One Piece World — A certain island, in a certain room.
Li Jun rose in confusion, scanning his surroundings. Everything was unfamiliar. A regular bedroom, ordinary furniture, just a typical house.
"Where... am I? Wait, is that me in the mirror?" Li Jun stared blankly at the reflection—a young man with short silver hair, looking about 20 years old. "What the hell? Did I activate the system wrong?" he muttered. "This doesn't look like the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki from the Hidden Cloud Village in the Naruto world!"
"AHH!"
A scream burst out. The next moment, Li Jun clutched his head and fell to the floor. A flood of memories that didn't belong to him surged into his mind. It might have lasted a minute or several—he didn't know. When he finally stood up again, his face showed pure confusion.
The sea... the World Government... the Celestial Dragons... the Marines... Pirates...
"I... I actually ended up in the One Piece world? Wasn't the first world supposed to be Naruto? Even if it was One Piece, shouldn't I have possessed someone like a marine officer's son? This... this isn't even the world from the novel I wrote!"
"Damn it... what do I do? This isn't my novel world. I'm not even the protagonist..." As he sorted through the original body's memories, Li Jun's once-bright eyes lost all focus.
Thud! He collapsed heavily onto the bed. The confidence, calm, and daydreams he once had were now completely replaced by fear—fear of the unknown, of a dangerous future.
The One Piece world was incredibly dangerous. A single misstep and you could die without even knowing how. Worse, the person he'd possessed was merely a small-time doctor who had survived a shipwreck.
"No, I can't fall apart here. After all, my real body is part of the D Clan. Plus, I picked the second option—the one that comes with a mysterious gift pack!"
At that thought, Li—no, he should be called Halvis D. Bilia Aogami now. That was the full name of the doctor he had possessed. He was also a member of the D Clan. Since he had taken over this body, he might as well adopt his name.
Soon, Aogami located the mysterious gift pack floating in his mind. Just as he focused his thoughts on it, a cold, mechanical voice rang out:
"Would you like to open the mysterious gift pack?"
"Yes!"
"Congratulations. You have received the Shinigami Gift Pack."
BOOM!
As the emotionless voice echoed, Aogami's mind went blank, then suddenly filled with light.
"Yes! I actually got a Zanpakutō from the Bleach world!"
In that instant, knowledge of Shunpo, Kido, Bakudo, Kaido, and other techniques from the Bleach world filled his brain—along with detailed information on Zanpakutō.
"Whew, thank goodness." With these powers, he might actually survive in this world. But first, he needed to find out his Zanpakutō's name—otherwise, he couldn't use any of it.
According to the information he received, only by learning the Zanpakutō's name could he sense spiritual energy. Only then could he utilize spiritual power to perform Kido, Shunpo, and the like.
After organizing the information in his head, Aogami regained a bit of confidence.
"Okay, time to check my main quest."
Main Quest: UnknownTrigger Condition: When the Great Pirate Era beginsSide Quest: Become the Vice-Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates
"Uh..." Aogami froze at the sight of the quest info. Not to mention the main quest—wasn't the side quest a bit too hard? Was he just supposed to walk up to Whitebeard and say, "Hey, I'm joining your crew as your vice-captain"?
Which raised another question: would he even survive until the Great Pirate Era began?
That was a serious concern. Although the Great Pirate Era hadn't started yet, he knew from the original story that the Whitebeard Pirates were already as famous as the Golden Lion's crew. How could an outsider like him just become Whitebeard's vice-captain?
As for triggering the main quest, Aogami didn't plan to interfere with this world too much. As long as he didn't mess with the world's natural course, Gol D. Roger would still start the Great Pirate Era. What mattered now was figuring out how to survive while he still lacked power.
And that was a big problem—because Aogami, at present, had the combat power of a wet noodle.
Creak— The door to the room opened while he was still lost in thought. In ran a blond little kid, maybe around ten years old. He beamed when he saw Aogami awake.
"You're awake!"
"Mm." Aogami nodded and smiled, "Hello, I'm Halvis D. Bilia Aogami, a doctor. I remember the ship I was on got hit by a tsunami. Did you save me?"
The blond kid laughed. "I carried you back from the beach!"
"Carried?" Aogami gave the kid a skeptical look. Even with this slimmer body, he weighed at least 110 pounds. This little brat—
"Hey, big guy, don't underestimate me just 'cause I'm small! I'm strong! I help load and unload cargo from the ships all the time. Oh, I'm Edward Newgate, but you can call me Art!"
"Alright, I'll call you Art." Aogami nodded—then suddenly froze.
"You're Whitebeard."
"Whitebeard? Who's that?" Newgate turned toward the door, checked that no one was there, then looked back with a blank stare.
"…"
"How can Whitebeard be this cute?" Aogami was stunned. "Your real name's Edward Newgate?"
"Yep! Why, is there something wrong with it?"
Aogami stared at him, completely baffled. "I didn't read much growing up—don't lie to me. You really are named Edward Newgate?"
"Yeah!" Newgate tilted his head. "Do you know someone else with that name?"
"I definitely activated this wrong. There's no way Whitebeard is a little cutie like this." Aogami squatted down and pinched his cheek while muttering to himself.
...Hmm, his skin's really smooth though.
Smack!
"Bastard, don't pinch my face!" the little blond Newgate slapped his hand away.
"Ow!" Aogami winced as he looked at the red mark on his hand. "What the hell?! How does a little brat have that kind of strength? And he didn't even try! Could he really be the future Whitebeard? Actually... he does look like him. Whitebeard did have blond hair when he was young... but no way he was this adorable."
"Sorry, I tried to go easy... I didn't mean to hurt you," said Newgate apologetically.
"Why are you making me feel worse..." Aogami sighed. He hadn't expected the damn system god to dump him into the One Piece world before the Great Pirate Era even began. Worse, with Whitebeard's current age, the main story wouldn't start for at least another 60 years! Whitebeard was 72 when he died, after all.
"Art, how old are you now? And what about your family?" Aogami asked.
"I'm an orphan," Newgate said. "I don't have a family. I'm nine years old."
"Sorry..." Aogami said with genuine sympathy. No wonder Whitebeard would one day take in so many abandoned people.
"It's okay!" Newgate smiled. "If you feel bad about it... how about we become sworn brothers? Then I'll have a family!"
"Sworn brothers? Sure." Aogami chuckled. "I'm 23, so I'm older—you have to call me Big Bro!"
"Really? I can?" Newgate asked innocently.
"Of course," Aogami replied. Then he added, a little sadly, "To be honest... I don't have any family in this world either."
"Big bro! Big bro Aogami! Gurararara! I finally have family too!" Whitebeard laughed in joy.
"…"
Seeing his reaction, Aogami couldn't help but sigh. So this was the reason Whitebeard cherished his family so much—because he had none to begin with.
"Wait a minute... Oh my god!" Aogami suddenly lit up. "If I'm sworn brothers with him, then becoming the Whitebeard Pirates' vice-captain is totally doable! Genius! I've got a golden thigh to cling to!"
"Art, take me out for a walk, okay? I'll be living with you from now on," he said, eyes gleaming. No way I'm letting this golden opportunity go.
"Okay!" Newgate happily led him out.
Whitebeard's home was in a corner of town—one of the poorest areas. The houses were simple and crude, a stark contrast to the bustling central district.
Notably, his home was close to the port—only a ten-minute walk. As they went, Whitebeard cheerfully introduced Aogami to everyone as his big brother, clearly eager for the whole town to know.
From their chat, Aogami learned they were in the North Blue, on an island called Starfish Island, named for its shape when seen from above.
Starfish Island was large, with a massive forest in the center. There were four towns—East, West, South, and North—built along the edges. They were small, and most made a living by producing and selling alcohol. Even Whitebeard's family brewed liquor.
Thump, thump, thump— a shirtless young man ran by with a towel around his neck.
"Art! We've got work! A big buyer's in town—we'll make a killing!"
"No thanks," Whitebeard replied. "I'm showing my big brother around today."
The man looked surprised. "Since when did you have a big brother?"
"I'm Bilia Aogami," Aogami said. "Art's sworn big brother."
"I see!" The man smiled. "Congrats, Art. You finally have family. Catch you later!"
Ten minutes later, they reached the port. In the fading sunset, a few merchant ships and fishing boats were docked.
Aogami stood at the port, staring westward over the sea. Under the golden glow, the sky at the horizon had turned bright orange.
Whitebeard stood quietly beside him. It was the first time he'd ever looked at someone so seriously.
To be honest, other than his silver hair, Aogami was quite plain-looking. If he dyed his hair black and walked into a crowd, no one would notice him.
As the sun sank below the sea and darkness fell, Aogami finally stirred. It was his first time seeing a sunset at sea, and it had captivated him. He found himself thinking back on his life on Earth.
"Big bro, it's getting dark. Let's go back and find something to eat," said Whitebeard.
"Mm." Aogami nodded and followed his new little brother back toward the town now glowing with lantern light...