Is This Child's Play?

"Where is this?" In the endless darkness, the boy's consciousness slowly awakened.

"Who turned off the lights? Why can't I see anything?"

"Hey, stop messing with me. Is anyone there?"

But no matter how the boy shouted, he received no response.

Gradually, after an unknown amount of time had passed, he calmed down. The boundless darkness before him made him feel incredibly small.

He discovered that he was standing in the void. There was clearly nothing beneath his feet, yet he was able to stand there steadily.

Suddenly, a dazzling white light appeared in the space not far from him.

"That is... the Sword of Damocles of the King of Silver." Once the light slowly faded, he saw what the object surrounded by the glow was.

As an ordinary young man from Earth, he had naturally watched some anime from the Island Nation. By coincidence, K was one of them.

And the King of Silver's ability had naturally been his favorite—the power he wanted most. Immortality. It could be said to be an ability that kept one from aging or dying, and it could even let him fly.

He wanted to approach the Sword of Damocles, and his body slowly floated toward it along with his thoughts.

The moment his hand touched the sword, the Sword of Damocles emitted another blinding white light. Then, he lost consciousness again.

After an unknown amount of time, he felt his ears filled with noisy voices. As someone who liked peace and quiet, he naturally could not stand such an environment.

"Hey, can you all stop making so much noise? It's annoying as hell. Are you going to let me sleep or not?"

The moment he finished speaking, his eyes opened as well.

"Hey, Captain, that kid's awake."

Before he could fully come to his senses after opening his eyes, a rather shrill voice suddenly rang out beside him. It also sounded strangely familiar, as though he had heard it somewhere before.

Then he abruptly sat up, because he realized this was not his home.

"What exactly happened?"

He held his head with one hand, trying to recall what had just happened.

"Hey, kid, who are you?"

At that moment, Roger walked up to him and asked. However, he did not answer. Judging by his expression, he seemed to be thinking about something.

But seeing their Captain being ignored, Buggy could not tolerate it. He stepped forward and kicked the white-haired youth again.

"Hey, our Captain is asking you a question!"

"What?" The kick brought him back to his senses, but he could not understand why the big red-nosed man in front of him was so strong.

"Our Captain asked you who you are."

"Who am I? I should be asking who you people are. Why did you tie me up and bring me here?"

"We tied you up? Kid, you fell out of the sky onto our ship yourself. We didn't tie you up."

"You're kidding, right? How could I have fallen from the sky?"

"I think it sounds like a joke too, but you really did fall from the sky. Oh, right, there was also a huge silver-white sword. But it disappeared after you fell."

"A huge sword... could it be that wasn't a dream?" He suddenly remembered the Sword of Damocles from his dream.

"Then where is this?"

"This is an uninhabited island."

"An uninhabited island? An uninhabited island in what place?"

"Of course, the New World."

"The New World... the New World? The New World! Pirate King?" After figuring it out, he raised his head and looked at the red nose before him. Sure enough, it bore some resemblance to what he remembered.

"What Pirate King? Still, kid, you've got good sense. Our Captain will definitely become the Pirate King someday."

"Ah! No, that's not right. We were the ones asking you questions. How did you end up questioning me instead? Hurry up and tell us, who exactly are you?"

After realizing that he had been led around without noticing, Buggy grew furious.

"My name is Adolf K. Shirakawa."

"Oh, then what do you do? A pirate, a marine, or a civilian?"

"I don't know. Other than my name, I've forgotten everything."

Shirakawa could now be absolutely certain that he had transmigrated into the world of Pirate King.

"Oh, is that so?"

Roger was the one who said that. He had heard every word of the conversation between Shirakawa and Buggy.

He could also tell that Shirakawa was lying, though he did not know which part of what he had said was a lie.

"Then what do you plan to do from now on?"

"I don't know, but can I follow you?" This was a powerful backer. If he could cling to one now, he needed to do it quickly—that was what Shirakawa was thinking.

"You want to follow us? Kid, we're pirates. We could lose our lives at any time. Besides, we don't take in useless people."

He sized Shirakawa up. He looked even weaker than an average burly man.

"I'm not afraid of death, and I'm not useless either. I think I'm stronger than that red-nosed kid."

Shirakawa was terrified, of course, but he couldn't say that right now.

"Red nose? Me? Kid? Brat, get up. I'll show you how awesome Lord Buggy is."

Hearing Shirakawa's words, Buggy flew into a rage. Being called Red Nose was absolutely intolerable.

"Fine. As long as you can defeat Buggy, I'll agree to let you join my ship. How about it?"

"Thank you, Captain."

"Wait, don't call me that yet. You haven't defeated Buggy, so you're not one of my crewmates yet."

"Don't worry, Captain. It's only a matter of time."

Hearing that, Buggy's anger rose another notch. Wasn't this clearly looking down on him?

As for why Shirakawa had chosen Buggy, it was because, in his understanding, Buggy was incredibly weak—just a little luckier than most.

Upon hearing that Buggy was going to duel the person who had fallen from the sky, the other Roger Pirates grew excited as well, instinctively forming a circle to watch the show.

"Your name is Buggy, right? You go first. I'm afraid that once I make my move, you won't get another chance."

"Damn it, you still dare to underestimate me!"

Shirakawa was twenty years old now, while Buggy was only a twelve-year-old child. He didn't believe he could lose to Buggy.

Buggy raised his fist and charged at Shirakawa.

"Watch me take you down in one move—Buggy Fist!"

When he was not far from Shirakawa, Buggy suddenly leaped into the air, swung his fist, and smashed it toward Shirakawa's head.

Shirakawa raised both arms to shield his head and blocked the attack.

"It hurts." The instant he took the punch, Shirakawa felt as though his arm had been struck by a hammer.

But the pain vanished after only an instant.

Although Shirakawa had no idea what was going on, the battle in front of him was more important.

"You hit me once. Now it's my turn."

Shirakawa threw a punch at Buggy as well, but Buggy easily dodged it.

Then the two of them tangled together like children in a fight, trading punches and kicks.

"So boring." Some of the onlookers had already started yawning.

After wrestling for more than ten minutes, neither of them had suffered any real injuries, but both were already panting heavily.

"Brat, you forced my hand." At that moment, Buggy pulled a dagger from who knew where and held it in his hand.

Then he instantly stabbed toward Shirakawa, moving more than twice as fast as before.