Chapter 1 Prologue

9pm, 15th August 2018, Quantum AI campus in Santa Barbara California USA. A researcher of age in his late twenties was typing on keyboard, implementing various codes on a test machine of quantum computer.

He said in an excited voice on mic. " Guys if we succeed in this experiment, our project will be a mark in the history of mankind. Information storage will become a past problem."

His colleagues were also excited, all of their concentration were on tasks assigned to them. Then with the buzzing sound all kind of machines started to light up.

On the big screen, configurations for improved codes and data were flowing like waterfall. Millions of instructions were being implemented in a matter of seconds. " Loading information in Quantum drive, data loading 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%." Monitoring AI assistant of quantum computer, had been reporting in loud voice.

But after 40%, progress stopped abruptly. Then only thing popped on the display screen were some errors.

Sparks produced from the machine. Someone hurriedly rushed to stop the data loading of the machine. Then everything overheated and even power lines were overloaded. Everyone present sighed in frustration.

"Ok everyone, no need to feel down, maybe there were just some errors in calculation. We have been doing this experiment for 2 years and this time I am sure that we are very near to success. By next week we will solve this problem completely. Now pack your things and enjoy your weekend."

Some people chuckled and one of them even teased "Max find yourself a girlfriend, or you will surely be bald in few years with all the tension." Max also said in teasing voice " Ya, Ya, now don't mom me please." Everyone laughed and their mood also became lite.

My name is Max Julius, graduated from Stanford University in IC engineering, PhD. Specialist in research of supercomputers. Currently, I'm the leading researcher of Google in field of Quantum computers.

The research direction of my team was, how we can improve the data storage with the help of Quantum computer. Basically in simple words how to store and process large amount of information in Quantum computer.

So after many trials we developed a Quantum machine to exchange data. It's still in testing phase though. As, in Quantum dimension the electrons literally teleport from one position to another. So it's very hard to make much progress because normal transistors didn't even work in case of Quantum dimension.

-------------------------------------------------------

After packing things, researchers left lab one by one. Max also started to turn off the different auxiliary machines and lastly the main machine which only works and shutdown completely when main key was inserted. As Max was the supervisor, so many authorities were only given to him.

While busying myself with various switches. I carelessly put my earphones playing some songs from AC/DC, and said "hey Ben call Emma please." Ben was the name of my AI assistant. Google Assistant sounds very boring to me, so after some tweaks here and there my Google Assistant became Ben. With many improvements in learning algorithms implemented, Ben was really becoming smarter day by day.

After the ringtone Call got connected: "hay Emma are you free tonight, let's go for dinner, I reserved a good place."

Emma: "Ya, but I just heard weather news on TV, it's going to be a stormy night, are you sure."

Max: "May be tomorrow then." somewhat dejected i cut the call.

'It's hard to find good girlfriend nowadays' i thought. US is very open country about relationships.

As I am a believer of long term relationships, plus I was a nerd in my college time so even with my excellent grades and handsome face, i didn't approach any girl actively. This reciting hairline of mine, now worrying me that it's time to find a girlfriend.

So i found this girl named Emma Jones on tinder, and we recently went on a blind date. She was a decent girl and her first impression was also good. I even had thoughts of settling with her.

Bit disappointed I thought, 'it's going to be another anime night.'

For a computer geek like me there were only some few things that could attract my attention and anime was one of them.

Still making some plans for night and moving my hands reflexively on various switches. I suddenly noticed a red light blinking on a slightly hidden part of machine.

" Well, well, what do we get here, a red blinker." I checked the place carefully, opened my packed laptop again and after switching it ON, I connected it with the IO port.

"Ben run the program, check errors, start debugging and check for faults." After some time the results were displayed on the screen of laptop. There were some faults in coding of startup time of auxiliary devices.

While Ben was running the program to check errors. I started to look in files, to see who was responsible for coding of this auxiliary machine. Finding a very unpleasant name, my face became gloomy.

"Luke Gray you just hope that it's an accidental mistake, or I am going to chew you alive tomorrow."

Luke was the rookie in my team. He got his position by some relationships and because of this, he was behaving very arrogantly for few last weeks. He remained absent most of the time and all the team members just hate this guy. To show some presence in team, I just assigned him some job of coding of auxiliary machine's operation time. Any qualified person for the research in computer science can do that.

I also thought that Luke could at least do this simple work. In face of someone in higher position I can only compromise that much. Afterall, Research in Quantum field needs large amount of funds and Luke only want his name on research paper. But now I am regretting my decision of giving this work to Luke.

"So many errors", as I observed the coding more and more, my temper rose abruptly. I swore that I'll kick that guy out of my team tomorrow. To me this project is my blood and sweat. I've poured lot of efforts in this project for past two years. This irresponsible behaviour of Luke really crossed all the boundaries this time.

I've tolerated his arrogant character for too long and had enough of him. Tomorrow I'll file the complaint against Luke.

After spending three hours typing I ordered exhaustively "Ben start debugging again and check any problems." Confirming that there were no more errors in commands, I thought with some hesitation, 'well, all the previous commands were still in RAM. Let's check if machine will start this time. If it works, I'll give everyone a big surprise tomorrow.'

So i restarted all auxiliary devices again and prepared to start the main machine. As the previous test instructions were already in stored memory, i didn't need the presence of my team.

This time there were no more errors and the machine started smoothly. Max also jumped from his seat with some hope and excitement. He had a good feeling, that everything will work smoothly this time.

After that I instructed "Ben, start loading of data in Quantum machine", with moving bar everything was running smoothly and data percentage was increasing with time. "Yes, yes." I yelled in happiness. My heart was really excited about the completion of this project. All the hard work, done by me and my team finally came in fruition. Our dream to leave mark in human history was finally succeeded.

With a big smile I stood up and walked towards the machine. Hugging its chassis, I said in a narcissistic voice." My baby, come here, give daddy a big hug."

Maybe even God despised my act. With boom, a bolt of lightning directly fell on the power line, responsible for supplying the electricity, for whole building. Because of the high voltage, a blast happened and most of the machines in lab were completely fried. Together with machines, Max who was in kissing position on the machine's chassis, was also became an overcooked piece of meat.

Guards outside noticed that, there were sounds of blasts coming from the lab, and fire was spreading everywhere. So they rushed inside hurriedly. After extinguishing the fire. They found a charred person stuck on machine's chassis in odd position. They ran in his direction only to found him dead.

In my last moments of life, I saw with blurry eyes there was something like blue loading line in front of my eyes and as it reached 100% I died.

.............................................

"Wake up you lowly slave. Move, didn't I gave you enough beating last time. Guards, check if this slave is still alive, if not, then throw him out from here. The slaves sent by that king from north blue this time were really weak. How can I maintain my image in upcoming reverie with these weak trash."

Somewhat still dazed, Max woke up. He saw a fat person yelling and kicking him for some reasons.

As he Can't tell head or tales about the situation, so he just laid on the spot groaning in pain. After gaining not much response from Max, the person who was yelling at him lost his interest. He walked toward another person in opposite cell.

I opened my eyes uncomfortably. I saw the person who was just yelling at me and kicking my stomach. Fat body, pointy nose, bubbled head and he was wearing some kind of space suit.

After that I checked myself. Malnourished and bruised body, twig like limbs, pale loose skin like someone was dehydrated for long time, age between 14 or 15 years, and specially a hoof like mark on chest. Touching my neck i also found a collar like thing, which was further connected with iron chains.

Max was a smart person. With just these few clues he understood everything.

Recalling the words in his mind, like one piece, celestial dragons and slave mark etc.

I cursed in my heart.

'Bloody hell did I die and crossed in the world of One Piece with the worst settings.'(A.N. yes bro, so just bear with it for some time.)

Suddenly pain rushed in my head. Then memories of the previous owner of this body came in my mind. I remembered his name, family and island where he was born.

I murmured his name or more specifically a name going to be mine in low voice "Trafalgar D Water Max."