January 5, Sea Circular Calendar 1520.
Grand Line, Kingdom of Ye.
The waves crashed against the black reefs over and over like enraged beasts. The spray instantly froze into tiny ice pellets in the bitter wind, striking faces like slashing blades.
A tall, straight-backed figure stood on the shore. The sea wind whipped his long silver hair into disarray, plastering it against his sweat-damp temples. His azure eyes shone like stars.
The boy named Lucas gripped the Katana that had accompanied him for years in both hands, slashing at the air before him.
"9,997."
"9,998."
"9,999."
The monotonous counting vanished beneath the roar of the waves. Sweat dripped down his jaw, leaving dark spots on the rocks at his feet.
"10,000!"
As the final slash fell, a dull boom rang through the air.
Lucas slowly exhaled a cloud of white vapor and slid the Katana into its sheath.
According to his usual routine, physical conditioning came after sword practice.
He tossed the Katana onto the ground and casually stripped off his shirt, revealing lean, well-defined muscles packed with explosive power, then plunged into the icy sea.
Bone-piercing cold instantly swept through his body, as though countless needles were stabbing into his marrow.
Long accustomed to it, Lucas swam with a textbook freestyle stroke toward the distant waters beneath the mass of dark clouds.
The island where the Kingdom of Ye lay was a forgotten speck of land, shrouded in violent winds and torrential rain year-round.
Its surrounding waters teemed with hidden reefs and towering waves. To ordinary people, it was a hell from which there was no return. To Lucas, it was the finest natural training ground.
With light steps of Geppo, he traced perfect concentric circles across the sea's surface, moving as fast as an arrow loosed from a bow.
The gale hurled waves several meters high against him, yet they failed to slow him in the slightest.
Suddenly, a dazzling Pink Flying Slash tore through the thick clouds, cleaving the dark sky in two.
Lucas paused briefly, an almost imperceptible tenderness flickering in his eyes.
On the horizon, a white-painted warship slowly approached. The Marine flag at its side, a symbol of "absolute justice," snapped in the fierce wind.
The warship stopped several hundred meters from shore. A moment later, a tall, slender figure sprang from its deck, using Geppo to race toward the island.
The young woman wore a justice cloak, her long black hair dancing in the wind. The beauty mark beside her lips added a touch of allure to her cool features.
"She really is persistent..."
Lucas murmured to himself, then looked away and continued swimming toward the deep sea as though he had seen nothing.
Cold moonlight pierced the clouds and spilled across the turbulent sea.
After retrieving his Katana, Lucas swam to the other side of the island and came ashore at the edge of a dense forest.
Water dripped from his soaking hair. He had barely set foot on land when a deafening roar erupted from deep within the forest.
A brown bear the size of a house burst out of the undergrowth. Its crimson eyes fixed on the intruder before it, and its sharp claws gouged deep furrows into the ground.
Lucas watched the charging bear without expression. His right foot snapped upward, drawing in the surrounding air.
A concentrated Vacuum Slash, sharp as the keenest blade, sliced through the giant bear's thick neck in an instant.
Blood gushed out, staining the ground beneath his feet red.
The enormous bear's head rolled several times across the ground, its eyes still holding a trace of disbelieving terror. Its massive body crashed down, throwing up a cloud of dust.
Lucas bent down, hoisted the bear's carcass onto his shoulder, and walked through the moonlight toward the slums.
There were more than three hundred affiliated nations across this sea.
And ninety percent of those countries, regardless of size or wealth, shared a remarkably consistent administrative division-the wealthy district, the slums, and the royal palace.
The Kingdom of Ye was one of them.
This was the birthplace of Golden Lion Shiki and Silver Axe.
Before setting out to sea, those two great pirates whose names shook the oceans had been nothing more than two unremarkable gang leaders on this chaotic land. They had founded gangs called the Flying Group and the Silver Axe Group, respectively.
The feud between the two organizations had persisted for decades.
On the streets of the slums.
Members of the Flying Group wielding katanas clashed with members of the Silver Axe Group swinging huge axes. Battle cries, screams, and the clash of weapons rang out incessantly.
Blood stained the muddy streets red. Mutilated corpses and broken weapons littered the ground.
When Lucas appeared at the end of the street carrying the giant bear's carcass, all fighting abruptly ceased.
The gang members who had been consumed by bloodlust just moments earlier froze like ducks seized by the throat. Without a word, they stopped what they were doing and parted to clear a path.
No one dared look him in the eye.
In the Kingdom of Ye, Lucas was a living taboo. He belonged to no faction, yet possessed the overwhelming strength to crush them all.
Anyone who dared provoke him would become food for the fish by the shore the next day.
Lucas walked through the crowd without expression, the bloody water squelching beneath his feet. In less than ten minutes, he reached his dilapidated wooden shack.
Just as he was about to step across the threshold, his Observation Haki keenly picked up that familiar presence inside.
The wooden door shattered.
A long blade blackened by busoshoku haki cut through the flying splinters, slashing straight at his face.
TO BE CONTINUED
(PS: Time for a clarification in the very first chapter: the World Government stands for absolute justice, while Sakazuki stands for thorough justice. The two are often confused.)