Chapter 3
[Next day]
"Wake up."
Someone was shaking me.
I woke up and saw the mayor looking at me with a big smile.
"Good Morning, Ken."
'So, this isn't a dream.'
*YAWN*
I stretched myself.
"Good Morning."
"The bathroom is right in front of your room. Go clean yourself up. I'll be waiting downstairs with breakfast."
I nodded, and he left the room.
'Alright, let's start the first day in this new world!'
I jumped out of bed and cleaned myself up in the bathroom. I could already smell the delicious food. I hurried downstairs.
When I looked at the food, I start drooling.
"Hahaha, you must be hungry. Come and have a seat."
I quickly sat down.
"Thanks for the food."
I immediately started eating.
"Hmm. This is so good."
"Hahaha, I'm glad you like it."
He looked at me for a little while.
"Are you okay?"
"Ah, yes, yes. I was just thinking about something. Do you want to go shopping with me?"
"What do you need?"
"It isn't for me. Since you're going to stay here for a while, you'll need extra clothes."
'Huh!?'
I was shocked.
'This is the first time someone has been so nice to me besides my little brother.'
*SNICK*
*SNICK*
Tears were falling from my eyes even though I tried to stop them.
"T… thank you so…. much!"
He pats my head.
"You're welcome. All right, let's finish up eating and go out to do some shopping."
I smiled at him.
We headed out after breakfast. We went to a little shop which was the only clothing store in this village. I was able to find a couple of outfits, but there wasn't much to choose from. But it's still 100 times better than in my last life. Even though there were enough places to get clothes, I wasn't allowed to get any unless absolutely necessary.
After visiting a couple more shops for groceries and things like that, we went home.
[1 week later]
This one week has been the best week of my life. I've met a lot of the villagers, including Makino. She gives me free food and drinks whenever I visit her bar. I've never smiled so much in my entire life. But today that is kinda coming to a stop. Yesterday I managed to trail one of the bandits back to the Dadan Family hideout.
It's 6 am right now. I packed a bag with my clothes and left behind a letter telling the mayor that I'll be back soon. I managed to sneak out of the house and started running towards Mt. Colubo. After following the exact path I took yesterday, I arrived at their hideout. Just when I wanted to knock, someone opened the door.
He had a surprised and cautious look on his face. He stepped back.
"Who are you?"
'He must be Ace.'
I looked at him with a smile.
"I would like to talk to Dadan."
He glared at me.
"I asked you a question!"
"SHUT UP!" screamed someone from the inside.
A tall and wide woman with orange hair came out.
She had an angry look on her face.
"Why are you so loud, Ace!? And who is this brat?"
I looked at her with a smile.
"You must be Curly Dadan, the bandit with a 7.800.000 million Berry bounty."
She started looking around.
"Hahaha, did you think a brat like you could take me on by himself?"
"Hahaha, I wouldn't dare. The mayor told me about you."
"Huh, that old stick?"
The other bandits appeared behind her.
I glared at her.
"Don't call him that you old hag."
"HAHAHA!" laughed Ace
The bandits behind her turned pale.
My senses suddenly screamed, "DANGER"!
*BAM*
*BAM*
She sent me and Ace flying.
"ACE! KID!"
It was the last thing I heard before everything turned black.
[An unknown amount of time later.]
"Argh!"
I woke up and clenched my head.
'What happened?'
I looked around and saw the bandits.
'Oh yeah, she hit me. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.'
"Wow, you woke up even faster than Ace." said a guy that looks like a chicken.
I looked to my side and saw Ace still sleeping.
'Maybe she didn't hit me as hard as Ace. Hm? Nevermind, he is just pretending.'
Dadan suddenly spoke up from a corner.
"Now that you're awake, leave!"
I glared at her.
"You almost killed me, and now you're sending me away. Where am I supposed to live?"
"Just go back to your parents or family."
I looked down, and a couple of tears came falling down.
"There was a… big wave and… everyone..."
I looked at her with tears in my eyes.
'It worked on the mayor.'
She looked to be really hesitating.
"Do you really have no other place to stay? How about the mayor's house?"
"No."
"Tsk, fine. You can stay here."
"Huh!?" said everyone including Ace
He looked at me.
"What did you do to her? There is no way that she would take someone in willingly."
I smiled at Dadan.
"She must be a nice person."
She looked the other way.
"Oh yeah, guys, my name is Ken. Nice to meet all of you."
Everyone started introducing themselves. The chicken guy is called Magra, and the really short guy is called Dogra.
I looked at Ace, but he didn't want to introduce himself.
"His name is Ace." said Magra
Ace glared at him.
"Nice to meet you, Ace."
He looked the other way.
I stood up.
"Don't worry, Dadan. I'll pay you back for this in the future."
I walked out of the hideout and went into the forest.
'The reason I came here is to become stronger so I will start training immediately.;
I found a small clearing next to a river and started to do basic exercises.
[20 minutes later]
*HUF*
*HUF*
*HUF*
I'm lying on the ground completely soaked in sweat. Four pushups, six situps, three squats, and five minutes of running.
'So this is my limit, huh, but I can't stop here. If I don't have enough strength, I will just be a Cannon fodder.'
After a little bit of rest, I went and did everything again till I fell face-first on the ground, and I could not move.
Ten minutes later, I was finally able to move.
'Let's go again.'
I kept training and resting till it was almost lunchtime, and then I went for a shower in the river.
I had trouble going back because everything hurt.
"Hahaha, what happened to you?"
I looked at Ace, who was standing on top of a tree.
"I was just doing a little bit of training."
He smirked.
"You are pretty weak if a little bit of training makes you walk like that."
I also smirked.
"I'd be easily able to beat you up after one year of training."
He jumped in front of me. He looked pissed.
"Do you really think that you'll be able to beat me in one year?"
I looked at him mockingly.
"I'll beat you so hard; you'll think I'm god."
He looked like he was about to hit me.
"Alright let's bet on it." said Ace
I had a little smirk.
"What do you want to bet on, Ace?"
"The one who loses has to listen to the winner."
"Sure, I already know what I want. If I win, you'll be joining my crew."
"Huh!? So you also want to become a pirate?"
"Nope."
He looked confused.
"Then what do you want to become."
I smirked.
"The Pirate King."
"Hahahahaha."
He suddenly burst out laughing.
"Do you really think you will be able to do it?"
"I will be able to do it if you help me. I can see that you have amazing potential, but I will, of course, come out on top."
He grabbed me by my collar and looked at me angrily.
"Let's go right now and see who is stronger!"
I put my hands in my pocket and smirked.
"Why are you so aggressive? Are you also trying to become the Pirate King?"
"Yes, and I will become the Pirate King no matter what!"
I removed his hands from my collar.
"You are pretty adamant about becoming the Pirate King. Is there perhaps someone you want to surpass."
He balled up his fist, and I could see the frustration in his face.
"I'm going to surpass my father."
"Hm?"
I grabbed his face and looked at him closely.
"Wait, what are you doing!?"
He pushed me back.
"What were you trying to do!?"
I smiled at him.
"Just checking if I was right."
He looked confused.
"Right about what?"
I smirked.
"You being Gol D. Rogers's son."
He looked shocked.
"How did you know!?"
"Well, now I'm 100% sure."
He was about to punch me.
"Tell me, how did you know!"
I backed off a little.
"You said that you wanted to surpass your father, and to do that, you have to become the Pirate King. And by looking at your face, I was able to see the resemblance."
He had a surprised look on his face.
"You figured that out from only that!?"
I smirked.
"I'm smart, that's all. I will go back and eat lunch."
I turned around and was about to go.
"Wait!"
I stopped and turned around.
"Yeah?"
He had a frustrated look on his face.
"Don't you hate me now?"
"Why would I hate you because of your parents?"
He looked surprised.
"But…"
"How about I tell you about my parents, and you can see if I would ever care about yours."
"How can your parents be worse than my father?"
I had a serious look on my face.
"My parents, little brother, and I lived in the slums. My parents were drug addicts and alcoholics. They abused my little brother and me every day. I had to work every day from sunrise to sunset, and they said that if I didn't go to work, they would kill my little brother."
Ace looked shocked and disgusted by my story.
I balled up my fists.
"One day, when I came home, I heard my little brother screaming. When I arrived at the place I heard the screams, I found my little brother lying in a pool of his own blood. He was full of bruises and cuts. My parents were standing next to him with knives in their hands."
I took a deep breath.
"The day ended with my parents killing my little brother and me killing them."
Ace looked down.
"I'm sorry for bringing this up. I was stupid to think that I had it bad."
"Sigh."
I put my hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry about it. Well, I'm hungry, so I'm going back to the hideout."
"Wait."
"Hm, what is it?"
"There isn't a lot of food at the hideout, so let's go get our own food."
I smiled at him.
"Alright, lead the way then."
He nodded and led the way. We spent the rest of the day eating the food we found, playing, and training.
'It seems like me coming to this world is a bigger blessing than I thought.'