Luffy!"Holy crap!"
"I still have 1284.32 in my account and you've transported me to another world?!"
"My number 9 black-stocking masseuse is waiting for me!!!"
In a dilapidated little wooden boat, a boy dressed in a light vest, shorts, and flip-flops stared blankly at a woven straw hat in his hand, like a wooden statue.
Luffy felt his head buzzing; he was completely dumbfounded.
He incredulously turned the straw hat over and over, examining it several times, his mind racing with a thousand curses.
This joke was too much!
One second he was delivering food through Meituan.
The next second he was lying on this drafty, rickety little boat.
Transmigrated to the world of One Piece, I became Luffy!
A torrent of chaotic memories suddenly flooded his mind, instantly making him understand his current predicament.
This place truly is the world of One Piece.
And he, incredibly, actually replaced the original protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, becoming the legendary chosen one.
But things don't seem to be as rosy as he imagined; the script has taken a bit off course.
Just like in the Loki TV series, there are countless parallel universes, and countless unlucky souls.
This world's Luffy is the ultimate unlucky one, dying before even getting started.
He took on a job he wasn't qualified for right at sea, lacking both a decent navigator and sufficient food and water.
Plus, he's a complete landlubber, with an innate fear of seawater.
As a result, this unfortunate kid starved to death on this tiny boat, barely big enough for one person and a broken wooden barrel.
Luffy looked down at his emaciated, wretched state, and felt like crying. This was the cruel reality!
Back in the day, watching anime on screen, those protagonists and villains could cross the ocean effortlessly on a small plank, still looking perfectly healthy.
Now, experiencing it firsthand, I realize that's pure nonsense!
Trying to sail the ocean without any supplies or a large ship is just asking for trouble.
Unless you're someone like Ace who plays with fire, or Luffy from the main universe with his cheat-like abilities, you're basically just fish food.
Clearly, this parallel world's Luffy has narrowed his options. Before even encountering Alvida wielding her spiked club, his life is already over.
Luffy slumped despair onto the deck, thinking, "This is too realistic! Can't we at least give him some anime filter?"
Would he also end up like one of those transmigrators, dying instantly upon landing?
His stomach rumbled in untimely protest, the hunger so intense it felt like it was grinding up stomach acid, making him see stars.
He barely had the strength to lift a finger, otherwise he'd probably shoot down those seagulls squawking in the sky and roast them.
Other transmigrators are human too, so why do they all have a built-in grandfather or a system by their side, having whatever they want?
But here he is, forget about any overpowered cheat codes, he starts by inheriting a nearly dead corpse—this is just too much!
Does he have to tentatively shout a command like he's waking up an AI speaker?
Desperate, he weakly called out in his mind, "Hey, System?"
[Hey, I'm here!]
Luffy jolted awake, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
"System?"
[How can I help you?]
Luffy almost spat out blood, his mind instantly exploding with rage.
So you really are here!
Since you're here, couldn't you at least say something? You had to wait until I was starving to death before you showed up!
He mustered all his strength and let out a hysterical roar towards the sky, scaring away the seagulls that were still waiting for their feast.
[This system has no intelligence; system operation requires manual intervention by the host.]
The cold, emotionless mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
Luffy had no time for arguing; he just wanted to survive.
"Stop talking nonsense! Food! Get me something to eat right now! Do you have any of those newbie gift packs?"
"I've read in novels that systems always give newbies a treat once they're bound to the player!"
[Ding-dong, Newbie Gift Pack issued, Devil Fruit ability side effect: fear of seawater eliminated]
Hearing this notification, Luffy almost died on the spot.
This guy's kidding me!
I'm practically starving to death right now, what good is it if you're not afraid of water?!
Even if I could swim freely in the sea right now, it wouldn't be enough for a meal!
What I need right now is food! Carbs and protein that I can stuff in my mouth!
"I'm just asking if you have anything to eat?"
Luffy, filled with both anticipation and despair, pressed on again.
[Congratulations, no.]
"I'm your father!"
Luffy roared internally in fury, "Then what use is this piece of junk to me?!"
[This system is the Martin Transformation System]
[Every seven days, the host will randomly acquire all the abilities of an anime character]
[Within seven days, the host can increase their accuracy by impersonating that anime character]
[When the accuracy reaches 100%, the host can randomly acquire one ability, skill, or item from that anime character]
[Characters can be randomly selected repeatedly; accuracy will not reset]
[Activate this random selection?]
Looking at this series of instructions, Luffy felt as bitter as if he had swallowed a bitter pill.
In his current half-dead state, even if he were given superhuman abilities, he probably wouldn't have the strength to use them; he would still starve to death in a minute.
But he was truly at a loss and could only sigh helplessly, "Random it is then. I'm already here; I can't just go straight to the Western Paradise before even leaving the system's beginner's village, can I?"
[Ding-dong, randomizing...]
[Congratulations on obtaining this random template... Aquaman!]
"Aquaman?"
Luffy was stunned for a moment. The first thing that popped into his mind was that crying mermaid, "The Aquaman from Princess Shirahoshi?"
Before he could react, the air suddenly distorted.
A burly, unshaven figure, clad in golden armor and wielding a gleaming trident, appeared out of thin air, instantly overlapping with his frail body.
This appearance...
"Holy crap, it's that Aquaman from DC?!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Luffy felt a violent yet warm power, like a floodgate bursting, rushing into his limbs and bones.
A heavy, golden trident materialized out of thin air and was firmly grasped in his palm.
His previously withered body was rapidly filling and expanding at a visible speed, his muscles instantly bursting open.
Even the vast ocean surrounding him, which had previously filled him with despair and fear, now gave him a sense of homecoming.
[Ding dong, Poseidon template equipped]
[Character reset countdown: 6 days 23 hours 59 minutes]
[Current restoration accuracy 0%]
[Please check the attribute panel for detailed attributes]
Feeling the surging power within him that made him want to roar to the heavens, Luffy was astonished: "This possession even has a full-health resurrection function?"
In that case, he had to come up with a couple of lines to fit the occasion.
"I'm the Sea King, this fishpond... oh no, this entire ocean is mine!"
Luffy, wielding his divine trident, raced through the rolling waves, his face as lonely as snow, his speed across the ocean breathtaking.
When he watched the anime before, he thought the East Blue was nothing special, just a tiny place.
But after experiencing it firsthand, he realized just how vast it was.
He'd been adrift at sea for almost a week, and hadn't seen a single island, not even a ghost.
At this moment, he truly understood the importance of Nami.
No wonder everyone in the Straw Hat crew could be replaced, but Nami was the true soul and core.
In this godforsaken place of water, without a professional navigator, you're just drifting aimlessly like a headless fly.
Luffy gazed wistfully at the boundless blue sea.
His life was all about sailing, guessing directions, truly a life of drifting on the waves.
With nothing else to do, he casually opened his attribute panel.
[Host: Luffy (Monkey D. Luffy)]
[Currently Loaded Template: DC Aquaman]
[Equipment: Poseidon's Trident (Can manipulate the ocean to create tides and tsunamis, summon wind and rain, create thunderstorms and frost, and even fly...)]
[Talent Abilities: Super Endurance, Super Strength, Super Senses, Amphibious Breathing, Telepathy...]
[Character Reset Countdown: 1 hour 02 minutes 47 seconds]
[Character Accuracy: 10%]
With this Aquaman template, Luffy has finally escaped his fate of being a starving ghost.
As the ruler of the ocean, he doesn't even need to go underwater to catch fish; with just a thought, schools of fish will line up to jump into his mouth.
However, what's giving him a headache is that although he possesses the full set of abilities, their strength is linked to the accuracy of the character's portrayal.
It's not like you're given the complete form right from the start.
If he really had the original Aquaman's Mach 9 underwater speed, he would have already flown to the Grand Line.
Currently, he's only slightly faster than a typical fish-man in the water.
Even so, Luffy believes he could easily defeat a hundred Luffys from this timeline in the original story.
With this physical ability, he could even hold his own against CP9 from the Enies Lobby arc.
The problem is, strength alone isn't enough to survive on this vast ocean; without land, it's all for naught.
With his Sea King mode experience about to end, Luffy is filled with anxiety.
He hadn't been idle this week either, spending his days brandishing his trident, pretending to summon wind and rain.
As a result, he was exhausted, and the accuracy of his portrayal barely reached ten percent.
He suspected that Luffy's physical foundation was too weak, holding back the template.
After all, the characters in the DC Universe were like gods fighting, destroying planets at the drop of a hat.
While Aquaman was often ridiculed, he was still the king of Atlantis, his body able to withstand magma and take meteorite impacts without breaking a sweat.
Luffy's rubber body, while resilient, was far inferior to those divine bodies.
However, this week's role-playing had given him a noticeable sense of significant physical changes.
With this comprehensive physical development, even without the Aquaman template, his current strength was definitely comparable to that of the newly debuted Crocodile.
Moreover, he knew very well that the thing he ate wasn't just an ordinary rubber fruit; it was the Sun God Fruit imbued with divinity.
Unfortunately, the manga wasn't finished when he transmigrated, and he didn't know the specific awakening conditions. He couldn't very well storm Onigashima right now to get a lesson from Kaido.
If he did go, one hit from Kaido's club and he'd be joining his starving predecessor on the road to the underworld.
Fortunately, he was an expert in developing the rubber form and could easily master it with a little practice.
What surprised him most was Sea King's innate super senses and super reflexes.
His vision and hearing were simply insane; he could hear a fly flapping its wings several kilometers away.
This superhuman perception allowed him to grasp the rudiments of Observation Haki ahead of time—a huge unexpected bonus.
But the current crisis wasn't over yet.
His Sea King trial card was about to expire.
If the next randomly assigned template was someone who couldn't swim and couldn't swim, wouldn't he be back to that state where he could starve to death at any moment?
Just as Luffy was looking worried and sighing deeply...
The sea suddenly parted, and several sharks with sharp dorsal fins emerged from the depths.
A strange brainwave directly connected with Luffy's brain.
Luffy's deadpan eyes instantly lit up, and he roared excitedly:
"Holy crap?! Finally, a ship!"
This was the Sea King's telepathy; these sharks were his scouts.
He glanced at the countdown, which had less than an hour left, and without a word, he created a massive wave and sped off in the direction the sharks had indicated!
Meanwhile, in another part of the sea not far away:
The Alvida Pirates had completely surrounded a merchant ship, creating utter chaos.
On Alvida's pink pirate ship, an orange-haired girl dressed as a pirate henchman was excitedly unloading boxes.
"We're rich! We're rich! This penniless pirate crew with only a five million bounty has hidden so much treasure!"
Nami, carrying a sack bigger than herself, grinned from ear to ear.
"Hey! Stop! Which squad are you from? I've never seen you before!"
Two pirates guarding the treasure suddenly noticed an unfamiliar face emerging from the hold and immediately shouted at them.
Nami playfully stuck out her tongue, made a face at the two big oafs, and then unleashed a lightning-fast, devastating kick.
"Ouch!!!"
A piercing scream instantly echoed through the sky.
Alvida, the fat woman who was swaggering around with her spiked club, turned around in surprise at the commotion, only to bump into Nami, who was about to run away.
"How dare you! You dare to steal from me!"
Alvida's face trembled with rage, her screams piercing the eardrums.
Clearly, Luffy's lateness had slightly veered off course in the plot.
Hearing the roar, Nami shuddered.
Looking at the mountain of flesh that was Alvida, her heart pounded.
Despite her title as a member of the Arlong Pirates, she was still just an eighteen-year-old girl.
She was fine for bullying small fry, but going head-to-head with a ruthless character like her with a bounty would be suicide.
Alvida swung her massive spiked club, charging towards Nami with an agility far beyond her physique, like a runaway tank.
Nami screamed, forgetting all about appearances, and immediately rolled to the side to dodge.
"Boom!"
A deafening crash echoed as the deck was instantly blasted into a gaping crater, splinters flying everywhere.
Nami stared at the crater, cold sweat pouring down her back. If that had hit her, she would have been crushed to a pulp.
Enraged, Alvida gave her no chance to breathe. With a flick of her wrist, the terrifying spiked club, whistling through the air, slammed down towards Nami's skull again.
Nami desperately tried to dodge, but the treasure on her back was too heavy. That moment of hesitation caused her to miss her best chance.
Watching the approaching shadow, she closed her eyes in despair, awaiting death.
At the critical moment...
Instead of the expected pain, she felt a sudden tightening around her waist, and was pulled into a firm, warm embrace.
A violent gust of wind stung her cheeks, the spiked club almost grazing her scalp.
"Hello, beautiful lady, it's a pleasure to meet you at this wonderful moment."
A slightly magnetic, yet pretentious voice rang in her ear.
Nami opened her eyes in surprise, finding herself held in the arms of a boy wearing a straw hat.
What horrified her even more was that this boy was standing steadily on a giant wave that had risen out of nowhere!
"Are you… the Sea God?"
Nami's mind went blank, and she blurted out instinctively.
Then she gasped and covered her mouth, for she saw that the giant wave was surrounded by a dense circle of terrifyingly large Sea Kings!
These were actually Luffy's "mobile food supplies" that he had specially prepared for her journey, fearing she would starve.
"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous, these are all my personal lunches."
Luffy waved with a smile. Now that he'd found a long-term meal ticket and a merchant ship, these disgusting-looking big fish were useless; he simply dismissed them all.
"Where did this brat come from! How dare he ruin my plans!"
Alvida, watching her prey fly away, angrily pointed at Luffy in mid-air and roared.
The henchmen beside her, seeing Luffy's posture of riding the waves and wielding a trident, trembled with fear and said to Alvida in a trembling voice:
"Captain... Captain, he can stand on water! Could he be one of those legendary devils?"
Alvida was also taken aback. "A Devil Fruit user?"
In this remote, impoverished area of the East Blue, Devil Fruits were legendary; few had ever seen one.
Luffy, perched high above, brandished his Trident of Poseidon and grinned at the fat woman below. "Orewa Luffy, an adventurer just for fun."
"Adventurer? What the hell is that?"
Alvida was completely bewildered.
In this world, there are only the Navy, pirates, and merchants. Where does the profession of adventurer come from?
Anyone who dares to sail the seas without proper documentation is labeled a pirate.
The World Government wouldn't allow anyone to use the guise of adventure to uncover buried historical truths.
But in Luffy's opinion, being a pirate was something only a fool would do.
He knew perfectly well how much Nami hated pirates. If he were to foolishly shout "I'm going to be the Pirate King!" like in the original story, wouldn't that just make the game harder for himself?
It's foolish not to take the shortcut.
Besides, although Luffy seems like a simple-minded, hot-blooded youth in the original story, think about it: how many vicious criminals did he release in Impel Down, indirectly causing the deaths of countless civilians?
To the World Government, he's a nuisance; to the common people, someone who brings chaos isn't necessarily a hero.
So Luffy had already planned it all out.
Since he has a grandfather who's a Marine hero, he has to make good use of that connection.
Having a sinecure in the Marines, isn't that better than being a pirate?
With a powerful backer, who on the high seas would dare disrespect him?
Even if his identity is exposed later, he can always become the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army, which is a hundred times better than being a rat in the street like a pirate.
Sure enough, upon hearing Luffy deny being a pirate, Nami's eyes lit up instantly, and even her gaze towards Luffy softened considerably.
Luffy secretly rejoiced; gaining favor with him couldn't have been easier.
Ignoring Alvida's questioning, he pointed his trident straight at the sky, declaring with righteous indignation:
"What I hate most in my life are scum like you who bully the weak, burn, kill, and plunder."
"You're unlucky to have met me. As the grandson of the Marine hero Garp, rescuing trapped girls is my inescapable duty. So, die!"
Before he finished speaking, the sky suddenly changed color, the once clear sky instantly shrouded in dark clouds.
"Lightning, come!"
With a roar from Luffy, a thick bolt of lightning struck down from the clouds like divine punishment.
The trident's ability to manipulate weather was displayed to its fullest extent at this moment; he was like a true god of thunder descending upon the world.
Nestled in his arms, Nami was mesmerized, a glimmer of hope even rising in her heart:
If it were this man, perhaps he really could save Cocoyasi Village!