The Roger Replica

Sal's vision expanded slowly along the waves, and the coastline under the setting sun exuded a brilliant radiance. A woman was standing on the shore looking into the distance toward him, her slender hand caressing her slightly bulging belly.

She had a tall figure, long golden wavy hair, and delicate features, her eyes revealing love as a gentle voice reached his ears.

"Roger, no need to worry, I will take good care of the child, and we will all be proud of you."

"If it's a girl, let's call her Ann, and if it's a boy, Ace."

"..."

The voice gradually grew blurry, and Sal slowly opened his eyes, lying by the bed and looking at the unfamiliar ceiling. He carefully recalled the nostalgic voice from his dream, unable to help feeling a bit touched in his heart as he whispered softly.

"Rouge, why did I dream of you again? I am not the real Roger."

"Mm..."

The sound made by the woman beside him pulled him back to reality, a quilt covering her voluptuous body.

Glancing at the sleeping Red-Haired beauty, Sal lifted the quilt and got straight out of bed, stealing a glance at the gift he had given her last night.

The system's familiar voice suddenly rang in his mind, making his body pause.

[Moderately altered the destiny of B-rank character Baccarat, rewarded 30 points]

[B-rank character generated positive emotions toward the host, primary friendliness, increased experience 30]

She was awake after all, but feigning sleep was fine too; he didn't want to have excessive contact with this woman who stole luck.

Sal came to the bathroom, looking at his current appearance in the smooth mirror. He had a handsome, slightly sunny appearance and bright black short hair; this was the youthful appearance of Pirate King Roger, or rather, Roger's body.

His pitch-black pupils scanned every inch of his skin, and recalling everything that had happened, it still felt like a dream up to now.

Sal was a person from Blue Star, struck by a beam of golden light while climbing a mountain. At the same time, his body lost control, and he fell from a height of hundreds of meters.

The blank mind before death, and the instantaneous feeling of his body being smashed to pieces, were still fresh in his memory.

The golden light was the system currently residing in his soul, named the Myriad Worlds System, a dime-a-dozen name.

As a benefit of transmigrating, the system copied the body of a deceased powerhouse, and that powerhouse was Gol D. Roger, using unfathomable power to collect Roger's remnant soul and integrate it into his soul.

Absorbing the Pirate King's soul gave Sal most of Roger's memories and near-complete combat skills, taijutsu, swordsmanship, application of Haki, and even advanced Conqueror's techniques like Conqueror's Coating, all of which he knew like the back of his hand.

Moreover, the greatest benefit brought by absorbing the soul was inheriting Roger's Conqueror's Haki as the Pirate King, this supreme power of the vast seas.

The only drawback was the strength of his body and the strength of his other Haki.

Although this body possessed Roger's talent, it lacked Roger's power, resembling an ordinary person. According to the system's explanation, completely copying power consumed an immense amount, and a mere host was not worth the system paying unconditionally.

At this moment, the system panel made Sal dare not say this was a copy of Roger's body.

[Host: Augustus Sal] [Age: 26] [Level: Level 3 (30/150)] [Strength: Primary (Sergeant)] [Physique: Primary (Sergeant)] [Agility: Primary (Sergeant)] [Fruit: None] [Skills: Top-tier] [Armament Haki: None] [Observation Haki: Primary] [Conqueror's Haki: Peak] Points: 51

The three main physical attributes were quite unsatisfactory. Like a video game level setting, the attributes at level 3 were only comparable to a sergeant-level officer in the Marines.

Fortunately, Observation Haki had already awakened, giving him a shred of confidence when facing powerhouses so he wouldn't be taken out in an instant—though of course, if the gap in strength was like an abyss, he would still have no power to fight back.

Between Roger's combat skills, taijutsu, and swordsmanship, the most powerful was swordsmanship. The sword techniques honed through decades of traversing the seas were absolute standouts among Great Swordsmen, and even his empty-handed combat skills reached the level of a top-tier powerhouse.

The only regret was that although he possessed the world's supreme Conqueror's Haki, his feeble body could not fully unleash it. Let alone using Conqueror's Coating, even bursting forth with advanced Conqueror's Haki would push his body beyond its limits.

The recoil generated by colliding with an enemy using Conqueror's Coating would definitely tear this body to pieces.

With the increase in level, he would sooner or later recover to Roger's peak strength, or even become stronger. As long as he made more people generate positive and negative emotions toward him, he could gain experience.

Aside from the function of leveling up, the system also had another important function.

[Myriad Worlds Lottery]

As long as he changed other people's destinies, he could obtain point rewards. The stronger or more important the person, the more destiny points he would get.

And as the system host, he could use points to draw various items from different worlds.

[White lottery: 10 points, Green lottery: 100 points, Blue lottery: 3,000 points, Purple lottery: 100,000 points, Gold lottery: 3,000,000 points.]

He had already drawn the white lottery a few times, and all the items obtained were trash: ordinary food, mineral water, broken weapons, and so on.

As for the lotteries above that, due to empty pockets, he hadn't experienced them yet.

Suddenly, a group of marines appeared outside the hotel to conduct a search. The person leading them was a female marine with pink long hair. This person was Hina, a user of the Cage-Cage Fruit. She was also known as Black Cage Hina, a colonel at Marine Headquarters.

She possessed the ability to deploy and form iron bars to completely surround opponents, and could even create iron spears to sink enemy ships from a distance.

Hina's attire consisted of a rose-red professional suit and a marine's cape of justice. Her slender and curvaceous figure was quite alluring, and her exquisite facial features gave off a very heroic feel.

If the purpose of other marines was unclear, this woman was very clear about one thing: her target was him.

Sal immediately crawled down from the back window and sneaked away dejectedly. While fleeing, he still questioned the woman on the bed.

"Baccarat, did you steal my luck?"

"???"

The woman on the bed was very puzzled. She hadn't used her Devil Fruit ability at all, especially since her impression of Sal was not bad—he was a suitable tool.

At this moment, amidst Hina's repeated declarations that "Hina suspects there is a criminal here, Hina doesn't care what kind of background you have, Hina is very angry right now, and the consequences are very serious," the hotel was turned upside down, leaving the owner on the verge of tears.

Was that damn scumbag trying to ruin him? Was he going to be forced to sell himself into slavery?

Sal wore a black trench coat and a dome hat, holding a freshly printed newspaper. Noticing no marines chasing him out from the surroundings, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As for why he was targeted by that crazy woman, it all started with events from three days ago. At that time, shortly after his reincarnation, just as he was about to board a ship for the Sabaody Archipelago, he happened to pass by a battle scene.

That was where Colonel Hina had organized and commanded a capture operation launched against an enormous pirate with a bounty over a hundred million. Hundreds of marines surrounded dozens of pirates, and the situation looked exceptionally favorable. Meanwhile, Hina was fighting evenly with the opposing captain.

Yet Sal, who was just a bystander at the time, was attacked by the marines as a pirate. For the sake of safety, the still-weak Sal swept the entire field with a single burst of Conqueror's Haki.

He knocked everyone except Hina and the hundred-million-bounty pirate unconscious. The reward he gained from this was three consecutive levels of experience.

The marines, whose situation had originally been extremely favorable, instantly turned into a one-on-one duel between two commanders. Although Hina ultimately defeated the enemy, she also sustained quite heavy injuries. You tell me, would she ever forget such a grievance? She was, after all, a very petty woman.

Shaking off his pursuers, combined with the contents of the newspaper, caused the corners of his lips to curve upward. His heart was filled with anticipation as his lips moved slightly and he murmured to himself.

"An interesting era has begun. What a truly great time to choose."

Only to see a few photographs on the newspaper—images of the Straw Hat, along with pictures of Roronoa Zoro, Black Leg Sanji, Demon Child Nico Robin, Cat Burglar Nami, and others.

The huge headline read: The Straw Hat Pirates defeated the Shichibukai Gecko Moria two days ago.

Who would have thought that Big News Morgans would actually dare to write the truth? One had to know that the previous Shichibukai, Crocodile, had his defeat falsified by the World Government as the work of the marines, and White Hunter Smoker was even promoted to rear admiral because of it.

It was estimated that the Straw Hat Pirates would land on the Sabaody Archipelago within these few days. Sal could not help feeling a bit of anticipation inwardly. The successor to the straw hat, eh?

As someone possessing most of Roger's memories, he understood the significance of Roger handing the straw hat to Shanks back then.

"No one can stop the footsteps of the new era, just like the choice Roger made back then."

Temporarily putting aside the thoughts in his mind, he looked up at the bustling street. People came and went in a lively bustle, and among them, the figures of rare races like the Longarm Tribe and even the Mink Tribe could be seen.

Fierce and malevolent characters were mixed among the pedestrian traffic from time to time; they were either pirates or slave traders. This was hardly a peaceful place.

He had already arrived on the island three days ago. To act with caution, those first three days were spent investigating and observing.

Within his line of sight, towering red trees reached straight into the clouds, their trunks measuring tens of meters wide. Massive roots were exposed on the surface of the sea, forming vast patches of root-land.

Bubbles occasionally formed from the ground and floated up into mid-air, adding a touch of childlike wonder to the small island.

This was the terminus of the first half of the Grand Line, composed of the gigantic Yarukiman Mangrove.

Tourists, pirates, kidnappers, bounty hunters, and slave traders—various groups of people made up the world-famous Sabaody Archipelago.

The Sabaody Archipelago was composed of 79 mangrove trees, divided into 79 Grove areas.

Areas 1 through 29 were lawless lands, densely packed with pirates, bounty hunters, and slave traders. His target today was also this vastly expansive lawless zone.

Before that, however, Sal looked at a nearby restaurant. He still needed to fill his stomach before hunting, and what's more, there were familiar strangers he met yesterday inside that shop.

Inside the restaurant, a group of people wearing white full-body work clothes and hats were eating and frolicking.

The person leading them wore a fluffy winter hat with leopard spots, had uniquely personalized dark circles under his eyes, and wore a yellow long-sleeved shirt with the pirate crew's emblem printed on the front.

This group was the Heart Pirates, and their leader was Trafalgar Law, one of the Supernovas who had just arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago, with a bounty of 200 million Beli and the user of the Op-Op Fruit.

Suddenly, the sounds of battle rang out not far down the street—marines and pirates were fighting. Was that group of marines led by Hina searching again? Was that woman really that gutsy, considering there were now 10 Supernovas on the entire island?