One Piece: Surrounded at Marineford? Just kidding!

Chapter 2 In Despair! System Activated?

The sharp blade cut through the air, carrying with it a stench of rust and blood.

The touch of death was icy, so thick it seemed to solidify the air, clogging every pore of Chen Ye's body. He could even see the tiny cracks on the blade, and his own face, distorted with fear, reflected in the one-eyed man's murky eye.

It’s over.

Dying a violent death in a foreign land right after transmigrating—there's probably no more absurd scenario than this.

There is no defying fate, no thirty-year cycle of good fortune.

Only a clean break.

Chen Ye's mind went blank. He gave up struggling and instinctively closed his eyes.

Goodbye, damned world.

However, just a fraction of a second before the blade severed his carotid artery...

【Ding! 】

A crisp, cold electronic sound exploded without warning in the deepest recesses of his consciousness. It didn't belong to this world, yet it was so clear it seemed to be pressed against his eardrums.

Chen Ye's body trembled violently.

Hallucination? The last dream a person has before they die?

[Host's will to survive has reached a threshold...]

[The final agreement has been triggered...binding souls...]

[Binding successful.]

[The God-level Time-Space Summoning System is officially activated.]

A series of inorganic notification sounds, however, resounded like the most stirring war drums in his lifeless soul!

system!

The cheat code has arrived!

A surge of ecstatic joy, like magma from the earth, erupted from the depths of his cold heart, instantly engulfing his limbs and burning away the biting chill and fear!

I don't have to die!

Hahaha! I don't have to die!

Chen Ye almost burst into wild laughter. A miraculous comeback from a desperate situation—wasn't this the script for a protagonist destined for greatness?!

"System! Quick! Summon! Summon the strongest one for me!"

He roared in his mind with all his might, "Gojo Satoru, Saitama, Son Goku... anyone! As long as they can blast these bastards in front of them to smithereens!"

He could already picture the invincible figure descending from the sky in the next second, crushing these ugly pirates into dust with a flick of his finger. Then, he would spit a mouthful of blood and flesh at that pile of flesh!

However, the imagined miracle did not occur.

The deadly scimitar, still whistling through the air, continued its relentless slash toward his neck!

What happened?!

Chen Ye's ecstatic joy instantly froze.

[Warning: The system's initial energy is 0.]

[WARNING: No summoning commands can be executed.]

The chilling notification sound was like a bucket of ice water from the Arctic, poured over his head, chilling him to the bone.

Energy is 0?

Unable to summon?

Chen Ye's mind went blank for a moment, completely stunned.

"...Are you kidding me?" He could hardly believe his ears.

"You activated it, but tell me it has no power? What's the difference between that and giving me a top-of-the-line sports car but not providing a single drop of fuel?!"

[Please acquire energy as soon as possible to activate the summoning function.]

The system's voice remained flat and emotionless.

Get energy? I'm about to be killed, where am I supposed to get energy from?!

Chen Ye's heart felt as if it had been violently pulled down from the highest clouds and slammed into a bottomless abyss.

This feeling is ten thousand times more painful than never having had any hope at all.

It gave you the most dazzling stars in the world, and then, in the next second, crushed them to pieces with its own hands.

"Hold……"

A silent, indignant curse echoed in his heart.

This damn system, it's designed to mess with my mentality!

At this moment, the blade was almost upon them.

The chilling aura sent shivers down his spine, raising goosebumps. The one-eyed man's sinister grin was magnified infinitely in his eyes.

The shadow of death, once again and for the last time, completely enveloped him.

This time, there was no miracle.

An immense sense of resentment and despair gripped his heart like an invisible hand.

But the instinct for survival prevailed in the final moments.

Chen Ye's body made a final, thoughtless reaction—suddenly leaning backward!

"Whoosh!"

The rusty blade grazed his nose, barely missing him! The sharp wind from the blade even left a thin trail of blood on the bridge of his nose.

"Huh?" The one-eyed man was taken aback, then his grin widened.

So what if you dodged it? Behind you lies an abyss!

Chen Ye completely lost his balance, and his heel landed on the loose rocks at the edge of the cliff.

"Crack—"

Suddenly, the ground beneath my feet gave way!

The feeling of weightlessness instantly gripped his entire body! His body, like a kite with a broken string, irrevocably plummeted towards the cliff!

The wind howled wildly in my ears.

The world rushed backwards in my eyes, and the last image that settled on was the pirates' bewildered yet mocking faces, and the fragmented blue sky.

"Am I... going to die from the fall?"

The thought calmly surfaced in my mind. Compared to being beheaded with a single blow, it seemed... not so different.

He gave up struggling, letting his body tumble through the air and plummet into the unknown shrouded in thick fog.

The wind blowing up from the bottom of the cliff carried an overwhelming, pungent smell of the sea, making his clothes flutter loudly.

"Boss, he fell!"

"From that height, he'd definitely be smashed to pieces!"

"Damn it! He got off too easily!"

The one-eyed man spat and, cursing, disappeared into the jungle with his henchmen.

At the edge of the cliff, silence returned.

Falling, an endless fall.

Chen Ye felt as if his soul had been flung out of his body, and his consciousness gradually blurred as he fell at high speed.

In my mind, that cold, mechanical voice is still dutifully broadcasting:

[Warning: Host's vital signs are rapidly declining...10%...9%...]

[System energy: 0. Unable to start any protection programs.]

"It's so noisy..." he muttered helplessly. "Can't you just let me... die in peace for a while...?"

Just as consciousness was about to sink into eternal darkness.

Below, in the swirling thick fog, a shadow larger than anyone could imagine flashed by!

It looked like a...moving mountain range!

Followed by.

With a deafening splash, Chen Ye's body slammed into a cold, soft, and strangely elastic "water surface" like a cannonball.