The boy never saw it coming.
A fist suddenly burst out from inside the barrel and smashed directly into his face.
The unexpected blow launched him backward through the air.
He landed hard on the soft sand and rolled several meters across the beach, leaving a long groove behind him before finally coming to a stop.
By the time he staggered back upright, his right eye had already swollen badly, turning a vivid shade of purple as though an entire swarm of hornets had attacked him.
“Y-You…
who are you?!”
Covering one eye, he stared toward the shattered barrel with his remaining good eye.
Only then did he clearly see the culprit.
It was a person.
An actual living person.
A person who had somehow been hiding inside a barrel.
“Huh?
You’re the one who rescued me?”
The figure hopped out from the remains of the container.
A straw hat rested atop his head.
He wore a sleeveless red vest and a pair of light-blue shorts.
As Karl looked at him, an image buried deep within his memories slowly surfaced and merged with the figure standing before him.
Monkey D.
Luffy.
So this really was the world of One Piece.
Karl wasn’t sure whether that realization should make him happy or depressed.
After all, he had accomplished something countless people only dreamed about—
He had crossed into another world.
The issue was…
He had never actually watched One Piece.
Back in his previous life, one of his classmates had recommended it to him.
Unfortunately, the moment he learned the series contained more than a thousand episodes, his desire to start it vanished completely.
Looking back now, that decision felt like self-sabotage.
If he were given another chance, he would absolutely sit down and watch every episode and read every chapter.
Sadly, there were no second chances.
Transmigration wasn’t some online shopping platform.
There was no return policy.
No exchanges.
And even if such things existed, it was already too late.
He had been trapped on this nameless island for nearly three months since arriving in this world.
“My name is Karl.”
After a brief pause, he introduced himself.
A friendly smile appeared on his face.
“It’s nice to meet you, Monkey D.
Luffy.”
Luffy blinked.
A giant question mark seemed to materialize above his head.
This was the first time he had ever met someone who correctly knew his full name yet somehow still sounded strange while saying it.
Instantly, he abandoned any thoughts of inviting this person onto his future pirate crew.
No matter how he looked at it, Karl seemed a little weird.
Still, wanting to avoid confusion, Luffy scratched the back of his head and introduced himself again with complete sincerity.
“That’s not a title or anything!”
“I’m Monkey D.
Luffy!”
“And I’m gonna become the Pirate King!”
“Oh…”
Karl nodded awkwardly.
Only then did he realize his mistake.
For a brief moment, he had honestly assumed “Pirate King Luffy” was part of the man’s actual name.
Thankfully, he had managed to keep that misunderstanding to himself.
“So…
you’re really a pirate?”
Karl asked cautiously.
“Of course!”
Luffy grinned broadly.
“I’m a pirate who’s gonna become the Pirate King!”
Hearing that answer, Karl’s hand slowly drifted toward the small knife hanging at his waist.
It was the only weapon he had.
Because he had never followed the original story, he had no idea what kind of person Luffy truly was.
Sure, the protagonist of a series that lasted more than a thousand episodes probably wasn’t some ruthless killer.
Otherwise, it never would have become so popular.
But…
Karl wasn’t willing to bet his life on assumptions.
After all, transmigration itself had happened.
Once something like that became reality, what was truly impossible anymore?
What if he wasn’t inside the original storyline?
What if this was a parallel timeline?
An alternate universe?
A fanfiction world?
Or perhaps his own arrival had already created changes that would alter future events.
The chances might be tiny.
But even the smallest variation could create an entirely different Luffy.
Even though he knew a knife would probably be useless if a fight broke out, simply holding onto it gave him a small sense of security.
It had been three months since he arrived here.
And based on everything he had learned, Karl was fairly certain he belonged to the most common type of transmigrator—
A soul transmigrator.
Thinking about it now felt almost absurd.
In his previous life, he had only recently graduated from university and was stuck in that awkward period before settling into a career.
One evening, after working overtime, he was heading home when thunder echoed across the sky.
Looking upward, he saw dark clouds gathering overhead while streaks of lightning flashed continuously inside them.
The scene reminded him of a ridiculous video he had seen online.
Out of curiosity, he pulled out his phone and began recording.
Then lightning struck him.
Everything went dark.
When he regained consciousness, he was already on this island.
Fortunately, the original owner of this body had left behind fragments of memory.
Through those memories, Karl learned a few things about the world.
Including the circumstances of the previous owner’s death.
The boy’s ship had encountered pirates.
In an attempt to survive, he had jumped into the sea.
Sadly, he never made it to safety.
He drowned before reaching land.
Afterward, Karl inherited the body.
And along with it, the name—
Karl.
For him, it marked the beginning of an entirely new life.
It was also the reason he reacted so strongly to pirates.
According to the memories he had inherited, pirates were not good people.
Without knowledge of the original story, Karl couldn’t understand why the author had chosen a pirate as the main character.
At the moment, he only cared about one thing.
Staying alive.
“If you’re really a pirate…”
Karl swallowed and licked his dry lips.
“I saved you.
As long as you don’t kill me, we’ll consider ourselves even.”
The statement left Luffy completely bewildered.
For perhaps the first time in his life, he encountered someone whose train of thought moved in a direction he simply couldn’t understand.
Or maybe it had sped so far ahead that he couldn’t catch up.
“You saved me.”
Luffy tilted his head in confusion.
“So why would I kill you?”
“Because you’re a pirate.”
“So?”
“Pirates kill people.”
“Who told you that?”
“The Pirate King.”
“I never said that.”
Luffy immediately folded his arms and puffed out his cheeks in protest.
“The previous Pirate King!
Gol D.
Roger!”
“Oh.”
Luffy nodded in understanding.
“Him.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“But it’s true!”
“Who said it was?”
“It’s common knowledge!”
“I still don’t believe it.”
Luffy’s expression remained unusually serious.
“I’ll ask him myself.”
“He’s dead!”
A vein throbbed on Karl’s forehead.
“He died years ago!”
“Oh…”
Luffy adjusted the brim of his straw hat.
“Right.”
“I forgot.”
Then he lowered his head and began thinking seriously.