Sea Calendar 1494.
Under the World Government's control, the average strength of the Marines now surpassed that of pirate factions. Major Marine branches were continuously being established, expanding, and training in an orderly fashion.
While this still couldn't stop countless men from setting sail, no single individual had yet emerged—no one capable of directly confronting the Marines head-on.
Just a few months prior, a pirate crew burst onto the scene, swiftly dominating one of the Four Seas, the East Blue, before entering the Grand Line. Even in the place known as the "Pirate Graveyard," they thrived. That pirate crew's name was the Roger Pirates!
"What a godforsaken place."
On a desolate island in the North Blue, a cold-faced young man with blood-red eyes stood by the shore. His hair was notably long, at least for a man, and his grimy clothes indicated he had been alone for a long time, without fresh changes.
The boy's name was "Drake," but here, he had a new name: Dracula D. Alucard. He was fourteen and a half years old.
The Dracula family, once renowned wealthy proprietors of this island, had been annihilated many years ago for resisting the Vinsmoke Family, a ruling power in the North Blue. The last remaining bloodline managed to escape but suffered a cruel fate, leaving only Alucard behind.
But that was before Drake transmigrated.
He didn't know why he fell asleep on his desk after playing games for too long, only to wake up in a dilapidated castle as a four-year-old child. However, from the notes left by his body's father, Dracula D. Nicholas, Alucard understood that the Dracula family's destruction was due to the "D." in their name.
Ostensibly, they were North Blue nobility, wiped out long ago by the dominant Vinsmoke Family, turning their kingdom into an isolated island.
Young Alucard had only survived by being hidden beneath the floorboards of the basement. Now, he was the sole survivor on the island.
Alucard walked into the dilapidated castle in the center of the isolated island. Its windows were shattered, the main door was rotten, and the iron railings were rusted—clear signs of long disuse.
This was the place Alucard had lived for ten years since his transmigration.
ROAR!
Just as Alucard was about to step inside the castle's main entrance, a colossal wild boar suddenly burst out of the nearby forest.
If someone from Earth saw this creature, they'd surely wet their pants. It wasn't just a regular wild boar; it had the body of an elephant!
BANG!
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out. Looking again, the wild boar let out a pained shriek, one of its eyes now shot out, blood streaming down.
Alucard, holding a white handgun, faced the gate, but the muzzle of his gun was perfectly aimed at the gigantic boar.
"White Gun Casull, nearly 13mm caliber, equipped with rapid-fire rounds," Alucard sneered, continuing to pull the trigger.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Sparks continuously erupted from the white gun's muzzle. Countless bullets fired in rapid succession, turning the boar's face into a honeycomb in less than ten seconds.
...
Ding!
Defeated Wild Boar.
Acquired Item: None.
Acquired Special Ability: None.
...
A voice sounded in Alucard's ear, a common occurrence for him by now.
The Undying, Unkillable System had granted him his current strength, the transmigrator's "cheat" that awakened six years ago.
The white gun, "Casull," in Alucard's hand was something he obtained through the system.
This island had far more dangerous animals than the elephant-sized boar he just faced. For ten years, Alucard had to constantly fight them to survive. Previously, after battling these beasts, he would receive certain special rewards, but as his level increased, the rewards disappeared.
There was only one reason: the beasts here were now too low-level for him.
Alucard had sequentially gained three abilities: Physical Enhancement, White Gun Casull, and Vampire Physique. He also possessed a very peculiar ability: Thermal Vision.
Vampire Physique granted him the power of absolute regeneration; he would never die as long as his heart remained intact, and any injury would heal rapidly.
"Undying, Unkillable"—that's what the system meant, right? The name Dracula also carries the meaning of a vampire, a cycle of cause and effect, perhaps?
Alucard remembered that Thermal Vision wasn't originally one of Alucard's abilities; it belonged to another well-known immortal from a different world: Alex Mercer.
Through special cells in the eyes, one could instantly locate targets within a city and roughly gauge their strength based on their internal thermal structure.
When Alucard awakened Thermal Vision, he understood. While his primary powers were those of the vampire Alucard, he also possessed abilities from numerous other immortals.
Alex's Blacklight Virus abilities were proof enough.
However, two months ago, Alucard noticed that no matter what kind of animal he killed on the island, it was extremely difficult to gain any rewards.
The system's explanation was "level mismatch," meaning this island could no longer contain him.
Gaa-ah-gaa-ah~~
The cry of a seagull drifted overhead.
Alucard looked up; it was a News Coo, a bird that flew across the seas, selling newspapers—the primary source of information for pirates and ordinary people in this world to learn about other events.
In recent years, Alucard had also killed several pirates who mistakenly ventured onto the island, confiscating their money and acquiring a good sum.
However, since there was nowhere to spend money on this isolated island, he mostly used it to buy newspapers. Of course, the money spent on newspapers was so little that it would last him a lifetime.