First Meeting with Shanks

Since then, Ryan, Beli, and Gaban lived a happy and joyful life.

Of course, this happiness and joy applied solely to Gaban. Drinking a little wine every day to guide the two in their cultivation, the joy of educating younger generations was just that simple—something ordinary people could never comprehend, especially when educating juniors referred to as monsters.

If they didn't train well, they got beaten. Whichever of the two lost their sparring match had to help Gaban buy wine for the next seven days.

Just like that, Beli had already become a VIP customer at Life Tavern. Time always flies when life is fulfilling.

A year later...

"Hurry up, today's goal hasn't been met yet."

"Hold the posture! Right, just like that. Brat, you didn't hold it again."

Then, Gaban's Iron Fist landed right on Ryan's head. This was just a minor interlude in a year's worth of training. It was love from a senior, except that this love was a bit too heavy.

"Why is it still impossible to dodge? Teacher Gaban's fists are simply too hard to avoid. Every time I feel like I'm about to dodge, the next second I still get hit," Ryan said with dejection.

Gaban laughed out loud and said, "This is your teacher's love, how could I let you dodge it? Haha."

Sitting on the bench, drinking wine, and watching the movements of Ryan practicing swordsmanship and Beli practicing physical techniques, Gaban wore the gratified smile of an old father.

After a year of cultivation, both Ryan and Beli had made tremendous progress.

Especially Ryan's progress over this period gave Gaban the feeling that Ryan's talent was even stronger than that of Captain Roger.

Because of the blessing of the Strongest Protagonist System, growing rapidly every day, Ryan used system stat allocation and daily exercise to undergo earth-shaking changes in every aspect.

In Beli's words, the current Ryan could beat 100 Ryans from a year ago.

After a year of training, even Ryan's height had now grown to 140 centimeters. Beli was even more outrageous, already standing at 155 centimeters at 9 years old.

Ding, the mission is complete. The host has successfully survived in the pirate world for one year, and the mission reward is now being issued.

Reward: Elementary Conqueror's Haki. Ding, reward: Elementary Armament Haki. Reward: Elementary Observation Haki. Do you wish to claim the reward?

Ding, a new mission has been issued.

The host has aspired since childhood to be a free and unrestrained pirate. A bounty is a pirate's label; a pirate without a bounty is unqualified.

Mission: Reach a bounty of 500 million. The mission reward can be viewed after completion.

This long-awaited voice, these rich rewards. Ryan had now taken back every single word of complaint he had previously hurled at the system over the past year.

As expected, the Strongest Protagonist System was terrifyingly powerful.

Calming the excited emotions in his heart, he said indifferently, "Claim the reward."

Attribute Panel

Host: Portgas D. Ryan

Current Host Attribute Points: 20000

Host: Portgas D. Ryan

Physique: 31242/100000 (Advanced)

Physical Technique: 11024/100000 (Advanced)

Swordsmanship: 26687/100000 (Master Swordsman)

Conqueror's Haki: 500/1000 (Elementary)

Armament Haki: 100/1000 (Elementary)

Observation Haki: 540/1000 (Elementary)

Devil Fruit Ability: None

Skill: Kamusari

Weapon: Supreme Grade Sword Ace

Glancing at his attribute panel, Ryan was extremely satisfied. This was the fruit of his one year of cultivation. Throughout this year, Ryan had spent a total of up to 60,000 attribute points.

Among them, 30,000 points were added to physique, while of the remaining 30,000 attribute points, 20,000 were added to swordsmanship.

This was Ryan's advantage. Although Ryan's swordsmanship had not been taught by a famous master, through a year of Basic Swordsmanship practice, Ryan had also increased his attribute value in swordsmanship by more than 6,000 points.

The final 10,000 points were added to physical techniques. Because Ryan's aptitude in physical techniques was weak and his self-cultivation improvements were very slow, he had no choice but to rely on Daddy System to boost his physical training.

Backed by master-swordsman-level swordsmanship and the Three Types of Haki, coupled with his currently advanced physical techniques, the present Ryan could officially be considered to have a certain degree of self-preservation ability in the pirate world. According to Ryan's own estimation, his current self should be no weaker than Luffy during the Summit War.

Of course, normally in front of Gaban, Ryan still kept something in reserve. He understood the importance of trump cards and always needed to leave himself a backdoor, and the remaining 20,000 attribute points were the backdoor Ryan kept for himself.

Every aspect of Ryan could now be upgraded through attribute points, but it wouldn't work if he didn't go through cultivation and adaptation to master the power within his body and turn it into a power he could actually wield.

Just like a child's consciousness occupying an adult's body, how much of the body's power could such a situation actually unleash?

According to Ryan's own estimation, after a year of cultivation, Ryan was currently able to unleash seventy percent of his strength. There was still some distance to go before achieving one-hundred-percent mastery.

"A year of cultivation has ended. I'll give the two of you a few days off to rest well and balance work with rest. If you have time, you can go check on old Carter. I suppose both of you miss him."

Gaban looked at Ryan and Beli and said, "Right, Beli, go to Life Tavern and fetch a few barrels of wine for me. Remember to fill them to the brim."

With that, Gaban pulled several barrels out from the room and tossed them straight to Beli.

Beli hurriedly caught them. Beli still remembered how once, because he failed to catch them, a barrel fell to the ground and broke, after which Beli was given special attention by Gaban for a whole month.

Hugging the wine barrels, Beli ran straight toward Life Tavern.

"Ryan, your basic training is complete. For the next two years, you can tell me directly whatever you want to learn."

Gaban looked affectionately at this immensely talented disciple.

After all, anyone who witnessed with their own eyes that Ryan possessed his current strength after just a year of cultivation would feel astonished, let alone Gaban who personally taught Ryan.

Gaban had taken no disciples in his life; Ryan and Beli could be considered Gaban's final disciples.

After pondering for a moment, Ryan said, "Teacher, I want to learn combat and Haki. Right now, I need to accumulate combat experience through massive amounts of combat."

Gaban replied, "Alright, no problem, I'll arrange that. Once the two of you finish your vacation, come straight to me. In addition, regarding swordsmanship, I've also found an old friend to teach you, otherwise your swordsmanship talent would be too wasted. After all, I'm not a sword user, though my old friend's swordsmanship is barely passable."

Perhaps thinking of that old friend of his, Gaban's expression carried a hint of wistfulness as he drank his wine and reminisced about the past.

Hearing Gaban put it this way, Ryan felt quite curious about that old friend of Gaban's.

Regarding the fact that Gaban was the right-hand man of Pirate King Roger, Ryan already knew from a previous conversation with Gaban. There weren't many people who could be called an old friend by Gaban and have good swordsmanship.

Pluton Rayleigh? Highly unlikely.

Ever since his retirement, Rayleigh didn't move around much, spending his days gambling on the Sabaody Archipelago and selling himself.

Red-Haired Shanks? That didn't seem right either.

Shanks's swordsmanship was definitely formidable, belonging to the very top tier of people, but addressing him as an old friend as Gaban's junior definitely wouldn't be correct.

Watching Ryan lost in deep thought, Gaban said irritably, "Stop guessing, you'll know when the time comes. Come over and keep me company while I drink."

With that, he placed a bowl in front of Ryan and poured it full of wine.

"Alright, every time you talk, Teacher, it's always like this—you love to say half and leave the half unspoken, that's no good," Ryan picked up the bowl on the table, took a large gulp of wine, and said earnestly.

Following Gaban in cultivation over this past year, Ryan and Beli had also learned to drink. There was no help for it; Gaban felt that drinking alone was boring, so he frequently dragged the two of them along to drink with him. Over time, Ryan also fell in love with drinking, and faintly showed signs of heading down the path of a drunkard.

While drinking, Ryan listened to Gaban recount stories of his past adventures with the Roger Pirates—or more precisely, listened to Gaban brag about how he once wielded two axes to hack his way from the Southern Heavenly Gate all the way to Penglai East Road.

After a while, noticing that Beli still hadn't returned with the wine, Gaban frowned slightly. "Beli still hasn't returned; he must have been delayed by something. Ryan, go check on Life Tavern now."

"Alright, I'll go and be right back."

Ryan ran toward Life Tavern, which was a bar opened by a pirate who had retired after returning from the Grand Line.

In the pirate world, not just anyone could open a tavern. Without a certain level of strength, people would frequently cause trouble in a tavern's wine; after all, people whose heads were muddled from too much drinking were not clear-headed.

Ryan only learned these things from Gaban's stories after coming to the pirate world, and the one that left the deepest impression was Shakky's Rip-off Bar run by Shyarly on the Sabaody Archipelago.

Life Tavern was decorated in a very retro style with all-wood finishings, showing that the tavern owner Life was a man with refined tastes.

When Ryan rushed to the entrance of the tavern, he happened to see Beli surrounded in the center by a few people holding weapons. Their dress and ornamentation looked like pirates who had come to Yunlai Town for resupply. The ringleader of the pirates was hacking at Beli with the saber in his hand. Seeing that dodging was impossible, Beli raised both hands to block in front of him.

If he didn't stop it, the next scene would definitely be Beli's hands being hacked off by the pirate, causing Beli to lose both hands and his path to growing stronger.

"Beli!" Ryan shouted aloud.

At that moment of crisis, the Conqueror's Haki within Ryan surged outward, sweeping toward that pack of pirates.

Simultaneously, a sword instantly appeared in front of Beli's hands, blocking the descending saber dead in its tracks and preventing it from advancing even an inch.

Immediately, most of that group of pirates and the people drinking inside the tavern slumped forward limply to the ground with vacant eyes.

Seeing that Beli was unharmed, Ryan instantly materialized in front of Beli, steadying him as he stood there with a dazed expression.

"Beli, are you alright!"

Seeing that the newcomer was Ryan, Beli immediately said in pleasant surprise, "I'm fine, doing great!" Saying that, he even shook his hands in the air.

Seeing that Beli was still as carefree as ever, Ryan's tense mood relaxed as well.

Beli was the person Ryan was closest to in this world. The two of them were similar in age, were both orphans, and grew up together from childhood. It could be said that Ryan and Beli grew up sharing a pair of trousers and sleeping in the same bed.

"This young man, waking up Conqueror's Haki at such a young age is truly formidable!"

A voice came from nearby, belonging precisely to the person who had just used a sword to block in front of Beli.

The newcomer was around 20 years old, wearing a yellow Straw Hat, an upper body dressed in a beige long-sleeve shirt with a black cloak draped over it, and lower body in patterned baggy shorts. His height and build were completely ordinary, but a head of red hair was particularly eye-catching. His eyes kept scrutinizing Ryan.

Ryan expressed his gratitude to the red-haired youth.

"Many thanks to Your Excellency for making a move to save him just now, I thank you on Beli's behalf."

Seeing that the newcomer looked rather familiar, Ryan asked with puzzlement, "You are?"

Hearing Ryan ask who the red-haired youth was, a group of people nearby instantly started jeering.

"The boss isn't famous at all, he's being looked down upon," a chubby man holding a chicken leg said loudly.

"Yeah, yeah, he's being looked down upon."

"The boss is really pathetic."

The newcomer looked toward the direction the voice came from and froze. Seeing the scene before him, Ryan finally understood what that sense of familiarity was all about.

That white-haired man smoking a cigarette while watching this side was none other than Benn Beckman.

That chubby man holding a chicken leg who had just been jeering was Lucky Roux.

That person drinking wine and watching this side was Yasopp, Usopp's father, and also the sniper of the Red Hair Pirates.

Looking out across them, basically all the future senior officers of the Red Hair Pirates were right here. Building Snake with his monkey-like shaved head and the rest were all looking at Ryan.

Being stared at like this by all the senior officers of a future Yonko pirate crew, although there was no malice, Ryan still felt an aura wash over him.

And that red-haired youth was none other than the future Yonko Red-Haired Shanks. At this time, Shanks still did not have those three scars across his eye.

Seeing them mock him, Shanks laughed out loud and said, "I'm your boss after all, can you guys leave me some face in front of outsiders?"

Ryan said, "My fault, because I haven't had much contact with the outside world, so I didn't know the reputation of this Red-Haired Big Brother."

"Wah, the boss has so much face."

"Even a young man who has awakened Conqueror's Haki has to give the boss face."

"Then it's settled! For this young man and his friend, we're holding a banquet today!" Red-Haired Shanks said happily, slinging an arm around Ryan's shoulder.

Ryan speechlessly replied, "That's obviously just because you want to hold a banquet yourself." He truly was that Shanks who would start a banquet at the drop of a hat.

"I've been seen through, hahaha! Boss, bring out the wine, the boys are having a banquet!" Along with Shanks's voice, fine wine and good meat were continuously placed onto the tables by the tavern staff.

"Before we start the banquet, I'll take care of some matters first."

"Take care of what matters?"

As soon as Ryan finished speaking, he walked over to that group of fallen pirates, picked up a saber from the ground, and thrust it toward the bodies of those pirates.

Ryan's hand holding the saber was very steady; one person, one slash, each stabbing right into the heart area, and even the sizes of the wounds were identical.

When he was done, he casually tossed the saber onto the ground, cast a calm glance at the tavern owner Life who was watching the show over there, and said indifferently, "Uncle Life, deal with these people." After that, he returned to the table.

Ding! The host killed Belis and obtained 2,000 attribute points.

Ding! The host killed...

Everyone in the Red Hair Pirates who witnessed this scene was stunned. This kid was too decisive!

However, no one said anything against Ryan's actions. After all, these pirates had almost killed Ryan's good friend Beli, and being killed now just meant their strength was inadequate; the number of pirates who died in the vast seas every day was immeasurable.

Even so, Shanks still curiously asked why he had killed all of them.

Ryan calmly replied, "Since they are already enemies, they must be dealt with. Although I'm not afraid of retaliation, my friends and family don't have the power to protect themselves, so danger should be nipped in the bud beforehand."

Hearing Ryan's answer, Shanks and Benn Beckman exchanged glances, both seeing solemnity in each other's eyes.

Such a decisive, formidable, and immensely talented young man was truly unimaginable for the future.

Shanks started up again.

"Since it's settled, let's come drink!"

A group of people began to chat while drinking from large bowls and eating meat in huge chunks. Shanks learned from Ryan that Ryan was only 9 years old this year, prompting him to let out "tsk tsk tsk" sounds of amazement.

Ryan also knew that Shanks had come to Baterilla in the South Blue to visit a senior, and hearing this, Ryan instantly understood.

Shanks had come to find Gaban; no wonder he appeared here. Normally, the Red Hair Pirates should be adventuring in the Grand Line right now.

Before long, Shanks and Ryan could be heard calling each other "Little Brother Ryan" and "Big Brother Shanks" in every breath.

The two of them drank wine while slinging their arms over each other's shoulders, intimate as if they had met too late, chatting about life and ideals. Vaguely, words like dreams, freedom, and Pirate King could be heard.

Ryan still held a great deal of respect for Shanks. A Shanks who had strength yet zero airs possessed an extremely charismatic personality.

Shanks's ideal was to be able to hold banquets together with his friends, be the happiest pirate, inherit Roger's will, and strive to become the Pirate King.

The current Shanks was not yet that Yonko of the future who would stake an arm on a new era and run around constantly for the balance of the seas.

Watching Shanks currently drinking without a care in the world, Ryan wondered what kind of experiences Shanks would go through in the future that would make him give up on becoming the Pirate King himself and choose to place his hopes on Luffy.

Noticing Ryan's gaze, Shanks laughed heartily. "Why are you staring at me? Drink, drink! Look, I've already drunk seven or eight bottles and you haven't even finished four. Too slow, you have to be penalized with a drink."

Looking at this boy under ten years old in front of him, strength, talent, and a grand dream—Ryan lacked nothing. He was just like the morning sun, full of vigor and breathing the breath of hope.

"Ryan!"

"Beli!"

"Teacher Gaban, why are you here?" Ryan and Beli said simultaneously.

Hearing the familiar voice, Ryan, Beli, and Shanks all looked toward the tavern entrance.

Gaban was wearing black sunglasses and walking in angrily, cursing as he walked: "You two brats went out for so long without a peep, didn't you know your teacher would worry? Most importantly, you actually didn't call me when you went drinking."

The word "teacher" was something Gaban had picked up from Ryan.

Thump, thump, two light thuds sounded as Ryan and Beli each took a heavy bump on their heads.

Shanks looked at Gaban and said softly, "Senior Gaban, long time no see."

Gaban looked at Shanks and the Straw Hat on his head. "You brat have grown up, haven't you, Shanks?"

Plucking the Straw Hat right off Shanks's head and placing it onto his own, he threw a punch at Shanks's head and said, "Drinking with my two disciples and not calling me—you've really grown some spine, haven't you?"

Shanks sighed helplessly. "Senior Gaban, you're still as full of spirit as ever."

The officers of the Red Hair Pirates who witnessed this scene had their jaws dropped wide open—not because they were surprised that Shanks had been beaten.

Rather, it was because that Straw Hat was Shanks's beloved treasure, the kind he wouldn't let anyone else even touch, yet this person had actually...

Then, Shanks introduced him to the crowd: "This is my senior, Captain Roger's right-hand man, Scopper Gaban, and also the third combat power on our ship."

Everyone wore expressions of realization.

"Ahem, Shanks, you remembered wrong; it's the second-strongest combatant."

"Is that so?"

"It is."

"None of that matters anymore, Senior Gaban, let's start the banquet together. Hahaha."

Shanks snatched back his Straw Hat, put it on his head, and pulled Gaban down to sit with a single tug.

Afterward, a unique banquet took place at Life Tavern, with laughter and cheers ringing out endlessly. Looking at them, one could never tell that a few pirates had just died right here...