c2: A World of Cannibalism, Activating the System
The Kingdom of Rafia is very similar to Luffy's homeland, the Goa Kingdom in the East Blue and in some ways, it is even worse. It is a thoroughly distorted country, where the aristocracy reigns with unchecked power and the social hierarchy is deeply entrenched.
The nobles in this country live high above all others both literally and figuratively. Like the nobles of Goa who resided in the elevated High Town while burning the Grey Terminal, the aristocrats of Rafia enjoy every privilege, while ordinary people are treated as disposable tools, or worse untouchables who exist only to serve.
But little Lu Kai is a rare exception among the nobles of this land. He has always rejected the cold, oppressive rules of the elite. Since early childhood, he yearned for a different life not as a noble, but as an adventurer, free to roam and witness the world's wonders with his own eyes.
Compared with the stale, revisionist knowledge taught within aristocratic academies, Lu Kai preferred to sneak down into the lower city during idle hours. There, he would mingle with retired sailors and merchants, absorbing tales of the Grand Line, Sky Islands, and distant places like Zou and Water 7. Their stories only deepened his desire to escape the golden cage of noble life.
It was these direct encounters with commoners that shaped little Lu Kai's belief: although people are born into different stations, life itself holds no inherent nobility or inferiority only circumstance.
Yet this unorthodox view only earned him punishment. His actions, meant as acts of kindness or curiosity, were seen as disgraceful by his family. His parents, the Marquis and Marchioness Luside, viewed him as a stain on their lineage and disciplined him harshly, seeking to "correct" his behavior through humiliation and violence.
But rather than be molded, little Lu Kai only grew more defiant driven by conviction that his ideals were right and the rules of his class were twisted.
Little Lu Kai did not fear physical pain. What truly hurt him was being forced to live against his conscience.
After receiving little Lu Kai's memories, Lu Kai was shaken to his core. He was moved by the child's moral clarity rare in adults, almost unheard of in a six-year-old boy.
To little Lu Kai, the aristocrats who clothed themselves in elegance and feigned civility were nothing more than wolves in tailored garments. Beneath their refined manners and hollow smiles lurked hypocrisy, cruelty, and cold-blooded calculation.
That such insight came from a child not yet past his sixth birthday was both miraculous and heartbreaking.
The six-year-old Lu Kai was like a flicker of sunlight breaking through storm clouds a fragile beam of warmth in a kingdom soiled by arrogance and cruelty. His character called to mind Luffy's sworn brother, Sabo, who also rejected his noble birthright in the Goa Kingdom and paid a terrible price for it.
But unlike Sabo, little Lu Kai found no escape. This gentle, thoughtful boy was mutilated and discarded by the very world he sought to understand. In the end, he died overwhelmed by hatred and grief, his bright light extinguished in silence.
Lu Kai, who now bore the full weight of the child's memories and emotions, felt suffocated by sorrow and rage. His heart sank beneath the magnitude of the tragedy.
A deep and monstrous hatred surged within him. He trembled with fury, his fists clenched until his knuckles turned white, his eyes burning with wrath. His entire body shook violently—yet the pain from his injuries was numbed beneath the storm of emotion.
He hated this cruel and decaying world. He hated its aristocratic rot, its systemic inhumanity, its hierarchy built on corpses. Most of all, he hated the beautiful masks worn by beasts.
And buried within little Lu Kai's mind were even darker truths—secrets of what the Rafia nobles did in hidden chambers and off-the-books facilities. What the Celestial Dragons did openly in Mariejois, the nobles of Rafia echoed in shadows.
In the manga, Oda painted the World Nobles the Celestial Dragons as grotesque in their decadence, enslaving whole tribes, treating human lives as toys, and rewriting history for their convenience.
But here, in the raw memory of little Lu Kai, the reality was more perverse than anything drawn in ink the nobles of this world were cannibals of the soul, devouring innocence, freedom, and hope without remorse.
This is a real cannibalistic world, and those so-called nobles eat people without even spitting out the bones.
In a world where the Celestial Dragons treat human beings as disposable slaves and wear air helmets to avoid "breathing the same air," the so-called nobles of Rafia are no different perhaps even worse. Their cruelty is not just policy, it's culture, embedded into their lineage like a disease passed from generation to generation.
After the intense resentment, Lu Kai only felt that his body became weaker. He could feel that he might die at any time, and he couldn't help but laugh out of anger.
The laugh echoed hollowly in the damp, rotting prison just like the laugh of Fisher Tiger, who tried to believe in humanity even after the Celestial Dragons shattered his faith. This laugh wasn't joy—it was despair seasoned with mockery.
The laughter was full of self-mockery and helplessness, the same emotions as before little Lu Kai died.
"I did survive and travel through time," Lu Kai thought, his eyes brimming with tears, "but did God let me survive only to let me see the ugliness of the pirate world and then die again in an even more depressed mood?"
Then what is the meaning of my resurrection?
The question lingered like smoke. It reminded him of the words Dr. Hiluluk once said: "A man dies when he is forgotten." But what if you're remembered only by a world that wants you erased?
A strong sense of unwillingness suddenly arose in Lu Kai's heart. He was unwilling to accept the manipulation of fate and the injustice of fate. Little Lu Kai and he were both good people, but why did good people have to be defeated by this dirty world?
Why is it that Doflamingo, a former Celestial Dragon who spread chaos and killed his own father, could rise as a Shichibukai while someone like Bell-mère, who simply wanted to raise two orphans in peace, was shot dead in her own home?
[Ding, the host's strong desire to survive is detected, activating the training system, do you want to bind?]
Suddenly, a mechanical voice resounded in Lu Kai's mind. At the same moment, a ripple of blue light materialized in front of him, coalescing into a semi-transparent panel like something out of Vegapunk's forbidden laboratory.
As a person from Earth who traveled through time, no one would not understand what the system is.
Lu Kai ignored the burning pain stabbing through every inch of his body. His eyes locked onto the panel, wild with hope. Could this be the power that lets him survive, like Luffy's will to live when he was poisoned by Magellan in Impel Down?
Looking at the left side of the screen, Lu Kai took a deep breath and clicked without hesitation.
[Ding! The training system has been bound.]
[This system is a self-improvement system. When the host initially comprehends a certain ability through his own efforts and understanding and has entered the door, the system will guide the host to carry out subsequent training in the most correct way. As for the degree of training, it all depends on the host himself!]
"...I...TM...what the hell?" Lu Kai cursed instinctively. He thought the system would be some kind of cheat code like Enel's god-tier Observation Haki but instead it was more like a survival guide.
Just now he was fantasizing that he would be able to survive with the system and soar to the sky, but the system turned out to be like this.
"What's the point of training my broken body?" he muttered. "It's unknown whether I can live until tomorrow. I might die immediately after a little training."
"You damn system, delete it now before I get pissed off by you!"
"And if I have already mastered a certain ability and have gotten started, do I still need you to teach me? You might as well just call it a cheating system!"
Lu Kai gritted his teeth in frustration. He thought he had a Gear Second moment incoming, but instead got something closer to a manual labor internship.
Lu Kai was so angry that he cursed in his heart. The hope that had just risen up was pushed back into the abyss of despair by the system.
But perhaps sensing his desperation or maybe reacting to a danger only it could detect—the system's cold, emotionless voice returned:
[The system also has some other functions, the host can understand them by checking the basic properties.]
"...Check the basic properties." Lu Kai bit down hard and spoke into his mind. If he was going to die, he might as well know what he was dying with.
At the moment of binding, a blue panel appeared in front of Lu Kai, and Lu Kai had automatically mastered the basic functions of the system.
It was instinctual, like Observation Haki except this power wasn't spiritual. It was structured, calculated, and deeply mechanical.
Moreover, Lu Kai could clearly feel that the connection between himself and the system was becoming closer. With just a thought, he could easily mobilize the system and use its functions.
---
[Lu Kai (human, male, 6 years old)
Rating: 1
Attribute value: 0
Status: Dying
Fruit ability: none
Skills: None
Props to carry: none
Carrying weapons: None**
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System functions:
Guidance: When the host is exercising, the most scientific and accurate guidance will be given to the host based on the projects that the host has mastered and gotten started with.
Scan 10: You can scan the basic attributes of characters within 5 meters who are not higher than 3 levels above yourself. No more than 3 times a day, and the current usage number is 3/!
Scan 3: You can scan the basic properties of all objects you touch. It can be used up to 3 times a day, and the current usage is 3/!
Treatment: As long as the host is not dead, the host's body can be treated to the best condition. Available times: 1/1, cooling time 1 year.
Clear: At 6:00 a.m. every day, all negative states caused by training, fighting, injury, poisoning, etc. on the previous day will be completely cleared. The number of times this can be used is 1/1, and the cooling time is one day.**
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"This..." After seeing the five functions of the system, Lu Kai's dissatisfaction was immediately thrown away, and was followed by a burst of ecstasy.
Especially the "treatment" function—its potential was as powerful as Marco the Phoenix's flames or Law's "Room" ability. It wasn't a battle skill, but a resurrection engine.
Especially when he saw the "treatment" function, Lu Kai's heart trembled.
His body was already on the edge of death. One more day might have been too much. But now he had a chance.
"Use the healing function!" Lu Kai immediately ordered impatiently.
The system responded instantly. Warmth poured through his limbs like Ivankov's healing hormones or the life-giving touch of Chopper's rumble ball in emergency mode.
The moment the thought came to his mind, Lu Kai felt every cell in his body become extremely comfortable, and his body instantly recovered to the most perfect state.
It was like he had never been injured. His flesh had healed, his strength had returned, and for the first time since awakening in this cruel world
All the weakness, wounds, and pain disappeared without a trace.
—