With Nothing to My Name, I Can Only Become the Pirate King

In the East Blue, within the territory of the Oykot Kingdom.

At a campsite in the middle of the forest.

A man in a thin shirt and cloth pants held a bounty poster, comparing it with the girl in front of him. He asked, "Is this you?"

The girl had golden curly hair, fair skin, and delicate features. She wore a luxurious dress with tight sleeves and an extremely wide skirt. The lace at her chest decorated her slender neck. Though she wore no jewelry, she looked every bit a noble lady.

Golden waves of curls, the kind you would expect from someone of high status.

Her eyes were cold, her voice even colder. "No."

"This is you." Sager insisted.

The girl glared at him, "You knew that and still asked?"

Sager grinned, showing his teeth. "Encountered five waves of bandits along the way—finally got something!"

The girl glared fiercely at Sager. If looks could kill, they would both be dead right now.

"Don't bother." Sager patted the ornate pearl-hilted rapier on his cloth belt. "You're my first catch, so I need to take precautions against anything unexpected."

He tapped the girl's forehead, and her legs began moving automatically, walking in a set direction.

The girl's eyes showed despair. She had never imagined that someone could have this kind of power. Not only had he snatched her weapon in an instant, but just by touching her, she couldn't move of her own will and was now forced to walk.

"You're this strong, don't you have any dreams? Why become a slave to money!" she shouted.

"Stop right there." Sager waved his hand dismissively. "Money is a good thing. Everyone works for money. It's fair to get paid for your skills. And as for dreams..."

His face darkened slightly, clenching his teeth, "I do have one! My dream is to have a piece of land, grow some crops, go fishing, and quietly live out the rest of this damn life in this damn world."

Norton Sager, twenty-two years old, and had been living in this world for all twenty-two years of his life. Currently, he was a bounty hunter who had taken up the job not even two months ago.

Oh, and about this place—this was the world of One Piece.

An incredibly dangerous world, where you either faced giant beasts, ferocious Sea Kings, or vicious pirates lurking in every corner.

It was also a deeply twisted world.

He considered himself unlucky to end up here, but since he was here, there was no point in complaining.

Fortunately, he was in the East Blue, the relatively safer sea with an average bounty not even reaching three million.

Even better, when he arrived, he somehow got an added "Hokuto Shinken" ability.

Yes, that Hokuto Shinken—the legendary martial art with the "You're already dead" move. With it, he had no problem moving around the East Blue without much concern.

Stirring up the seas didn't interest Sager, but being a landlord and getting rich certainly did.

A large plot of land with lots of people relying on him for work, having secretaries, hiring lackeys—getting to be bossy when needed and enjoy music when there was nothing else to do.

Just the thought was exciting.

At first, Sager wanted to inherit his foster father's work—start by farming, claim a large piece of land, and become the farming king!

That didn't go well—not a single crop was harvested.

Farming didn't work, but maybe fishing would.

With a rich ocean full of countless species of fish, even a kid could easily catch one. If he fished well, he could become the fishing king and get rich!

But he caught nothing, day after day—an endless streak of empty catches.

Perhaps settling down quietly was just not for him, so he decided to set out and explore.

The sea was vast, merchants were plentiful—maybe he could gather some capital by being a merchant.

His ship sank, the cargo destroyed.

He couldn't follow the proper routes, but maybe he could try less legal methods.

He became a smuggler—got caught in martial law.

He became a bodyguard—his employer went bankrupt.

He joined a mercenary group—peace was suddenly declared!

In short, ever since his foster father's death, Sager's days had been anything but successful. He was now doing bounty hunting—trying to become a "Bounty King."

In the year 1520 of the Sea Calendar, twenty-two years after the death of Gol D. Roger—it was the absolute height of the Great Pirate Era!

Running into pirates was as common as finding pebbles along the road—scooping one up was easy, yet bounty hunting in this era seemed impossible for him.

He found none.

From those worth a few thousand to those worth millions, whether mountain bandits or pirates, he couldn't catch a single one.

Damn it!

How did others find an eight-million bounty like Higuma?

Higuma… who was that again?

He couldn't even remember.

Not only did he find none, but he was also ridiculously unlucky.

Whenever he caught a pirate, it turned out they had no bounty, and whenever he let them go, they immediately got a bounty, giving other bounty hunters an easy catch.

What was wrong with this world!

Frustration boiled over!

You could say Sager had tried almost every job except being a Marine or a pirate. He didn't like pirates, and as for joining the Marines—

Sager scratched his head full of white hair, took out a stack of bounty posters from his belt. The topmost poster showed a long-nosed purple-skinned character with a bounty of twenty million.

Had it not been for that bounty poster, he might have given up bounty hunting entirely.

The poster showed the highest bounty in East Blue—Arlong, the Fishman, with a bounty of twenty million Beli!

"Once I claim your bounty, I'll have enough to hire people to take down the Arlong Pirates at Conomi Islands. Then I'll be rich," Sager grinned.

He couldn't find any random pirate floating about on the sea, but ones with bases—those he could find, like the Arlong Pirates.

Aside from Arlong's twenty-million bounty, there were others: Hachi with eight million, Kuroobi with nine million, and Chew with five and a half million—adding up to over forty million Beli.

They were sitting ducks—surely even he wouldn't be unlucky enough to miss catching them?

With that money, he could buy several villages in East Blue and finally achieve his dream.

"Originally, I didn't plan to catch you," Sager said. "But I had no choice—I don't know how to navigate, and none of the ships I tried would take me to Conomi Islands. So I ended up here, in Oykot Kingdom, and then I saw you."

Every ship he approached refused to head to Conomi Islands. Left with no options, Sager worked his way onboard a ship by scrubbing decks, eventually ending up in Oykot Kingdom above Conomi Islands.

By the way—

The ship he worked on struck a reef and half-sank when they reached shore.

He had originally intended to head directly south to Conomi Islands, but as fate would have it, he spotted a bounty poster on a telephone pole inside the kingdom. On it was this woman—bounty: one million Beli.

He hadn't held much hope. He didn't count on catching someone like her, a roaming bounty target—he had never been successful in finding one anyway. He accepted the bounty, keeping a slim hope.

Grabbing weeds and catching rabbits—any prey was better than none, right?

Along the way, they ran into five waves of bandits—none had bounties. But it just so happened that the last group had seen this girl. Sager tracked her down by following the scent!

His first big break!

Maybe Sager's luck wasn't that bad after all!

His career had a second wind!

"What's your name, anyway?" Sager grinned, his mood much improved.

The bounty poster didn't have her name—just a picture and the reward.

Her strength wasn't weak. She'd acted immediately when she saw him, her swordsmanship swift—but Sager was quicker. One secret Hokuto pressure point later, and she lost all resistance.

The girl remained silent, glaring at him fiercely.

"Don't be so heartless—it's a memorable first time, after all. Tell me your name, and I'll make sure to collect your body, even burn some paper for you during holidays," Sager said.

The girl glared daggers at him but then seemed to think of something. Her gaze dimmed, and after a long silence, she spoke in a low voice, "Beondetta Lily."

"Beondetta? Sounds familiar. I think I've heard it somewhere before."

Sager scratched his chin, trying to remember.

"It's on that bounty poster of mine," the girl said.

Sager took out her bounty poster. Though it didn't have her name, there was a line of small print below the bounty. He stared at it for a long time, nodding occasionally, before turning to her solemnly.

"I can't read."

"..."

The air turned awkwardly quiet.

A gentle breeze seemed to add another layer of embarrassment to the scene.

A vein bulged on the girl's forehead. She shouted, "Why did you look so seriously if you can't read?!"

Her outburst made Sager blush furiously, and he instinctively looked away.

You couldn't blame him for this.

Once you reach adulthood, learning doesn't come as easily, especially since he'd been a regular overworked corporate employee in his past life. It's not like transmigrating here suddenly made him a genius.

Besides, the language here wasn't quite English, nor was it Japanese—more like a weird mix of Roman letters and completely unrecognizable symbols. Apart from some numbers and the occasional letter, most of it looked like scribbles to him.

Who could learn this? He didn't even have the conditions to study it when he arrived.

"Well, my foster father was a drifter, you know…" Sager chuckled awkwardly.

A drifter—someone who seemed to have come out of nowhere.

Lily clenched her fists, holding back her anger. "It says… the bounty was issued by the Beondetta family of the Oykot royal household. You can claim the bounty at the royal capital."

"Oh, right! Beondetta—I remember now. It's the royal family here," Sager slapped his right fist into his left palm, realization dawning. Then, suddenly, "Hmm? You're not a bandit leader?"

The girl's face flushed bright red. "I'm royalty, the princess of Oykot Kingdom! I'm not a bandit!!"