In the year 1521 of the Sea Circle Calendar, at a marine branch base in the Sambas region of the East Blue.
Dozens of bounty hunters stood gathered in the hall. Normally rough and unruly, now they didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
Each of them stared carefully and curiously at the bounty exchange window, at the young bounty hunter known as the legend of the East Blue.
His physique was as imposing as a towering iron pilr, the muscles beneath his clothes solid and powerful without appearing bulky.
He radiated an overwhelming sense of strength even while standing still.
Strapped to his back was a massive greatsword, two meters long and half the width of a man, exuding a terrifying murderous aura.
His thick hair fell in untamed waves, and his features were sharply cut.
Some weren't sure if their eyes were pying tricks on them, but they seemed to see faint strands of bck mist swirling around the young man, like the clinging presence of evil spirits.
Caen ignored the stares from the crowd, he was long used to it.
"Calcute this time's bounty for me."
Caen pced a bck sack on the table, handing it over to the Marine officer to count and confirm.
"Understood, Mr. Caen."
The Marine responded respectfully, carefully pouring out the contents of the sack onto the table. Seven gruesome severed heads rolled out.
"The ferocious Tiger —Goro—bounty of 4 million berries!"
"The Bck Serpent —Kuroba Jin—bounty of 5 million berries!"
"The Venomous Beast—Dokuga—bounty of 4.5 million berries!"
…
With each head revealed, the Marines' expressions grew more and more astonished.
These were all notorious, bloodthirsty pirates who had sughtered countless innocents while rampaging through the East Blue.
The bounty hunters watching couldn't help but excim in shock at the sight of these heads.
Some of them had once crossed bdes with these pirates and naturally, had suffered defeat.
Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined these pirates' heads would one day be dispyed here at the Marine base.
Such a scene was something they had only seen in their dreams.
"Mr. Caen, here's your bounty—a total of 30 million berries."
The Marine respectfully passed a briefcase through the window as he spoke.
At the mention of this figure, all the bounty hunters gasped and stared at the briefcase with longing eyes.
The combined bounties of the pirates they hunted together didn't even come close to this amount.
But no one dared provoke Caen, they all knew very well just how terrifying he truly was.
"Thirty million… not bad."
Caen took the briefcase, weighed it casually in his hand, then turned and walked away.
It wasn't until Caen had completely left the hall that the Marine base erupted into loud chatter.
The bounty hunters and Marines couldn't hold back their excitement and began discussing the event heatedly.
…
Caen returned to his ship and opened the briefcase.
"System, recharge."
The berries inside the suitcase instantly vanished, as if they had never been there.
"Ding! Congratutions, host! Wealth value increased by 30 million!"
Hearing the system notification, a slight trace of concern appeared on Caen's face.
"It's already been half a year since I crossed over."
"At this rate, it'll take me over ten years just to complete synchronization."
That's right.
Caen was not a native of this world.
He came from another world, having inexplicably crossed into this perilous world in the flesh.
A world rampant with pirates, ruled by the tyrannical Celestial Dragons, and controlled by a corrupt and incompetent World Government.
Any one of these forces could easily crush an ordinary man like him as if he were an ant.
Fortunately, Caen had been bound to the Heroic Spirit Synchronization System upon his arrival.
At the start, he had drawn the SR tempte [Berserker Css Heracles], the heroic spirit from Illya's route in the Fifth Holy Grail War, known by countless fans as "Basaka"—the embodiment of true manliness.
As long as he continued to embody the tempte's personality and traits, he could increase his synchronization rate and gain the power of the tempte.
He could even spend berries to accelerate the synchronization process.
Caen understood well the dangers and excitement of the pirate world.
He didn't want to be just another nameless soul, nor did he want to be a background character in this grand era.
So, he made up his mind—he would become stronger.
Over the past half year, he had continuously aligned his behavior and combat style with the Berserker tempte while hunting down vicious pirates across the weaker seas of the East Blue.
At the same time, he exchanged the pirates' heads for rge sums of bounty money to further increase his synchronization.
With this dual approach, his synchronization rate soared.
"Open system panel."
Caen muttered in his heart.
A translucent light screen appeared in his mind.
…
[Host: Caen Aric]
[Tempte: Berserker Css Heracles]
[Synchronization Rate: 30%]
[Berry: 15 million + 30 million]
[Strength: B]
[Endurance: B]
[Agility: B]
[Magic Power: B]
[Luck: A]
[Noble Phantasm: A+]
[Personal Skills]: Battle Continuation (B), Mind's Eye (Fake) (B), Valor (A+), Divinity (A), Madness Enhancement (B)
[Noble Phantasms]: God Hand: The Twelve Labors (B), Nine Lives: Shooting the Hundred Heads (C–A+)
…
Looking at the panel before him, his synchronization rate had already reached 30%.
In other words, he currently possessed 30% of the power of the Mad Warrior Heracles.
This level of strength was already terrifying, enough to stand at the top among the Four Emperors' core crews or be considered a potential candidate for Admiral at Marine Headquarters.
In the weakest sea of the East Blue, his current strength made him practically invincible.
More importantly, he had already unlocked Heracles' signature Noble Phantasm—Twelve Labours.
This weapon, born from the legendary Twelve Labors of Heracles, granted Caen twelve lives, which could be restored over time after depletion.
Compared to Marco's Phoenix Devil Fruit regeneration, the Twelve Labours were even more astonishing.
"System, consume 40 million wealth points to increase synchronization."
The next moment, the system panel in his mind changed again.
[Host: Caen Aric]
[Tempte: Berserker Css Heracles]
[Synchronization Rate: 34%]
[Berry: 5 million]
At the same time, Caen felt a tremendous surge of power flooding into his body.
Memories began to emerge in his mind—the glorious legends of Heracles, the heroic feats of the twelve impossible trials.
His already powerful physique strengthened further. Although his attribute ranks hadn't broken through to the next level, each stat increased by 10%.
"Every 10 million berries increases synchronization by 1%. To reach 100%, I'll need 660 million berries."
Caen frowned slightly.
That number wasn't unreasonable, it was about the cost of a high-tier Paramecia-type Devil Fruit.
But right now, he was still in the East Blue, and gathering that kind of money here would take considerable time.
Over the past six months, Caen had roamed across the East Blue, killing pirates wherever he went. Most of the truly dangerous ones had already been dealt with by his hand.
The East Blue had now truly become the weakest of the four seas, with only a few scattered small-time pirates remaining.
Of course, if Caen chose to become a pirate himself, pilging the weak and innocent, then not to mention 600 million, earning even 6 billion berries would be easy.
But that went against the moral compass Caen had developed in his previous life. He was just an ordinary person at heart.
Caen would not sacrifice himself to save the suffering masses, but neither would he sughter innocents for convenience.
Thus, he chose to become a bounty hunter—hunting down vicious pirates.
In each battle, he synchronized further with the Berserker Heracles tempte, then used the bounty rewards to increase his synchronization progress.
"It seems I'll need to head to the Grand Line as soon as possible."
Caen made his decision.
He had already cleared out the 'starter zone' that was the East Blue, there was no reason to linger.
The pirates of the Grand Line were stronger and could give him proper fights.
Their bounties were also far higher, many of them carrying hundreds of millions in bounty, along with vast treasure hoards.
(To be continued.)
