(I'm a Brain-Brain person who ate the Brain-Brain Fruit, with the ability to store brains)
Sea Circle Calendar 1492.
Duramos Island—some random little island in the first half of the New World.
"Hey, Jessie, you wouldn't want word getting out that you're eight and still pissing the bed, right?"
In a trash-filled alley, a black-haired kid with no shirt grinned like the devil at the snot-nosed brat in front of him. A bunch of other kids watched from way back, pissed off but too chickenshit to do anything about it.
"Huh? But I cleaned everything up before sunrise. How the hell do you know, Aus..." Halfway through his sentence, the snot-nosed kid Jessie clamped his hand over his mouth, terrified his buddies might hear.
"Told you a million times—nothing gets past me in this world."
Aus snatched the few hundred Belly from the kid's sweaty palm. While Jessie glared daggers at him, he stuffed the cash in his pocket and strolled off laughing his ass off.
Only after he disappeared did the other kids dare comfort their robbed friend, spitting curses:
"That bastard! When I grow up, I'm gonna murder him!"
"Right! Aus keeps jacking our allowances. First chance I get, I'm beating his face in."
But one kid had more sense, watching that retreating figure with dead eyes.
"Yeah right. Even the mayor said Aus killed a wild boar when he was six. The guy's a..."
Terror flickered across the kid's face, remembering what the adults always whispered.
"Natural-born freak!"
...
"Hell yeah! Another five hundred Belly. Two more newspapers, here I come."
Aus kicked open his front door, riding high.
Nine years in the One Piece world now. Dumped at birth and raised by the old mayor, Aus had gotten used to this batshit crazy reality.
Problem was, he'd barely scratched the surface of how massive this world really was. So he kept buying papers from those News Coo seagulls, staying plugged into whatever insanity was happening on the seas.
Today, same as always, he headed home for lunch. Except the old mayor was nowhere to be found.
He scanned the empty house. Nobody. Frowning, he turned toward the neighbor's place, like he was feeling for something. After a second, he shook his head.
"Weird. The widow next door's gone too."
Probably out getting wasted. Aus shrugged it off, grabbed some bread and ham from the kitchen, and plopped down to eat while scanning today's paper.
"Rocks' surviving crew are building their own empires, with Golden Lion, Whitebeard leading the charge..."
Nothing earth-shattering. Though damn, young Charlotte Linlin was stupid hot.
Staring at those killer curves in the photo, Aus chewed thoughtfully before moving on.
"Roger Pirates reportedly spotted near Sandrila Island."
The living Pirate King, huh. Aus kept chewing while mulling that over, then continued reading.
Next story was...
Hold up!
Aus stopped mid-chew, something clicking wrong in his brain. He whipped back to the Roger Pirates headline, bread tumbling from his mouth as he went completely rigid.
Sandrila Island?
That was like fifty miles from here!
Holy shit!
Right now Roger hadn't found Laugh Tale yet—he wasn't even the Pirate King!
This was insane!
Aus's eyes went dinner-plate wide. In the span of heartbeats, his brain cooked up one hell of a crazy scheme.
"Spent almost thirty years in my last life wondering what the One Piece actually was. Now I've got a golden ticket to find out?"
If he could somehow worm his way onto the Roger Pirates...
What do you even call this?
Starting at the fucking top?
The legendary treasure ordinary pirates waste their entire lives chasing—he could bag it just two years after setting sail?
The thought sent electricity through his veins.
Plus, the Roger Pirates were loaded with world-class monsters. Pick up just a couple techniques and he'd be strong enough to solo a movie villain.
Then there's the street cred. Look how even future Buggy got VIP treatment everywhere just for having Roger Pirates on his resume!
Think it, do it.
"Old man, I'm joining the Roger Pirates! I'll pay back everything when I come home rich and famous!"
He scribbled a goodbye note.
Slinging a stick over his shoulder with his stuff tied to the end, Aus locked in his decision. Once he made it big, he'd come back and hook up everyone who raised him.
"Hell, I'll get the village mutts jobs as guard dogs in those fancy kingdoms, eating royal kibble. That's gotta count for something, right?"
Aus immediately stuffed the old mayor's few belongings into his bundle and hauled ass toward the harbor.
...
Meanwhile.
A gorgeous ship with a red-gold pointed hull and twin mermaid figureheads pulled up to Duramos's main dock.
Standing at the bow was a guy who screamed "captain."
Draped in a red coat with a captain's hat, his legendary mustache framed a grin that belonged to someone who owned the world. Raw kingly energy poured off him like heat waves.
"Incredible presence, Haki leaking from every pore. This is what a top-tier sea monster looks like."
Just from sensing alone, Aus could feel the Grand Canyon-sized gap between their power levels.
This was the Pirate King—Gol D. Roger!
Right now he'd already survived the God Valley clusterfuck with his crew and was island-hopping, hunting for the four missing Poneglyphs in his final adventure run.
His terminal illness hadn't kicked in yet, so he was still living it up, drunk on the sea's freedom.
Down at the dock, Roger Pirates crew started filing off the ship. They were just passing through for supplies.
But among all these giants, two little figures stuck out like sore thumbs.
Two kinda red little shits.
One had red hair. The other had a red nose.
"Who the hell called me red nose?! Say it again, I dare you!" Young Buggy was losing his mind, face turning crimson with rage.
"Nobody called you red nose, Buggy." Shanks hopped off the gangplank, catching his straw hat before the wind could steal it, looking exasperated. "You're sensing things that aren't there. Is your Observation Haki busted or something..."
"Bullshit! Someone definitely said it. This feeling never lies!"
Buggy balled up his fists and screamed, scanning the area. Suddenly he spotted someone booking it toward them from way off. "Hey! Was it you, brat?!"
"Hahaha... What's up, Buggy! Shanks!"
Aus laughed and waved as he sprinted over.