Humble Freedom

"If you haven't eaten the Nika Fruit, then no matter how exceptional you are, even if you're Gol D. Roger, even if you've gathered all the Poneglyphs and reached Laugh Tale...

You're still unworthy of bearing the fate of the entire world?"

Muttering to himself, Gawain, who was on vacation at home, tossed his phone aside.

After lying on his back for a moment, he irritably picked the phone back up.

He continued browsing the latest One Piece spoiler threads on the forum. After deliberating for a long while, Gawain began typing.

"What I've always wanted to see was the story of a brash kid who declared he would become the Pirate King, kept challenging fate, and truly became the Pirate King in the end.

What I never wanted to see was a story where only that kid was qualified to become the Pirate King.

I'm the man who'll become the Pirate King!

Turned into...

I ate the Sun God Nika Fruit, so only I am qualified to become the Pirate King!

Heh...

The sea is so vast.

Those Admirals each have their own resolve and will.

Those so-called Four Emperors each have their own dreams and ambitions.

If, from the very beginning, only the owner of the Nika Fruit was worthy of obtaining everything...

Then were everyone else's struggles and efforts nothing but a joke from start to finish?

If that's the case, then if a dog ate the Nika Fruit and awakened its Nika form after getting beaten up enough times...

Could even a dog bear the fate of the world?

Not even a dog would eat the Mera Mera no Mi!

And what about the Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon? All the life-or-death struggles Teacher Kaido went through became a joke because you ate the wrong fruit!

And the Tremor-Tremor Fruit? Was Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world, merely lucky that he never stood against an awakened Nika Fruit user?

Marine hero Garp, if your grandson had been born forty years earlier, then if he became a pirate, he'd be the Pirate King, and if he joined the Marines, he'd be the Marine King. What chance would you have had to show off as a Marine hero?

Every hero should have had a chance to become the future in the end!

But now, none of them are worthy. Whoever eats the Nika Fruit is worthy!

What a disappointment!"

After typing that, Gawain let out a breath and edited the post before uploading it.

But the instant he uploaded it, his vision went black, and his entire body vanished from the sofa.

Beside him, Gao Wu, who was playing Elden Ring, only felt the sofa shift.

Gao Wu turned his head, froze, then opened his mouth wide.

"Wait, I... where's my big brother?!!"

Meanwhile.

Gawain opened his eyes and saw stars dancing everywhere in his vision. His head hurt so badly that he could not stop trembling!

"Hiss~~!"

Gawain bared his teeth and sucked in a breath. Only when even his gums began to feel cold did he finally exhale.

"Who?!"

Suppressing the pain, he asked coldly as he narrowed his eyes and turned around.

He had assumed that the decorative relief wall above the sofa had fallen on him.

The only ones capable of doing something like that were either the fourteen-pound fat cat at home or his stupid younger brother, Gao Wu!

Damn Elden Ring. Had that idiot thrown the controller again?

But when he turned around, what he saw was a panicked yet incomparably beautiful face, one that was also exceptionally youthful and innocent.

Instinctively, his gaze traveled down from her face.

A large expanse of tender, pale skin, blue-purple shells barely enough to preserve her modesty, a slender waist, and a pale yellow... fish tail?!!

"A Merfolk? A Fish-Man?!!"

Startled by Gawain's astonished stare, the beautiful Merfolk woman, who had been trying to rise from the floor, immediately collapsed flat onto the ground.

The Merfolk woman did not even dare look at Gawain. Trembling, she muttered to herself.

"Ah, my escape failed. I ran into someone...

I... I didn't... I didn't mean to..."

Bang!!!

Before the Merfolk woman could finish speaking.

A gunshot suddenly rang out!

Gawain's brows tightened, and his pupils abruptly contracted.

Before his eyes, the bullet first struck the Merfolk woman's back, hidden beneath her dazzling golden hair, then passed through her left breast and finally splashed a small ring of blood across the floor.

Then, as the Merfolk woman trembled in unbearable pain, a crimson trail of blood spread across the ground.

When the blood reached Gawain's feet, the Merfolk woman's faintly trembling fish tail...

That beautiful fish tail, which should have been incomparably magnificent but was now gradually dimming, lightly brushed against Gawain's coat as well!

Following her tail, Gawain looked down at himself. Sure enough, he was no longer wearing the robe he had put on to relax.

Instead, he wore an incomparably white, loose outer robe whose hem dragged all the way across the floor.

The beautiful fish tail left faint water stains on the white garment, while blood gradually crept up the white hem, staining part of it with an unwilling red.

All of it jolted Gawain awake as if from a dream. The pain in his head vanished in an instant. He wanted to say something, but forming words felt impossibly difficult, and he could not open his mouth.

At the same time, a teasing voice followed from the direction of the gunshot.

"Hmph, that's the Fish-Man slave I just had delivered. What a damn shame.

I was going to make her my ninth wife, but she actually tried to run away, and while escaping, she even ran into someone!

Let me see who she ran into.

Oh, another Celestial Dragon like me? This is... Gawain?

Gawain, Fish-Men really are strong. She's just a female Merfolk, yet she knocked you flying with one hit!

You really are weak, hahaha!"

All around them, behind that arrogant laughter, countless slaves knelt on the ground and shut their eyes in misery.

That was a Celestial Dragon, a Descendant of God who had never cared about their lives!

Gawain took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down completely.

Then he slowly looked toward the source of the voice.

He first saw a cloud of gunsmoke. As the smoke dispersed, an absurdly ugly face made Gawain swallow hard.

Even though the figure before him was now a real person rather than the two-dimensional character from his memories, Gawain recognized his identity with just one look!

Thinking of the Merfolk woman who had just died, looking at the soldiers stationed around them as guards, and glancing at the slaves shackled and prostrated on the ground.

Then considering the man ahead, dressed in a white robe with an enormous belly and so ugly that his features were nearly unrecognizable.

Whether this was a dream or something else.

Gawain knew clearly that he had truly arrived in the world of One Piece!

And the one who had fired the gun was naturally one of those so-called Celestial Dragons!

As for his own identity?

He was a fellow Celestial Dragon. He too was the kind of Celestial Dragon who could do whatever he pleased in the world of One Piece, suffer almost no harm, and never face any danger to his life...

After understanding his identity, Gawain let out a long breath. As a One Piece fan, how could he possibly not understand what being a Celestial Dragon meant?

So, beneath the exceedingly fearful gazes of the slaves and guards, and facing the ugly grin of the laughing Celestial Dragon.

He calmly assumed the expression his senior colleagues had specifically taught him to use at work, then proudly swept his eyes over the surroundings.

It was worth mentioning his previous job here. He had been a diplomat. Although he had only graduated and begun working a little over two years ago, he had received extensive training in both his gaze and his speech.

Because of that, Gawain's cold, well-trained stare made the ugly Celestial Dragon Charlos's smile disappear completely.

Charlos somewhat flusteredly lowered his gun and asked in a low voice.

"Gawain, no need to take it so seriously, right? It wasn't like I hurt you.

Besides, I already killed her. That slave cost me two Devil Fruits!"

"So what?"

Listening to the ugly Celestial Dragon's voice, Gawain shook his head without expression.

Then he stepped over the blood and came before the faintly trembling Fish-Man.

Ignoring the ugly Celestial Dragon, whose brows were gradually drawing together, Gawain maintained a solemn expression and silently looked at the Merfolk woman, who was barely trembling anymore.

Noticing Gawain's gaze, the Merfolk woman's gradually dilating pupils shifted slightly.

"I... I'm sorry."

Word by word, she desperately struggled to apologize.

"It hurt when I ran into you, didn't it? I'm... really sorry.

Even if I was running away, I... should have been more careful..."

The Merfolk woman's voice finally faded away. Her pupils fully dilated, leaving Gawain with only the final apologetic smile at the corner of her lips.

Why did she feel apologetic?

Because she had hurt an innocent person.

But why did she smile?

Because even death was happier than living in the hands of the Celestial Dragons.

After all, death was the greatest freedom of the humble!