The morning sun rose over the Grand Line, casting a golden hue across the deck of the Going Merry. The ship sailed smoothly, guided by Merry and the navigation of Nami. The smell of freshly baked bread and sizzling bacon drifted from the galley—Sanji's signature wake-up call.
Ben sat at the small dining table, enjoying a breakfast of eggs benedict and a cup of Earl Grey. The crew was slowly trickling in, Luffy already half-asleep while inhaling a plate of sausages. But Ben had business to attend to.
After finishing his tea, Ben stood up and went to his Workshop.
"I will be busy for a while," Ben said to the groggy crew. "I have some 'trash' to take out."
He stepped into his workshop and placed the suitcase on a table. With a click of the latches, he stepped inside.
---
In the center of the room were the former top agents of Baroque Works: Sir Crocodile, Mr. 1 (Daz Bonez), Miss Doublefinger, Mr. 2 (Bon Clay), and several others.
As Ben entered, the silence was shattered.
"YOU!" Crocodile snarled, his golden hook scraping against the energy field. Even beaten and bloodied, the former Warlord's eyes burned with a murderous rage. "Where have you taken us? This isn't Impel Down! Kill me now, Magician, or I swear I will dry your very soul!"
"You're in my world now, Crocodile," Ben said, his voice cold and echoing. "And in my world, your threats have no weight."
Mr. 1 glared in silence, while Miss Doublefinger looked around with frantic eyes. Bon Clay, ever the eccentric, was crying about the "un-stylish" nature of their prison.
Ben didn't have time for a debate. He raised his Elder Wand.
"Stupefy!"
A bolt of brilliant red light erupted from the tip. It bounced between the prisoners with preternatural speed. One by one, their heads snapped back as they were plunged into a magical unconsciousness. Within seconds, the room was silent.
Ben walked up to Crocodile first. He looked at the man who had nearly destroyed a kingdom for a weapon of mass destruction.
"You have a great deal of talent, Crocodile," Ben whispered. "It's a shame it was wasted on megalomania."
He pointed the wand at the Warlord's temple.
"Obliviate."
A swirling, silver mist began to pull from Crocodile's head. Ben wasn't just erasing a few hours; he was systematically deconstructing the man's identity. Every memory of being a pirate, every memory of Pluton, every memory of his hatred for the World Government—gone. Ben replaced the void with a single, overriding directive: Serve Alabasta. Protect the King. Repay the debt.
He repeated the process for Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger. He erased their pasts and their loyalty to Baroque Works, weaving a new narrative into their subconscious. They were no longer assassins; they were now the "Silent Sentinels" of the Nefertari family.
Then, he looked at their faces. Even with no memories, they were still recognizable as criminals.
"A little cosmetic surgery is in order," Ben muttered. "Transfiguration."
Under the influence of his magic, the prisoners' bone structures began to shift. Crocodile's rugged, scarred face smoothed out and widened; his signature slicked-back hair turned a dusty brown. Mr. 1's sharp features became more rounded and humble. Within minutes, they were completely different people—unrecognizable to any Marine or bounty hunter.
Finally, Ben turned to Mr. 2, Bon Clay. He paused. He remembered the future—how this man would eventually become Luffy's greatest ally in Impel Down, sacrificing himself for the "Okama Way."
"You're different, Bentham," Ben said softly. "There's a spark of gold in that ridiculous heart of yours."
He did not use Obliviate on Bon Clay. Instead, he simply kept him in a deep sleep.
With a flick of his wand, Ben levitated the unconscious bodies and stepped back through the suitcase portal. He appeared in his workshop on the Merry, then immediately used Apparition.
CRACK.
Ben materialized in the private solar of King Cobra's palace in Alubarna. The King was there, sitting at a desk and reviewing reconstruction plans with Neo-Vivi, the android Ben had created to manage the kingdom.
Cobra jumped, his hand instinctively going to his hip before he realized who it was. "Ben-dono! You startled me. Is everything alright? Did you encounter trouble leaving the coast?"
"No trouble, King," Ben said, stepping forward. "I just realized I left without giving you your 'reparations package.'"
Ben tapped his suitcase, and five bodies materialized on the ornate rug.
Cobra's eyes widened. He recognized the clothes, if not the faces. "Is that...?"
"This was Crocodile," Ben said, pointing to the man with the new, humble face. "This was his lead assassin. I have wiped their memories entirely. Their personalities are gone, replaced with a deep-seated urge to serve Alabasta. They are now your most powerful laborers and bodyguards."
Cobra looked horrified for a moment. "You... you erased their souls?"
"I erased the monsters they chose to be," Ben countered. "Now they can spend the rest of their lives building the kingdom they tried to burn down. No one will recognize them. To the world, Crocodile is dead or missing. To you, he is just a man named 'Suna' who works the fields."
Cobra sighed, looking at the sleeping men. "It is a heavy gift, Ben-dono. But given the state of our defenses... I accept."
"Good," Ben said. He then pointed his wand at Bon Clay. "Enervate."
Bon Clay gasped, bolting upright. He looked around, eyes bugging out. "WHERE?! WHAT?! ROYALTY?! King Cobra?!"
He tried to scream, but Ben made a sharp gesture. "Silencio."
Bon Clay's mouth moved, but no sound came out. He looked at Ben with pure terror.
"Listen to me, Bentham," Ben said, his voice stern. "I have erased the memories of your boss and your peers. They are now servants of this kingdom. I could have done the same to you. But I saw how you cried for your friends. I saw the honor you tried to hide behind your jokes."
Ben stepped closer. "I am giving you a choice. You can stay here and help the people you hurt. You can use your 'Okama Way' to bring joy to Alabasta and protect the King. Or, I can wipe your mind like the others. Which will it be?"
He removed the silence spell.
Bon Clay trembled. He looked at the "new" faces of his former friends, then at the kind, tired face of King Cobra. He thought of Luffy—the boy who had fought so hard for what he believed in.
"A man's way... is his own," Bon Clay whispered, tears streaming down his face. "I have caused much pain... I have been a 'un-flashy' villain. If I can help the Straw-chan's friend... I will do it! I will work until my legs fall off! That is my Okama Way!"
"I thought so," Ben smiled. He turned to Cobra. "He's yours, King. He's a good man at heart. Use him well."
Cobra nodded, a look of profound respect in his eyes. "Thank you, Ben-dono. For everything."
With a final nod, Ben vanished in a swirl of space-time.
---
Back on the Going Merry, the crew was busy with their daily chores. Ben, however, needed to calibrate his own power. He had integrated several high-level templates recently, including the powers of Thomas Andre (The Goliath) from Solo Leveling.
He entered his Virtual Reality Pod.
"Merry," Ben commanded. "Initiate Training Protocol. Time dilation 1:10. Record all biometric data and note the power levels."
"Recording initiated, Ben!" Merry's voice chirped through the speakers.
The world shifted. Ben stood in a vast, digital wasteland—an empty plain of grey dust under a black sky. In front of him sat a massive cube of "Indestructible Metal," the size and density of a Poneglyph.
Ben took a deep breath. He didn't use magic. He didn't use Haki. He tapped into the raw, physical essence of a National Level Hunter.
"Reinforcement," Ben muttered.
His muscles didn't bulge grotesquely; instead, they became dense, like cold-forged steel. His skin took on a faint, golden luster. He stepped forward and threw a simple straight punch.
BOOM!
The shockwave from the impact cleared the dust for three hundred meters. The metal cube groaned, a massive indentation appearing where his fist had landed.
"Power output: Tier 2," Merry reported.
"Let's turn it up," Ben said.
He closed his eyes. From his back, a shimmering, translucent golden aura erupted. It took the shape of a massive golden armour—the Spiritual Body Manifestation of Thomas Andre.
Ben roared, and the spirit roared with him. He lunged at the cube, raining down a barrage of punches that sounded like atmospheric re-entry. The digital landscape began to crack under the sheer pressure of his existence.
"Now, the gravity," Ben said, panting slightly.
He reached out his hand toward a distant mountain range in the simulation.
"Ruler's Authority."
The invisible force of the Rulers obeyed his command. A boulder, weighing few of tons, was ripped from the earth as if it were a pebble. Ben hoisted it into the air, holding it steady with nothing but his will. He moved it left, then right, then crushed it into a sphere the size of a basketball.
Ben spent what felt like hours (but was only minutes in the real world) testing his limits. He practiced the "Black Hole" pull, the "Collapse" stomp, and the integration of his magic with his physical strikes.
---
Ben now walked onto the deck, ignoring Usopp who was busy painting a new "Usopp-A-Rang." Ben stripped off his trench coat and shirt, revealing a physique that looked like it had been sculpted from marble.
He dived over the railing.
As soon as his skin hit the water, his Atlantean Physiology (the Aquaman template) activated. He didn't feel the cold; he felt the embrace. His lungs ceased to function, and the microscopic slits behind his ears opened. He took a breath of the ocean, the oxygen-rich water invigorating his system.
He kicked his legs, and with a single burst of speed, he shot downward like a torpedo.
The light of the surface faded quickly. The turquoise turned to navy, then to a crushing, midnight black. Most humans—and even most Fishmen—would feel the pressure starting to collapse their lungs at this depth. Ben felt nothing but a slight tightening of his skin.
He kept going. 500 meters. 1,000 meters. 5,000 meters.
Down here, in the Hadal Zone, the pressure was over 8,000 pounds per square inch. It was enough to flatten a steel tank. Ben swam through it with the grace of a dolphin. He could see perfectly in the dark, his eyes picking up the bioluminescence of strange, prehistoric fish that had never seen the sun.
He reached the sandy bottom of the trench. He stood there, miles beneath the Going Merry, looking at the strange, silent world. He felt the pulse of the ocean—the currents, the migrations, the very heartbeat of the planet.
"I could stay here," Ben thought, watching a giant squid drift past. "But I'd miss the chaos upstairs."
He pushed off the bottom, his speed shattering the sound barrier underwater, creating a trail of bubbles known as supercavitation.
---
SPLASH!
Ben erupted from the sea like a breaching whale, soaring thirty feet into the air before landing perfectly on the deck of the Merry.
"GAH!" Usopp screamed, dropping his paintbrush. "BEN! You nearly gave me a heart attack! Warn someone before you come back from the dead!"
"Sorry, Usopp," Ben chuckled. He stood there, water dripping from his hair, his skin steaming slightly as his body temperature regulated.
He waved his hand, and instantly, the water was sucked off his body and evaporated into the air. He was bone-dry in a second. He pulled his shirt back on and threw his trench coat over his shoulder.
"LUNCH IS READY!" Sanji's voice boomed from the galley. "Come and get it before the rubber monster eats the table!"
The crew didn't need a second invitation. They swarmed the dining room.
The scene was pure, unadulterated Straw Hat chaos. A massive platter of roasted ribs was placed in the center of the table.
"MEAT!" Luffy shouted, his neck stretching out three feet to grab a bone before the plate even hit the wood.
"Hey! That's mine!" Zoro growled, his fork clashing with Sanji's foot as the cook tried to protect a plate of pasta for Nami.
"Usopp! Don't you dare take that shrimp!" Chopper squeaked, his hooves transformed into heavy points to guard his side dish.
Ben sat down calmly, using a small application of Telekinesis to pull a sandwich toward him before Luffy's hand could sweep the area. He watched his friends—the princess-turned-pirate Vivi laughing with Nami, the stoic Robin enjoying a cup of coffee amidst the shouting, and the giants Dorry and Broggy rating their portions while laughing.
It was loud. It was violent. It was messy.
Ben took a bite of his sandwich, a small smile playing on his lips.
Luffy's hand was stretching toward Ben's plate.
Ben didn't even look up. He just moved his plate an inch to the left, letting Luffy's hand slam into the table.
"Eat your own food, Captain," Ben said.
"Shishishi! Almost had it!"
The sun continued its journey across the sky, lighting the path toward their next adventure, while the Going Merry sailed on, fueled by laughter, meat, and the quiet protection of a magician.