Failure’s Road to the Pirate King

East Blue, within the borders of the Oikot Kingdom.

At a campsite nestled in the mountains and forests, a man clad in a thin shirt and cloth pants held up a wanted poster, scrutinizing it before comparing it to the young woman standing before him.

"Is this you?" he asked, his tone casual yet probing.

The young woman possessed golden curly hair, fair skin, and a strikingly pretty face. She was dressed in an elegant gown with sleeves that clung tightly to her arms, paired with an extravagantly wide skirt. Lace adorned her delicate neck, and though she wore no gold or silver jewelry, her appearance screamed nobility—specifically, the kind with big, wavy blonde hair.

Her gaze was icy, her tone even colder: "No, it's not."

"This is definitely you," Sage insisted, his grin widening.

The young woman's glare intensified. "If you knew, why did you ask?!"

Sage chuckled, baring his teeth in a mischievous smile. "I encountered five groups of mountain bandits on the way here. Finally got a catch!"

At this, the young woman's glare could have melted steel. If looks could kill, Sage would have been reduced to ashes long ago.

"Don't bother trying," Sage said, patting the ornate pearl-handled rapier hanging from his cloth belt. "You're my first job, so of course, I have to prevent any unexpected situations."

As he spoke, he tapped the young woman's forehead with his finger. Instantly, her legs began moving on their own, walking automatically in a specific direction.

This unexpected turn of events filled the young woman's eyes with despair. She had never imagined that someone in this world could possess such an ability. Not only had he disarmed her in an instant, but with just a tap of his finger, she was now completely under his control, unable to move freely.

"For someone as powerful as you, don't you have any dreams? Why be a slave to money?!" she shouted, her voice laced with frustration.

"Stop right there," Sage waved his hand dismissively. "Money is a good thing. Everyone works for money. I'm earning my keep with my abilities. What's all this slave talk? As for dreams..."

His expression darkened, and he gritted his teeth. "I do have one! My dream... is to have my own plot of land, grow some crops, do some fishing, and live out this damned life in this damned world as easily as possible!"

Norton Sage, twenty-two years old, had lived in this world for twenty-two years. Currently, he was a bounty hunter of less than two months. As for where "here" was—this was the world of One Piece.

An extremely dangerous world filled with giant ferocious beasts, vicious Sea Kings, and brutal pirates gathered from all corners. It was also an extremely twisted world.

Being transported to such a world was Sage's misfortune, but since he was already here, at least this place was the East Blue—the East Blue where the average bounty was less than 3 million berries, relatively safe.

Even better, when he crossed over, he came with a "Fist of the North Star" cheat ability. That martial art of "Atatatata!" With this fighting style, he could strut around the East Blue without any problems.

Sage had no interest in stirring up the seas, but he thought becoming a wealthy landowner had potential. Having a large estate, with many people depending on him for their livelihood, hiring a few secretaries, employing a group of underlings, throwing his weight around when needed, visiting brothels and listening to music when idle... just thinking about it made him a little excited.

At first, Sage wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and start with farming. He tried to fence off a large plot of land to become the Farming King! Total crop failure.

If farming didn't work, then fishing should. The bountiful sea was full of fish. Even a child could easily catch fish with their bare hands. Surely he could get rich by fishing properly and become the Fishing King! Daily blanks.

Perhaps he wasn't suited for an honest living, so he decided to go on an adventure. The sea was so vast, with so many merchants. He could accumulate initial capital by becoming a merchant. Ship sank, goods lost.

If the righteous path didn't work, then he'd try some shady business!

Become the Folk Dance King, encountered martial law.

Become the Bodyguard King, employer went bankrupt.

Become the Mercenary King, century-long peace treaty signed!

In short, ever since his peace-loving adoptive father died, Sage's life couldn't be called smooth sailing—at the very least, it was a string of failures.

Now, Sage was trying to become the Bounty King... a bounty hunter.

It was the year 1520 in the sea calendar, 22 years after the death of the Pirate King. The absolute Great Age of Pirates! An era where encountering pirates was as common as picking up pebbles on the road, where you could scoop up a pirate from anywhere in the vast sea. Being the Bounty King should have potential. Yet he couldn't find a single one! From bounties of tens of thousands of berries to millions, be it mountain bandits or pirates, he couldn't find a single one! Damn it! How come others could run into that 8 million bounty Sig... Sig-something?

He couldn't remember clearly.

Not only could he not find any, but his luck was particularly bad. He'd catch a pirate, find out there was no bounty and let them go, only for a bounty to be issued right after, benefiting his competitors. What was wrong with this world?! It was infuriating!

It could be said that aside from being a marine or a pirate, Sage had tried almost every profession. He didn't like being a pirate, and as for being a marine... Sage scratched his white-haired head and pulled out a stack of wanted posters from his back belt. The top poster showed a long-nosed purple-skinned monster, with a bounty of 20 million written below.

If not for this wanted poster, he might have given up on the bounty hunter profession.

On the poster was the highest bounty in the East Blue at present—the fishman Arlong with a 20 million berry bounty!

"Once I turn you in for the reward, with that money, I'll hire people to go to the Conomi Islands. After capturing that whole group, I'll be rich," Sage said with a smile.

He couldn't find the pirates drifting all over the sea, but he could find those with a fixed base, like this Arlong Pirates crew. Besides Arlong with his 20 million berry bounty, there was also the fishman Hatchan with an 8 million bounty, Kuroobi with 9 million, and Chew with 5.5 million, totaling over 40 million berries.

They were sitting at home—surely Sage's bad luck couldn't prevent him from capturing them? With that money, he could buy several villages in the East Blue, fulfilling his dream.

"I didn't originally plan to capture you," Sage said. "But I had no choice. I don't know how to navigate, and none of the ships I could board were going to the Conomi Islands. So I had to come to the Oikot Kingdom first, and that's when I saw you."

All those ships refused when they heard he wanted to go to the Conomi Islands. With no other option, Sage worked as a deck scrubber and managed to make it to the Oikot Kingdom, which was above the Conomi Islands.

By the way, the ship he scrubbed decks on had the misfortune of hitting a reef when docking and half-sank.

He had originally planned to head straight south to the Conomi Islands, but as luck would have it, he spotted a wanted poster on a telephone pole within this kingdom's borders. It was for this woman, with a bounty of 1 million berries.

Actually, Sage didn't have much hope. He generally didn't expect much from these fleeing wanted criminals—he'd never encountered one before. He only took the job on the off chance he might get lucky.

Killing two birds with one stone, catch one if possible, just in case? He encountered five groups of mountain bandits on the way, all without bounties, but the bandits in the last group happened to have seen this woman before. Sage caught the scent and tracked her down!

A great start!

I, Sage, am not truly unlucky after all! Isn't this career having a second spring?

"What's your surname?" Sage asked with a grin, in high spirits.

This woman's wanted poster had no name, only a photo and bounty amount.

She was actually quite strong. The moment she saw him, she attacked. Her swordsmanship was fast, but unfortunately, Sage was faster. He struck one of her pressure points, and she lost all resistance.

The young woman didn't speak, only glared at him angrily.

"Don't be so unfriendly. This is a memorable first time after all. Tell me your name, and I'll give you a proper burial later. Maybe even burn some joss paper for you during festivals," Sage said.

The young woman glared daggers at Sage, but then seemed to think of something. Her gaze dimmed as she lowered her head. After a moment of silence, she said in a low voice: "Biendetta Lily."

"Biendetta? Sounds familiar, like I've heard it somewhere before," Sage said, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"It's at the bottom of that wanted poster," the young woman said.

Sage took out the young woman's wanted poster. Though it had no name, there was a line of small text below the bounty amount. He stared at it for a while, nodding occasionally, then turned to face the young woman solemnly.

"I can't read."

"..."

The atmosphere became very awkward.

A breeze blew past, seeming to add an even more awkward touch to the already awkward atmosphere.

A vein popped on the young woman's forehead as she shouted: "If you can't read, why did you look at it so seriously?!"

Called out like this, Sage's face also turned bright red. He unconsciously turned his head away.

This wasn't really his fault.

After reaching adulthood, a person's learning ability naturally declines and becomes fixed. In his past life, he was just an ordinary working-class person. It's not like he suddenly became a genius after transmigrating.

Moreover, the writing in this world was neither English nor Japanese, with some strange Roman letters added as well as completely unfamiliar characters he couldn't understand at all. Apart from a few letters and numbers he could recognize, the rest looked like chicken scratch to him.

Who could understand this stuff? He didn't have the conditions to learn when he first arrived here.

"Well, you see, my adoptive father was a drifter..." Sage said with an awkward smile.

What's a drifter? It's someone who pops up out of nowhere.

Lily suppressed her anger with great effort: "It says below that this wanted poster was issued by the Biendetta royal family of the Oikot Kingdom. The reward can be claimed at the royal castle upon capturing this person."

"Right! Biendetta, I heard about that when I arrived. It is indeed the royal family here," Sage said, hitting his left palm with his right fist in realization. But suddenly he reacted, "Huh? You're not a bandit chief?"

The young woman's face flushed red. "I'm royalty, a princess of the Oikot Kingdom, not some bandit!!"