Under the night sky, Loguetown Harbor.
The salty sea breeze whipped up layers of waves, their rhythmic sound like a moonlit lullaby, smoothing away all the bustle of Loguetown.
In the darkness, a faint bolt of lightning pierced through, flashing past at extreme speed, instantly knocking out all the pirates aboard a medium-sized pirate ship.
Releasing his Elementalization, Astrix first hooked Mihawk's small boat onto the deck, then raised the anchor and kicked the unconscious pirates onto the shore one by one.
Then, he skillfully started the ship and sailed away from the harbor.
He had originally planned to catch up with Buggy and Shanks, but at the thought of Garp being nearby, Astrix only wished the ship could go faster.
As for the terror of Garp's iron fists, the Roger Pirates had the most to say about it.
In the years since the Battle of God Valley, Garp had only done two things—
First, refusing promotion to Admiral.
Second, chasing Roger across the world.
Within the Roger Pirates, from the three main powerhouses—Gold, Silver, and Copper—down to the interns Shanks and Buggy, everyone except Astrix had the honor of experiencing Garp's iron fists.
Those were fists that were completely unreasonable, automatically locked onto heads, and infused with Conqueror's Hak.
Astrix steered with one hand while keeping an eye on the needle with the other.
Not far away, Mihawk held a cup of iced black tea. "What is the ONE PIECE?"
Astrix grinned. "Want to know?"
"Mihawk, as long as you call me Captain, I'll take you to Laugh Tale right now."
With the dawn of the Great Pirate Era, the world would only grow more chaotic. Due to his identity, Astrix's path to joining the Marines was almost completely blocked.
To live better in these troubled times, one person's strength was ultimately limited—he had to form his own pirate crew.
Especially since Astrix had eaten the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, he needed at least a salvage team on board, specifically for fishing people out of the water.
As for crew candidates, the first choice was naturally the world's greatest swordsman, Hawkeye Mihawk. Only a fool would miss out on such combat power; he had to win him over.
Next were Kuma and Jinbe.
Kuma's life was far too tragic.
Astrix both coveted Kuma's strength and didn't want to see a hero who saved five hundred civilians at God Valley… live such a miserable life.
A hero shouldn't have such an ending.
As for Jinbe—who wouldn't want a Blue Fatso?
And with that Blue Fatso… Fishman Jinbe on board, Astrix would never have to worry about falling into the sea again.
However, before recruiting crew members, the priority was to increase his own strength. After all, this was a world where strength was king, and the weak had no choice.
Mihawk gently set down his teacup, stood up, drew the Black Blade Yoru from his back, and held it across Astrix's neck.
"You seem to have some misunderstanding about me."
The icy edge of the Black Blade Yoru snapped Astrix back to his senses instantly, and he hurriedly raised his hands.
"Kowai ne, Mihawk."
Right—Mihawk was no do-gooder; the title of Marine Hunter was certainly not for show.
Mihawk sheathed the Black Blade Yoru. "You're being watched by CP now. You'll face endless pursuit from the World Government and the Marines next."
"If the news that you were a member of the Pirate King's crew leaks out, pirates won't let you off either."
"Even if you've eaten the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, don't tell everyone you meet that you were a member of the Roger Pirates or that you've been to Laugh Tale."
Astrix realized that Mihawk was worried about him. Honestly, he could have just said it directly instead of pulling a sword—what a tsundere.
"Mihawk, how do you think I've survived all these years? I'm only being honest with you."
Mihawk picked up his teacup, stopped in front of the cabin, and asked without looking back, "Why?"
"Idiot, because I trust you!"
Crack.
The teacup was crushed into powder in Mihawk's hand, and the temperature in the air seemed to drop a few degrees.
Astrix's heart raced. It wasn't until Mihawk entered the cabin that he reached up to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
Training someone like this really couldn't be rushed.
But Mihawk—you won't escape.
Jie jie jie… come onto this Captain's ship!
Astrix took out an Eternal Pose pointing to Reverse Mountain from his pocket and browsed the purchase requests on the trading platform while sailing.
[Request: To the bros in Teyvat, 50,000 points just to see....]
Astrix took a closer look at the poster's world and suddenly realized:
The Warhammer World…
"No wonder they're so rich. Not only are they putting bounties on Momonosuke and the Deserter King Koby but others as well. A transmigrator who can survive in the Warhammer World can't just be described as tough—they're practically god-like."
Putting aside his overly ambitious thoughts, Astrix began selecting commissions he could handle for now.
[Request: 9 points for food and water.]
Astrix quickly accepted the commission and submitted ten portions of food and water all at once to the bro who had transmigrated into an apocalypse.
[Ding! Congratulations on completing the commission. You have earned 9 points. Commissions completed this month: 9/10. Current point balance: 9.]
Although it took up one commission slot, Astrix wasn't discouraged; at least he had figured out another rule.
[Request: Any bros in the Pirate World? 1,000 points, long-term bulk purchase of Devil Fruits.]
[10 cases of iced black tea: 1 point]
"Iced black tea?" Astrix mused.
"If iced black tea can be exchanged for points… then the shells on Sky Island probably can too?"
To better "train" Mihawk, Astrix painfully spent the huge sum of 1 point to buy ten cases of iced black tea and took one case out of the system space to place in the refrigerator.
Since Mihawk liked black tea, as the Captain, he naturally had to pamper his future crew member.
[Ding! Purchase successful. Purchases made this month: 9/10. Current point balance: 8.]
Closing the system interface, Astrix had a general understanding of the trading platform: both the number of commissions completed and the number of purchases allowed per month were limited to ten.
On the other hand, direct sales from the system had no such limits.
Also, points were extremely hard to earn.
He had to reach Shandora on Sky Island as soon as possible and use the golden pillars there to buy the divine artifact, Musou Isshin.
Then he would occupy Sky Island as a base, eat and drink to his heart's content for a while, and let his Big Eater constitution fully nourish his body.
He would also list the Sky Island shells with supernatural powers on the trading platform to exchange for points, then use those points to strengthen himself.
Astrix possessed a god's-eye view, so he naturally knew the future course of this sea.
Shanks would establish the Red Hair Pirates, then go undercover in the God's Knights to gather information, and finally return to the sea to become the fourth Emperor.
Buggy, meanwhile, would remain hidden in the East Blue.
In the World Government's intelligence, Buggy and Shanks were just interns and hadn't been to Laugh Tale, so their threat level was much lower than the other crew members.
Among the remaining members of the Roger Pirates, the easiest one to arrest was undoubtedly Beelzebub Astrix.
Astrix opened a bottle of iced black tea, gulped it down, and cursed.
"Damn it! To think that I, a member of the Pirate King's crew, would be looked down upon by the World Government!"
"The weak really have no human rights."
For the next month or so, Astrix and Mihawk took turns steering the ship, entering the first half of the Grand Line from Reverse Mountain and heading toward Jaya Island.
In his spare time, Astrix did only three things: sleep, eat and drink like crazy, and train his body intensely.
One day, Astrix awkwardly realized that the ship needed supplies again—but they were out of money.
Just then, a pirate ship flying a Jolly Roger came into view.
"Mihawk, pull us alongside!"