Kurogane Ren lay sprawled across the little sailboat, exhausted, staring up at the stars overhead.
He had already left the island more than ten hours ago.
For all that time, he had been using his ability nonstop, generating wind to drive the boat forward. Thankfully, the sailboat wasn't very large, so keeping it moving hadn't drained him as badly as it could have.
But compared to that, he was facing an even bigger problem.
He was lost.
Before setting off, Ren had deliberately chosen the direction opposite from where the Celestial Dragon's ship had sunk, all to avoid running into any rescue forces that might be on the way.
But it didn't take long for reality to slap him in the face.
He had absolutely no experience operating a sailboat.
Very quickly, Ren discovered that he couldn't even control the boat's direction properly.
He struggled for hours before finally figuring out a few basic tricks and barely managing to keep the sailboat moving in a single direction.
And then he realized something awkward.
He had completely lost his sense of direction.
Standing there on the boat, looking out over the endless sea, Ren found that he had no idea which way he was supposed to go.
Because the boat had been so hard to control earlier, he no longer even knew which direction he had already been drifting in.
After some thought, Ren took out an empty drink bottle.
He decided that whichever way the bottle pointed, that was the direction he'd sail.
Of course, he knew this method was basically leaving everything to fate.
If he chose wrong while sailing through the Calm Belt, he might just keep drifting along it forever. But there was also a chance he could eventually enter one of the Four Seas or the Grand Line.
Either way, he had no better option.
He didn't have a Log Pose.
Using his ability for so long had also drained his stamina badly.
Right now, his stomach felt hollow.
After resting for a bit, he recovered a little strength, then took out some food and water from his storage bag and started replenishing himself.
His empty stomach was so hungry that he finished everything he had taken out in just a few minutes.
But even then, the hunger still remained.
Ren gritted his teeth and forced himself to give up on taking out more food.
He had no idea how long he would be stuck at sea, so both food and water had to be rationed carefully.
Even if he could draw from the lottery every day, food didn't necessarily show up every day.
So, enduring the ache in his stomach, Ren prepared to sleep.
Because he had overused his ability all day, exhaustion swallowed him quickly, and before long, he was fast asleep.
At the very moment Ren drifted off, a webbed hand appeared over the edge of the Red Line.
Then a fish-man pulled himself up.
He took several deep breaths, then lifted his head and looked into the distance.
Far away stood a prosperous, beautiful city.
But in his eyes, there was only hatred.
Disgust.
His fists tightened as he began walking toward the distant city.
That fish-man was none other than Fisher Tiger.
A few hours later, under Fisher Tiger's lead, tens of thousands of slaves fled the city and scattered in every direction.
Fisher Tiger himself stood in the distance, staring at the burning city with a puzzled expression on his face.
A blue, stout fish-man walked over and asked, "Boss Tiger, what's wrong?"
Fisher Tiger frowned and said, "Jinbe, don't you think something feels off about Mary Geoise tonight?"
"How so?"
"There are too few guards in Mary Geoise."
Jinbe thought for a moment, then said, "Maybe those guards all went to protect the Celestial Dragons. Those people value their lives more than anything."
"Maybe."
Fisher Tiger's eyes remained narrowed as he looked back at the flames.
"Still, we should leave as quickly as possible. Marine reinforcements should be arriving soon."
"Got it."
Meanwhile, Kurogane Ren, still sleeping like the dead on his little boat, had no idea that his arrival had already started to alter the original course of the One Piece world.
A butterfly had flapped its wings.
And the storm had already begun.
...
"Damn it! Damn it all!"
At that moment, the Five Elders were in a towering rage.
Mary Geoise had been set ablaze.
Tens of thousands of slaves had escaped.
Although most had already been killed or recaptured, several thousand were still at large.
"Have you identified who did it yet?" one of the Elders barked.
"N-Not yet..."
"Then investigate immediately!"
"Yes!"
One of the others asked, "Should we recall CP0?"
"No," another answered coldly. "The item still hasn't been found."
"But the Holy Land itself was attacked."
"So what if it was?" came the icy reply. "The Holy Land was only set on fire. Some slaves ran off. Houses can be rebuilt. Slaves can be bought again. In the end, there were barely any real casualties."
"But what happens if the item isn't recovered? If we lose the ability to keep that thing suppressed, then we'll have no choice but to ask that person to intervene. And if it comes to that, all of us will be punished."
"That's right. If that thing can no longer be suppressed, the consequences will be too severe. What happened with Rocks over twenty years ago must never be allowed to happen again."
"Because of Rocks, the Marines have grown stronger and stronger over the years, while CP has gradually become less capable of keeping up. If something like that happens again, then the Marines' power may end up surpassing CP entirely. For us, that would be fatal."
After a brief silence, one of them finally said, "Fine. Let the Marines handle this incident. CP0 will continue the search and recover the item as fast as possible."
...
The next day.
Ren woke up before dawn.
He had been woken by hunger.
It seemed that yesterday's prolonged use of his ability had drained his stamina more seriously than he thought.
Even so, he didn't dare eat immediately.
He planned to wait until after today's lottery draw. If he drew food, then he could afford to eat a little more. If not, then he would have to keep rationing.
But the hunger gnawed at him so badly that he could barely stand it.
In the end, he muttered, "System, come out. Talk to me for a bit."
He wanted to distract himself with conversation and ease the hunger a little.
"What is it, Host?" the system asked.
Ren thought for a moment, then said, "System, why do you have so few functions?"
The system countered calmly, "Host, how did you make money in your previous life?"
Ren froze for a second, then replied, "By working for other people, obviously. It's not like I was some rich second-generation heir."
"There you have it," the system said. "If you wanted money before, you had to work for it. But now? All you have to do is sign in once a day, and you get lottery chances that can give you all kinds of items. Do you know what that means?"
"It means getting something for nothing."
"It means conjuring value out of thin air."
"You don't have to put in effort, yet you still receive all kinds of rewards. So what exactly are you dissatisfied with?"
Ren blinked.
Only now did he realize the system actually had a point.
That was right.
The system had never forced him to do anything in exchange. He could obtain items every day without working for them at all.
By that logic, he was the one freeloading.
The system was the one turning nothing into something.
So what exactly did he still have to complain about?
Ren said emotionally, "System... you really are one of the top systems in the universe."
The system revealed a gratified expression.
"It's good that you understand."
Then Ren thought of something else and quickly asked, "System, why wasn't I attacked by Sea Kings yesterday?"
From Ren's point of view, sailing through the Calm Belt on a tiny sailboat was practically suicide.
And yet, after drifting the whole day, he hadn't been attacked even once.
That was definitely strange.
The system let out a scoffing laugh.
"Host, don't tell me you thought a transcendent sailboat could only grow and shrink? It seems you still lack a proper understanding of transcendent-grade items."
Ren's eyes widened. "You mean... the reason I wasn't attacked by Sea Kings was because of the sailboat?"
"Yes," the system replied. "A transcendent sailboat does more than just change size. It also has another characteristic. No matter what kind of Sea King is sensing it, in their perception, it never appears larger than the size of your palm."
Ren silently raised a thumbs-up.
Impressive.
It seemed he really had underestimated transcendent items.
Then he suddenly remembered the very first transcendent item he had ever received—
the pair of flip-flops.
He clearly remembered the label on them.
Indestructible.
At that thought, Ren immediately became curious.
Were they really impossible to damage?
He almost wanted to test them right away.
But after looking around at the endless sea of the Calm Belt, he decided against it.
Better to stay honest.
This was not the time to go courting death.