Sea Circle Calendar 1500.
Loguetown, central plaza.
The sky was as gloomy as an overturned ink bottle, and heavy leaden clouds pressed low over everyone's heads, making every person standing there feel a suffocating tightness in their chest.
In the air, body odor, cheap rum, fishy smells, and an indescribable aura of fanaticism mixed together, fermenting into a bizarre stench that made one's temples throb.
Damn, this smell is way too strong...
Five-year-old Lei En was being squeezed by the tall bodies around him like an Oreo filling, his little face scrunched up as he almost rolled his eyes back.
His eyes, which were mismatched with his age and carried a hint of irritation, stared fixedly at the towering execution platform not far away, built from rough boulders.
On the stage, a man wearing a captain's red robe and sporting two arrogant handle-bar mustaches was being pinned tightly under the guillotine by two fully armed marine soldiers.
Gol D. Roger.
That legendary man who had conquered the entire Grand Line by his own strength, universally revered as the Pirate King.
Who else would I transmigrate into, of all people, but a five-year-old orphan in Loguetown? The start is absolute hell mode.
Lei En ranted wildly in his heart, his tiny body desperately trying to maintain balance in the gaps between the crowd, terrified of being flattened by some big guy's butt if he wasn't careful.
As a transmigrator who retained memories of his past life, he knew better than anyone what earth-shattering event was about to happen.
Roger was going to die.
Then, his dying words would act like a fire, completely igniting a chaotic-to-the-extreme Great Age of Piracy where human lives were worth less than dogs.
As for himself, a bare-handed five-year-old brat, in this impending crazy era, let alone making great achievements, he might be slapped into nothingness by the splash of a slightly larger wave.
No, I have to find a way to survive, and live better than anyone else!
Lei En clenched his childish small fists, a ruthlessness and resoluteness flashing in his gaze that even an adult might not possess.
A booze-soaked pirate next to him let out a hiccup, his turbid eyes squinting sideways at Lei En as he bared a mouth of yellow teeth.
"Hey, kid, why squeeze so far up? When things get chaotic later, a little shrimp like you will be the first one stomped into meat paste, you know!"
Lei En ignored him, merely quietly shuffling a bit to the side, moving further away from the reeking stench of alcohol.
At that moment, the executioner raised his hand high, shouting at the top of his lungs toward Roger, his voice carrying across the entire plaza via an amplification Den Den Mushi.
"Pirate King Gol D. Roger! The great treasure you hid, 'One Piece', where on earth did you put it?!"
The whole venue fell dead silent instantly.
As if an invisible giant hand had pressed the mute button, everyone's breathing stalled at that very moment, and tens of thousands of gazes, like searchlights, focused intently on the dying man.
Roger lowered his head, his broad shoulders trembling slightly as if gathering his final strength.
A few seconds later, he abruptly raised his head. Far from showing any fear of death, his face broke into an extremely bold, almost playful wild laugh.
"Want my treasure?"
His voice wasn't loud, yet it clearly drilled into everyone's ears.
"If you want it... I'll let you have it!"
Boom—!
The crowd exploded.
Completely exploded.
The plaza, dead silent just a second ago, instantly turned into a sea of fanaticism. Countless people had bloodshot eyes, their arms raised and shouting, as if that legendary treasure were already within arm's reach.
"Go find it!"
Roger used his last ounce of strength, letting out a roar that shook the heavens.
"I left all the treasure in the world right there!"
The executioner's face turned pale. He screamed in terror, issuing his final order to the soldiers beside him.
"Quick! Execute him!!"
The icy guillotine, carrying a sharp whistle that tore through the air, fell fiercely!
With a muffled "squelch" of flesh being entered.
The Pirate King's head rolled to the ground, yet that wildly laughing face was forever frozen in the memories of the world.
And at the very moment the guillotine fell, in Lei En's mind, a cold, emotionless mechanical voice exploded suddenly like thunder from beyond the nine heavens!
[Ding! Host soul strength detected to meet standards, Divine Check-In System formally bound!]
It was here!
The cheat code essential for transmigrators had finally arrived!
Lei En was ecstatic in his heart, almost laughing out loud on the spot, but the next second, the system's prompt made the smile on his face freeze instantly.
[Newbie quest issued: Reach the "Land Where the Legend Began"—within a ten-meter radius of Roger's execution platform, and complete the first check-in!] [Quest reward: One newbie gift pack!] [Countdown: 60 seconds.]
Damn it! Is this trash system doing this on purpose?!
Lei En looked at the crowd, which had completely descended into chaos due to Roger's death and started crazily trampling and fleeing before his eyes, and his face turned green.
The square right now was a giant meat grinder!
Forget about rushing within ten meters, it was a miracle from the heavens that he wasn't trampled into a two-dimensional drawing by this group of lunatics right now!
"Get lost! Don't block my way to the sea!"
That drunken brawny man from earlier had red eyes at the moment, shoving away the person blocking his path and rushing toward the port like a maddened bull.
"The One Piece is mine! They're all mine!"
Countless people surged madly in all directions like a breached tide, and all order completely collapsed at this moment.
Lei En's five-year-old little frame was like a tiny boat in the human tide that could be capsized by raging waves at any moment, pitifully insignificant.
No, I have to get over there!
Lei En gritted his teeth, watching that execution platform growing more and more distant amidst the chaos, a madness incompatible with his age flashing in his eyes.
He didn't choose to resist the human current head-on; that was no different from a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
He took a deep breath, abruptly squatted down, and frantically shuttled through the gaps between the tall adults' trouser legs like a slippery loach.
His left foot sank into someone's unknown vomit, and the sticky texture made his stomach churn.
A heavy boot stained with black mud brushed past the tip of his nose and heavily stepped down, the generated fierce wind making his cheeks sting—shift by another inch, and his head would have burst open like a rotten watermelon!
"Crap!"
Lei En cursed under his breath, no longer caring about the filth, and simply used hands and feet together, scrambling forward on the ground.
He only had one thought in his mind right now, and that was to rush over!
This was the only chance he could grasp to change his destiny after time-traveling!
[TIMI countdown: 30 seconds... 20 seconds... 10 seconds...]
The system's countdown acted like a death talisman, leaping wildly in his mind and pounding against his fragile nerves.
He saw it!
The execution platform was right before his eyes!
Because everyone was in a rush to flee this place of right and wrong, a vacuum zone more than ten meters wide was unexpectedly cleared out around the previously heavily guarded execution platform.
Just the last dozen or so steps left!
"Get the hell out of my way!"
Lei En used the last bit of strength throughout his body, awkwardly drilling out from underneath the crotch of a merchant as fat as a meat mountain, and scrambled into that safe range.
Right on cue, his pair of mud-stained little feet steadily stepped onto a spot about nine meters away from the execution platform.
And at this very moment, the last trace of light in the eyes of Roger's head, rolling on the ground, completely extinguished.
Lei En roared in his heart, using his final strength.
"Check-in!"
[Ding! Check-in successful! Location: Land Where the Legend Began!] [Special environment bonus detected... The moment of the Era Creator's fall... Reward quality is undergoing a super massive upgrade...] [Issuing the Newbie Gift Pack to the host...] [Newbie Gift Pack opened successfully!]
Huu... Huu...
Lei En panted heavily, sitting limply on the cold flagstones with drained strength, his heart feeling as if it were about to jump out of his throat.
The surrounding clamor and roars seemed to recede from him at this moment, and in his world, only the system's cold, pleasant prompt tone remained.
Newbie gift pack... max-level reward... please don't give me a 'thanks for playing'..."
Just as he was nervous to the extreme and almost forgot how to breathe, that mechanical voice sounded once more, carrying a supreme majesty that seemed to pierce the soul.
[Congratulations to the host! Obtained max-level reward -- Roger's Peak Swordsmanship (Passive)!]
Boom!
The instant the voice fell, Lei En only felt as if a nuclear bomb had been dropped into his brain!
Massive, majestic, and as vast as the stars of the universe, sword-intent comprehension, combat techniques, muscle memory, and Haki application methods... poured madly into the depths of his soul!
His body was still that five-year-old body, but his soul, at this moment, had transformed into a supreme king truly standing at the peak of swordsmanship!
He could even clearly "see" the minute, naked-eye-imperceptible cracks on a gravel stone not far away—that was its most fragile flaw!
Was this... the world of a peak swordsman?
Lei En slowly lowered his head, looking at his still tender and slightly chubby little hands, and couldn't help muttering to himself.
Roger's peak swordsmanship? Just relying on these little hands... For real?
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