Prologue

The Golden Era of Pirates was still young. Only a handful of years had passed since the execution of the Pirate King, Gold Roger. The chase for the fabled treasure, One Piece, had already claimed the lives of many ambitious crews, and the Grand Line had become a more chaotic sea than it had ever been before. The Marines were mobilizing in unprecedented numbers as more and more people hungry to follow in the footsteps of the Pirate King found themselves consigned to Davy Jones' Locker. One certain pirate by the name of Edward Newgate, also known as Whitebeard, had made himself a name as one of the strongest before this new era even began—and with Gold Roger gone, he was without any doubts the mightiest pirate on the sea. But the number of powerful pirates was greater than ever, with some even coming close to rivaling the strength of Roger and Whitebeard. To counter this, the World Government themselves turned to enlisting strong pirates to work for them...

Far away from all that, in the still calm ocean of West Blue, a small boat with a single crewmember appeared to have become lost. On the side of the boat, the name Cassandra had been painted, and lying on the deck was a man in his late twenties, with unkempt yellow hair and a stubble on his chin. Wearing only a white collared shirt and a pair of black pants, he appeared to be mightily exhausted from the heat.

"Can't... give up..."

He had set sail five days ago, expecting a three day long trip to reach his destination. He had no more food, and water supplies were dwindling. Seagulls circled over his boat as he stared into the sky and spoke to himself.

"I have to fight... Avasine can't be far..."

He took a compass out of his pocket and looked out over the bow. The course was still the correct one, as far as he could tell. Fighting to stand up, he took a deep breath and raised a spyglass that he had left lying on the deck.

"Wait... can that be?"

In the distance, through the spyglass, a white light glinted. With renewed vigor, the man walked over to the boat's cabin and examined the map he had nailed to the wall next to the door.

"If it is, then..."

Picking up on a fortunate wind, he hurried to have the sail catch it. As he approached what he had seen in the spyglass, it became clear to him that he had reached his goal.

Landing at the location in front of him would become the beginning of a journey far beyond the reaches of anything that this man had ever imagined he would achieve in his life. It would be the beginning of an adventure so amazing, that he would not have believed anyone who had told him a story like it.

But right now, he did not know anything about that. As he steered his ship towards the glistening white structures in front of him, all he knew was that he had to get something to eat.