An Accident Caused by a Sea Boar

A year later.

Ohara, coast.

Sunlight split across the sea, shattering into glittering flecks of light.

Robin sat on a sun-scorched rock dozens of meters from shore, facing the coastline, like a stubborn wedge driven into the shade cast by the forest behind her.

Suddenly, a hand silently reached out from behind her, its palm holding a simple yet generously filled sandwich, a hint of pale yellow mayonnaise seeping from the edge of the white bread.

Robin did not turn around. Her slender fingers picked it up.

"Thank you, Adams."

After thanking him, she lowered her eyes and slowly tore at the edge of the sandwich, taking small bites.

Adams sat down beside her and spoke leisurely.

"You're welcome. We're friends. Still, how many times have I told you that you can eat at my house? Why are you always unwilling?"

Robin's chewing paused almost imperceptibly.

"Before Mom left... she told me to stay at Uncle's house. I have to be good. Otherwise, when Mom comes back... she won't be able to find me right away."

Her voice was low and somewhat muffled. Her gaze remained stubbornly fixed on the blurry line where sea met sky.

Adams sighed softly. His voice became gentle and low.

"But your uncle's family starving you is a common occurrence. Like today. Why put yourself through this?"

"I'm used to it. It's fine."

Robin swallowed the last bite of her sandwich and tried to curve her lips into a smile, though it was so stiff that the strain was obvious.

Adams did not look away and said quietly,

"That smile is really ugly. Your real smile is much cuter."

Over the past year they had spent together, he had indeed caught a few genuine smiles on that little face, which was usually far too calm.

That sudden compliment made a light blush rise over Robin's ears without warning, spreading all the way to her cheeks as though she had been warmed by fresh steam from an oven.

She instinctively lowered her head at once.

That reaction brought a genuine glimmer of amusement to Adams's eyes.

"I really wouldn't have expected it. You usually speak and act as calmly as a little old man, but one compliment about being cute makes you this shy?"

There was a teasing note in his voice.

Robin immediately raised her face. The blush faded, and she returned to that calmness so unsuited to her age.

"Hmph, none of your business!!"

She tightened her little face and lifted her chin slightly.

The smile had not yet left Adams's lips as he prepared to tease her a little more.

"Adams! Look! What is that!"

Robin's voice suddenly rose, carrying a trace of barely noticeable surprise as she pointed straight at the horizon.

Her sudden action cut off Adams's next words. He instinctively looked in the direction she pointed and saw a strange creature drifting toward the shore with the current.

Its muscular, ugly upper body was covered in stiff black bristles, with tusks jutting outward. It clearly had the face of a wild boar.

Yet below its waist and belly, it abruptly transitioned into an enormous fish tail.

"It's a Sea Boar. Our luck is pretty good. We can have an extra dish today."

Adams recognized the creature. He often read in the Tree of Knowledge as well; otherwise, he would never have truly become Robin's friend.

His body moved. He was not particularly fast, but it was like a small mountain beginning to shift.

Robin quietly let out the breath she had been holding, slid down from the reef, and jogged after that broad back. The heat in her cheeks had yet to fully fade.

Saved... for now.

The Sea Boar was shoved and rolled along by the waves before finally crashing onto the edge of the fine sand. The sea licked unwillingly at its massive body.

Robin kept a cautious distance of several steps away, frowning as she observed the mixed creature's remains.

"Adams, what do you think? If we cut open the belly of such a strange creature... would it be fish or pork?"

Her thirst for knowledge overwhelmed the discomfort of seeing such a huge corpse for the first time.

"If you want to know, just drag it back and dissect it."

Adams answered casually, striding closer without any guard up. He bent down and reached out, intending to drag this unexpected catch farther up the beach.

The change erupted the instant his fingertips touched its cold, stiff hide.

The boar's cloudy, frozen eyes suddenly rolled. The murkiness vanished, leaving behind nothing but pure, frenzied killing intent.

Its thick fish tail, covered in slick mucus, suddenly straightened. Without the slightest warning, raw and savage power tore through the air and struck Adams's waist and abdomen with enough force to shatter gold and split stone.

"Bang!"

Adams's burly body shot backward like a stone hurled with all one's strength, his back arched as reefs and bushes spun wildly through his vision.

His back slammed fiercely into a massive boulder protruding at the edge of the beach. The hard reef surface exploded with a spray of pale stone dust, instantly forming a shallow human-shaped crater.

The Sea Boar slapped its tail against the sand, sending mud and water flying as it turned around. Its mucus-covered maw opened, revealing uneven dagger-like tusks, and a fierce stench rushed toward Robin.

Time slowed. Everything before Adams's eyes sank into thick, heavy water.

Every arc of flying sand and every glint of reflected slime on its fins and scales became perfectly clear in his eyes.

Then, a raging flood of emotion exploded within Adams's chest.

He hated his own weakness. He feared losing his only friend forever. Endless sorrow and helplessness surged into his heart...

Countless sharp fragments of emotion, like the coldest ice and the deepest sea, carried the power to destroy everything as they crashed violently against an invisible, intangible shackle in the depths of his soul.

"Crack—"

A shattering sound that only his soul could hear thundered through the depths of his consciousness.

The next instant, an overwhelming pressure of will, like a tsunami descending from the heavens, erupted violently from the body embedded in stone dust and smoke.

It was invisible and intangible, yet it enveloped the Sea Boar's frenzied form at incredible speed.

"Thud!"

The Sea Boar's bloodthirsty, crazed eyes abruptly rolled white, as though an invisible hammer of immense weight had smashed directly into its brain.

Its enormous head dropped heavily, its tusks nearly brushing past Robin's loose hair. Its entire body crashed onto the scorching beach like a toppled mountain, its huge fish tail splashing up a small wave as foam uncontrollably spilled from the corners of its mouth.

Adams coughed and staggered upright amid the swirling stone dust, not bothering to analyze what had just happened.

Step by step, he crossed the beach that had been left in disarray by the sea beast's struggle and walked toward Robin.

Just then—

A familiar yet unfamiliar memory flooded into his mind.

A forest of steel and concrete, murky and oppressive air, pigeonhole rental apartments packed with weary sighs, a spinning cursor, flickering screens, the rustle of turning pages...

The final image froze beneath speeding wheels—

A huge truck loaded with steel bars tore through the murky air amid a shriek of metal, its tires grinding over the scorching ground as it crashed straight toward him.

The impact of that torrent of information lasted only one ten-thousandth of a second, yet cold sweat poured from Adams's entire body, soaking the clothes on his back that had been torn by the reef.

His pupils shrank and dilated violently, as though he had just broken free from the deepest waters and the suffocating sensation had not yet fully faded.

"Adams! Are you okay? Did you get hurt badly?"

Robin's urgent cry pulled him back to reality. Her little face was pale as she ran over, her eyes filled with lingering shock and worry.

Adams closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, his face instantly shifted into a gentle expression mixed with apology and relief.

"I... I'm fine. I was just a little dazed from the impact. What about you? You aren't hurt anywhere, are you? It's all my fault... I wasn't alert at all. If only I had trained properly before..."

His gaze anxiously swept over her body, and the regret and self-reproach in his tone were perfectly measured.

Robin looked at his sincere expression and the white stone dust covering his shoulders, then shook her head hard.

"It's not your fault. Who could have expected that thing to be playing dead... Besides, didn't you say that you didn't like fighting and killing...?"

Adams took a deep breath, and the scorching sea breeze filled his lungs. He looked directly into Robin's still-frightened eyes and spoke each word with absolute clarity.

"That's true, but just now... when I saw it about to swallow you, I... I was terrified. That feeling... was awful! I never want to experience that feeling again!"

As he spoke, he puffed out his chest. His eyes burned as though he had made the greatest decision of his life, and his voice rang with conviction.

"I've decided! Starting tomorrow! I'm going to train seriously and become stronger! Only then can I protect you! I absolutely can't let you face danger again because I'm too weak!"

Molten lava seemed to erupt across Robin's prematurely mature face once more. Even her ears turned red enough to drip blood. This went far beyond concern for a friend; it was practically a direct vow.

"Adams, what nonsense are you talking about? Did hitting your head damage your brain? I'm not interested in you. I'm going back to read!"

She squeezed those words through clenched lips, her voice thin and sharp, carrying an unprecedented panic.

Before the last syllable had even faded into the wind, her small figure had already fled like a startled deer, stumbling over the scorching sand without looking back as she raced inland.

Adams stood where he was, his gaze following that small, bedraggled figure as she ran farther and farther away until she vanished into the deep shadows cast by a grove of coconut trees.

The last trace of gentleness on his face receded like the tide, disappearing without a trace.

The soft curve at the corner of his mouth was completely erased, and his angular face returned to a stony blankness.

Slowly, he passed judgment on the "himself" who had already disappeared.

"Idiot! What use is being a scholar in this world? What a waste of such talent."

Having recovered the memories of thirty years from his previous life, his personality had undergone earth-shaking changes. In terms of experience, his previous life outweighed this one fivefold. The minority obeyed the majority, and now his personality had returned to that of his former self.

He truly could not understand why this life's version of himself had possessed such a powerful physique yet never considered becoming stronger. He had even become a kind, gentle, good person who enjoyed helping others and avoided conflict.

In his view, in the living environment of Blue Star in his previous life, there was nothing wrong with being a scholar or a good person. But on a planet where being strong enough meant one could ignore the law and stand above nations or even the world, any path other than becoming strong was wrong.

If he had not happened to recover his memories from his previous life through awakening Conqueror's Haki this time, he did not know how much longer he would have remained a good person.

Fortunately, he had awakened early. It was not too late to return to the right path now.

He suppressed the tangled thoughts in his heart and fixed his gaze on the unconscious massive sea beast.

He stepped toward that enormous mountain of flesh. Bending down, he dug his fingers like hooks deep into the gaps between the slick, cold fish body and the scales where it met the rough boar bristles. He arched his waist and back, and his arms erupted with tremendous strength.

"Up!"

The sea beast's corpse, as massive as a small hill, was effortlessly hoisted entirely onto the broad, sturdy shoulders of his more than two-meter-tall body.

With steady steps, he crossed the wrecked, scorching beach, walking one step at a time toward the lush green heart of Ohara Island.

TO BE CONTINUED