One Piece:I am King Luffy!

"!!!"

Uta couldn't fathom Luffy's absurdity and had already shut her eyes when he pulled down his pants. With that, Luffy won another round.

"See? I've beaten you twice now."

Luffy proudly bragged to his older companion, who was two years his senior.

"You're despicable and shameless!"

"But you're a pirate! I don't need to follow any code of honor to deal with you!"

"Let's have a singing contest then!"

Uta finally remembered her own strength, eyeing Luffy with eager anticipation.

"Sure! First one to break the other's composure wins," Luffy agreed without hesitation.

"La la la~…"

His off-key singing and bizarre lyrics were like a dagger to Uta, who took music very seriously.

Covering her ears, she ran away with tears in her eyes. "How can such terrible music exist in this world?!"

"Another loss, Uta."

Luffy strolled casually behind her.

"How is that a loss? Your singing was awful!" Uta was baffled.

"The rule was to sing until the other person breaks. It wasn't about how good it sounded." Luffy replied with perfect logic.

"Ugh…"

"Alright, you look pretty pitiful. Let's play something simpler."

Luffy picked up a stick and drew two horizontal and two vertical lines in the dirt.

"Each player takes turns marking the squares with either an O or an X. The first to align three in a row wins…"

Luffy eagerly explained the rules of tic-tac-toe to Uta.

Since reincarnating into this world, he hadn't had anyone to play games with. Every day had been nothing but physical training, which was starting to get pretty dull.

Curious, Uta leaned over. The rules seemed simple enough, so she picked up a stick and gave it a try.

The two of them squatted down and started marking the ground.

Unsurprisingly, Uta lost over and over for the entire evening.

"This is weird. Why do you keep winning?"

By the end, Uta had become numb to defeat and finally threw her stick away, her anger boiling over.

The rules were so simple—there was no reason she should keep losing.

Of course, there were a few draws, but that wasn't what Uta wanted.

"So, after all these losses, will you finally call me big brother?" Luffy asked.

"No way!"

"So that's all Red-Haired Shanks' daughter is capable of~"

Luffy taunted.

Tiny pearls of tears began to form in Uta's eyes.

"Fine, you don't have to call me big brother, but you have to agree to one thing." Luffy slung an arm over her shoulder, whispering conspiratorially.

"What is it?"

"I haven't decided yet, so I'll tell you later."

"It's getting late. Time to head back." Luffy patted Uta's back and led her back to the village.

"Shanks! Luffy bullied me!"

As soon as they stepped into the tavern, Uta ran tearfully into young Red-Haired Shanks' embrace, nuzzling her head against him.

"Hahaha~ What did he do?" Shanks asked with amusement.

"He was shameless! He challenged me to see who could pee farther…"

Loud laughter echoed throughout the bar.

"Don't laugh! Shanks, let's play a game instead—it's really fun…"

Luffy eventually returned to his small room, where his grandpa, Vice Admiral Garp, was already fast asleep nearby.

It was thanks to Garp that Luffy had an unparalleled sense of safety around him.

Whenever Luffy's life was in danger, Garp would appear instantly by his side.

Of course, if he wasn't in mortal peril, Garp wouldn't intervene no matter how beaten Luffy got.

Garp was a rather lazy man; even in his hometown, he wouldn't lift a finger to clear out the riffraff.

The fact that Windmill Village was still overrun with mountain bandits was a prime example.

Occasionally, when he felt like it, Garp would take out a few pirates as a snack.

Luffy ate a bit of fruit and went to bed on time. Windmill Village was a humble place, with almost no entertainment options. Besides training, Luffy's only activities were working out with his animal friends. He had to burn off his energy by sundown to sleep well.

Only then could he drift off to sleep, forgetting about phones, computers, games, novels, and movies…

That's how Luffy's days had passed—until the arrival of the Red-Haired Pirates, which injected new life into the quiet village.

It seemed Garp didn't want to cross paths with Red-Haired Shanks. Even as the entire village buzzed with excitement over the pirates, Garp continued snoring away in his room.

"You met Shanks?"

Garp's voice came through the darkness.

"Yeah."

"He's a pretty interesting pirate."

Garp opened his eyes slowly, his expression complex.

"No matter how interesting, he's still a pirate. You should keep your distance from him—you're going to be a Marine."

"Oh, Grandpa, they say pirates are the freest people in the world. Is that true? I want to be a pirate!"

"Free? You mean running around like a dog with the Marines chasing after you?"

Garp rolled out of bed, opened a bag of donuts, and started munching.

"Luffy, you're going to be a Marine."

"Aren't you going after Shanks?"

"I'm on vacation, and vacation is for eating, drinking, and having fun." Garp said this with complete confidence.

"Grandpa, you're really free… So, if I become a Marine, can I be as free as you?"

"…"

"Luffy, have you finally decided to become a Marine?"

"No, Grandpa, I want to board Shanks' pirate ship. I want to see if pirates are really free."

"What nonsense are you talking about? You can't just board a pirate's ship because you want to."

Garp grabbed Luffy by the leg, lifting him into the air.

"I forbid you from going near a pirate ship."

"Why? Shanks is a nice person—everyone in the village likes him."

"You know that's why you don't want to confront Shanks, right, Grandpa?"

Luffy dangled in the air, completely unfazed, knowing his grandpa wouldn't harm him.

Garp didn't answer regarding Shanks.

"He's a pirate."

That was the final word the adults tried to impress upon him.

Because he was a pirate, it was forbidden.

"Then I want to see for myself just how bad pirates really are. That way, I'll be motivated to become a Marine."

Luffy crossed his arms, looking up at Garp.

"Besides, Grandpa, you'd protect me, right? Protect me from the pirates?"

"I'm curious what Shanks' pirate life is actually like."

"Aren't you curious too, Grandpa?" Luffy asked.

"No matter what you say, I'm not letting you board a pirate's ship. And don't even think about sneaking aboard."

Garp flicked Luffy's forehead, then set him down on the bed.

A sharp pain disrupted Luffy's thoughts.

There it was again—no matter how Garp struck him, the pain

would pierce his mind, leaving no physical trace on his body.

"I'm heading back to Marine Headquarters the day after tomorrow. If you want anything, ask Miss Makino."

"Okay…"