Tower Forest Island

Sea Circle Calendar, Year 1490.

The first half of the Grand Line, Tower Forest Island.

This was an island made up of towering pagodas and forests... As far as the eye could see, lush forest stretched together like a green ocean surrounding the island.

Within that "green ocean" stood nine ancient towers, their tops dyed green by the foliage—echoing one another from afar.

Caw! Caw! Caw... Amid the cries of seagulls, the salty sea breeze mixed with the freshness of plants as it brushed past, bringing a soothing coolness.

Sunlight, like strands of golden sand, filtered through layer upon layer of leaves, scattering across the grass, spilling over white boulders, and... falling upon the black-haired boy standing atop one of them.

He wore a white short-sleeved T-shirt and black cropped pants. His young face still had a trace of baby fat... and beneath the dappled sunlight, it glowed with a healthy flush.

If that were all, this picture of cuteness and childish innocence... would have made women scream at the sight of him, only to cover their red lips as they fought the urge to pull him into their arms and shower him with affection.

But now, if there had been any onlookers... they would have either stared dumbfounded or struggled not to laugh.

Because he was doing three things at once... training, eating, and reading.

Things ordinary people would never even attempt—and would find difficult to accomplish—were happening before their eyes:

His lower body held a standard horse stance... his feet spread slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.

With his right hand, he brought a roasted hind leg from some creature—twice the size of his arm and gleaming golden—into his mouth, chewing and swallowing.

In his left hand was a book titled Detailed Explanation of Navigation Knowledge... and his bright black eyes moved along with the text.

It looked rather ridiculous to be so busy... but upon further thought, it was hard not to feel pity. What could have driven a child who looked only five or six years old to work so hard, refusing to waste even a single second?

Time flowed quietly by... accompanied only by the sounds of swallowing, birdsong, insect chirps, and the breeze.

"Lunch break is over... Is the Power Level assessment this afternoon?"

The boy muttered to himself as he closed the book in his left hand and tossed the bone from his right onto the ground... clatter.

A crash rang out... It was the skeleton of a wild boar twice his size, with nothing left but a pile of bones.

Whoosh, whoosh... The boy nimbly leaped from the boulder, casually hooked onto a tree branch, and swung his body into the distance. Then he caught a trailing vine and, like Tarzan, swiftly made his way toward a distant tower.

This was the One Piece World: a world woven together from dreams and freedom, blood and death, wealth and status.

It was the hall of the strong... and conversely, the hell of the weak.

He was five years old this year and had been on this island for a year. He also had two names: Li Chonggao and Reg.

One belonged to his previous life, and the other to this one... Five years ago, the cruise ship he had been riding on had struck a reef during terrible weather. The location had happened to be near the so-called "Bermuda Triangle."

Unfortunately... even with a life jacket, the outcome was no surprise. He died amid the raging winds and waves. When he woke again, he was in the body of a five-year-old child—an orphan who had been abducted by slave traders.

Fortunately... Fat Uncle Sam served the World Government, which was why he had come here: the World Government's directly affiliated secret intelligence agency.

Put simply, it was Cipher Pol, abbreviated as CP—whose large training base was Tower Forest Island.

On this medium-sized island with a total area of 40,000 square kilometers, fewer than 5,000 people lived here. Eighty percent of them were youths, girls, and children no older than fifteen.

Among them, children under ten made up the majority of nearly 4,000 people. The remaining thousand or so were instructors, guards, and miscellaneous staff sent by the World Government.

Those nine bluestone towers, steeped in the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty... were spacious and tall, scattered throughout the island. Every tower had the same specifications: hexagonal, around 100 meters in diameter, nearly 40 meters high, and seven stories tall.

The first through seventh floors respectively contained classrooms, dining halls, libraries, Den Den Mushi projection rooms, instructors' offices, and the final two floors served as dormitories.

With each tower as its center, the area within one kilometer was a safe zone... Beyond that lay primeval forest filled with venomous snakes and savage beasts.

Most of the children here were orphans from around the world... No one would come looking for people with such identities. Another portion were descendants of World Government officials.

No matter who it was, from the moment they set foot on this island... they had only two choices: death, or becoming one of them.

"One of them" referred to passing the harsh training and becoming a member of one of the CP1 through CP9 divisions.

Reg's goal was to enter the Ninth Tower and become a reserve member of CP9... It stood alone in the southern part of the island, occupying one-third of its total area.

Only by entering there... could he receive the best training and learn the Six Powers in the shortest possible time.

There were two ways to enter: first, before reaching the age of five, including age five, one had to reach a Power Level of 100 and pass the instructors' assessment.

Second, possess the power of a Devil Fruit.

The second condition was practically meaningless... Reg had never seen any other child with such power, aside from a few instructors.

Devil Fruits were not something as commonplace as they had seemed in his memories... They were truly scarce treasures.

Power Level was a comprehensive evaluation of a person's physical abilities: strength, speed, reflexes, and all the other power contained within the body... It could reflect a person's combat ability, though it could not completely determine their strength.

Put simply, it was a "full-force strike" in one's normal state. The tester assessed the subject's overall physical capabilities and assigned a corresponding combat power value.

This evaluation standard was used only within the CP organization and the Marines.

Taking an ordinary Marine soldier as an example, a weapon-bearing Marine had a combat power of 10... This referred to combat capability, broadly meaning the ability to strike or destroy the greatest number of enemy units while maintaining a high chance of survival.

In other words... the subject had to pose roughly the same level of threat to an enemy as ten Marine soldiers by himself.

From the first day he arrived in this world, Reg had prayed... for some kind of cheat ability. But no system had appeared, nor had he gotten some old grandpa living inside an artifact.

Still, he had not gained nothing... The unfathomable Bermuda Triangle that had brought him into this world seemed to have tempered his soul.

Since the trainees here were still children, they needed sufficient sleep... Apart from sixteen hours of strict training and study, they had eight hours to sleep.

Reg needed only four hours... No matter how exhausted he was during the day, he could always revive at full strength as though he believed in Brother Chun. The side effect was that, like Luffy, he had to eat like a glutton.

Thanks to his powerful soul, his memory had also become crystal clear... As long as he seriously tried to recall something he had seen before, he could remember it vividly.

Multitasking was no problem either... Just like the three things he had been doing at once earlier, his efficiency in studying and training did not suffer in the slightest.

Beyond that, his five senses were far sharper than those of others his age... Reg knew very well that this was a sign of "Observation Haki." Though he was still far from awakening it, it was useful nonetheless.

For example, right now... Hiss!

A mottled python as thick as his head suddenly shot out. Its enormous jaws gaped open, thick saliva dripping from its mouth.

"Haha... Flower, you're being naughty again."

Even while moving at high speed, Reg did not panic. He nimbly tilted his body, stuffed the book into the pouch at his waist with his left hand while bracing himself against the ground, then used his right hand to punch Flower straight into the bushes.

Snort, snort... Thud, thud, thud!

The ground trembled faintly as a huge black boar came charging through the billowing dust... Two sharp tusks jutted out from its mouth, gleaming brightly under the sunlight with a chilling edge.

"Still got some time... Black, today we'll settle our old score."

"Snort... snort!"

Man and boar truly were enemies meeting face-to-face, their eyes blazing with hatred... Flower struggled to poke its head out of the bushes, flicked its tongue, and fled at top speed. It wanted no part in a fight between two monsters.

Thud, thud, thud... Enraged by Reg, Black sped up even more and charged forward with savage ferocity.

Whether trees or flowers and grass stood in its way... all were mercilessly trampled beneath its tusks and iron hooves. Today, it would make this insolent brat understand who was the true boss of this area.

"Whew..."

Reg took a deep breath, his entire body tensing as his eyes narrowed... 1!

Whoosh... The instant Black's tusks thrust toward him, a teasing glint appeared in Reg's eyes. At the critical moment, he sprang into the air and landed squarely on its back.

Snort, snort... Bang, bang!

Black was furious at having a little runt sit on its back... Then Reg's bun-sized fists began hammering into its body.

"Snort, snort..."

Anger and pain sent Black running wildly in all directions, trying to throw Reg off its back.

But Reg clung on like a nail, his fists raining down... He had just eaten, so this was a little post-meal exercise.

The reason he had come out to hunt for food... was because the cafeteria's provisions were only barely enough to "keep one alive."

Basically, children over the age of ten no longer chose to eat there... Like him, they instead hunted on their own in this "safe zone."

Even so, some children died in the process every year... After all, this was not paradise, but an organization that trained elite agents.

There were not many like him who came out here at the age of five... Reg dared to do this because he had spent several years as a soldier in his previous life and was well versed in wilderness survival training.

Snort, snort... Snort!

As time passed... Pain and mournful cries emerged, and Black's body stopped thrashing so violently... Instead, it lowered its massive head.

"Good, good... Be good. You need to stay alive, don't get eaten."

Reg gently patted Black's huge head... It was the strongest beast in this safe zone. A year ago, it had chased him into a miserable retreat, yet now he had subdued it with ease.

Snort, snort... Black pawed the ground with its front hooves in displeasure, but did not resist.

Reg lightly leaped down and left without looking back... From today onward, he would bid this area farewell.