Over the East Blue, high in the sky, Aeridar looked down at a ship anchored in the vast sea. It had a fish-shaped bow and looked like a restaurant.
"Baratie!" Aeridar's eyes widened. "It's the Baratie, the sea restaurant in the East Blue!"
He immediately recalled the place: it was the restaurant founded by "Red-Leg" Zeff after he lost his leg, and it was where Sanji worked. The Baratie was known as the "fighting restaurant," and its owner and head chef was the once-famous pirate "Red-Leg" Zeff. The sous-chef was none other than the future Straw Hat Pirates' chef and one of their three main fighters, "Black Leg" Sanji.
Aeridar muttered to himself, "It's the year 1522 of the Sea Calendar. This should be around the time Monkey D. Luffy started his journey. I wonder if he's here yet?"
Suddenly, a sharp-eyed Aeridar noticed several other ships around the Baratie. One of them had a sail with a skull wearing a straw hat, and its figurehead was a cute sheep's head.
"Hoh hoh hoh... How interesting! The Going Merry!" Aeridar chuckled to himself. This was the ship that had brought countless pirate fans to tears. "Since I'm here, I might as well go see the main character!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Aeridar descended rapidly toward the restaurant.
"Up in the sky! There's a person flying!"
On the Going Merry, Johnny happened to look up and saw a man appear in the clear sky. He screamed in shock.
"What?!"
Yosaku, who had just woken up, heard his partner and looked up as well.
Everyone on the Going Merry stared in awe at the young man flying through the sky, wearing a black coat with a white wave pattern, and heading towards them at high speed.
Hearing the commotion below, Aeridar looked down. On the Going Merry, there was a strange pair of men, one with red hair and one with yellow, both holding curved swords. The red-haired one had the word "sea" tattooed on his face, and the yellow-haired one had the word "big catch" tattooed on his back.
"Hm? Those two guys are... the Sword God and Sword Saint? Wait, no, their names were Johnny and Yosaku, right?!" Aeridar recognized the two from an old online joke. The "Four Hidden Masters of the Pirate World" were a fan gag that included "Axe-Hand" Morgan, Johnny, Yosaku, and the Lord of the Coast. Of course, it was all a joke. At his current level, Aeridar could tell with a glance that these two were nothing special.
Tap.
Ignoring Johnny and Yosaku, Aeridar's gaze moved to a swordsman with green hair, a haramaki, and three swords at his waist, a long-nosed boy with a light brown bandana, and a beautiful young woman with orange hair.
"Roronoa Zoro, Nami, Usopp... Hoh hoh hoh... Old friends!" Aeridar grinned happily.
On the Going Merry...
"How can a person fly?" Usopp's jaw dropped, his face filled with disbelief.
"Is he a Devil Fruit user?!" Zoro eyed Aeridar warily, his hands on the hilts of his swords.
"That person..." Nami frowned. She was surprised but also felt a sense of familiarity.
Thump.
"Yo, everyone!" Aeridar landed gently on the Going Merry's figurehead, greeting the crew with a mischievous grin.
"Who is this guy?"
The crew looked at each other, confused.
Whoosh...
A sudden breeze blew by. Unnoticed, a massive pirate ship approached, its shadow looming over the Baratie and the Going Merry. It was nearly a hundred meters long with a black panther figurehead, but the entire ship was in ruins. The hull was broken in several places, and the deck was cracked all over, as if it had been hit by a fierce attack.
No one paid attention to Aeridar anymore. They were all staring grimly at the pirate ship. Even the customers inside the Baratie were speechless, staring at the ruined ship in terror.
"The hourglass is a sign of defiance against his enemies."
"That flag is... there's no mistake! It's the pirate fleet of the East Blue's ruler, 'Admiral' Krieg!"
"Aka... akaka..."
"Why... why is the Krieg Pirates fleet here?"
The customers were in a state of chaos.
"This is bad! We should run!" Usopp, the boy with the long nose, yelled to a boy in a straw hat on the second floor of the Baratie.
"That ship is so huge!" Nami was shocked. She had never seen such a large pirate ship before; even the luxurious ship of a treasure hunter she knew wasn't this big.
"Luffy..." Aeridar raised an eyebrow, a curious expression on his face as he looked at the boy with the scar under his left eye.
Monkey D. Luffy!
The protagonist of the pirate world, the man who made the Yonko Shanks wager an arm on him, and the heir to the Pirate King Roger's straw hat. He had a shocking list of identities: the grandson of Marine Hero Monkey D. Garp, the son of Revolutionary Army leader Monkey D. Dragon, the sworn brother of "Fire Fist" Portgas D. Ace and Revolutionary Army Chief of Staff Sabo, and later, one of the Worst Generation of pirates. With his protagonist's luck, he had defeated several Warlords of the Sea and seemed to have an invincible plot armor.
Aeridar had a wicked thought. What would happen if I killed Luffy right now? Would the "World's Will" erase me?
"Is that... Black Leg Sanji?" A distracted Aeridar saw Luffy standing with a blonde, curly-browed young man in a black suit.
"That's a huge ship!" Luffy said, stroking his chin as he looked at the approaching, battered ship. He asked curiously, "Did Gin come back to repay you?"
"I don't think so," Sanji said, his face expressionless as he took a drag on his cigarette. "But something's strange..."
"Huh?" Luffy glanced at Sanji.
As the ship got closer and the fog dissipated, Luffy exclaimed, "His ship is so wrecked!"
"It doesn't look like it was hit by cannon fire, but it doesn't look like it was sabotaged either," Sanji said, looking at the huge cracks on the ship.
"Maybe it was a tornado?" Luffy tilted his head.
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