Loguetown.
In front of the Marine base.
"…Haa."
Jin let out a long sigh.
Why did I have to act tough back then and refuse to go with them?
Just thinking back on it made him want to punch himself.
After he'd unleashed that burst of Conqueror's Haki that day, he'd blacked out on the spot. His body was simply too weak.
When he finally woke up, old man Garp had actually come to ask him if he wanted to go with him to Marine Headquarters.
Back then Jin's head was still fuzzy, and for some reason he'd said, "Isn't it more interesting to climb up from the bottom and see the highest view?"
Garp had barked out a laugh, called him "ambitious," and then left.
Jin had rested for two days.
Only now did he drag himself to the Loguetown Marine branch to report in.
"Stop right there, brat. This is a Marine base, not a playground."
The guards at the gate stared at him.
"I'm here to join the Marines," Jin said.
"Ha… get lost, get lost. The Marines aren't a place for kids to play house. Go home."
"Home?" Jin shook his head. "I don't have a home. My home's far, far away. I can't go back."
The two soldiers fell silent.
In this world, that kind of story was far too common.
After a moment, one of them asked, "Kid, what's your name?"
"I'm Arakaki Jin. I'm twelve."
The two Marines exchanged a look.
"All right then. We'll register you. After that, follow me in to report."
Jin saluted hard.
"New recruit reporting for duty!"
"Heh."
The two Marines both laughed.
Just like that, Jin smoothly joined the Marines.
The seaman who brought him in led him to a dorm room.
"This is your room. From now on your job is to clean the toilets every day and keep the corridors spotless. Any questions, rookie?"
Jin said nothing.
Seeing that, the seaman continued, "Good. I'll show you the areas you're responsible for today. You can start working tomorrow."
He took Jin on a lap around the branch.
The base was bigger than Jin had expected. On one side, Marines were in the middle of training.
On another, he saw cannons and muskets lined up—things he'd never handled in his previous life. It all looked fresh and interesting to him.
The seaman watched Jin looking around with wide eyes and said nothing.
After the tour, Jin went back to the dorm to rest. When it was time to eat, he headed to the mess hall.
As a new recruit, he could only line up at the very end.
Classes existed everywhere. Even here, that was just how things were, and Jin could accept that.
The food, for the current Jin, was simply heavenly.
He wolfed down enough for two grown men in one go. People only watched and chuckled. In this world where "big appetites per person" were standard, Jin's eating wasn't even that outrageous.
After eating, Jin went to the supply room on his own.
He grabbed a mop, a bucket, and cleaning tools, and started working anyway. They'd said he could start tomorrow, but he figured it was better to be proactive.
He walked until he reached the toilet door.
Right then, he heard someone inside cursing under their breath.
Jin walked in and took a look.
Yo.
Wasn't this the infamous tragic character of the early One Piece era—unbeatable at the start, can't beat anyone at the end—Smoker himself?
Smoker noticed him too and eyed the tools in Jin's hands.
"You here to clean the toilets too?"
Jin nodded. "Yeah."
The two of them got to work in silence.
As they scrubbed, Smoker suddenly exploded, "I joined the Marines to wipe out pirates! Why are they making me do this crap? This isn't what a Marine is supposed to do!"
Jin thought quietly,
Yeah, we don't even count as proper recruits yet. Two bottom-tier newbies like us… what else would we be doing? You think the Marines are gonna treat us like VIPs?
He didn't bother responding, just kept working.
He glanced at Smoker again.
Okay.
Correction: there was only one bottom-tier newbie left.
Wisps of white smoke were rising off Smoker's body.
So that should be the Moku Moku no Mi—the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, a Logia-type Devil Fruit, huh.
Seeing Jin looking at him, Smoker scratched his head.
"I don't even know what's going on. Yesterday I just ate some weird fruit and ended up like this."
…No idea how he canonically got his fruit, so this is how it's going now, huh.
Jin's eyes were full of envy.
"That's a Devil Fruit—a secret treasure of the sea."
He paused, then added, "You could also call it a curse from the sea. Once you eat it, you get all kinds of unbelievable powers. The downside is the sea abandons you. You can't swim anymore."
Seeing Smoker's shocked face, Jin didn't say more.
He just bent down and kept cleaning.
They worked all the way till evening before they were finally done, then headed to the mess hall for dinner.
That night, while he still had some free time, Jin went to the training grounds alone and started running laps.
He knew his body needed careful conditioning. If he overdid it all of a sudden, he'd crash. Slow and steady was the only way.
Smoker watched him run and said nothing, but silently joined in. The two of them just kept running together.
On the upper floor of the base, the branch commander stood by the window, looking down at Jin.
"This is the kid who came in today?"
"Yes, sir," the adjutant replied.
"I heard Vice Admiral Garp's got his eye on him and wants him specially looked after. He's that young and already noticed by someone like Garp? So he's going to be a big shot in the future, huh…"
The base commander's lips twisted in a cold smile.
"How did he do today?" he asked calmly.
"Reporting, sir. Arakaki Jin obediently accepted every arrangement. We told him he could start work tomorrow, but he started doing the chores on his own today."
The adjutant answered honestly.
The commander's face didn't change.
"Heh. Then leave it like this. No special treatment. If he's a waste, we don't need to bother. Let the big shots up top worry about him."
"Yes, sir!"
On the training field, the two boys were drenched in sweat.
Smoker glanced sideways. "You can't keep going? I feel like I could run some more."
"My body's too weak. I need time to nurse it back. I can't do intense exercise right from the start," Jin panted.
Smoker looked at Jin's skinny frame and shook his head.
And so, for the next year, Jin kept the same routine: chores and training.
There was something strange about his body.
Every time he finished training and slept, he woke up feeling completely fine.
After every session, as long as he stuffed himself, his whole body felt unbelievably comfortable.
Once he realized this, he kept increasing the intensity. A little more every day.
Whenever he felt like he couldn't keep going, he'd remind himself quietly—
In this world, the one with the biggest fists has the final say.
By the end of that year, he'd gone from fragile and scrawny to solid and strong.
Early morning at the training grounds.
Jin was on the ground doing push-ups.
"1997, 1998, 1999…"
Sweat poured down his bare torso. After that he moved straight into sit-ups.
When he finished a full set, he walked to the side, picked up a discarded cannon barrel, slung it over his shoulder, and started running.
The Marines in the base no longer had that "let's watch the joke" expression they'd had at the beginning.
At first, the kid could barely run two laps without gasping for air.
Push-ups? Sit-ups? He could hardly manage the basics.
Back then everyone had laughed, saying there was no way he'd amount to anything.
But as days passed, they laughed less and less.
They watched him push his limits every single day.
First he ran carrying wooden logs.
Then, later on, he upgraded to cannon barrels.
Even scrapped boats got used as training equipment.
Watching him sprint with a cannon barrel on his shoulder, everyone couldn't help but feel respect. This was a world where strength ruled, after all.
Jin finally finished his run and stood there gulping down air.
"Haa… that's five more laps than yesterday."
He clenched his fist.
"Getting a little stronger every day… this feels amazing."
He punched a boulder next to him.
Crack.
The stone split right down the middle.
He grinned.
He was thirteen now. About 1.6 meters tall, his body tight with lean muscle, skin tanned, his face the kind that grew on you the more you looked.
He was very satisfied with this physique.
On his way to the mess hall, Jin pondered.
Not only was his body naturally attuned to Life Return—Seimei Kikan—he'd discovered he had pretty good comprehension too.
To put it simply—he picked things up frighteningly fast.
Over the past year, now that he and Smoker no longer had to work as chore boys, he'd had more time to arrange his own schedule.
He studied reading and writing. He learned about the world.
Then, when he finally opened the little notebook Dragon had left him, he'd been stunned.
It was a training manual for the Six Powers, full of Dragon's own notes and annotations.
For the past half year, Jin had been studying Rokushiki and slowly getting the hang of it.
By now he'd basically gotten started on all six:
Soru, Tekkai, Shigan, Geppo, Rankyaku, Kami-e.
He still couldn't chain them together flawlessly, but he was firmly across the threshold.
He rubbed his head as he walked into the mess hall.
"Hey, Jin, going for ten servings again today?" the cook uncle called out with a smile.
Jin nodded. "Sorry to trouble you, uncle."
"Haha, you kid are always this polite. Where's that little guy who used to hang around with you?" the cook asked as he dished up food.
Smoker had been relying too much on his Logia powers and didn't care much for physical training. He only wanted to develop his Devil Fruit.
Jin had tried talking to him twice. When Smoker ignored him, he stopped bothering.
Once Smoker suffered for it, he'd figure it out himself.
Right now, Jin still couldn't beat him in a straight fight—Haki-wise—but he could outlast him.
Jin was halfway through his meal when a harsh alarm bell rang.
Emergency assembly.
He immediately shoved the last bite into his mouth and sprinted to the parade ground.
Over the past year, he and Smoker had been in several real battles. They were used to this kind of situation now.
Once the troops were assembled, the squad leader shouted at the front,
"We've received a report—pirates are causing trouble at the harbor! All hands, move out!"
"Yes, sir!"
In the past year, the number of pirates had exploded.
The Marines in Loguetown could only do so much. As long as pirates didn't cause trouble, they mostly turned a blind eye.
The squad ran to the harbor.
Jin's gaze immediately landed on the pirate flag waving on the ship.
A skull with a big broadsword jammed through it.
Seriously… Big Greatsword Pirates?
"Hahahaha! Grab all this cargo and we'll head for the Grand Line!"
On the shore, a massive man was laughing wildly.
"Once we find the One Piece, I'll be the Pirate King! Wahahaha!"
Jin recognized him.
Madman Ravies.
A pirate with a 12 million beli bounty, a butcher who'd slaughtered whole villages.
"Open fire!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The moment the order came, Jin moved.
He dashed forward at extreme speed.
Behind him, Smoker turned into a long white serpent of smoke, slamming down five or six pirates in one go.
Jin rushed straight up to Ravies and threw a punch.
Ravies jumped in fright and hurriedly raised his greatsword to block.
Boom.
"Huh? Nice sword," Jin raised an eyebrow.
"Hahaha! You think a brat like you can beat me? Keep dreaming!" Ravies roared, swinging the greatsword down at him.
"Soru."
Jin vanished from in front of him and appeared at his back.
"Shigan."
"Arrrgh!"
"Damn brat! I'll kill you!" Ravies howled, chopping wildly at Jin with no technique at all.
Jin slipped left and right, dodging around the clumsy swings.
He seized an opening and drove his fist into Ravies' wrist.
The greatsword dropped.
Jin caught it and weighed it in his hand.
Not bad. Felt just right.
Ravies clutched his wrist, face twisted with rage.
"You're dead!" he snarled, grabbing for the pistol at his waist and firing at Jin.
Sword light flashed.
Jin appeared behind him.
A wet, slicing sound.
The pirate Madman Ravies was dead.
Jin held the sword in his hand and charged into the remaining grunts.
Ten minutes later, the fighting was basically over.
The squad captain looked at Jin, his expression complicated.
"Couldn't leave one alive? You cut every last one down."
Jin glanced around at the corpses.
"Some pirates don't need to be left alive. They're all better off dead."
"…Fine. Pack up. We're heading back."
On the way home, Jin kept turning the greatsword over in his hands.
The more he looked, the more it reminded him of that big sword Arthur used in King of Glory back in his old life.
About 1.2 meters long, half a palm wide, and weighing around forty kilos.
The more he looked, the more he liked it.
Nobody noticed that on the rooftop of a nearby building, a blond man in glasses was watching them.
As the Marines pulled away, the corners of the man's lips curled up.
"What an interesting Marine," he murmured.
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