One Piece: Scourge of the Seas

"I... I'm still alive?"

Maude opened his eyes abruptly and sat upright, astonished to find himself lying on a crude wooden bed.

Before he could take in his surroundings, a sharp pain lanced through his head.

Fragments of images, scarred with fine cracks, flashed through his mind like a kaleidoscope.

Some were unfamiliar.

Some were vivid.

Some were blurred.

The chaotic swirl of memories seemed to be the source of his headache.

"I was supposed to be…"

Amidst the throbbing pain, Maude's eyes filled with confusion.

He distinctly remembered the chaos in the Hunter Association's hall, where he had been caught in the crossfire of the Zoldyck family's wish-granting power.

Not just him—the main cast of the Hunter world and even the elites of the Hunter Association hadn't been spared.

Before that overwhelming force, which seemed capable of breaking the dimensional barrier itself, resistance was futile. Maude hadn't even done anything, yet he was collateral damage—caught in the crossfire and torn apart in an instant.

It happened too quickly for him to react, and his body had been twisted like a rope.

The event was sudden and abrupt, but the searing pain lingered, casting a shadow of death over Maude's thoughts.

He could almost still feel the tearing sensation on his skin, as if it were imprinted into his very soul.

Only after a long while did the oppressive feeling of death slowly dissipate.

He was alive.

That alone was enough.

Now, Maude finally had the clarity to take stock of his surroundings.

The room was a small, wooden space no larger than ten square meters, with a faint musty odor permeating the air.

Both the wooden walls and the floor were visibly cracked.

The furnishings were sparse—a single bed, a plain wooden table and chair set with no decorations, and a dust-covered mirror hanging on the wall.

A low-wattage incandescent bulb hung from the ceiling, casting a dim yellow light that barely illuminated the room.

Apart from these, there was nothing else. Not even a window.

Maude's gaze drifted across the dust-laden furniture before settling on the mirror.

In the reflection, he saw an unfamiliar black-haired boy.

The boy in the mirror appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen years old. His features weren't striking but carried a clean and pleasant look.

A bloodstained bandage was wrapped around his forehead, and his face was pallid, almost sickly. He looked frail, as though a gust of wind could topple him.

Maude stared blankly at the "self" in the mirror as unfamiliar memories gradually became clearer in his mind.

Under this brief baptism of foreign memories, Maude endured the lingering pain in his head, his eyes filled with growing uncertainty.

"So that's how it is…"

He had transmigrated again.

This time, it wasn't his body that crossed over but his soul.

That was how he survived.

Letting out a slow breath, Maude decided not to rush to leave the bed and investigate further.

Instead, he closed his eyes and began to carefully sift through the fragmented memories left in this body, hoping to extract some useful information.

After a long while, Maude opened his eyes again, sweat beading on his pale face.

"A slaver's ship and a pirate crew…" he murmured, running a finger across his cheek to wipe away the sweat.

He now understood the origin of this body.

The previous owner had been the child of a merchant family but was captured during a pirate raid while transporting goods.

The merchant ship's crew, save for young boys like the former host of this body, had all been slaughtered—including the boy's parents.

Afterward, the boy was sold to a slaver's ship and locked up with other young captives in a straw-padded hold.

A few days later, the slaver's ship was attacked. A cannonball shattered the room where the captives were held, and everything went blank after that.

That was the extent of the memories.

Maude touched the bandage on his forehead, noting that the wound no longer hurt.

How he ended up in this room remained a mystery.

Still, surviving such an ordeal was enough reason to be grateful.

"Pirates… Could this be the world of One Piece?"

Maude pondered, uncertain.

For now, the only certainty was that he had to start over.

"If only I still had my abilities…"

As the thought crossed his mind, a black notebook and a quill pen suddenly materialized in his hands without warning.

The notebook's cover was adorned with one enigmatic silver word: Hunter.

Beneath the word, four parallel silver lines stretched across the cover, with the quill pen tucked neatly along the book's spine.

Maude's eyes widened in disbelief at the conjured items.

He had no aura or nen, yet his ability had activated.

However…

Maude's gaze shifted to the blank silver lines, where text that should have reflected his "needs" was conspicuously absent.

Flipping the notebook open, he found it completely blank.

Page after page—nothing.

The detailed records of his four years of covert "hunts" in the Hunter world were gone.

"Reset, huh? No wonder I can't feel any of the boosts."

Despite the frustration of his progress being wiped, the fact that the notebook itself had reappeared filled Maude with exhilaration.

The Hunter's Notebook was a unique, growth-oriented ability he had painstakingly developed in the Hunter world, leveraging his knowledge as a transmigrator to maximize his advantage.

To use the notebook, five steps had to be completed:

Define a hunting target.

Identify the prey.

Prepare for the hunt.

Execute the hunt.

Claim the spoils.

The first step was to inscribe four distinct needs into the silver lines, which would shape the hunts.

In the Hunter world, his needs had been Nen Techniques, Heart Drop Combat Perception, Potential Nen Capacity, and Manifested Nen Capacity.

In the One Piece world, though, those needs wouldn't work.

However, certain skills could translate—like physical techniques, swordsmanship, physical strength, Devil Fruit mastery, and Haki expertise.

By inscribing these needs, Maude could identify his prey by writing their names and visualizing their appearance.

The more detailed the prey's information recorded in the notebook, the richer the rewards after a successful hunt.

Having the notebook meant Maude could regain his strength swiftly, even if he had to start over.

But he quickly calmed down.

There was a potential issue: Would the notebook work in this world?

If it didn't, his excitement would be for naught.

Closing the notebook gently, Maude muttered, "At least it's a good start. For now, I need to figure out where I am."

As his voice trailed off, a gunshot echoed from outside.

Maude's eyes sharpened as he instinctively dropped off the bed, his gaze locked on the closed door.

Gunfire erupted again, growing in intensity. It sounded distant, like fireworks exploding somewhere far off.

Even so, Maude didn't let his guard down. Clutching the notebook tightly, he stayed alert.

The gunfire lasted five minutes before fading. Maude had remained tense the entire time, silently observing the door.

The chaos outside gave him a glimpse into this world's disorder.

But the notebook in his hands offered little solace—until it could yield results, it was just an empty promise.

Suddenly, heavy footsteps approached from beyond the door.

Maude's pupils contracted as he quickly stowed the notebook.

Keeping his movements light, he pressed his back against the wall beside the door.

In this barren room, the spot by the door was the most defensible position.

The footsteps grew closer.

Creak—

The wooden door opened with a grating sound.

No one stepped in.

Instead, a black muzzle extended into the room, aiming at Maude from an unnervingly precise angle.

His heart skipped a beat.

In his current frail state, even one shot would be the end of him.

[TL/N: Hunter World is the world where the anime Hunter x Hunter occurs. Of course, it was not mentioned in the anime or manga, but in this fiction, "Hunter x Hunter world" will be simply called Hunter World.]

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