Chapter 5: The State of the Seas
Charlotte devoured over ten plates of roasted meat, his stomach expanding visibly, only for it to digest completely in a short while.
At that moment, steam rose from his body, drifting upward like mist.
Ivan, who was reporting the gang's updates nearby, gawked in disbelief, his voice faltering as he continued.
In truth, Charlotte wasn't paying attention to him. He didn't care about an insignificant group like the Wild Wolf Gang, keeping them around only to better serve his needs.
After a few trips back and forth by the maids, Charlotte finally felt full, his body brimming with power once again.
Leaping off the chair, Charlotte jumped over ten meters into the air with incredible speed.
He threw a punch at a massive tree, so large that it would take six people to encircle it.
Bang!
With a single punch, the hundred-meter-tall tree split in two, crashing down.
"Ah!"
The maids nearby, who were directly in the tree's falling path, screamed in terror, their faces pale with fear.
Seeing this, Charlotte leaped again, kicking the tree away, sending it flying over ten meters.
Boom!
A cloud of dust rose in the distance as the tree crashed.
Charlotte marveled at his strength and explosive power, unsure how it compared within the One Piece world.
After all, the anime never had a clear power scaling system. In his previous life, fans had tried creating tiers on internet forums:
Grunt (basic strength)
Captain (some combat techniques)
Rear Admiral (mastery of at least two Rokushiki techniques)
Vice Admiral (mastery of four Rokushiki techniques and one form of Haki)
Admiral Candidate = Shichibukai < Yonko Commanders
Admiral < Yonko
However, this system had many flaws, especially since anomalies like Vice Admiral Garp existed, along with Shichibukai like the weak Moria and the powerful Mihawk, who sparred with Yonko.
In short, the power scaling could only serve as a loose reference.
---
Two years passed.
Charlotte had left the mountains and moved to the sea.
After learning to swim, he spent every day practicing swordsmanship in the water. He had read many novels where protagonists trained their swordsmanship underwater, so he gave it a try.
Though he didn't fully understand the path of the sword, he remembered Zoro's training in the anime. Despite the abstract concepts, one principle stuck with him: cut through anything.
With that belief, Charlotte practiced tirelessly at the shore or in the depths of the sea, repeating the same movements daily in pursuit of that ideal.
"Hu!"
Charlotte climbed back onto the shore, his body aching and his spirit weary. The relentless training left him irritable and restless after every session.
It had been four years since his transmigration, and now he was fourteen years old. Over these years, he had trained relentlessly. His physical development had reached its peak for his age, but progress had begun to slow, much to his frustration.
Since his physical training had plateaued, Charlotte shifted his focus to swordsmanship. However, after a year, his skill barely matched Zoro's level when he first set sail.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reach that state of cutting through anything.
When he slashed at a rock, it left only a shallow mark. He couldn't produce that sense of unstoppable momentum.
"Boss! Here are the swords you asked for!"
Ivan approached, handing Charlotte a towel and a basket full of swords.
Charlotte had tasked Ivan with this because his sword training consumed weapons rapidly. Every few days, a sword would break, so he had his men deliver replacements regularly.
This also served as an opportunity for Ivan to report the town's updates and deliver newspapers.
"Anything interesting lately?" Charlotte asked casually as he flipped through a newspaper.
As he scanned the headlines, his pupils contracted. The Rocks Pirates had destroyed an entire kingdom.
Looking at the bounty posters, Charlotte felt a chill. They were all familiar characters from the anime:
Rocks D. Xebec: Captain of the Rocks Pirates. Bounty: 1.38 billion berries.
Edward Newgate (Whitebeard): First Division Commander, Tremor-Tremor Fruit user. Bounty: 840 million berries.
Shiki (Golden Lion): Second Division Commander, Float-Float Fruit user. Bounty: 790 million berries.
Charlotte Linlin (Big Mom): Third Division Commander, Soul-Soul Fruit user. Bounty: 570 million berries.
Captain John: Fourth Division Commander. Bounty: 360 million berries.
Wang Zhi: Fifth Division Commander. Bounty: 350 million berries.
Silver Axe: Sixth Division Commander. Bounty: 330 million berries.
Kurozumi Semimaru: Vice Commander, Barrier-Barrier Fruit user. Bounty: 110 million berries.
Kaido: Apprentice. Bounty: 30 million berries, wanted alive only.
"Boss, the number of pirates has surged over the past year, all because of the Rocks Pirates.
They've been pillaging indiscriminately across the second half of the Grand Line, targeting World Government allied nations and even Navy bases.
Using Hive Island as their base, they've launched attacks deep into the New World. The Navy seems powerless to stop them. If this continues, even our island might not be safe!" Ivan said with a worried expression.
He wasn't wrong. Their island was located near the middle of the New World's first half, relatively close to a Navy G-8 base. Still, there was no guarantee that pirates wouldn't attack.
Charlotte handed the newspaper back to Ivan.
"Don't worry too much. With the Navy nearby, no pirate would dare cause trouble here. You're dismissed; report to me if anything happens."
Waving Ivan off, Charlotte paid no mind to his concerns.
---
Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Suddenly, the sound of explosions echoed through the air.
"What's going on?"
Charlotte looked toward the source of the noise. Smoke rose from the direction of the harbor.
A bad feeling surged in both their minds.
"Let's go check it out!"
Charlotte sprinted toward the harbor.
As he ran, he activated his Observation Haki to scan the area.
Instantly, a three-dimensional map of his surroundings appeared in his mind.
"Damn it, pirates!"
He saw three pirate ships docked at the harbor.
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