Ray's mind raced.
He remembered what the system had said when distributing the Tenseiga reward.
[To ensure smooth distribution of the reward, forcibly initiating the Tenseiga trial]
The meaning was clear—this reward would be distributed successfully.
And the recipient could only be himself.
If Ray himself ceased to exist, there would be no possibility of the system reward being successfully distributed.
"Hmph, still trying to scare me?"
Based on this reasoning, Ray immediately chose the option of taking both, without hesitation.
[Option 1. Swing Tenseiga to save Rin and the Straw Hat Pirates. If you have what it takes, then devour me!]
This was also Ray's genuine thought—both Rin and the Straw Hat Pirates must be saved.
Even if he had misjudged the system's intentions, he would still have done the same.
The worst outcome would merely be having to battle Sesshomaru's will.
If he only cared about his own survival, Ray wouldn't have risked his life to protect the Straw Hat Pirates from the Raigo.
Thus, the moment the system released control, Ray immediately swung Tenseiga at Rin's corpse without hesitation.
As the blade's gleam flashed, the underworld imps dissipated with the wind.
Ray held Rin's body, feeling it gradually warm up in his arms.
Her breathing returned, and her eyes slowly opened.
At this moment, Ray could clearly feel the joy radiating from within this body.
"Sesshomaru-sama, you actually used Tenseiga to save this little girl?"
Ray glanced at the little yokai, Jaken, behind him but said nothing.
He turned and walked into the distance.
Seeing that she had been revived, the little girl happily skipped after him.
Though Jaken hadn't yet grasped the situation, he still ran after them.
Some time later, the little girl spoke.
"My name is Rin. Are you Sesshomaru-sama?"
"Mhm~"
...
"Ding! Congratulations, host, for passing the first part of the Tenseiga trial.The Demon Blade Tenseiga represents salvation and a merciful heart.If you abandon saving others to preserve yourself, you cannot wield this blade.Tenseiga abilities - Healing and Full Resurrection, unlocked!"
The system's voice sounded somewhat playful.
Ray snorted coldly and posed his next question to the system in his mind.
"How are Luffy and the others?"
The system indicated that the Straw Hat Pirates had already awakened in various locations throughout this world.
Next, they would be rewarded with three months of training time in the Demon Realm.
When the three months ended, the system would send everyone back to the moment before they come.
It seemed this was compensation from the system, or perhaps a reward.
Three months here, yet time in the pirate world remained unchanged.
This shared remarkable similarities with cultivation artifacts in xianxia novels.
For the Straw Hat Pirates, training in the Demon Realm would definitely enhance their strength considerably, as they would experience numerous life-and-death battles.
Naturally, it would also be very dangerous. But Ray still had one more question.
"About Sesshomaru devouring me—explain yourself." Ray's tone carried killing intent as he coldly questioned the system.
The system seemed to tremble humanly, its reply somewhat stumbling.
"Well... ahem, that statement was merely to test the host's merciful heart.This... the Tenseiga trial must continue.We hope the host will persist with renewed effort.Whether subsequent side quests can be triggered requires the host to explore on their own. I'll take my leave now."
"One more thing - for these three months, the host must fully embody the role of Sesshomaru. After the host departs, Sesshomaru's consciousness will return."
Ray was speechless.
However, after so many interactions, he'd developed a strange feeling.
This system seemed to fear him, even though his strength posed no threat to it.
Moreover, when facing the system, he naturally felt like a superior confronting a subordinate.
Though it was just intuition. Was this some kind of trap?
Since he couldn't figure it out, he decided to stop thinking about it.
Everything would become clear in the future.
As for the current situation, Ray was doing his best to sort things out.
According to the system, for these three months, he was this world's Sesshomaru.
But the system hadn't mentioned what would happen if he disrupted Inuyasha's story timeline.
Since it wasn't specified, then changing the story's progression probably didn't matter.
Was this also a parallel world? Then it didn't matter—he could do whatever he wanted.
After thinking for a long time, Ray suddenly realized something troubling.
Having been immersed in Sesshomaru's memories and emotions all this time, his first instinct now was: [Walk in a straight line].
Sesshomaru's lifelong habit—walking without turning.
Just keep moving forward...
Ray was speechless.
What kind of bad habit had he picked up? When he returned to the One piece world later, would he just keep walking into the ocean if he reached the beach and found no path?
Had Sesshomaru's influence on him become so deep?
He focused on sensing his current body again.
A pure great demon, missing his left arm, without Tokijin at his waist, only the life-saving Tenseiga.
His Demonic Power was incredibly strong, at least twice as powerful as before his transmigration.
Having roughly figured things out, Ray prepared to set off to find Luffy and the others.
"Rin, Jaken, let's go~"
"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama" x2
...
In a dense forest, tree shadows crisscrossed.
Although it was daytime, the surroundings remained quite dark, as if sunlight could barely penetrate here.
Two men and one woman were currently lying on the ground.
One man wore a straw hat, another was dressed in a suit.
The girl wore a short dress with tight jeans.
A gust of Demonic Wind blew past, and Sanji was the first to open his eyes.
"Where is this? I remember that giant lightning ball nearly killed us."
"Eerie winds... feeling cold even in broad daylight..." Thinking this, Sanji lit a cigarette.
"This must be hell, being this cold during the day."
Suddenly, he noticed the motionless Nami beside him.
"Wow~ Nami-swaaaannnnn, I'm so happy to have died with you."
Just as he was about to embrace Nami, she suddenly moved, pulling her Clima-Tact from her chest with one hand and swinging it to knock Sanji away.
"You're the one who's dead! How could I die before getting my gold?" Nami bared her teeth, her chest heaving, clearly putting on a fierce front to hide her fear.
After all, this forest looked too much like the underworld.
Another gust of Demonic Wind blew through, and Nami completely dropped her act.
"Eek!! You two, protect me quickly!" Nami grabbed the still-unconscious Luffy and used him as a shield, peeking out cautiously as she trailed behind Sanji.
Sanji thumped his chest confidently.
"Don't worry, Nami-san! With this prince here, not even the King of Hell can harm you."
Some time later, Luffy woke up from hunger.
He immediately started clamoring for food.
The three of them walked slowly through the forest when suddenly, it felt like they passed through some strange membrane, and the world transformed before their eyes.
Just then, a beautiful singing voice drifted from the distance.
A woman appeared in the distance—her entire body snow-white, pure, gentle, yet with a bewitching beauty.
The melodious singing instantly seeped into the minds of all three.
Without hesitation, Sanji rushed toward the beautiful woman with hearts in his eyes.
Nami found her body frozen in place, unable to move.
Luffy just tilted his head, muttering in confusion.
"That woman just asked me to have children with her? But she won't give me any meat. How strange."