One Piece: Livestream

"Dead?"  

"Why don't you stop and take a look?"

Ren soon fell silent again. The two followers exchanged glances and decided to stop.

Ren's heart tightened when he overheard them. Taking a deep breath, he said with difficulty, "Um... brother..."

"Ah!"  

"Ah!"  

The two were startled by Ren's sudden "resurrection" and screamed, then continued to stomp and kick him frantically. If they couldn’t kill Ren, they feared they'd be the ones to die.

When Helmeppo heard Ren’s voice, the veins on his forehead throbbed, and his chest burned with rage. After all that fighting, he was still alive? Ren could still taunt him? This was the greatest insult he had ever experienced.

"Get out of the way! I'll handle this!" Helmeppo rushed over, pulling out a wooden stick as thick as his arm, gritting his teeth, and smashing it down hard on Ren's head.

Bang! Blood splattered as Ren's head tilted to one side.

The corner of Zoro's eye twitched as he watched, feeling a headache just from the sight of the stick.

"Master, is he dead?" The two followers were terrified as the stick came down, their legs turning to jelly. If Ren wasn’t dead, they feared Helmeppo might turn on them.

"Heh, let me hit him again." Helmeppo, satisfied with his first strike, smirked and raised the stick high, bringing it down once more.

Bang!  

Crack!

The sound of a skull breaking filled the air, and Ren’s neck twisted unnaturally.

Zoro's heart clenched. Unable to watch, he lowered his head, closing his eyes against the sight of Ren’s broken body.

"Master, Master, he's definitely dead this time," the two followers cheered. After so much fighting, they finally believed they’d killed him. With his skull shattered and neck broken, they were sure he couldn’t possibly survive.

"Haha, is there anyone I can't kill?" Helmeppo raised his arms in triumph, as if he had won a battle.

Just then, Ren's eerie voice sounded again, "Um... could you... give me... a few more blows?"

Ren’s mouth opened...

Bang!

Zoro's head jerked up, and the movement was so sudden that he smacked the back of his head against the wooden frame behind him.

Click! The two followers' mouths dropped wide open in shock.

Helmeppo, excited just moments before, froze as if someone had grabbed him by the neck, his laughter halting abruptly, and the stick falling from his hand.

"Really? No mental resilience at all!" Ren thought, hearing the commotion around him. If not for the effort it took to speak, he would have taunted them outright. The blows from Helmeppo’s stick were indeed severe, and it seemed to be triggering rapid physical changes in his body.

The exhilarating sensation of feeling his strength growing, like a rush of adrenaline, was so addictive he didn’t want it to stop.

"Uh..." Ren began to stand, but Helmeppo grabbed the stick and slammed it down repeatedly, shouting, "Shut up! Shut up! Just die already!"

The two followers, seeing Helmeppo’s fury, quickly grabbed sticks of their own and began hitting Ren with frenzied desperation.

Tonight, they vowed to beat this devilish man to death.

Bang! Bang! Bang! …

After more than ten minutes of relentless beating, the three thought they’d finally killed Ren. But as soon as they paused, Ren's voice rasped out—

"You..."

“Ah! Ah! Ah!”  

The three instantly flew into a rage, swinging their sticks with renewed vigor.

Bang! Bang! Bang! …

After an hour, Zoro yawned, his head drooping as he nodded off. Watching this bizarre spectacle all night, with Ren constantly pretending to die, had worn him out. He no longer cared whether Ren was alive or dead.

By the time the moon had reached its peak, Helmeppo finally collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily. He had been swinging that stick for hours and was utterly spent.

The two followers dropped their sticks, lying on the ground as they gasped for air. "Young master... he's... definitely... dead this time."

"Haha," Helmeppo chuckled weakly, "There’s no one I can’t kill. Let’s rest and head back."

"Yes, Master!"  

"Oh, thank you, Young master!"

Finally freed from their brutal task, the two followers felt a deep sense of relief.

Yet, even though Ren’s body was in shambles, he was still alive. In the eerie moonlight, his shattered form showed an incredible resilience, writhing as if regenerating. Blood began to flow back, his body slowly mending itself...

With the first light of dawn, a warm sunbeam shone on Zoro. He stirred, blinking, then widened his eyes in disbelief as he looked at Ren's body. "You… you… you’re…"

Ren, now well-rested, he had a dream—a vivid fantasy where he soared through the skies, sailed the seas, and embraced an empress. He was surrounded by flowers and curtains of red silk with every gesture. 

“What are you yelling about so early?” Ren muttered, irritated. He was upset that Zoro had interrupted his dream. Since coming to this world, he’d hardly had a good night’s sleep, let alone one so sweet.

Zoro, still struggling to believe what he was seeing, shook his head in disbelief. But when he looked again and saw Ren sitting up unharmed, his shock deepened. "You… you… you’re still not dead?"

Ren, aside from his tattered clothes, appeared untouched. His skin looked smoother and fairer, and his face had a refined, handsome quality, as if he’d undergone a transformation overnight.

Sitting up, he inspected his body, letting a strange awareness fill his mind. In just a brief moment, he understood the full scope of his rejuvenated strength.

"LV1? I’m not sure if that’s for the tattoo or the live broadcast system," Ren mused, feeling powerful and energized. "But this feeling… like a Saiyan… it’s incredible!"