Kyle stepped into the cabin and began rummaging through the crates.
The pirates clearly had terrible taste. Most of their clothes reeked of sweat and blood. After some searching, he finally pulled a black shirt and a pair of trousers from a relatively clean box. The material was coarse and the fit too loose, but it was still an upgrade from his 'savage suit' of leaves and animal skins.
After changing, Kyle picked up a piece of polished copper, smooth enough to act as a mirror.
The boy in the reflection had black hair, golden eyes, and a healthy sun-kissed complexion. His features were clear and youthful, still holding a trace of childishness, but her eyes were strikingly bright.
Especially those golden pupils, which gleamed with an unusual light in the dimly lit cabin.
Satisfied with his appearance, he returned to the deck. He tried to mimic the pirates he had seen, adjusted the sails as convincingly as possible, and took hold of the rudder.
"Alright! Let's go!" Kyle shouted, high-spirited, feeling like a hero about to conquer the sea and stars.
And then… nothing happened.
One hour later, the pirate ship was still gently circling in place.
Two hours later, Kyle was drenched in sweat, and somehow the ship looked even closer to the deserted island.
"No way, how the hell do you start this thing?!" Kyle yelled, scratching his head furiously, his handsome face flushed with frustration.
In his past life, he was just an average guy who'd been on a boat maybe a few times. Driving one? Forget it—he could barely swim.
Sure, he'd absorbed plenty of theoretical knowledge from movies and anime: catch the wind with the sails, zigzag against headwinds, steady your course, yada yada... But when it came to actual sailing, he quickly discovered—it wasn't like driving a car at all!
"Wait… when Luffy and the others set out, it didn't seem this hard, right? How did they even sail before Nami showed up?" Kyle spiraled into a pit of self-doubt.
Desperate, he tried to use his Wave Fruit ability to propel the ship. He pushed out a shockwave toward the water with a loud "boom", sending up a towering splash. Most of it landed on him.
Immediately, his body weakened, and the boat rocked violently, only to be pushed slightly backward by the rebound force.
"…" Kyle wiped the seawater off his face and looked silently up at the sky.
Yeah, this wasn't going to work.
He sighed and gave up on trying. With no better options, he let the pirate ship drift wherever the waves would carry it, like a helpless leaf on the open ocean.
Days passed. Kyle went from frantically trying to hopelessly brooding, to emotionally numb. The food and water on board dwindled with alarming speed.
Every day, between bouts of zoning out, he would train his fruit ability by facing the sea. And every night, he silently prayed for god's intervention—anything to lead him somewhere with human life.
"If this keeps up, I'll become the first transmigrator in One Piece history to starve to death at sea because I can't sail…" Kyle muttered from the deck, lying flat like a dried fish. "I'm a disgrace to time travelers everywhere."
He even started to miss the strange-tasting grilled fish back on the deserted island.
Just as Kyle grew so hungry he was seeing stars and drifting into wild thoughts, a faint black dot finally appeared on the distant horizon.
"Land! It's land!" Kyle leapt up from the deck in a daze of excitement. For a moment, he even considered using a shockwave to propel himself faster, but reason kicked in. Better to conserve his strength.
Luckily, the ocean current seemed to be on his side. Half a day later, the outline of the island grew steadily clearer. It looked fairly prosperous, with a dock stretching into the sea and clusters of houses lining the shore.
Tears welled up in Kyle's eyes from sheer relief. Forgetting all about proper sailing, he grabbed the rudder and began spinning it wildly, trying to steer the ship toward the port.
His 'navigation' caused instant chaos. The dock workers onshore screamed and scattered, cursing and shouting in panic. Several innocent little boats were smashed to splinters as Kyle's runaway pirate ship barreled through like a drunken beast.
Kyle was drenched in sweat, far too desperate to feel shame. All he wanted now was for this damned boat to stop.
At last, with a loud and dull "bang!", the ship's bow rammed into a thick wooden piling at the dock. The entire vessel shuddered violently and finally wedged itself into place. Stuck—but solid. Perfect.
"Hahh… finally." Kyle didn't care about the wrecked state of the ship or the stunned stares from onlookers. He jumped ashore, and the moment his feet touched solid ground, he nearly wanted to drop down and kiss the earth.
Unable to hold back, he rushed up to a passerby and tried to smile politely. "Excuse me, big brother—where is this place?"
The man was startled by Kyle's haggard, half-starved appearance, but still replied, "This is the port outside Doug Town."
"Doug Town?" Kyle blinked in confusion. He'd never heard of a place like that before. Quickly, he followed up, "Then… what's the situation with the Pirate King Roger? What about Marine Hero Garp? Or the Straw Hat Boy?"
The man gave him a strange look, sizing Kyle up as though he were crazy. "Roger? Garp? Straw Hat Boy? What are you even talking about? Never heard of 'em. Are you hungry, kid?" He waved his hand dismissively like shooing away a beggar and walked off in a hurry.
"Huh?" Kyle stood frozen in confusion. How could no one know the legendary Pirate King or the famous Marine hero? Even if Straw Hat Luffy hadn't made his mark yet, there should at least be rumors!
Did he arrive too early in the timeline… or too late? Or was Doug Town just so remote that it was completely cut off from the rest of the world?
Doubt and unease surged in his chest as Kyle wandered through the town, dazed. The streets were bustling and lively, full of vendors shouting and people coming and going. It was vibrant and full of life.
Kyle rubbed his rumbling stomach, wondering whether the few scraps of food he'd looted from the pirate ship could get him a proper meal.
But before he could find a tavern to learn more, a sudden explosion roared in the distance!
"Boom!"
Screams erupted across the town, followed by the sounds of panicked footsteps and chaos.
"Pirates! It's the Black Shark Pirates! They're back to rob us again!"
"Run!"
Kyle's eyes snapped up toward the port, where flames and thick black smoke were rising high into the sky.
In the distance, he could make out a pirate ship flying a black flag with a shark skull insignia, recklessly bombarding the port buildings with its cannons.
"Well… looks like trouble came knocking before I even got to eat." Kyle's mouth twitched. A glint of suppressed excitement flashed in his golden eyes.
'Just perfect. I can finally vent the anger I've been bottling up all this time. And maybe borrow a little meal money while I'm at it.'