I, Gawain, Am Not a Fairy Knight!

Life was a real bastard.

Yesterday morning, Gawain had passed the civil service interview in his hometown. He figured he would start work in a few months and be set for the rest of his life.

Sure, a civil servant's life was plain and a little dull. But in an age when thirty-five practically meant forced retirement, who could turn down a guaranteed meal ticket?

As for the low pay making it hard to find a partner...

Hah. In this day and age, even a dog wouldn't bother dating.

Besides, civil servants were top-tier prospects in the matchmaking market. Surely that wasn't an exaggeration?

Then he woke up on a deserted island. He wore close-fitting black leather armor, and blood seeped through the bandages covering several wounds.

It hurt.

Then a clamor rose around him...

"We've shaken that bastard Morgans for now, but he'll find this place in two or three months at most."

"Our ship was damaged in the last fight, too. Without repairs, we'll have a hard time sailing on. And then we'll..."

"Captain, what do we do now?"

Dozens of pirates crowded around Gawain, all talking at once. The air filled with noise, but the fear in their voices was unmistakable.

Gawain's head swam as he listened. Without thinking, he barked:

"Quiet!"

After some thought, Gawain finally sorted through the jumbled memories in his head.

He was the captain of this pirate crew: the notorious pirate "Knight" Gawain, with a bounty of eight million.

A few days earlier, he had encountered Morgans at sea. Unable to beat him, he had led the survivors all the way to this deserted island.

He had inherited a certain predecessor's name and even his Heroic Spirit appearance from a certain Chaldea. He wasn't a Fairy Knight, of course. What he hadn't inherited was the man's invincibility beneath the noon sun.

Life suddenly seemed even more of a bastard.

Being transported to another world was bad enough. He had landed in the world of the Pirate King, already appeared on a Wanted Poster, and had a Marine hot on his heels.

At this rate, if he was lucky, he would end up in Impel Down, wishing he were dead. If he wasn't, he would go straight to a watery grave.

Neither option looked good.

Gawain vaguely remembered Morgans.

Honestly, in the world of the Pirate King, Morgans was a corrupt Marine who could barely throw his weight around in the East Blue. On the Grand Line, just about anyone could beat him senseless.

There was just one problem.

Gawain couldn't beat him.

His predecessor had fought the man not long ago and had been overwhelmed from start to finish. Morgans's great axe had even left several notches in his Knight Sword.

It proved that, lousy as the Axe Emperor was, he had still drawn blood from Old Man Ka with a single swing. He wasn't someone just anyone could challenge.

That gave Gawain a precise measure of his current strength:

Small fry.

He couldn't even begin to compare with the inhuman powerhouses in his memories.

Gawain frowned slightly.

He was the sort to focus on the here and now.

And right now, nothing mattered more than surviving Morgans's pursuit.

He thought it over.

Still without an answer, Gawain looked at the pirates before him.

Most wore expressions of panic and bewilderment.

After half a month of flight, the crew was already on edge. There were even whispers of mutiny.

Gawain had kept them in line by force before. But now...

Gawain glanced at the wounds bleeding through his bandages.

Across the crowd, another man's gaze lingered on those wounds. A vicious grin tugged at his lips. He stepped forward, his voice as shrill as glass scraping glass:

"I say we should all go our separate ways."

"We've followed the captain for months without making a dime, and he won't even let us attack civilians. Forget living well—we're almost out of food."

"Are we supposed to stay here and wait to die?"

"Or maybe it's time we found ourselves a new captain..."

The crowd stirred again. The pirates around Gawain instinctively backed away.

Gawain got a clear look at the speaker.

He was a bald, heavily muscled brute over three meters tall, but his voice was thin and high-pitched.

His name was Lancer. Officially, he was Gawain's second-in-command, but he had coveted the captain's position for a long time.

He had always resented Gawain's refusal to attack civilians. He had even gathered a sizable following within the crew and was close to becoming a rival power.

Now he was probably hoping to take over while Gawain was wounded.

A pirate crew with fewer than a hundred members, and still this much scheming. Small pond, too many big fish.

Any other pirate captain would have cut down a subordinate the moment he dared challenge him.

Hadn't even Buggy beaten Usopp bloody in Water 7 for challenging his authority as captain?

But Gawain's predecessor had refused to do that. He had insisted on following some knightly code, muttering every day about mercy, compassion, and other nonsense no one believed.

If you're so upright, why become a pirate?

What? You slept with the princess of the Goa Kingdom?

And her name was Guinevere?

Hold on, buddy, did you pick up the wrong script? Wasn't that the rotten thing that purple-haired guy you never got along with did?!

You had your fun and left, and now I'm the one stuck cleaning up your mess?

Gawain's gaze sharpened, and his face turned cold.

When a crew mutinied against its captain, the losing side usually died.

Gawain didn't want to die. So someone else would have to.

Though he had crossed into another world, his predecessor's memories and combat instincts remained in this body. They inevitably influenced the way Gawain thought.

As for killing...

His predecessor might have upheld the spirit of knighthood, but he was still a pirate. Whose hands weren't stained with blood?

Besides, a knight's mercy was reserved for his own people. On the battlefield, he often played executioner instead.

Gawain had the decisiveness his predecessor lacked, and his predecessor had the strength Gawain lacked!

I might not be able to deal with those monsters at sea, but I can deal with you!

Gawain raised his eyes to Lancer. His voice was cold.

"What?"

"You're going to attack me?"

Shing!

The Knight Sword slid from its sheath, its cold edge catching the firelight.

Gawain's entire presence changed in an instant. He was sharp as a blade, and killing intent filled the air.

The pirates around him stared in shock. They had followed Gawain for years, but when had they ever seen him show such murderous intent?

Lancer gritted his teeth. Fear flashed in his eyes, but he had already gone too far to back down.

Even wounded, Gawain was not someone he was confident he could beat in a direct fight.

But Lancer knew Gawain's character. He was softhearted toward his subordinates and slow to make up his mind. Men like that were easy to fool and easy to handle.

Lancer gripped the flintlock pistol tucked against his chest and put on a look of anguished outrage.

"Captain, are you really going to stand by until every man aboard is dead before you'll—"

Before Lancer could finish, Gawain stepped forward, crossed the distance between them, and sent his sword flashing through the air in a silver arc.

By the time anyone reacted, Lancer's head was falling to the ground. The flintlock he had just drawn had been severed by the same stroke.

Clack!

Unfired black powder spilled from the broken barrel like dust.

Lancer's headless body still held the pose of drawing his pistol. It twitched a few times, then toppled onto its back, spilling blood across the ground.

Swish!

Gawain flicked the blood from his blade and swept a cold gaze around the crowd. His voice did not waver.

"Anyone else?!"

No one made a sound. What they had just seen was enough to chill them to the bone.

None of them had expected Gawain to act so decisively, without giving Lancer the slightest chance to back down.

The Gawain they knew would never have raised his sword against one of his own until the last possible moment. That was why Lancer and the others had dared to challenge him despite being weaker.

But now everything seemed to have changed.

Strangely, this captain made them feel they could count on him. This was how a pirate should be.

Strong, cold-blooded, ruthless. A man like that could survive longer at sea!

When no one answered, Gawain returned to his seat.

Several pale-faced pirates came forward and dragged Lancer's corpse away, leaving a crimson trail behind them.

A dreadful silence settled over the place.

Barely a dozen seconds had passed between Lancer's challenge and Gawain's sudden killing blow, but the shock it left them with was unlike anything they had felt before.

The captain who had once clung to knightly ideals had finally bared his fiercest fangs.

As they looked at Gawain, hope rekindled in their eyes.

Before, they had turned to their captain by instinct. Now they truly saw him as their salvation.

Gawain paid no attention to their reaction. A mechanical voice suddenly sounded in his mind:

"Captain System activated!"

"Congratulations! Badge unlocked: Captain's Wrath!"

"Subordinates' stamina recovery speed +20%!"