This isn't meant to happen!
The entire thing was absurd. Cavendish dying before the time skip? Impossible! The man was supposed to be the first commander of the strawhat fleet.
But he was dead. Killed by some strange pirate who didn't even have a name.
"Hey, who the hell are you!?" Regan demanded. "How did you kill him!?"
"How?" The man scoffed, gulping down another mouthful of his drink. "I shot him. That's how."
"Yeah, but…damn it! This doesn't make any sense!"
"Nothing makes sense in this world, kid. Nothing at all. Ya coming back to the Inn or are you stayin' here?"
"I'm staying here." Regan replied quickly. He couldn't move from the docks, he had to make sense of the situation. Cavendish is dead, and his crew were just obliterated instantly.
Was there even a character like him in the manga? Just who is he!?
"Alrighty. I'll be going then, don't mind if I take this horse back with me, it does belong to your father. Ah, it's a shame we couldn't sell off all these goods. We scared off the merchants."
Regan ignored him, he rushed towards another dock, almost tripping and falling into the water at the edge. He watched with widened eyes as the ship began sinking, dragged into a watery grave without its captain.
The beautiful pirates truly were no more.
He could hear the loud shouts of surprise whipping against his ear, and licking at the belly of the morning sky. All around him men were shouting and avoiding the strange pirate as if he was the common plague.
I have to stop dawdling, I'm wasting time!
Regan concluded that if events could change in the one piece world he spawned into, then there was a likelihood that even Luffy could die. He couldn't let that happen, there's no way he would be able to live with himself if he died before he got the chance to meet him.
I can't let that happen! I have to get stronger NOW.
"Wait!" Regan yelled out, rushing towards the strange pirate. Regan allowed himself a moment to catch his breath, and then finally spoke as the air returned to him. "Take me to the woods."
"To tha' woods? Kid, your father would kill me."
Yeah, right. As if he could.
"Cmon, take me to the woods! I have to get stronger! And fast!"
"Why're you so adamant on strength, eh? You trying to become a pirate?"
"Yes! And I just saw you take out a future first commander like it was nothing! Of course I want to get strong!"
The man blinked and glared at Regan with his jaw hanging low. Something had startled him, but Regan wasn't too sure which word it was that had worked up such an expression.
"What did you just say?" The pirate said.
"Huh? I said I want to get stronger!"
"No, about Cavendish. What did you just say?"
"What is this!? 21 questions!? I said that you took out a future first comm—"
Regan paused, only now catching on to what he had just said.
"How do you know that he's going to be a first commander? And of what crew?"
Oh, crap.
Regan scratched his neck and pieced his mind for an answer. "Well, he's strong. He just gave off that impression."
"But still, why not second, third, or fourth commander? Why first specifically?"
"Again, because he gives off the impression of being a first commander." Regan said, panic spreading through his body. "What's with all the questions? Look, can you take me to the woods or not?"
"Hm," the man replied, his narrowed eyes encrypting whatever thoughts that were dancing about in his head. "I suppose I can take you there. Get on. But listen, me and you are going to have to eventually talk about what we just discussed. Do you understand?"
Regan didn't like the sound of that. He didn't know why he was so suspicious, and why he was so fixated on his labelling of Cavendish's future role. Instead of prying further, Regan simply shrugged and nodded.
***
The strange pirate had taken him to the same entrance Regan had left from. The woods were ever foreboding, their towering trees beckoning Regan through.
Regan dismounted from the horse and walked away from the suspicious man. He didn't dare turn back, but that didn't stop the feeling of his eyes boring into his back.
I hope he doesn't follow me in here
After gaining some distance, Regan picked up the pace and lightly jogged deeper into the woods. He was surrounded by nothing but greenery now, free from civilisation. Alone with his thoughts.
"Cavendish is really dead!" Regan conversated with the air. "He's really dead! Holy shit."
Regan took a deep breath and allowed his thoughts to run marathons inside the halls of his skull. Could he truly become powerful enough to sail the seas with just two years worth of training?
I mean, Luffy did it at 17. Wait, how old even am I in in this body?
Shrugging off these thoughts, he went back to musing about the training methods he had considered earlier. Strength training, and Haki training. The training wasn't the hard part, the hard part was that he had no mentor to guide him, but it didn't really matter considering he knew exactly how to train due to his understanding of the manga.
The mentors themselves didn't have mentors. They simply trained alone.
That much was true, but training alone posed an even greater risk than if one was to have train with a mentor. You could die in training. But, looking at the likes of Rayleigh and Garp, the strength that bloomed from it made the risk quite worth it.
Regan sighed and took in his surroundings. He glared at a large, thick tree and made a beeline towards it. He knocked on the bark, testing its durability.
I don't have a ship to punch, so I guess I'll start with the trees. Call it 'Tree Bagging.'
There's not much of a difference to how it is in the real world, Regan thought. It was like knuckle conditioning but with absurd anime/manga laws behind it.
Regan made a fist, swallowed hard, and punched the tree with all his strength.
"GAHHHHHGH" Regan shrieked, rolling all over the ground as his fist was swarmed by pain.
Dammit, dammit! Feels like I've got cancer all over again!
[You Have Gained 1 Melee Point]
What!? What was that!?
The voice came from nowhere, slithering into his ear like some vile parasite. Regan rose to his feet, his eyes darting about the place, but all he found was air and flora.
He made another fist, this time with the hand that was free from pain, and punched the tree once more. He grit his teeth and swallowed back every curse that meant to escape his mouth as the pain assailed him.
[You Have Gained 1 Melee Point]
Melee point? Wait, this sounds familiar.
Regan pieced back his memories of the real world. Before his illness, he often played various one piece games on a platform called Roblox. On those games, there were stats and attributes that one could improve through grinding out the game.
Wait, is it just like that!?
Regan grit his teeth and punched the tree multiple times, wrestling with the pain that almost brought him back down to the ground.
[You Have Gained 1 Melee Point]
[You Have Gained 1 Melee Point]
[You Have Gained 1 Melee Point]
[You Have Gained 1 Melee Point]
Regan continued punching until the pain fared too much. His knuckles were bruised and damaged, blood seeping out of the small cuts that the bark had made.
Dammit, this is going to be toug—
[You Have Melee Points to Deposit. Do You Wish To Proceed?]
To deposit? How many did I gain again?
[Opening Stats…]
Two red windows appeared in front of him.
[Dedmond Dantes Stats]
Rank: Small-Fry [0/1000]
Melee: 0
Defense: 0
Sword: 0
DF Power: 0
Gun: 0
[Dedmond Dantes Points]
Total Available Points: 12
Melee Points: 12
Defense Points: 0
Sword Points: 0
DF Points: 0
Gun points: 0
"Holy shit! Put them all into melee!"
[Melee Points Deposited Succesfully]
With that, Dantes could feel some strength coursing through his body. His hands didn't feel as painful as they were before, and he balled them both back up into fists and took a stance.
He punched the thick tree over and over again, until the very moment he grew tired of hearing the voice blaring through his skull.
Where did it even come from? Shit, my hands hurt like hell!
Regan commanded the voice to bring up his stats again, and found that he had gained 20 melee points. He poured the points into his melee stat, and continued punching the tree, the pain lessening with every strike he made.
Yeah, I think two years is enough time! Just you wait, Luffy. I'm going to catch up to you!