Chapter 1
"One Piece… is real!" With a furious roar, Whitebeard's vitality finally drained away completely. Flashes of his life passed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.
If given another chance, he wouldn't change his beliefs or his dream. He wanted a family—and more than that, he wanted to protect his family.
"Roger… I'm coming to catch up with you… You idiots, my sons… see you again in a few decades, with your old man!" Whitebeard closed his eyes, but the expected loss of consciousness didn't come.
The smoke and bloody stench of the battlefield vanished. The surrounding clamor disappeared. 'Something's wrong!'
Whitebeard's eyes snapped open. The scene before him was no longer Marineford at Navy Headquarters. Teach, Garp, Sengoku, Marco… all of them were gone.
Navy, pirates—everything was gone!
Whitebeard touched his chest and found that the massive hole blasted by that magma brat had disappeared. He touched the side of his face—the half that had been melted away by magma was restored.
Gunshots, slashes, explosions—every wound had vanished without a trace. His condition was exactly the same as before the Summit War.
If not for the lingering discomfort from his old illnesses inside his body, he might have thought he'd become young again.
"Murakumogiri is still here…" Whitebeard gripped his naginata tightly. This Supreme Grade Blade had been with him for decades. He then tested his Tremor-Tremor Fruit powers and his three types of Haki, confirming they were all still present.
What kind of special Devil Fruit ability had brought him here? Or… was this the afterlife?
"Ahhh!!!"
Suddenly, a scream echoed from the distance, causing Whitebeard to glance sideways. 'Another soul from the afterlife like me?' He'd go ask and find out!
…
The rushing river battered moss-covered boulders and terrified the unfortunate Uzumaki Naruto, who had accidentally fallen in. His homemade fishing rod drifted away with the current.
But he had no time to mourn it. He was frantically struggling, yet it felt as if water plants had wrapped around his feet, making it impossible to surface.
"Help! Help—glub glub glub—" Naruto had lost count of how much river water he'd swallowed. His strength was rapidly depleting with every struggle. In this despair, he even felt like giving up.
Even if he survived… what then? In the village, wasn't he still hated? Still called a demon fox? 'Maybe… I shouldn't have lived at all? Everyone in the village… probably wishes I were dead.'
Such pessimistic yet realistic thoughts surfaced in the mind of the five-year-old Naruto.
At the same time, the ANBU ninja secretly monitoring him jolted in shock. He hadn't expected the "demon fox" to simply slip while fishing and plunge headfirst into the raging river.
Just as he prepared to dive in and pull Naruto out—the ANBU's body suddenly froze. It was an instinctive rigidity!
"What is that?" The ANBU's eyes widened beneath his mask as he stared fixedly at the enormous figure across the river. "A summoned beast? A giant? How can someone be that tall? How could a person like that appear in the wilderness outside Konoha?!"
The towering figure in the ANBU's line of sight was none other than Whitebeard! His 6.66-meter height was utterly unique in the ninja world.
Whitebeard glanced at the blond kid in the river, who was gradually losing consciousness, then squinted at the masked figure on the opposite bank.
Without hesitation, he reached into the water, grabbed Naruto by the clothes like picking up a kitten, and lifted him out.
"Cough! Cough—blegh—" For some reason, Naruto could breathe again. Amid violent coughing, he expelled the water from his stomach, and his hazy consciousness slowly returned.
"Is… is it Grandpa Hokage?" Naruto forced his eyes open, only to freeze in terror—he was suspended in midair, the ground at least several meters below his feet!
If he fell from here, it'd be disastrous!
"What's that?" Naruto suddenly noticed a pair of enormous shoes on the ground—big enough for him to crawl inside. And if he wasn't mistaken… he could see two legs?
As the drenched Naruto stiffly turned his head, he found himself staring at a massive face. A giant!
"Souls in the afterlife don't drown, do they?" Whitebeard's deep, booming voice rumbled as he held Naruto up and demanded, "Blond brat, who are you? What is this place?"
'Gulp!'
Naruto swallowed hard. Fear made him blurt out instinctively, "I-I'm Uzumaki Naruto. This… this is Konoha Village."
'Uzumaki Naruto? Konoha Village? Never heard of them!' Whitebeard frowned and asked again, "Which country's village is Konoha? Is it in the first half of the Grand Line? Or in the New World?"
"Huh?" Naruto blinked in confusion. "Konoha's in the Land of Fire!" He had no idea what "Grand Line" or "New World" meant.
"Hey! You monster on the other side! Let go of the demon fox—no, let go of Uzumaki Naruto right now!" The ANBU on the opposite bank realized the situation was dire. He didn't know what the two were talking about, but he knew that "giant" was definitely no friendly figure.
The Hokage had ordered him to protect Uzumaki Naruto, the demon fox—even if he was reluctant. He had to carry out the mission. He also knew what monster lurked inside the boy—if it were unleashed, the Nine-Tails disaster would repeat!
'Tiger–Ox–Rabbit!'
With no time to think, the ANBU formed hand seals decisively.
"Water Style: Water Chaos Wave!!"
A massive amount of chakra gathered in his mouth, and a torrent of raging water erupted like a waterfall, spanning the dozen-meter-wide river and surging straight toward Whitebeard.
"Water?" Whitebeard raised an eyebrow, sensing something abnormal. "A Devil Fruit power that controls water? Never seen one like this before! Does something like that exist on the seas?" He didn't dodge. His Observation Haki detected no threat whatsoever.
The deluge washed over his body, yet he felt no weakness—which made his brow furrow tightly. Water had always been the natural enemy of Devil Fruit users. Submersion rendered them powerless. But just now, he felt nothing of the sort—this water seemed… fake.
"What? How is this possible?" On the other side, the ANBU was horrified. "He tanked a ninjutsu with his bare body?!"
"Hey!" He heard the giant speak again.
"Masked brat!" Whitebeard asked, "Do you know the World Government? Do you know Marine Headquarters? Do you know the Whitebeard Pirates? Do you know the Grand Line? Do you know the New World? Do you know Devil Fruits? Do you know the Celestial Dragons?"
Each unfamiliar term left the ANBU speechless. He didn't understand a single one, and his silence made Whitebeard realize the gravity of the situation.
Whitebeard understood—this world was no longer the one he knew. He had arrived in another world entirely. 'No World Government. No Marine Headquarters. No Four Emperors. No Seven Warlords of the Sea.' It seemed like fate had given him another chance.
Tl/N : Drop Powerstones For An Extra Chapter!!!