer wear, they dried in no time.
He shook the salt crystals off the fabric and got dressed again. Conditions were rough, but he'd have to make do for now.
Just then, the voice returned.
[System installation complete!]
Hearing this, Yasuo's excitement surged. After all this waiting, the system had finally finished installing.
"System! Come out here!" he called.
*Ding. The Myriad Realms Check-In & Lottery System is now officially online.*
A face materialized in his mind's eye, and a voice spoke. "Greetings, Host. I am the Host Assistant for the Myriad Realms Check-In & Lottery System."
Yasuo asked, "System, where exactly is this place?"
Naturally, having been transmigrated, he wanted to know where "here" actually was. He'd been observing his surroundings for a while now, but with nothing but ocean in every direction, he had no way of determining his location.
"Unknown."
"...What?"
Yasuo stood there, mouth hanging open. "System, did you just say you don't know? You're supposed to be a systemÔÇöhow can you not know where we are?"
In response to the challenge, the system asked, "Host, may I ask what kind of system I am?"
Without thinking, Yasuo answered, "The Myriad Realms Check-In and Lottery System."
The system replied, "Exactly. I'm a check-in and lottery system, not some second-rate navigation app. Why would I be expected to know our exact location?"
Faced with this counter-question, Yasuo had to admit the logic checked out. He found himself with nothing to say.
He tried again. "Fine. Then introduce yourself properlyÔÇöwhat exactly can you do?"
"This system is a singular existence within the entire universe. Among the countless systems across all of creation, I rank among the very bestÔÇö"
Watching the system's smug, self-satisfied expression, Yasuo felt a sudden, powerful urge to punch something.
After enduring several minutes of increasingly shameless self-praise, Yasuo finally cut it off.
"System, can you please just tell me what you actually *do*?"
"AhÔÇöright!"
The system's expression shifted, suddenly serious and businesslike. "This system allows the Host to perform one check-in daily, starting from eight in the morning. Each check-in grants one lottery draw."
"Check in for seven consecutive days, and you'll earn a bonus draw. Maintain an unbroken streak for a full month, and you'll receive a ten-draw bonus. Maintain it for an entire year, and you'll receive the Annual Grand Prize."
"The lottery pool contains a vast variety of items, all drawn from across the Myriad Realms."
At this, Yasuo's eyes practically lit up.
According to the system, he could draw from the lottery every single day, and the rewards came from realms beyond count.
Did that mean things like legendary swords, world-shattering artifacts, cultivation techniques, even starships could all potentially be within reach?
Yasuo was already imagining himself standing atop a flying sword, a star-destroying cannon in one hand and a divine weapon in the other, effortlessly reducing his enemies to dust with a casual laugh.
Lost in the fantasy, he didn't even notice himself drooling slightly at the corner of his mouth.
"Host! Host!"
The system's voice yanked him back from his daydream.
Yasuo wiped his mouth and asked eagerly, "System, can I do a check-in and a draw right now?"
According to what the system had said, he could check in dailyÔÇöand he hadn't done so yet today.
"You may," the system confirmed. "And since this is your first time using the system, you will also receive a Beginner's Gift Pack."
A Beginner's Gift PackÔÇönow *that* sounded promising.
"Open it! Open it now!" Yasuo urged.
After all, he didn't even know what world he'd landed in, and this barren rock of an island didn't have so much as a blade of grass growing on it.
Right now, the system's rewards were the only thing he had to rely on.