Ding! Congratulations, Host, You Have Obtained Peak-Level Swordsmanship

Lei En stared blankly at his still-childish little hands, which even had a bit of baby fat, his face full of disbelief.

"Roger's Peak Swordsmanship? With these little hands... Is this for real?"

The moment his words fell, a vast and majestic torrent of information, like a sea of stars in the cosmos, instantly breached the dam of his soul!

It was countless insights into the "sword."

From the most basic sword-gripping stance and slashing angles to the supreme mysteries of cutting steel and tearing through the air, everything was deeply etched into the depths of his soul as though he had been born with it!

They were the tens of thousands of life-and-death battles Roger had experienced throughout his life.

The force techniques behind every swing, the muscle memory of every dodge, and the ultimate use of Haki in the slimmest margins between life and death all transformed into the most vivid sensations and flooded madly into Lei En's five-year-old body!

[Ding! Roger's Peak Swordsmanship (Passive) has fused perfectly!]

[The host's physical attributes are undergoing adaptive enhancement... Enhancement complete!]

"Urgh..."

Lei En could not help letting out a low groan. He felt the bones throughout his body crackling, while every inch of muscle fiber was being reconstructed and strengthened in an incomprehensible way.

It felt like every component of an old clunker had been replaced with the finest F1 racing engine!

Although he still looked like the same skinny five-year-old brat in ragged burlap clothes, his face smeared with dirt, a terrifying transformation beyond ordinary humans had already taken place inside his body!

He slowly raised his head. His black eyes, which had still held a trace of childish innocence, had become as sharp as a hawk's. They were so deep they seemed capable of seeing through people's hearts, carrying a weathered dominance that did not belong to someone his age.

The world in his eyes had completely changed.

The floating dust in the air and the paths it traveled became clearly visible to him. He could even see the faint currents of air trailing behind it with perfect clarity.

The sound of a heart pounding wildly in the distance was as clear as a drum beating beside his ear.

He could even clearly "sense" the life force emanating from every living creature around him, as well as... the almost undisguised openings known as "killing intent," as conspicuous as fireflies in the night.

"So... this is the world of the strong?"

Lei En slowly rose to his feet and casually dusted himself off. An unprecedented sense of power and confidence surged through his limbs like magma.

At that moment, the chaos in Loguetown completely escalated into a bloody riot under the intervention of the Marines' suppression forces.

"Anyone who stands in my way dies!"

"Marine lapdogs, get the hell out of my way!"

The pirates who had been driven mad by One Piece and were desperate to set sail had completely lost their minds.

In order to seize the ships at the docks and the supplies in the shops, they openly began burning, killing, looting, and pillaging in the streets. The entire "Town of Beginnings and Endings" instantly became a living hell.

A pirate with a savage scar across his face and a burly build like a bear was wildly hacking at every living thing in his path with a broad blade stained with blood.

"Hahaha! Die, all of you! One Piece belongs to me, 'Black Wolf' Barrett!"

"Black Wolf" Barrett had a bounty of five million Beli. Even in the East Blue, he was considered a notorious and vicious figure.

He kicked aside a woman who was crying and begging for mercy, then casually swept his gaze over Lei En, who stood quietly in the middle of the street, blocking his path.

Seeing that it was only a lone five-year-old brat, Barrett revealed an exceptionally cruel smile. His mouthful of yellow teeth looked especially chilling beneath the gloomy sky.

"Well, where'd this little bastard come from? You didn't even piss your pants from fright? You've got some guts."

A pirate beside him, skinny as a monkey, leered as well. "Hehe, Boss, this brat's pretty handsome. How about we grab him and sell him to those nobles with special tastes?"

Barrett licked his chapped lips and shook his head.

"Too much trouble. I'm in a hurry to put to sea!"

He raised the broadsword, which was taller than Lei En himself, high overhead and, without the slightest hesitation, brought it viciously down toward Lei En's head!

"Kid, blame your rotten luck. In your next life, keep your eyes open when you're reincarnated!"

The surrounding civilians screamed in terror at the sight. Some of the more timid ones could not bear to watch and had already closed their eyes.

Yet in the face of this fatal strike that could split him in two, Lei En's expression did not ripple in the slightest.

Too slow.

To eyes that now possessed the vision of the Pirate King, every movement Barrett made—from raising his arm to swinging his blade—was more laughable than a slow-motion replay.

Openings.

His entire body was full of openings!

From the slight lack of coordination in his right shoulder muscles when he raised his arm, to the deviation in his wrist angle as he swung his blade, to the instability of his lower body caused by his eagerness to kill...

In Lei En's eyes, this man had exposed at least seventeen openings that could kill him in a single strike!

Lei En could not even be bothered to dodge.

He merely bent down casually and picked up a worn wooden stick about half a meter long from the pile of trampled debris mixed with garbage and mud. It was damp and slightly blackened, with splinters along its edges.

Then, relying on the most primal and pure combat instinct in his body, he lightly swung it forward.

There was no flashy technique.

There was no earth-shattering display.

There was not even the sound of wind.

Yet the instant the stick swung out, an exceptionally condensed, nearly visible translucent sword aura flashed from the tip of that fragile wooden stick like lightning tearing through the night!

"Splurt!"

The cruel grin on "Black Wolf" Barrett's face instantly froze.

He stood there blankly, his raised broadsword suspended in midair, unable to descend even another inch.

He lowered his head in confusion and saw a thin line of blood that had somehow appeared across his chest.

The bloodline rapidly widened, spreading like a spiderweb.

The next second, his entire upper body, along with the hard stone pillar behind him that was as thick as a water barrel and used for tying horses, was cleanly severed down the middle. The cut was smooth as a mirror!

"Urgh..."

Barrett let out one final meaningless syllable. His upper body slowly slid down and crashed heavily onto the ground, blood and innards spilling everywhere and giving off a thick, foul stench.

The surroundings instantly fell deathly silent.

The pirates who had been shouting and hacking away like mad were now all frozen as if under a petrification spell. Their mouths hung open as they stared in horror at the child still standing quietly in the middle of the street, wooden stick in hand.

What had they just seen?

A five-year-old brat... using a broken wooden stick picked up from the roadside... had severed "Black Wolf" Barrett, who had a five-million-Beli bounty and had run rampant through the East Blue for years, along with the stone pillar behind him from a distance?!

Was this fucking a dream?!

One pirate standing nearby was so terrified that his legs gave out, and he collapsed directly into the filthy water on the ground. A warm, reeking wetness spread through his crotch.

"M-Monster!!"

Someone let out a shrill scream like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly shattering the eerie silence.

Every pirate looked at Lei En as if they had seen a demon god crawling out of hell. Their former arrogance and swagger were completely gone. One after another, they scrambled away around him, terrified that they would be the next to be cut in half.

Lei En watched it all expressionlessly.

He looked down at the wooden stick in his hand, still completely intact after releasing that terrifying sword aura, then at the stone pillar that had collapsed in the distance. At last, he confirmed one thing.

He really was invincible.

At least, in the East Blue, known as the "Weakest Sea," he was.

"Clack."

Lei En casually tossed the miraculous wooden stick onto the ground. The sound was especially crisp amid the silence.

Then, beneath the awed and terrified gazes of everyone present, he shoved both hands into the pockets of his ragged pants, took a step with his short little legs, turned around with extraordinary ease, and quietly vanished into the depths of a chaotic street corner in Loguetown.

Only one thought circled through his mind.

This sea... seems like it just got interesting.

The riot continued, but no one dared approach the area where Lei En had disappeared.

A pirate who had narrowly escaped death, his entire body trembling, swallowed with difficulty and asked his companion in a quavering voice.

"Hey... did you see that clearly? That brat... was he really human?"