May 5, 1519, Sea Circle Calendar.
East Blue · Loguetown.
The underground warehouse beneath Barto's Black Market Bar.
"Ha! Boss Barto, sorry for the trouble, but I'm taking this Devil Fruit!"
A young man with long black hair parted three-seven had blood clinging to the slightly wavy ends. He looked a bit like Chen Haonan, the boss of Causeway Bay from Young and Dangerous.
At that moment, he held a bloodstained watermelon knife in his right hand and a flat, pale-green patterned fruit in his left.
His face was spattered with blood as he grinned wildly. A scar at the corner of his eye gave him a touch of roguish charm.
He glanced at the gang's top enforcer lying in a pool of blood, then decisively took a bite of the Paramecia Barrier-Barrier Fruit!
Never underestimate his true strength just because he was a "strategist"!
The young man's name was Daddy, and he came from Blue Star. Both his parents had the surname Dai, which was how he ended up with such a strange name. The reason was probably similar to the one behind Yang Xiaomi's name.
But because of that name, he'd earned the nickname "Big Daddy" at school, which had let him take advantage of quite a few classmates and friends!
That nickname had also given him a naturally tough, slightly roguish air. Combined with his tall build and his resemblance to Chen Haonan, it made him the "big brother" in his classmates' eyes.
Still, there was no way he'd get involved in the gang life!
Though Daddy was a handsome guy who valued loyalty, he was still a fine young man raised under the red flag.
Studying hard and getting into college was the normal path for an ordinary person like him.
And things had more or less gone that way.
As a newly enrolled college student, he ate well, slept well, and did decently in his studies. He had no worries about food or clothing, parents who doted on him, brothers and friends—and, best of all, girls who chased after him.
He'd been perfectly content with such a comfortable life. So how had he suddenly ended up reincarnated in another world??
He remembered staying up late on a Friday night to watch the latest dozen or so episodes of One Piece. He'd drifted off to sleep, and when he woke up, he'd suddenly found himself in this world!
Damn it, he'd even arrived in his pajamas, right in the familiar and famous execution square in Loguetown.
What made Daddy feel most miserable was that he'd transmigrated with no system, no cheat, and nothing but a blank slate. He hadn't even gotten the most basic language-pack cheat!
Unable to understand the language of the One Piece world, Daddy had received no attention from the Goddess of Luck, nor had he stumbled upon any opportunities or found any kind-hearted people to help him.
Over the next few days, Daddy tried hard to figure out the timeline. He'd tried asking the Marines for help, hoping to meet the kindhearted airhead Tashigi or the upright Smoker the White Hunter.
But before he could find either of them, the language barrier made his incoherent rambling sound suspicious. The guards at the Marine Branch entrance beat him up and roughly chased him away.
Later, so hungry he could barely stand and with no other options, he tried stealing a little food, only to get beaten by a burly shopkeeper!
As expected, in this East Blue gateway to the Grand Line, anyone who could run a shop in pirate-ridden Loguetown needed some muscle to get by.
To survive, starving Daddy had no choice but to scavenge for food in Loguetown's dump. Then the beggars bullied him, and the thugs beat him up.
Daddy couldn't believe that a strapping young man who stood six feet tall couldn't even beat two beggars in this pirate world!
That miserable life, where he was treated worse than a dog, made him want to end it all several times and put an end to this humiliating, failed transmigration.
But when he remembered the anger he felt at being bullied by thugs and beggars, along with all the familiar plotlines, beautiful women, and powerful figures in this world, he couldn't bring himself to accept it!
He silently buried all his resentment. He was determined to find a chance to rise to the top in this world and vent all the fury he'd built up over the past few days.
To learn the language, he endured several months of living like a mute. He often volunteered to work for the shops around Loguetown, just for a simple filling meal.
But some unscrupulous shopkeepers were too stingy to spare even a bite of food, making him work for nothing.
And so, a mute who was easy to bully but worked hard earned a little "fame" around Loguetown.
Later, thanks to his reputation for being hardworking and reliable, Daddy somehow joined the Barto Family, Loguetown's underworld organization. He became an outer member and at least had a meal to eat!
Like that, Daddy learned the language and writing while keeping up with the major events and timeline of this world!
Before long, he'd earned himself a nickname and a new name in the Barto Family: "Mute" Babaya.
A red-haired girl named Dezaya had come up with the name on the spot, seemingly teasing him based on his nickname as a mute.
It was said to have another meaning too: it was made by combining the names Bartolomeo and Dezaya.
Daddy hadn't expected that someone had called him "Big Daddy" in his old world, only for someone in this world to call him "Daddy" again.
So he hadn't objected to Dezaya giving him a new name.
After all, if someone wanted to call him "Daddy," why not let them!
About two years ago, when Daddy had been in this world for less than two months and still hadn't fully learned its language, he'd had no choice but to trail after the Barto Family's gang members, collecting protection money and acting as a hired fist and errand boy.
Then, at a restaurant beside Loguetown's execution square, he'd seen a freckled boy who was on fire, fighting the Marines over a dine-and-dash.
For the first time, he'd witnessed a fierce battle between two Logia Devil Fruit users: the "smoke-and-fire showdown" between White Hunter Smoker and Fire Fist Ace!
And this "mute" had finally spoken in front of the Barto Family's gang members. The only problem was, he'd spoken in Chinese from Blue Star.
"Holy shit! That's Fire Fist Ace! No way! I've gotta get on his ship! The Dark-Dark Fruit, here I come!!! And I'm gonna win Yamato over too!"
Daddy shouted excitedly, as if he could already see himself stealing Blackbeard Teach's Dark-Dark Fruit and rising to the top!
But fate played another cruel joke on him!
Fire Fist Ace had already visited the execution platform where the Pirate King Roger had been executed. He'd started fighting the Marines after dining and dashing, so he soon fled the island.
Only when Daddy saw Fire Fist Ace's pirate ship pulling away did he finally come to his senses. He raced after it all the way to the port.
He'd been filled with regret at that moment, cursing himself for being such an idiot and a moron.
He'd actually missed his chance to board Ace's ship! He'd wanted so badly to join Ace's ship and become a member of the Spade Pirates.
That way, he could use his knowledge of the story to rise to the top step by step!
The moment Daddy had seen Fire Fist Ace, he'd already decided to follow him into the Grand Line and the New World.
Once Ace became the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Commander, Daddy could join the Whitebeard Pirates too and lie low, just like Blackbeard Teach.
He'd also need to find a way to transfer to the ship of Fourth Division Commander Thatch, then find or steal the Dark-Dark Fruit before anyone else and eat it!
That was right. He wanted to take the Logia Dark-Dark Fruit that Blackbeard Teach had waited so long for and claim everything that belonged to Teach.
He'd even planned to make sure Teach never got the chance to see the Dark-Dark Fruit. Otherwise, he'd never stand a chance against the ultimate schemer Teach!
After all, that big, black brute was ruthless enough to leave three claw marks on Red-Haired Shanks!
But all those plans had fallen apart because Ace had left too quickly. Daddy hadn't even managed to say a single word to him.
After all, the fight between Fire Fist Ace and White Hunter Smoker had been so terrifying and over-the-top. How could a weakling like him dare to jump into the fray?
And just like that, Ace had slipped away in a flash. He'd come as quietly as he'd left, giving Daddy not the slightest chance and making him miss an opportunity to rise to prominence in the world of One Piece!
Weakling Daddy had considered rowing after Ace in a little boat, but the Barto Family's gang members had soon dragged him away by force.
Furious, Smoker had already led the Marines in a sweep of Loguetown's pirates. Even gang members like them had to hide at once.
And that was how Daddy had completely missed his chance to become one of Ace's crew!
[PS: Ace was born on January 1, 1500, and Luffy on May 5, 1503. Ace was three years and four months older than Luffy. Both set sail after their seventeenth birthdays, so Ace left about three years and four months before Luffy.]
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