Lucian Thorn's body plummeted rapidly.
In his vision, the sky and the sea flipped upside down. The endless blue surface of the ocean expanded like a vast curtain, rushing up toward him at unstoppable speed.
'It's over, it's over, it's over'
Everything had ended.
Crossing into this world only to be chased by pirates, barely activating his system, only for it to pronounce his death sentence immediately after.
'What was this supposed to be?'
'Damn you, heavens!'
'Is this some kind of joke?!'
"This is… the most rotten transmigration life ever."
Lucian let out one final self-mocking thought.
He gave up resisting and allowed gravity to drag him toward the ocean. His muscles loosened completely. The tranquility before death seemed to embrace him ahead of time.
Maybe crashing into the sea wasn't much different from hitting solid concrete.
He even had the spare thought to ponder such useless things.
Just as he closed his eyes, preparing to embrace the final collision and darkness—an anomaly struck.
Light.
The entire world's light vanished.
It wasn't like the sun slowly being hidden by clouds. No, it was instant—absolute deprivation.
As if a giant hand had suddenly flicked off the power switch of this little world.
One second there had been dazzling sunlight and boundless blue, the next Lucian was plunged into vast, suffocating shadow.
The sensation of falling remained, the wind still howled in his ears.
But the world was shrouded in darkness.
"What… is this?"
The instinct to survive crushed his acceptance of death. He strained his neck upward.
But there was nothing.
No sky. No clouds. Only an immeasurable silhouette, vast as the night itself.
It was so massive his eyes could not take it all in.
At the cliff's edge, "Rot-Tooth" Buck kicked away the rock that had tripped Lucian and spat a filthy gob of phlegm.
"Dammit, that scrawny brat really knew how to run."
The pirates behind him cackled. Lucian's desperate escape had been nothing more than entertainment to them, their twisted grins spreading wide.
"Captain, that kid fell! He's probably a splatter of meat by now."
"A shame. He would've made a fine slave—worth a few million Berries at least."
"Forget it! Dead's dead! Hahaha!"
Buck wiped the sweat from his brow, feeling his mood improve. Even if they hadn't caught him alive, at least the nuisance was gone.
He was about to order his men back to the ship for a celebration when he realized the area had gone eerily quiet.
Those noisy pirates were now frozen, mouths gaping like strangled ducks, their eyes locked upward in horror and disbelief.
"What are you idiots staring at?" Buck growled, looking up.
His pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints.
It was a ship.
No—no ship could ever be so colossal.
It was a white mountain, floating in the sky!
Its hull rose and fell like mountain ridges, its deck stretching broad as a continent.
A massive pirate flag snapped in the air above—white crescent mustache over crossed bones.
That flag alone drained every ounce of courage from the pirates.
"Wh… Whitebeard…" one pirate stammered, teeth chattering.
"It's the Moby Dick! The ship of one of the Yonko, Edward Newgate!"
"Run! Run for your lives!"
Panic exploded. Pirates scrambled madly, tumbling over one another as they bolted toward their own docked vessel.
Buck, however, stood paralyzed. His legs were heavy as lead.
He knew there was no running.
When this ship appeared overhead, it meant the judgment of a Yonko had already been passed.
And the Four Emperors never missed.
From the vast deck of the Moby Dick, a shadow moved.
A towering man with an enormous navy-blue braid and a sharply cut beard stepped to the railing.
He glanced once at the Blacktooth Pirates' pathetic ship below—then leapt.
No run-up. No wind-up. Just a simple, deadly jump.
His body streaked downward like a cannonball.
Then, mid-fall, it happened.
Sunlight broke through the gaps of the massive vessel, illuminating him.
His skin, his muscles, his clothes, even his hair—all transformed in an instant.
A brilliance erupted from within.
Not the black of Armament Haki. Not fire, nor lightning.
It was the gleam of diamond.
His flesh became a crystalline giant, pure and unbreakable.
Sunlight refracted across his body into ten thousand rainbows, painting the sky in a dreamlike halo.
It was breathtaking. Terrifying.
"Diamond… Jozu…"
Buck whispered the name in despair.
Third Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates.
The diamond meteor struck.
No scream. No struggle. Not even time for resistance.
BOOM!
The explosion shook the island itself.
The Blacktooth Pirates' ship—and the entire harbor beneath it—vanished in an instant.
Buck and his men were hurled like rag dolls, faces pressed to the dirt, too terrified to raise their heads.
When the gale finally passed, they looked again.
Nothing remained. Only rippling waves and shattered fragments of wood.
One strike. A single strike had obliterated an entire pirate crew.
Meanwhile, Lucian Thorn crashed into the sea.
Cold water flooded his nose and throat. The shock of the blast had shoved him deep underwater. He choked and coughed, his blurred mind snapping back to focus.
The will to survive surged once more. He flailed, desperate to rise.
But the harder he struggled, the deeper he sank.
As his lungs burned and darkness closed in, a hand—immense and powerful—seized the back of his collar.
Without effort, he was hauled from the sea like a drowned chick.
Splash!
Lucian was tossed onto a broad wooden deck with a heavy thud.
"Cough! Cough, cough!"
He retched violently, spewing seawater and bile until at last he could breathe.
Shaking his dizzy head, he looked at his rescuer.
It was the same man of diamond, now returned to flesh—Jozu. Droplets of water still clung to his body.
Jozu spared Lucian no glance. His sharp eyes pierced past him, toward the cliff where the pirates trembled.
His lip curled in disdain.
"A bunch of trash."
Three words, cold and absolute.
Lucian followed his gaze and saw Buck's face, twisted with terror.
He was saved.
Turning slowly, Lucian finally took in the deck beneath him.
It stretched wide like a plaza, built of weathered timber. Masts towered skyward like pillars holding up the heavens.
Men filled the deck—each radiating strength, each gaze sharp as blades.
Some polished weapons, others drank, others leaned silently against the rails.
But Lucian's eyes landed on the sails.
White background. Black skull. Crossed bones.
And over the skull's mouth—a crescent mustache, proud and defiant.
Lucian froze.
A name long buried in manga and anime thundered in his head, now made real before his eyes.
"Moby Dick…"
"The Whitebeard Pirates…"