"Rosinante, run! Hurry! What are you spacing out for?!"
Under the pitch-black sky above Mary Geoise—the Holy Land where the Celestial Dragons reside, a blond-haired boy wearing sunglasses dragged another blond boy along as they tore through the desolate streets. Fear and fury twisted his young face.
"Hang in there, Rosinante! We're almost out! Those bastards, I'll kill them all! I swear I'll kill every last one of them!"
The blond kid in sunglasses clung to Rosinante's hand and bolted through the night like a madman. If they stopped, they'd die—slaughtered by their own kind without a shred of mercy.
Rosinante, the blond boy being dragged along looked completely baffled.
Who am I?
What's going on?
Why am I running?
All I did was pull an all-nighter playing League of Legends. Next thing I know, I wake up mid-sprint in a place I've never seen before. And who's this kid dragging me around? Sunglasses at night? Isn't he worried about faceplanting in the dark?
"Over there! They went that way! After them!"
Before Rosinante could process what was happening, a blaze of torches flared up behind them, accompanied by the thunder of hurried footsteps.
"Rosinante, run! Don't stop, we're almost there! Just a little further!"
The sunglasses-wearing blond yanked him forward again. Rosinante, still dazed, blurted out:
"Why are we running?"
"Because we found out the Celestial Dragons' darkest secret! If they catch us, we're dead—executed! But we're almost safe. Just hold on! There's a forest ahead. Once we get there, we'll be fine!"
The boy's teeth clenched in desperation. But Rosinante only grew more confused.
Executed? Isn't murder illegal? What kind of messed-up world is this? And why does the name Rosinante sound so familiar? Where have I heard it before...?
"Huff… Huff…"
The two of them ran like madmen. Behind them, torchlight swarmed closer.
At last, the blond in sunglasses dragged Rosinante to the edge of a cliff—just beyond it, a thick forest loomed.
"There! They're just ahead! Don't let them get away!"
"Yes, sir!"
Thump thump thump…
The pursuers were almost upon them. The sunglasses-wearing boy was soaked in sweat now, panicking as he glanced down the cliffside to the sea below, then back at their pursuers. Gritting his teeth, he turned to Rosinante and shouted:
"I ate a Devil Fruit, I can't swim. So, it's up to you to jump and draw their attention. Sorry, little brother!"
And before Rosinante could react, the boy shoved him hard—so hard that Rosinante tumbled right off the cliff.
That push snapped something awake in him.
Devil Fruit?
Wait—
This is One Piece?!
"AAAAHHH!"
He was fully awake now, but too late. Gravity took over, and he plummeted, screaming.
"Sorry, Rosinante…"
Above, the boy in sunglasses watched his brother fall, then picked up a nearby boulder and hurled it over the edge after him. With that, he slipped silently into a patch of tall grass to hide.
Splash!
Splash!
Two bodies hit the water—one real, one not. A group of black-clad men brandishing torches arrived seconds later, staring over the cliff's edge.
"They jumped. Hurry! Send a team down to retrieve them!"
"There's no need."
Just as the order was about to be given, two men in white cloaks and masks stepped forward—members of CP0, the Celestial Dragons' personal guard.
The black-clad men froze at once. These two outranked them by far.
"Those brats jumped. No trace, no remains. Disappeared into the sea. Mission complete. Withdraw."
"Yes, sir!"
The black-clad squad saluted and quickly dispersed. The CP0 agents remained for a moment, one of them glancing toward the grassy patch where the sunglasses kid was hiding.
"We're not killing them?"
"Don't be stupid. Even if the gods no longer favor them, they're still divine blood. If we kill them, that makes us godslayers. Do I need to spell out what that means?"
"R-Right… But wasn't it the gods who ordered their deaths?"
"And they jumped. Dead is dead. The sea just swallowed the bodies before we could recover them. Now move."
"Understood."
…
One Piece? I've… transmigrated?
That was the last coherent thought Rosinante had before he hit the water with a splash.
The impact knocked him out cold. Beneath the waves, two souls began to fuse—one from this world, and one from another.
And in that strange spiritual merging, the soul from the 21st century began to understand.
He was Rosinante. Full name: Donquixote Rosinante.
Maybe that name wasn't familiar to most, but his older brother certainly was—yes, the kid with the sunglasses.
Donquixote Doflamingo.
That's right, the future Heavenly Yaksha. The future Warlord of the Sea.
But how had they fallen so far?
To answer that, you'd have to go back two years. Back when they were still Celestial Dragons, living comfortably in the Holy Land.
Then their eccentric father decided he wanted to stop being a god and become a normal human. He withdrew their family from the Celestial Dragon order and led them into the outside world to live among commoners.
And then came the tragedies.
First, their mother died—too poor to afford medical care. Then, the townspeople discovered their identities. The family was captured, strung up on the city wall, and nearly shot to death.
Doflamingo awoke his Supreme King Haki in a fit of rage, knocking the crowd unconscious and saving them.
Afterward, he blamed everything on their naïve father. Pulled the trigger himself and shot the man dead. Then, with his father's head in hand, he returned to Mary Geoise with Rosinante, begging to be readmitted as Celestial Dragons.
But the others saw them as traitors' offspring. They refused. The brothers were cast out.
While fleeing, they stumbled into a hidden chamber and uncovered the Celestial Dragons' darkest secret.
That discovery triggered the manhunt they now found themselves in, with CP0 and elite soldiers ordered to erase them.
No way… I've become Corazon?
Seriously?
Today, I get pushed off a cliff by Doflamingo, and fourteen years later, he shoots me dead? Am I destined to die at his hands no matter what?
No. Not this time. I've been given a second chance. I won't go down that easily, not when I've got a shot at rewriting my fate. I refuse to be the same tragic Corazon as before.
Now, where do I start? If I remember right, the original Corazon was Sengoku the Buddha's foster son. Fleet Admiral Sengoku! A true Navy elite!
With that kind of political backing, how did Corazon end up so helpless in canon? That makes no sense!
Wait, how long have I been floating here? Screw logic, I need help! Where's my dear old adoptive dad?! Where's Sengoku?! Somebody pull me out already!
…
Not far away, a Navy warship glided across the sea.
At its bow stood a man with a massive afro, wearing round glasses and a coat emblazoned with the word "Justice." He stared out over the ocean.
"Vice Admiral Sengoku," a lookout called, "we've spotted a child floating in the water."
(End of Chapter)
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