Manuka was an island in the New World famous for its honey.
Deep within its dense forest stood countless giant trees, from which hung innumerable massive beehives.
Diligent bees were working hard, when suddenly, the bushes nearby rustled and a head popped out.
“Haha, looks like I’ll be returning with a full haul again today!” A sturdy seventeen-year-old teenager, standing 185 centimeters tall with tousled black hair, spoke with excitement.
His name was Twilight Allen.
Allen walked toward a nearby giant tree and charged at the hives.
He drew the short sword at his waist and slashed at two adjacent beehives.
With a sharp crack, the two hives split down the middle, revealing the golden-brown honeycomb inside.
He skillfully extracted the honeycomb, placed it into a prepared bucket, lifted the wooden bucket, and rushed toward another hive.
At this moment, the bewildered bees discovered their home had been raided and attacked him in anger.
Sigh, it’s been so many years, and you guys still can’t sting me.
Wouldn’t it be better to use that time to rebuild your home?
Allen thought helplessly to himself while his body kept moving.
He weaved nimbly through the giant trees.
No matter how hard the bees tried, they couldn’t hit him.
Even when they charged from behind, he seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, dodging their attacks with a slight sway of his body.
He repeated his actions, and in just over ten minutes, he filled the large bucket to the brim with honeycomb.
“Goodbye, little bees.
I won’t come looking for you again this month.
I’m going to go raid the hive on the south side of the forest first, so you guys go ahead and focus on construction.” As he spoke, Allen disappeared into the bushes, leaving only the furious bees buzzing in frustrated rage behind him.
When he arrived at the harbor market, the crowd scattered as they saw him carrying a wooden bucket filled with honeycomb that was as big as a person.
“Isn’t that Twilight Allen?
Returning with a full haul again today?
How many poor bees are homeless now?” someone who knew him asked.
“Oh, Uncle Natsu, of course I’d return with a full haul.
You know those bees; they can rebuild their homes within three days.
It’s no big deal.
I’ll just go patronize them again next month,” Allen replied with a relaxed expression.
“Hahaha, they sure are unlucky.
Are you taking the honey to Old Man Green’s place?” “That’s right.
See you later, Uncle.” Allen carried the bucket to Green’s Candy Shop at the end of the street and placed it on the ground with a heavy thud, indicating its significant weight.
“Grandpa Green, come out and receive the goods.
I’ve brought another bucket of honeycomb.” An old man approaching seventy years of age walked out of the candy shop.
“Ah, it’s Twilight Allen.
My legs aren’t what they used to be, so I’m grateful for your help in gathering this honey.
Here, take your money.” As he spoke, he took out a stack of Berries and handed them over.
Allen took the money, pulled out two bills, and returned the rest to Old Man Green.
“The usual rule, 20,000 Berries is enough.
I’m off; I still have to get busy with lunch today.” Allen shoved the money back at Old Man Green and turned to leave, afraid that the old man would try to force him to take it.
“You little rascal, you’re always like this.
Remember to be careful when hunting!” “Got it.” Allen waved off Old Man Green as he walked away.
People got more long-winded as they grew older, but he couldn’t blame him when the old man meant well.
Looking at the 20,000 Berries in his hand, Allen smiled, thinking that he wouldn’t have to worry about the wear and tear on his sword for the next few days.
Then, he fell into deep thought.
I’m already seventeen years old.
That was right.
Allen had transmigrated into this world where strength reigned supreme—the very world of the Pirate King.
However, it seemed he had transmigrated too early.
He had originally thought about trying to get a spot on the Straw Hat Pirates.
But when he was ten, he happened to hear the town residents talking about the Rocks Pirates.
The current timeline was only the year 1483 of the Marine Era.
Luffy wouldn’t set sail until 1520, which meant there were still nearly forty years until the start of the actual plot.
His knowledge of the original timeline was basically useless; all the major plot points were completely unknown.
What was even more terrifying was that he was currently in the New World.
Anyone who knew about this world understood that it had a strange way of glamorizing pirates.
Although pirate crews like Roger, Shanks, and Luffy—who were more akin to adventurers—did exist, the vast majority of pirates were known for bullying the weak and robbing civilians.
The New World was a place ruled by pirates.
Although the Four Emperors had not yet emerged, the Marines still had some influence here.
Manuka was a small island not far from the Marine G-5 Branch.
The island had a population of only about two thousand people.
Because it was rich in honey, most people made a living from honey-related work, or at most, fishing.
But in the New World, let alone near a Marine base, even living inside the G-5 Branch wasn’t completely safe.
One had to remember that the current Rocks Pirates were famous for actively attacking the Marines.
In his previous life, Allen’s parents had divorced.
During his rebellious phase, he didn’t study well and entered society early.
He lived in a daze until he was thirty, working like a beast of burden.
After a night of heavy drinking with some fair-weather friends, he transmigrated into this world.
As it happened, the original owner of this body was also named Twilight Allen.
He was an orphan whose only relative, his grandfather, had just passed away, leaving behind only a small house near the forest.
When he first transmigrated into the body of a ten-year-old child, Allen was devastated.
In his previous life, he didn’t even dare to kill a chicken, but in this world, human lives were sometimes worth less than chickens.
But there was no time to dwell on that.
A ten-year-old child’s first priority was learning how to feed himself.
Thanks to the kind people in town, he survived by doing odd jobs here and there.
Later, he followed Old Man Green into the forest to gather honey.
Gradually, as Old Man Green got older and found it inconvenient to enter the forest, the job of gathering honey was left to Allen alone.
With food and shelter resolved, Allen began to consider the issue of strength.
In this world, whether someone wanted to join an existing faction or establish their own pirate crew, strength was absolutely indispensable.
He recalled the power system of this world: Three-Color Haki, Devil Fruits, swordsmanship, and martial arts.
Mastering any one of these could make a person powerful.
By the age of thirteen, Allen had already awakened Observation Haki.
No one needed to ask how he awakened it; the bumps all over his head from being stung by bees over those first few years would tell the whole story.
After all, the protective suit Old Man Green used for gathering honey was far too big for a child, so he was often stung until he was in excruciating pain.
But the strange thing about this world was that no matter how badly injured a person got, as long as they kept eating well, they’d be up and running again within two days.
Since the protective suit was useless, Allen simply stopped wearing it.
His agility improved as he focused entirely on dodging the bees’ attacks, and he slowly awakened Observation Haki during those life-and-death dodges.
From then on, he was no longer afraid of the bees.
Although he had awakened Observation Haki, Allen had absolutely no clue how to develop Armament Haki.
He guessed it was because his physical strength wasn’t sufficient yet; after all, he was only thirteen at the time.
Then, Allen thought about learning martial arts and swordsmanship, because Devil Fruits were truly rare and hard to come by.
Martial arts were easier to deal with.
By following Saitama’s training method, his physical constitution steadily improved.
However, he had never touched a sword in his past life, so he was completely in the dark regarding swordsmanship.
He thought about Zoro’s training method and decided to just start practicing basic sword swings.
Anyway, as long as he improved his Haki in the future, wouldn’t the techniques of the truly strong just be basic attacks with flashy names?