Starting in One Piece: Fantasy Realm Multiverse

Alex slowly wakes up, feeling well-rested. For the first time in a while, he's in a calm and rational state with no immediate worries.

This is so nice. Two weeks of peace... I just need to get a few healing items and figure out what to do with that fruit. That's literally everything on my to-do list! Life can be so nice... That reminds me, I should probably get ready and then check if my apartment is completely wrecked after Menchi's damn kitchen session, Alex thinks as he lazily makes his way to the bathroom.

After freshening up and putting on some clean clothes, Alex heads into the living room. To his surprise, he sees Tereza casually chatting with a middle-aged woman. Alex freezes for a second; who the fuck is that?

The woman notices him and greets him warmly, all while continuing to tidy up. "Hello there, Alex, right? Your parents weren't lying when they said you like to sleep in. The youth today, I wouldn't have been allowed to act this way when I was so young! Anyway, I'm nearly done for today. Is there anything you need?"

Ah, it's the housekeeper! Alex suddenly remembers, quickly pulling out his phone to check his messages. Sure enough, there's a note from his parents about her visit.

"No, not at this time. Thank you for doing such a good job," Alex says politely.

He tries to keep his distance, but 15 minutes later, the housekeeper approaches him. "I'm done, but I haven't cleaned that one room that smells like a second kitchen. Your girlfriend told me not to go in. There's no need to be embarrassed—I've seen messier apartments than you can imagine."

"Oh, today, there's no need to clean that room... you know what? Don't ever enter it unless I specifically tell you. Thank you so much. I'll see you in a week," Alex replies quickly, handing her a small tip.

"No need for that. Your parents already pay me more than enough," she says, shaking her head.

"Please... I insist. I have more than enough money, so let me share the wealth a little."

After a moment of hesitation, she smiles and accepts the tip. "Thank you, Alex," she says before promptly leaving.

"Good morning, Tereza. Menchi didn't want to let her in?" Alex finally says, turning to Tereza, who's sitting on the couch with a thick book in hand. Six more books are piled up on the table next to her.

Tereza pauses her reading and looks up. Alex glances at the book's title: "Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen."

"You're... reading Harry Potter?" Alex asks, raising an eyebrow. "Guess I've kept those books with me all this time. Were they in one of the boxes I took with me from my old place? Can you even understand it? Is your German that good? Maybe order the English ones if you're trying to study for our next trip."

"I rather like this version. It also helps me improve my German skills a little," Tereza replies with a small smile. "And yeah, they look pretty old. Menchi's still locked up in her experiment. Honestly, she's kinda scary when she's that serious about cooking. Even I'm worried about the state of the room; it's probably more chaotic than a battlefield, I'm sure," she adds, looking genuinely concerned.

"Well… let's give her a few more hours. These books, by the way, are hand-me-downs from my mother. It's one of the few book series that's popular with so many age groups, and it's probably the reason why this world has such a huge influence on the Realm," Alex says.

"Your idea isn't bad. Now that we know which world we'll be entering, it can't hurt to study. Might even be worth watching the movies, too, since the characters will probably look pretty similar, even if the lore is based on the books," Alex continues, eyeing the seven books in front of him and wondering, Which one will it be?

Copying Tereza, Alex decides to dive into the world of Harry Potter, though his study method is very different from hers. While she reads the books directly, Alex pulls up YouTube videos from channels like "Harry Potter Theory" and browses the Wiki to learn about specific topics that catch his interest.

After a few hours of focused study, both Alex and Tereza stop when they hear a door opening in the back of the apartment. They exchange glances before deciding to cautiously approach Menchi's intimidating kitchen laboratory.

Alex steps into the room, his eyes half-closed, bracing himself for the chaos he expects to see. But when he fully opens them, he freezes in shock. The room is spotless.

The kitchen setup, complete with furniture and cooking utensils from the Realm—looks slightly out of place, almost like it doesn't belong in this time period. But aside from that, everything is unbelievably clean.

"Wow, Menchi, I'm surprised. Your kitchen is spotless!" Alex says, staring in awe.

Menchi beams and hugs him tightly. "Alex! Thank you so much for inviting me to this world! Having an Inventory is such a blessing! I can't believe how easy and fast cleaning up is! It's like a dream come true. I can just dump anything I don't want or need into it and empty it later," she says with a big smile.

I guess that's true… for a cooking addict, this really seems useful. But that's not what I'm curious about right now, Alex thinks, still a little puzzled.

"What about your experiments? Have you had any success yet?" Tereza asks, intrigued.

"I've only been working with generic supplies and Gray items so far. I haven't touched any healing items or White-quality meat yet, let alone the [Kulu-Ya-Ku Meat]. Most of the dishes ended up as failures… like these," Menchi says, pointing at two plates.

[Ordinary Dish (Fried Cucco)]

World: The Legend of Zelda, Fantasy Realm

Quality: Gray

Effect: Heals 5 HP and increases natural HP regeneration by 5% for 4 hours

Note: A basic chicken dish containing Cucco meat and various other ingredients.

Note: The louder they scream, the juicier they taste.

[Failed Dish (Fried Cucco)]

World: The Legend of Zelda, Fantasy Realm

Quality: Unranked

Effect: Heals 2 HP and increases natural HP regeneration by 2% for 2 hours

Note: A basic chicken dish containing Cucco meat and various other ingredients.

Note: The louder they scream, the juicier they taste.

"Haha, I like this one. I always hated those damn chickens. I probably died a bunch of times because I 'accidentally' hit them," Alex says with a laugh.

"You even know specific chicken types from games? Alex, get some help!" Tereza teases, clearly amused.

"Anyone who plays Zelda games knows about them," Alex retorts, then turns to Menchi. "So I take it the unranked [Failed Dishes] were your unsuccessful attempts, while the [Ordinary Dishes] are what you consider failures because they didn't exceed the default result. Honestly, they're probably the standard outcome if you don't make mistakes but also don't do anything to improve the quality. Still, this is what you need to aim for. If you can maintain this level, Green Ingredients will turn into Green-Quality dishes!"

Menchi says, "Yeah, I've bought a bunch of Cuccos to cook up. What's strange is that even while cooking, I can immediately tell the portion size I need for the item to be accepted by the system. If I'd only use half the ingredients, it would probably turn out as something worthless. I failed the first few batches, but I quickly got the hang of using my new equipment and cooking with these types of ingredients. My Hatsu also took some time to get used to. Anyway, I even managed to create this here—this is what I'd consider an acceptable result," she says while showing Alex another plate.

[Successful Dish (Fried Cucco)]

World: The Legend of Zelda, Fantasy Realm

Quality: White

Effect: Heals 10 HP and increases natural HP regeneration by 10% for 8 hours

Note: A basic chicken dish containing Cucco meat and various other ingredients.

Note: The louder they scream, the juicier they taste.

"Not bad! A White-quality dish… What's the quality of the Cucco meat? Just Gray, right? So it looks like you managed to enhance its natural grade! That's awesome, congratulations. Also, I can't believe the difference between these dishes. With every grade improvement, the effects doubled. The White-quality dish is something that even has some use for me, while the Gray, and especially the unranked dish—are probably not worth carrying around," Alex says, analyzing the results and praising Menchi's progress.

Tereza hugs Menchi, rubbing her head affectionately while showering her with praise. "You're so talented! This will be such a huge help."

Alex cringes at the display and immediately exposes Tereza. "Don't lie... these are a good start, but seriously, we'll probably need food that's a grade higher than this. Honestly, 10 HP and 10% increased HP regeneration might've been effective a few missions ago, but I need way more now. That said, I agree with you—this is a great result, especially considering you were only working with Gray-quality ingredients. Did you just stick to the evil Cuccos, or did you try anything else?"

Menchi nods and explains, "I made a few other dishes. This one is apparently some kind of Blobfish from the world of One Piece, and the other one I bought from the same player who sold me the Cucco meat."

[Successful Dish (Braised Blobfish)]

World: One Piece, Fantasy Realm

Quality: White

Effect: Heals 30 HP over 10 minutes. Must be eaten outside of combat. The effect vanishes if the player engages in battle during the healing duration.

Note: A basic fish dish containing Blobfish meat and various other ingredients.

Note: :( 

[Successful Dish (Cucco Eggs Benedict)]

World: One Piece, Fantasy Realm

Quality: White

Effect: Heals 15 HP over 5 minutes.

Note: An egg dish containing Cucco Eggs and various other ingredients.

Note: Almost looks like it's made with gold.

"I see, so that's another two types of food. I recognize both. I remember eating [Freshly Baked Pumpkin Bread] from Final Fantasy 9, which also recovered a bit of HP and increased HP regen, kind of like the Fried Cucco. This one, though, is more like the [Gotcha Pork Roast] I ate, while the dish made with eggs is similar to the simple generic [Smoked Wolf Jerky].

"I have to say, this is great. All three types of food have their uses. The fish dish is perfect for recovering a lot of HP between battles, while the fried Cucco works as a kind of buff food. It's useful to eat before engaging in combat, but you could also use it if you've already taken some damage and have a moment to spare. The egg dish feels more like a generic recovery food—probably the most useful one to me, if I had to choose. Anyway, having access to all three types is a luxury. I love it. This is exactly the outcome I was hoping for," Alex says, genuinely impressed by Menchi's results after just a few days.

I guess a Purple-quality follower with Advanced skills is no joke. My investment was definitely not a mistake. I can see the huge potential in this. If Menchi can start preparing Green, or maybe even Blue-quality food, I'd feel way more confident going into missions. I hope she can keep improving before our next mission starts, Alex thinks, a satisfied smile on his face.

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