Chapter 1: God Valley
God Valley was beautiful.
From the deck of Grandfather Garp's flagship, the island had looked like a jewel, all turquoise lagoons and emerald forests, set in the deep blue of the Grand Line.
At fifteen years old, I was a Marine Trainee, and this was supposed to be the best assignment of my life: a "vacation" escort mission with the legendary Hero of the Marines himself.
My brother, Dragon, stood beside me at the rail. At seventeen, he was already a full-fledged Marine Seaman, his white uniform crisp and his face set in that perpetually serious expression I could never quite decipher.
He was quiet, but I could feel the tension radiating from him.
"Isn't it amazing, Dragon?" I had said, my voice full of a naive excitement that makes me cringe to remember.
"Father gets to go on vacation, and we get to see a new island! Maybe we can go exploring!"
Dragon's dark eyes didn't leave the shore, where massive, opulent barges were disembarking.
"This is no vacation, Luthor." His voice was a low rumble. "It's a sickness."
He was right. The "vacation" was a lie. We were here as glorified security for the dregs of humanity.
The "Native Hunting Competition" began three days after we arrived.
His father Garp had taken one look at the arriving Celestial Dragons, declared he was "going for a nap," and vanished into the depths of his ship, leaving the other Vice Admirals to manage the politicians.
But Dragon and I, as low-ranking personnel, were assigned to patrol the perimeter of the "hunting" grounds.
We were ordered to watch. To do nothing. To "protect" the hunters from any large beasts.
The slaves were released into the forest first. Men, women, and children from all races, marked with the hoof of the soaring dragon, their eyes hollow with a terror I had only ever read about in books.
Among them, I saw a large, kind-eyed man who would later be known as Bartholomew Kuma, and a defiant, boisterous woman with striking pink hair named Ginny.
Then, the Celestial Dragons—gods among men, clad in their suffocating bubbles—rode in on their slaves, carrying ornate rifles. Figarland Garling, the Supreme Commander of the Holy Knights, stood on a cliff overlooking the valley, his long, crescent-shaped hair unmoving in the wind, his face a mask of bored indifference.
The "hunt" began. It wasn't a sport. It was a massacre.
I stood frozen at my post, my standard-issue rifle feeling like a ton of lead in my hands. I was shaking.
My stomach churned, and a cold sweat slicked my palms. This was Justice? This was the "noble" world the Marines were sworn to protect?
A Celestial Dragon, his laugh a wet, gurgling sound, cornered a small slave girl who couldn't have been older than ten.
She had tripped and fallen. He raised his rifle, not at a beast, but at her.
"No," I whispered. My blood ran cold.
Dragon, fifty yards away at his own post, saw it too. His body tensed, and I saw his hand move to his own rifle.
But he was frozen, just as I was, by the chains of our station. To interfere was death. To interfere was to attack a god.
The Celestial Dragon aimed. The girl squeezed her eyes shut, sobbing.
My idealism, my childhood, my faith in the Marines—it all shattered into a million pieces in that single, horrific instant. A black, bottomless rage I never knew I possessed consumed me. My vision went red. I wanted him dead. I wanted them all dead.
And then, a cold, mechanical voice echoed in the deepest part of my mind.
[Profound Despair and Killing Intent Detected. Host's Will has met the minimum requirement.]
[System Awakening: Be The Best Pirate System.]
A transparent blue screen flickered into existence before my eyes, visible only to me.
==========================
[System Interface]
Name: Monkey D. Luthor
Age: 15
Affiliation: Marine (Trainee)
Strength: 10
Stamina: 8
Will: 2 (Note: Increase 1 Will gives 10 EP point)
Agility: 10
Body: 8
Armament Haki: None (0/100 EP)
Observation Haki: None (0/10 EP)
Conqueror's Haki: Unawakened (0/1000 EP)
Skills:
Swordsmanship: Basic
Shooting: Intermediate
Inventory:
Shop: (Locked)
===========================
[New Host Welcomed. Initiating First Prime Quest.]
[Quest: Be a Pirate]
Task: The world's justice is a lie. The nobles are a plague. The Marines are their dogs. To be free, you must become what they fear most.
Kill one (1) Celestial Dragon.
Reward: Devil Fruit: Sun Sun Fruit (Model: Escanor), 10 Unallocated Stat Points, 20 EP Points.
Failure: Annihilation of Host.
===========================
My mind didn't process the words "Pirate" or "System." It only saw "Kill one Celestial Dragon" and "Reward." It was a green light. It was permission.
The Celestial Dragon's finger tensed on the trigger.
[SYSTEM WARNING: HOST HAS 3 SECONDS UNTIL TASK FAILURE.]
Time slowed. My heart hammered a single, deafening beat. My body moved on its own.
My Shooting: Intermediate skill, my training, my rage—it all focused into one perfect, fluid motion.
I raised my rifle.
I aimed.
I fired.
The crack of my rifle shot was deafening in the sudden silence.
The Celestial Dragon's bubble-helmet shattered. A neat, round hole appeared in the center of his forehead.
His eyes went wide with a stupid, blank surprise. He toppled over like a sack of grain, his gurgling laugh cut short forever.
Dead.
I had done it. I had killed this so called god a scum.
For a second, the entire valley was silent. The other nobles, the slaves, even the Holy Knights—everyone froze.
I stood there, my rifle still raised, smoke curling from the barrel. I looked at Dragon. His eyes were wide, not with condemnation, but with a terrible, world-changing shock.
Then Figarland Garling turned. His cold, impassive gaze locked directly onto me. He knew. He had seen it. He raised his saber, and his mouth opened.
[Quest Completed: Be a Pirate]
[Affiliation changed: Pirate (Self-Proclaimed)]
[Rewards are being integrated. Integrating... Sun Sun Fruit, Model: Escanor.]
An agonizing fire erupted in my chest. It wasn't a burn; it was a feeling of swallowing the sun. A new, terrifying power, immense and blazing hot, settled into my core, a dormant volcano waiting to erupt.
[10 Stat Points awarded. 20 EP Points awarded.]
Garling's voice boomed, cutting through the silence like a guillotine.
"TRAITOR! KILL THAT BOY!"
Every Marine, every Holy Knight, every CP agent on the perimeter turned their weapons on me.
"Luthor!" Dragon screamed, abandoning his post and sprinting toward me.
But just as they were about to fire, the world ended.
A shadow fell over the island, so vast it blotted out the sun.
A colossal galleon, the Sword of Xebec, led a fleet of the most terrifying pirate ships I had ever seen. They didn't just arrive; they crashed into the island like a cannonball.
The Rocks Pirates were here.
_________________________
"BWAHAHAHA! TREASURE! SAKE! FIND THE DEVIL FRUITS, YOU SCUM!" a voice bellowed from the lead ship.
The island exploded. Pirates swarmed the beaches, clashing instantly with the Marines.
A young, blond-haired giant of a man with a crescent-shaped mustache—Edward Newgate—leaped into the fray, his bisento shattering the earth. A monstrously large woman, Charlotte Linlin, cackled as she sent living flames to incinerate a Marine platoon.
The Holy Knights, who had been about to execute me, were forced to turn and face the pirate armada.
The "hunt" was over; a war had begun.
"Luthor, we have to go! NOW!" Dragon yelled, grabbing my arm. He was no longer a shocked 17-year-old; he was a trained soldier.
He yanked me into the forest, away from the main battle.
"Big bro.. I... I killed..." I stammered, my mind reeling.
"I know," he said, his voice grim. "And they know. We can't go back. We have to escape."
We ran, the sounds of battle—cannon fire, screams, and unnatural roars—shaking the very ground. As we scrambled through a ravine, Dragon pushed me behind a rock.
"Stay here," he ordered.
"What? Why?"
"I heard crying." Before I could argue, he dashed out and found a small, hidden chest. Inside, a red-haired woman lay dying, sheltering two crying babies. One had red hair, the other a light yellow hair.
"Please..." the woman wheezed to Dragon.
"Save them... Shanks... Shamrock..."
Dragon, his face a mask of pained resolve, nodded. He gathered the two infants in his arms.
"A-ha! What a tender-hearted little Marine!"
A woman in the uniform of a Holy Knight landed in front of us. Satchels Maffey. Her smile was a predatory sneer, her fangs sharp.
"Dropping your post? Aiding the enemy? And you..." she looked at me, her eyes narrowing,
"you're the god-killer. What a day. I get to kill two traitors and two... what are those?"
She lunged at Dragon. He was fast, but she was faster. She raised her hand, her mouth opening to fire one of the laser beams I'd heard about.
[New Quest Received: Escape]
Task: Escape from God Valley.
Reward: 1x Pirate Ship, 500,000 Berries, 15 Stat Points.
"DRAGON!" I screamed
But before Maffey's attack could land, a massive shadow fell over us.
"GROARARARARA!"
A tidal wave of white energy slammed into the ravine, not aimed at us, but at the larger battle behind us. It was Whitebeard, his quake punch rearranging the entire battlefield. The blast sent the Holy Knight Maffey flying, saving Dragon by pure, accidental chance.
Dragon didn't hesitate. "Luthor, this way! To the docks!" he yelled, clutching the babies.
We ran again, but the chaos was too much. The ground itself split open.
A blue, serpentine dragon—Kaido, having just stolen and eaten his fruit—thundered past, roaring in a mix of pain and ecstatic power. The blast of wind from his passing separated us.
I was sent tumbling down a cliff, away from
Dragon. I landed hard, my body bruised, my mind spinning. I was alone.
"There he is.
I looked up. My blood turned to ice. Figarland Garling stood over me, his face impassive, his saber drawn.
"You have committed the ultimate sin, child. Your death will be a lesson."
He raised his sword for the execution. This was it. I was 15 years old, and I was going to die.
[Host is in mortal danger. Sun Sun Fruit power is dormant. Recommend allocating Stat Points.]
'Ten points to Body!' I screamed in my mind, a desperate, final gamble.
[Allocation Confirmed: Body: 8 -> 18]
A jolt of vitality shot through me, but it wasn't enough. Garling's blade whistled down.
"GROOOOOOAR!"
A blast of blue-white fire erupted from the sky, slamming into Garling and sending him hurtling into a mountainside. It wasn't aimed at me. It was a random, chaotic attack.
I looked up. Kaido, in his new dragon form, was soaring erratically overhead, cackling as he unleashed his power, "playing" with his new toy.
He hadn't even seen me.
He had saved my life as accidentally as Whitebeard had saved my brother.
I didn't waste the chance. I scrambled to my feet, my new Body stat dulling the pain. I ran, adrenaline and the system's new quest pushing me forward. I ran for the docks, for the sea, for any hope of survival.
My life as a Marine was over. My life as Monkey D. Luthor, brother, and son of Garp was on edge to be over.
( To be continued)
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Today, in the fires of God Valley, a Pirate was born and he will be the dangerous one.