One Piece: Invincible from the Start

Kuta raised his hand and gently tapped Kuina on the head.

Kuina pretended it hurt, clasping her head with both hands as she looked up at Kuta with misty eyes.

"Hmph! Don't tell me you don't want to eat there."

Kuta swallowed and turned toward the sea. "I'm just interested in someone who'd open a restaurant at sea. It's not like I care about the food they make!"

He nodded firmly as he spoke.

"Yeah! That's right. Exactly."

Kuina saw straight through him but didn't call him out. She gently took his hand, tucked it against her, and kept him company while he fished.

Ever since she and Kuta had become engaged, she had grown gentler and more playful. The change had Ahua and the others crying that Kuina must be possessed.

After all, Kuina had actually smiled at them. It was the first time she had ever done that.

They had been afraid to show their faces for two days, convinced something terrible was coming.

"Huh?"

Just then, the fishing rod in Kuta's hands suddenly bent, its line pulled taut.

"Did you catch something?"

Kuina quickly let go of Kuta, hurried to the side of the ship, and leaned over the railing to look at the water below.

Kuta gripped the fishing

rod with both hands and gave it a mighty heave.

The calm sea beside the ship suddenly churned violently, and the vessel rocked in the surging water.

The surface where the line disappeared bulged upward. A curtain of water fell away under its own weight, revealing an enormous shadow mottled blue-green and yellow.

The creature's front half rose high beside the ship, casting a vast shadow.

It had a broad forehead, a gaping mouth full of sharp fangs, and blood-red eyes that glinted coldly as they fixed on Kuta and his fishing rod.

Standing in its shadow, Kuta looked up at the giant sea eel and shouted, "It's you, Lord of the Coast!"

He dropped the rod, stroked his chin, then addressed the creature with a perfectly straight face.

"I wonder if you know the one outside Foosha Village. Now, that one was something else. It bit Red-Hair's arm clean off! Sure, that was over a decade ago, but it could brag about that for the rest of its life."

Then he raised his right hand before him and gave the Lord of the Coast an encouraging look, his flair for the dramatic in full force.

"Come on! I'll wager my arm on the East Blue too."

The Lord of the Coast genuinely had no idea what this little speck was saying, but somehow, it sensed an insult in his eyes.

Its head paused in midair. Then it came crashing down on him like a meteor.

BANG!

The Lord of the Coast felt as though it had slammed into steel. Stars burst across its vision.

It took a while before it recovered.

It shook its head and looked down at the teeth scattered beside the ship, its expression utterly aggrieved.

It had been leisurely strolling with a pretty fish when, without the slightest warning, a hook had snagged in its mouth.

Fine, let it snag! At its size, the Lord of the Coast hadn't believed anyone could haul it up.

But before it had even swum a few lengths, this fellow had yanked it to the surface.

And as if that weren't enough, he had broken its best-looking teeth.

Who was it supposed to complain to?

"Kuta, stop playing around! Ship spotted at three o'clock!"

A-Luo stood in the lookout and shouted down to Kuta.

"Where? Where?"

Ahua, who had been slacking off in the kitchen, came sprinting out with a kitchen knife and leaned over the railing to look ahead.

None of them cared about the Lord of the Coast.

Other ships, though, fascinated them—especially pirate ships.

"Hmm."

A red gleam flashed in Kuta's eyes as he sensed what lay ahead.

It really was a large ship, far bigger than theirs.

He looked up at the Lord of the Coast. "Sorry. I can't play with you anymore. Time to send you on your way."

The Lord of the Coast sensed something was wrong. Its heart clenched, and it quickly pulled back its head, trying to dive into the sea.

But a second before Kuta finished speaking, a sharp, swift hiss of friction rang out.

SHING!

A silver-white slash streaked through the air, crossed the Lord of the Coast's neck, and shot onward into the sky.

Click!

Kuina sheathed her blade.

She had struck the moment Kuta finished speaking.

BOOM!

The Lord of the Coast's enormous head crashed into the sea. It bobbed a few times before finally sinking beneath the waves.

Through the shimmering water, its eyes were still visible, full of resentment and hurt.

Its lower half still reared above the surface, as though it hadn't realized its head was gone. Thick, fishy blood began to well from the smooth cut.

A gust of wind blew past, and its stubborn lower half could hold itself upright no longer. It toppled backward.

BOOM!

The splash was even bigger than when it had surfaced.

The Krieg Pirates

March 15, Sea Circle Calendar 1520.

East Blue.

A huge sailing ship with a black-panther figurehead and three decks sailed with the rising sun at its back.

At the top of its mast flew a black skull flag, billowing in the sea breeze.

A red hourglass was painted on either side of the white skull. They marked both the fate of its prey and the time left until death: "You'll surrender to me sooner or later. It's only a matter of time."

Most people in the East Blue probably recognized the flag and the ship.

After all, it belonged to one of the East Blue's most highly wanted pirate crews.

Aboard the Fake Merry, A-Tao held several wanted posters and explained as she watched the distant pirate ship.

"The Krieg Pirates. Supposedly the largest pirate crew in the East Blue, with five thousand men."

"Their captain, Don Krieg, has a bounty of seventeen million Beli. They call him the ruler of the East Blue."

"Their commander-in-chief, Demon Man Gin, has a bounty of twelve million Beli."

"If he has five thousand men, why can we only see one ship?"

Ahua adjusted his glasses and looked at the wanted posters in A-Tao's hand, puzzled.

"He's probably inspecting his territories. Krieg can't keep all his men together. That would make them sitting ducks for the Marines."

A-Luo slid down the mast and strode over to answer.

He glanced up at the huge ship bearing down on them.

"That must be Krieg's flagship, the Dauntless Warship Saber."

"So Krieg's definitely aboard, then."

They all turned toward Kuta at the bow, waiting for his orders.

They weren't worried about the so-called ruler of the East Blue. Compared with Kuta, those pirates were hopelessly fragile.

After all, Kuta had fought the legendary Okama King to a draw five years ago. He was a monster.

And the Okama King's bounty exceeded eighty million.

The Krieg Pirates spotted them at the same time Kuta and the others spotted the pirates.

The ship changed course and charged straight toward them.

The pirates had no idea what a brutal end awaited them.

Ignorance was a kind of blessing, really. It let them do whatever they pleased without a care.

Whether that made them lucky or unlucky was hard to say.

No one knew if the pirates were lucky, but Kuta and his companions certainly were.

At last, this dull voyage had gained a little excitement.

As the Dauntless Warship Saber rapidly approached, Kuta turned to Ahua and the other two. Their faces were alight with excitement. A fierce grin curled his lips.

"Krieg is mine. Kuina gets the officers. The rest of you can handle the small fry."

"Whoa!"

Ahua and the other two leaped up in excitement.

They had studied swordsmanship for more than a decade. Without the desire to become master swordsmen and cut down villains, they could never have kept at it so long.

Only because they had seen no hope in recent years had they finally left the sword school.

Now they faced people guilty of every imaginable evil. They felt no guilt about killing them.

Ignoring the three excited men, Kuta turned back toward the Krieg Pirates, his thoughts churning.

In truth, most people in the world of One Piece still had a sense of justice. Not the World Government's version of it, but the kind that drew a blade when faced with injustice or a villain.

Even among the Marines, often called the World Government's lapdogs, more than ninety percent were genuinely just. Not all of them, perhaps, but most.

Everyone aboard their ship was clearly like that.

Pirates,

on the other hand, were criminals hiding behind talk of dreams.

The sea offered boundless wealth. Some people amassed fortunes quickly through luck, courage, cunning, or strength.

Most pirates made their living by robbing those people of the wealth they had earned.

It brought money fast, without requiring much effort.

They could spend their stolen riches however they pleased.

They were free.

They answered to no one.

They even acted as though they were above the law.

Pirates like Luffy, who truly carried a dream in their hearts, weren't nonexistent, but they were exceedingly rare.

That was why people with a little ambition and strength dreamed of becoming criminals like them.

Most, encouraged and goaded by others, made piracy the work of their lives.

And that brought Kuta to the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger.

One sentence from that man before his death had sent the hesitant, the aimless, and even people who had never considered it rushing out to sea.

Some genuinely meant to seek the One Piece, but Kuta was sure the vast majority simply wanted to become pirates.

They didn't believe in the One Piece at all.