“He was the least talented person we had here.
“He was small and skinny, no matter how he trained his muscles never grew, he was slow-witted, and he was always spacing out.
“We used to bully him all the time.
“Later, he was tricked by a pirate named Roger into becoming some kind of cook, and he never came back.”
East Blue, Conomi Islands.
Suna Town, Emperor Fist Dojo.
CP9 agent Lubin stopped writing.
“Do you know his surname?
Does he have any family?”
The heavily built muscleman scratched his head.
“He was an orphan adopted by the old village chief.
After the chief died, he had no family left.
We all called him Little White-Hair.
I think his surname was Beel… Zebub.”
“Right, Beelzebub.”
Lubin quickly wrote it down.
Roger Pirates’ cook: Beelzebub Seven.
Fifteen years old.
No Haki.
No Devil Fruit ability.
Overall assessment: noncombatant.
Arrest priority: extremely high.
The Pirate King, Roger, was about to be publicly executed in Loguetown.
The World Government had dispatched CP9 agents to secretly investigate the whereabouts of the remaining Roger Pirates.
Powerhouses like the Pirate King’s right and left hands, Rayleigh and Gaban, were beyond Lubin’s reach.
But a mere cook like Beelzebub Seven?
Lubin was determined to take him in.
Besides—
CP9 agent versus cook.
The advantage was mine!
A heaven-sent fortune was about to fall into his lap.
In high spirits, Lubin left behind thirty thousand berries and hurried away.
Since the little cook was not in his hometown, there was a high chance he would go to Loguetown to see Roger off one last time.
Whether he earned a promotion and a raise would depend on this one move.
(๑Ő௰Ő๑)
Night had fallen.
Stars dotted the sky.
Amid the foam churned up by the waves, a small wooden boat resembling a coffin glided steadily into Loguetown’s harbor.
At the bow, Beelzebub Seven put away the oars.
“Mihawk, we’re here.”
The young man he had addressed as Mihawk opened a pair of hawk-like eyes.
“Are you really a member of Roger’s crew?”
Mihawk could not understand it.
Someone like Seven had no Devil Fruit ability, no Haki, and not even a proper ship.
How had he reached the final island?
On that inexplicable confidence alone?
Mihawk glanced at Seven.
Where did such an absurdly weak man get such overwhelming confidence?
Did the One Piece give it to him?!
“Hey, what’s with that look?” Seven had long since grown used to this.
“I told you, I’m a cook!”
Beelzebub Seven’s cooking skills were unmatched among the Roger Pirates.
As for his combat ability… the less said, the better.
In truth, Seven did not want things to be this way either.
But his natural physical talent was so poor that even after putting in two hundred times the effort, he still could not catch up to those monsters blessed by talent.
Not only could he not catch up, the gap only grew wider.
Hawkeye took the oars with Yoru, his black blade.
“There are too many people watching in town.
You… stay close to me.”
The future World’s Greatest Swordsman, Dracule Mihawk, had just turned nineteen.
Carrying the black blade Yoru on his back, he was traveling the world in search of worthy opponents.
After hearing that the Pirate King would soon be executed in Loguetown, Mihawk had set out for the town.
Along the way, he had specifically hired a boatman at a high price at the Twin Cape: Beelzebub Seven.
As for the reason, those who knew, knew.
After successfully freeloading a boat ride, Seven followed Mihawk and freeloaded a place to stay as well—a luxurious king-bed room in Loguetown.
Once the door was closed, Seven lay in the bathtub to ease his fatigue.
Since Mihawk did not want anyone to see his heroic rowing posture, Seven had rowed the entire way.
At last, they had arrived before the execution.
Unlike Mihawk, Seven had only come to send Captain Roger off on his final journey—and, while he was at it, complete the final step needed to activate his system.
Sixteen years ago, Seven had been struck by Truck-kun and sent flying into the world of One Piece.
Although he later bound himself to a system, it had never activated because the requirements had not been met.
[Multiversal Trading Platform: Pending Activation]
[Activation requirements: Pirate King’s straw hat 1/1, Whitebeard’s mustache 1/1, Shanks’s red hair 1/1, Buggy’s treasure map 1/1, Blackbeard’s teeth 2/2, witness the Pirate King’s death 0/1]
Captain Roger was about to be publicly executed, and the Great Pirate Era would begin as a result.
If Seven missed this chance, his life would remain exactly as it was.
Unless he waited twenty-four years to witness the death of the next Pirate King.
Twenty-four years?
By then, even the daylilies would be cold.
Having transmigrated into the world of One Piece with ordinary bloodline talent and no noble background, he would have no way to survive unless he finally got his cheat.
Letting out a long breath, Seven’s eyes burned with determination as he looked at the three rewards in his beginner’s gift package: the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Monstrous Divine Strength, and Bottomless Appetite.
That was the source of his confidence.
Unlike the other members of the Roger Pirates, Seven was not opposed to eating a Devil Fruit.
He could not swim in the first place, so the side effect of a Devil Fruit was practically negligible to him.
However, he had to choose a powerful Devil Fruit.
If someone truly believed there were no bad Devil Fruits, only bad users, then how were they any different from idiots who believed there were no useless martial souls, only useless soul masters?
Moron.
Go eat shit!
Never mind that Devil Fruits absolutely differed in strength.
Even people were different from the moment they were born.
A politician’s son became a politician.
A lawyer’s son became a lawyer.
The son of an ordinary person either became ordinary or became someone else’s expendable resource.
Then again, those rules did not apply to Seven.
He was a noble cheater!
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Innate Monstrous Strength, and Bottomless Appetite were all rewards that would make up for weaknesses Seven desperately needed to fix.
Even if the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, the Ice-Ice Fruit, the Magma-Magma Fruit, and other Logia-type fruits were all placed in front of him, Seven would still choose the Rumble-Rumble Fruit without hesitation.
Because it was the most comprehensive Devil Fruit.
Intangibility, speed comparable to the Glint-Glint Fruit, destructive power rivaling the Magma-Magma Fruit, enhancement of Observation Haki, cardiac resuscitation, unlimited energy…
Attack, defense, speed, healing, and Haki enhancement all in one.
It could even be used to temper the body with lightning and develop electromagnetic force, brain waves, and other forms of bioelectricity.
Taken as a whole, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit appeared to be a Logia on the surface, but in reality, it was practically the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan Model: Raijin.
Unfortunately, it had suffered from appearing too early and had been cruelly shelved by that old bastard Oda.
Had it appeared two years after Marineford, it would at least have been a seeded contender for the finals.
Of course, there was one most important point.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit’s ability was cool.
Whether something was strong depended on the version.
Whether it was cool lasted a lifetime.
As for Bottomless Appetite, that was standard equipment for a protagonist.
For fifteen-year-old Seven, whether he could grow to Emperor-class height would all depend on that physique.
Innate Monstrous Strength, on the other hand, was something Seven still had no concrete understanding of.
Leaning his head back against the bathtub, his thoughts gradually drifted.
He vaguely remembered that aside from Mihawk, those who would come to watch tomorrow included—
The Sand-Sand Fruit user: Crocodile, the Sand Gator who only played in high-level matches and always forced a draw.
The Shadow-Shadow Fruit user: the future Warlord of the Sea, grave-robbing Moria.
His buddy: the young future Emperor, Shanks, the King of Face.
The leader of the Freedom Fighters, the King of Rescues and Cold Sweats, Dragon.
The String-String Fruit user: the young Warlord of the Sea, Doflamingo, the King of Reading the Newspaper.
His buddy: the Chop-Chop Fruit user, young future Emperor, lucky holder of Conqueror’s Haki, Buggy.
And Smoker.
“What a gathering of distinguished talents.”
Beelzebub Seven