Chapter 1: Rebirth, Thirty Years Prior
The Foxconn assembly line hummed with a monotonous rhythm under the sweltering summer heat. Workers in identical uniforms moved with a tired, mechanical lethargy, their spirits worn down by the endless repetition.
Among them, a young man with a pale complexion jolted awake as if from a nightmare, his eyes wide with panic. His frantic gaze swept the room before locking onto the electronic clock on the wall. The date and time—15:00, January 1, 2021—made his face go pale.
I was just in the East Blue, fighting a thirty-meter-long Sea King! How am I back at my old job on the assembly line?
Staring at the familiar, soul-crushing workshop and the workers repeating their mind-numbing tasks, a deep, primal horror settled over him.
"Why am I here? I wasn't eaten by that beast... was I?"
Disbelief shone in his eyes.
"What's going on? I, Kaizen Reiya, didn't die in the jaws of a Sea King... I returned to Earth? To the 21st century?"
He looked back at the clock. There was no mistake. It was indeed January 1, 2021.
He had come back. Thirty years into the past. The confirmation sent a shockwave of astonishment through him.
Time was short. Soon, the world of One Piece would arrive.
The globe was on the brink of a cataclysmic shift, and humanity was about to face a terrifying new reality. The seas would dominate the Earth, the very rules of the world would be rewritten, and mankind would be thrust into a brutal era where pirates ran rampant and the strong devoured the weak.
It was today that the parallel world of One Piece would collide with the modern world.
In the aftermath, the overarching consciousness of the One Piece world would consume that of modern humanity, becoming the new, singular World Will governing this merged reality. The entire planet would expand, and ordinary animals would mutate into gigantic, terrifying monsters.
Like two galaxies merging into one, the collision would claim countless lives—human and animal alike. In this new age, giants would rise among humanity, and beasts would evolve into overlords possessing superhuman abilities and respect.
Modern humans would enter this new One Piece world like "players," fighting and transforming to survive.
At the dawn of this world, numerous starter villages would appear, containing items that could enhance one's physique and strength. To seize them first was to gain a crucial head start, a foothold from which to secure a dominant position.
But Kaizen Reiya was just a laborer. When the world changed and the New World formed, he had no money, no resources, and a body inferior to other "players."
From the beginning, the wealthy and powerful could quickly form teams, seize resource-rich territories, and grow strong. They would soon band together to squeeze out the weak, creating a cycle where the strong grew ever stronger, and the weak were left with almost no room to live.
In his previous life, Kaizen had formed a crew with other Foxconn workers, fighting tooth and nail to establish the Foxconn Pirates. But they lacked resources and momentum. They never even reached the Grand Line, where the true powers competed. In a sea area leading to it, their hard-earned fleet of more than ten ships was ambushed by a pod of powerful, evolved Sea Kings. One by one, their ships were shattered and sunk.
After falling into the sea, Kaizen managed to slay a few of the beasts before a colossal thirty-meter-long Sea King finally swallowed him whole.
Fragments of that past life flashed through his mind.
"It's true. I didn't die. I was reborn... I've returned thirty years."
Stunned, he glanced at the clock again. More than ten minutes had already passed.
"Time is running out. I have to seize this chance. I can't repeat the tragedy of my past life." His fists clenched involuntarily.
The sudden movement drew stares from the other workers in the workshop. They had no idea what the future held.
"Kaizen! What are you doing? Are you crazy? You'll be fired before your shift is over!" It was his coworker, Ding Mingjun.
She watched, stunned, as he rushed for the door like a madman, then hurriedly stood to block his path.
Kaizen merely glanced at her and brushed past. This Ding Mingjun had been his girlfriend in his previous life.
He couldn't say he had loved her deeply, but they had been neighbors since childhood, growing up together, studying together, and working at Foxconn together. Their families and friends saw them as the perfect, destined couple who would marry and have children. Had the world of One Piece never arrived, Kaizen believed they would have followed that very path, repeating the same monotonous life as their parents.
But then, the new era dawned, and everything changed.
After the New World arrived, Kaizen had protected her in the starter villages, using his own shoulders to shield her from the wind and rain. He made sure she survived those first difficult days, that she was never hungry or cold.
But then she met a rich "player" and, using every means at her disposal, left Kaizen to be with him. She cruelly abandoned Kaizen and his team of Foxconn comrades.
The most devastating blow was that upon leaving, she got Kaizen and his teammates drunk and stole the navigational chart he had found—a map detailing a safe path to the Grand Line. If not for her betrayal, they could have followed that chart safely, seized the opportunity, and risen to become a major power, a force to be reckoned with like the Four Emperors.
Instead, having lost the chart, they were forced to take the most difficult and dangerous route. They suffered terribly, became lost at sea, and were ultimately sunk by the terrifying evolved Sea Kings, ending their lives inside the beasts' bellies.
Kaizen hated this woman. So many loyal comrades had lived miserable lives and met a gruesome end because of her betrayal.
And the rich second-generation player she left with, Qin Hui, ultimately used the stolen chart to avoid the dangerous routes, take the safe passage, and enter the Grand Line. He rose to become a superpower on the level of the Four Emperors.
That Qin Hui was originally just the son of a nouveau riche. Without the chart Ding Mingjun stole, he never would have reached such heights.
"Ding Mingjun, Qin Hui... you were so merciless in our past life. In this one, I will definitely not let you get away with it. Just you wait." Kaizen shoved the door open and rushed out without a second glance.
Time was of the essence. Very soon, a monumental opportunity would appear on the roof of the Foxconn building.
The advantage of rebirth, of knowing the painful lessons and experiences of his past life, was that he could seize every opportunity a step ahead of everyone else. He would rise in this New World, establish a mighty force, and step onto the peak of life, avoiding the tragic path of his previous existence.
As for Ding Mingjun and Qin Hui, no matter the cost, he would never let them go.
But for now, Kaizen had no time to spare for them. In a matter of moments, a treasure that would shake the world would appear.
This treasure, known as the Calm Sea Key, was said to be a golden key left behind by the King of the Pirates himself. It was a supreme treasure, rumored to far surpass anything else in the One Piece world.
Its power was the ability to reveal all hidden treasures in the new One Piece world—martial arts, skills, weapons, and even Devil Fruits. It granted its owner a colossal resource advantage from the very beginning, the foundation of immense power.
In his past life, a man named Xie Chun obtained the Calm Sea Key. He trampled over countless rival forces, rose to prominence, and eventually became an existence that surpassed even the Four Emperors. He located the treasure of the One Piece, pacified the seas, and reigned as the supreme sovereign of the new One Piece world.