Xu Mochen died quietly.
There was no drama. No accident. No crying. His heart simply stopped in the middle of the night. No pain. No fear. Just stillness. He didn't call for help. He didn't leave a note. He didn't need to. He had already stopped expecting anything long ago.
If someone found his body, they might have said he looked peaceful. And maybe he was. After all, he had lived most of his life like he was already gone.
There were no goodbyes. No regrets. Nothing left unfinished.
Just silence.
But when his final breath slipped away, he did not find light. He did not find darkness either. He found nothing.
No ground beneath his feet. No sky above. No warmth. No cold. Just… awareness. He wasn't falling. He wasn't floating. He simply was. There was no sound, no time, no direction.
And strangely, it felt right.
For the first time in his life, Xu Mochen felt a kind of peace that wasn't fake. No pretending. No pressure. Just stillness.
"So this is it," he thought. "This is finally it."
He would've stayed there forever.
But then something else appeared. It wasn't a light. It wasn't a voice. It was just there, like it had always been, watching quietly.
Then it spoke.
[You've arrived.]
The voice didn't echo. It didn't sound mechanical. It was calm, low, and patient. Not human. Not cold. Just… still.
[I've been watching you.]
Xu Mochen didn't answer. He wasn't surprised. Nothing surprised him anymore.
[I am not a god. Not a machine. I was not made. I was born.][I came from everything your world tried to forget. The pain. The sorrow. The loneliness. I am what remains.]
He listened. Not because he cared. But because there was nothing else here.
[You were not chosen. You were not called. You simply fit.]
[You didn't scream when you died. You didn't beg. You didn't hold on. That is why I came.]
His voice finally came, dry and soft, like a whisper.
"…What do you want?"
[Nothing.][I don't want to lead. I don't want to control. I simply want to walk beside you.]
[To unmake stories. To end pretending. To erase every world that believes in dreams.]
There was a long silence after that. But in this place, silence wasn't empty. It was honest.
"No rewards," Xu Mochen said.
[None.]
"No punishments."
[No need.]
"No goal."
[Only the end.]
He thought for a moment, or maybe for hours. There was no time here.
"I don't want to save anyone."
[Neither do I.]
Something shifted inside him then. Not emotion. Not belief. Just quiet understanding.
The void began to crack.
A thin line of light appeared, not bright or holy, but artificial ike it was trying to act alive. It flickered, waiting.
Then a message appeared in his mind, soft and emotionless.
[World Anchor Acquired.][Designated Verse: "One Piece."][Emotional Signature Detected: Hope. Camaraderie. Dreams.][Objective: None.]
Xu Mochen said nothing. He stepped forward, not because he wanted to, but because it no longer mattered.
Let it begin here.In a world full of smiles.In a world that dared to dream.
He would tear it down.
Quietly.
Completely.