The last thing Jack remembered was the sound of his own breath.
The rhythm of it. The way it shook.
He was lying on a cold floor. The air smelled like rain. His phone screen was bright enough to be painful.
He was arguing with someone who didn't matter anymore.
Then the truck came.
No honk. No warning. Just metal and the sudden absence of sound.
And then—
Nothing.
Not even pain.
Just… silence.
He expected darkness. He expected the tunnel people talked about. He expected something dramatic.
Instead, he woke up to the smell of salt.
Salt and sunlight.
His eyes snapped open.
The world was too bright. Too real.
Jack blinked hard, trying to make sense of the colors.
The sky was a clean, impossible blue. The air was warm, and the wind smelled like the ocean and something green—like leaves crushed underfoot.
He pushed himself up.
White sand stuck to his palms. The ground was soft beneath his fingers, not hard concrete.
For a second, his mind tried to reject it.
This wasn't real.
It had to be a dream.
But his lungs filled with air like they belonged there.
His heart was pounding, and it wasn't because of fear.
It was because he had survived something impossible.
He looked down at his hands.
They were his hands.
The same small scars on his knuckles. The same calluses. The same faint vein lines.
He whispered, "No way."
A sound came from behind him.
Footsteps.
Jack froze.
He didn't know who could be on this island. He didn't know what was allowed to exist here. He didn't know what kind of world this was yet.
But he knew one thing with a certainty that didn't need explanation:
If someone was walking toward him, it meant he wasn't alone.
He turned slowly.
A boy stood about ten meters away, holding a fishing rod like it was nothing.
He had messy black hair, a smile that looked too open for a stranger, and eyes that didn't look afraid of anything.
The boy tilted his head.
"Hey," he said, voice bright. "Are you lost?"
Jack swallowed.
The word stuck in his throat.
Because he knew this place.
He knew this boy.
He knew the island.
And he knew the story that would unfold here.
Whale Island.
The peaceful place where people lived like they didn't know the world could hurt them.
The place where Gon Freecss grew up.
The place where the world's rules started to twist.
Jack's mind was racing, trying to reconcile the impossible.
"You…" Jack began, but his voice cracked. "You're… Gon."
The boy blinked.
His smile widened like it had just gotten bigger.
"You know my name?" Gon asked, but not in a threatening way. More like he was excited to be recognized.
Jack didn't answer.
His gaze dropped to the ground.
He didn't want to look at Gon directly, because looking at him felt like staring at a future he couldn't escape.
His thoughts were a whirlwind.
Why was he here?
How?
Was he dead?
Was this punishment?
Or was it a miracle?
Then the air shifted.
Not a gust of wind.
Not a change in temperature.
Something… felt different.
Like the world itself had taken a breath.
Jack's vision blurred for a moment, and a translucent interface appeared before him.
Not in front of his eyes like a screen, but inside his mind like a voice he could feel.
[Transmigration Complete.]
Jack's heart stopped for a fraction of a second.
He didn't understand the words, but he understood the meaning.
Something had moved him here.
Something had decided.
Then the interface continued, calm and unfeeling.
[Host Consciousness Stabilized.]
[World Anchor: HunterXHunter — Prime Timeline.]
Jack swallowed hard.
HunterXHunter.
The name hit him like a punch.
It was too familiar. Too precise.
This was the world he had watched, read about, obsessed over.
The world he had believed was fiction.
And now he was inside it.
His hands shook.
The interface flickered again.
[God Level Choice System — ACTIVE]
Jack stared at the words as if they might change if he looked hard enough.
"System?" he whispered, barely able to say it out loud.
The system replied—not with sound, but with a certainty that felt like a presence in his bones.
[Affirmative.]
A line of text appeared beneath the title.
Every meaningful action produces TWO choices.
Choose wisely.
Rewards may be drawn from any fictional universe.
Jack's mind went blank.
He felt his stomach drop, like he was standing on the edge of a cliff and suddenly realized he was falling.
"Any… fictional universe?" he said slowly, tasting the words like they were poison.
The system did not respond to his confusion. It simply continued, like it had all the time in the world.
Two locks appeared below the text, each one heavy and sealed.
Infinite Sign-In System — LOCKED
Unlock Condition: Survive 1 Year
Eternity's Apex System — LOCKED
Unlock Condition: Survive 3 Years
Jack stared at the locks.
He didn't know what they were. He didn't know what they meant.
But he understood the implication.
He had to survive.
For one year.
Three years.
Five years.
Five years for something even more impossible than this.
A final message appeared.
[Primary Survival Tasks Assigned.]
Task 1: Survive 1 Year — Reward: Infinite Sign-In System
Task 2: Survive 3 Years — Reward: Eternity's Apex System
Task 3: Survive 5 Years — Reward: Axiom Genesis (Power Creation Authority)
Jack felt something cold settle in his chest.
He didn't know what Axiom Genesis meant.
But he understood the concept.
Create powers.
That was… terrifying.
And then, in the corner of his mind, the system gave him a final line that felt like a warning.
[Failure is not allowed.]
Jack blinked.
He looked at Gon again.
The boy was still smiling.
Unaware.
Jack wanted to scream.
He wanted to run.
He wanted to do anything but stand there and pretend this was normal.
But his body didn't move.
Because he had already made a choice.
He had survived death.
And now he was in a world where survival was the first rule.
Gon took a step forward, the fishing rod resting casually on his shoulder.
"You're new here," he said, still smiling. "I'm Gon. What's your name?"
Jack's throat tightened.
He looked at Gon's face and felt a strange warmth.
Not because he trusted him.
But because the boy was so genuine, so pure, that it hurt.
Jack forced a smile that felt like it didn't belong to him.
"Jack," he said.
Gon nodded, satisfied.
"Nice to meet you, Jack!"
Jack's gaze drifted to the ocean.
The waves rolled in, calm and rhythmic.
The island was peaceful.
But Jack knew it was a lie.
He knew the world he had entered.
He knew the monsters waiting behind the smiles.
And he knew that, even if he was 12 years old, even if he looked like a boy, he was not going to survive this world by being kind.
He was going to survive it by being prepared.
And the system had already begun writing his future.