The clear blue sky stretched overhead, decorated with a scattering of white seagulls—like specks of light on a vast celestial canvas. Despite its clarity, the sky didn't feel empty, but vibrant with life. The sea hugged the horizon, its surface gliding with a gentle grace like silk stirred by unseen fingers. The golden shoreline lay pristine and untouched, not a single trace of human litter to be found.
If such a place existed in our world, it would undoubtedly rank among the most luxurious tourist destinations—five stars at the very least.
* * *
The next instant—
Crack!
A thunderous sound tore through the stillness.
From the sky, a black bolt of lightning—thick as the trunk of a palm tree—came crashing down without warning. It shot from the heavens like it had chosen its target in advance, heading straight for a specific spot on the beach.
Then—
A colossal explosion shook both earth and sky.
A deafening thunderclap shattered the tranquility, as though the world itself were coming to an end.
From deep within the island, birds fled their nests in panic, wings flapping furiously as they shrieked in terror.
The black lightning that had bridged the sky and earth lingered for nearly ten seconds before it slowly began to fade. As it vanished, light returned once more to the sky.
A scene like this hardly needed explanation. Either someone had just undergone a "Heavenly Tribulation"... or someone had just been kidnapped from their world.
From behind the screen, however, there was no need to panic.
All returned to silence.
Where the lightning had struck, the ground had caved in completely, leaving a massive circular crater nearly a hundred meters wide. The surrounding sand was scorched black.
Inside the pit, the intense heat had melted the sand, transforming it into glittering shards of glass embedded in the ground—crystalline fragments that gleamed in the sunlight like buried jewels.
At the crater's center, flickers of electric energy still clung to the air, arcing into transparent currents that danced like miniature dragons. They leapt through the air with a soft buzzing hum—zzzz... zzzz...
Above, a white bird dove excitedly toward the site of the impact, its eyes gleaming with a strange intelligence.
* * *
Inside the crater
"Cough... cough..."
Luke finally drew breath as he emerged from unconsciousness. His eyes fluttered open with effort, his body gripped by an overwhelming heat and a numbing paralysis that made it impossible to even lift his head.
'What's going on... I can't move my limbs.'
His thoughts were heavy, as if his mind were just clawing its way out of a drunken haze.
Like so many others, Luke had once been an ordinary young man. An orphan born on the Blue Planet, he had nothing to set him apart—an average face, an average home, and average hobbies: sports, games, anime. He'd served two years in the military, which he considered the most meaningful thing he'd ever done. After graduating, he'd taken on a grueling job that demanded endless overtime. He hated the labyrinthine politics of office life and had no taste for flattery or false smiles, so he remained in a low-ranking position, year after year.
Worn down by work and hollowed out by life, he sought a simple escape—and found one in fishing.
Whenever he could steal a day off, he would head to the river with his rod in hand, seeking solace in nature's silence. It was his way of stealing a glimpse of early retirement, a way to give himself hope to endure a retirement age that kept being pushed further away.
But who could have imagined that one fishing trip would end with him tangled in high-voltage wires... and then flung into another world entirely, as if by some cosmic joke?
'Am I even alive?'
'Where am I? Why don't I see a hospital ceiling? Don't tell me the shock zapped me into another dimension on the spot...'
As shards of memory began to reassemble in his head, a bitter thought rose within him:
'Curse that bitter old man... Every time he cast his line farther than mine, he'd give me that smug little look. How was I supposed to put up with that?! I shoved him—hard...'
And this was the result.
He'd acted impulsively. And now, he was paying the price.
Still paralyzed, all he could do was stare blankly at the sky.
And suddenly—
A large white bird swooped toward him!
He didn't react at first. Birds in the sky were nothing unusual.
But as the creature neared, his eyes widened until they almost burst from their sockets.
'That's not an ordinary bird! What is that thing?!'
It was a white-feathered bird with a small burgundy pouch hanging from its neck, and a white pilot's cap perched atop its head—emblazoned with a bold, capital "N".
Stranger still...
While still airborne, the bird reached one wing into the pouch and began rummaging through it.
Click click click!
From the bag, it drew out a snail-like creature with cartoonishly wide eyes. Holding it with wings that moved as fluidly as human fingers, the bird aimed the strange creature at Luke and began snapping pictures—effortlessly, with uncanny skill.
Luke was too stunned to move.
'What a strange bird… and an even stranger snail…'
Luke blinked, taking a closer look. Slowly, his expression shifted—from mild confusion to outright alarm.
!!!
"This… this can't be real. Isn't that the News Coo from One Piece?!"
"Wait... did I actually enter the One Piece world?!"
!
As the swirling storm of confusion in his mind began to settle, one undeniable truth rose to the surface:
He had been transported into the One Piece universe.
* * *
"Caaaaawk!"
The bird was a journalist through and through—no need for a boss breathing down its neck or empty promises of promotion. It soared through the skies on sheer passion alone. The moment it caught the slightest noise in this remote region, it dove like a hound catching the scent of a once-in-a-lifetime scoop.
* * *
Somewhere deep in its feathered chest, a thrill sparked.
Its assignment had been to deliver newspapers to this desolate area. It had planned to enjoy a quiet few days without stress or surprises. Never had it imagined stumbling into the heart of a dramatic incident the moment it left the nest!
From this distance alone, it could feel the air trembling—something massive had happened. A news story of the highest caliber!
'Promotion? Bonus? A career-defining scoop?'
"I need to find out immediately—who's responsible for this battle?!"
It flew lower and quickly pulled out its trusty visual transponder snail, snapping sweeping aerial shots of the massive crater below. Then, with calculated precision, it began to descend further, aiming to capture close-ups of the mysterious figure at the crater's center.
Crack!
In a sudden burst of static, Luke watched in astonishment as the News Coo slammed into what appeared to be an invisible barrier mid-dive. The bird's body seized up for an instant—then dropped in a limp, spiraling fall.
Boom!
It hit the ground a few meters away, smoke curling gently from its feathers… accompanied by the distinct aroma of grilled meat.
"…That actually smells kind of good."
Luke inhaled involuntarily through his flared nostrils. His stomach let out a soft, grumbling protest.
His feelings were a storm of contradiction. His mind was chaos, but somehow, he didn't feel despair. He had grown sick of his monotonous life, caught in a prison of work and home. Now, hurled into the world of One Piece, he felt a strange mix of awe… and excitement.
For this world, as he knew it, was beautiful—yes—but also brutal.
The cheerful adventures of the main characters didn't represent the reality of this age. In truth, the seas were infested with pirates more akin to wild beasts than merry rogues. Most were not noble-hearted dreamers… but tyrants, killers, greedy opportunists, and conmen.
And then there were slavers, bandits, and assassins. Even the institutions of "justice"—the Marines and the World Government—weren't free from corruption.
How many travelers like him had been snatched up the moment they arrived, only to be sold like livestock to the highest bidder in the underworld?
In the age of Great Pirates, values had crumbled, laws shattered, and the weak were left to drown in a sea of blood.
Wealth, power, women… these belonged solely to the strong. The rest were just debris—crushed beneath the wheels of this era.
'Damn it… I spent years teaching myself how to make soap and perfume, how to forge iron by hand, how to create the perfect gunpowder blend… and it all went to waste!'
'And my poetry collections? Who did I think I'd impress with those? Recite verses to pirates while they cut me down?'
This was a world where truth was written with fists.
Luke let out a bitter sigh—then smiled faintly and murmured:
"Well then… since I'm here, so be it. This is the world of One Piece Fine! Let this era witness a man from the twenty-first century—armed with a sharp mind, encyclopedic knowledge, and above all… a memory that remembers every detail of the original story!"
'Who knows… maybe that lightning bolt that fried the News Coo was part of my transition. Maybe it even helped me heal.'
As the last traces of electricity vanished from the air, sensation began to return to his limbs. He pressed his palms against the ground and rose—unsteadily—to his feet.
"A child's body? Wait… did my consciousness transfer into this body?"
He looked down at his small hands, then felt his face.
"Smooth skin… messy black hair… Guess I'm good-looking. Shame there's no mirror around."
Then suddenly, panic seized him. He plunged his hand into his small pocket—
* * *
"Ah… luckily! Still here."
A wave of relief washed over him. Despite all he'd lost, one of his most important possessions remained. Small, yes—but priceless.
"But wait… shouldn't everyone in this world have insane physical strength? Where's my punch that could knock out a bull?"
After a few tentative movements, the truth became clear—he had no special abilities. Just an ordinary boy.
"No problem… I'll find myself a Devil Fruit. I'm not even aiming for a mythical Zoan or a Logia type. Even a basic Paramecia will do. With my brain, I'll master it in no time! And if I don't find one… then I'll just flatter some giant until I learn the ropes, then break off on my own!"
"Power… money… women… Mwahahaha!"
He sank into delusions of grandeur, a sly grin spreading across his face, occasional strange chuckles slipping through his lips.
* * *
'But… who exactly am I now? And where even am I?'
His inner voice snapped him back to reality, and he began to observe his surroundings more closely.
Tall earthen walls surrounded him on all sides, several meters high. Given that his height didn't exceed one meter forty, he couldn't see beyond them.
What he didn't know was that he stood at the center of a circular crater nearly a hundred meters wide.
The ground was coated in black ash, the air thick with the acrid scent of scorched earth.
"Is this… one of those over-the-top fantasy stories?"
"Could this crater have been caused by some overwhelming power buried inside me?"
Well… in a world where a single punch could level mountains, and a spear could split the sea, a crater of this size might seem like nothing more than a minor detail.
But the truth was… Luke had gotten ahead of himself.