"Tommy! Get up! You promised to go fishing with us today. Don't tell me you're trying to skip out again?"
A fat man kept knocking on Tom's door, making loud thump-thump sounds.
"Stop knocking, you fatso! You're going to break the door down!"
Tom, lying in bed, threw off the covers and got up deftly, letting out a light sigh. It had been over half a year since he arrived in this world.
From initial resistance to reluctant acceptance, he felt deeply lost about his future.
When he first heard the village children talking about Pirate King Gol D. Roger, Tom thought he was dreaming, or that everyone here was just a huge One Piece fan.
Otherwise, why would those kids' pure eyes be filled with such obsessed admiration and even a hint of fanaticism when they spoke of the Pirate King? It was unsettling.
From the fisherman who saved him, Tom learned he had been found alone and unconscious, drifting at sea. If he hadn't been found by fishermen nearby, he would have died.
Since then, to survive, Tom learned to be a fisherman. After half a year of hard training, he had become well-known in this fishing village.
Many people invited Tom along before going out to sea, as it ensured a bigger catch.
At first, Tom thought about planting vegetables in the village, living a leisurely life as a farmer. But the village land was extremely barren—not even a blade of grass could grow. Everyone survived by fishing.
For these past six months, Tom ate fish at every meal, but he didn't mind much. The variety of fish in the nearby waters was exceptionally rich. Every day, even every meal, he ate a different type of fish with unique textures. It was a feast.
Back on Earth, there were many types of fish, but in this world, there were many he could never have tasted there.
Like the Snowflake Fish he ate the day before yesterday. Even after steaming, it remained icy cold. No matter how much you heated it, it stayed cold like a popsicle. The meat was soft, fragrant, smooth, and boneless. Eating it in the hot summer was incredible.
So unlucky. In the novels, the protagonist always gets some amazing ability after crossing over. Why am I still just an ordinary person?
Tom thought resentfully as he followed the fat man toward the shore.
Along the way, many villagers greeted Tom warmly. He saw children playing games of Marines catching pirates.
"Today, I get to be the great pirate Whitebeard! You play the Marine Lieutenant and try to catch me!"
"Idiot! Whitebeard is known as the World's Strongest Man, a super pirate! A measly Marine Lieutenant wouldn't dare go after him. You'd need at least an Admiral!"
Hearing the children, the fat man next to Tom sighed with emotion. "Youth is wonderful. I used to be like them, dreaming of becoming a famous pirate, finding the legendary One Piece, becoming the Pirate King. But I gave up in the end."
Seeing the fat man's listless expression, Tom thought to himself: Pirate King? With your skills, you'd probably get taken out by some pirate like Buggy the Clown before even entering the Grand Line.
"You know why I gave up?" the fat man asked Tom.
"Why?"
As soon as Tom asked, the fat man said mournfully, "Back then, I set out to sea full of ambition. But before I got very far, a giant Sea King capsized my boat. If I hadn't been rescued, I wouldn't be alive."
Hearing this, Tom felt speechless. He'd forgotten that in this world's seas, giant Sea Kings were everywhere. With the fat man's skill level, he wouldn't even need to meet another pirate—a single Sea King could finish him.
"Who saved you? No one in our village can handle a giant Sea King, right?"
Tom found it strange.
"I don't know. It was a weird old man. He said he happened to be swimming nearby and saved me. I think he was bragging—how can someone swim from one island to another?—but he was really strong. He just threw a small rock and knocked out that huge Sea King."
The fat man's words stunned Tom. Could it have been Silvers Rayleigh who saved him?
"This old man… did he have a scar over his right eye?" Tom asked urgently.
"Huh? Yeah, he did. How did you know?" The fat man looked at Tom in surprise.
"Just a guess."
Tom wondered why Rayleigh would come to the East Blue. According to the fat man, he was saved a year ago. Why would Rayleigh appear in this so-called weakest sea then?
From the villagers, Tom learned that Pirate King Gol D. Roger had died twenty-two years ago. That meant Luffy should have already set sail. But what was Rayleigh doing in the East Blue a little over a year ago?
As a One Piece fan who'd read/watched it many times, Tom didn't recall any plot point about Rayleigh coming to the East Blue the year before Luffy set out.
Could this be one of Oda's foreshadowed plot points?
An absurd thought crossed Tom's mind.
"Hey, what are you spacing out for? We're going fishing," the fat man called out, already on the fishing boat, seeing Tom standing there lost in thought.
Tom snapped back to reality and hurried onto the boat. Another busy, fulfilling day of fishing began.
Over two hours later, Tom and the fat man looked at their haul with satisfaction—ten full baskets of fish. Enough to last a while.
Just as they were happily preparing to return, a huge wave surged across the sea, nearly capsizing their small boat.
"Oh no! A Sea King!"
The fat man looked in terror at the giant creature emerging from the depths, scared nearly out of his wits.
Holy crap, this is a real Sea King?
Tom looked up at the creature with a horse-like face, lantern-sized eyes, and a body like an octopus. It was the size of a small Ultraman, at least twenty times bigger than their little fishing boat.
"There shouldn't be Sea Kings in these waters! Why is it here?" the fat man asked Tom in a panic.
"Who cares why? Start rowing and get us out of here!"
Tom, drenched by the splashing seawater, ignored the chill and frantically grabbed an oar, rowing for dear life.
He missed the motorboats from Earth. Here, his arms were about to cramp, and they hadn't gotten far.
"ROAR!!!"
The Sea King opened its massive maw and lunged at their boat, clearly intending to swallow them whole.
As the mouth drew closer, Tom smelled the foul fishy stench from within. Despair crept in. Is this how I end?
"Gum-Gum Pistol!"
Just as Tom closed his eyes to await death, he heard a vibrant voice. Most importantly, why did that shouted attack sound so familiar?
Tom's eyes snapped open. A long, stretching arm flew over his head. With a Boom!, the giant Sea King was sent flying.
"Awesome! This guy looks tasty!"
A straw-hatted boy with a small scar under his left eye landed on their boat. He stretched his arm to grab the bow and swung over, eyeing the unconscious Sea King with excitement.
"A monster! His arm stretched!" The fat man, seeing the straw-hatted boy, turned pale with fright.
"Wow, there's lots of fish here too! They all look delicious."
The boy soon noticed the fish in their baskets and started drooling.
"Monkey D. Luffy!"
Tom didn't know what to feel—excitement, nervousness. This character he'd only seen in comics and on screen was now alive before him, having just saved his life.
"How do you know my name? Do we know each other?" Luffy turned around, confused.
"But it's not strange you'd know my name! Because I'm the man who will become the Pirate King! Hahahaha!"
Before Tom could explain, Luffy laughed heartily. His smile was infectious, especially his natural, utterly unforced confidence.
Hearing Luffy's bold declaration, the already overwhelmed fat man fainted on the spot.
Tom was speechless. Noticing Luffy constantly eyeing the fish baskets hungrily, he thought for a moment and spoke up. "Why don't you come back to our village with us? We'll treat you to a big feast to thank you for saving us."
"Really? That's great! I'm starving!" Luffy said happily. Then, as if remembering something, he ran to the side of the boat. "My boat! Where's my boat?"
"Is that it? It's drifted really far away." Tom pointed at a small boat floating alone in the distant sea.
"That's my boat!" Looking where Tom pointed, Luffy immediately recognized it.
He'd been focused on saving them and hadn't secured his boat. Now it had drifted far away with the current.
"Come back! Don't you want to be the future Pirate King's ship?!" Luffy stood at the edge of the fishing boat, shouting at the receding vessel.
Tom watched Luffy, dumbfounded. This guy really is a single-celled organism.
"This is troublesome. Without a boat, I can't go to sea." Luffy looked troubled, seeing his calls were futile.
"If you don't mind, you can borrow this fishing boat." Tom thought, The future Pirate King sailing out on my fishing boat… that has a certain ring to it.
"You're a really good guy!" Luffy immediately beamed. Then he said to Tom, "So, you're a man too, right? Come out to sea with me! Become a pirate who's free on the ocean!"
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T/N :
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