In the quiet little town of Shimotsuki Village, a young child was seen walking peacefully. His eyes, if one looked closely, were full of boredom, and his expression carried a hint of sadness—something the other residents had grown used to. It was a common sight whenever the child was seen walking outside the village.
He is Shimotsuki Taiyo, the son of the dojo instructor at the Isshin Dojo and hailed as the most gifted swordsman in town. According to rumors, Taiyo held a sword the moment he was born and defeated his father in a sword duel at the age of three.
The rumors also claim that Taiyo can deliver more than 1,500 slashes in under a second. While these stories sound exaggerated, there is a sliver of truth to them. He did defeat Koushirou, though only because his father hadn't taken the battle seriously. In reality, Taiyo was able to swing his sword more than twenty times in under a second—an incredible feat in itself, though still far from the outlandish tales told by the villagers.
Now, Taiyo's mission was to journey to the mountain where his grandfather lived. He was being taught the art of swordsmithing—something that came naturally to him. As he approached the mountain, Taiyo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was a technique he preferred to use without any witnesses, as it was still a work in progress. After inhaling deeply, he gathered enough oxygen to fuel what he was about to do. Concentrating on increasing his heart rate, Taiyo suddenly burst forward, traveling at incredible speed until he arrived at a small cabin in the middle of the forest—his grandfather's home.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Come in, the door is open," a voice called from inside. Taiyo entered without hesitation. Inside, he was greeted by a calm old man smoking a pipe.
Taiyo took a seat in front of his grandfather.
The old man was Shimotsuki Kouzaburou, a legendary swordsmith from the Land of Wano. He had escaped the isolated country when he was 26, along with 22 others. Kouzaburou was the creator of two of Wano's most famous swords. Now, his coveted swordsmithing skills were being passed down to his grandson, Taiyo, the prodigious son of Koushirou and a boy Kouzaburou believed to be the reincarnation of Ryuma, a legendary swordsman of Wano.
Upon Taiyo's arrival, Kouzaburou rose to greet him and led him toward the forge, where he would instruct the boy in the art of sword-making and the philosophy of the blade. Kouzaburou believed that Taiyo's immense talent might become his greatest obstacle if not guided properly. Koushirou had told him that Taiyo disliked daily training and preferred to observe others instead. His twin sister, though noticeably weaker, trained with dedication and perseverance. She often practiced alone, and Taiyo had even given her the Wado Ichimonji, the sword he was meant to inherit as the next head of the Isshin Dojo. That gesture was a clear sign: Taiyo was relinquishing his claim to succession.
Seeing this, both Kouzaburou and Koushirou agreed—Taiyo's overwhelming talent had become his enemy. And so, Kouzaburou planned to teach him swordsmithing. Unlike swordplay, which came effortlessly to Taiyo, forging blades required patience, discipline, and repetition—qualities that would temper not only his skill but his spirit.
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More than two hours had passed. Taiyo could be seen hammering a piece of iron, tempering it to become stronger with each strike. Kouzaburou watched closely, offering instruction on how to strike properly to strengthen the blade. As Taiyo hammered, the metal gradually became more compressed. After several strikes, he placed the glowing iron back into the fire to reheat it, wanting to maintain its flexibility while working it. This cycle—heating and hammering—was repeated until the iron began to take the shape of a katana.
Finally, Kouzaburou instructed Taiyo to quench the blade in water to harden it. Taiyo followed the command, submerging the blade. A hiss echoed through the forge as thick steam rose from the water, now boiling from the heat of the iron.
As Taiyo gazed into the steaming water, his mind wandered to a distant memory—one that no one in this world would believe.
He remembered the day he was born.
Back then, he wasn't Taiyo. He was Ben—just an ordinary teenager from Earth. A huge fan of Kimetsu no Yaiba and Bungou Stray Dogs, he often spent hours immersed in their stories. One day, he received a strange email containing a survey that asked him to choose his two favorite anime. Without hesitation, he picked Kimetsu no Yaiba and Bungou Stray Dogs.
After submitting the survey, three roulette wheels appeared on his screen. The first contained names of various anime; the second and third were filled with characters from KNY and BSD, respectively. Curious, he spun the first wheel—it landed on One Piece. Then he spun the KNY wheel and got Yoriichi Tsugikuni. On the BSD wheel, it stopped on Akiko Yosano.
Moments later, a congratulatory message popped up: "Congratulations! Your new life has been selected!"
Ben dismissed it as an elaborate prank. But then a countdown began:
5... 4... 3...
He barely had time to react before everything went black.
When he opened his eyes, he was staring into the face of a man—his new father—with a newborn lying beside him: his twin sister.
He spent the next five years growing up in this strange, new world. Slowly, he began to realize that the characters he had received from the roulette spin weren't just random—they were his cheats.
From the very beginning, he was born with the Mark of the Sun, a trait identical to Yoriichi Tsugikuni's. On his first birthday, like clockwork, his vision suddenly shifted. The world around him became translucent—the Transparent World had awakened within him. Soon after, the Selfless State manifested naturally, without effort or training.
As his body continued to grow, it became clear that something was different—something beyond his memories of anime. He wasn't just in the world of One Piece; he was of that world. His physical development far exceeded that of a normal human, even surpassing the natural progression of Kozuki Oden's legendary strength.
By the age of five, Taiyo was not just a prodigy—he was a phenomenon.