Prologue: Let My Name Resound Across the World

The blazing fire lit up the night like day, while gunshots rose and fell alongside the villagers' wails.

In the farmland not far from the village, amid crops half the height of a man, a child of around ten lay prone, desperately covering his mouth with his arms to keep from making a single sound.

His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles had turned white, and his blunt nails had pierced the skin of his palms. Bright red blood dripped through his fingers and seeped into the soil beneath him. Piercing pain shot through his palms, yet he seemed completely unaware of it.

Compared to the pain in his hands, what truly made him wish for death was the sight before his eyes.

Mosmar Village, once a village like a paradise untouched by the world, had become a living hell tonight.

Fire was everywhere. Screams were everywhere. This was the end of the kindhearted villagers—and a carnival of slaughter for the pirates.

A great fire burned in the threshing ground at the center of the village, and thick smoke filled the air.

The stench of cheap lamp oil mixed with the scent of blood, forming an indescribably pungent odor. The ferocious-looking pirates took deep breaths, closing their eyes in intoxication. The fiery sensation stung their nostrils and further fueled their excitement for plunder.

The men's corpses lay scattered across the ground, their blood soaking the earth beneath them.

Beside every corpse lay scattered "weapons," but farm tools like hoes and wooden pitchforks could never stand against the pirates' curved blades. Even in death, their eyes remained open, their vacant gazes seemingly filled with endless terror and unwillingness.

The surviving women and children wailed until their hearts tore apart. They fell to their knees in despair, endlessly begging those demons for mercy, forgetting that these scum of the sea had long since lost all humanity.

In the end, the innocent women and children received nothing for their pleas but the pirates' wild laughter and the cold gleam of their curved blades.

It was a slaughter with no suspense. Pirates never left survivors.

One villager after another fell, their blood gathering into streams that slowly flowed over the stone-paved roads.

After confirming that no one else had survived in the village, the pirate first mate cursed as he viciously cracked his whip at the bloodthirsty pirates.

"What the hell are you standing around for?! Get to work, you damn idiots!"

The only response was the pirates' laughter and impatient jeers.

The pirates then rushed eagerly into the villagers' homes, taking everything they wanted. Pair after pair of cheap leather boots trampled across floors that had once been clean and tidy, leaving filthy marks behind.

Like a swarm of locusts passing through, those demons took everything that could be taken from the villagers' homes—food, money, metal utensils.

After their slaughter, they returned laden with spoils. Tearing open their smoke-roughened throats, the pirates began singing an ugly song of plunder, not caring in the slightest that every basket of bread and every Belik they had stolen was stained with innocent blood.

"Get all the valuables onto the ship, you worthless fools!"

The pirate captain with an eyepatch stood in the middle of the village, shouting loudly. He gazed at tonight's haul with a greedy smile on his face.

The short-barreled pistol at his waist still smoked, while the leather boots on his feet were caked with dust and blood.

Pulling a flask from his clothes, the pirate captain narrowed his remaining eye and took a satisfied swig. Cloudy liquor ran down his thick beard and soaked the collar of his shirt.

"Set sail, you maggots!"

Once everything had been loaded onto the ship, the pirate captain let out a howl. His fifty-odd subordinates raised anchor and unfurled the sails, and a black pirate flag rose above the mast.

The skull-and-eyepatch flag fluttered in the wind, as if laughing silently.

"One-Eyed Belik!"

Belik's vicious reputation was known to everyone in the North Blue. Though the child was young, he recognized what that pirate flag represented.

He gritted his teeth, his entire body trembling. Flames of hatred blazed in his eyes, gradually merging with the inferno consuming the village.

"Ah!"

Long Yi cried out as he jolted awake from his bed and sat upright, only to find that sweat had already soaked the thin blanket over him and the sheets beneath him.

After taking several deep breaths and seeing the familiar surroundings, his emotions gradually calmed. Once he confirmed that everything just now had only been a dream, he wearily covered his forehead and muttered helplessly to himself.

"Again? Your obsession really runs deep. I've already decided to avenge you, yet you still refuse to let me go."

Long Yi had made quite a commotion, drawing several disgruntled protests from around him. He gave a bitter smile without explaining anything, merely grabbing the clothes and sword beside his bed before quietly getting out of bed.

This was the dormitory for Marine recruits, and it had been Long Yi's home for two years.

The rather messy dormitory was littered with shoes tossed everywhere. The air was thick with the smells of sweat, tobacco, and several other indescribable odors.

Snoring and teeth grinding rose and fell. Between rows of bunk beds, seventeen or eighteen people slept soundly.

Although Long Yi's disturbance had annoyed them moments ago, those guys had somehow already fallen asleep again in the blink of an eye. Long Yi looked at his roommates, blessed with absurdly good sleep, sighed, and tiptoed out of the dormitory.

It was early summer morning. In the Marine recruit base at Marineford, aside from soldiers on patrol or guard duty, few people were out and about.

"Whew."

Letting out a long breath, Long Yi seemed to be releasing every lingering emotion from the nightmare. He carefully dressed himself, then casually drew the sword in his hand.

With a sharp ring, the blade left its sheath, its cold gleam flashing past. Long Yi instinctively narrowed his eyes.

This was the most common type of sword used by the Marines. Though called a sword, it looked more like a long saber to Long Yi. But he did not care about such trivial details. He only knew that it was what would allow him to survive in this new world.

That was right. Strictly speaking, Long Yi did not belong to this world.

The original owner of this body was naturally the child hiding in the fields in his nightmare. As for him, he was merely someone whose soul had entered another body.

The original Long Yi had argued with his family and run away from home in the middle of the night in a fit of anger. Unexpectedly, pirates attacked the village. Because he had not been in the village, he had narrowly escaped with his life.

The day after the pirates massacred the village, Marines sent to investigate found him. Seeing how pitiful he was, the Marine officer leading them sent him to Marineford to train at the Marine recruit base.

Joining the government Marines was the only way for an orphan like him to avoid starving to death.

Hatred was like a whip, constantly driving Long Yi forward. Spurred by the vengeance of his destroyed village, Long Yi trained desperately every day after joining the Marines.

Although he was the youngest at the base, his strength improved far faster than that of the other Marines in his class.

But his hatred was too deep. After three months of overloaded training, an accident still happened.

He died suddenly from overwork.

The young Long Yi collapsed unwillingly on the training grounds, his soul returning to the heavens.

When he stood up again, the body bore the soul of someone from another world—and that unfamiliar soul happened to be named Long Yi as well.

The instant his soul entered the body, countless fragments of memory merged with his personality. Familiar with the settings of many anime, Long Yi instantly understood where he was.

This was the Grand Line. This was the world of One Piece.

While inheriting the memories of the body's original owner, Long Yi had also inherited his obsession. Becoming stronger had become an instinct carved into his bones.

Long Yi did not resist that feeling. He knew this was not a peaceful paradise. Behind freedom and dreams lay cruelty and ruthlessness.

After the Great Pirate Era began, the seas had descended into chaos.

Pirates of every size were as numerous as the hairs on an ox. Those who sought the treasure of One Piece, Gol D. Roger, were only a small minority. Most pirates were scum of the sea who burned, killed, looted, and committed every evil imaginable.

As for the original protagonists, the Straw Hat Pirates... they were merely a group of adventurers flying a pirate flag.

"Hey, Long Yi! Today's the day your batch of recruits gets promoted to full Marines. Why are you still here training?"

A Marine on patrol happened to spot Long Yi and greeted him familiarly. Hearing the patrolman's words, Long Yi smiled, scratched the back of his head, answered him, and gradually walked away.

Over the past two years, Long Yi's diligence and relentless effort had become known throughout the entire Marine recruit base. Among the trainee Marines of his class, there was practically no one who did not know him.

Being so conspicuous had once brought Long Yi quite a bit of trouble. But after he dealt with a challenger in just a few strikes, all that contempt and hostility turned into respect.

This world revered the strong.

So even though Long Yi was only thirteen years old and shorter than most people, no one in the recruit base dared look down on him.

"Long Yi really is hardworking. Up so early to practice swordsmanship—no wonder he's the best among this batch of Marines."

Watching Long Yi's retreating figure, the patrolling Marine casually remarked before shaking his head and walking away with his rifle over his shoulder.

After parting with the Marine, Long Yi went alone to a training ground.

The training ground was empty in the early morning, which did not surprise Long Yi. He slung his sword over his back and began running to warm up. After silently going through his preparations, he readied himself to practice swordsmanship.

Step forward, slash down. Step back, thrust upward.

Long Yi practiced no profound sword techniques, only basic Marine sword forms. He had practiced these techniques for a long time, and they had long since been deeply imprinted in his mind.

Whenever he held a sword, his body seemed to move on its own. Long Yi knew it was because he had developed muscle memory.

"Ha!"

With a low shout, Long Yi finally relaxed after swinging his last strike and sheathed his sword.

Taking a deep breath, he sat down casually and crossed his legs to meditate.

Sweat trickled down his cheeks, and waves of warmth spread through his body. Long Yi's lips curved into a relieved smile. He could clearly feel that he had grown a little stronger again.

"Let's see... today's the day I become an official Marine. Time really flies."

Unable to stop himself from recalling the unease and confusion he had felt when he had first entered this world, Long Yi was briefly lost in thought before gently shaking his head.

He rose to his feet, and determination returned to his black eyes.

Everything from his previous life had scattered away like drifting fluff in the wind. What he needed to consider now was how to live well in this world, and how to shine with his own light in this vast and magnificent age.

He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. Bathed in the morning sun, Long Yi seemed to be draped in a layer of golden light.

"Woo! Woo! Woo!"

The wake-up bugle sounded. Long Yi walked toward the washroom beneath the morning light. Looking at the trainee Marines from his class hurrying over to wash up, he smiled and murmured to himself.

"In this life, my name will resound across the world!"

Please stop complaining about how off-putting the protagonist's name is. Go check the work-related notes—the meaning behind the protagonist's name has already been explained clearly.