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Under the relentless weight of the rain pouring down as if trying to wash away the sins of the world, Loguetown was boiling. The screams filling the square were not merely cries of sorrow—they were cries of birth. The Great Era had begun, and the monsters that once hid in the shadows were starting to bare their fangs.
Amid this madness, I stood frozen. The small body of "Kyle" trembled, but my mind was burning. I had no time to process the shock of reincarnation; the world around me had already turned into a forest of chaos. Greedy pirates clashed with Marine soldiers, while citizens trampled over one another trying to escape.
[Alert: Killing intent detected toward the host!]
[Threat Level: Low… but the host's current body is 'fragile'.]
I instinctively turned to the left. A massive pirate stood there—one-eyed, dressed in ragged clothes—waving his rusty sword as he forced his way through the alley where I stood.
"Get out of my way, you little brat!" he shouted, his voice dripping with hatred, raising his sword to bring it down on my head.
At that moment, time slowed.
It wasn't magic. It was the "Fate Editor System" intervening.
[Activating skill: "Eye of Truth" (Level 1)…]
[Trajectory analysis: the sword will arrive in 0.8 seconds. Attack angle: 45 degrees.]
I saw everything.
The cracks in his old blade.
The tremor in his hand from excitement.
The patch of oil beneath his right foot.
With a movement I would never have had the courage to make in my previous life, I bent my thin body to the right, letting the sword pass beside my ear before slamming into the stone wall, sending orange sparks into the darkness of the alley.
"What?!"
The pirate stumbled from the force of his swing.
I didn't wait.
Survival instinct had taken complete control.
I grabbed a sharp piece of stone from the ground and stabbed it into the back of his foot with all the strength I had. A thunderous scream tore through the sound of the storm as the giant collapsed to his knees.
[First threat successfully neutralized!]
[Reward: 10 EXP + Basic Shop Menu unlocked.]
[Alert: Host obtained title: "Cold-Blooded Killer" – increases combat focus by 5%.]
I gasped as I stepped back. My hands, smeared with street mud and the pirate's blood, trembled.
"This is real…" I whispered to myself.
"Death here is very real."
But before I could catch my breath, I felt a sudden pressure in the air. It wasn't physical—it was a heaviness that made breathing difficult.
I looked toward the harbor and saw a long white coat fluttering in the wind. A man stood there with two cigars in his mouth, his eyes carrying a merciless sternness.
"Smoker…"
My heart tightened.
"Captain Smoker… in his younger days."
He wasn't alone. The Marines were surrounding the area with lightning speed, and mass arrests had begun. If I were captured now as a "suspect" or a vagrant near the execution square, my story would end before it even began.
[Urgent Mission: Escape the Marine encirclement.]
Option 1: Sneak through the sewers (Low risk – Small reward).
Option 2: Steal a small boat from Pier No. 4 (High risk – Reward: "Silent Dragon Breathing Technique").
I looked toward the distant pier where the waves crashed violently, then at the Marine soldiers approaching my alley.
The first option was safe.
But safety doesn't make kings.
In the world of One Piece, if you don't risk your life, you gain nothing worth remembering.
"I choose the second option," I said with a firmness I had never heard in my own voice.
I dashed forward, running past corpses and debris, seeing the world around me as if it were lines of code breaking apart and reforming thanks to the Eye of Truth. I could see the paths of bullets before they were fired and the positions of soldiers before they arrived.
But when I reached the edge of the pier—
I suddenly stopped.
There, standing at the bow of a small, unremarkable ship, was a man wearing a dark green hood. A strange tattoo covered the left side of his face. He wasn't looking at the chaos.
He was looking at the sky.
As if reading a future hidden within the clouds.
"Dragon?"
My heart stopped.
The most dangerous man in the world.
Luffy's father.
He stood only a few meters away.
He slowly turned toward me, his eyes holding the depth of the oceans.
"A little boy in a place like this…" he said in a deep, calm voice—the calm before a storm.
"Are you looking for death… or something else?"
At that moment the system rang wildly in my mind, flashing in deep red:
[Warning! Warning! Collision with a 'Catastrophic-level' character!]
[System Suggestion: Run immediately… or request a 'Blessing'.]
The blood in my veins froze.
The pressure emanating from this man was heavier than the ocean itself. This wasn't ordinary Haki—it felt as if nature itself bowed to his presence.
The wind around him didn't blow—it whispered.
The rain avoided touching his green cloak, as if it feared him.
[Warning! Heart rate exceeding safe limits!]
[System Advice: Do not attempt to lie. 'Liberator-rank' characters possess extraordinary intuition.]
I swallowed and looked directly into the eyes of Monkey D. Dragon.
In my previous life I had been nothing more than an engineer who feared his boss. But here, standing before the man who would shake the throne of the World Government, something strange flowed through me from the Fate Editor System.
It wasn't fear.
It was fascination with absolute power.
"Death?"
My voice finally came out—rough and trembling, yet steady.
"Death is the easiest thing to find in Loguetown today, sir. I'm searching for something far rarer."
Dragon raised one eyebrow. The wind around us seemed to calm slightly, as if waiting for my answer.
"And what is that thing a blood-stained child seeks on the day of the king's execution?"
I looked toward the distant execution platform, then back at him and spoke the words that would change my path forever:
"I'm searching for the wind that will uproot the Celestial Dragons. The wind that blew today… and that no one noticed except you."
A deadly silence fell.
Even the thunder in the sky seemed muffled.
Our gazes met, and I felt the Eye of Truth working at full power, trying to analyze his reaction.
[Alert: You have caused a shock in Dragon's 'Fate Line'!]
[Evaluating impossible reward…]
Dragon laughed.
It wasn't a loud laugh like Roger's—it was a deep rumble from his chest, like a distant roar.
"Dangerous words from a small throat. Who are you, boy? And how do you know about the dragons that even grown men dare not whisper about?"
"I'm merely a witness of this era," I replied, sweat mixing with rain on my forehead.
"But I have eyes that see beyond the horizon. Just as you know that Roger's death is not the end—it is merely fuel for a fire that will burn the old world."
Dragon took a single step toward me.
The ground seemed to tilt beneath my feet.
He placed his huge hand on my shoulder. It felt as heavy as a mountain.
"The world doesn't need more witnesses, Kyle… the world needs movers. If you truly have the eyes you claim, show me how you'll survive the jungle whose gates opened today."
Suddenly, he shoved me toward the small boat docked beside his ship.
"Take that boat and disappear before Smoker and his men swallow you," Dragon said, turning his back to me as his cloak whipped violently in a sudden gust of wind.
"If you're still alive when you reach the Grand Line… perhaps we'll meet again. Then—and only then—I'll ask you your real name."
[Mission Completed Successfully: Escape the Marine encirclement!]
[Grand Reward: "Silent Dragon Breathing Technique" (Legendary Grade) + Hidden Map of East Blue Currents.]
[Alert: You have gained the 'Attention' of the Revolutionary Army. Secret path unlocked!]
I didn't waste a second.
I jumped into the boat and began rowing with all my strength, using the new breathing technique already flowing through my lungs, turning my exhaustion into cool, refreshing energy.
Warships were beginning to seal the harbor, and cannons roared across the square.
As I moved away from Loguetown's docks, I looked back one last time.
I saw Dragon disappear into the fog.
And I saw the city that witnessed my second birth sinking into fire and smoke.
With a thought, I opened the system interface.
[Status: Fugitive]
[Level: 3]
[Next Destination: "Scar Island" — where someone awaits.]
I smiled amid the raging waves.
"You'll see, Dragon… I'm not just a mover."
"I'm the one who will create the storm that will drown the world you know."