The gears of fate began to turn.
"Luffy! Do your best out there!!"
"Once you're at sea, take good care of yourself—don't catch a cold!"
"Remember to come back and visit!"
The shore was packed with simple, warm-hearted villagers, all scrambling to wave farewell to the straw-hatted boy on the small boat.
This was the hometown of the Marine hero Garp. As for Luffy—the little troublemaker who'd grown up here—the villagers might complain about him with their mouths, but in their hearts, they cherished him dearly.
"Yeah!! I got it!!"
Wearing a red sleeveless vest, blue jeans, and straw sandals, Luffy beamed with a carefree, dazzling smile, waving vigorously back at the shore.
The mooring rope was untied, and the small boat drifted slowly along the current, heading toward the boundless blue beyond.
"Hehehe, Sabo, look—I've gone out to sea too!"
Standing at the bow, Luffy shouted at the horizon,
"You were first, Ace was second, and I'm third! But I'll definitely catch up to you guys!"
"Splash—"
As if responding to the boy's bold declaration, the previously calm sea suddenly churned violently.
A massive, serpentine Sea King burst up from the water.
Its vicious, slit pupils locked onto Luffy aboard the small boat, its bloody maw opening wide to reveal rows of sharp fangs.
"It's the Lord of the Coast!!"
"Oh no! Luffy, run!"
"That's a monster! Come back, quick!"
The villagers on shore turned deathly pale, screams ringing out one after another.
Before this colossal beast, Luffy's little wooden boat looked no bigger than a toy.
"It's you, huh… my old friend."
Contrary to everyone's expectations, Luffy didn't panic.
He stood up steadily, lowered the brim of his straw hat to shade his eyes, and simply rolled his shoulders.
"Gomu Gomu…"
His right arm suddenly swung back, stretching impossibly more than ten meters under the elasticity of rubber.
Then, using the terrifying kinetic energy of the rebound, his fist tore through the air and slammed straight into the Lord of the Coast's face.
"Pistol!"
—BOOM!
A dull explosion echoed.
The very same Lord of the Coast that had once bitten off Shanks' arm was sent reeling by a single punch, eyes spinning as its enormous body flew backward and crashed heavily onto the sea's surface, sending up towering waves.
With a pitiful whine, the beast tucked its tail and fled back into the depths.
"So… so strong! He sent the Lord of the Coast flying with just one punch?!"
Hidden behind trees, the mountain bandit Dadan's family and the villagers on the shore all stared in stunned disbelief.
That crybaby kid had truly grown up.
Having driven away the nightmare of his childhood, Luffy grinned, clenched both fists, and raised them high overhead.
Facing the sea breeze, he shouted with all his might that vow:
"I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"
With the departure of this chosen child of fate, the tides of the era began to stack upon one another, destined to swell into a world-engulfing tsunami.
...
First half of the Grand Line.
Marine Headquarters—Marineford.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku sat at his desk, staring at a mountain of documents with a headache.
As the supreme commander of the Marines, this seemingly glorious position was, in reality, a thankless job.
After all, the Four Seas, the first half of the Grand Line, and the New World gathered the most elite scum on the entire ocean.
Just handling intelligence on these pirates drained most of his energy.
Of course, the main culprit doubling his headaches lately was still Garp's grandson—Ace.
Bearing the title of Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Commander, that brat was running around like a headless fly, causing chaos everywhere he went. Marine Intelligence had no choice but to keep a constant eye on his movements.
On top of that, the rookies emerging from the Four Seas this year were no pushovers either.
Take Capone Bege from the West Blue, the mafia boss—and then there was the most troublesome one of all: Jewelry Bonney, the princess of the Sorbet Kingdom.
Especially Bonney. Considering that her father, Kuma, was currently undergoing that inhumane modification project, Sengoku found her case particularly thorny to deal with.
"Crunch… crunch…"
Just as Sengoku was stewing in irritation, crisp chewing sounds kept coming from the side.
Garp was lounging on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, happily stuffing rice crackers into his mouth.
This old bastard was practically the direct cause of Sengoku's high blood pressure.
"I told you ages ago," Garp said through flying crumbs, "what's so great about promotions and raises? Tons of trouble. Regretting it now, Sengoku?"
"Shut up!" Sengoku finally snapped, slamming a palm on the desk.
"Isn't this whole mess because of your precious grandson Ace?! If you'd just persuaded him to become a Warlord, would I be this stressed?! Now look—Second Division Commander! Running all over the place! Do you have any idea how much pressure that puts on the Marines?!"
At the mention of this, Garp immediately turned his head away, whistling and playing dumb.
Just then, the office door swung open.
Vice Admiral Tsuru, the Chief of Staff—silver-haired, kind-looking yet carrying an air of unquestionable authority—walked in.
These three were comrades of decades; they never needed to announce themselves.
"Oh? Garp's here too—perfect. Saves me another trip."
Tsuru held several freshly printed bounty posters, her gaze sweeping over the two bickering old men.
"What happened, Tsuru?"
Sengoku took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his anger.
"Another troublesome rookie has shown up on the Grand Line. I think you both need to take a look—especially you, Garp."
Tsuru handed over the file.
"So annoying… what's wrong with this year? All the monsters crawling out at once…"
Sengoku rubbed his throbbing temples, took the documents and glanced down.
What met his eyes was a boy wearing a straw hat, smiling brilliantly.
"Hm?"
Sengoku froze for a moment. That straw hat—why did it look so familiar?
Roger back in the day… and that red-haired Shanks—both had worn something similar…
Then his gaze shifted to the name.
"Monkey D. Luffy."
Sengoku's expression instantly stiffened, his face turning pitch-black in the blink of an eye.
The next second, an earth-shaking roar once again erupted from the Fleet Admiral's office.
"GARP! YOU BASTARD!!! THAT MAKES TWO OF THEM!!!"
Equally devastated was Garp, who had been about to sneak some of Sengoku's tea leaves. He clutched his head and wailed:
"Luffy! You little brat! Why did you come out too?!"
...
Thirty million Beli.
In the age of great pirates, bounties at this level were a dime a dozen—hardly worth a second glance.
Even with the title of "Strongest Rookie of the East Blue," in the monster-infested Grand Line, he was still just a nobody who hadn't crossed the threshold into the Supernovas.
Most people glanced at the poster, maybe noted that the kid's smile looked kind of dumb, and promptly forgot about it.
But this very bounty poster stirred massive waves in a few corners of the world.
New World—aboard the Red Force.
"So Luffy's finally set sail too, huh?"
Red-Haired Shanks held the bounty poster in his hand, looking at that familiar grin. He couldn't help but laugh, excitement glinting in his eyes.
This wasn't just a boy's growth—it meant that the arm he had wagered in the New World, and the change Captain Roger had been waiting for all along, were finally about to arrive.
"Boss! Rockstar sent word—he's already nearing Whitebeard's territory."
Shanks' smile faded, his expression turning serious.
"Alright. Then we move too. The matter of Ace… it's time we had a proper talk with that stubborn old man Whitebeard."
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