Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
A huge training ground, where large numbers of Marine Headquarters recruits were currently undergoing physical conditioning by running with weighted loads.
At the very back of the group was a handsome young man who had fallen noticeably behind the others.
No matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn’t catch up.
Gasping for breath as he watched the recruits running ahead of him, Roya wore an expression of utter speechlessness.
“How can I not even catch up to a bunch of Marine recruits who don’t even have names?
This joke is getting a little too ridiculous!”
A month ago, Roya had inexplicably transmigrated into the world of One Piece.
To his surprise, he had even become the nephew of the legendary Marine hero, Monkey D.
Garp—in other words, the uncle of the original protagonist, Monkey D.
Luffy.
The current year was the eleventh year of the Great Pirate Era.
Roya had always been somewhat hot-blooded by nature, so instead of being frightened by his sudden transmigration, he was thrilled.
The world of One Piece had been one of his favorite fictional worlds in his previous life.
Just thinking about the incredible abilities granted by Devil Fruits, or imagining a great swordsman cleaving mountains apart with a single slash, was enough to make his blood race.
And, most importantly, he had actually become Garp’s nephew.
Being able to get close to one of the strongest figures at the pinnacle of the One Piece world made Roya feel that he had been given the perfect starting point.
Who could have known that less than two days later, Garp would dump him straight into the Marine Headquarters’ recruit training camp?
At first, as a transmigrator, Roya hadn’t thought much of the Marine Headquarters’ recruit camp.
He had assumed it was probably filled with a bunch of nameless background characters.
The problem was that these supposedly nameless background characters were all far stronger than him!
He had already been in the recruit camp for a month.
Even though he had been training as hard as he possibly could, he still found it difficult to catch up with these Marine Headquarters recruits.
This left Roya feeling rather helpless.
“Then again, this is the Marine Headquarters’ recruit camp, after all.
Almost everyone here is an elite.
If I remember correctly, even future Marine Admirals like Aokiji, Kizaru, and Akainu trained here in the past.”
As he thought about this, a helpless look flashed through Roya’s eyes while he continued his weighted run.
But still…
If he couldn’t even stand out in this recruit camp, then he would probably end up as nothing more than a background character in the future.
Roya absolutely refused to become some nameless Marine who could be casually slapped to death by a pirate with a bounty of over a hundred million Berries at any moment.
But why hadn’t he inherited even the slightest bit of Garp’s monstrous physical strength?
Could it be because he wasn’t a direct descendant?
His cousin, Monkey D.
Dragon, would eventually become the leader of the Revolutionary Army and a man capable of opposing the World Government.
Then there was his uncle, Garp, a legendary powerhouse who had chased the Pirate King, Gol D.
Roger, all over the world.
And as for his nephew, Luffy, barring any unforeseen circumstances, he would become the next Pirate King.
Every single one of them was absurdly powerful.
With a family background like this, Roya felt an enormous amount of pressure.
After all, this family tree included the Marines, pirates, and the Revolutionary Army.
Who knew whether, if he remained weak, someone from one of those factions might target him someday and use him as an outlet for their anger?
Even Marineford couldn’t be considered completely safe.
Aside from the future Paramount War, there was also lunatics like Kaido of the Beasts, who loved challenging the Marines, had a penchant for suicide, and somehow never managed to die.
What if that madman suddenly went on a rampage and invaded Marineford one day?
If Roya happened to be caught in the wrong place and got swatted to death by him, that would be far too unjust.
Roya shook his head, tossing all those chaotic thoughts to the back of his mind.
“Those things are still too far away.
I shouldn’t think about them for now.
I’d better train properly and focus on getting stronger.”
After the weighted run ended, Roya sat down where he was during the break and slowly closed his eyes.
With a thought, a vast, hazy, empty space appeared before him—a space that only he could see.
At the very center of this ethereal space floated a crystal-clear sword.
This was something that had existed inside Roya’s mind from the very first day he arrived in this world, fused with his soul.
It looked like a sword, but Roya preferred to call it the Sword Soul System.
Looking closely, the crystal-clear sword was far from intact.
Countless horrifying cracks covered its entire body, as though it could shatter into pieces at any moment.
With another thought from Roya, something resembling a status panel appeared directly before him.
Stage One: Damaged Sword Soul +10 (Enhancement Conditions Not Met)
Attribute: Attack Power +30
Enhancement Energy: 10/10
“Why is the Enhancement Energy already full, yet I still can’t enhance it any further?
Could +10 be the enhancement limit?”
Staring at the status panel, Roya muttered to himself.
There was no system girl who suddenly appeared to explain his doubts.
The Sword Soul System seemed to possess no independent consciousness.
Even if it did, it had never spoken to Roya.
He had always been the one figuring out its functions on his own.
At the beginning, its status had been:
Stage One: Damaged Sword Soul +0.
Later, Roya discovered that training or fighting could increase his Enhancement Energy.
Once the Enhancement Energy was completely filled, he could use it to enhance the Damaged Sword Soul.
After an enhancement, it changed from Damaged Sword Soul +0 to Damaged Sword Soul +1.
At first, Roya hadn’t noticed any changes.
But after enhancing it to +5, he discovered that the destructive power of his punches had increased significantly.
And after reaching +10, although Roya was still at the bottom of the recruit camp, he was no longer in the same pathetic state as when he had first arrived, when practically anyone could defeat him in a single move.
Roya had originally thought he could rely on the Sword Soul to increase his strength without limit, eventually beating Marine Admirals, the Four Emperors, and the like with ease…
Who could have expected that after reaching +10, even when the Enhancement Energy became completely full, he could no longer enhance it?
The words “Enhancement Conditions Not Met” had suddenly appeared after Damaged Sword Soul +10.
Roya instinctively felt that if he could continue enhancing the Sword Soul, it might undergo some kind of qualitative transformation.
Unfortunately, he still hadn’t figured out how to enhance it beyond +10.
“What exactly are these so-called enhancement conditions…?”
Roya stared at the words “Enhancement Conditions Not Met” and once again fell into deep thought.
His break ended soon afterward, but Roya still hadn’t figured anything out.
When the voice of the Rear Admiral instructor calling them to resume training reached his ears, Roya opened his eyes, returned to formation, and began training again.
Soon, another day of training came to an end.
Roya had nothing in common with the Marine recruits at the camp, and he couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to those recruits who occasionally acted smug around him while taking the opportunity to look down on his terrible performance.
After the day’s training at the recruit camp ended, Roya immediately left the training grounds.
Marineford wasn’t merely home to a massive harbor and a plaza large enough to accommodate a battle involving hundreds of thousands of people.
There was also a town beneath the fortress where Marine families lived.
Of course, Roya didn’t live there.
Garp had brought him to Marine Headquarters, so naturally, Garp had arranged everything for him.
For now, Garp’s house was also Roya’s home.
Garp didn’t seem to be home again.
Roya had no idea where the old man had gone off to this time, and he couldn’t be bothered to complain about it.
He habitually took a shower and prepared to continue studying the Sword Soul inside his mind.
However, just after he finished showering and walked out of the bathroom, Roya saw someone sitting on the sofa in the living room.
It was Garp.
The old man, who had been missing for an entire week, had somehow returned without Roya even noticing.
That guy…
Roya helplessly shook his head.
He had suddenly disappeared for an entire week.
If Roya hadn’t known that Garp was the legendary Marine hero standing at the pinnacle of the sea, he might have even considered reporting him as a missing person.
At that moment, Garp was sitting on the sofa, fiddling with something.
When he saw Roya walk out, he grinned broadly.
“HAHAHAHA!
How have you been doing these past few days?”
Seeing that Garp had disappeared for several days and still had the nerve to ask how he was doing, Roya couldn’t help rolling his eyes.
“How I’ve been doing doesn’t really matter.
What’s important is you, Uncle Garp…”
As he spoke, Roya put on a bright, smiling expression and looked at Garp.
“I haven’t seen you for an entire week, so I was really worried about you.
Now that I know you’re still alive, I can finally relax.”
Pfft!!
Garp’s expression instantly froze, and he nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.
That remark was truly vicious.
It hadn’t contained a single swear word, yet combined with Roya’s cheerful smile, it dealt ten thousand points of psychological damage.
The corner of Garp’s mouth twitched as black lines seemed to cover his face.
He raised his enormous fist and waved it threateningly.
“Roya, you little brat!
Are you asking to experience the old man’s Fist of Love again?!”
“You should keep that for yourself.”
Roya curled his lips and shrugged at Garp before turning around and walking toward his bedroom.
But just then, Garp suddenly called out from behind him.
“Brat, wait!”
Could he really be about to hit him?
That thought flashed through Roya’s mind.
To be honest, ever since arriving in this world, he had experienced Garp’s “Fist of Love” several times already.
However, when Roya turned around, what appeared before him wasn’t Garp’s fist.
It was…
An ancient yet exquisitely crafted sword!