Over the past year, life on Red Leaf Island had yet to return to its former peace. With the dawn of the Great Pirate Era, more and more people were setting sail for the Grand Line.
Now, most of Red Leaf Island's original inhabitants were gone. Frequent pirate raids had forced the majority of residents to flee, relocating to nearby islands.
During this time, Wood's system had been almost entirely dormant. Except for issuing missions, it remained completely silent. If not for the second mission that had appeared earlier, Wood might have even suspected that his "cheat code" had gone completely offline.
After a previous simulated life experience, Wood had gained swordsmanship and insights rivaling a near-master swordsman. Yet, despite possessing the techniques and mindset—and achieving an "Iron-Cutting" level of swordsmanship—he still could not actually cut iron.
The reason was simple: while his skills had grown, his physical constitution remained far too weak.
Three months of relentless axe-swinging and brutal training had improved his physique considerably, but he was still only slightly stronger than an average person.
Over the course of the year, then, Wood split his time between internalizing sword techniques and relentlessly honing his body with daily, punishing physical training.
A year ago, Wood had looked like a thin, unremarkable young man. Now, his skin had taken on a healthy tan, and his bare torso showed a dramatic transformation. Sunlight glinted off his streamlined muscles, each one coiled with explosive power. His height had shot up from 1.8 meters to about 1.9 meters.
During this time, Wood had even attempted to emulate the World Government's CP organization, training his body to superhuman levels in an effort to learn the so-called "Naval Six Styles."
However, despite months of training, he could not grasp the essence of the techniques. Wood believed there were two reasons for this: first, his body was still far from the standard required to master the Six Styles; second, the techniques likely required special training methods.
After all, the Naval Six Styles were essentially standard combat techniques for Marine officers. They weren't meant to be learned casually by someone like him on a remote island. If they were that simple, then most of the pirates he'd encountered would have picked them up instantly.
"Brother Wood, it's lunchtime! Come back and eat!"
Wood, swimming shirtless for several nautical miles to complete his morning physical training, spotted a little girl with a ponytail and a shopping basket on the shore. A smile immediately broke across his face. Splashing water in all directions, he raced toward the shore at astonishing speed.
"Ayn, didn't I tell you not to bring lunch here? It's dangerous—what if we run into pirates? The waters around the island aren't safe these days."
Swimming carefully to avoid drenching her pretty floral dress, Wood tried to minimize the splashes.
"Brother Wood is lying again! You promised me last time, but every time you start training, you forget the time and sometimes don't even eat all day. And Ayn isn't afraid of pirates! Besides, with Brother Wood around, those sea villains are no match. You'll save me like you did last year, right?"
The girl calling to him was Ayn, a cute seven- or eight-year-old with a blue ponytail. Ayn was also a Red Leaf Island native. Wood had saved her from a pirate henchman a year ago, which had triggered his system.
"Mom knows you train like a maniac every day, so she made a lot of meat dishes just for you. And this fruit? Ayn picked it herself in the forest today—it's super sweet."
Ayn's father had died defending her from pirates, leaving her to live only with her mother. Wood, by contrast, fit the classic transmigrator mold: orphaned and alone. In gratitude for saving Ayn, her mother, Stia, had taken Wood in.
Living together and bound by the life-saving incident, Wood and Ayn quickly became like family. Ayn hated pirates most of all after her father's death, but she was also grateful to have a strong, protective older brother.
After obtaining "Iron-Cutting" level swordsmanship in the simulation, Wood had not flaunted his power. Instead, he trained in secret. There were countless strong people on these seas, and he was not yet strong enough to challenge them. His previous simulation had shown him dying young because he had been reckless.
This time, Wood resolved to keep a low profile until he had built enough strength to traverse the first half of the Grand Line with confidence.
But plans rarely went perfectly.
Over six months ago, a pirate crew landed again, plundering the island. They even targeted Stia and Ayn, intending to capture them and sell them into slavery.
Seeing his "family" in danger, Wood could not remain passive. With ruthless efficiency, he dispatched the pirates in seconds.
Unfortunately, one of the henchmen he killed was a high-ranking officer, strong enough to escape before Wood could finish him.
If the captain of a pirate crew ignored the death of a key officer, how could he lead his men? Naturally, the pirate captain came for Wood. After a fierce battle, the captain too was killed.
A pirate captain with an 8-million-Berry bounty, defeated by a boy who hadn't even fully matured. The remaining crew, seeing Wood's fierce, youthful face, panicked and fled, leaving even their captain's body behind.
It was through this incident that the people of Red Leaf Island realized that the Wood of today was no longer the boy they had known.
If most hadn't watched him grow up, they would have found it impossible to believe that the teenager capable of killing a high-bounty pirate was the same Wood from their childhood.