"Is this... the price?"
Aiden panted heavily. The sudden surge of power from moments ago had now transformed into a burning, fiery emptiness in his stomach.
He struggled to get up and instinctively rushed toward the small locker in the room, beginning to rummage through it frantically.
The result was despairing.
Aside from a piece of slightly damp black bread and half a pitcher of cold water, it was completely empty.
Aiden couldn't care about anything else right now. Using the cold water to wash it down, he swallowed the black bread—which could have easily served as a brick—in just a few bites.
The dry, hard bread provided a slight cushion in his stomach, but that terrifying sense of hunger only became more pronounced.
"No, it's not nearly enough..."
Aiden glanced at the wall clock. The hands pointed to 5:30 PM.
According to his memories, the Marine base cafeteria opened for dinner at 6:00 PM.
...
At 6:30 PM, after the peak dining hour in the cafeteria had gradually passed and the crowd had thinned out, Aiden walked out of the barracks with his head lowered.
Although the cafeteria food didn't look like much, it was nutritionally balanced and, more importantly, unlimited. As long as you could eat it, no one cared how much you took.
Carrying his tray, Aiden scanned the noisy cafeteria. Most of the long tables were occupied by groups of two or three, except for one spot by the window where an entire long table sat completely empty.
He walked over expressionlessly and sat down alone. The chatter and laughter around him, which had been somewhat boisterous, seemed to hit a mute button the moment he sat down. There was a brief silence before the noise resumed, even louder than before.
Aiden turned a deaf ear to it. His only thought now was to fill his stomach, which felt like a bottomless pit.
He began shoving food into his mouth at an incredible speed.
Within his own consciousness, his full attention was focused on the ghostly blue screen that only he could see.
"I see… the Overall Grade is just a tier label: C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS. So it's a severity rating for the case—not some 'rarity.'"
A few minutes later, the mountain of food on his tray was gone.
He stood up calmly, took his tray to the return station, and under the astonished gaze of the cook, got an identical second helping before returning to his corner.
As he wolfed down the food, he rapidly processed the system information.
[Overall Grade]: The system's judgment of the target's strength during their peak period. The system ranks them from low to high as C (Normal), B (Rare), A (Super Rare), S (Specially Super Rare), SS (Ultra Rare), and- SSS (Legendary).
"Quite a detailed breakdown, but I'm probably just a weakling right now... thinking about those high ranks is getting ahead of myself."
As he delved deeper, Aiden discovered the system's general rules: whether it was the [Physical Level], or the [Skills] and [Haki] he might master in the future, the system used a uniform and clear five-tier standard for classification.
From low to high, they were: [Novice], [Intermediate], [Advanced], [Top-tier], and [Peak].
Above these five distinct levels, he also saw a greyed-out, unviewable tier that only displayed three question marks: [???].
"Is there a realm even higher than the Peak...?"
"I'm only at the Novice level. It seems that small amount of inherited constitution barely allowed me to touch the threshold of what the system recognizes."
As for those 120 Sin Points, he searched the system for a long time before finally finding a greyed-out [Exchange Shop] icon. When he touched it with his mind, a small line of text appeared: [Permission Denied].
"This system is playing it pretty mysterious. How can I not have permission for my own system? Whatever, I won't worry about it for now."
When Aiden put down his fifth empty tray, the terrifying hunger that had felt like it was going to devour his internal organs was finally suppressed.
"The stuff they make in this cafeteria is basically pig slop," Aiden commented internally with a frown. "But at least I feel alive again."
Walking back along the stone path to the dormitory, the salty, fishy sea breeze blew against his face, carrying the chill of the night.
The searchlight beams from the high watchtower swept over every corner of the base and the distant sea surface again and again.
All of this gave Aiden a surreal sense of detachment. He pulled his collar tight and quickened his pace.
Lying back on his narrow single bed with his hands behind his head, Aiden began to formally plan his future.
"First, the goal is clear: lay low and get stronger."
"The way to get stronger is to use my current identity to continuously execute criminals and gain abilities through the system. That is the core."
"Physical Improvement, skills, Haki... I can get all of them through the system. As long as I execute enough prisoners, and strong ones at that..."
Thinking of this, Aiden's train of thought suddenly stalled.
An idea struck him like lightning!
"Wait... this place is..."
"Loguetown!"
"The 'Town of Beginnings and Endings'—Loguetown!"
"Does that mean..."
Aiden suddenly bolted upright in bed. His heart pounded uncontrollably, and his blood felt like it was boiling in that instant!
"The Pirate King! Gol D. Roger! He was executed right here!"
The thought made him go numb with excitement!
That was a ceiling-level existence in the entire world of One Piece! If he could be the one to execute him, what kind of terrifying rewards would he get?! A shortcut to the top? Instant invincibility?!
But a second later, Aiden forced himself to calm down and began recalling the blurry plot.
"Wait... I need to confirm the timing first. Roger was executed in 1498, but the manga wasn't very clear on the specific month and day."
"What month is it now? The newspaper... the date on the paper was..." Aiden recalled carefully. "I think it was March."
He began frantically digging through the memory fragments of the body's original owner. However, a fifteen-year-old ostracized boy soldier's memories consisted only of bullying, training, and the execution grounds. He couldn't find anything regarding the "Great Treasure" or Roger's execution.
"There are no memories of Roger having already started the Great Era of Piracy... which means he definitely hasn't been executed yet!"
"In other words, I still have time!"
Aiden's breathing became hot and heavy.
"As long as I stay here quietly and wait for that day..."
"I'll be set for life!"
He clenched his fists tightly, feeling the strength in his body. Even a [Novice] constitution was many times stronger than his previous body, which had been hollowed out by alcohol and staying up late.
Aiden suddenly let out a relaxed laugh.
"Even though I transmigrated to this hellhole..."
He touched his thick hair.
"At least I'm over a decade younger, and even my hairline is healthier."
He thought of the face he had seen in the reflection of the murky water earlier.
"Besides, I'm actually pretty handsome."
"Plus, starting as a Marine provides a stable safeguard before I'm fully grown."
"Thinking about it like that... it's actually not a bad deal."