Starting Out as Ace's Cousin

Year 1504 of the Circular Calendar.

In a small town on Baterilla in the South Blue, a thin, black-haired youth wearing tattered black clothes was digging and searching for something in a dilapidated junk yard.

Although the youth was still young, his tender face already possessed a degree of handsomeness; if not for the freckles on his face, he would definitely be a great hunk in the future.

"Ouch! It hurts so much!"

"I never thought my primary goal upon coming to Pirate World would just be to survive." Ryan stood in the garbage pile and shouted loudly.

This was Ryan's seventh day in Pirate World. The boy's full name was Portgas D. Ryan, and he was Ace's cousin.

He was the son of Portgas D. Rouge's older brother, and Ryan's father was named Portgas D. Force.

As a veteran fan of One Piece, Ryan knew that he had transmigrated to become Ace's cousin.

Right now, the Great Age of Pirates had just begun a few years ago, and this was precisely the most chaotic time in Pirate World.

This was the best of times, and this was the worst of times!

As a member of the transmigrator army, Ryan expressed that he felt very distressed. When other people transmigrated, they instantly destroyed the heavens, the earth, and immortals, so how come his own primary goal had become simply staying alive?

That's right, his primary goal was to live.

Thinking of how he had come to Pirate World due to an accident, infinite sorrow filled Ryan's heart.

When Ryan was watching the One Piece anime at home, his computer suddenly crashed while he was watching. Ryan frantically pressed the shutdown button, and then a black hole appeared on the computer screen, and a powerful suction force directly sucked Ryan's soul in.

Just like that, Ryan came here from Earth in the 21st century, gloriously becoming a member of the transmigrator army. Moreover, he had brought a system with him.

However, the system was too damn useless for the current Ryan.

Ryan recalled when the system had activated upon his initial arrival in this world.

Ding, detected that the host's parents are both deceased; matching system template.

Strongest Protagonist System activated.

Congratulations to the host for obtaining one beginner's gift pack.

As host of the Strongest Protagonist System, you can randomly acquire attribute points from opponents by defeating or killing them to enhance yourself. (Remarks: The first time against the same person yields the best results, after which it continuously halves, and so on.) Attribute points can be increased through daily physical training and cultivation, and killing yields double the attribute values.

Would you like to view the host attribute panel?

"Open!"

Attribute Panel

Current Host Attribute Points: 0

Host: Portgas D. Ryan

Physique: 4/1000 Beginner

Body Art: 2/1000 Beginner

Swordsmanship: 8/1000 Sword Apprentice

Conqueror's Haki: None

Armament Haki: None

Observation Haki: None

Devil Fruit Ability: None

Skills: None

Remarks: Attribute points can be obtained by defeating or killing others.

Ding! Issuing quest because the host is currently too weak.

Quest: Survive in this world for a year. If you are alive after one year, the quest succeeds. Quest rewards can be viewed after the host completes the quest.

"Do you want to open the beginner's gift pack?" the system's mechanical voice arrived.

"Open the beginner's gift pack," Ryan said.

Opening the beginner's gift pack rewards the Supreme Grade Sword "Ace", personal sword of Pirate King Gol D. Roger, and the matching sword technique Kamusari.

"System, is there anything else? Like Conqueror's Haki? A Logia-type fruit?"

"None," the cold voice came.

Ryan's heart went cold. It sounded very awesome—infinite growth attribute values—but right now he had nothing, and he was still just a weakling.

The beginner's gift pack was indeed a good thing, but Pirate King Roger's personal sword was completely useless to the current Ryan.

Ryan didn't dare take it out either; Ryan understood the principle of an innocent man bearing a treasure as a crime.

Therefore, although Ryan had a system, it was of little help to the tiny Ryan at the present stage.

Acquiring attribute points meant he had to be able to beat others, but who could an 8-year-old Ryan beat right now?

Kamusari was still somewhat useful, but casting Kamusari had restrictions and could only be freely deployed once one reached the Swordsmaster level of swordsmanship. For example, if the current Ryan were to execute the Kamusari sword technique, he would have to lie in bed for three days and three nights to recover.

Currently, Ryan had defeated 4 people at the orphanage, among whom one person yielded no attribute points upon defeat because that person was a 5-year-old child.

Because of this matter, Ryan had already been mocked many times by his friends at the orphanage.

Ryan had taken these obtained 30 attribute points and added 20 to his physique; now Ryan's physique had gone from 4 to 24. The other 10 points were added to swordsmanship, and his swordsmanship also became 18.

Ryan knew that physique was the foundation; only a powerful physique could carry stronger body art and swordsmanship, and in the later stages, Armament Haki would also require the support of physique. Therefore, two-thirds of the attribute points were added to his physique.

"Ryan, Ryan! Carter-uncle is calling us over to gather, hurry up!"

A youth with green hair on top of his head, stepping on slippers and possessing a sturdy build, shouted loudly toward him.

"Coming."

The green-haired youth was named Beli. That's right, he was named after the currency circulating in Pirate World, Beli.

The people here all lived at the bottom tier of society among the commoner class. Beli's parents hoped Beli would possess countless amounts of money, so they named him Beli—also a longing for the future.

People living at the bottom of society were like this: living the poorest lives while simultaneously full of yearning and hope for this world.

Beli was Ryan's best friend here; this was what Ryan knew after merging his memories.

Ryan and Beli came together to a dilapidated house. The house was very small, but right now it was packed with people, and the room was filled with the foul stench of rotting garbage.

Yet not a single person in the house felt even the slightest bit of discomfort because they were already used to it.

"Alright, now everyone is here. I have some good news to tell you all: the Marines have come to our Mero Town to recruit soldiers."

A man of about 50 years old with a full beard stood on a table and announced to the crowd.

"Really, Carter-uncle?"

"Does that mean we can eat our fill? Joining the Marines, do we get to eat meat every day?"

"Can all of us go?"

A group of people continuously asked Carter all sorts of questions.

"Stop making a fuss, I haven't finished yet! What are you brats being so monkey-eager for?"

"It's like this: only people over 12 years old can go, and moreover, you're not guaranteed to be chosen. Depending on your own strength, the Marine side will have specialized people coming over to pick. The chosen people will participate in a seven-day training camp hosted by the Marine side, and whoever perseveres will have passed."

"Did you all understand, or do I need to say it again?"

Worrying that someone hadn't understood, Carter stood on the table and loudly questioned the crowd.

Ryan knew this was the troop expansion plan initiated by the Marines in order to contend with the Great Age of Pirates, because Pirate King Gol D. Roger's single sentence ushered in the Great Age of Pirates.

"My treasure? If you want it, I'll let you have it. Go find it! I left all of it in that place!"

The existing forces of the current Marines were insufficient to contend with the increasingly numerous pirates of today, which was why the Marines expanded their forces year after year.

"The time is seven days from now. These few days, everyone seize the time to prepare. Meeting dismissed."

Hearing these words, the crowd also dispersed one after another. The room that had just been crowded now left only Carter alone.

"Ryan, you say, if we could go join the Marines, that would be great. It's a pity we're too small; I'm 9 and you're only 8."

On the way back, the green-haired youth Beli said to Ryan.

"Beli, do you want to join the Marines?"

"Yeah, hearing Carter-uncle say joining the Marines means you can eat your fill and even get a salary—what a great treatment!"

"I don't want to join the Marines, because my parents were killed by the Marines."

Ryan, having transmigrated onto the body of the Ryan in this world, naturally also accepted all of Ryan's memories.

Therefore, Ryan knew that his parents had been killed by the Marines because the Marines were hunting down Rouge at the time.

Through investigations, the World Government soon knew that Roger had lived and stayed here for a very long time. Although they couldn't find Rouge, they subsequently found Ryan's family.

They pressured Ryan's parents to reveal Rouge's whereabouts. Ryan's parents refused to divulge the whereabouts of their younger sister Rouge even unto death.

This led to them being arrested by the Marines and tortured to death under strict interrogation, leaving only Ryan alone to survive.

Fortunately, 3-year-old Ryan had been sent ahead of time by his father Force to his close friend Carter here, thus escaping disaster.

Carter was a retired Marine who had been injured while fighting pirates, so he had now stepped down.

After retiring, Carter took in many homeless orphans, so placing Ryan here with Carter was safe.

"What? Why didn't you ever mention this matter before?" Beli said in terror.

"Because you didn't ask before either; after all, this isn't any good thing."

"Then what do you want to do?" Beli asked.

Ryan raised his head to gaze at the sky and muttered, "Me? I want to become a pirate, take the world's most outstanding crew members to experience the local customs and practices around the world, taste all the delicacies in the world, drink the fiercest liquor, romance the most beautiful babes, and be the freest person in the world."

"Beli, are you coming with me?" Ryan looked at Beli and said.

There was one more thing Ryan didn't say, and that was that only by becoming a pirate could he avenge his parents.

Beli excitedly said, "Are you inviting me to be your crewmate, Ryan?"

"That's right, Beli, my best friend. I, Ryan, formally invite you to be my crewmate."

Ryan extended the hand representing friendship toward Beli.

Beli grasped Ryan's hand and said loudly, "I, Beli, accept your invitation."

"Best friend, most outstanding crewmate—so in your heart, Ryan, I am so outstanding and important."

Beli's pair of large eyes looked affectionately at Ryan.

Looking at Beli's expression, for some reason Ryan felt a jolt in his heart, and goosebumps rose all over.

Could Beli be...

It seemed he should speak fewer sentimental words in the future.

"Then let's set sail now and go say goodbye to Carter-uncle."

"Set sail my ass! Right now, who can we even beat? As soon as we set sail, other pirates would wipe us out."

"Do we have a ship? Do we have strength? Do we have money?"

Facing Ryan's fatal three questions, Beli scratched his head with a blank expression and said, "Then what do we do?"

Ryan expressed: can the words he had just spoken be taken back?!

He didn't want him to be his crewmate anymore.

"First, we must raise our own strength. Only by raising our own strength can we have money, and with money we can buy a ship."

Ryan deeply understood the logic that money wasn't everything, but without money, things were utterly impossible.

However, without strength, there was no way to earn money. Ryan already had the path to making money, but he still needed strength to realize all of it.

"Therefore, the most pressing matter of the moment is to raise our strength. Let's go, let's go back and find Carter-uncle; Carter-uncle should have a way."

The only one Ryan could turn to now was Carter.

Ryan and Beli together came to Carter's residence—which was the place where they had just held the meeting.

"Ryan, Beli, how come you two little fellows came over?"

Seeing the two walking over, Carter asked with puzzlement.

Because he was afraid this fellow Beli would blurt everything out—after all, Carter-uncle didn't really like pirates.

Ryan spoke up first.

"I'll say it, Carter-uncle. The two of us want to raise our strength; do you have any places you can recommend to us, preferably something like a kendo dojo?"

Hearing these words, Carter pondered for a moment and muttered.

"There is one place, but these two are too small to endure hardship, and that person might not be willing to teach."

"Wait, why are you asking this? Do you two little fellows have something you're hiding from me?"

Reacting, Carter looked suspiciously at the two Ryans.

"We're going to be pira—"

Seeing that Beli was about to let slip, Ryan directly slapped Beli on the back to stop him.

"Ow!"

"Why did you hit me, Ryan?"

"Oh, I saw a mosquito on your back and helped you hit the mosquito."

Ryan calmly patted his hands.

Good thing I reacted fast, otherwise it would've been over, he thought inwardly.

"Nothing can be hidden from Carter-uncle, really. It's like this, Carter-uncle: the two of us will turn 12 in a few years, and I heard the selections on the Marine side are very strict, so the two of us want to seize these few years to raise our strength first before going to join the Marines."

"What was that place Carter-uncle just mentioned? I heard it just now, you know," Ryan said, blinking playfully.

Carter slapped Ryan on the head.

"You clever little ghost. I do have an old friend who is quite formidable; teaching the two of you certainly wouldn't be a problem, but he has been in seclusion for many years. Whether he'd be willing to teach you is a question."

Pausing, Carter continued.

"Fine! I'll risk this old face of mine; the other party should give me some face."

"Carter-uncle, you have so much face! Who is this person Carter-uncle mentioned? Are they strong or not?"

Ryan looked at Carter with an expression of worship.

Carter immediately burst into loud laughter.

"Of course! That's your Carter-uncle's friend, could he be bad?"

By this time, Beli's facial expression beside them was extremely rich—shocked, puzzled, and even more bewildered.

How did Ryan start sucking up to Carter-uncle? The old Ryan wasn't like this.

Of course Beli didn't know that the current Ryan was someone from 21st-century Earth.

Carter patted Ryan on the shoulder.

"Who it is, you don't need to know; his identity cannot be spoken aloud. Anyway, you just need to know he's very strong. Back when he was still a pirate, he was famous worldwide—a great pirate."

"Oops, I let it slip," Carter laughed loudly.

Ryan was somewhat curious.

A great pirate who was formerly famous worldwide—who could that be?

Uncle Carter didn't completely hate pirates, so how could he be friends with one?

"Don't overthink it. Come over to my place tomorrow morning, and I'll take you two there."

Carter said, looking at Ryan who was deep in thought.

On the way back, Beli looked at Ryan in confusion.

"Ryan, why didn't you tell Uncle Carter the real situation?"

Ryan looked at Beli with a serious expression and said, "Beli, you have to understand that Uncle Carter used to be a marine. If Uncle Carter knew we were going to be pirates, do you think he would arrest us?"

"I didn't tell Uncle Carter because I didn't want to put him in a difficult position. Do you want to force Uncle Carter, an old marine, to choose between us and marine honor? That's why I chose to hide it. Can you understand my good intentions?"

"Although I don't understand, I think you're right. I support you, Ryan." Beli said with a serious face.

Soon, upon returning home, Ryan and Beli had dinner with the others and lay down on the bed.

Because the beds were limited, Ryan and Beli slept in the same one.

"I ate two pieces of meat tonight, and the meat was really delicious. Ryan, do you think we'll be able to drink wine from large bowls and eat meat in large chunks after we become pirates in the future?" Beli asked Ryan while lying in bed.

"We can. We'll have everything in the future, and tomorrow will be better."

"Yeah, tomorrow will be better."

The night passed without incident...