A white shirt. A light gray cloak.
Beneath the shadow of a hood, a pair of dull, melancholic eyes stared back from the mirror—eyes that looked as though they had lost all hope in the world.
The young man in the reflection appeared to be around 20. He had a lean, athletic build, standing at roughly 1.8 meters tall. The tautness of his shirt betrayed the outline of well-toned muscles beneath.
Yet for some reason, he always seemed to carry himself with a tired, lifeless demeanor.
Staring at his own reflection, a strange emotion flickered in Kyle's eyes.
He was a transmigrator.
Just a week ago, while playing a knockoff mobile game, he suddenly blacked out—and when he woke up, his consciousness had taken over this new body.
"Sure, I've read my fair share of webnovels. I was tired of the soul-crushing 996 work culture in my past life…"
"But wasn't this a little too abrupt of a transmigration?"
Kyle muttered to himself in the mirror. Despite being a seasoned reader of isekai fiction, this brute-force transmigration had completely caught him off guard.
Thankfully, he inherited the memories of the body's original owner, which helped him quickly adapt.
But as he sifted through those memories, one thing became glaringly clear—
This was no ordinary world.
He had transmigrated into the universe of One Piece, his favorite anime!
And even more absurd—he was now the nephew of one of the strongest characters in the entire series: Admiral Kizaru!
They say Kizaru is the best uncle in the world.
And now, Kyle would find out firsthand what that meant.
From a powerless nobody in his past life, Kyle was now a high-ranking military heir.
He lived in Marineford, the very heart of naval power—a base hailed as the safest place in the world, though ironically destined for destruction at the hands of Whitebeard in the not-so-distant future.
Now, inside his room, Kyle stood in front of the mirror, practicing his moody, brooding aura.
Only once his face settled into a lifeless, emotionless stare did he nod in approval and mutter calmly:
"Yeah… the original me had this vibe down to a science."
"Gotta keep it up. Can't mess this up later."
Following a secret instruction, Kyle reached for the sealed letter a navy soldier had just delivered. He held it above the flame of an oil lamp.
The fire caught instantly.
Only once the paper was nearly reduced to ash did Kyle drop the remnants to the floor, letting the last bits burn away.
As the flame flickered and died, he sighed bitterly.
"Damn it…"
"Why now of all times? They just had to summon me right after I transmigrated. Feels like a setup!"
He adjusted his collar one last time, then stepped out of the room.
That confidential letter was from no one else but his new uncle—Admiral Kizaru.
But while he was Kizaru's nephew, Kyle himself was not a Marine.
Why? Well, in the words of Usopp—
Kyle suffered from a mysterious terminal condition called "If-I-Join-the-Marines-I'll-Die Syndrome."
Back in the day, Kyle had idolized his uncle. He dreamed of bearing the word "Justice" on his back like a true Marine hero. He even enrolled in Zephyr's elite Marine boot camp and was hailed by Zephyr himself as a rare genius.
While he wasn't quite at the level of the future Admirals in their youth, he was still leagues above the likes of Smoker.
People had high hopes for him—he was seen as a future pillar of the Navy, just like his uncle.
At twelve, Kyle believed it too.
But one tragic event shattered everything.
Seven years ago, 13-year-old Kyle went on a vacation to the Sabaody Archipelago with his Marine parents. They traveled aboard a civilian ship from Marineford—a route considered the safest in the Grand Line.
But fate is cruel.
A random band of pirates ambushed the vessel and mercilessly slaughtered everyone onboard.
Their captain had a bounty exceeding 100 million. Kyle's parents, just a colonel and a major, were no match. They died trying to protect the civilians.
Kizaru arrived soon after and annihilated the pirate crew to the last man, rescuing young Kyle.
But the dead remained dead.
Witnessing his parents' brutal deaths at the hands of pirates triggered deep psychological trauma in Kyle.
In his heart, he blamed the Navy. If his parents hadn't been Marines, if they hadn't tried to protect others, maybe they'd still be alive.
Born with a silver spoon, Kyle had lived a sheltered life. He lacked the resilience of kids who'd grown up struggling. After the incident, he subconsciously began rejecting the idea of becoming a Marine.
Eventually, he slacked off in training and was expelled from Zephyr's program.
A year later, Zephyr's training ship was attacked by pirates. Of all the students, only two survived.
Kyle saw this as confirmation of his belief:
"Becoming a Marine means death."
That irrational conviction took root.
Since then, he lived as just another military dependent in Marineford—ordinary, safe.
Seven years passed.
Then, one week ago, his body was taken over by a soul from another world.
Now walking along the pristine marble roads of Marineford, Kyle kept a careful eye on his surroundings while maintaining his brooding persona.
The problem was, the original Kyle hadn't visited Kizaru's office in years—he had no idea how to get there.
Thankfully, he ran into a waiting navy officer who handed him a cloak and led the way.
Under the wide-brimmed hat that covered his face and figure, Kyle followed quietly.
"So what's with all this secrecy, Second Uncle?" he mused.
According to inherited memories, Kyle's mom had once told him that she and Kizaru had an older brother who was killed by pirates when they were children. That made Kizaru the second eldest—hence, Kyle called him "Second Uncle."
As Kyle trailed behind the officer, he couldn't help but analyze his uncle's intentions.
Though he never told anyone about his trauma, surely after all these years, Kizaru had figured out something was wrong.
Normally, Kizaru visited Kyle at home. This was the first time in seven years that he'd summoned Kyle to headquarters.
It totally disrupted Kyle's original plan for the day—he'd been planning to sneak out and finally activate his golden finger!
As a transmigrator, Kyle wasn't just lucky to be Kizaru's nephew—he also brought a cheat system with him.
His golden finger was none other than the knockoff mobile game he'd been playing before his transmigration.
"Guess I'll have to delay activating the system for now…"
With a sigh, Kyle mentally summoned the familiar game interface.
Just like any janky third-rate gacha game, it was a bootleg version using the One Piece universe as its base.
You played as a fledgling pirate captain, drawing random characters and items through a summon system.
And since the devs hadn't bothered getting proper licensing, they'd gone wild—throwing in characters and gear from all sorts of other anime too.
Sure, the game's balance was garbage—but the character art, especially the female ones, was top tier.
Kyle had been completely hooked by the stunning designs.
He'd often find himself, uh, "accidentally" opening his browser mid-game.
If he could really use this system here, Kyle believed he'd be unstoppable.
This time, no divine light would blind him.
"Ehehehehe…"
Just thinking about it made him chuckle like a fool.
But of course, nothing ever goes smoothly.
His cheat system was stuck—on the team-naming screen.
"The Great Pirate Era has begun! Create your own pirate crew and set sail on the vast seas!"
[Please enter your pirate crew name: ______ ]
A fancy gold-bordered popup filled his vision.
Kyle knew this was the gacha game's character creation screen.
Since arriving, he'd tried countless times to name his crew. He even made a pirate flag by hand. Nothing worked.
Clearly, the system wouldn't accept empty gestures. He had to genuinely start a pirate crew.
Once this meeting with Kizaru was over, he'd sneak out of Marineford and find some backwater island to set things in motion.
Quietly, of course.
If his Second Uncle found out, he'd zip over at the speed of light and drag him home for a brutal lecture.
And the scary part?
That "speed of light" wasn't just a figure of speech.
So Kyle planned to activate the system, then return to Marineford to quietly train until he reached god-tier levels.
He'd stay hidden until he could solo an entire war arc.
After all, regular citizens would be evacuated during the Summit War—he'd be fine.
Unless the system threw him a curveball.
"Sigh… Sometimes, being a military heir is just a burden."
"If Kizaru knew I was planning to be a pirate, he'd probably break my legs."
"Sure, this background gives me a safe childhood—but it's slowing down my early-game grind…"
Under the cloak, Kyle kept up the image of a gloomy pretty boy, but in his mind, he was already dreaming of charging across the sea—Tsunade on one arm, Rangiku on the other.
Surrounded by anime babes of every kind.
Big is beautiful.
More is better.
This is the ultimate truth!!!
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Note: If you're enjoying the story, you can read up to Chapter 42... You can read 41 chapters ahead of the current one) on my Patreon: patreon.com/Aurevynluv