The next morning, at exactly 6:00 a.m., Aaron woke up, his body clock honed to perfection and impossible to erase.
Within two seconds, the drowsiness in his eyes sharpened into a keen edge, then softened into calm clarity. He reached down, ran his hands over his feet and back, and found the wounds had already scabbed over without pain. Only then did he quickly dress and step down from the bed.
Exceptional recovery—that was the foundation of Aaron's survival.
No matter how severe the injury, as long as he wasn't dead and his body had enough nutrients, his cells would heal at an astonishing rate.
Just like last night: the severe frostbite in both feet and the deep burn on his back had completely healed after a hearty dinner brought by members of the Frosthorn Gang, followed by a single night's rest.
It was this very gift that had allowed him to endure four years under the Celestial Dragons' brutal, inhuman rule.
The Celestial Dragons were beyond cruel, treating slaves worse than livestock—beating, humiliating, and torturing them for sport. Sometimes, a mere bad mood would see a slave executed on the spot.
In most cases, an ordinary slave wouldn't survive a year before becoming unrecognizable from torture and dying a miserable death. For the Celestial Dragons, slaves were disposable, short-lived commodities.
Any slave who lived longer than a year either possessed great strength, extraordinary talent, or was fortunate enough to become one of the Celestial Dragons' rare "favored pets."
Aaron had arrived in the world of One Piece four years ago. In his previous life, he had been a a man from Blue Star, hailing from a distant eastern country—and a devoted fan of One Piece. An accident took his life when a drunk driver ran a red light and hit him. Then, inexplicably, he awoke in this world—only to find himself in the dying body of a slave named Aaron, his skull caved in by multiple bottles hurled at him by a Celestial Dragon.
If not for this body's remarkable regeneration, he might have died again the moment he arrived.
Back then, his skull was cracked open, his body covered in wounds, with no treatment and barely enough food to survive. His only option was to rely on his body's own recovery to pull through.
In those four years, Aaron had witnessed the darkest side of this world. Every day was a living nightmare.
If not for his knowledge that Fisher Tiger would, in the year 1507, storm MaryGeoise and free the slaves, giving him a chance at both freedom and revenge, he might have given up on living entirely.
At last, after years of agonizing patience, Fisher Tiger came. Prepared for the moment, Aaron escaped alongside some trusted allies. Then, to claim the Munch-Munch Fruit, he schemed his way into Drum Kingdom.
He had first learned of the Munch-Munch Fruit a year earlier, during the Reverie in MaryGeoise, when he saw the thirteen-year-old Wapol. Aaron realized Wapol had not yet eaten the fruit—meaning it was likely still hidden somewhere in Drum Kingdom or elsewhere in the world.
One way or another, this god-tier Devil Fruit—capable of devouring other Devil Fruit users and stealing their powers—would inevitably appear in Drum Kingdom.
It had been a year since he last saw Wapol, and Aaron didn't know whether he had eaten the fruit yet. But from the latest rumors, there was no sign he had.
If Wapol had, his insatiable appetite and destructive nature would have been impossible to hide—he'd already be using the fruit to cause chaos everywhere.
Wapol was infamous in Drum Kingdom, his tyrannical personality evident even in childhood. Like his brother, Mushuru, he was a destructive maniac with no regard for his people's lives. He was already well known for his destructive antics, so his name was common on the lips of the kingdom's citizens.
For now, though, Wapol's damage was limited to bombs—he had yet to commit such outrageous acts as eating people's houses.
"Celestial Dragons… Celestial Dragons… Celestial Dragons…"
Aaron entered the kitchen, retrieved the remaining half of a black bread loaf from last night, and heated a pot of yak milk. He sat in the small living room, eating and muttering the words "Celestial Dragons" under his breath.
It was his ritual: imagining that each daily meal was the flesh of a Celestial Dragon, fueling his resolve and keeping his hatred burning.
The black bread was made from a special cold-resistant wheat unique to the region. The taste was average, but it was filling, packed with calories, and extremely durable—though once cold, it hardened to the point that, here on the winter island of Drum, it could rival a baguette from his previous life.
Even soaked in hot milk, chewing it felt like biting into sugarcane—loud, crunchy, and stubborn—but to Aaron, it was delicious, as if it were the finest delicacy in the world.
With every imagined "Celestial Dragon" swallowed, the fire of vengeance roared higher in his chest, filling him with energy.
By the time he finished the last bite, he was sweating like he'd eaten spicy hotpot, his spirit blazing with excitement.
Meanwhile, the other two occupants of the house stirred awake.
Aaron was renting a small two-bedroom apartment in the poor district of Vilia Port. It cost only 1,000 Berries per month. He had one room to himself, while the other was shared by his two companions.
During those dark years in MaryGeoise, Aaron had not simply fought to stay alive—he had also worked to unite slaves who still had the will to resist. Among those he'd met were Shuma and Williams, both his age—sixteen—and now his sworn brothers.
Both had once been on the brink of death, saved only by Aaron's secret help. From that day on, they followed him without question, determined to one day take revenge on the Celestial Dragons.
Aaron called them brothers: himself as eldest, Shuma as second, and Williams as third.
He valued them deeply—not only because of their shared suffering and solidarity, but because they were talented in their own right.
Short and wiry, Shuma had been a thief before becoming a slave, with exceptional pickpocketing skills, mastery of disguise, and stealth. He was also a Devil Fruit user, forced by the Celestial Dragons to eat the Paper-Paper Fruit, turning him into a living tool for producing toilet paper, napkins, and other paper products at will.
But the Paper-Paper Fruit was far more versatile than that—Shuma could fold the paper he created into origami animals to fight, scout, or spy.
With skillful use of paper cranes, paper mice, and other creations, Shuma could be a formidable intelligence operative.
Unfortunately, his control was still limited—any creation more than a dozen meters away would lose connection. To improve, he would need to develop both his Devil Fruit powers and his overall strength.
Williams, tall and slender with a handsome baby face, was the son of a merchant and well educated. He had taught Aaron and Shuma how to read and write, and years of traveling with his father had honed his sharp business instincts. He was eloquent, calculating, and skilled with a sword.
"Big bro," Williams said eagerly as he spotted Aaron that morning, "I heard from Shuma you managed to join the Frosthorn Gang. Does that mean we can finally get our business started?"