Aboard a merchant ship sailing through the East Blue, a half-grown boy with short, messy black hair leaned against the railing of the deck, his back facing the sea.
He looked as though he were asleep.
The boy wore a black short coat with a stand-up collar, over a white undershirt.
Strangely, he had three belts wrapped around his waist.
The top one was of normal width, the second was slightly narrower, while the third was only about as wide as a finger.
One end of all three belts was joined together, while the other ends hung loose.
He wore black trousers and a pair of black shoes.
(See the cover for details.)
Almost his entire outfit was black, but the white undershirt and his fair complexion gave him a distinctive air.
Most eye-catching of all were the two swords resting diagonally across his legs.
Because he was sitting against the railing, he couldn’t wear them at his waist as usual.
Although he was still young, there was something about him that made people feel he wasn’t particularly approachable.
As a result, no one else was sitting nearby.
That was right.
This was Will, who had already been at sea for five days.
After finishing his master’s wilderness-survival training, Will had set out with a single backpack.
Unlike the survival shows from his previous life, where contestants usually carried nothing more than a knife, he had brought quite a few things with him.
He had equipment for starting fires, salt, and several seasonings.
As for medical supplies, he had brought only a few things, such as needles and tweezers.
That was because Will had occasionally discovered that once he activated his “Lightning Mode,” his wounds simply wouldn’t become infected.
At most, they would become slightly inflamed before healing within a few days.
In his previous life, when traveling at sea, Will could at least entertain himself with his laptop.
Even when there was no Internet connection, he could still watch movies he had downloaded beforehand.
But in this world of pirates, where technological development had taken some extremely strange turns, there was practically nothing to do for entertainment while sailing at sea.
As a result, Will was bored out of his mind.
He stood up, hung his two swords back on either side of his waist, and headed toward the captain’s cabin.
When he arrived, he found a tall, thin, middle-aged man inside and asked,
“How many more days until we reach Arabella?
I’m in a hurry.”
Will looked at the middle-aged man and asked in an indifferent tone.
“Not much longer, sir.
We should arrive at Arabella sometime this afternoon.
Please be patient.
We’ve been sailing directly toward Arabella this entire time.”
The middle-aged man answered with a smile plastered across his face.
Not to mention the generous payment of one hundred thousand Beli, there was also the matter of the boy standing before him.
A child this young was traveling alone to an uninhabited island, carrying swords with him, and he was also extraordinarily generous with his money.
After hearing the man’s answer, Will turned around and went back to the deck to bask in the sun.
Ever since arriving in the world of One Piece, Will had discovered that some things here were different from what he remembered from the anime.
The minor characters and ordinary underlings generally didn’t behave like they did in the anime.
They wouldn’t deliberately court death by provoking overwhelmingly powerful enemies.
How could people really have only a few points of intelligence, constantly seeking their own destruction before getting beaten senseless?
At least, Will had never actually encountered such a person.
After arriving in the One Piece world, aside from when he was at the dojo, Will kept as low a profile as possible.
That was because his former self had been far too weak.
Nor had he encountered some overwhelmingly powerful enemy the moment he arrived, only to make a miraculous comeback like so many protagonists in transmigration stories.
Will’s creed was simple:
“Stay low-key, grow stronger, and don’t get cocky.”
By now, Will had already gained a certain amount of strength.
After all his hard training, he had grown into a true swordsman.
That afternoon, Will was finally dropped off at Arabella.
Looking at the uninhabited island before him, Will had a feeling that he would be staying here for quite some time.
He wouldn’t return to the dojo until he felt that he was strong enough. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Those had been his master’s exact words:
“Once you feel that you’re strong enough, come back.
I’ll tell you all the secrets of the dojo.”
Sitting in a small boat rowed by one of the merchant ship’s sailors, Will made his way ashore.
Once he reached the island, Will was momentarily at a loss.
He didn’t know what he should do first.
After thinking for a while, he decided that the best thing to do was familiarize himself with the terrain.
With that in mind, he headed into the small island, which was almost completely covered in forest.
As he walked through the woods, Will carefully observed his surroundings.
Whether it was because of the climate or some other reason, the forests of the One Piece world were rather strange.
No matter how large an area they covered, the trees generally grew quite sparsely, with only a few vines clinging to their trunks.
The grass beneath his feet, although lush and green, was extremely short, as though it had lost a competition with the towering trees for nutrients and had been forced to sacrifice height just to survive.
Having been bored for several days, Will was thoroughly enjoying the scenery.
Then, all of a sudden, he heard a gust of wind behind him.
The hairs all over his body stood on end.
Will reacted at once.
He threw himself forward at his fastest speed and drew both swords in midair.
But after landing, he felt a numb sensation around his lower back.
The numbness was quickly replaced by a searing pain.
Will had never suffered such a serious injury before.
The pain was so intense that he felt as though he were about to lose consciousness.
Standing before him was his attacker—a gigantic lion more than four meters in length and height.
A drop of crimson blood fell from one of the sharp claws on its forepaw.
It seemed that Will’s reaction had already been quite fast.
If he hadn’t thrown himself forward, he might have been torn in half—or reduced to little more than a bloody rag.
The lion stared at its prey, licked its paw, and gazed at Will with even greater greed.
Will gripped both swords tightly, inwardly cursing himself for his carelessness.
He hadn’t even heard such a huge lion approaching.
He really had been a flower grown in a greenhouse.
Yet despite facing a crisis that could very well cost him his life, Will felt something strange.
Excitement.
Adrenaline.
And, strangely enough, happiness.
The corners of his mouth unconsciously curled into a smile.
Even the wound in his lower back no longer seemed quite as painful.
Before the lion could pounce, Will immediately activated his “Lightning Mode.”
His body was enveloped in a faint blue glow, while the swords in his hands became silver-blue.
He charged straight toward the lion.
With his concentration pushed to its limit, Will could clearly feel that his neural reflexes had become extraordinarily fast after activating Lightning Mode.
His body’s speed had also increased considerably.
He reached the lion in an instant.
As the beast’s claw swung toward him, Will slashed with one sword.
Shing!
The blade effortlessly severed most of the lion’s foreleg.
The sword, covered in crackling lightning, emitted a sizzling sound as it cut through flesh and bone.
Will’s other sword did not remain idle.
He immediately slashed toward the lion’s remaining foreleg.
Before the beast could react, both of its forelegs had already been severed.
With nothing supporting it, the lion’s head dropped toward the ground.
Just as it was about to crash down, Will didn’t wait for it to hit the ground.
He crossed his arms and swung both swords outward, one from each side, toward the lion’s head.
Sizzle!
The once-majestic lion had been cleanly divided into three pieces.
Although Will vomited so violently that the world seemed to spin around him, he didn’t leave. You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Instead, he sat on the lion’s headless body and forced himself to adapt.
If he wanted to become stronger, having strength and good swordsmanship wasn’t enough.
Without a strong heart, sooner or later, he would have to taste the bitterness of defeat.
After spending a long time adapting to what had happened, Will finally stopped vomiting.
He picked up his backpack, checked his direction, and left.
Will hadn’t forgotten what his master had taught him.
After fighting in a forest, if a large amount of blood had been spilled, it was best to leave immediately.
If Will hadn’t been trying to overcome his reaction to killing the lion, he would have left much sooner.
He found a large tree and climbed up.
Sitting on a branch nearly two meters thick, Will took his backpack from behind him and pulled out a needle.
He sterilized it with fire, wiped it clean, threaded it, and then looked into the small mirror behind him as he began stitching his wound.
During the process, Will came to an important realization.
Stitching a wound was definitely more painful than being clawed or cut.
And the worst part was that he had to force himself to keep going.
It was truly agonizing.
Once the wound had been stitched, Will jumped down from the tree and continued exploring.
For his current physique, an injury like this was no longer a major wound.
In a few days, it would probably be reduced to nothing more than a scar.
This time, Will was considerably more alert.
Although he wasn’t ambushed again, he did encounter an elephant.
Its size was roughly the same as the elephants from his previous life.
That was unfortunate for the elephant.
Afterward, among the remains of the elephant, Will found a particularly large piece of meat from a good location on the carcass.
He continued familiarizing himself with the terrain.
Eventually, he discovered a cave.
The entrance was only about one meter wide and two meters high, but the interior was surprisingly spacious, covering more than twenty square meters.
It was practically a naturally occurring stone house.
After entering, Will discovered traces that humans had once lived there, along with some tattered clothing and other remnants.
However, they were clearly from a very long time ago.
They were probably things left behind by the Marines.
Will threw the tattered belongings outside.
Then he found a large tree that looked suitable and cut it down with a single slash.
After activating Lightning Mode, he used his sword to trim the wood.
From the tree, he made several barrels for storing water and a rack for roasting meat.
Finally, he built a wooden door for his temporary stone shelter.
The door would make the shelter harder to notice, keep wild animals out, and allow him to rest more peacefully at night.
Thinking about getting some proper rest, Will once again began searching through the forest.
Eventually, he found a very thick dead tree.
With another slash, he brought it down and began trimming it just as he had before.
This time, Will fashioned a dry, low wooden bed and a small pillow.
He carried everything he had made back to the little stone shelter.
By then, the sky on the horizon had already turned crimson.
It was evening.
Will took out his black pocket watch and glanced at it.
Five o’clock.
Will quickened his pace.
First, he secured the wooden door over the entrance, making the opening even smaller.
Then he lit a fire outside and began roasting the elephant meat.
Every so often, he sprinkled on some seasoning.
Before long, an enticing aroma filled the air.
As someone who was already well on his way to becoming a true food lover, how could Will possibly not know how to cook?
After finishing his dinner, Will returned to the little stone shelter and lay down on his wooden bed.
As he reflected on everything he had gained and everything he had done poorly that day, he gradually drifted into sleep.