When I opened my eyes, I found myself inside a jail cell, hands cuffed to the wall. Confusion gripped me as I looked around, and then I spotted them—Usopp and Zoro.
Seeing me stir, Usopp leaned forward with concern. "Condoriano, are you all right? What happened to you?"
The name hit me like a cannonball, and the memories flooded back all at once.
I remembered everything. I had been reincarnated into the world of *One Piece* as Lieutenant Commander Shepherd—better known as "Condoriano," the special inspector from Marine Headquarters sent to G8. A man with authority surpassing even the base commander, a secondary antagonist in the filler arc who ends up thrown in a cell after clashing with the Marines. In the original story, Usopp had mocked him by calling the Straw Hats his "comrades" and taunting him with that ridiculous nickname, only for Zoro to silence him with a brutal headbutt that knocked him out cold.
And now *I* was that man.
Laughter and tears came at the same time. I laughed because, against all odds, I was living in my favorite world. I cried because I had become the villain of a filler arc—destined to be humiliated, headbutted, and forgotten.
There wasn't much I could do, trapped as a secondary villain in a filler arc. Part of me ached to join the Straw Hats—Luffy's crew, the real protagonists—but even if I somehow earned their trust, Luffy probably wouldn't want a Marine officer like me on board. And if I did manage to slip in, the butterfly effect could unravel everything. The story was perfect the way it was; one wrong move and it might all collapse into something unrecognizable, maybe even catastrophic.
I shook my head. No. Interfering with the main plot was too dangerous.
So what then?
Become a pirate anyway.
The Marines looked impressive from the outside—sharp uniforms, grand ships, absolute justice—but inside, we were nothing more than puppets. Strings pulled by the Celestial Dragons and the Five Elders. I'd seen the future chapters: the Elders slaughtering Marines on Egghead like they were insects. Just thinking about it made me sigh.
If I turned pirate, I'd have real freedom. True, ultimate freedom.
Fine. I wouldn't touch the Straw Hats or the canon storyline. Eiichiro Oda himself said there were millions of islands out there in the One Piece world. As a fan, didn't I have a duty to explore them—one by one—on my own terms?
The Marines finally dragged in "me"—Robin, of course, disguised as the pompous inspector. For a moment, everything hung in suspense, but the canon held. A few minutes later, the officers realized their mistake, uncuffed me with hurried apologies, and bowed their way out.
Usopp couldn't resist one last jab. He leaned in close, grinning like a devil. "Take care, Condoriano."
"Hey!" I shouted after him. "My name is Shepherd, you know!"
He burst out laughing and bolted down the corridor, Zoro already sprinting ahead as the Marines gave chase, shouting orders that echoed through the fortress.
I stood there alone in the empty cell, rubbing my wrists.
Then I exhaled, long and slow.
You know what?
Fine.
If the world wanted to remember me as Condoriano, I'd claim the name myself.
When I set sail as a pirate, that would be my crew's name: the Condoriano Pirates.
Let them laugh. I'd make it legendary.
A few hours later, I stood at the edge of the fortress walls, watching the Straw Hats make their escape. The Going Merry soared into the sky—wings of cloud and wind powered by stolen dials—carrying Luffy's crew and their mountain of recovered treasure toward freedom. They vanished over the horizon, leaving only laughter echoing in their wake.
I turned away, adjusted my Marine coat one last time, and headed down to the port. The base commander met me there, stiff and formal, still red-faced from the fiasco. I saluted, offered a polite farewell, and boarded the transport ship bound for Headquarters—or, more precisely, the route that would pass near my home island.
As the fortress of Navarone shrank behind us, swallowed by the sea, I leaned against the railing and felt the salt wind on my face.
Soon.
Soon I'd be done pretending.
I couldn't wait to cast off the uniform, raise my own flag, and explore every corner of this vast, impossible world on my own terms. The One Piece world was waiting—and this time, I wasn't going to be anyone's footnote.