The sea was quiet now.
The storm had passed, leaving only its scars behind — torn trees, wrecked wood, and a broken ship that would never sail again.
A boy's body lay face-down on the shoreline, the waves gently rocking him like a cradle. He coughed. Once. Twice. Then spat out salt and seawater as his small chest heaved.
His eyes opened.
The sky above was bruised purple and gold. The smell of brine clung to everything, thick as blood.
He was alive.
But where?
He tried to sit up — his limbs weak, trembling. His fingers curled around wet sand and his arm gave out, collapsing him back to the beach with a pained grunt. His head throbbed. There were bruises on his ribs, and his right ankle screamed if he tried to move it.
His eyes darted, searching for something — anything — familiar.
There was nothing.
No voices.
No sails.
No other survivors.
Just the carcass of a shattered vessel drifting off the reef.
A child shouldn't have survived that.
But somehow… he had.
---
He crawled inland, dragging his aching body beneath a crooked tree with red leaves. The fruit hanging above looked half-rotten, but it was all he had. He tore one down and bit into it — bitter, sour, fibrous.
He didn't care.
He needed something in his stomach.
Each breath was harder than the last, not because of pain… but because something inside him didn't match this body. His fingers were too small. His legs too short. His voice too soft when he muttered,
"I died…"
The words barely escaped his lips before his body trembled with exhaustion. His mind swirled with half-formed thoughts — of paperbacks, of online forums, of laughter echoing from a TV screen. And then… nothing.
He curled beneath the roots, barely shielding himself from the wind.
"Just... a little nap…"
---
✦
The world darkened. And then...
📜 [SYSTEM INITIALIZING…]
A soft chime.
A flash of blue — faint, transparent text hovering in the air before him.
> Welcome, user.
Synchronization in progress…
Matching reincarnation parameters…
His eyes snapped open, wide. He blinked once. Twice. The screen remained.
> [Basic System Activated]
– [Status]
– [Skills]
– [Training Log]
– [World Log]
His heartbeat quickened.
This wasn't a hallucination.
Somewhere inside him, the dam cracked. The memories rushed back — not all at once, but just enough to drown him in truth.
He had died.
He had been an old man.
He had loved One Piece more than anything.
And now… this was real.
"This isn't a dream…"
His hand — small but steady — reached out and tapped [Status].
The screen flickered:
---
Name: Marlo D. Flint
Age: 5
Race: Human
Talent Grade: SSS (Inherited: Roger's Flame)
Sword Mastery: 0%
Haki: Locked
System Level: Basic
Karma Value: Overflowing
Current Location: Unnamed Island – West Blue
---
The name hit him like thunder.
He hadn't known it before. Hadn't remembered.
But reading it made something inside him settle — like it had always belonged to him.
"Marlo D. Flint…"
His voice cracked with emotion.
The letter "D." burned on the screen, glowing faintly.
---
He stood — barely — using a broken branch as a crutch.
The wind howled through the trees. He felt small. Alone. And yet...
I asked for this.
I asked for the world of One Piece. I asked for the spark Roger once carried.
And I was given this.
He looked down at his hands — bruised, scraped, trembling.
"Then let's start from here."
---
The screen shifted again.
> [Training Log: Objective 1 — Survive]
Lesson 1: Endure hunger, find clean water, build a weapon.
Reward: [Skill Tree Unlock: Primitive Combat]
He grinned, a spark lighting behind his eyes.
The old man inside him — the fan who once wept during Marineford, who screamed during Enies Lobby, who never got to see the ending — clenched his fists.
This was his story now.
No longer the watcher.
Now the blade.
---
He looked toward the jungle. The sun was rising — orange bleeding into gold.
The world stretched before him, wild and wide.
And the dream —
the dream that wouldn't die —
had just taken its first breath.