The void between realms trembled as a figure stepped upon the very fabric of reality. Draped in robes woven from dying stars, each step left an echo of a newborn universe, each one creating and destroying a cosmic cycle.
He was the Dao Ancestor, Eron Arasta, a Dao Ancestor who had long surpassed the limits of cultivation, for he had become the embodiment of the Dao itself. For 776,000 years, incomprehensible to mortals, he had wandered through various layers of existence—teaching the Dao to the Void Emperor, Star Lord, Galaxy Master, and other genius Cultivators. He had uncovered the truths of forgotten dimensions, and sometimes, when boredom struck, he would rewrite the fundamental laws of physics just for amusement.
But today...
Something was different. A ripple. An anomaly.
Eron stopped in his tracks, his divine senses touching an anomaly in the depths of the sky. It was not a tear in space, nor a wormhole—to him, those were child's play. No, this was... a silence. A part of the cosmos where even the Dao itself seemed to hesitate.
Curious, he extended his will—and as his power touched the anomaly, the universe screamed.
The stars shattered into perfect geometric shapes. Time curled backward like a serpent biting its own tail. And then—
A voice.
Not words. Not a sound. But a concept of communication, burned directly into his consciousness.
"You should not be here."
Eron laughed, his voice shattering galaxies. "Nevertheless, I am here."
The anomaly pulsed, and for the first time in thousands of millennia, the Dao Ancestor felt something foreign.
Anticipation.
Before him, the fabric of reality split not as a gateway, but as an invitation. Behind it, a realm where the sky was made of shifting axioms and the ground flowed like liquid logic. A place where the very idea of "existence" could be negotiated. The 33rd Dimension. A place where rules were written with an eraser. Eron smirked. "Finally... something interesting."
And with that, the man who had mastered all dimensions stepped into the unknown—not as an explorer, not as a conqueror, but as a guest. Unaware that deep within the anomaly, something ancient and hungry had just awoken. With a confident stride, he stepped into the rift of the 33rd Dimension. However, he immediately felt something was wrong.
"What—?!"
Like water evaporating in an instant, his Dao disappeared. All his power, all his understanding, all the laws of nature he had once mastered—vanished just like that, as if plucked from his soul. His invincible, eternal body shattered into pieces like glass, leaving only a flash of golden light before—
"No...!"
Everything was erased in an instant.
All that remained was pure consciousness, a soul without a vessel, thrown into a swirling vortex of colors that violated every law of physics he had ever known. Somewhere between dimensions, Eron Arasta died for the second time. When his "eyes" began to function again, Eron realized he:
Didn't have a physical body.
Couldn't feel the flow of energy.
Was trapped in a 4-dimensional space whose geometry was constantly changing.
Before him floated living texts in an unknown language, yet his soul understood them instantly:
"Welcome, Soul Fragment #33,333,333"
"Entry criterion: Multidimensional death"
"Dao status: SEIZED"
Suddenly, a spiral-shaped shadow appeared—an entity whose entire existence was a walking question.
"Why did you come here, former Dao Ancestor?" its voice echoed throughout Eron's consciousness. "Here, even the concept of 'power' is meaningless."
Eron (or what was left of him) wanted to laugh. Amidst the unspeakable despair, a single truth ignited in his soul: This was not the end. This was the thrill he had been searching for. Eron wanted to answer the spiral entity, but suddenly—
SPLASH!
Saltwater filled his non-existent "mouth". A strange sensation flowed through his consciousness as he realized: He had a body again.
But not the eternal body of a Dao Ancestor—this body was mortal, weak, and sinking in the middle of a boundless blue ocean. In the distance, a pirate ship with a mustachioed skull flag waved in the wind. The sounds of shouting and rough laughter were heard:
"Hey! Someone fell from the sky!"
Before Eron could comprehend the situation, a large net ensnared him and pulled him onto the ship's deck. A pirate grinned widely, his hand extending a glass filled with a strange drink. Eron looked at his own hands—small, young, without the calluses of hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation.
"Am I... reincarnated?"
But what was even more surprising—
His cultivation system didn't respond.
There was no Dao. There was no Qi. There was no way to return.
Only the sea, pirates, and... a treasure map clutched in his hand.
"So you fell from the sky, did you, kid?" Captain Goran, the 'Coral Island Butcher,' exhaled a foul-smelling breath.
"What's that you're holding?"
His dirty hand reached for the treasure map in my grasp. I wanted to kill him right then and there—but my new body couldn't even feel the flow of a single bit of energy. Damn it.
"N-Nothing, Captain! Just... a toy map!" I pretended to stutter.
Back in my prime, at the peak of my power, I once destroyed three galaxies just because one of my disciples was insulted. Now? I have to pretend to be afraid of a low-class pirate.
"HAHAHA! Hear that, boys! This chicken-kid has a toy map!"
The entire crew laughed. But my eyes caught something—one of his crewmates, a skinny man with a scar on his face, wasn't laughing. He looked at the map with a strange gaze.
I was locked in the ship's hold with a pile of stolen goods and... another prisoner.
"They're going to kill you tomorrow morning," the old woman whispered, her chains rattling.
"Captain Goran likes to throw his 'new toys' into the sea... with weights on their feet."
I was locked in the ship's hold with a pile of stolen goods and… another prisoner.
"They're going to kill you tomorrow morning," the old woman whispered, her chains rattling. "Captain Goran likes to throw his 'new toys' into the sea... with weights on their feet."
In the darkness, I felt something strange—
Suddenly, the hold door opened. The skinny man came in with a bloody knife in his hand.
"You know what's really on that map, don't you?" he hissed. "I need a partner to escape… before Goran realizes you have the map to the new God Valley Island."
"The new God Valley...?"
That sentence was like a lightning bolt striking my consciousness. In an instant, fragments of memories from my first life as a One Piece reader in the old world exploded in my head.
"I... know all of this." Luffy. Dragon. Rogers. The Battle of God Valley.
But this wasn't the timeline I knew. The skinny man—Daro, his name was—thought I was confused out of fear. His bloody knife came closer.
"Listen carefully, kid. That map—"
BOOM!
A massive explosion shook the ship. Panic-filled screams were heard from the deck above.
"Marine attack!"
The powerful explosion made the ship lurch violently, throwing me against the cold wall of the hold. Daro, the skinny man, lost his footing. His bloody knife flew from his hand, thrown onto the wooden floor. This was an opportunity. I didn't waste the moment. Swiftly, I darted, grabbing the fallen knife. The coldness of the handle in my small palm felt both foreign and memory-evoking.
I used to be Dao Ancestor Eron Arasta, the embodiment of the Dao itself, capable of shattering galaxies with a mere thought. Now, I was just a small child holding a rusty knife. The irony was bitter, yet it also sparked a happy laugh in my consciousness.
Daro got up, his eyes widening in surprise at his knife now in my hand. "You—"
"Stop right there!" I yelled, brandishing the knife with a tremble I couldn't hide. This body may be weak, but my consciousness, my soul, is the soul of Eron Arasta. I won't be intimidated so easily.
Daro let out a harsh laugh. "You think you can threaten me with that, kid?"
He stepped forward.
"You know, Goran will be looking for you. He won't let anyone who knows about that map live."
Goran? The name came up again. Who was Goran? And what map was Daro talking about? "The new God Valley"? I was increasingly certain this was a completely different storyline from the One Piece I knew in my "old life". This was the 33rd Dimension, the place where my Dao was seized, where all laws of physics could be negotiated. A place that was... interesting.
Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps drew closer from the corridor. More than before. These weren't Marines. These were the thuds of rough boots, a large number of them. "Damn it!" Daro cursed. "Goran knows!"
The hold door burst open roughly, revealing several large men, armed with axes and rusty swords. They wore a bullhead emblem on their arms. Goran's pirates? It seemed I had just jumped from one danger to another. However, behind the surprise, there was a glimmer of anticipation. This was a new puzzle, a challenge in this illogical dimension.
"Catch the kid!" one of them commanded, his voice booming. "And Goran says, finish off this Daro!"
Daro gasped. "Wait! I'm part of the crew!"
"You're a traitor!" one of them snapped, swinging his axe at Daro. A fight broke out in the narrow hold. Daro, though skinny, was clever at avoiding attacks. He tried to grab his other weapon, but he was surrounded. I, with the bloody knife in my hand, became their second target.
I knew I couldn't face them. This wasn't a fair fight. I was just a small child with a knife. But this chaos gave me an opportunity. As Eron Arasta, I was the embodiment of strategy and understanding, even without my Dao.
While Daro wrestled with Goran's pirates, I slipped between them, looking for an opening. My mind worked furiously, processing every detail. My eyes fell on a narrow gap in the hold wall, a result of the earlier Marine explosion. It might be a ventilation shaft or a structural crack. Too small for an adult, but maybe enough for me. I had to get out of here, but not too far. I needed to know what was happening on the deck above.
The original Battle of God Valley involved Yonko, Garp, and the Tenryuubito. If this "new God Valley" was somehow connected, I couldn't miss it.
"Hey, kid!" One of Goran's pirates saw me moving toward the gap. He swung his sword at me. I dropped to the floor, barely avoiding the strike. The knife in my hand fell again. Damn it! I had to be faster.
Crawling, I managed to squeeze into the gap. The space was narrow, dusty, and dark. I could hear the sounds of the battle behind me fading. There was a fishy smell, like rotting fish and seawater. I crawled forward, looking for a way out. A few meters ahead, I could see a faint light. It must be an exit to another part of the ship.
Finally, I reached the end of the gap and slipped out. I was in a narrow corridor, closer to the stern of the ship. The sounds of the battle on the deck were still very clear. Shouts, explosions, and gunshots.
I decided not to go up to the main deck just yet. I didn't know how intense the battle was there, and I didn't want to get caught in the middle of the Marines and the pirates. My priority was to find out more about "the new God Valley" and the map Daro was talking about.