Eight years ago, Birka of the Sky Island.
"Big Earlobes, Big Earlobes."
A group of Birkan children with small white wings on their backs were making faces at the person in front of them. The leading boy made a funny face and dragged out his voice.
"Big Earlobes, Big Earlobes~"
"Unwanted Big Earlobes~"
Eneru, mocked by the children, seemed not to hear at all and continued walking forward on his own. In front of him was a jungle where vines entwined giant trees; few people in the village ever went there.
Precisely because there was no one, he could beg for a moment of peace.
The wind blew, swirling the leaves on the ground and dispersing the mockery that was gradually fading behind him.
Eneru looked deep into the jungle, his eyes filled with indifference and a sense of alienation from everything around him.
He had been different from others since he was a child.
It wasn't just those conspicuous big earlobes, but also an unsociability in his bones that made it hard for him to fit into the group. The children of Birka refused to accept him, and the adults mostly cast glances at him as if he were a freak.
To this, Eneru only sneered in his heart.
"A bunch of ignorant fools."
"They'll be stuck in Birka for the rest of their lives."
Entering deep into the jungle, the lush foliage cut off the light and noise of the outside world.
Until he could walk no further, Eneru sat down against a tree root and buried his face between his knees. The indifference he had just forced on himself instantly collapsed, leaving only a deep sense of loneliness.
Those mocking words constantly reminded him: here, he would always be an excluded outsider.
Eneru yearned for the legend of the Fairy Vearth, dreaming that one day he could personally reach it and get away from this sad place, Birka.
Just as this loneliness was about to consume him, a strange golden fruit, shaped like a ball of lightning, rolled from somewhere to Eneru's side.
Eneru stared at this fruit he had never seen before. The loneliness in his eyes faded slightly, replaced by confusion and curiosity.
"This... doesn't look edible."
The surroundings remained silent, except for that golden fruit, which seemed to be issuing a silent invitation to Eneru, as if it wanted to light up his grey childhood.
Eneru held the fruit in his arms and examined it.
"Can this thing... be eaten?"
(｡ò ∀ ó｡) The Dividing Line of Fate.
Konomi Islands, Housha Town dock.
A group of burly teenagers surrounded a small pushcart, staring at the white-haired child running the stall. Their dark figures blocked out all the scorching sun.
"Unwanted White-Haired Kid!"
Nine-year-old Seven, bare-chested, looked speechlessly at this group of problem teenagers. If it were his previous life, he would have definitely kicked them all into the sea.
Unfortunately, his reincarnation skills weren't up to par.
Personally sent by the Great Luck Celestial to a Pirate World where everyone was a strongman, he not only lacked a noble birth but also had a physical constitution that was a total mess.
After the old village chief passed away, he could only barely survive by setting up a stall to sell fish balls, and he was still harassed by a group of problem teenagers. He had almost become the most miserable transmigrator in history.
Seven silently gripped the fish-gutting knife at his waist.
"Big Head, wait until I finish my stall."
The boy called Big Head stepped forward and delivered a powerful kick, directly overturning the fish ball stall.
"Setting up a stall? What kind of stall are you even setting up?"
"White-Haired Kid, last time we only fell asleep by accident and let you take advantage of us. This time, we'll give you what's coming."
"Brother Big Head, don't waste your breath on him."
The boy with a sharp mouth and Monkey-like cheeks gritted his teeth. "It's this White-Haired Kid who brought bad luck and killed the old village chief. We must make this jinx get out of Housha Town."
"Yeah, beat him up."
There were many punks who wanted to beat up Seven, for only a few reasons—
He was the "other people's child" in the mouths of these punks' parents, and girls of the same age liked to follow him around.
Most importantly, he had no family to stand up for him.
Having lived two lives, the psychologically mature Seven usually didn't bother with these punks, but they actually dared to kick the tool he used to make a living.
"Motherf*cker!"
Seven pulled out the fish-gutting knife from his waist and swung the back of the blade at the leader of the punks, Big Head.
A howl of pain rang out.
The punks were stunned for half a second before erupting into ear-piercing curses, lunging at Seven with wooden sticks and broken bricks.
The dock instantly turned into a chaotic mess.
Curses, the sound of fists and feet colliding, and the dull thud of the knife's back hitting bone and flesh mixed together, while countless clouds of dust swirled up from the ground.
At this moment, a giant ship docked at the pier.
At the bow of the giant ship with red sails, a man with a handlebar mustache that also looked like nose hair was staring toward the dock, his brow full of curiosity.
"Rayleigh, did you see that?"
Beside the man with the big nose hair, a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses nodded.
"I saw it. That white-haired little fellow, the moment he drew his knife... Haoshoku flashed from his hand."
Rayleigh truly found it hard to imagine that such a small and thin little fellow actually possessed the qualities of a king. Even though Captain Roger's crew had several with the qualities of a king, he had never heard of someone awakening Haoshoku at such a young age.
The East Blue really is full of talented people.
"Let's go down and take a look. The ship just happens to be missing a chef."
When Roger and Rayleigh arrived in front of the overturned pushcart, Seven was picking up the fish balls scattered on the ground, and the fish-gutting knife at his waist had already seen blood.
Picking up a fish ball from the ground, Roger ate it in large mouthfuls: bursting with juice, fresh and fragrant, chewy... every texture made one's eyes light up.
Roger immediately reached out and issued an invitation—
"Kid, the fish balls are pretty good."
"Come onto my ship."
Seven looked up, squinting his bruised eyes against the sunlight at the strangely comical nose hair. The voice ringing in his mind left him instantly stunned, and it took him a long time to recover.
Because of his excitement, a mist even welled up in his eyes.
[Ding! Myriad Worlds Trading Platform successfully bound. Please complete the prerequisite conditions to open the system]
[Newbie Gift Pack locked: Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Big Eater, Innate Divine Strength]
The little fellow's excited appearance made Roger raise his eyebrows triumphantly at Rayleigh, his expression as if to say: "How's that? Isn't your Captain charismatic?"
However, Seven's next sentence directly broke Roger's defense.
"Mr. Big Nose Hair, who are you?"
Roger gave two dry laughs to hide his embarrassment: "My name is Roger. I'm a pirate. The ship is short of a chef..."
"Okay." Seven nodded heavily.
"Captain Roger, I'll go pack my bags."
The punks hiding behind the boxes on the dock, waiting for an opportunity to ambush Seven, all looked at their leader after hearing these words.
"Boss, Little White Hair was tricked by that pirate named Roger into being a chef. Are we still going to beat him up?"
Big Head, clutching his wound, said indignantly.
"Monkey, you stay here. We'll go find the village chief. What if the White-Haired Kid was tricked? I heard these pirates like selling kids the most."
The boy with the sharp mouth and Monkey-like cheeks nodded.
"Okay."
By the time the punks dragged a group of adults to the dock, they could only see from afar on the giant red-sailed ship—a small figure waving at them.
"Bye-bye."
The protagonist's first time going out to sea
Birka, Sky Island.
Deep in the lush jungle, Eneru leaned against a tree root, blinking his eyes without a word, his heart filled with an indescribable sense of loss or helplessness.
Just now—
That fruit that appeared out of nowhere had disappeared in his arms just as mysteriously.
It was as if everything just now was only a dream he had, a dream that was touchable yet unreachable.
Now, the dream had ended.
"Just now... I should have taken a bite first."
(｡ò ∀ ó｡)