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The darkness wasn't the end
it was just a cold commercial break before reality slapped me with the scent of death and iron.
"It's coming!"
"The King of the Pirates! Look at him!"
The shouts of thousands pierced my eardrums like bullets. I opened my eyes with difficulty—not lying in a bed, but leaning against a damp stone wall in a narrow alley that smelled of mold. My body trembled—not from fear, but from the sudden cold that swept through my limbs.
I looked down. My hands were small, smeared with grease and dirt, my clothes torn and barely covering anything. This wasn't me. I wasn't "Khalid," the engineer who had died in a ridiculous car accident. I was a child no older than ten in a world that seemed to have emerged from a violent old oil painting.
And suddenly, the world froze.
[Historical event detected at 'Epic' level…]
[Syncing soul with 'Point Zero'…]
['Fate Editor' system activated!]
A cold mechanical voice rang inside my skull, followed by a semi-transparent screen trembling in my vision.
[Host: Kyle]
[Location: Loguetown – Execution Square]
[Time: Year 1500 – Moment of Gol D. Roger's execution]
[Current mission: Witness the birth of a new era. Reward: Unlock the first path to power.]
"Roger?"
I whispered, and the word nearly burned my throat. I crawled out of the alley toward the main square, and there… my heart stopped for a moment.
The air was charged with an invisible electricity. The sky was gray, and the soldiers in their white uniforms formed a wall between the people and the tall wooden platform at the center of the square. On that platform, a man walked.
He didn't walk like someone led to their death—he walked with firm steps that shook the ground. The chains in his hands seemed like mere ornaments. His messy black hair, his red coat fluttering in the wind, and that smile… the smile that challenged the entire world.
"This is…"
I stepped back as the system sent a series of notifications.
[Alert: Intense 'Conqueror's Haki' detected. Protecting host's mind from collapse…]
I felt immense pressure crushing my shoulders, as if an invisible beast roared in my ears. The people around me began to collapse; some fainted, others cried uncontrollably. But thanks to the "system," I stayed standing, my eyes locked on the man climbing the final steps.
Roger sat on the execution platform as if it were a throne. The executioners beside him looked like trembling dwarves before a giant.
A man from the crowd shouted, his voice quivering with awe and greed:
"King of the Pirates! Where is your treasure? The 'One Piece'… does it really exist?"
A heavy silence fell. Even the wind ceased to blow. Roger looked at the crowd, and for a moment, it felt like his eyes pierced through thousands of people and landed on me—the little boy hiding in the shadows.
Roger laughed. A booming laugh that shook the corners of Loguetown.
"My treasure? If you want it, I'll let you have it… go find it! I left everything this world owns in that place!"
At that moment, the entire world felt an earthquake—not in the earth, but in human hearts. The executioners shouted, and the blades fell.
[Slash!]
I didn't close my eyes. I saw the blood spray, I saw the body still. But the smile did not disappear.
[Mission complete: Witnessed the dawn of an era.]
[Extracting 'Haki remnants' from the surrounding environment…]
[Congratulations! You've gained latent skill: 'Eye of Truth' (Level 1)]
[Warning: 'Shanks,' 'Mihawk,' and 'Doflamingo' present in the ocean. Avoid attracting attention.]
Chaos began. People screamed, soldiers struggled to control the frenzied crowd. Rain poured heavily, as if the sky itself wept for the man who terrified it.
I looked at my hands; faint sparks of black energy danced between my fingers before my body absorbed them. A strange power surged through my spine, a sharp pain followed by ecstasy.
"It's really starting,"
I muttered, hiding among the fleeing crowds. "Roger died to give the world freedom, and I was born here to steal this world from everyone."
I didn't want to be an ordinary pirate, nor a soldier in the Navy following orders. With this system, and knowing what would happen in the next twenty years… I would be the shadow that swallows the sun.
[Status update: Next objective – Leave Loguetown before the harbor closes. Reward: Silent Dragon breathing technique.]
I ran under the rain, leaving behind the blood-stained platform, heading toward a future even "Oda" himself could not yet imagine.
[To Be e Continued...]