Sea of Chaos, Fallen Navy

Darren woke up on a soft, expansive bed.

With a high-bridged nose, eyes as deep as the starry sky, brows sharp as swords, and short, tousled black hair, he possessed an air of untamed, roguish charisma.

He rose slowly from the bed, his bare upper body covered in a variety of jagged, terrifying scars, the rugged lines of his muscles adding to his wild appeal.

In short, he was incredibly handsome.

"Lord Darren, are you awake?"

A soft, sultry, and intoxicating voice drifted from beneath the plush quilt.

A mature face, soft as water, peeked out from under the covers, while the graceful curves of her body beneath the sheets were far too explicit to describe.

The woman's eyes, glistening with desire, gazed seductively at the tall man standing before the floor-to-ceiling window, her expression filled with the satisfaction of one who had been conquered.

She had never seen such a perfect man—wild, domineering, and untamable.

Although her husband's preference for men meant that last night had been her first time, the man before her had given her pleasure beyond her wildest imagination.

Darren walked to the windowsill, picked up a premium cigar from the crystal coffee table, lit it, took a deep drag, and smiled.

"Mm, go back to sleep, my dear."

Though he called her "my dear," this woman was merely a passing traveler in Darren's life of hunting beauty.

He would forget her soon enough.

Even if the taste of this noblewoman was indeed quite exquisite.

Darren casually threw on a loose white shirt, leaving his chest exposed, poured himself a glass of whiskey, and picked up the latest newspaper, flipping through it as he sipped his drink.

"Great Pirate 'World Destroyer' Byrnndi World sinks a World Government official ship; the Celestial Dragons are furious, placing a bounty of 200 million Berries! The World Pirates may become the government's greatest threat!"

"Great Pirate Roger sets sail once again!! Latest sightings place him in the 'weakest' East Blue!!"

"Great Pirate Shiki the Golden Lion is recruiting in the New World, attempting to assemble the largest pirate fleet in the world!!"

"Great Pirates Kaido and Charlotte Linlin clash in the New World, resulting in a small island being razed to the ground!!"

"..."

One shocking headline after another appeared before Darren's eyes, causing him to narrow them instinctively.

"It's certainly lively enough, this era..."

He slowly closed the newspaper, took a sip of whiskey, and lit a high-end cigar embossed with gold-leaf patterns.

The rich tobacco smoke stimulated his throat, sharpening his mind as he fell into deep thought.

That's right, Darren was a transmigrator.

But unlike other transmigrators, he possessed no "chosen one" system or golden finger; his only advantage was that after his soul merged, his perception and control over his own body were far more precise than the average person's.

He had transmigrated into this pirate world five years ago, climbing from the lowest-ranking Marine private to the position he held today through sheer grit.

The North Blue, while outside the Grand Line, was the most chaotic, barbaric, and filth-ridden of the four seas.

It lacked the peace of the "weakest sea," the East Blue;

It lacked the commercial prosperity and wealth of the West Blue;

It lacked the stability of the sparsely populated South Blue...

The North Blue was filled with mafia turf wars, underground power struggles, endless conflicts between kingdoms, and rampant piracy...

Everything about it made the North Blue a nightmare for countless Marines to govern.

From an ordinary soldier to the base commander of Branch 321, and even on the verge of receiving a promotion from Headquarters, Darren had survived so many brushes with death and so much treachery that he could no longer keep count.

The scars on his body were proof enough of everything he had endured.

It was precisely because he knew how difficult the journey had been that Darren adopted an attitude of extreme indulgence toward life.

After all, the timeline he found himself in was the year 1492 of the Sea Circle Calendar!

In this era, the God Valley incident had ended years ago, and the entire world order was in chaos—

Roger had not yet completed his great voyage to become the legendary Pirate King;

Shiki had not yet gone to Marineford to throw his life away, still dreaming his grand dream of ruling the seas;

Whitebeard was still sailing the seas collecting "sons," his golden, crown-like hair still thick and vibrant;

Kaido had not yet become the infamous "Teacher Kaido" of later generations, still stubbornly seeking death by challenging the Marines;

Charlotte Linlin had not yet become the mountain of flesh and "Iron Balloon" known as Big Mom, still maintaining a fine figure while searching the seas for suitable studs;

Red-Haired was still an apprentice, Buggy had not yet become an Emperor, and Monkey D. Luffy hadn't even been born...

In this era, there was no balanced structure of the Four Emperors dividing the New World, no Shichibukai system—only chaos and slaughter!

In an age where the entire world suffered under the ravages of pirates, An age where great pirates and ruthless overlords ran rampant across the globe, Even the Marines—the profession countless transmigrator predecessors considered the best for "farming" and growing stronger—was a career where one constantly walked with their head on the chopping block.

Darren himself couldn't say for sure when he might die in the heat of battle, so he naturally intended to live his life as well as he could.

Since he had managed to transmigrate, he was going to live it to the fullest!

Even if he was a Marine, he wasn't going to be a miserable, downtrodden one.

He would drink the finest wine, smoke the strongest cigarettes, and sleep with the most beautiful women!

That was his life philosophy.

Whether it was considered depraved or corrupt, those so-called reputations didn't matter in the slightest.

He wasn't a pirate, so what did he need a reputation for?

In the North Blue Marine branch, one never relied on a good reputation to get promoted.

If nothing else, his former superiors, Borsalino and Sakazuki, both hailed from the North Blue as well.

Their reputations weren't exactly stellar, either.

Yet, look at them now—they went to Marine Headquarters, graduated from the Officer Candidate School, and climbed the ranks step by step, becoming the "future Marine Admirals" in everyone's eyes.

Of course, play was play, but when it came to his training and the improvement of his strength, Darren's standards were as strict as his taste in women.

Thinking this, he adjusted his breathing and gradually focused his mind, immersing himself in the perception of his own body.

The soul fusion caused by his transmigration had granted him a miraculous talent, allowing him to perceive his own body with a precision beyond the imagination of an ordinary person.

For the sake of analysis and record-keeping, after several years of exploration, he had successfully visualized this sensation and, using numerical units, created a "Personal Attribute Table" by comparing himself to Admiral Sengoku, whom he had once seen.

It might seem irrational, but given that something as absurd as transmigration had already occurred, it was acceptable.

Physique: 58.103

Strength: 53.831

Speed: 57.539

Fruit: 71.345

Physique represents the body's defense, vitality, and stamina.

Strength is pure arm strength, physical power, and explosive force.

Speed is movement speed and short-distance sprinting bursts.

As for Fruit... that is the level of mastery over his Devil Fruit.

This data is based on specific benchmarks, with a maximum value of 100.

For example, for Physique, the benchmark is naturally the "Strongest Creature in Sea, Land, and Air" from the original story, Kaido of the Beasts.

Darren estimated that Kaido's terrifying defense, which couldn't be breached without advanced Ryou, would be around 90 points.

"Hmm, my Physique really did increase by 0.03."

Darren sensed his body in detail, a smile curling at the corner of his lips.

An accidental discovery of his had finally been confirmed.

After last night's two-hour "campaign," he felt refreshed upon waking, and his Physique had indeed grown stronger.

This made perfect sense.

According to the physiological knowledge he possessed before transmigrating, moderate "exercise" could increase testosterone levels and release large amounts of dopamine, thereby promoting muscle growth.

0.03 might not seem like much, but every little bit adds up.

Yes, this was how Darren had utilized this "talent" he had spent the past few years exploring and refining.

Through precise perception of his body and data-like feedback, he could find the most suitable training methods for his own growth, continuously achieving improvements in his strength!

Just then—

Swish!

The door to the room was suddenly sliced open by a sharp, cold blade of light.

A tall, beautiful woman with long black hair walked in, her expression icy and her face flushed with anger.

"Colonel Darren, as the soon-to-be Admiral of the North Blue, to actually commit such an absurd act within a Marine base... this is simply too much!"

Gion, clutching a famous golden blade, glanced at the woman cowering under the covers on the bed, her eyes practically spitting fire as she uttered a sentence that left Gion's partner, who was standing behind her, completely dumbfounded:

"This woman is the wife of the Governor of the Yadis Kingdom!!"

A quick reminder to you all: because this book spans a very long timeline, from the era of Roger all the way to the Summit War, and the timeline at the start is very early, many characters are still quite young.

They haven't had many experiences yet, are still quite green, and their ideologies haven't yet formed into the impressions we have from the original work.

In this book, you will see a young Dragon, a Gion who insists on pure justice, a naive and confused Gion's partner, an Aokiji who still clings to "Burning Justice," and an ambitious Crocodile...

But please trust in my ability; I will flesh out every character, and as time passes, they will gradually grow and move closer to their original portrayals.