Dawn's Origins

Leaving aside Dawn, who was completely dumbfounded, even the onlookers enjoying the show were stunned.

What was going on? Had they not woken up yet, or had the world gone completely insane?

Their comrade-in-arms was actually a prince of the North Sea? They had just been joking around, yet the joke had come true in the next second?

Hina and Sola were the first to react. The two little girls, not yet grown into mature beauties, immediately had stars in their eyes.

"Dawn, I never thought you really were a prince. Congratulations on finding your family."

Seeing that Dawn had found his family, Sola and Hina could not help but cheer. The smiles on their faces made them seem even happier than Dawn himself.

"Dawn, congratulations," Shuen, Berigood, Shalinkul, and the others said happily as well.

After all, wasn't it something worth celebrating when their friend found his family?

Of course, as the person involved, Dawn had yet to recover from the shock.

"Wait, even if it's an identification tag, that doesn't prove anything, does it? There are so many strange things in this world. Maybe it's just a coincidence."

Dawn believed it, but he still found it difficult to accept all at once.

What happened to the promised "Desolate Island Marine route"?

How had he just set out to sea, only to happen across a member of his own family among the slaves captured by a pirate crew?

(Д)ノ!!!

Wasn't this fucking way too much of a coincidence? The convergence of worldlines? The choice of Steins;Gate?

Wouldn't readers call this kind of plot unbearably melodramatic if it were in a novel, then promptly abandon it until it died?

After all, hadn't this novel already spent quite a few chapters writing about his transmigration? And now it was suddenly throwing in new settings?

Didn't it know it could get beaten to death for this?

"Your Highness, to be honest, this is all too coincidental. Even I feel as though I'm dreaming. Before this, I thought I was about to be sold as a slave, or that the pirate crew would suffer an accident and I would die somewhere in this world."

"But then, in the very next moment, I met you! This identification tag is proof! It cannot lie! Your tag bears the unique mark of the Abraham Clan! That alone explains everything!"

At that moment, Adolf could not help shedding tears. Choking up, he looked at Dawn, whose muddled mind had begun wandering into wild thoughts.

"Your Highness, if you still do not believe it, then once we reach the Ishtar Kingdom, you can verify it again at the Ancestral Tablet passed down through the Abraham family."

Well, Dawn had to admit that he was truly convinced. Still, the coincidence of it all made him recall a saying from his previous life:

"Reality is always stranger than fantasy!"

Having finally accepted that he was a prince, Dawn now listened to Adolf explain matters concerning the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Country.

The Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Country was another name for the Ishtar Kingdom, since its highly developed agriculture and livestock industry were the defining features of the nation.

First was Abraham Gaius, the ruler of the kingdom and Dawn's adoptive father...

Then there was Abraham Rovena, the queen of the Ishtar Kingdom—this body's mother.

According to Adolf, the Ancestral Tablet that Dawn would need to verify later was not actually a memorial stone for the Abraham Clan's ancestors. Rather, it was a stone tablet created by the nation's scientists using the Abraham family bloodline.

It was called the Ancestral Tablet only because the Abraham family genealogy was carved upon it. It had been made by Dawn's paternal grandfather, initially simply because its material was durable.

According to Adolf, the Abraham family's position had been unstable during Dawn's great-grandfather's generation. Thus, in order to build prestige, Dawn's great-grandfather had created the Ancestral Tablet.

He had also added a bloodline-verification function to it. Only when a member of the Abraham family dripped blood onto it would the tablet change color, ensuring the Abraham Clan's stable position.

There were many official explanations, but overall, Dawn felt it was meant to consolidate their position and prevent outsiders from usurping the throne. On the other hand, it also displayed their technological strength.

However, Dawn only believed half of that. Maybe someone had discovered one day that he had been cuckolded and wanted a legitimate way to test whether the child was really his?

After that came the question of why Dawn had ended up wandering alone. Once his great-grandfather had consolidated their position, the family that had sought to usurp the throne was weakened to the brink of extinction during Dawn's father's generation.

Then came the usual desperate last stand. By sheer bad luck, the original owner of this body had been captured, and his fate had been unknown ever since.

That family had originally intended to hold Dawn hostage in exchange for a way out. Afraid that someone might rescue him, they sent people to sail him off to another island.

And then there was no more after that...

The captured Dawn vanished on that island, while the traitorous family was wiped out so thoroughly that not even scraps remained.

As for how Dawn had later drifted to the Grand Line and become a street orphan?

Sorry, Dawn did not know either. ╮(￣▽￣)╭

What could he do? He was a fake, after all.

Though the memories were extremely unclear, Dawn could more or less guess what had happened.

He had probably encountered a storm or pirates or something while being transported away.

Then the ship had headed for the Grand Line, only to suffer another disaster there. Or perhaps the captain had entrusted him to someone to raise, and for various reasons, he had eventually become a street orphan.

Then came Dawn's life as an orphan. His memories after that were crystal clear, but he had never imagined that the original owner of this body had been a prince.

"What was this? A benefit from the heavens? Or some kind of 'farming route'?" Dawn could not make sense of this bizarre turn of events for the moment.

Of course, Dawn might have been dumbfounded, but Adolf was not. He immediately asked Sola and the others to take him to the warship's commander, Aokiji, and explain the situation.

After learning that Aokiji and Yukimura, who had not boarded the ship, had once specifically rescued Dawn when he had been stranded in Stomach Baron, Adolf became even more enthusiastic.

It was only when Aokiji arrived that Dawn came back to his senses. Looking at the sleepy-faced Aokiji, Dawn felt somewhat at a loss.

"Oh my, I never thought you had that kind of identity, kid. The boy Yukimura thought so highly of actually turned out to be a prince of the North Sea." As he spoke, Aokiji yawned lazily, looking utterly unconcerned.

"Mr. Aokiji, you don't mind?" Dawn could not quite understand Aokiji's attitude.

After all, he had suddenly become the heir to a kingdom. Would that conflict with his goal of becoming a Marine?

Dawn had a fairly good idea of the potential he had displayed. The fact that the training camp instructors occasionally gave him special treatment said enough.

"Relax. The Ishtar Kingdom is a major grain-producing country. Such a nation supplies food to more than just neighboring countries. Who do you think its biggest partner is?" Aokiji waved a hand, looking unconcerned.

"Uh..." Upon hearing Aokiji say that, Dawn would have been an idiot not to understand.