Sea Circle Calendar 1510, Summer.
East Blue, Shimotsuki Village.
Deep night.
An eleven-year-old girl swordsman sat alone in the courtyard.
Looking up at the sky, pondering whether women were truly naturally inferior to men.
Could women really never become the world's greatest?
Thinking to the end, she found no answer.
The frustrated girl shook her head.
Taking three steps in two, she climbed the stairs.
Preparing to get the whetstone to maintain the ancestral famous sword.
However...
Just as she was going downstairs.
The girl suddenly stepped into empty air, her entire body falling through space.
Just as her head was about to make intimate contact with the ground.
At that moment.
Without warning.
The void rippled like water waves.
A large fishing hook suddenly pierced through the void, catching the girl's collar.
Clang~
The fishing line suddenly tightened and straightened.
The girl's head avoided contact with the ground.
With a cry of surprise, the girl disappeared entirely into the void.
...
...
Time returns to the present.
The first ray of dawn light pierced through the darkness, illuminating the mountains and rivers.
At the cliff behind Shimotsuki Village, warm morning sunlight fell upon the embracing young man and girl.
Looking at the girl in his arms who was coughing incessantly from choking on water, Sora suddenly widened his eyes.
His face involuntarily showed extreme shock and disbelief.
Since transmigrating to the pirate world and obtaining the fishing system over a month ago.
Sora had long grown accustomed to the system's nature, remaining calm no matter what strange things he caught.
With Dragon Maid Tohru as precedent, even catching another girl shouldn't have surprised Sora so much.
But upon recognizing the identity of the girl in his arms, even the well-traveled Sora couldn't remain calm.
Dragon Maid Tohru had crossed the limitations of space, coming from another world.
However, the girl in his arms had crossed the limitations of time, snatched from the hands of the Grim Reaper.
[Ding dong]
[Fishing artistry at its peak! Congratulations, host, for breaking through the river of time and catching eleven-year-old Kuina]
Shimotsuki Kuina!!!
The only daughter of Shimotsuki Village's sword dojo master, Shimotsuki Koushirou.
The childhood friend of the protagonist crew's second-in-command, pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro.
Ten... nine years ago, she died from falling down the stairs.
Her death inspired Zoro to vow to reach the world's peak carrying Kuina's share as well.
However, now.
This girl who should have died young nine years ago had just been fished up by Sora.
From the distant past of death, she had come alive to this future era.
Anyone who witnessed this scene would be moved.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
Gradually.
Kuina coughed out the seawater from her lungs, her spirit gradually stabilizing.
Looking at the young man holding her, Kuina's round eyes were filled with great confusion.
She remembered she should have been in the dojo getting a whetstone to maintain Wado Ichimonji.
Then she accidentally fell down the stairs, and when she closed and opened her eyes, she found herself in the arms of a strange man.
The surrounding scenery was somewhat familiar, seemingly at the village's back shore.
When Grandpa was alive, she often came here to play with Zoro.
"Ku... Kuina... is it really you?"
Just then, Kuina heard a familiar call.
Turning her head, when she saw the middle-aged man with tears streaming down his face not far away, Kuina's eyes immediately brightened.
"Papa!"
Kuina broke free from Sora's embrace and ran into Koushirou's arms.
"Kuina! You've returned! You've really returned! This is wonderful... truly wonderful... If this is a dream, I'm willing to never wake up..."
Koushirou held his daughter tightly, afraid this was all just a dream, afraid that if he opened his eyes, his daughter would disappear again.
"What are you saying, Papa? I'm here... I've always been here. Don't cry, Papa!"
Kuina thoughtfully wiped the tears from Koushirou's eyes, her confusion growing.
Her father had always been an upstanding man who rarely shed tears.
But now he was crying like a child.
Also...
Though they had only been apart for a few hours.
Papa looked like he had aged ten years.
"How wonderful!"
Watching this beautiful scene of father and daughter reunion, Sora felt genuinely happy for Koushirou.
An hour later, Koushirou finally recovered from the tremendous joy of his daughter's resurrection.
At this moment, in his eyes, Sora was already a god-like existence.
Thud!
Koushirou knelt before Sora with Kuina.
"Papa, what are you doing? Who is this big brother?"
Kuina asked in confusion.
"He is our great benefactor!"
Koushirou pulled his daughter down to bow respectfully.
"I am truly grateful, Sora-san. This great kindness—whether through fire or flood, I would die ten thousand deaths without regret!"
"Get up. Now go back and explain everything to Kuina properly. The little girl must have many questions to ask!"
Sora spoke calmly.
"Yes!"
Koushirou nodded excitedly.
...
...
At this moment.
Somewhere in the East Blue seas.
"Three Sword Style—Oni Giri!!!"
Swish~
Blood splattered.
The green-haired youth slowly sheathed his swords.
Behind him, an assassin collapsed powerlessly to his knees.
"Doing such a thing... We of Baroque Works will absolutely never let..."
Smack!
Baroque Works intermediate agent Mr. 7 rolled his eyes back and completely collapsed.
"Inviting me to become an assassin? If it's to become your boss, I might consider it!"
Pirate hunter Zoro left without looking back.
"Speaking of which, I've been out for quite some time now. I've finally made a name for myself, so it's time to return to the village and take a look!"