Thanks for the Invitation, I'm at the Scene

Come to think of it, why was he wearing clothes?

He lowered his head and looked at the simple clothes on his body, which seemed to have been washed so many times that they had faded white.

Perhaps he had been so focused on the system before that he had failed to notice anything was wrong.

Unlike a soul transmigration, his was a pure physical transmigration that did not even retain any legacy from his previous world. Naturally, he could not possibly have a new identity in this world. He was a genuine undocumented person.

How could he have spawned inside a house, already dressed?

"Whenever entering a new world, the body undergoes compatible changes according to that world's rules. I do lose consciousness briefly, but before I regain consciousness, the system provides invincibility protection by default."

"So even if they can't hurt me, moving my body is still possible?"

Li Mingyuan clicked his tongue.

Just how many hidden rules did this lousy system have waiting for him to uncover?

He turned his attention back outside the window.

Li Mingyuan could clearly see that a large crowd had gathered beside the courtyard of a modest house outside. They were constantly carrying supplies out from the bombed-out building, while panicked cries from nearby villagers occasionally rang out.

What was noteworthy was that among the group of apparent grunts hauling things around, one burly man stood out conspicuously.

Not only did he carry an enormous hand cannon resembling a rocket launcher, he held it casually over one shoulder. Combined with his terrifyingly muscular build, he looked extremely intimidating at a glance, perfectly fitting One Piece's distinctive art style.

Had he just transmigrated and already encountered a local specialty of the One Piece world—pirates?

Li Mingyuan found it strangely novel.

However, that first impression did not last long.

Because the faint conversation drifting in from outside quickly changed his mind.

"Damn it! How could this happen...?!"

"Hey, what do we do?! If we just leave them alone, they'll carry everything away!"

"But they're the bandit Dick... We can't beat them..."

Bandits?

Aside from the Bandit King who took Red-Hair's head, did that profession actually have any presence in the One Piece world?

Li Mingyuan stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Bandit Dick? I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before."

"Could he be some nameless cannon fodder from the original story?"

Dick, a name with certain peculiar implications in English, vaguely stirred some of Li Mingyuan's memories.

He felt that he had heard a similar name during some unremarkable scene when he watched the anime before... But when Li Mingyuan carefully followed that memory, he felt there should not have been any notable figure named Dick in One Piece.

Back when he was in the Naruto world, he often encountered this sort of thing. Every so often, he would hear names like "Bunpuku" or "Ashina Uzumaki" that sounded very familiar, yet when he thought about them carefully, he had no memory of them at all.

All he could say was that he had been too much of a casual fan.

Whether it was One Piece or Naruto, his understanding of the original works was not very deep.

Meanwhile, while Li Mingyuan was still trying hard to recall information from the original story, the bandits' plundering outside was in full swing.

"Boys, loot them!"

"Hahahaha, they really had quite a stash! Today's haul is pretty damn good!"

The burly man laughed wildly in a rough voice.

Then, after the first ranch warehouse had been emptied, the burly man immediately turned toward the warehouse next door and pulled the trigger of the cannon-like hand cannon in his hand.

Before the other villagers could even react, the second warehouse had already been blasted open.

Boom!!!

"Good. Next one."

The burly man directed the bandits and said in a deep voice, "Take everything!"

After saying that, the burly man stood guard beside the supplies being carried out, watching the bandits running around busily before him.

He turned to look at the villagers outside the crude ranch fence not far away and sneered.

"What's this? Do the people in this town not even have the courage to resist?"

"But I suppose you're smart. It's either plunder or be plundered. This is an era where the weak are prey to the strong. Weakness itself is a sin. Only fools resist."

"Hahahaha!!"

Before the burly man's laughter had faded—

His expression suddenly changed.

Looking down, he saw a brat who was not even as tall as his leg had somehow crept up to him.

And coming over was one thing.

But the little brat had actually swung a hammer and smashed it hard against his leg!

That blow nearly made his eyes pop out from the pain.

"So there really... are fools..."

The burly man's face darkened as he glared at the child before him with bloodshot eyes.

Seeing this, the little boy's face was drenched in cold sweat, but he still shouted furiously, "G-Give us back our food! Everyone worked so hard to save it up!"

The boy stared fixedly at the bandit, gripping his tool tightly.

But the next second—

Before the boy could react, the burly man had already raised his hand and violently slapped toward the child's head.

With the burly man's heavy slap, the little boy was instantly sent flying backward like a kite with its strings cut. After flying several meters, he slammed hard into the ground.

"Harry—!!"

A man cried out from among the onlookers.

Bandit Dick looked at the fallen boy and sneered coldly. "Having courage alone is still worthy of praise."

"Ugh, damn it!!"

It had to be said, this truly was a world where One Piece's absurdly tough characters appeared in droves.

After taking such a powerful slap from the burly man, the little boy had not only avoided serious injury, but gritted his teeth and stood back up.

Hearing the burly man's mockery, the little boy let out an angry roar.

He actually charged straight at the burly man again!

The nearby residents could not help crying out in alarm again.

"Harry, don't do this! You're no match for them at all!"

"Harry!!"

Amid the confrontation—

Li Mingyuan, who had merely been silently observing the situation from the window, could not help letting out a sigh when he saw this.

Honestly, he really did not want to go looking for trouble.

He had only just transmigrated into the One Piece world. The total time he had been awake probably was not even five minutes, and the reward he had just exchanged was still fresh. No matter what, shouldn't he at least familiarize himself with his abilities first?

It would have been one thing if the bandits were merely looting.

But seeing the little boy resist now, Li Mingyuan realized that this could very likely turn into a bloody incident next.

These days, how many good people could there be among those with "bandit" in their title?

Although One Piece was a stage for pirates, and had featured memorable bandit side characters like the Dadan Family, that did not mean bandits were not dangerous.

The Bandit King who took Red-Hair's head needed no further explanation.

If he remembered correctly, Zoro had two underlings early on who wanted to follow him, Joseph and Johnny, the "Sword Gods" who had quite a presence among fans. One of them had been attacked by bandits as a child, and because he admired the bounty hunter who stepped in and took the bandits' heads, he went to sea to become a bounty hunter.

"Joseph and Johnny... Wait, Joseph and Johnny??"

Suddenly, Li Mingyuan seemed to remember something and widened his eyes at the scene before him.

Wait a second.

He seemed to remember where he had seen the big man in front of him.

This scene did not seem to be in the manga and was most likely anime-original, so his impression was not very deep. But because it was a rare story about Zoro before he set out to sea and met Luffy, he still remembered some of it.

If he remembered correctly, this should have been the starting point where Joseph and Johnny officially decided to follow Zoro.

The two of them fought a bandit and lost, only for Zoro to step in and kill the enemy instantly. Both of them admired Zoro deeply. At this point, the inexperienced Zoro had even learned to control his strength through that battle, no longer breaking the two ordinary swords besides Wado Ichimonji whenever he used Three-Sword Style.

"If that's the case—"

Thinking this, Li Mingyuan turned around and looked through the nearby crowd.

Sure enough, he saw two familiar figures.

One had the character for "sea" tattooed on his left cheek, wore sunglasses and a blue coat. The other had the character for "pirate" tattooed on his right cheek, wore an extremely conspicuous green overcoat, and had something resembling a Naruto forehead protector on his head. Each carried a large curved sword on his back. Their facial tattoos combined to form "pirate."

They were Joseph and Johnny!

The two seemed to be arguing over something in the face of the scene before them. But soon, before everyone's eyes, they jumped out and shielded the little boy behind them, facing the burly man and the large group of bandits beside him.

"So the point in time I'm in should be several years before the One Piece story begins."

"I didn't expect to encounter original characters so quickly."

Seeing this, Li Mingyuan could not help smiling knowingly.

In that case, he did not need to intervene.

Not only would it save him the effort, but although he had no plans to interact with Zoro, simply getting to witness Zoro fight during his early days would be a rare treat.

After all, Zoro was one of Li Mingyuan's favorite male characters in One Piece in his previous life.

Back then, countless people had gotten into One Piece after seeing Zoro's iconic scene in the Thriller Bark Arc:

To protect his unconscious captain and companions, even though he had already been severely wounded after a series of battles, and even though he had ambitions he wanted to fulfill even at the cost of his life, he still willingly offered his head, intending to trade his life for his companions' lives. In the end, after taking all the fatigue and injuries the protagonist Straw Hat Luffy had suffered in that battle, and while he himself was grievously wounded and near death, he chose to keep it from his companions. With a single line—"Nothing happened"—he covered up everything, blood staining his entire body.

Even Li Mingyuan had been deeply shaken when he first saw that scene.

To see a beloved character from his past life fight right after transmigrating—an opportunity like this did not come around often.

"From what I remember, Zoro at this point is much more immature than when the story officially begins. He met Luffy at nineteen, so he might only be sixteen or seventeen now. According to the anime's plot, this was also when he began working as a bounty hunter and gradually became famous."

Li Mingyuan thought, I really didn't expect to confirm my current point in time so quickly... If this is still several years before the story begins, it will be incredibly convenient for all my future actions.

At this point in time, he did not need to catch up to powerhouses like Whitebeard, Garp, Rocks, and Roger at the height of their rivalry. What came next would soon be the plot he knew well. He could completely make plans years in advance and freely do whatever he wanted before many events even happened.

Whether he chose to oppose the World Government in the future or not, he would have plenty of room to choose.

...Somehow, he felt much more at ease all at once.

Li Mingyuan came back to his senses and resumed watching the situation unfold.

However, compared to his earlier tense state, he was no longer worried this time. Instead, he watched the scene with a relaxed and expectant expression.

He even had the leisure to grab a stool nearby, drag it over to the window, and sit down to watch.

And so—

Under Li Mingyuan's gaze, several minutes quickly passed.

Amid the pained reluctance of the nearby villagers, Joseph and Johnny, who had only recently stepped forward like heroes, both fell to the ground with a thud, their faces covered in blood.

At the same time, a sturdy figure slowly approached along the road beside the ranch.

However, unlike the man Li Mingyuan had expected, the figure that emerged was not only tall and muscular, nearly as imposing as Bandit Dick, but also had a similarly strange pointed hairstyle and carried a bizarrely shaped greatsword on his back.

Looking at Joseph and Johnny lying on the ground, the burly man with the greatsword grinned.

"What's wrong, big brother? Have more vermin come after the heads of us brothers?"

Hearing the burly man's voice, Bandit Dick also raised his head and laughed. "Why are you so late, little brother?"

That was right.

The person who had arrived was not Roronoa Zoro.

It was Bandit Dick's younger brother, with a bounty of five million Beli!

Bandit Dick himself had a bounty of ten million Beli. With the two brothers together, their combined bounty was fifteen million Beli. In the East Blue, which was known for its weakness, that bounty was enough to make them a regional scourge.

Li Mingyuan was a little dumbfounded at the sight.

No, what was going on?

Joseph and Johnny were practically about to be beaten to death, yet Zoro was nowhere to be seen. Where was he?

And according to what he remembered of the plot, shouldn't Bandit Dick's younger brother have been taken out by Zoro before Bandit Dick even appeared? Why was he now here at the scene, looking completely unconcerned?

Li Mingyuan stood up from his chair.

His brows furrowed, and his expression gradually turned cold.

"..."

Li Mingyuan lowered his head again and looked at the clothes he was wearing.

He did not know which villager had been kind enough to dare bring an unknown man like him into their home, but even if it had been unnecessary help, it was still the first assistance he had received since coming to this world. He did not intend to turn a blind eye to it.

Especially when the opponents seemed to be nothing but small fry.

"Looks like I have no choice but to step in."

Li Mingyuan sighed and muttered.