8 A superhero that can break the air

Ren scrolled through the shocking news as his body was soaking in the warm and bubbly water.

It was not the first time he saw that after all.

The very first time, he almost had a heart attack and died a second time.

But he then hurriedly started searching on the web. He had already known by then that the world he was in had one giant supercontinent and that the countries in it were named as cities named with letters from the alphabet.

He also knew about the gates, monsters, and superheroes.

But he didn't know that some of those superheroes were actually known to him from various anime worlds.

He saw various videos about the feats of these characters and became stunned at the time.

'I'm still stunned even now though…'

His fingers deftly moved as he typed and searched for videos.

A video soon started playing.

Boom!!

An explosion sound sounded as Ren observed what was happening in the video.

A huge man was seen in the video, reaching a stunning 6 meters in height.

A height that would be impossible normally, but was rather normal in this world where many awakened weird traits.

This man was wearing a white captain's coat, which hung loosely from his broad shoulders and this coat had a symbol on it.

He could be seen bare-chested and wore light, loose pants tucked inside his large black boots and a dark sash around his waist.

This led to his muscles and scars being proudly displayed for all to see how strong he was.

A white mustache hung above his lips.

The huge man who had a naginata on his left hand punched with his right hand forward. There was a weird white bubble surrounding his hand.

His punch met head-on with the head of a gorilla-shaped strange monster.

This monster was running toward the old man at such a speed, that Ren was scared even from his bathtub. But the old man was faster, hitting the monster straight on the head.

To Ren, the punch seemed as if it came out of nowhere, and it was not something just anyone could dodge.

Cracks spread around the area of the punch before the monster's head and body were obliterated as a result of the shockwave from the punch.

In fact, all the monsters in a distance of 200m around the impacted place were obliterated by the shockwaves, and even the helicopter covering the news shook violently from the wind.

"Gurarara, puny monsters, do you think you can take this old man on easily?" The old man opened his mouth and laughed loudly.

Just like that, the monsters were no more.

They ceased to exist. Ren couldn't help but be shocked, even though he had seen the same video multiple times.

The cracks and shockwaves were proof that the old man he saw in the video was indeed the one he thought about.

Whitebeard.

The proclaimed strongest man in the world of one piece.

"Even the laugh is the same…" Ren muttered tiredly.

The laugh, the self-confidence… if he wasn't sure just from that, then the next two people shown in the video made him completely sure.

A guy that was completely set on fire, jumped around as he blasted the gorilla-shaped monsters.

"Fire fist!"

At his yell, a huge fireball was shot towards a monster running towards him.

It was set on fire and died after being incinerated not too long after.

When a lot of monsters ganged upon him, a huge phoenix glowing in blue flames flew near him and took the monsters with its talons.

"Stay focused, Ace-yoi!" The Phoenix opened its mouth and spoke towards the burning human below.

It dropped the monsters from the sky after engulfing them in fire and then continued on flying around and shooting blue flames.

They were definitely the sons of Whitebeard, Ace, and Marco.

Ren after seeing this video just had nothing more to see. He closed his phone and submerged himself underwater.

He had seen such videos multiple times, and characters like Whitebeard, Hashirama, All Might, and various others from different animes were continuously spoken about in the news.

He just had to accept it by now. This world he was in now had characters from animes alive and existing alongside him.

"Fuah"

Ren raised his head from the water so that he can breathe, and then started to think deeply.

"But then why did the goddess say I can either live regularly or pursue the path of strength?" He wondered to himself.

In such a world, was it even possible for one to consider living while at the complete mercy of others?

Just casually living life, until one day a monster shows up near you, and then you'll beg for a superhero to come to save you hoping it wouldn't be too late by the time they do so,

What if some superheroes were corrupt, and you one day end up offending one of them who can fly, and they decided to throw you from high up in the sky in retaliation? Just what if…

Of course, one would wish to gain strength in such a world. And Ren wasn't any different.

It was like the goddess threw him here with choices, but he felt like he only had one path forward.

"Or maybe the ability she helped me awaken would let me live easily?" Ren wondered.

His ability: Embrace of Bonds.

To him who knew what it could do vaguely… It didn't feel that strong.

It could help him acquire skills, and increase his stats, which were OP. But the conditions to do so were quite harsh… That was why he didn't know if he even had a choice at this point.

Don't get him wrong, as a former avid anime lover, he of course had the occasional dream of becoming as strong as the old man that is shown in the video, maybe even stronger, and then making girls fall for him.

Becoming a hero, protecting people, and showing off with a laugh… he did have such dreams.

But he was also just a regular person. He didn't want to waste his second life, and he didn't want to throw himself into death.

He wanted to think deeply about what to do and plan well before he decides on something. So, the heroism of it all wasn't considered for now.

If he gained strength, then it would be to protect himself in this new world.

However, no matter what he decided, he knew that his ability was necessary.

If he wanted to gain strength and become one of the top people in the world, he needed to use that ability desperately.

And if he wanted to live a leisurely life, then he also needed strength, so he would make use of his ability just at a leisurely pace.

"Well, let's think about this carefully from now on."

Ren concluded after he spent some time thinking.

There was nothing pressing him to decide today, and since this was quite an important decision, he wouldn't be hasty about it.

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Read advanced chapters ahead of the public release:

https://www.p.atreon.com/ThighsSeeker