The sea was a fickle beast. One moment, it cradled the passenger ship with gentle, rhythmic rocking; the next, it spat forth a vessel of crude, ugly design, crewed by pirates of even cruder, uglier disposition. Screams echoed across the deck, the sharp clang of steel a jarring counterpoint to the panicked cries of civilians. Barrels were smashed, jewels were pocketed, and a general air of chaotic menace settled over the ship like a foul-smelling fog.
Amidst it all, one man remained utterly, profoundly unbothered.
Leaning back in a stolen deck chair, his long legs propped up on the railing, was a figure so out of place he might as well have been a painting. He was tall and lean, with a shock of stark white hair that seemed to defy the ocean breeze. A simple black blindfold covered his eyes, yet his head was tilted towards the sun as if he were enjoying the view. He wore a simple, loose-fitting black shirt and trousers, practical clothing that did little to hide the effortless grace of his posture.
This was Kai. And Kai was trying very hard to nap.
'It's a real shame,' he thought, a lazy sigh escaping his lips. 'The weather was perfect. The rocking of the ship was just right. Then these guys had to show up and ruin it with all their… pillaging.'
A portly pirate with a stained bandana and a chipped cutlass swaggered over, his eyes narrowing at the serene figure. "Hey! You! Get up! All valuables in the bag, unless you want to get friendly with the sharks."
Kai didn't move. He didn't even lower his feet. "Tempting offer, but I'm philosophically opposed to physical labor. That includes standing up and rummaging through my pockets. You understand."
The pirate blinked, his brutish mind struggling to process the sarcasm. "What? Are you mocking me?"
"Is it that obvious? I was trying to be subtle," Kai replied, his voice a smooth, casual drawl.
The pirate's face turned a delightful shade of purple. He raised his cutlass, the rusty blade glinting in the sun. "You've got a death wish, pretty boy!"
He swung the sword down with a roar, aiming to split Kai's head clean open. The passengers who were still on deck screamed. A small, pink-haired boy with round glasses, who was nervously sweeping up debris nearby, flinched so hard he nearly dropped his broom.
The blade stopped.
It didn't clang against a hidden defense or get parried by a lightning-fast counter. It just… stopped. An inch from Kai's forehead, frozen in mid-air. The pirate felt an impossible resistance, as if he were trying to swing through solid steel. This was the Superiority clause of the Essence made manifest. Kai's physical being was so overwhelmingly powerful that the ambient pressure of his existence alone was an impenetrable wall to a creature this weak. The attack was futile before it even began.
"See? This is what I'm talking about," Kai said, his voice laced with boredom. "All that swinging and shouting. It's exhausting just watching you. You should really pace yourself."
He reached up with two fingers and gently flicked the flat of the blade. It was an application of $Perfect Control$, channeling a minuscule fraction of his limitless strength with impossible precision. A sharp CRACK echoed across the deck. The pressure from the flick was so immense and focused that the molecular bonds of the cheap steel instantly gave way. The cutlass disintegrated into a cloud of metallic dust, leaving the pirate holding a useless hilt.
The pirate stared at his empty hand, then at Kai, his jaw slack with disbelief. The surrounding pirates, who had paused their looting to watch the commotion, took a collective, hesitant step back.
Kai leaned back again, propping his feet up. "There. Now you don't have to carry that heavy thing around. You're welcome."
Before the stunned pirates could decide whether to attack or flee, two of them came stumbling out from the ship's hold, rolling a massive wooden barrel between them.
"Boss! Look what we found!" one of them shouted to a figure standing on the quarterdeck—the enormously obese "Iron Mace" Alvida.
"What is it? Wine?" she bellowed, her voice grating. "Idiots. Just crack it open!"
Kai watched with a flicker of amusement. 'Right on schedule. The curtain's about to rise on the grandest show on the seas. And here I am, with a front-row seat.' He felt perfectly calm, unburdened and able to enjoy the simple absurdity of the moment.
BOOM!
The barrel exploded outward, and out shot a young man with a straw hat, a red vest, and a ridiculously wide grin.
"AAAaaaaah! I had a great nap!" declared Monkey D. Luffy.
After a brief, one-sided altercation where Luffy knocked out a pirate, his eyes scanned the deck and landed on Kai. He bounded over. "Hey! You! The guy in the chair! Who are you?"
"Just a guy enjoying the sea breeze," Kai replied with a lazy salute. "The name's Kai."
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy! And I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"
The declaration, and the subsequent confrontation with Alvida, happened in a flash. Luffy's blunt honesty ("She's a fat old hag") and Coby's sudden burst of courage ("My dream is to be a Marine and catch pirates like you!") led to the inevitable.
"You're both dead!" Alvida roared, swinging her spiked iron mace directly at Coby's head.
Luffy moved to intercept it, but Kai decided he'd sat still long enough.
"A little loud, don't you think?"
Kai was suddenly standing between Alvida and the boys, his back to them. He hadn't seemed to move; one moment he was in his chair, the next he was here. He raised a single, languid hand, palm open, and caught the massive, spiked mace.
The impact that should have turned him into paste produced nothing more than a dull thud. Alvida felt like her mace had just struck the bedrock of the world. His slender arm didn't even tremble. It wasn't magic or a trick; it was raw, incomprehensible physical power. His body, empowered by the Essence, possessed a durability so absolute that the weapon might as well have been made of foam.
Alvida's eyes bulged. She put her full, considerable weight into the swing, but the mace was held fast. "How…?" she gasped. "My mace weighs a ton!"
Kai tilted his head. "I guess," he said with a shrug. "But I'm stronger."
The understatement was so profound it was almost insulting. He tightened his grip. The pressure from his fingers became immeasurable. With a deafening shriek of protesting metal, the solid iron club crumpled and twisted in his hand like wet clay. He let the mangled lump of scrap fall to the deck with a clang.
Alvida stared at her ruined weapon, then at Kai's impassive, blindfolded face. Fear finally found her. "W-who are you? Are you a Devil Fruit user?"
"Nope. No weird fruit for me," Kai said, dusting off his hands. "I just don't like being woken up from a good nap." He pointed a single index finger at her. A tiny vortex of air began to swirl at its tip, condensing with impossible speed and force. It began to glow a dull crimson from the sheer heat of the friction. It was not an energy blast; it was a physical phenomenon—a hyper-condensed shockwave, all the force of a cannonball focused into a point the size of a marble.
He flicked his finger.
The crimson orb shot forward. The sound was like a muffled thump. It struck Alvida square in the stomach, transferring all its kinetic energy in an instant. Her eyes bulged, the air was violently expelled from her lungs, and she was launched backward as if fired from a cannon. She rocketed through the air, over the railing of her own ship, and disappeared into the horizon with a comical twinkle.
The remaining pirates stood frozen, their minds broken. Kai turned to face them. "So. Anyone else?"
They dropped their weapons and jumped overboard.
In the ensuing silence, Luffy let out a loud, hearty laugh. "Shishishi! That was amazing! You sent her flying!"
Coby was staring at Kai with a look of pure, unadulterated hero worship. "You… you beat her… with one finger."
"It was the most energy-efficient option," Kai said with a shrug, his point made and his desire for action already completely depleted.
"Join my crew!" Luffy declared, appearing right in front of him with stars in his eyes. "You're strong and you're funny! I've decided! You're the first member of my pirate crew!"
Kai looked at the earnest, beaming face of the boy who would one day turn the world on its head. He could say no, wander off on his own, and be perfectly content. But where was the fun in that? The best view of the storm is from its eye. 'And besides,' he mused, 'traveling with him is a lot less work than planning my own itinerary. The plot will literally drag us to where we need to go.'
He let out a long, put-upon sigh. "Being on a pirate crew sounds like a lot of work. There's probably swabbing and hoisting things and… other piratey chores."
"We'll find other people for all that!" Luffy said dismissively. "We'll have adventures!"
Adventures. The word resonated with Kai. He stood up, stretching his arms high above his head with a satisfying groan. "You want to be the Pirate King. I get that. But my dream's a little different."
Luffy and Coby looked at him, waiting.
"Luffy wants to be Pirate King. Zoro wants to be the strongest. Me? I want to see how far freedom goes. The seas, the sky, maybe even the stars one day. If there's an end, I'll find it… though I'd rather nap along the way."
Luffy's grin somehow grew even wider. He didn't find the goal strange or impossible. He just found it grand. "The stars, huh? Shishishi! Sounds like fun! So you'll join?"
Kai gave a lazy shrug. "Sure. Why not? Your adventure sounds more interesting than my nap."
As they spoke, the ship's passengers began to emerge from their hiding places. A man who looked like the captain approached them cautiously. "Th-thank you! You saved us all!"
"Got a boat we can borrow?" Luffy interrupted, cutting straight to the point. He pointed to a small sailboat tied to the railing. "That one looks good!"
Before the captain could even answer, Luffy had hopped over and was untying the ropes. Coby, flustered, bowed repeatedly. "We're so sorry for the trouble! And thank you for your generosity!"
Kai simply gave the captain a two-fingered salute and sauntered over to the boat, inspecting the floorboards. 'Acceptable napability,' he concluded, stepping in. A moment later, the three of them were in the small vessel, pushing off from the much larger passenger ship, leaving a very confused but grateful crew behind.
The little boat drifted on the calm sea, the chaos of the raid already feeling like a distant memory. Coby, holding the tiller, looked around nervously. "So… what now?"
"First, we need to find a Marine base so you can enlist!" Luffy declared.
"Right!" Coby said, his spirits lifting. "But… which way is the nearest base?"
All three of them looked out at the horizon. There was nothing but an endless expanse of blue in every direction. Luffy confidently pointed to his left. "That way!"
Kai, who was already settling in to lie down, knew perfectly well that Luffy was pointing in a completely random direction. He also knew that Shells Town, their actual destination, lay in almost the opposite direction. But intervening would be work. It was far more entertaining to let Luffy's legendary luck steer the course.
Days began to blur together under the hot East Blue sun. Their meager supply of food and water, pilfered at the last second by Luffy, ran out on the second day. Luffy spent most of his time complaining about his empty stomach or trying to catch seagulls by stretching his arm at them, only to miss spectacularly. Coby spent his time fretting, constantly adjusting their course based on nothing but hopeful guesses and trying not to panic.
Kai, for his part, spent the time napping. His body, free from the frailties of mortality, felt no hunger or thirst. He simply enjoyed the rocking of the waves and the warmth of the sun, occasionally opening an eye to watch his new crewmates' antics with silent amusement.
"Maybe we should have asked for a map," Coby lamented on the fourth day, his voice hoarse.
"Nah, this is more of an adventure!" Luffy replied cheerfully, though his stomach let out a monstrous roar that seemed to disagree.
On the fifth day, just as Coby's hope was beginning to fade, he shot upright, pointing a trembling finger at the horizon. "Land! I see land!"
Luffy and Kai sat up. In the distance, the distinct silhouette of an island rose from the sea. As they sailed closer, their destination took shape. It was a town, built around a large, imposing tower that flew the symbol of the World Government: a Marine base.
Coby's eyes filled with tears of joy. "A Marine base! We made it! I can finally enlist!"
Luffy's grin was wide and eager. "Awesome! A big Marine base like that has gotta have some strong guys, right?"
Kai, who had been feigning sleep, opened an eye. His voice was a casual drawl, as if he were commenting on the weather. "If the rumors I heard from some of the sailors back on that passenger ship are true, they have someone very strong."
This immediately got Luffy's full attention. He leaned in, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "Yeah? Who? Who is it?"
"A captured pirate hunter," Kai said, a small, knowing smile on his lips. "They say he's a demon in human form, so terrifying they call him a monster. A master of the three-sword style." He paused for dramatic effect. "His name is Roronoa Zoro."
The words hung in the air. A demon with three swords. To Coby, it sounded like a nightmare. To Luffy, it sounded like the perfect candidate.
"A DEMON WITH THREE SWORDS?!" Luffy shot to his feet, punching his fist into the air with unshakable conviction. "ALRIGHT! I've decided! If he's a good guy, I'm asking him to join my crew!"
Coby looked like he was about to have a heart attack. "WHAT?! You can't be serious! Recruit a dangerous prisoner from the middle of a Marine base?! That's the exact opposite of why I came here!"
"It's an adventure!" Luffy shot back, his grin never faltering.
As their small boat glided toward the docks of Shells Town, Kai closed his eyes again, the sounds of his captain and their new friend bickering washing over him. 'Showtime,' he thought. The first true test of the Straw Hat Pirates was about to begin.