NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1: 1. Encounter With Garp
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Sea Calendar Year 1522
East Blue.
The tranquil sea reflected the azure sky, merging into a serene expanse of blue that seemed to stretch infinitely.
Amidst this picturesque scene, a listless and handsome young man lay sprawled on a battered, driftwood-like boat, sighing dramatically. "Oh… bad luck, bad luck, bad luck…"
The boy's name was Ikki, and he was a transmigrator.
As a transmigrator, Ikki naturally possessed a system. However, his system was far from ordinary—it was downright deceitful.
By conventional logic, a system should immediately empower its user, granting them the ability to reshape the world. Ikki's system, on the other hand, demanded that he first reshape the world before it would activate. Only then would it allocate his rewards based on the magnitude of the change he'd caused.
"What a scam…" Ikki grumbled, staring at the endless expanse of sea. "In this ocean, how is a powerless weakling like me supposed to change the world? Should I rely on singing, dancing, rapping, and basketball?"
As if to mock him, a fish suddenly leapt out of the water, landing squarely on his ramshackle boat.
Hunger gnawed at his stomach, and Ikki, ignoring the negatives like parasites, promptly decided to eat the fish raw. Just as he killed the fish, a panel appeared in front of him.
[Ding! You killed a fish, causing a slight change in the world. Would you like to enable the system? If so, you will receive a Black Iron-level system.]
[Yes / No]
Ikki stared at the glowing options, his finger hovering over "Yes."
But just as he was about to confirm, he froze.
"Black Iron? Ugh… how trashy is that!" he exclaimed, frowning. If there was a Black Iron system, it was logical to assume there were higher tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond… maybe even something beyond that.
"For my future, I can't settle for Black Iron. I need at least Gold or Platinum—or Diamond if I can manage it!"
Finishing the fish quickly, Ikki began wracking his brain for ways to reshape the world with his limited strength. Every idea that came to him was immediately discarded.
On that boat, he nodded, shook his head, and sighed as countless plans played out and were rejected in his mind.
Meanwhile, just a few nautical miles away, a Marine warship with a distinctive dog-headed bow sailed through the East Blue's calm waters. A sailor, gripping a binoculars, spotted Ikki's tiny vessel bobbing in the distance.
"Vice Admiral Garp! There's a small boat ahead with someone aboard!" the sailor called out.
Garp, who had been napping while standing, cracked open one eye, stretching lazily. "Eh? Let's move closer and take a look!"
Naturally, Ikki noticed the warship approaching. Its dog-headed figurehead and the towering old man in the Justice cloak at the bow left no room for doubt. This was none other than Marine Hero Monkey D. Garp.
Recognizing the Marine, gears began turning in Ikki's mind. If he could gain Garp's mentorship and join the Marines, he might have a chance to grow stronger. By capturing pirates that appeared in the original timeline, he could potentially cause significant changes to the world's events.
Before Ikki could think further, a Marine pulled him onto the deck of the massive warship.
"Boy, what are you doing drifting out here alone?" Garp asked, his tone gruff but curious as he looked down at Ikki, who seemed close in age to his own grandson.
Ikki hesitated for a moment before crafting a tragic backstory in his mind. Taking a deep breath, he began his tale.
"I was on a cruise with my family. We were enjoying the sea breeze, eating hotpot, and—uh—singing and dancing, when suddenly pirates attacked…" Ikki paused, lowering his head for dramatic emphasis. "They killed my entire family. I… I barely escaped with my life."
Garp listened silently, his expression hardening. In this age of pirates, even in the relatively peaceful East Blue, such tragedies were all too common.
"If I meet those pirates, I'll help you take revenge!"
Garp gave Ikki a hearty pat on the shoulder, nearly sending the boy sprawling to the ground.
"Uh… can I join the Marines?" Ikki asked hesitantly, rubbing his shoulder. "I want to become stronger and take revenge myself."
Before Garp could reply, Bogart stepped forward and said quietly, "Vice Admrial Garp, we've arrived."
Hearing this, Garp grinned broadly. "We'll talk about it when I get back!" he said, before leaping into the air and zipping toward a nearby island with Moonwalk.
Ikki blinked in confusion. "What's he off to do now?" he muttered. Still, he didn't dwell on it for long. He was on Garp's ship now, and that was enough for him to start scheming.
If Nami's hometown was still under the control of Arlong, perhaps he could convince Garp to deal with him. Arlong was an early-stage threat, after all, and taking him down would surely count as altering the course of the world.
Then there were other low-level bosses like Buggy the Clown or Don Krieg. Ikki knew they would eventually be defeated by Luffy, but if he could intervene before Luffy set sail, it might change the timeline enough to earn him a higher-tier system.
"Timing is everything," Ikki thought, scratching his chin. Turning to Bogart, who stood silently nearby, Ikki asked, "Mr. Marine, what year is it on the Sea calendar?"
"Hm?" Bogart replied, raising an eyebrow. "It's the year 1522."
Ikki froze at the answer.
'1522… isn't this the year Luffy sets sail?'
Suddenly, the sound of waves splashing caught his attention. He turned toward the commotion and spotted a colossal sea monster—its crocodilian body rising menacingly from the water. Beneath it was a tiny boat, and on that boat stood a familiar young man wearing a straw hat.
The boy raised his fist high, ready to strike.
At the same time, Garp reappeared aboard the ship, landing effortlessly.
"Vice Admiral Garp, are you really going to let him go?" Bogart asked, his gaze fixed on the straw-hatted boy in the distance.
Garp laughed heartily. "Bwahaha! What can I do? Even if I keep him here, I can't change what's in his heart. Let him set sail and see the world!"
Bogart sighed, a bead of sweat forming on his brow. "It's your leniency that drove Mr. Dragon to defect from the Marines… Now even your grandson is going to become a pirate," he muttered under his breath.
Ikki, meanwhile, was piecing everything together.
"That's Luffy… And he's setting sail right in front of Garp without being stopped. This is the moment," he realized.
Ikki's gaze shifted to Garp, who, despite his laughter, seemed quietly troubled. The Marine might not outwardly oppose Luffy's decision, but it was clear he wasn't entirely at ease with his grandson becoming a pirate.
While Ikki understood that Luffy would never become a cruel pirate who pillaged and burned, he also knew the weight of raising a pirate flag. From this moment on, Luffy and Garp were on opposing sides.
An idea began to form in Ikki's mind—a bold and outrageous idea.
"What if… What if Luffy didn't want to be the Pirate King? What if he wanted to become the Marine King instead? What would that do to the world…?"
The thought consumed him, growing stronger with each passing second.
As Luffy knocked out the sea monster with a single punch and prepared to sail away, Ikki couldn't hold back any longer.
"Mr. Marine!" Ikki shouted at Garp, "Is that your grandson? If you don't want him to become a pirate, I have a way to stop it!"
His words caught everyone's attention. Garp, Bogart, and the Marines all turned to stare at him.
Under their collective gaze, Ikki suddenly felt his confidence waver. Scratching his cheek nervously, he muttered, "I mean… it doesn't hurt to try, right?"