[Dear Commander Ripper, I hope this letter finds you well.
By the time you read this, I will have already become a pirate roaming the open seas!
Pirates don't know what attendance checks are, nor do they have to undergo grueling daily training, because pirates are wild and free! Pirates sail through the fiercest waves, find ancient treasures, and even find a crew of busty, curvy female pirates to ride the wind and waves with.
Pirates freely roam and adventure across the sea. As for you, my respected Commander Ripper, I hope you can soon break free from Morgan's rule and become a truly righteous Marine who protects the people.]
— Your dear subordinate, Lieutenant Allen.
East Blue, in the sunny and peaceful waters of the 153rd Marine Branch. Inside a certain lieutenant's office at the base.
A black-haired man wearing a short-sleeved Marine uniform put down his fountain pen and folded the finished letter with satisfaction.
Standing up, he looked around the office.
"To think I have to leave right after arriving. The world really is unpredictable..."
Allen shook his head and smiled, a hint of a sigh in his tone.
This was the 153rd Marine Branch base, ruled by the iron-blooded and ruthless Captain Morgan.
Yes, the very same one who knocked out a Marine Hero with a single axe strike, respectfully known by others as Axe-Hand Morgan.
Opening his eyes to find himself in such a place, Allen couldn't help but feel a bit bewildered at first. However, after sorting out his situation, he decisively chose to leave.
As for where to go...
Since he had transmigrated into the One Piece world, of course he was going to be a pirate.
That's right, he was a transmigrator. He had just arrived in the One Piece world two and a half hours ago. He had struck gold this time.
The One Piece world was undoubtedly a dangerous place where the strong preyed on the weak. Very few ordinary people who set out to sea ever met a good end.
But not going out to sea made it even harder to survive.
Most countries adhered to a sickeningly twisted aristocratic ideology, where ordinary people were endlessly oppressed, exploited, and even reduced to slavery.
Even being born in some quiet, remote village out on the sea couldn't be considered lucky. There was no guarantee that one wouldn't be pillaged by pirates one day, losing their family and becoming a refugee.
In this kind of world, if you didn't want to be slaughtered, you had to pick up a blade yourself. No matter where you went, the only thing you could rely on was your own fists.
Allen didn't complain about coming to such a dangerous world. At the very least, he got a second chance at life, which was better than just staying dead.
The original owner of this body was a sergeant serving at Marine Headquarters who later applied to become a lieutenant at an East Blue branch. He had thought that by becoming a junior officer in the weakest sea, he could live out his life in peace.
As a result...
"To think he was assigned to Morgan's branch, only to die suddenly from depression under his long-term oppressive rule..."
Allen stared blankly, feeling somewhat speechless.
But perhaps this could also be considered a form of release.
...
Putting the letter away, Allen walked out the door, looked left and right, and headed toward his direct superior's office.
His direct superior was Commander Ripper, the second-in-command of this branch base. He was an upright Marine who had taken good care of the original owner in the past.
Unfortunately, Ripper had a cowardly personality. Despite harboring resentment toward Morgan, he didn't dare to rebel.
In fact.
Everyone in the entire base had long harbored grievances against Morgan's oppressive rule. If Commander Ripper had only dared to stand up, the Marines here would have likely followed him in a mutiny long ago.
...
Knock— Knock— Knock!
Walking down the brightly lit corridor, Allen arrived at Ripper's office door. He knocked and waited quietly for a few seconds...
No response.
He crouched down, flicked the written letter through the gap under the door, then stood up and left directly.
With a calm gaze, Allen walked down the long corridor and took out a stack of banknotes from his pocket to glance at them.
It was a total of two million Berries, his savings accumulated over the past two and a half years. Converted to the currency he was familiar with, it was roughly around one hundred thousand.
Taking it out now as his initial startup fund for setting sail, he should still have some money left over to tide him over for a while after buying a small rowboat.
As for the future...
Allen put the Berries away, looked down at his palm, and clenched his fist.
'Since I have a cheat, no matter how badly I do, I shouldn't be unable to survive at sea, right?'
Allen couldn't help but think.
Transmigration, of course, only made sense if it came with a golden finger. What he received was a "Baki" cheat.
The so-called "Baki" was that hot-blooded anime which claimed to be about martial arts, but was actually low-level fantasy mixed with pseudoscience.
Not only had Allen's body been modified by Hanma blood, but his mind was also filled with a massive amount of martial arts techniques from the Baki world, naturally including moves like Shaori and the Mach Punch.
The Hanma blood caused his physical attributes to skyrocket across the board. Although there was still a significant gap between him and the powerhouses of this world, the Hanma blood also granted him terrifying combat instincts and learning abilities.
In the long run, this unparalleled talent for growth was far more important than a one-time boost.
Moreover, he still had plenty of room to grow, and there were many methods to increase one's strength in this world.
Eating large amounts of energy-rich Sea King meat, combined with high-intensity training and combat, would further strengthen his body.
Then there was Haki, a power mastered by almost all the strong individuals in this world, and also one of the powers he would inevitably learn in the future.
Besides that, this world had an even simpler and more brutal method—Devil Fruits!
If he could get his hands on a relatively powerful Devil Fruit, Allen wouldn't hesitate to eat it.
As for that minor side effect...
"What kind of serious person would lose their combat ability just from getting splashed by a bucket of water?"
Allen waved his hand and smiled.
'Impossible, impossible. There's no such idiot in the world.'
In short, the cheat merely gave him a baseline safety net. How far he could grow in the future still depended on whether he could utilize it well.
Waving away the messy thoughts in his mind, Allen reached the end of the corridor and prepared to go down the stairs.
Suddenly, a faint rumbling sound came from above, followed by a slight tremor.
"Hmm?"
Allen looked up in confusion, only to see several fine cracks appearing on the ceiling, continuously shaking loose dust.
The next instant.
Bang!!
Under his astonished gaze, a giant stone head statue smashed through the ceiling above!
"What the... f*ck...!!"
Boom!!
Before he could finish speaking, the head statue crashed down along with countless broken walls and rubble, burying Allen right where he stood.
It formed a massive grave-like mound.
...
Clack—
A man wearing a red vest and a straw hat jumped down, his sandals stepping onto the rubble mound, holding several long swords in his arms.
After steadying himself, the man adjusted the straw hat on his head, looked around, and finally spotted the tied-up figure on the execution ground.
Luffy grinned and leaped out with a face full of excitement.
"Hey—! Zoro, I found your swords! Hahaha!"
Thump!
On the rubble mound, an arm broke through the pile of stones and reached out.
At this moment, a large group of Marine soldiers rushed over from behind.
"Don't let the intruder get away!"
"Hurry, chase him!"
"He's going to save Roronoa! Hurry up and follow!"
Rumble!
White figures scattered as a large number of Marines trampled over the top, packing the rubble mound tightly while leaving behind countless dense, messy footprints.
A single arm stood upright on the pile of stones, twitching miserably.
A gentle breeze blew past, sweeping up a few withered yellow leaves, adding a touch of desolation to the scene.
...
Bang!
"Pfft—! Ptui! Ptui!"
The pile of stones was violently blasted apart, revealing Allen's dirt-covered upper half. Looking indignant, he spat out a few mouthfuls of sandy saliva.
After pulling his body out of the rubble, Allen gritted his teeth and glared angrily toward the execution ground.
"Those bastards!"
He wasn't really injured. With his current physical strength, he could take a cannonball head-on, let alone be crushed to death by a few rocks.
But it really freaking hurt!
"These idiot Marines! And...!"
"Eh, straw hat?"
Seeing that figure, Allen suddenly froze. He blinked, leaned his face forward, and finally confirmed the other party's identity.
'Luffy? Morgan's base? Could he be here to save Zoro?'
Allen stroked his chin as some plotlines surfaced in his mind.
"So that means I transmigrated right around the time Luffy set sail?"
Just as he was thinking, a deep and gloomy voice suddenly came from behind him.
"What are you doing here?"
A tall and burly shadow loomed over him from behind. Allen turned his head toward the sound.
The next second, he saw Morgan with a dark expression, looking down at him from above with an oppressive gaze.
"Ah, it's Captain Morgan. Good afternoon." Allen smiled and raised a hand in greeting.
"Hmph...?!"
Morgan's eyes widened. His expression was one of astonishment, but mostly anger. He leaned down and bellowed another reprimand:
"I'm asking you! Why aren't you up there fighting? Get up there and kill those two right now!"
"Eh?"
Allen paused, turning his head to glance at the two people who were currently slaughtering everyone on the execution ground.
"Me?"
Allen looked back at Morgan, pointing at himself with a bewildered expression, and asked:
"You want me to go kill the Straw Hat kid and Roronoa?"
"No, no, no, Captain Morgan, you must have misunderstood something. How could I possibly beat them?"
Allen waved his hands and laughed awkwardly.
'You've got to be kidding me. Those two are max-level beginner accounts.'
'I could actually try fighting one of them, but a one-on-two...'
'Looking at the entire East Blue right now, aside from Smoker with his Logia advantage, I probably couldn't find a second person who could pull that off.'
But Morgan was clearly not satisfied with his answer. He felt extremely furious at Allen's behavior, his face gradually twisting.
"Are you saying you're going to disobey orders?!"
"My subordinates! I don't need useless trash. Them... or me... which one do you choose!"
While scolding, Morgan rested his left hand on the axe attached to his right arm. The sharp blade gleamed coldly, and a threatening glint flashed in his eyes.
"Well... if you put it that way..."
Allen waved his hand awkwardly, looking back at the battle on the distant field. Then, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly in the shadows.
Turning back to face Morgan, Allen spoke in a teasing tone:
"No matter how you look at it, taking you out is much easier, respected Lord Morgan..."
"What did you say?!"
Morgan's eyes widened in shock. A chill ran down his spine, and his body trembled as he couldn't help but take a step back.
For some unknown reason, he suddenly felt as if the Allen standing before him was a fierce tiger ready to pounce at any moment, inexplicably filling him with terror.
"You...! You bastard!"
When he finally reacted, Morgan's face instantly flushed red with humiliation and rage. Veins bulged on his forehead as he roared and raised that massive hand-axe.
However, a dark shadow moved even faster!
Just as Morgan raised the hand-axe, Allen abruptly dropped his smile, his eyes flashing with a brutal, crimson glint.
Using his momentum to twist his body, his right leg whipped out like a long lash, whistling through the air as it lashed explosively toward Morgan's face, landing solidly on his cheek!
Smack!!
"Blergh—!"
Morgan spat out a mouthful of blood with an agonized expression, his eyes rolling back as his pupils trembled violently.
Whoosh!— Boom!!
Swept up by the terrifying force, Morgan flew backward, crashing through the wall like a cannonball and smashing into the base.
"Not bad. It feels completely different from before."
Allen slowly lowered his leg, looked down at his toes, tapped them on the ground, and evaluated with satisfaction.
The training at Marine Headquarters was extremely strict. Even ordinary soldiers had to complete 2,000 two-finger push-ups, climb ropes back and forth a hundred times, run two hundred laps, and undergo combat training every single day.
A high roundhouse kick, being the most basic of combat moves, was already so familiar to Allen that he couldn't be any more used to it. Yet, using it this time gave him a completely different sensation.
It wasn't just the physical enhancement brought by the Hanma blood.
Whether it was the fluidity of the movement, the technique of generating force, the striking position, or the timing of the kick, everything felt perfectly natural. It was just like those flag-officer instructors in the training camp who had honed their physical arts to absolute perfection.
One could even say it surpassed them.
If physical constitution and Haki were set aside, and it was purely a matter of combat technique, he felt he might actually be able to compete with top-tier physical arts masters.
...Unfortunately, they couldn't be set aside.
Allen looked up toward the inside of the base.
As the dust settled, pebbles rolled down from the wall with a gaping hole in it. A figure hunched over, supporting himself against the wall with one hand as he struggled to stand up.
"The vitality of the people in this world is truly terrifyingly robust."
Allen couldn't help but sigh in amazement. He had thought a single kick would be enough to kill this kind of trash.
"Cough— Cough cough!"
Morgan lowered his head and coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood. His face was twisted in extreme agony, and cold sweat poured down his forehead.
"You bastard... how dare you... how dare you!"
Looking at Allen again, Morgan's bloodshot eyes were filled with rage and hatred. He leveled his battle axe, sweeping away a few wisps of dust, and let out a low, guttural roar:
"How dare you lay a hand on me! You bastard, I'm going to chop you into mincemeat today!!"
With a furious glare, Morgan took massive strides and charged forward ferociously.
On the pile of rubble, Allen stood in a casual posture, his gaze contemptuous, completely unmoved by Morgan's charge.
It wasn't until the other party closed in and furiously swung the battle axe down from high above that Allen finally made a move, stepping slightly to the side to easily dodge the falling blade.
Boom!
The axe blade missed and struck the ground, easily slicing through a broken wall and embedding itself into the earth.
Allen lifted his foot and stepped lightly on the back of the axe, leaning his body forward to press close to Morgan.
With Morgan's strength, lifting several Allens would have been more than easy.
However, at this moment, a bizarre scene unfolded.
Morgan's face turned ashen. No matter how hard he pulled, even with the veins bulging on his arm, he couldn't yank the axe blade out in the slightest.
"What's the matter, Lord Morgan? You can't bear to lay a hand on such an excellent subordinate of yours, right?"
Allen spoke with a teasing smile.
Shibukawa Goki-style Aikido: using minimal movements to cut into the opponent's fulcrum of power and center of gravity, destroying their physical balance, and borrowing the opponent's strength to counter them.
Looking at Morgan's flushed red face from straining, Allen chuckled softly. He grabbed the man's collar with his palm, turned around, and thrust his back against him.
Shoulder throw!
Morgan's mind went blank. He only felt a sudden sense of weightlessness, and when he came to his senses, he was shocked to find that the sky had turned upside down.
With a casual toss, Allen's movements were effortless, yet they sent Morgan's burly body flying through the air, arcing across the sky before crashing heavily into the execution ground!
Bang!— Bang! Bang!
Morgan's body slammed into the ground, bounced up, and finally landed flat on his back, limbs splayed out.
"This guy... how can he be so strong..."
Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and Morgan's face slowly morphed into nothing but sheer terror.