Darkness.
That was the first thing he felt — a heavy, suffocating darkness mixed with the distant crash of waves.
Am I dead?
The thought drifted through his mind like fading smoke.
Then suddenly—
A stabbing pain shot through his skull.
His eyes snapped open.
He wasn't in a hospital.
He wasn't in his own body.
He was lying on warm sand, clothes torn, breathing hard. Above him stretched a perfect blue sky… too perfect.
A child's voice shouted nearby:
"Hey! He's waking up! Someone get the elder!"
Footsteps approached. A group of sun-tanned kids circled around him, wide-eyed.
"You alive, mister?"
"You washed up on the shore!"
"Was it pirates?"
Pirates.
Ryu froze.
He sat up sharply. "Pirates…?"
The kids nodded.
"This is Kairo Village," one said. "We get attacked a lot. It's the East Blue."
East Blue.
His heart stopped for a full second.
He looked around: the endless ocean, the gulls, the faint rumble of something enormous beneath the water.
No way.
This is the world of One Piece…
A warmth pulsed inside his chest — subtle, like a vibration.
And then he felt it.
People.
Emotions.
Their presence, their intentions.
Clearer than sight.
Observation Haki.
His breath caught.
I can feel everything… everyone…
An old man approached with a cane, the village elder.
"So you're awake," the elder said. "Lucky you survived. A sea king destroyed a merchant ship last night."
Ryu blinked. "A sea king?"
As if summoned, the ground trembled.
Screams erupted from inside the village.
The elder paled. "No… it followed the wreckage…"
A roar shook the coastline.
The children ran.
But Ryu stood—calm, breath steady.
Something inside him stirred.
Not fear.
Not panic.
Excitement.
Heat rushed through his veins.
His heartbeat slowed.
His senses sharpened.
This… this is my Haki.
From behind the trees, the monster burst out — a massive serpent-fish hybrid, jaws wide, teeth glistening.
The villagers screamed.
But Ryu D. Kaizen stepped forward.
One step.
Two.
His fist tightened.
"If this is the world of One Piece…" he whispered, eyes blazing,
"…then I refuse to start weak."
Faint black sparks crackled around his arm — the earliest flicker of Armament Haki.
The monster lunged.
Ryu roared and charged straight at it.