At the age of 13 in appearance but with a mental age beyond his years, Ethan, the chunibyo teenager, had long abandoned his dream of becoming a bald, invincible warrior. However, he still hadn't given up on his goal of becoming stronger and continued to push himself through even harsher training every day.
During this time, more children had joined the orphanage, having lost their families to pirate attacks on villages or merchant ships following the dawn of the Great Age of Pirates. These children were determined to become Marines to avenge their families and trained hard to achieve that goal.
But Ethan had no intention of becoming a lapdog for the government. If he ever encountered those idiotic, tyrannical Celestial Dragons, he'd be lucky to resist the urge to punch them in the face. How could he possibly protect those morons?
With different goals and no intention of sharing his thoughts, Ethan didn't plan to get too close to the others. They were merely sparring partners for him, using wooden swords to push each other in their training.
"Soru (Shave)," one of the Six Powers, involves stomping the ground dozens of times in an instant (0.36 seconds) to generate explosive force, allowing the user to move at high speeds—so fast that it appears as if they've vanished. "How does the force even stack up like that? Does physics even work here?" Ethan couldn't help but question as he practiced. But then he reminded himself, "This is the world of One Piece! Who cares about physics? Just follow Oda's logic!"
In a world where strength reigns supreme, Ethan was determined to grow stronger, expand his power, and become one of the Emperors of the Sea! Wealth, beautiful women, power—he wanted to claim it all for himself!
...
The year was 1510 in the Sea Calendar, 12 years since the Great Age of Pirates began. Countless men had set sail with dreams of finding the legendary One Piece, and pirates had grown increasingly rampant. Crimes and atrocities were commonplace, and Ethan had now been in this world for 12 years.
"Ethan, you're an adult now. Even though you've always been a bit of an odd one here, you have a good heart," the orphanage director said, handing him a package. "I hope you'll take care of yourself after you leave and stay true to the justice in your heart." Inside the package were two sets of clothes and 50,000 berries. "Make sure to take good care of yourself," she added, repeating her advice with motherly concern.
"Got it, stop nagging. You take care of yourself too, and don't overwork yourself looking after the kids," Ethan replied, hugging the director tightly. He held back his tears, trying to appear carefree as he turned around and waved goodbye. He even bid farewell to the gatekeeper before stepping out of the orphanage. But the moment he crossed the threshold, the tears came pouring down uncontrollably.
To avoid being seen as a blubbering mess, Ethan spent half an hour crouched by the wall, trying to calm himself. "Tears are supposed to be bitter, so why do they taste so salty?" he muttered, wiping his tears and snot on a promotional sign outside a store. Unfortunately, the store owner saw him and chased him for a full half hour before Ethan finally managed to shake him off.
"Damn it! Shouldn't a store owner be practicing their sales pitch and smiling to attract customers? Why are they so fit and able to run like an athlete?!"
After expending an enormous amount of energy to escape the store owner, who seemed like he could compete in a triathlon, Ethan finally made his way into a weapons shop.
"Shopkeeper, show me your short-barreled flintlock pistols and knives," Ethan said as soon as he entered.
"Right away, sir. How about this one?"
As someone who wasn't great at haggling, Ethan quickly and decisively purchased the weapons that caught his eye.
"Thank you for your business."
"Honestly, every time I see a flintlock pistol, I can't help but think, 'How does this thing even fire repeatedly? It makes no sense!'" Ethan muttered to himself. Having worked as a part-time bounty hunter, he had used and practiced with weapons taken from the pirates he'd defeated. After ruining several guns and blades due to poor maintenance, he had finally learned how to take care of them properly.
Over the years, Ethan had captured one pirate with a 4 million berry bounty, two with 3 million berry bounties, and over a dozen with bounties in the hundreds of thousands. While most of the reward money went to the orphanage, he had kept some for himself to buy equipment.
[Beep... Beep...]
[System activating...]
"Hey! I've been praying for this for 12 years, and you show up NOW? Isn't this a bit late?!"
[System shutting down…]
"CHOTTO MATTE! Wait, wait, wait!"
"I'm sorry, I was wrong!" Ethan immediately prostrated himself mentally, apologizing to the system.