Throw away your worries, cast aside your troubles
A new journey begins.
Year 1519 of the Sea Calendar.
East Blue, waters outside the 16th Naval Branch.
"Do you want to live?"
The question was asked with unsettling calm, as though the speaker were simply inquiring about dinner.
The sea was eerily quiet. Moments ago, a pirate crew had swaggered across the waves, nearly a hundred men strong. Now, all of them had been sent to the depths, nothing more than fish food.
All except one.
Their captain nicknamed Scimitar knelt on the deck of a navy warship, soaked to the bone, trembling like a leaf in a storm.
"Yes! I want to live! Please, I want to live!"
His hoarse cry cracked with desperation, laced with tears. He dared not lift his head to look at the young naval officer standing before him.
It had all happened too fast. Far, far too fast.
That officer barely in his twenties, unarmed, barehanded had single-handedly annihilated the entire Scimitar Pirates. Nearly one hundred men, gone in an instant.
He was Lieutenant Commander Ryan Hawk of the 16th Branch, better known as the "Blood Hawk."
They said whenever he struck, blood would follow. To pirates, he was a predator, swift and merciless, an eagle swooping down on prey.
And now, with nothing left but fear, Scimitar clung to the only thought keeping him alive: survival.
"Good."
Hawk's voice was soft, carried by the sea breeze that ruffled his black hair.
"Lucky for you, I'm a merciful man."
He gave the smallest tilt of his head.
Major Dane, his second-in-command, stepped forward and produced a folded document from his coat pocket.
"According to the 16th Branch's Anti-Piracy Management Ordinance, Article One: Any pirate who voluntarily surrenders all ill-gotten wealth obtained through acts of crime may, upon verification, be exempted from punishment."
"What?"
Scimitar's head shot up. His eyes were wide, bloodshot, almost wild. "If I hand it all over… you'll really let me go?!"
"Yes. Exemption from punishment," Hawk replied gently. He even patted the pirate captain's shoulder, brushing away a few droplets of seawater. His smile was almost kind.
"Relax. We are the navy, after all."
"We uphold justice. We follow rules."
"So speak freely."
"I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"
It was like a drowning man gasping for air. Scimitar confessed without hesitation, pouring out locations, numbers, details. His voice stumbled over itself in panic, desperate not to miss even a single coin.
Treasure could always be stolen again.
Life, once lost, was gone forever.
Not long after, the warship's communication snail clicked shut in Dane's hand. He turned and saluted crisply.
"Report, sir! All treasure has been recovered. The numbers match our intelligence exactly."
"Lieutenant Commander Hawk…!"
Scimitar's eyes gleamed with fragile hope. His lips trembled, waiting for words of pardon.
Hawk only smiled faintly.
He took the ordinance from Dane, tapping the smallest line of text at the bottom. Letters so tiny they were nearly invisible:
"Final right of interpretation belongs to Lieutenant Commander Ryan Hawk."
Hawk looked up, his smile still perfectly polite. "See? The rules are very clear."
He paused, then added softly:
"How much punishment to exempt… how that exemption is applied…"
"That decision is mine."
Scimitar's face froze.
"You surrendered your wealth. That pleases me," Hawk continued.
"So I'll exempt you… from a slow death."
"You'll have the mercy of the quickest death I can grant."
Before Scimitar could speak, Hawk's fist clenched, sheathed in jet-black Armament Haki.
"You lied to me?!" Scimitar shrieked, voice breaking into a desperate wail. "Where's your justice?! Where are your rules?!"
"Justice?" Hawk's eyes were sharp, cold. "Pirates like you… do you think you're even human?"
"My justice… is slaughter."
"My rules… are the only rules that matter."
His iron fist crashed down.
The deck rang with a hollow boom.
Scimitar's body crumpled like a rag doll, thrown across the boards, lifeless.
A mechanical chime echoed in Hawk's mind:
[Ding! Pirate crew 'Scimitar' eliminated. Justice Points earned: 500.]
"Phew…"
Hawk lit a cigarette, exhaling smoke into the salty wind.
"Dane. Same as always."
"Yes, sir."
"Seventy percent goes back to the people. Twenty percent, divide among the men. The last ten… record under my name."
"Understood, Lieutenant Commander!"
Dane saluted, precise as ever.
Behind him, the navy soldiers straightened unconsciously. Their eyes shone with admiration and loyalty.
This wasn't the first time. Hawk's division had long followed this system. It was why, despite corruption in the higher ranks, the branch's lower officers remained united and strong.
As for their supposed leader Branch Captain Nezumi?
The greedy rat only cared for lining his pockets. He hoarded headquarters' funding and squeezed every coin he could from the civilians, leaving his command to Hawk, who had fought his way up from the lowest ranks.
But soldiers weren't fools.
They knew the difference between someone who treated them as expendable pawns and someone who fought at the front, shouting "Follow me!" instead of "You go first!"
By rights, every coin seized from pirates should be turned over to Nezumi. But once treasure entered the captain's coffers, not a single berry ever saw daylight again.
So when Hawk claimed his ten percent, no one questioned it. It gave them permission to accept their own share without guilt.
Hawk ignored their gazes, eyes fixed on the horizon.
His mind drifted back.
Six months ago, he had awakened in this world, wearing a navy uniform, nothing more than a seaman third class.
With him had come… the Justice System.
"Host may obtain Justice Points by eliminating evil and upholding justice."
"Failure to act against evil will result in the system executing justice upon the host."
"Remaining survival time: 1 day."
At first, he had been stunned. What did that mean? If he refused to kill, the system would kill him? Only one of them him or the world's evildoers could survive?
He had no choice.
He didn't want slaughter. But if it came down to their lives or his own…
Why should he die?
Soon, he had understood the rules.
Justice Points corresponded directly to bounty and crime. A pirate worth five million berries, like Scimitar, earned him 500 points.
Justice Points had two uses:
To strengthen himself.
Observation Haki, Armament Haki, body, martial skills even Conqueror's Haki.
Each trait climbed five tiers: Beginner (Captain-level), Intermediate (Rear Admiral), Advanced (Vice Admiral), Top (Admiral), Apex (World-Class).
Costs rose exponentially: 100, 1,000, 10,000, 100,000, and finally a million points.
For Conqueror's Haki, multiply that by ten.
To buy time.
To extend his survival before the system executed him.
One point bought one day, up to ten years. Beyond that, ten points bought a single day.
Hawk checked his panel.
[Justice Points: 1,025]
[Survival Time: 3,649 days]
Ah. He'd forgotten to add a day today.
"Exchange one day," he thought.
[One point deducted. One day added.]
[Justice Points: 1,024]
[Survival Time: 3,650 days]
Exactly ten years. Perfect.
Why stop there? Because beyond ten years, the cost skyrocketed. Better to save the points, stockpile them endlessly, then add later.
Cleverness wasn't cheating. It was survival.
Even with over 3,600 days barely a decade he still felt no safety.
Not until his points numbered in the billions would he ever rest.
"As long as evil breathes," Hawk whispered into the sea wind, "I cannot stop."
To the world, he was the Blood Hawk. A killer. A butcher. A navy officer who annihilated entire crews.
But who knew? Who understood that he killed only because he had no choice?
That he was clinging to life, every day.
"Lieutenant Commander."
Dane's voice broke through his thoughts, vibrating with excitement.
"The location of Captain Nezumi's hidden treasure has been discovered."
He handed Hawk a rough but staggering inventory.
"All the wealth he's hoarded since taking office the villagers' lifeblood he extorted it's all here."
"Oh…?"
Hawk's lips curved into a cold smile.
For months, nearly the entire branch save Nezumi's closest cronies had already bent to his will.
The only reason he hadn't killed the rat was that massive stash. He couldn't risk Nezumi destroying it.
But now?
The treasure was secured. It was in their hands.
Which meant…
"Where's the rat?" Hawk asked quietly.
"He's in Cocoyasi Village," Dane replied, "meeting with Arlong."
"Good."
Hawk flicked his cigarette into the sea.
"It's time to clean house. All of it. All of them."
"Yes, sir!"