World

Seeing that Marine warship, Xia Qiu found it rather strange.

A three-masted warship powered by sails like that had long since been completely obsolete in the modern age. It could not possibly be used as an actual warship; at most, it could only be a model.

But he had never even heard of a full-scale Marine warship model, and no one would be willing to build one.

More importantly, a replica model could not possibly sail on the sea or travel between islands.

Xia Qiu sensed that something was wrong and immediately swam toward the warship.

Sailing warships traveled at around seven to ten knots, and this one had only just left port, so it was not moving very quickly. It was also heading to Xia Qiu's left.

Xia Qiu swam diagonally toward the warship, swinging his body with all his strength and accelerating to his top speed.

He was close.

Xia Qiu surfaced just ten meters from the warship and looked over to see figures appearing on its deck.

They wore white caps with green English lettering that read "Marine."

They wore sleeveless white Marine uniforms, blue trim on their collars, and blue neckerchiefs.

As for their lower halves, Xia Qiu could not see them from his angle.

They really were dressed like Marine soldiers from One Piece.

Xia Qiu tried to approach the ship, only to strangely discover that, to his senses, the vessel was like seawater rather than a ship.

Seastone.

Dr. Vegapunk had placed Seastone on the bottoms of ships, causing Sea Kings to regard warships as seawater and refrain from attacking them, allowing them to pass through the Calm Belt.

And Seastone had broad applications. It did not only affect Sea Kings; even ordinary fish would be affected by it.

There really was Seastone.

Xia Qiu's heart filled with shock. He watched the warship slowly drift away, lingered for a few seconds, then immediately dove beneath the surface and swam toward the harbor.

As soon as he entered the harbor, Xia Qiu spotted several sailing ships moored inside.

These sailing ships were no larger than the Marine warship, and some were old and dilapidated, but they truly were wooden sailing ships.

The means of transportation really were wooden sailing ships.

Just like the sailing ship he had seen when he first arrived in this world, these ships were not commemorative collectibles. They were genuinely used for transportation.

Xia Qiu noticed two figures working aboard one of the sailing ships, so he slowly drew closer, hid beneath the water, and listened quietly.

Fish had excellent hearing. Although they lacked outer ears, they possessed inner ears capable of receiving vibrations in the air and distinguishing sounds.

Some fish could even receive sound vibrations transmitted from several kilometers away underwater, and could identify their own kind by sound.

Most fish received sound frequencies similar to those of humans, though a small portion differed greatly.

As Xia Qiu neared the sailing ship, he immediately heard the two men talking.

"Thank goodness they finally left. Those bastards collect a huge Security Fee from us every month in the name of maintaining public order, but whenever pirates plunder us and we report it to them, they always arrive late."

"They always wait until the pirates have finished looting before they show up. Then, after defeating the pirates, they claim the stolen goods for themselves."

"These Marines are harder to satisfy than pirates."

"You can't put it that way. With the Marines around, pirates only come once in a while, and they don't dare kill anyone. The Marines are still somewhat useful."

"Did you see today's newspaper? The Celestial Dragons visited the Goa Kingdom."

"The Goa Kingdom? The most beautiful country in the entire East China Sea. I really want to go there someday."

"..."

Xia Qiu listened to their conversation, but his heart was deeply shaken. There was too much information in their words for him to sort through all at once.

First was the language. These people were speaking Japanese. Xia Qiu had studied abroad on Sakura Island and was now a junior. Including prep school, he had spent four years on Sakura Island, and his Japanese was extremely fluent.

Second was the content of their conversation. Marines and pirates existed in this world. The Marines had just collected the Security Fee and left, so the Marine warship that had departed earlier was not some model or cosplay. It was a real Marine warship.

Then there were the Goa Kingdom and the Celestial Dragons. The Goa Kingdom was an important location in the world of One Piece, where Sabo, Luffy, and Ace had grown up.

The Celestial Dragons were the name given to the world nobles in One Piece.

The Marines bearing the seagull-and-scales emblem, their distinctive warships, Seastone, the Goa Kingdom, the Celestial Dragons—these were all unique to the world of One Piece.

All this evidence proved that he had come to the world of One Piece.

And as a fish, his food intake, digestion speed, and growth rate all exceeded the standards of his original world.

But in a world with enormous sea beasts and Sea Kings thousands of meters long, such a growth rate was nothing special.

He had truly come to the world of One Piece.

Xia Qiu was utterly shocked. He had never imagined that he would come to the world of One Piece.

But compared to the absurdity of turning into a fish, entering the world of One Piece was not so difficult to accept.

And according to the two men's conversation, the Celestial Dragons were visiting the Goa Kingdom.

The Celestial Dragons' visit to the Goa Kingdom that Xia Qiu knew of was the one when Sabo left the Goa Kingdom. That year, Sabo was ten, Ace was ten, and Luffy was seven—Marineford Calendar 1510.

But whether the Celestial Dragons had visited the Goa Kingdom at other times was unclear. Judging by the grandeur of that welcoming ceremony and the importance the Goa Kingdom attached to the Celestial Dragons, perhaps there had only been that one visit.

Of course, whether this was truly that time would require careful investigation.

Having discovered what world he was in, Xia Qiu felt very conflicted.

He had turned into a fish and entered the world of One Piece.

Although One Piece was Xia Qiu's favorite manga, and he had always held a certain longing for such a magnificent world.

But if I had to transmigrate here, couldn't I at least have been given some other identity? Garp's adopted son, a dojo apprentice, the son of a wealthy man, something like that.

But what was this supposed to mean, turning into a fish?

He could evolve and grow stronger, but just how strong could he become?

After all, Luffy had defeated a Sea King as soon as he set sail.

And Moo, the sea beast far larger than the Going Merry, had been completely unable to fight back before Luffy.

Even the enormous Sea Kings of the Calm Belt could be easily dealt with by someone at vice admiral level.

In the world of One Piece, Sea Kings were often no more than background scenery.

Unless he became one of the deep-sea Sea Kings summoned by Shirahoshi, capable of dragging Noah's Ark and over five thousand meters long, he could contend for the highest tier of power.

But he had no idea how long it would take to become one of them, or how many dangers he would encounter along the way.

Xia Qiu wanted to explore, wanted to become the One Piece, wanted to adventure alongside Luffy, wanted to fight powerful opponents, wanted to do something big, wanted to go to Laugh Tale, wanted to find Roger's treasure, wanted to become the strongest in the world.

But the difficulty was too great.

I'm not some protagonist like Luffy.

Forget it.

I'll just live an honest life.

Xia Qiu blew out a string of bubbles and slowly sank to the bottom.