001 - The Conquest System
001 - The Conquest System
Age of the Sea Circle, 1520. East Blue, somewhere out at sea.
'Was transmigration supposed to be this sloppy?'
Rafe Marlow muttered the complaint to himself and rowed harder, steering the little boat toward the cluster of presences he had sensed. A few hours earlier, he had been a recent college graduate on modern Earth.
He had just been imagining life after graduation, full of ambition and ridiculous daydreams, when a truck came barreling straight at him and sent him flying. When he came to, he was already aboard this battered little boat.
Before Rafe could even get a proper look around, a hollow, mechanical voice spoke inside his head.
Once the prompts ended, the truth settled in. He had transmigrated. Into a world of pirates. Fortunately, his System had awakened with him. Unfortunately, that System was not exactly normal.
[System]
Conquest System
The name said enough. If he conquered women tied to the original storyline and took them to bed, the System would reward him with prizes drawn from countless worlds.
Rewards could include Devil Fruits, upgrades to the three forms of Haki, swordsmanship insights, special items, treasure information, and more. Simple. Crude. Effective. The reward itself was random. The women from the story? In an instant, more than a dozen faces flashed through Rafe's mind. If he started counting, there had to be dozens.
The problem was that most of them were tied to major powers: the Four Emperors, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the Marines, and others on that level. Snatching people out from under forces like that... That alone was enough to make his pulse kick.
Of course, as a perfectly upstanding gentleman, Rafe's real goal was to increase his strength. Women were secondary. Yes. He was absolutely telling himself that. The System seemed to know he was starting from nothing, because it had kindly prepared a starter package for him.
When he claimed it, a smile tugged at his mouth. If the starter package was already this generous, then he was damn well going to bed those women. Not even a Sea King could stop him.
[System]
Starter Package claimed.
Rewards:
- Basic Physique Enhancement Card
- Basic Swordsmanship Experience Card
- Basic Six Powers/Rokushiki Experience Card
- Basic Observation Haki
- Basic Armament Haki
- Basic Conqueror's Haki
They were only basic-tier rewards, but basic did not mean weak. It meant foundations -- and in East Blue, foundations like Haki and the Six Powers were already absurd.
Without hesitation, he reinforced his body, absorbed the swordsmanship experience, learned the basics of the Six Powers, and awakened all three forms of Haki. The change hit all at once, dragging him from deadweight to something near the level of a Marine rear admiral.
After taking a little time to get used to the sudden surge of power and steady himself, Rafe began looking for a way out. He activated Observation Haki and sailed the little boat aimlessly across the open sea.
A dozen minutes later, his Observation Haki finally gave him something. In his mind's eye, two pirate crews were locked in battle. The battle had already reached its bloodiest point. Screams and cannon fire rolled across the waves.
Even from a distance, Rafe could smell the faint metallic reek of blood riding the sea breeze.
Anyone else would have avoided the place immediately, preferably by sailing as far away as possible. To Rafe right now, though, those pirates were a beacon in the dark. He rowed harder, steering the small boat toward the two pirate ships.
As he approached, the sounds of fighting gradually died away, but the smell of blood only grew heavier. Rafe leaped onto the deck of one of the ships and frowned.
Dozens of bodies lay sprawled across the planks. Blood and gore were everywhere, running through cracks in the deck and dripping down into the hold below. In the short time it had taken him to arrive, both pirate crews had apparently destroyed each other. Everyone lay in pools of blood. Not a single person was still breathing.
"Couldn't you have lasted a little longer?" Rafe muttered, disappointed.
Out on the open sea, he had finally found people, and they had died before he could ask a single question. He spread his Observation Haki again, searching inside both ships. His attention sharpened. He strode into the cabin. Inside the captain's quarters...
"Mine. All mine!"
"This haul is huge!"
A slender figure was tearing through the room's treasure with frantic delight. The bundle in her hands was already stuffed full. Rafe stepped silently into the doorway. One look was enough for him to recognize her. That figure. That orange hair.
Who else could it be but 'Cat Burglar' Nami? The moment he recognized her, Rafe understood his current situation more clearly. He was in East Blue, and the timeline had to be either before Luffy set sail or shortly afterward, before Luffy met Nami.
Too thrilled by the haul, Nami did not notice anyone watching her. She looked like she was seeing money in every shadow. Her luck today was ridiculous. She had planned to slip into this pirate crew, steal what she could, and leave.
Instead, she had stumbled onto two pirate crews wiping each other out. The treasure in this room alone would fetch a full ten million Berries once converted into cash. In a slow year, ten million Berries could match a full year's haul.
And that was just this ship. It did not even count whatever was on the other pirate vessel. Once she finished this job, she would be much closer to saving up one hundred million Berries. Then she could finally buy Cocoyasi Village back from Arlong.
The thought made Nami's smile grow brighter. Excited, she packed every last valuable she could find, hoisted a bundle larger than herself, and turned to leave. When she turned, she found Rafe standing in the doorway.
"Ah!"
A sharp scream tore from her throat. Caught completely off guard, she went pale. The treasure bundle slipped from her hands and hit the floor.
"Nami," Rafe said, watching her tremble with a faint smile. "Not a bad haul."
He had to admit, she was bold. Stealing from merchant ships was one thing. Sneaking aboard pirate ships was another matter entirely. If pirates like these had caught her, things would have ended badly.
"Wait, you've got it wrong!" Nami said quickly, waving both hands. "I just didn't want anyone else stealing it, so I was moving it somewhere safe."
She had survived enough close calls to think fast. Within seconds, she had an excuse ready. Rafe smiled.
"Relax. The pirates on both ships are dead. I'm not with them."
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