The endless ocean stretched beneath the enormous sky, its waves rising and falling without end.
A tiny sailboat, barely a few meters in length, drifted alone across the vast sea.
On the deck, Lucas was busy preparing his lunch.
Lucas stared at the bizarre-looking fish in his hands, feeling as though his heart had shattered.
He had been at sea for half a month without seeing a single other person.
On top of that, he was constantly attacked by all kinds of gigantic sea beasts.
Lucas was practically on the verge of tears!
Without a navigator, and with strength that was nowhere near the pinnacle of the world, sailing the seas alone was practically no different from committing suicide.
Lucas couldn’t help thinking of Nami—the beautiful, clever, mischievous girl whose navigational skills were second to none.
Far away, aboard a massive pirate ship, a figure carrying a bundle suddenly shuddered slightly.
Have I been discovered?
A trace of panic flashed through Nami’s beautiful eyes, but when she looked around, everything remained peaceful.
Those pirates should all be taking their afternoon naps.
Was it just my imagination?
She shook her head helplessly.
Her eyes immediately lit up again as she continued searching every corner of the ship.
Half an hour later.
“Damn bastard!
You dare damage my ship?!
I’ll fight you to the death!”
Lucas glared furiously at the huge hole in his little boat as seawater poured inside without stopping.
The culprit was a several-meter-long fish in front of him.
Apparently, it had mistaken Lucas’s boat for a snack and bitten a huge chunk out of it.
Seeing the fish apparently preparing to take another bite, Lucas gritted his teeth and suddenly drew the sword at his waist.
Slash!
Slash!
Slash!
Several flashes of sword light streaked through the air, and the several-meter-long fish before him was instantly cut into pieces.
Lucas glanced at the rapidly flooding hole, and his pupils contracted slightly.
If he lost his boat out here at sea, he would really be screwed!
He immediately sheathed his sword, tore several wooden planks from the opposite side of the boat, and frantically hammered them into place.
He barely managed to seal the hole, but seawater was still seeping through.
Looking at the leaking hole, Lucas angrily threw his hammer away.
“This is seriously trying to kill me!”
The moment he finished speaking, the sound of metal striking something rang out.
Clang!
Lucas slowly turned around.
A fish head about the size of his palm had emerged from the water.
There was a large bump on its head, apparently caused by the hammer Lucas had just thrown.
Staring viciously at the tiny fish head, Lucas felt an inexplicable surge of anger.
Crack!
A flash of sword light swept past.
A faint blade of sword energy shot out and struck the little fish head head-on.
A bloody line immediately appeared across it, splitting the fish head cleanly in two.
Just as Lucas snorted and sheathed his sword, the entire surface of the sea suddenly began to shake.
A gigantic sea monster, dozens of meters long, emerged from beneath the waves.
It was so enormous that it could only be described as a Sea King!
Lucas’s expression instantly froze.
That little fish head…
was actually a tumor growing on its body?!
The creature’s enormous eye, larger than Lucas himself, glinted with a blood-red, murderous light.
Lucas rubbed his eyes.
Then, remarkably, he became calm.
He clicked his tongue, sat down, and quietly picked up the oar beside him.
“HELP!”
In the next instant, his arms moved like a pair of supercharged engines.
The tiny boat tore across the sea, kicking up a massive wave, and vanished into the distance in the blink of an eye!
Even the Sea King was momentarily stunned.
It watched as Lucas’s little boat skimmed across a white trail of foam toward the horizon.
After staring blankly for a moment, the Sea King opened its enormous mouth and swallowed the large fish from earlier before diving beneath the waves and disappearing from sight.
A towering sailing ship several dozen meters long cut through the sea.
Its pirate flag bore a skull with a blood-red blade resembling a flower petal behind it, a sight that was enough to make anyone’s blood run cold.
“Um…
actually…
I wasn’t here to steal anything.
I just wanted to make a deal with you.”
Nami stood on the deck, staring at the group of unfriendly-looking pirates before her.
A thin layer of cold sweat had formed on her forehead.
If she hadn’t discovered another small stash of treasure and wasted so much time searching it, she would have slipped away while these pirates were taking their afternoon naps.
“Hmph!
Brat, still trying to make excuses?
You dared to sneak onto our ship and steal from the Flower Blade Pirates!
Have you got a death wish?!”
The burly, scruffy-bearded man at the head of the group roared angrily.
At this moment, however, Nami looked like a delicate, clean-cut young boy, complete with fair features and red lips.
Her beautiful eyes darted around as she desperately searched for a way to escape.
Should I use my beauty to trick them?
Just then, Nami’s eyes suddenly lit up.
In the distance, a small boat was rapidly approaching.
A man on board was drenched in sweat, desperately rowing for his life.
“Look!
Our captain is here!
If you want to make a deal, talk to our captain!”
A barely perceptible smile appeared on Nami’s face.
Heh.
That guy in the little boat looks like a penniless idiot.
These pirates probably won’t bother making trouble for some fool like him!
The person desperately rowing that little boat was, naturally, Lucas.
He had been rowing with his heart in his throat the entire way, terrified that the Sea King might catch up with him.
He hadn’t dared stop for even a moment.
When Lucas saw the large ship ahead, his eyes immediately lit up.
It was the first ship he had seen in half a month!
Sure, it was a pirate ship, but so what?
This was the Four Blues, the weakest part of the seas.
Although he was only a second-rate swordsman, he wasn’t afraid of some nameless pirates.
The moment he reached the larger ship, he eagerly jumped aboard.
His little boat was already half full of seawater and was about to sink.
Thankfully, the heavens are finally giving me a break!
Whoosh!
The instant he landed on the deck, before he even had time to wipe the sweat from his forehead, Lucas froze.
He stared at the bizarre scene before him as though he had walked into the middle of a stage play.
A group of burly men stood on the deck.
Every one of them was thickly muscled and radiated murderous intent as they glared menacingly at him.
Just as Lucas was wondering what was going on, a petite figure suddenly leaped into his arms.
“Captain!
They won’t make a deal with me, and they even bullied me!
You have to protect me!”
Who are you?!
When did I get a subordinate?
Could my kingly aura have leaked out so badly that the pirates on this ship immediately recognized me as their captain?
Before Lucas’s confused brain could catch up with the situation, a man wearing a flower-patterned hat suddenly shouted.
“You bastards!
Kill the two of them!”
The pirates were already furious.
One look at Lucas told them he was obviously no important figure.
What deal?
Kill him first and ask questions later!
A group of pirates charged toward him with weapons drawn.
Lucas was stunned again.
He considered himself quite clever, but one bizarre situation after another had left him completely unable to figure out what was happening.
The next moment, Nami, still carrying her bundle, jumped out of his arms and onto his little boat.
She grinned at him.
“Captain, they don’t want to make a deal.
I’ll leave the rest to you!”
Although Lucas still had no idea what was going on, his expression instantly turned cold as he watched the snarling pirates charging toward him.
They want to die.
A murderous glint flashed through his eyes.
He gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands and gave it a slight tremor.
“Iai Slash!”
In the eyes of the pirates, Lucas’s hands seemed to move only slightly, as though he were about to draw his sword.
“That brat even brought a sword.
A swordsman that weak?
Forget it.
We don’t need useless trash like him on the ship.
Just kill him!”
The Flower Blade Pirates’ captain shook his head and prepared to leave the deck.
But in the next instant, a bizarre sight made his pupils contract.
The pirates charging forward suddenly froze in place.
Expressions of terror appeared on their faces.
Then came the sound of flesh being torn apart.
Thin lines of blood appeared across the pirates’ throats.
Blood sprayed into the air!
Their faces were frozen in shock and disbelief as several bodies collapsed almost simultaneously.
“What?!
Such a fast sword!”
The Flower Blade Pirates’ captain’s pupils shrank as he stared fixedly at Lucas.
It wasn’t that Lucas had merely begun drawing his sword.
He had already completed the entire sequence of drawing, striking, and sheathing his sword in a single fluid motion.
The pirates hadn’t even been able to see his blade.
The dozen or so surviving pirates nearby stared at Lucas in horror.
Their footsteps became unsteady, and none of them dared approach him again.
Seeing this, the Flower Blade captain frowned and walked forward from the rear, stopping directly in front of Lucas.
“Brother, my crew is still missing a swordsman.
You killed my men, but if you join my Flower Blade Pirates, I’ll forgive you.
I’ll even make you my second-in-command.
How does that sound?”
This was simply how the One Piece world worked: strength commanded respect.
After witnessing Lucas’s power, the Flower Blade captain immediately changed his attitude.
The pirates Lucas had killed had been little more than worthless cannon fodder in his eyes.
He had never cared much about them.
Someone like Luffy, who treated his crewmates like family, was ultimately the exception rather than the rule.
“The Flower Blade Pirates?
What the hell is that?
Never heard of them.”
Lucas gave a mocking laugh.
Even if it were the Whitebeard Pirates, I might not necessarily join them.
And you’re asking me to join some minor pirate crew that never even appeared in the original story?
Their bounty probably isn’t even ten million Berries.
“Bastard!”
A flash of furious red crossed the Flower Blade captain’s face at Lucas’s insult.
“Men!
Get him!
Kill him!
Ten thousand Berries to whoever takes him down!”
With that, the Flower Blade captain charged forward himself.
The pirates who had initially been hesitant saw their captain leading the attack, along with the promise of 100,000 Berries, and exchanged glances before charging forward as one.
Just then, a drenched figure slowly climbed aboard the ship.
She came face-to-face with Lucas’s somewhat peculiar expression.
After executing that Iai Slash, Lucas had naturally regained his composure.
He had immediately pieced everything together.
Still, he found it hard to believe his luck.
After half a month without seeing a single ship, the first one I encounter actually has Nami on it?
One of the protagonists of One Piece?!
“Oh, little buddy, you’re back?”
Meeting Lucas’s teasing gaze, an embarrassed expression appeared on Nami’s face.
Lucas’s battered little boat hadn’t even made it a few meters before sinking…
She was just about to come up with another lie when she saw the group of pirates charging toward them.
Nami immediately cried out in alarm.
Seeing this, Lucas put away his teasing expression and coldly stared at the pirates.
“Rapid Iai Slash!”
Clack!
Clack!
Clack!
Three sword-drawing sounds rang out almost simultaneously.
Three arcs of sword energy flashed through the air.
The Flower Blade captain’s expression changed.
Only after engaging Lucas directly did he realize just how powerful this sword-drawing technique truly was!
He gripped his broad-bladed sword with both hands, his expression extraordinarily solemn.
His arms moved rapidly several times, barely managing to deflect the incoming sword arcs.
Even so, he was forced back several steps.
As for the remaining cannon-fodder pirates…
Some were cut cleanly in half.
Others had their throats severed.
In an instant, not a single one of them remained standing.