East Sea, within the borders of Oyekot Kingdom.
Inside a camp in the forest.
A man wearing a thin shirt and cloth pants holds a Wanted Order, comparing it to the girl in front of him, asking:
"Is this you?"
The girl has curly blonde hair, fair skin, and a charming appearance. She wears a luxurious dress with sleeves snug against her arms, but a very wide skirt. The lace on her chest adorns her delicate neck. Although she's not wearing any gold or silver jewelry, she looks like a noble lady from a prestigious family.
Big blonde waves, that type.
The girl's eyes are cold, and her tone even colder: "No."
"This is you." Sage says.
The girl glares angrily: "You know, yet you ask!"
Sage grins: "I've encountered five waves of mountain thieves along the way, finally opened for business!"
At this, the girl just glares viciously at Sage, if looks could kill, she would have perished with this man by now.
"Don't bother."
Sage pats the delicate pearl-handled rapier attached to his fabric belt, "You're my first job, naturally, I have to guard against unexpected situations."
As he speaks, he points to the girl's forehead, causing her to involuntarily step forward, moving automatically towards a direction.
This makes the girl show desperation, she couldn't imagine anyone in the world could do this.
Not only did he instantly seize her weapon, but with just a finger point, she couldn't move, and now she's being controlled to walk automatically...
"Someone as strong as you, don't you have dreams? Why become a slave to money!" the girl shouted.
"Hold on..."
Sage waved his hand, "Money is a good thing, everyone works for money, earning a living by skill, what I should have, regardless of being a slave, as for dreams..."
His expression turned shadowy, he said through clenched teeth: "I really do have one! My dream... is to have some land, farm and fish, enjoy a relaxed life in this damn world!"
Norton Sage, twenty-two years old, living here for twenty-two years, now... been a Bounty Hunter for less than two months.
As for here... it's the world of Pirate King.
An extremely dangerous place, either immense beasts, ferocious Sea Kings, or those brutal Great Pirates gathering in this world.
Similarly, it's also a severely twisted world.
Being transported to such a world, counted as his bad luck, but since he's here...
Luckily, this place is the East Sea, with an average belly below three million, relatively safe.
Even better, when crossing over, he came with a North Star Divine Fist cheat.
The same 'Ichiwashya' style of fists, relying on this fist style, he could walk horizontally in East Sea without issues.
He doesn't have much interest in stirring the seas, but he finds becoming a rich lord tempting.
Having a large estate, letting many people rely on him for food, hiring some secretaries, recruiting a group of underlings, making a splash when needed, listening to opera when idle...
The mere thought excites him a little.
Initially, Sage wanted to continue in the family business, starting with farming, fencing a large piece of land, becoming the King of Farming!
Not a single harvest.
If farming doesn't work, how about fishing.
The abundant sea, many fish, even a child randomly picking can catch fish, good fishing can lead to wealth, can become the Fishing King!
All airborne.
Perhaps not suitable for staying obedient, then go explore.
The sea is so vast, so many merchants, accumulating initial capital through business is also possible...
The ship sank, cargo destroyed.
The right path doesn't work, resort to shady deals!
Be the King of Song and Dance, faced martial law.
Be the King of Bodyguards, employer bankrupt.
Be the King of Mercenaries, century reconciliation!
In short, since his law-abiding farming adoptive father died, his days couldn't be said to be prosperous, at least accomplished nothing.
Now Sage is a reward king... Bounty Hunter.
Chronology of One Piece 1520, twenty-two years after the Pirate King's death, the absolute Great Pirate era!
Encountering a Pirate comparable to picking up stones on the road, the whole sea, casually picking can find a Pirate, the reward king is also promising...
Can't find a single one!
From tens of thousands of Belly, to millions of Belly, mountain thieves or pirates no matter, can't find a single one!
Damn it!
How come others can encounter Higuma worth eight million...
Hmm... who was Higuma again?
Can't remember.
Not only can't he find them, but his luck is particularly bad.
Just after he caught a pirate, he found there was no bounty and released them. Shortly after, they were issued a wanted order, benefiting his competitors for nothing...
What's wrong with this world!
Frustrated and cold!
You could say Sage has done almost every job except for the Navy and pirates. He doesn't like pirates, and as for the Navy...
Sage scratched his head full of white hair and pulled out a stack of wanted orders from his back waistband, the topmost being a long-nosed purple-skinned weirdo, with a total of twenty million under it.
If it weren't for this wanted order, he might just have given up on the bounty hunter profession.
On the wanted order, the current highest in the East Sea, is a bounty of twenty million Belly for the Fishman Arlong!
"Once I catch you and claim the bounty, with the money, I'll hire people to go to the Conomei Islands, and once I take down this group, I'll be rich." Sage said with a grin.
He can't find the pirates floating everywhere on the sea, but those with a hideout can still be found, like the Arlong Pirates.
Besides Arlong's twenty million Belly, there's an eight million Belly bounty Fishman Hatchan, a nine million Belly bounty Fishman Kuroobi, and a five hundred fifty thousand Belly bounty Fishman Chew, a total of over forty million Belly.
If they're sitting at home, could it be that Sage is so unlucky he can't even catch them?
With this money, he could buy several villages in the East Sea, thus achieving his dream.
"I really didn't plan to catch you."
Sage said, "But there's no way around it. I don't understand navigation, and the ships I wanted to take wouldn't go to the Conomei Islands, so I had to come to the Oyekot Kingdom first, and then I saw you."
Those ships rejected outright when they heard about going to the Conomei Islands, and with no other option, Sage relied on mopping floors on the ship and unexpectedly ended up above the Conomei Islands, at the Oyekot Kingdom.
By the way...
The ship he mopped on unfortunately hit a reef when docking and half-sank.
Originally, he wanted to go directly south to the Conomei Islands, but as luck would have it, he actually found a wanted order on an electric pole within this kingdom, which featured this woman with a bounty of... one million Belly.
Actually, Sage holds no hope. For such itinerant wanted criminals, he basically doesn't expect them, since he's never encountered one. When he accepted it, he was just hoping for a stroke of luck.
While chasing rabbits, catch one if you can, you never know?
Along the way, he encountered five waves of bandits, all without bounties, but the last wave of bandits had really seen this woman, and Sage followed the scent to track her down!
Great start!
I, Sage, am not really that unlucky!
Hasn't my career encountered a second spring now!
"What's your surname?" Said Sage with a toothy grin, feeling delighted.
The woman's wanted order had no name, only a photo and bounty amount.
Her skills aren't actually weak; she immediately attacked upon seeing him, with very fast swordsmanship. Unfortunately, Sage was quicker and struck her with a secret acupuncture point, leaving her without resistance.
The girl said nothing and just glared at him fiercely.
"No need to be so unreasonable. It's worth commemorating your first time; tell me your name, and I'll collect your corpse afterward, burn some papers for you during festivals..." Sage said.
The girl glared at Sage fiercely but seemed to think of something, bowing her head darkly. After a moment of silence, she said softly, "Bienta Lily..."
"Bienta? Sounds familiar, I've heard this somewhere before."
Sage rubbed his chin, full of contemplation.
"Below your wanted order," the girl said.
Sage took out the girl's wanted order, though it had no name but below the bounty amount was a line of small text. He looked at it for a while, occasionally nodding, and then solemnly faced the girl.
"I can't read."
"..."
The atmosphere fell into a very awkward...
silence.
A breeze blew through, seemingly adding an even more awkward touch to the awkwardness.
The girl's forehead veins bulged, and she shouted, "Why are you looking so seriously if you can't read!"
With the girl's words, Sage blushed intensely, instinctively turning his head.
You can't blame him for this.
When people become adults, their learning abilities naturally decline and solidify; his past life's experience was that of a regular office worker and couldn't just magically understand everything upon crossing over.
Besides, the text in this world is neither quite English nor Japanese, with some strange Roman text, along with completely incomprehensible unfamiliar text. Apart from a few letters and numbers, everything else looks like scribbles to him.
Who could understand this stuff, and he didn't have the conditions to learn upon crossing over.
"You see, my adoptive father is a migrant, you know..." Sage said with an embarrassed smile.
A migrant, meaning someone who appears out of nowhere.
Lily held back her anger, "It says below, the wanted order comes from the royal Bindeta Clan of the Oyekot Kingdom. Catch this person to claim the bounty at the royal city."
"That's right! Bindeta, I heard upon arriving, that's indeed the royal family here..."
Sage made a fist with his right hand and slapped his left hand slightly, showing a look of sudden realization. Then he suddenly reacted, "Wait? You're not a bandit leader?"
The girl's face turned bright red, "I'm from the royal family, the princess of the Oyekot Kingdom, not a bandit!!"