"Hahaha~~~"
"A bountiful harvest—"
"Cheers."
"I'll drink first. Help yourself!"
"Eat!"
On the now calm sea, two ships sailed slowly one behind the other.
A banquet was underway aboard the Wave Rider. The victorious Silver Light Pirates were carrying food and liquor from the merchant ship onto the deck, drinking and feasting to their hearts' content!
They drank from huge bowls, devoured meat in great mouthfuls, and weighed out gold by the scale—
After a thrilling battle, stuffing themselves with food and drink was the happiest time for pirates!
Of course, there were also the berries in their pockets, along with all sorts of gold and silver jewelry...
And besides those "personal" spoils, they had pulled off a major job this time. The merchant ship was loaded with weapons!
This kind of "hard currency" would never lack buyers in any nation in this war-torn world. The captain had promised a 3-2-4-1 split after the cargo was sold.
The captain would take thirty percent, the Bald Captain twenty percent, everyone else forty percent, and Captain Roman ten percent.
In truth, it should have been a 3-2-3-2 split, but the young Captain Roman had said he would only take ten percent and distribute the remaining ten percent among everyone else. But in exchange:
No killing children. No raping women...
For the sake of that extra share and Roman's formidable strength, all the pirates could only hold their noses and comply with Captain Roman's "mentally unstable" demands. With the captain's tacit approval, even the Bald Combat Captain had no choice but to obey.
In short, the youth named Roman was utterly out of place among ordinary pirates, with many "quirks" they could not understand.
For example, he brushed his teeth and washed his face every day.
For example, whenever he had free time, he exercised without stopping.
For example, he spent all his savings on high-grade ingredients.
For example, he had to wait for others to attack before retaliating...
Thus, while everyone else gathered into little groups to brag and drink wildly, Roman sat alone by the railing, sipping his drink.
Sea Circle Calendar 1520—
Roman's gaze grew distant. Before he knew it, he had already spent three years in this world.
Yes, Roman was a transmigrator from the Celestial Dynasty.
The damn part was that, perhaps because the spacetime administration bureau had made some mistake, Roman had not only transmigrated into the One Piece world as a nobody, but he had not even received the standard cheat ability! Forget a system—he had not even seen a Devil Fruit, the mandatory meal for transmigrators.
And with a criminal record hanging over him, Roman had no choice but to continue the hopeless work of being a pirate. He did not even have the chance to join the Marines and learn the Six Powers or the Three Types of Haki...
The future looked bleak.
Thinking of Devil Fruits, Roman subconsciously glanced toward the captain, only to meet the eyes of the middle-aged man seated in the chair of honor.
In an instant:
One pair of eyes was calm and youthful; the other was sharp as a hawk's and middle-aged. Their gazes collided across the distance!
Then they casually slid apart again.
A Devil Fruit... Roman sighed inwardly.
A treasure rumored to be worth one hundred million berries!
And it was something money could not buy. To many forces, one hundred million berries was nothing more than a "small goal," but a single Devil Fruit could greatly increase the combat power of a core member...
Whether turned into combat power or sold for money, it was an enormous temptation for the Silver Light Pirates!
So, after the middle-aged captain casually closed the box, an inexplicable and unsettling atmosphere began to flow among the pirate crew's three leaders.
Perhaps the captain should have simply swallowed it right then and—
?
Roman's vision blurred. His well-proportioned arm suddenly lost all strength, and his cup dropped helplessly onto the deck.
Clang—
The sound of the metal cup hitting the deck seemed like a signal. As Roman slumped crookedly against the railing, the pirates who had been celebrating moments ago immediately collapsed one after another!
Thud, thud, thud.
After a dense flurry of bodies hitting the ground, the previously bustling Wave Rider fell utterly silent. Everyone lay sprawled on the deck as if dead asleep...
No, they were already dead!
Their wide-open eyes had dilating pupils, dark blood slowly leaked from the corners of their mouths, and their chests had ceased to rise and fall...
Everything showed that the end of the Silver Light Pirates had quietly arrived.
Except for:
The middle-aged captain sitting in the captain's throne, toying with the wine cup in his hand!
"Hmph."
The grim-faced middle-aged captain snorted and rose to his feet, placing a hand on the rapier at his waist.
"Get up. Stop pretending."
At the captain's words, two figures rose from the "pile of corpses": Roman and the Bald Combat Captain!
"Why bother, Captain?"
Roman spoke softly.
"Wouldn't it have been better to eat the Devil Fruit yourself?"
"You could have greatly increased your combat power and led the brothers to make a fortune—"
Roman looked at the middle-aged captain's icy face, regret and disappointment mingling in his eyes.
To be fair, this captain of his was already considered "decent" among pirates. He had brains, strength, generosity, and no erratic fits...
As a transmigrator without cheat abilities and utterly ignorant of sailing, Roman had felt that staying with the Silver Light Pirates was a decent choice. At least he could train peacefully and improve his strength...
"Looks like I overestimated you, Captain."
Roman picked up a Sailor's Knife and a shield from the deck, taking up a stance as he faced the middle-aged captain. The meaning was obvious!
"Roman, let's deal with him together!"
On the other side, the Bald Strongman gripped an axe. While cautiously guarding against the middle-aged captain, he edged closer to Roman.
With three sides facing off, it was a wise choice for the two weaker parties to join forces and eliminate the stronger one first, so—
"Fine."
Roman answered without hesitation. Then:
Whoosh—
The instant the Bald Strongman entered Roman's two-meter danger zone, he abruptly spun around. His massive axe came crashing down at Roman's head with a shrill whistle through the air! It was an all-out attack!
"Captain, do it—"
Clang!
Yet at the exact instant the Bald Strongman launched his sudden attack, Roman turned as well, raising his shield at a thirty-degree angle to block! As he stopped the bald man's strike, he redirected the axe, sending it sliding away in a spray of sparks.
Then the blade in his other hand flashed.
Pfft.
A huge bald head, its scalp slick and gleaming, flew into the air.
Thud.
Roman stepped aside to avoid the headless corpse as it fell, then turned to look at the middle-aged captain, who remained where he stood.
"Why didn't you take the chance to attack?"
Facing the silent middle-aged captain, Roman shook his head to himself.
"It seems you weren't even willing to keep him alive. Even though he remained loyal to you until his death."
Yet the middle-aged captain still responded with cold indifference.
"Come on, Captain!"
There was no use saying more. When pirates dealt with problems, did it not always come down to whose fists were bigger?
Shield held before him, Sailor's Knife hidden behind it, Roman spread his stance and strode toward his superior! The other man was incredibly fast and agile. To win, Roman had to limit his room to maneuver.
Whoosh—
Clang, clang, clang, clang—!!
Aboard the Wave Rider, littered with corpses, the final two members of the Silver Light Pirates fought to the death! One moved at high speed, his rapier striking like a storm; the other stood firm, using his shield to block while waiting for an opening with his blade!
Though Roman appeared to be getting pushed back and several bloody holes had opened across his body, there was not the slightest panic in his eyes. The middle-aged captain's high-speed swordplay consumed a great deal of stamina, after all. Normally, he needed the others to help buy him time to recover. As long as Roman held out until his opponent began to tire...
You're waiting for me to tire?
Naive.
After another thrust was blocked by Roman's shield, the middle-aged man suddenly drew in a deep breath while moving at high speed. Then:
Iron Cutting—!
The rapier in his hand suddenly erupted in brilliant radiance and came slashing down! Like a silver moon pouring over the earth, like thunder rumbling at the awakening of insects! Without a sound, it cleaved Roman's heavy shield in two as easily as a hot knife through butter.
Iron Cutting!
Having shattered the defense Roman had been so proud of, the middle-aged captain swiftly drew back his rapier and immediately thrust it toward Roman's throat! In his eyes, without his shield, Roman would lose to his swordsmanship in an instant—
Pfft.
Blood sprayed!
His expression changed drastically!
The blood was Roman's, but the shocked and furious expression was on the middle-aged captain's face.
The instant his shield shattered, Roman directly raised his left hand to meet the captain's rapier! Naturally, he could not pull off such a difficult feat as catching a blade barehanded. But based on Roman's understanding of the middle-aged captain, the next strike would definitely target his throat, so:
He would pretend to catch the blade barehanded!
There was no problem with that.
The middle-aged captain's rapier pierced through Roman's palm, then traveled up his arm and burst out through his elbow, making it look as if Roman had grown a silver "arm blade"!
Even Roman, seasoned in battle, could not help but twitch from such a severe injury. Yet in that flash of Electric Light, the fingers of his left hand closed without hesitation around the rapier's guard! At the same time, his right hand slashed horizontally.
Pshk!
Blood sprayed, mixed with organs spilling from the middle-aged captain's abdomen.
Just as the middle-aged captain had imagined, victory and defeat had indeed been decided in an instant!
Only, it was the opposite of what he had imagined.
"You lost."
Roman, his left hand pierced through by the rapier, slowly walked toward the middle-aged man kneeling on one knee and clutching his stomach.
"Actually, the moment I saw the Devil Fruit, I was tempted too."
"But I still hoped that you, Captain, would come up with a 'fair' distribution plan."
Things had not gone as he wished.
"Cough, cough."
"That's one hundred million berries!"
The middle-aged captain spoke painfully from his half-kneeling position.
"With that money, I could build up a family estate in any country and become an aristocrat above ordinary people! Who would still want to risk life and limb out at sea?!"
After gritting out those words, the middle-aged man had no choice but to face reality.
"Roman, I lost."
"The fruit is yours. It's in the Captain's Cabin—"
He covered the wound in his stomach with one hand. Blood continuously seeped through his fingers, and along with it flowed away his "dignity."
"Spare me. I'm no longer a threat to you..."
"I didn't want things to be this way, but back home, I still have my mother, my wife, and a five-year-old daughter..."
"I don't want them to lose a son, a husband, a father... I only wanted to fight for a future where they could live happily..."
Under the middle-aged man's remorseful plea, Roman walked up to him, lowered the Sailor's Knife in his hand, and sighed.
Even after rolling around among pirates for several years, the values from his previous life still influenced him.
"Thank you, thank you..."
The middle-aged man lowered his head as if repenting, but a vicious glint flashed in his eyes!
With a flick of his wrist, a sleeve sword silently sprang out. Then:
"Die!!"
Pfft.
The two figures suddenly overlapped. Amid the sound of a blade piercing flesh, the middle-aged captain's expression slowly shifted from ferocity to disbelief.
"Captain—"
Roman, who had stabbed through him with one strike, whispered into his ear.
"Your hometown was razed to the ground by your own hands ten years ago. Where would you have a wife, child, or mother?"
Pfft.
Roman pulled out the Sailor's Knife, taking the middle-aged captain's life and soul with it. The man fell backward into a pool of blood, while the tricorne hat symbolizing authority rolled to one side.
All that remained was an ordinary middle-aged man.
"This is what pirates are."
The sole victor looked around. Though the people lying on the ground were scum who had burned, killed, and plundered, they had also fought and laughed alongside him...
"They are only pirates, after all."
The youth turned and walked toward the Captain's Cabin, claiming the fruit of victory watered with blood!
Before you continue