Transition

Aaron rubbed his head. It did not hurt, but the shaking had left him a little dizzy.

He lowered his head to look at the child he had knocked unconscious and asked awkwardly, "Are you okay?"

The child did not answer.

"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as you're okay?"

The child still did not answer.

"My name is Aaron. What's yours?"

"How could he possibly answer your question when he's unconscious?!" Ace woke up beside them just then. Seeing Aaron frantically questioning the unconscious Luffy, he rolled his eyes and said irritably.

"But he already tacitly agreed that he's fine."

"If he's unconscious, then anything you ask is a tacit agreement!"

"So that's how it works!" Aaron clapped his hands, suddenly enlightened.

"..." Ace suddenly had no idea what to say.

"So who are you?" Aaron asked.

"My name is Ace. Portgas D. Ace." Ace rolled his eyes, but answered anyway.

"My name is Aaron, Aaron Copperfield. I'm Aunt Makino's son."

"Since when did Makino have a nephew?" Ace asked strangely.

"Just now." Aaron grinned foolishly.

"..." Ace held his forehead. Why did talking to this guy feel so difficult?

"Ow, ow! That hurts!" Ace's two companions woke up as well. One unlucky child, whom Aaron had knocked out again, cried out loudly.

"Shut up, Luffy! Look who's here!" Dadan took a huge gulp of beer. Hearing the commotion, she turned her head and snapped.

Luffy turned around and spotted Garp sitting beside Dadan, grinning like an idiot with all his teeth exposed. His face immediately changed. "Old man!"

Bang!

To Aaron, Garp seemed to have teleported. He suddenly appeared before Luffy and planted a huge bump on his head. "Call me Grandpa, idiot!"

"You called me an idiot, so why should I call you Grandpa?!"

Bang! "Because you are an idiot!"

Watching the grandfather and grandson arguing nearby, Aaron thought for a long time before putting on an enlightened expression. "So you two are relatives too!"

"You only just noticed?" the other boy who had just awakened asked helplessly when he heard Aaron.

Hearing the question, Aaron turned and stared fixedly at the boy.

"Hey! Are you looking for a fight?" The boy glared at Aaron, who was staring at him, his fists clenched tightly.

"So you're blond too! Look, I am too!" As he spoke, Aaron pointed at his own hair, his face full of pride.

"...You only just noticed?" Sabo was caught off guard by the sudden friendliness. He loosened his clenched fists, rolled his eyes, and said helplessly.

"Hi, I'm Aaron, Aaron Copperfield. And you?" Aaron asked with a wide grin.

"...Sabo." Sabo looked at Aaron and could not help holding his head with both hands. Why did communicating with this guy feel so difficult?

Smack! Someone suddenly patted Sabo on the shoulder. Sabo looked over and found Ace staring at him with the eyes of someone who shared his misery.

Sabo understood instantly. He reached back and patted Ace on the shoulder, then looked at Aaron and let out a long sigh.

"What are you two doing?" Aaron scratched his head and asked in confusion as he watched Sabo and Ace.

"Nothing," Sabo said.

"Oh..." Aaron responded.

Soon after, Aaron ran over to Sabo, patted him on the shoulder, looked at him, and let out a long sigh. "Sigh!"

"..." Sabo felt like this guy was asking to be punched.

And so, the three of them sat side by side on the ground, watching the cheerfully playing grandfather and grandson in the distance, their eyes filled with helplessness.

Of course, Aaron's helplessness was fake.

Dadan watched everything unfold, drained the beer in her hand, and said to Makino, "Your nephew is pretty impressive." She knew just how exclusionary those two brats were.

Makino smiled as she wiped down the barware. "Mm-hmm. After all, he's Sister Athena's son."

And so, Aaron stayed at the tavern and lived with Makino in Foosha Village of the East Blue, a place destined to become legendary.

Time flew by. Before long, a month had passed, but to the villagers, that month had felt like an entire year.

All because of Makino, the tavern owner's, nephew!

The boy was named Aaron. Unlike the three wild brats raised by Dadan, he did not go around causing trouble everywhere. On the contrary, Aaron was very sensible. Yet it was as if he had been born missing a screw in his head, always doing things that left people laughing and crying.

Well, as for what exactly he did, the author would not elaborate because there was really nothing to think of!

And then there was his uniquely infectious laugh, which made people instinctively feel amused. Of course, if they heard that laugh at night, it was no longer amusing—it caused insomnia.

Unfortunately, Aaron laughed strangely several times more often at night than during the day.

Still, Aaron had his strengths.

He helped Makino around the tavern, and the burgers he made had even become one of its signature dishes. There was no one in the village who did not like them.

And it was precisely through that that Aaron successfully entered Luffy and the others' circle. After all, all three of them were foodies.

Aaron was very satisfied with his current life, though deep down, he still had some doubts.

It seemed like... his former self had not been this goofy, had he?

But as long as he was happy, that was what mattered, right?

The carefree Aaron tossed the question to the back of his mind in an instant and continued living happily.

"Aaron, give me another burger!" At the tavern counter, an unidentified creature lay limp across the table like a salted fish, pouting.

"No, Luffy. Aunt Makino said you can't eat too many burgers." Aaron wiped a glass and looked at Luffy awkwardly.

"Mm... but I still haven't recovered from the injuries I got during Grandpa's special training. Shouldn't sick people get extra care?" In order to eat delicious food, foodie Luffy's intelligence decisively came online.

Garp had left Foosha Village a week after arriving, but during that week, he put Luffy and the other two through hellish special training.

Well, Aaron did not know what the training involved, but when the three returned, he thought they had died and burst into tears over it.

Aaron stopped wiping the glass, lifted his head to think for a while, then looked at Luffy. "That does seem to make sense. Wait a moment, then."

As he spoke, Aaron put down the glass and ran to the washbasin. He carefully washed his hands again and again, scrubbed them several times with soap, rinsed them again and again with clean water, and finally dried them until not a single drop remained. That was not all—Aaron carefully inspected his palms. After a long while, he gently blew into them.

Whoosh! Nothing happened.

But on the microscopic level, even the water molecules that had remained after drying fell away and drifted into the air.

...Well, there was no need to comment on Aaron's actions.

Ignoring Luffy's cries of "So amazing!" nearby, Aaron walked into the kitchen with a smile. When he looked up and saw the spatula hanging on the wall cabinet, his smile widened.

The spatula was utterly ordinary, but its gleaming surface shone under the sunlight like a swordsman's beloved blade, lending it a hint of the extraordinary.

Aaron stepped forward and took down the spatula. The smile at the corners of his mouth stretched to the limit, yet not a single tooth showed. He looked so... amusing.

Without pausing at all, he strode to the frying pan, lit the fire, and began frying the meat, constantly flipping and searing it. In the next instant, he hurried to the cutting board and used the spatula to slice the cauliflower, tomatoes, and onions into perfectly identical pieces! Don't ask how Aaron cut them! He moved to the bread slices, seeming to grow countless hands. Salad oil, ketchup, jam, gasoline, diesel... uh, not the last two—everything was spread over the bread in an instant.

His movements grew faster and faster! In the end, a golden whirlwind even formed in the kitchen! Thus, people respectfully called Aaron the Golden Flash!

Ahem, enough nonsense.

Aaron placed the fried meat on top, used the spatula to flip the vegetables over as well, then covered it with a slice of bread. A delicious Krabby Patty was born!... I mean, burger.

Aaron carried out a huge plate of burgers and set it before Luffy.

Luffy opened his mouth wide, his eyes glittering with golden stars. He pressed his hands together and solemnly said to Aaron, "I'm digging in!" Then he grabbed one with his left hand and another with his right, burying his head deep in the pile of burgers... No idea why he needed to hold two at once.

"Luffy, where did Ace and Sabo go?" Aaron picked up the glass he had not finished wiping and asked leisurely.

"Mmff mmff mmff!" But with his mouth stuffed full of burgers, Luffy obviously could not answer Aaron's question.

Aaron sighed and continued wiping the glass in his hand.

Creak!

The door slowly opened. Aaron and Luffy both craned their heads to look over. "Yo! Hello, you two!" Seeing the two children at the counter, the newcomer greeted them cheerfully.

He was a handsome middle-aged man with wine-red hair and a hearty smile on his lips.

.