Chapter 2: The Golden Finger Arrives

Chapter 2: The Golden Finger Arrives

Lu Ke cautiously glanced at the two people opposite him, only approaching once he confirmed there was no hostility in their eyes.

The thin mist didn't obstruct his close-up view. Lu Ke scanned from left to right.

On the left was a burly man with a rugged, hearty face. He was well over two meters tall, with a robust build and a sword at his waist. He exuded a strong, heroic aura.

On the right was a child, no more than ten years old, with a delicate and beautiful face. At first glance, it was hard to tell if the child was a boy or a girl. The child wore a white school uniform and blue school pants, with a slender frame that gave an oddly fragile impression.

"Welcome, new Lu Ke."

The burly man spoke first, his mouth wide enough to bite off half the child's head as he asked, "Which world are you from?"

Lu Ke couldn't quite understand what he meant and hesitated to speak. The more he looked at the two, the more familiar and comforting they felt, despite their vastly different appearances. It was as if he were looking in a mirror.

The child floated over to Lu Ke, giving the burly man a sideways glance. "If everyone keeps asking like you, we'll waste a lot of time. Let's just get it over with."

The child extended a small, tender hand, beckoning the burly man over. Both placed their hands on Lu Ke.

The moment they made contact, Lu Ke felt his consciousness expand exponentially. Everything around him became chaotic, and then two sets of memories, not his own, surged into his mind with explosive speed.

The first half of both sets of memories was identical to Lu Ke's own: following family tradition to become a gynecologist, the hospital he relied on shutting down, facing rejection during interviews, being priced out of online jobs, getting into a CP scandal with a web celebrity that led to a run-in with his landlord, and finally being hit by a car.

From there, the memories diverged.

In the first set of memories, he was reborn as the guard captain in the Alabasta Kingdom of One Piece. After discovering that the kingdom had been suffering from a drought for the past six months while the capital, Alubarna, received constant rain, he tried to help but failed. Realizing the kingdom was on the brink of civil war, he decided to run with his life savings.

He first fled to Windmill Village, working as a security guard at Makino's tavern. Six months later, when his "golden finger" arrived, he felt confident enough to leave Makino and head to the Frost Moon Dojo to study swordsmanship under Koshiro.

After six months of training, his sword skills were still far from the level of a master, but his body had grown increasingly robust, bordering on superhuman.

The second set of memories came from the child, who was actually an old soul in his forties. He had been wandering the Rukongai district in Bleach, the first to enter the mysterious space. After sharing a memory with the One Piece Lu Ke, his soul quality doubled, allowing him to enter the Seireitei Academy.

Currently, he was still a beginner, his Zanpakuto not yet awakened, and he knew only the lower-level Kido spells. His Shunpo skills were average, but his hand-to-hand combat was decent thanks to the One Piece Lu Ke's influence. Overall, he was above average among the new students.

Fortunately, he was in the year 1998, when Hyorinmaru had just become the captain of the 10th Division, and Kurosaki Ichigo wouldn't be born until next year, giving him plenty of time before the story began.

After digesting these two sets of memories, Lu Ke understood the power of his golden finger: he could share everything with his counterparts in different worlds, including physical strength, mental fortitude, energy, talents, abilities, and skills.

In that instant, he gained a decent amount of Reiatsu, advanced Kido spells, the robust physique and basic sword skills of the One Piece Lu Ke.

The golden finger was not bad at all.

Lu Ke's lips curled into a smug smile, his expression growing increasingly arrogant.

In just a few breaths, his alignment shifted from Lawful Neutral to Chaotic Good, with a tendency to lean towards Chaotic Evil.

The One Piece Lu Ke's eyes widened as he read the memory of the Naruto Lu Ke. "Copycat CP? And you triggered the internal competition in Konoha? Is that even allowed?"

His mind struggled to process this. In the One Piece world, everyone was straightforward and quick to act.

Since arriving in the One Piece world, he felt his thinking had gradually shut down. At first, he still knew to run, but after settling in the tavern at Windmill Village, his mind had become clouded by alcohol.

At the dojo, his days were filled with eating, sleeping, and practicing swordsmanship with his fellow students. He didn't need to think, only train and fight.

Combat, exhilarating!

The child-like Shinigami Lu Ke, on the other hand, clicked his tongue in disdain. "Blacksmith Lu Ke, another one of those."

Apart from a negligible amount of chakra and a reasonably healthy body and soul, there was nothing remarkable about him, and he deserved a poor rating.

He had already been pranked twice.

  Twice!

  Death god_luk's pretty face looked particularly gloomy.

  Good news, the golden thumb is here.

  Bad news, two more freeloaders are here.

  _fire_shadow_luk was choked by death_god_luk's nickname, his face darkening instantly.

  "Whatever, call me fire_shadow_luk!"

  "Just call me iron_luk, iron_luk, iron_luk, iron_luk!"

  Death_god_luk’s intelligence seemed to have regressed to a childlike state, and he started arguing with himself.

  He pointed at fire_shadow_luk, "You’re iron_luk."

  Then he pointed at pirate_luk, "You’re a moron_luk."

  Pirate_luk, feeling wronged, shranked his over two meters of small body, "What does this have to do with me, and why are you cursing me?"

  "You shouldn’t curse? When you came, you were worse than iron_luk, at least he had a mask. You’re the royal guard captain of a kingdom, but you spend your days drinking and bragging all day, and you delegate all your work to your subordinates."

  Fire_shadow_luk listened enviously, "Being a royal guard captain is a high-ranking position, but you still run... Speaking of your previous high status, I haven’t seen you wear anything colorful?"

  Pirate_luk felt helpless, "What can I do? I’m the king’s personal guard, and where is the king when I’m here? There aren’t many girls in the world of pirates, and the few beautiful ones are either extremely pretty or extremely ugly. In the kingdom, the only pretty ones are Princess Vivi and the queen."

  Fire_shadow_luk’s eyes lit up, leaning closer to pirate_luk, "I think Vivi is nice."

  "Nice, but when I arrived, she was just fifteen. At that age, who would dare to touch her?" Pirate_luk’s face looked like he was seeing a beast.

  "Even the queen is quite beautiful and well-built, but the old king is nice, he treats me and his son the same. I don’t see the point in being a bull-headed person."

  Being a person still has some boundaries, and so it is with luk.

  Fire_shadow_luk nodded with some regret, then asked, "Why does the old king hurt you so much, you can’t be his private son, can you?"

  With too many memories, he simply went over them once, unable to focus on the details.

  "Not really, when he was assassinated, my father sacrificed to protect him, and he doted the son normally."

  If you say so, naruto would have an opinion, and fire_shadow_luk silently mocked him.

  Pirate_luk’s weathered face turned slightly red, revealing his true thoughts, "My goal is actually Machi, but before I could catch up with the golden thumb, I was thinking of first enhancing my strength and then finding a partner at the Frost Moon Arena."

  It turned out he didn’t need to say it like Kui Na, because there were few girls who studied swordsmanship, and the Frost Moon Arena wasn’t particularly famous. Most of his peers were brothers.

  He sighed with some regret, "It’s a pity I can’t use the golden staff."

  Fire_shadow_luk shook his head, still holding the golden staff, and realized he was at the same level, unsure why he was praising himself so much.

  Thinking this, he suddenly paused, his gaze landing on pirate_luk’s two-meter-tall, muscular body, his eyes involuntarily squinting.

  He almost forgot about the pirates' muscular bodies.

  Fire_shadow_luk’s mind was flooded with memories, and he let out a cold breath.

  "Whew~ No other meaning, I just want to ask, can our golden thumb share the body parts too?"

  He didn’t know if luk had such a great potential, but the fertile soil of the pirate world made the fruits grow like mutations, which he envied.

  Pirate_luk nodded honestly, "Indeed, I can grow my body parts to the same size."

  "Oh oh oh oh!!!"

  Such a considerate golden thumb.

  "Hey, you two losers, stop messing around, and start focusing on something productive!"

  Death_god_luk, seeing the two start chatting, couldn’t help but jump up and kick both of their knees.

  "Focus on something productive in your minds, you two."

  Fire_shadow_luk took out his usual dog-head rubbing skills, rubbing death_god_luk’s head, the real-time shared function made him experience the double sensation of rubbing a child’s dog head and being rubbed himself, which was quite novel.

  "Don’t worry, I believe sooner or later, there will be a thigh_luk."

  He’s Leaf Village collapse plan is still six or seven years away, and besides the destruction of the Uchiha clan, nothing much happened. The Uchiha clan’s people are far from being close, and anyway, he’s not close to the Uchiha.

Naruto Luk: Facepalms. "┐(‘～`)┌ I guess I'll just chill."

Pirate Luk: He nodded in agreement. Unlike the potential complications in the Naruto world, the Pirate world was vast. As long as he avoided the main plot locations and didn't meddle, he could focus on fencing with his fellow apprentices. One day, I'll become a master swordsman and then go out to learn Haki!

Shinigami Luk: He rolled his eyes and pushed Naruto Luk's hand away. "You guys need to have a sense of urgency. We're all just starting out, and even with shared power, we're still small fries in our respective worlds. While the plot suggests we won't be in immediate danger, who knows what butterfly effects might occur?"

Naruto Luk: He pondered for a moment, realizing he couldn't be too complacent. "You have a point. When I get back, I'll test my strength and figure out how to get stronger."

With the added talents of the other two Leks, his chakra extraction speed should now be much faster, providing at least a reliable energy source for the others.

Pirate Luk: He patted the sword at his waist. "Koshiro is the son of the master swordsmith Shigekuni Koshiro and Zoro's first teacher. I think he has some good stuff to offer, but he only teaches theory and the basics of swordsmanship. Once I become a master swordsman, I'll go out to learn Haki."

Joining the Marines wasn't out of the question either; their training path was quite comprehensive.

Shinigami Luk: Seeing that the other two were listening, he nodded in satisfaction. "I have no idea about Zanpakuto, but I'll focus on practicing Shunpo. It's crucial to have good escape skills."

After a bit more discussion, they each went their separate ways.

...

Luk opened his eyes, feeling incredibly light. The fatigue from a day of blacksmithing had vanished, and he felt as if he could fly with a single leap. The world appeared sharper, and his senses seemed amplified, making his heartbeat feel stronger than ever.

He stripped down and examined his body in the mirror. Indeed, there were significant changes. While his body was already well-built from labor, the muscle distribution was now much more balanced and perfect.

Luk ran his hands over his well-defined abs and chiseled chest, nodding in approval at the improvements courtesy of Pirate Luk.

The external changes were just the icing on the cake. The real transformation lay within. Pirate Luk's physical strength and Shinigami Luk's spiritual power had completely revitalized him.

Ninjas were known for their high attack and low defense, with a focus on agility and technique rather than physical strength and durability. Even a Kage-level ninja would be easily cut by a sword or blade without using chakra to reinforce their body.

Now, he felt confident that his physical strength could handle an upper-level Jonin, assuming the opponent didn't use chakra, sneak attacks, or jutsu. In a pure, head-to-head physical battle...

Well, he was still far from being a significant threat. At best, he had progressed from cannon fodder to early-stage cannon fodder, not even close to being a late-stage cannon fodder.

The energy within him, derived from Shinigami Luk's reiatsu, had multiplied his chakra by tenfold! If he had had more chakra to begin with, he might have been impressed by the tenfold increase.

His current chakra reserves were probably just enough to match a typical Chunin's daily level. For a precise measurement, he'd have to ask Kakashi.

Luk's main weakness was his lack of combat experience. None of the three Leks had much battle experience. He had never fought, Shinigami Luk had been coasting, and Pirate Luk had only sparred with his fellow apprentices, which didn't quite count as real combat.

While his stats weren't terrible, he doubted he could beat a Chunin in a real fight. He might be able to overpower a Genin, but only if they didn't use poison, explosive tags, or other tricks.

Thinking about it, he couldn't even guarantee a win against a Genin.

He was still very weak and needed to be cautious.

Luk silently resolved to survive at all costs until he reached Kage-level strength!

With his plan set, he sat cross-legged and began to try extracting chakra.

For those readers who are concerned about the chakra mechanics, please consider this a world similar to Naruto but with some differences (i.e., a secondary setting). When in doubt, quantum mechanics.

Thank you for your understanding, setting enthusiasts! (ノ‥)ノ

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end