The "Eye Bone" looked like an ordinary piece of bone at first glance, except that a huge eyeball was embedded at its tip.
The moment Ren picked it up, that eyeball suddenly snapped open.
A cold, hollow gaze fixed straight on its new owner.
"What are you staring at? Keep it up and I'll eat you!"
The unblinking stare made Ren's scalp tingle. Narrowing his eyes, he glared back at the oversized eyeball.
{Ren used Intimidation}
{The eyeball turned away}
{Intimidation worked! It's super effective!}
{Ren gained a bit of Intimidation experience. Ren leveled up!}
Ren's inner theater had just begun its performance when he realized the pupil inside the eyeball actually did shift to the side.
Alright, he declared inwardly.
This eyeball knows how to pick its battles!
Just then, a faint sound of panting filled the room—followed by the soft thump of footsteps.
Ren instinctively turned toward the noise. Out of nowhere, a dog appeared in the corner.
It stood half as tall as a human, its body covered in thick brown fur.
Its form was irregular, like a pumpkin split in half, supported by four stumpy legs.
About a third up its body was a huge gaping mouth—rows of sharp teeth and a drooping pink tongue revealed that much clearly enough.
Above that sat a pair of sharp horns. It had no visible eyes—or perhaps they were simply hidden.
As for why Ren called it a "dog," well, the panting and the lolling tongue sold the image.
He cautiously extended a hand toward Chester's horns, faint golden light wrapping around his fingers.
To his surprise, the expected retaliation never came. Chester merely sat there like an oversized Alaskan malamute, letting Ren ruffle its fur.
The texture was unexpectedly pleasant—soft and springy.
If you ignored the bizarre anatomy, you could almost mistake it for a real dog.
"'Don't Starve,' huh? I think I've heard of that game before…" Ren mused aloud.
He drew his silver Desert Eagle and approached, one hand gripping Chester's horn as he pried open what looked like its skull—no, its mouth.
A massive abyssal maw yawned open, and a floating grid-like menu appeared above it.
The light screen resembled his Dimensional Roulette interface, which caught Ren off guard for a moment.
Experimentally, he tossed his silver Desert Eagle into Chester's mouth. A small icon of the gun instantly appeared in one of the grid's squares.
When he focused on the tiny Desert Eagle, its square glowed yellow.
"Retrieve."
Ren reached into the air—and Chester spat the gun back out.
No scratches, no slime, nothing unpleasant at all—it was exactly the same as when it went in.
Ren immediately went for something bigger: his half-human-sized Dragon's Breath Cannon.
Chester gulped it down in one bite.
After several tests, Ren confirmed a crucial fact:
Chester's storage grid ignored the size, volume, and weight of stored items. Anything could be kept inside as long as it was a complete object—even freshly caught fish from the galley.
Humans, however, seemed off-limits… mainly because Koby flatly refused to volunteer.
Ren had to abandon that experiment. As for trying it on himself—well, even he wasn't that brave.
Next, he tried storing potions and discovered that identical items could stack, while different ones occupied separate slots.
By now, Ren was thoroughly thrilled.
Spatial storage!
It wasn't the sleek kind of pocket dimension you could access with a thought, or a shiny ring on the protagonist's hand—but watching Chester swallow and regurgitate the Dragon's Breath Cannon like a magic trick was mesmerizing.
This was fantasy made real.
After all, wasn't humanity's fascination with the two-dimensional world rooted in its unattainable wonders—characters, artifacts, powers that transcended boring reality?
That, Ren thought, was the true allure of the 2D world.
"…And of course, the beauties," he added silently.
Smiling, he checked his current loot.
Ten million Beli—a hefty sum by any standard.
In return, he'd obtained some remarkable treasures: two Invisibility Potions, one Health Potion, and the Eye Bone that granted spatial storage.
Not bad at all, provided he didn't get greedy.
Just the Eye Bone alone was easily worth that ten million. The only concern was that Chester could be injured, and it didn't seem very smart—more like a beast driven purely by instinct, wandering in search of its Eye Bone.
In battle, enemies could target and kill it.
Fortunately, Chester could be revived—so long as Ren emerged victorious.
"Alright, that's enough testing for today. I'll roll the roulette again tomorrow."
In a good mood, Ren pocketed the Eye Bone and led Chester out to meet the rest of the crew.
Koby didn't react much—after all, he'd nearly been fed to the creature earlier, so he already knew what to expect.
Zoro, however, had been asleep on deck. When Chester hopped over and stepped on him, he woke instantly, drawing his swords in alarm.
"What the hell is that thing!?"
Zoro's pupils narrowed as he locked onto the strange creature crouching by Ren's feet.
It… kind of looked like a dog?
"Its name's Chester. Companion, crewmate, and a very handy tool—something like that. I'm just introducing it to everyone. Be careful not to hurt it by accident."
Ren patted Chester's head. The brown fur was surprisingly sleek to the touch, so he couldn't resist giving it a few extra ruffles.
"…You sure it's harmless? And where did you even get it?"
Zoro's expression was a mix of disgust and curiosity. He poked Chester's flank with the tip of his sword.
Chester barked once and twitched, making Zoro flinch backward until his back hit the ship's railing.
At least he remembered Ren's warning and didn't strike instinctively.
"Devil Fruit power," Ren explained casually.
He demonstrated by opening Chester's massive mouth and pulling out the Dragon's Breath Cannon from within.
"Whoa…"
Koby's eyes went wide, staring between the gun and Chester in disbelief.
Was this magic?
Or another Devil Fruit ability?
"It can store anything—food, weapons, even live fish. Maybe even people," Ren said, shooting a mischievous grin at Koby. "Wanna test it? Come on, Koby, it's a Devil Fruit creation."
"No way, Captain Ren!"
Koby shook his head frantically, trembling as he crossed his arms over his chest in protest.
If a cute girl had made that gesture, it might have been endearing.
But unfortunately, this was Koby, and Koby wasn't cute.
Ren couldn't help but smack him over the head.
"Ow!"
Koby crouched defensively, clutching his head in exasperation.
He couldn't help but think he'd really boarded a pirate ship—literally.
Escaping one hell, only to dive straight into another.
(End of Chapter)