The first half of the Grand Line, the Calm Belt.
Impel Down, Level Six—Infinite Hell.
In a dark, damp corner of a prison cell, the air was thick with the faint stench of gunpowder and blood.
The legendary "Flying Admiral," Golden Lion Shiki, lay sprawled soundlessly on the icy stone floor.
Those eyes that had once looked down upon the world were now fixed wide open, as if even in death he could not believe his end. A charred bullet hole in his forehead still emitted wisps of heat.
Though seastone shackles still clamped tightly around his legs, this body that had once made the Marine Headquarters tremble had completely become a corpse.
Standing beside the body was a clean-cut youth of about sixteen or seventeen.
Tenma clenched the pistol in his hand, its barrel still hot, his knuckles pale from gripping it too hard.
"Huff…"
He gasped for breath, his chest heaving as he tried to suppress the frantic pounding of his heart.
"I… really killed Golden Lion."
The trembling whisper echoed with eerie clarity through the empty cell.
A full year and a half of lying low.
Ever since he had inexplicably transmigrated into this brutal pirate world and become a lowly, bottom-tier jailer, he had lived on thin ice every single day in this oppressive deep-sea prison.
That's right—he was a transmigrator.
Though he didn't have one of those constantly chiming systems, he wasn't without reliance.
Within his body lay a mysterious seed capable of plundering Devil Fruit abilities—his one and only trump card to turn the tables.
But this seed was extremely picky. Only when the original ability user truly died could it plunder their power.
And so, Tenma learned to endure like a venomous snake, patiently waiting for that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Just as he remembered from the plot, Roger had ignited the Great Pirate Era at Loguetown.
Golden Lion, unable to accept Roger's capture, had gone mad and stormed the Marine Headquarters alone, only to be jointly suppressed by Sengoku and Garp. Dragging his ruined body, he was thrown into this place.
This was fate's gift to him.
A near-death weakened state, seastone that sealed abilities, and a blind spot with no surveillance on Level Six—timing, terrain, and opportunity, none could be missing.
Tenma hadn't hesitated for even a moment when he fired that shot. It was a trigger pull wagered with his life.
That legendary Float-Float Fruit—he was determined to get it!
With a thought, Tenma drew forth the mysterious fruit within him.
Looking at Golden Lion's corpse at his feet, an absurd sense of unreality surged up.
A tyrant who had once dominated the New World… had died so humiliatingly at the hands of a nameless nobody like him.
And would even become the stepping stone on his path to power.
Buzz—!
The half-transparent mysterious fruit floated in midair. Without even touching the corpse, it stirred violently, like a shark catching the scent of blood.
On its once-smooth surface, bizarre spiral patterns crawled and spread like living things.
The fruit's color changed drastically with every breath, as a profound and obscure energy roiled within it.
Just thirty seconds.
The left half of the fruit had completely transformed. Within those strange patterns, Tenma could clearly sense the terrifying power of the Float-Float Fruit.
It worked!
The ecstasy of a long-cherished wish fulfilled made his blood feel like it was on fire, his fingers trembling uncontrollably.
But reason poured cold water over his urge to cheer.
Time was tight. This was hell—every second of lingering could mean eternal damnation.
Suppressing his excitement by force, Tenma turned and sprinted toward another special cell not far away.
Today was a special day. Impel Down's upper echelon was gathered at the top level for an emergency meeting on the "Great Pirate Era."
The usual patrol squad had also been slipped a specially prepared, ultra-potent laxative by him. They were probably using that as an excuse to slack off in the toilets right about now.
Even so, the time he had left was limited.
Golden Lion's death could be concealed for at most twenty minutes. The next patrol would arrive soon.
In this vast and complex Level Six, he had to race against time.
After a frantic run, five minutes later Tenma stopped in front of a freezing, isolated cell.
This place was completely different from the others. There were no heavy seastone shackles—only a massive coffin-like cryogenic life-support pod.
Through the thick glass, one could see an old man with a thick beard and a weathered face lying inside.
He was in a frozen state of suspended animation, like a specimen sealed in ten-thousand-year ice.
This was the man known as the "World Destroyer," Byrnndi World.
And the More-More Fruit within him was the second piece of Tenma's hunting plan.
Among top-tier Devil Fruits, the More-More Fruit might not be the most perfect match.
But in a world teeming with monsters, if he wanted to carve out a path to survival, a fruit with hundredfold amplification was absolutely the best choice in Impel Down aside from the Float-Float Fruit.
Staring at the perfectly sealed cryo-pod, Tenma didn't have a key.
But that didn't trouble him.
To maintain Burning World's life signs in suspended animation, complex infusion tubes were connected outside the pod.
They were external ports designed so ordinary jailers could replace nutrient fluids.
At this moment, they became a gate of death.
Over the past year, Tenma had thoroughly memorized every structure here.
He pulled out a bottle of liquid so dark purple it was almost black—highly concentrated poison he had painstakingly extracted from Magellan's Venom-Venom Fruit.
It hadn't been needed for Golden Lion, but now it would all go to World.
As the purple toxin poured into the nutrient tank, the once life-sustaining green fluid was instantly corroded and assimilated, turning into a chilling deep violet.
It had to be said—the Venom-Venom Fruit was terrifying indeed.
In just a few breaths, without any fierce battle, Tenma once again exploited a loophole in the rules, silently reaping the life of another legendary pirate.
When the right half of the originally pitch-black fruit in his hand also manifested completely different patterns and colors, Tenma knew it was done.
Without the slightest hesitation, he opened his mouth and bit down hard.
"Ghk—!"
Instantly, a taste like sewage sludge left rotting for three months shot straight to his skull. The indescribable nausea nearly made him vomit on the spot.
Clamping a hand over his mouth, Tenma endured the convulsions in his stomach and forcibly swallowed the entire fruit.
As it slid down, the nausea rapidly faded, replaced by a wondrous agitation, as if he were being reborn.
Every cell in his body cheered, as though welcoming the birth of a new king.
In an instant, two completely different streams of ability feedback flooded his mind, etched into his soul like instinct.
If he wished, gravity would no longer bind him—the sky would become his private garden.
If he wished, anything he touched could be magnified a hundredfold, in both size and speed.
Tenma clenched his fists, feeling the power surging in his palms.
So this was the world of the strong?
Even without mastering Haki yet, relying solely on these two heaven-defying Devil Fruits, he was already qualified to step into the ranks of the powerful on this sea, leaving behind his former cannon-fodder status forever.
He wanted to throw his head back and roar, venting the suffocation of the past year and a half—but he knew this wasn't the time.
Only by escaping this deep-sea purgatory would he be truly free.
At that moment, lines of golden text suddenly appeared in his mind.
[Devil Fruit Analysis Complete: Float-Float Fruit—grants the host flight and the ability to make contacted objects levitate.]
[Devil Fruit Analysis Complete: More-More Fruit—grants the host the ability to multiply all attributes of contacted objects.]
Then, just as Tenma prepared to withdraw, even more shocking information popped up.
[Residual will of previous ability users detected. Please choose a Talent Template to inherit:]
[Option One: Golden Lion Shiki (Great Swordsman Swordsmanship, Mastery of all Three Types of Haki)]
[Option Two: Byrnndi World (Mastery of the Six Powers, Mastery of Two Types of Haki)]
Two illusory character cards hovered like miracles within his consciousness.
Tenma froze for a split second, then erupted with joy.
So this was the true form of his cheat!
Not only could he plunder Devil Fruit abilities, he could also inherit the talents and experience of their previous developers—this was practically a cultivation rocket.
He glanced at the time subconsciously. Only a few minutes remained before the shift change. He had to choose while moving.
Striding toward the elevator shaft, Tenma's mind raced.
Two choices? This was a free point question.
The Six Powers were practically everywhere in the latter half of the Grand Line—especially that stand-there-and-get-hit technique, Iron Body. Whoever learned it was a sucker.
Golden Lion, on the other hand, was a great swordsman who could contend with Roger—and possessed the one-in-a-million Conqueror's Haki!
Without hesitation, Tenma locked onto Golden Lion's template.
In an instant, immense comprehension surged into his mind like a tidal wave.
Sword principles that had once been obscure became crystal clear, as if he had wielded a blade for decades.
The seeds of all three types of Haki were quietly planted within him. Though he couldn't yet use them proficiently, that innate sense of control filled him with confidence.
This skyrocket-to-the-top feeling was intoxicating.
Tenma casually snapped off a withered branch by the roadside. With a thought, he swung it.
Whoosh!
No flashy sword aura—only an extreme, piercing whine of air being torn apart.
The thick ornamental tree ahead was instantly carved with a deep gash.
And he was only holding a fragile branch!
After calming his excitement, Tenma quickly reached the elevator gate.
Ding.
The doors opened, and a patrol squad of uniformed jailers happened to walk out.
"Hm? Why are you alone?"
The squad leader eyed Tenma suspiciously, frowning.
Tenma's expression remained calm, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness. "Don't even mention it. The others passed by the Deputy Warden's office and inhaled some poison gas. They're all fighting over toilet stalls right now. I've got a better constitution, so I came to fill in first."
At the mention of "poison gas," the squad's faces changed dramatically. They shuddered instinctively, clearly traumatized by Magellan's poison.
"Unlucky…" the captain muttered, no longer suspicious.
Tenma nodded to them and walked into the elevator with ease.
Clang—
As the heavy metal doors closed, the elevator began to rise.
Watching it leave, one jailer sneered, "That guy's miserable, patrolling a place like that all alone. Creepy as hell."
"Tell me about it," another chimed in. "I heard he's always a loner. Weird fellow."
"Enough chatter. Finish this round and report back," the captain cut them off.
After all, Infinite Hell was enormous. One patrol was exhausting.
However, less than five minutes later, the captain's Den Den Mushi suddenly shrieked sharply.
The moment he answered, a terrified, distorted roar came from the other end.
"C-Captain! Something terrible happened! Golden Lion… Golden Lion is dead!!"
"What did you say?!"
The captain's hand trembled, nearly dropping the Den Den Mushi.
The group went mad, sprinting toward the special zone.
When they saw Golden Lion's corpse, eyes wide open in death, it felt as if the sky had collapsed. Trembling, the captain dialed the Warden's direct line.
"W-Warden! Something's happened in Infinite Hell! Golden Lion has been murdered!"
…
At the same time, the sea-level exit on Impel Down's first floor.
As alarms began to echo wildly through the underground, Tenma had already stepped outside, feeling the salty sea breeze on his face.
Once, standing here, he could only gaze at the ocean in despair.
Now, this vast sky would be his to roam.
"Stop! You jailer—what are you doing?!"
The guards, who thought Tenma had just come out for some air, saw him walking straight toward the edge of the deck and immediately raised their rifles in alarm.
"What am I doing?"
Tenma stopped, his back to them, a wanton smile curving his lips. "Of course… going to see this world."
Before the words even faded, in full view of everyone, his body eerily defied gravity and floated up lightly.
"Though I'll miss it a little, everyone—farewell forever."
"This uniform… I'll return it to you."
In midair, the jailer's uniform symbolizing restraint drifted down slowly.
That figure shot into the clouds like an arrow loosed from the bow, leaving behind guards frozen in shock.
At that moment, inside Impel Down's conference room.
The meeting on how to respond to the Great Pirate Era was interrupted. Warden Bullen returned, his face so dark it could drip water.
"Something's happened," he said, suppressing his fury. "Golden Lion Shiki is dead. And… the World Destroyer, Byrnndi World, is also confirmed dead."
"What?!"
Deputy Warden Magellan leapt to his feet, his massive body toppling the chair behind him as poison dripped uncontrollably from his body. "Who did it?!"
Nearby, Chief Guard Shiryu of the Rain still had a cigar in his mouth, but shock flashed in his eyes. "Someone infiltrated Level Six?"
"No. An inside job."
Bullen ground his teeth and spat out a name. "A jailer—Tenma."
"Preliminary investigation shows he used Magellan's poison to create chaos, distracted his teammates, then poisoned World and executed Golden Lion with a gun."
Bang!
Magellan smashed the solid wooden table with one punch, purple toxic mist billowing with his rage. "Bastard! Using my poison… This is my failure! I'll personally capture him and tear him to pieces!"
"Too late. He's already escaped."
Bullen shook his head helplessly. "Guards reported that he flew away. Able to levitate and fly—it seems… Golden Lion's ability has already been taken."
"Taking abilities?" Shiryu exhaled a puff of smoke, his eyes turning intrigued. "Now that's interesting. Big guts, and ruthless methods."
No matter the truth, two legendary criminals being killed in Impel Down—and the killer escaping by flight with stolen abilities—was a scandal that would shake the world.
An urgent encrypted message spread instantly throughout the World Government and Marine Headquarters.
…
Ten thousand meters above the sea, fierce winds howled.
Tenma soared freely through the clouds, gazing down at the endless blue ocean below.
"So this is the world as Golden Lion saw it?"
That lofty perspective, standing above all beings, filled his heart with heroic pride.
Just an hour ago, he had still been a timid little jailer.
Now, wielding two top-tier Devil Fruits and inheriting a legendary great swordsman's legacy, he finally had a place in this magnificent era.
Randomly choosing a primitive, deserted island in the Calm Belt, Tenma descended slowly.
In the days to come, he would fully digest his gains here.
Once more, he immersed his mind in the "template" system.
Golden Lion's sword talent and Haki insights were like a vast treasure vault, waiting to be mined.
Talent alone wasn't enough—the body still needed training to remember.
Tenma jumped down from a tree, snapped off a thick branch, and his gaze sharpened.
Following the insights in his mind, he began to swing again and again.
Even without a sword in hand, there was a sword in his heart.
…
Three days later, a brand-new bounty poster was carried across the seas by News Coo.
[Wanted: Tenma]
[Crimes: Betrayal of Impel Down, poisoning comrades, brutally murdering Golden Lion Shiki and Byrnndi World. Extremely Dangerous.]
[Bounty: 170,000,000 Berries]
On that day, the entire sea discussed this mad jailer.
Some mocked Golden Lion's disgraceful end, others marveled at the newcomer's ruthlessness, and countless ambitious figures memorized that young face.
But Tenma himself, the eye of the storm, vanished as if from the world, never appearing again.
Spring turned to autumn. Time flew by.
On that deserted island in the Calm Belt, dull crashing sounds echoed day after day.
Tenma was training his sword.
A towering giant tree dozens of meters thick was now covered in countless sword marks.
"Hah!"
Bare-chested, muscles carved like steel, Tenma brought down his crude homemade wooden sword with thunderous force.
Crack!
With a sharp explosion, the wooden sword embedded deep into the trunk, blasting open a shocking crack.
Chop, slash, lift, thrust.
Thousands upon thousands of monotonous repetitions. Sweat had long since soaked the ground beneath his feet.
From initial clumsiness to flowing mastery, Golden Lion's talent was being steadily transformed into real combat power.
Sword training and Haki refinement by day; Devil Fruit development and physical conditioning by night.
When hungry, he caught sea kings dozens of meters long and roasted them. When tired, he floated in midair and slept with the wind.
Tenma lived this ascetic life for a full four and a half years.
Meanwhile, the outside world had changed beyond recognition.
The Great Pirate Era ignited by Roger only grew more intense.
Whitebeard rampaged through the New World, waging a two-and-a-half-year territorial war with Big Mom, solidifying the prototype of the Four Emperors.
Gecko Moria challenged Kaido of the Beasts and was utterly annihilated, later becoming one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
Ohara was reduced to ashes under a Buster Call.
The "Lonely Red" caused havoc before being thrown into the same Impel Down Tenma had once inhabited.
And none of it had anything to do with Tenma now.
Year 1502 of the Sea Circle Calendar.
Deep within the island.
Rumble—!
The earth trembled. Amid rolling dust, a vividly patterned tiger over eight meters long sprinted in terror.
Once the island's absolute overlord, king of the forest, it now crept forward like a frightened kitten, carefully placing a freshly caught elk at a man's feet.
The man stood barefoot, an aura of terrifying dominance radiating from him—enough to make all beasts submit.
Seeing the tiger lie trembling obediently, Tenma smiled faintly and gently patted its massive head.
The tiger let out a flattering rumble, not daring to move.
Looking at this former jungle tyrant that had once chased him all over the island, now so docile, Tenma felt deeply moved.
Four and a half years of blood, sweat, and solitude had finally forged today's rebirth.
He turned his gaze toward the distant sea, his eyes flashing with sharp light.
"It's time… to step back into the world."