Sea-Circle Calendar 1518 - East Blue, often called "the weakest of the Four Seas."
Loguetown, the island known as both the beginning and the end.
Twenty years ago, the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, stood here and declared, "Looking for my treasure? If you want it, you can have it. Search for it; I left everything I own in one place." Thus began the Great Age of Pirates, which still rages today.
As one of the East Blue islands closest to the Grand Line, Loguetown is never short of two things: Beli and… pirates. Inside a modest tavern, half a dozen rough-looking men huddled around a table, talking over foaming mugs.
"Heard the news? A crew called the Spade Pirates just popped up."
"Yeah word is their captain ate a Logia-type Devil Fruit, the Flame-Flame Fruit."
"A Logia? The invincible kind the legends talk about?"
"Exactly. Lucky rookie. Barely a few months out to sea and he's already worth one hundred million."
In the shadowy corner, a tall man in a flat cap and dark glasses listened quietly, gathering scraps of information the boisterous pirates let slip. When the name "Ace" came up, the man's lips curved into a faint smile before flattening again.
"Restless kid," he muttered.
His name was Wayne, twenty-five years old. Two decades earlier he had crossed over from Earth into the world of One Piece. Today, he was a "small-time pirate"… at least on paper.
"Owner, the bill."
He tossed ten thousand Beli onto the counter and left, a broad-shouldered silhouette fading through the tavern door. Several ladies at a nearby table watched him go, eyes dimming at the sight of such a handsome man slipping away. Even through the sunglasses, his fine features were obvious who wouldn't want to spend a night with a man like that?
They sighed, then slid back into gossip.
"Did you hear? Mister Wayne is giving a concert here in East Blue!"
"Seriously? Too bad the tickets are outrageous."
"Wayne the superstar? I'll live on nothing but bread if that's what it takes to see him!"
Back at his rented flat, Wayne lit a cigarette an import from some far-off kingdom, smooth on the throat and easy on the voice.
Across from him stood a statuesque woman nearly one-ninety tall, sharp-featured yet radiating quiet intellect. She delivered her report with crisp efficiency.
"Boss, this file has everything on the Spade Pirates and on Portgas D. Ace. According to the intel, Ace should arrive in Loguetown in three days."
Wayne accepted the folder and nodded. "Nicely done, Robin."
He flipped through the pages. Ace's wanted poster made him whisper, "He looks just like her… Rouge's only living blood."
Memories rushed in: twenty years earlier, fresh out of the sea of time, five-year-old Wayne had survived a shipwreck that took his parents. Kidnappers then sold the cute orphan on Parterila Island in the South Blue a dark chapter that might have ended badly if not for Portgas D. Rouge, who bought him from the traffickers and gave him months of peace.
A drop of kindness must be repaid in torrents. Wayne lived by that creed.
Yet when he learned Rouge was the Pirate King's wife and that she would soon die after carrying Ace for twenty months, dread filled him. He tried many times to dissuade her. Rouge only smiled.
"Wayne, a mother's love is the greatest thing in the world. Roger will come back, you'll see. Aren't you worrying a bit too much?"
Wayne persisted until that fateful day when Gol D. Roger himself walked through the door, the man with the odd moustache under his nose.
"Rouge, I'm home… Huh? Who's the kid?"
"I came to tell you… I'm turning myself in. My illness won't let me live much longer."
Rouge wept, but she never abandoned the man she loved.
"Boss?"
Nico Robin's voice snapped Wayne back to the present.
"What is it?"
"Our schedule says your concert is in a week. We've already postponed once. If we delay again, Morgans won't be happy with the headlines."
"Handle it as you see fit. If the newsbird squawks, let him. We'll hold it here in Loguetown."
"Understood."
Robin's heart fluttered despite herself. Strength in every word no wonder people admired him.
"Oh, and tell Morgans the final chapter of my novel Journey to the West is pushed back another week. Busy days."
Robin frowned but nodded. "Yes, Boss."
"If that's all, I'll be out for a few days."
Seven years ago Wayne had saved the fugitive Nico Robin from a pirate crew. Even before awakening the Ultimate Life-Player System on his eighteenth birthday, he was already a swordsman who could wield both forms of Haki. With Robin's brilliant mind at his side, his influence grew swiftly; today he was both an underworld kingpin and a superstar adored by millions.