7 Introduced to the World of One Piece

Suddenly I was greeted with a sun shining high up in the sky. I looked around and I was surrounded by mounds and mounds of rotting disgusting trash.

I immediately tried to cover my nose to ward off the smell but I realize something had changed. I was short, really short. Shorter than I remember being.

I panicked running my hand over my face and looking around at my body. That bastard system had turned me into a kid. It had never even mentioned that this was a possibility.

"Oi system what the fuck!? Why am I a kid again!?"

[Well, the CP9 organization only trains kids as they are more easily able to be molded to be the perfect soldier. So it was decided that your age would be reduced to 10 years old to better fit the criteria.]

"God Dammit! Why didn't you mention this to me?"

[The system did not think that it was valuable information. Your stats and skills are unaffected so it should not majorly affect your ability to complete the mission.]

This stupid fucking system. I guess I had to go through puberty again. As if going through it 2 times wasn't bad enough. Now, what the fuck was I supposed to do?

"Hey system, how exactly am I supposed to get noticed and recruited by CP9?"

[That is your choice host. This is your mission. A small hint though, try to stand out.]

Try and stand out. What, should I go around beating the shit out of everyone I see. Would be a good way of "standing out".

I sighed and then started to explore this garbage heap. I was lucky I was in a small clearing that was not filled with garbage but all around me were heaps and heaps of garbage.

The clothes that I was wearing from Earth quickly got caked in this disgusting filth and looked more and more like rags every minute. I really hope my high vitality keeps me from getting diseases.

So I looked around to try to find anything of interest. When I reached the top of a particularly tall pile of trash I could see where I was.

All around me was trash and in the distance, I could see a city. Whoever built the city had truly terrible waste management just dropping the trash willy-nilly.

On the other side of the dump, I could see a forest. This area kind of reminded me of the Gray Terminal where Luffy, Ace, and Sabo grew up.

Actually, was this the grey terminal? I would definitely help if this was, getting a connection to the Luffy early on would only result in benefits for me.

I stopped looking at the far distance instead of focusing on the area near me. Around me, I could see small groups of men and women digging through the trash seemingly trying to scavenge something useful from all this garbage.

I also saw what looked like small camps that were made in clearings of trash like the one that I had woken up in. It looked to have tents fashioned from the trash around them.

I looked around till I saw a man who looked to be scavenging on his own. I approached it as dealing with 1 person was safer than with a group.

As I got close I noticed how old he was. He was maybe 60, hunched by all the years survive in this trash heap. I got close and asked, "Hello my name is Marcus Fulbright. Do you know where we are exactly?"

He looked up at me with a baleful glare, "A new kid abandoned here eh? This place I lovingly call it the Devil's Shithole. Most disgusting place on the entire island of Grasnia."

Ok, so I wasn't in the gray terminal. That sucked. But it did tell me that garbage disposals so big that people live in it was common enough that it happened at least 2 times.

So I continued asking, "How do you survive here then. I don't see much food for you to eat and the filth must kill a lot of people from diseases."

"Caught that did you. You're smarter than most of the dumbasses left here to die. You see over there." He pointed to a massive tower of trash.

"The nobles dump their trash over there. Usually, there is enough food there for us to survive on. If not we have to eat the rats and other pests roaming this place. "

He then continued, "As for the disease, nothing can be done for it. A lot of people die from sickness. But if you're lucky your body will adapt and you'll learn to live with it."

Damn, this was an entire group of people that had to survive eating the trash of others and died semi-regularly to diseases with their only treatment is hoping that you're lucky.

I asked, "Then what are you doing now?"

He said in a tired voice, "I'm gathering anything that seems useful. No village wants an old useless man like me among their ranks anymore. I'm just another mouth to feed."

"So," he continued, "I find things that are useful to them and they give me any of the food they found. Better than nothing. At least they aren't robbing me and leaving me to die."

Wow, that's brutal. But I sensed an opportunity here, this old man seemed to know this place better than anyone else and is missing someone who can protect him.

I said, "How about I help you old man. You're pretty weak now but I'm strong. You can be the brains and I can be the brawn, I would definitely help you survive longer."

"Oh", he said, "you think you're strong. Show me. If you impress me I will consider it."

I smiled then turned to the nearest pile of trash. I got into the correct stance and executed a simple Renewal Taekwondo Front Kick that blasted the pile of trash in front of me into the sky.

The old man looked in amazement and said, "That was pretty impressive. I guess I'm taking you up on that deal."

We shook hands and he gathered the useful items he found and led me to his house. It was made of sheets of metal and wood crudely hammered together.

It looked like it could fall over at any time and the roof had multiple holes in it. The inside was also bare with a small unlit campfire in the corner and a bundle of clothes off to the side that looked to be where he slept.

He said, "Welcome to my little home. It might not be the prettiest to look at but does serve its purpose."

I nodded and he continued on. "So seeing how strong you are, I don't think we need to worry about getting food. You seem to be strong enough to fight the animals in the forest and gain meat that way."

I facepalmed. I should have thought of that myself. I had prepared myself to eat disgusting trash, where right next to me was a jungle full of animals that I could eat.

He saw my reaction and laughed, "I know it might seem pretty obvious but there is a reason that people here don't hunt in the jungle. It is filled with massive monsters larger than this house."

He continued, "But considering the power you showed me I think that you might be able to kill some of them. After that, we will have enough meat to eat like kings."

We laughed and asked, "Before I forget what's your name, old man?"

He smiled, "I'm called Old Barry by the folks around here."

We talked for a bit exchanging some jokes before he said, "You should probably rest up, tomorrow we wake up at first light to head to the jungle."

I nodded, then drifted to the corner with all the rags and slept in it. My last thought was, that this is a lot harder than I expected.