Chapter 1: Rockefeller Charlotte

"Hu! Hu!"

"Thirteen thousand two hundred and twenty-one!"

"Thirteen thousand two hundred and twenty-two!"

By the seaside, a sturdy teenager, who appeared to be about seventeen or eighteen, was swinging a dumbbell over ten times his own size.

Each swing brought gusts of wind, creating a sharp whooshing sound.

This boy had been at it for most of the day.

Sweat streamed down his sharply defined muscles, dripping onto the ground.

Standing at 1.95 meters tall with a muscular build, it was hard to believe this boy was only fifteen years old.

"Fourteen thousand!"

Bang!

When he reached fifteen thousand swings, his arms could no longer hold on, and he dropped the dumbbell to the ground.

"Hu! I'm exhausted!"

The boy plopped down on the ground, breathing heavily, his arm muscles trembling slightly.

"Three thousand more swings than yesterday!" The boy clenched his fists, his excitement visible.

This dumbbell weighed a full 100 tons, yet he could easily swing it fourteen thousand times—an impossible feat for an ordinary person.

Yes, this boy had transmigrated into a world ruled by strength.

And this world was one he was quite familiar with—it was the world of One Piece, the anime he had watched since childhood.

He had actually transmigrated into the world of One Piece!

However, it seemed he had arrived too early.

At the age of ten, he had seen a newspaper mentioning the Rocks Pirates.

The current timeline was the year 1480 of the Sea Calendar, forty years before Luffy set sail.

Upon learning this, Charlotte was stunned.

Anyone familiar with One Piece would know this world was far from friendly. Pirates could invade at any time.

Although there were far fewer pirates now compared to the future, there was no guarantee a group wouldn't show up one day.

What terrified Charlotte even more was that he was in the second half of the Grand Line, the region later known as the New World.

This realization heightened Charlotte's sense of danger.

Transmigrating into the body of a ten-year-old child had already shaken him, but discovering he was in the New World pushed him into crisis mode.

Fortunately, after a brief panic, Charlotte calmed down.

In his previous life, Charlotte had been a mercenary. Although he found this whole situation bizarre, he forced himself to accept it.

Why was he a mercenary in his past life? That was a strange story.

During a summer break, Charlotte had heard rumors that working as a mercenary in the Middle East could earn him a lot of money. Whether he was impulsive or just naïve, he ended up joining a mercenary group through a friend's introduction.

Thus began his mercenary career.

As the saying goes, "If you walk by the river often, your shoes will get wet."

During a fight against a rebel group, someone tossed a grenade into his vicinity.

Charlotte didn't even have time to react before the explosion tore through him, plunging him into darkness.

When he regained consciousness, he found himself in this world, inhabiting the body of a ten-year-old boy.

The original owner of the body had been fishing by the sea when he was swept away by a wave and slammed into a reef, falling unconscious. Charlotte had essentially taken over his body.

The island he was on was very small, with a population of just over a thousand people living in one tiny town. It was located in the first half of the New World, not far from the Navy's G-8 base.

Although this wasn't one of the familiar naval bases from the future, its presence gave the ten-year-old Charlotte a sense of security.

After assessing his surroundings, Charlotte began to recall his memories of One Piece.

What surprised him was how clearly he could remember the story, despite having forgotten much of it during his mercenary years.

This gave Charlotte immense excitement.

Armed with these memories, he believed he could survive until the end of the story by staying low.

But Charlotte wasn't one to stay low.

He wanted to adventure and leave his mark on this world.

In this life, his name was Rockefeller Charlotte.

Upon realizing he was in the world of One Piece, Charlotte began a planned training regimen.

Having watched One Piece, he understood how dangerous this world could be, especially during the Great Age of Pirates when the seas would be teeming with pirates.

Charlotte didn't want to die an unremarkable death.

To live a fulfilling life, he started training.

He knew One Piece had various power systems: swordsmanship, martial arts, Haki, Devil Fruits, and marksmanship.

After careful consideration, he ruled out some options.

Marksmanship? He didn't even have a gun! And this world used flintlock pistols, which immediately killed the idea.

Devil Fruits? Not an option—he didn't have one.

Haki? His ten-year-old body wasn't ready for Armament Haki. He could try to train Observation Haki, but as for Conqueror's Haki, that was a one-in-a-million gift, and he wasn't sure he had it.

That left swordsmanship and martial arts, areas Charlotte had some understanding of.

Inspired by Zoro's training in the anime, Charlotte decided to focus on martial arts first.

He used Zoro's methods, like explosive leg training by jumping with dumbbells and arm strength training by swinging weights.

Combining this with his mercenary training methods, he tailored a regimen for himself.

As for swordsmanship, Charlotte figured he'd start with simple practice—swinging a sword over and over. He believed consistent effort would eventually yield results.

Fueled by determination, Charlotte began his journey of growth.

After recovering from his initial injuries in just two days—a feat he found miraculous—he started training relentlessly.

Even the locals didn't find his rapid recovery unusual, as if such phenomena were entirely normal.

He later learned that the meat he had been eating came from a Sea King, the same species as the one that bit off Shanks' arm in the One Piece prologue.

This gave Charlotte a new idea for growing stronger—eating high-quality meat.

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