The Scourge of One Piece

"Am I... still alive?"

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

Before he could survey his surroundings, a sudden sharp pain pierced his head.

Images filled with fine cracks whirled through his mind like a fast-spinning carousel.

Strange.

Clear.

Blurred.

These numerous memory images mixed together, seemingly causing the pain in his head.

"I was supposed to be..."

Despite the pain, Maude's eyes showed confusion.

He vividly remembered the chaos in the Hunter Association Hall, where he was unfortunately caught up in the power of the Zoldyck family's "Wish Granter."

Not only he, but also the main characters from the Hunter world and many strong members of the Hunter Association were affected.

In the face of that unreasonable power, which seemed to break through dimensional walls, he did nothing but still got caught up in it.

In almost an instant, without even a chance to resist, his body was twisted like a rope.

The sudden change came quickly, but the intense pain lingered, casting a shadow of death over Maude's thoughts.

He could vaguely still feel the tearing pain on his skin.

It took a long time for the negative feelings from the shadow of death to slowly disappear.

Still alive.

That was enough.

Only then did Maude have the leisure to examine his surroundings.

He was in a wooden room, less than ten square meters, with a faint moldy smell in the air.

Visible cracks ran along the wooden walls and floor.

The room's furnishings were extremely simple. Besides the single bed he lay on, there was only a bare wooden table and chair set and a mirror hanging on the wall.

A low-wattage yellow incandescent lamp hung from the ceiling, providing limited light for the room.

Other than that, the room had nothing else, not even a window.

His gaze slowly swept over the heavily dust-covered table and chair, finally resting on the mirror, which was covered with a thin layer of dust.

Through the reflection in the mirror, Maude saw an unfamiliar black-haired boy.

The boy in the mirror appeared to be around fifteen or sixteen years old. He was not handsome, but he was clean and pleasing to the eye.

The boy's forehead was wrapped in bloodstained bandages, and his face was sickly pale, looking fragile.

Maude stared blankly at the "himself" in the mirror, and the strange memories in his mind gradually became clear.

After a brief immersion in these strange memories, Maude endured the pain, the confusion in his eyes becoming more apparent.

"So that's what happened..."

He had crossed over again.

And this time, it was not a physical crossing but a soul crossing.

So, he survived in this manner.

Exhaling slowly, Maude did not rush to get out of bed to further understand his surroundings.

Instead, he closed his eyes, slowly accepting the residual memories of this body, attempting to extract useful information from them.

After a long time, Maude opened his eyes, with fine beads of sweat quietly emerging on his pale face.

"A slave ship and a pirate ship..."

Wiping the sweat off his cheek with his index finger, Maude muttered to himself with his head down.

He understood the origin of this body.

The former owner was born to merchants and was unfortunately captured by pirates during a trading trip.

Except for the young boys like the former owner, all adults on the merchant ship, including the former owner's parents, were slaughtered by the pirates.

Afterward, the former owner was sold onto a slave ship and locked in a room filled with straw, along with a group of young children.

A few days later, the slave ship was suddenly attacked, and a cannonball blew open the room where the former owner was held.

The recent memories ended there.

After that...

Maude touched the bandages on his forehead; the wound did not hurt much.

He had no memory of how he arrived in this room.

But surviving in such a manner, Maude felt both fortunate and happy.

"Pirates, pirates... Could this be the world of One Piece?"

Maude pondered.

He was uncertain.

But what he could confirm for now was that he had to start over.

"It would be great if my abilities were still here."

Maude thought silently.

As this thought arose, without any warning, a thin black notebook appeared out of nowhere in his hand.

The cover of the black notebook was outlined with two silver Chinese characters: "Hunter."

Below the word "Hunter," there were four empty parallel silver lines and a feather pen without ink was clipped to the spine of the notebook.

Seeing the materialized black notebook and feather pen, Maude's eyes widened.

Although he had no Nen, his ability had been activated.

Moreover...

Maude looked at the empty parallel silver lines.

Originally, there should have been four kinds of words reflecting his "needs" on those silver lines, but now they were all blank.

Maude opened the notebook.

What he saw was still a blank page.

Shhh—

Turning to the second page, the third page...

Still blank!

The pages originally recorded the results of his low-key "hunting" in the Hunter world for four years, but now they were all gone.

"Reset? No wonder I don't feel any 'enhancements.'"

Although the hunting results were cleared due to the reset, the fact that the ability remained was enough to make Maude ecstatic.

The Hunter's Notebook was an ability Maude developed in the world of Hunter x Hunter to maximize the information advantage of being a transmigrator, transforming information into strength to the greatest extent.

To activate the ability, five steps were required:

Set a hunting need → Find a hunting target → Prepare for the hunt → Complete the hunting action → Harvest the hunting results.

The first step was to record four different needs based on his own on the silver lines. Originally, Maude had recorded four needs: Nen ability techniques, Gyo, latent aura capacity, and apparent aura capacity.

However, in the world of One Piece, these needs were clearly inapplicable.

Nevertheless, some needs could be common.

For example, physical techniques, swordsmanship, body strength, Devil Fruit ability experience, and Haki experience...

After recording the "needs," as long as he wrote the target's name on the notebook page and visualized the target's appearance in his mind, the second step of finding the hunting target would be completed.

The third step, preparing for the hunt, involved recording accurate ability information about the hunting target.

The more detailed the recorded information, the richer the rewards after personally hunting down the target.

With the ability intact, even if he had to start over, he could grow quickly.

Maude was excited but soon calmed down.

He realized a problem.

Although the Hunter's Notebook was still there, he was not sure if it was applicable to the current world.

If not, it would be a futile excitement.

Slowly closing the Hunter's Notebook, Maude muttered to himself, "At least it's a good start, but for now, I need to quickly understand my situation."

Just as he finished speaking, a gunshot suddenly came from outside.

Maude's eyes narrowed, and he reflexively rolled off the bed, cautiously looking at the closed door.

Then, the gunshots became more frequent, like fireworks going off in the distance, at a considerable distance.

Realizing that the gunshots were not inside the house but somewhere outside, Maude remained vigilant, instinctively gripping the Hunter's Notebook.

With his current body, if an emergency arose, he would be as vulnerable as a fish on a chopping board, ready to be slaughtered.

The gunshots outside lasted for about five minutes before gradually ceasing, and Maude continued to stare at the door for more than five minutes.

The gunshots just now gave him a preliminary sense of the chaos in this world.

Clutching the Hunter's Notebook tightly, he felt no sense of security.

Because, as it stood, the Hunter's Notebook was practically useless. Only by successfully completing a hunt could he gain tangible benefits.

Thud, thud—

Just after the gunshots stopped, Maude heard footsteps approaching from outside, causing his pupils to constrict as he put away the Hunter's Notebook.

He quickly got up, tiptoed, and leaned against the wall to the right of the door.

Given the unknown situation, being by the door was more advantageous than crouching by the empty wooden bed.

Soon, the footsteps came closer.

Maude turned his head, watching the right side intently, holding his breath.

Creak—

The wooden door was pushed open, emitting a harsh sound.

However, no one entered the room. Instead, a black gun barrel pointed into the room at an odd angle, aiming directly at Maude.

In an instant, Maude's heart skipped a beat.

With his current body, a single shot would be fatal.