In the One Piece world, the surface of the gate rippled layer by layer.
A hairy arm stirred back and forth within the gate, feeling the warm sunlight shining on its palm.
King Neptune was momentarily dazed before finally withdrawing his arm.
When Queen Otohime saw her husband's unharmed arm, she could no longer suppress the anxiety in her heart. With a flick of her fishtail, she darted past him, slipping right under his arm.
"Otohime!"
Neptune exclaimed in alarm and failed to stop her in time. He quickly chased after her.
"Mother!"
Shirahoshi, and the others all panicked and were about to rush forward too.
A group of guards hurriedly grabbed them!
The princess and princes were the future of Fishman Island.
If anything were to happen to the King and Queen, the island would still rely on them. They absolutely could not take risks!
"We can't let His Majesty and the Queen venture in alone," the captain of the guards said in a low voice.
After the ministers and guards restrained the princes and princess, he waved his hand, leading hundreds of determined subordinates, all of whom charged into the gate.
Previously, His Majesty the King couldn't bear to let his people risk themselves and chose to personally test the authenticity of this portal.
How could they, in turn, bear to let their beloved King and Queen face danger alone?
"Mother~!"
Shirahoshi's tearful eyes grew misty. As more time passed with no sign of their return, she was about to burst into sobs.
Then King Neptune's head suddenly re-emerged from the mirrored surface at the base of the gate.
Although seeing a head emerge from such a reflective surface was quite a shocking sight, Neptune's expression of uncontainable joy said it all.
"Bring some Bubbly Coral! This is land! Real land! Hahaha, Otohime was right! It's land!"
"Shirahoshi~ There are towering trees here, birds soaring with wings, the chirping of insects~ The Eternal God truly exists! We've been blessed by the gods! sob sob sob~"
Queen Otohime's head appeared right next to Neptune's.
Halfway through her sentence, she was already crying uncontrollably.
"Your Majesty! Your Highness!"
The guards rushed forward with the bubbly coral.
Shirahoshi, and the others all dove into the gate without hesitation.
Warm sunlight bathed them all.
Just like the guards before them, Shirahoshi and her brothers were stunned by what they saw.
---
In the Marvel Universe, in the mountains, Kei sensed a faint force of destiny leaking from the dimensional rift before him, and the corners of his mouth curved into a smile.
Even across the gap between worlds, he could feel the power of fate.
So far, today's Gates had already revealed Sword Art Online and One Piece worlds. What would this next one be?
Harnessing the power of [Wanderer of Countless Worlds], he forcibly tore open another gate.
As the portal opened, hot water surged out of it, billowing with steam.
"A hot spring?"
He raised an eyebrow in mild surprise, already preparing to set up a waterproof barrier like before.
But then, carried by the steamy water, a large skeleton body still lathered in body wash foam floated out.
Following behind it was a naked boy, with elf-like ears and heterochromatic eyes, looking like... a little girl, or perhaps more accurately, a little trap boy.
"...Did the big bones get cooked into soup?"
Kei twitched at the sight of the large red-eyed skeleton, with a red energy core embedded in its abdomen.
Alright, even without accessing the hidden data, he already knew what these two were.
Ainz Ooal Gown and Mare.
"Ainz-sama~"
"Ah~ My Ainz..."
Accompanied by two flustered voices, Albedo, with horns on her head and a body that defied gravity, and Shalltear, in a gothic black dress, had half of their bodies already pushed out of the world portal, about to pounce right into Kei's arms.
Kei raised his gaze.
The two charging figures froze mid-air.
It was obvious these two had less-than-innocent intentions toward their beloved lord, and had been sneakily hiding just out of his line of sight, spying on Ainz while he bathed.
He couldn't help but wonder, what was so great about watching a pile of bones take a bath? Worried the soup wasn't boiling properly?
What a bizarre aesthetic...
Looking at Shalltear and Albedo's sudden appearance, followed by the flustered, body-hugging, shy Mare, and a blushing Ainz Ooal Gown... Kei could only sigh silently in his heart.
The people from the Great Tomb of Nazarick really were...
Utterly indecent!
With a wave of his hand, he cast an info-explanation spell made of warp energy toward the still-confused four.
Then, he tossed them all into the newly formed Cosmic Fruit dimension.
Nonsense-talker, Weakling Trap, Disgraceful Succubus, Yandere Eel.
What a strange lineup.
Better to leave them be for now and deal with them later.
Since he was still on a roll, why not open a few more worlds while things were hot?
He grumbled under his breath and, with a flicker of thought, a golden, spark-filled magic dimensional gate appeared before him. He was instantly transported to the next nearby world rift.
"Stronger than Ainz, huh…"
Up close, Kei could sense how much more intense this rift was, and his lips curled into a smirk. Activating his Dimensional Labyrinthian Circuit, he once again began forcibly opening the gate to the world ahead.
Moments later, the world gate was fully formed.
Seeing that no hot spring water or bathwater gushed out this time, he was about to step in and investigate, when a palm-sized stone suddenly flew out from the portal and zipped past his feet.
It seemed someone, or something, was on the other side.
Noticing the cosmic vacuum surrounding him, he quickly transferred this world gate into a Cosmic Fruit for safety.
Then, following the rock, branches, streams, fishing rods, bicycles… A barrage of strange test items came flying out one after another.
After quite a long while, and who knows how many test throws later, a young girl with short orange hair brushed to one side, cradling a weird starfish in her arms, timidly stepped out of the world portal.
Kei, who had already moved on to open the next world gate, instantly sensed the arrival of a newcomer in the Divine Kingdom, and in just a second, had figured out who she was and where she came from.
Pokémon World. Cerulean Gym's youngest sister, Misty.
"Starmie, this doesn't seem like some ancient ruin…"
Misty stared at the sudden info screen that popped up, and her own "character panel," dumbfounded for a second, then quickly ran back into the world gate behind her.
She had to report this to the League right away!
A portal that could connect to other worlds wasn't something a novice trainer like her should be messing with!
"Tsk, add another weirdo world to the list."
Kei smirked again and turned back toward the world barrier ahead.
Without a visible rift, forcibly opening a world gate was much harder than slicing through a tear.
Activating the full power of [Wanderer of Countless Worlds], he began deforming and stretching the world barrier until it finally shaped into a portal.
At that moment, the system notification coldly echoed in his mind:
[Hidden Achievement unlocked: "Ten Gates" for opening ten World Gates.]
[Obtained:
...]