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 pillar, 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 playing tricks on them, but they seemed to see faint strands of black mist swirling around the young man, like the clinging presence of evil spirits.
Caelan ignored the stares from the crowd, he was long used to it.
"Calculate this time's bounty for me."
Caelan placed a black sack on the table, handing it over to the Marine officer to count and confirm.
"Understood, Mr. Caelan."
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 Black 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 slaughtered countless innocents while rampaging through the East Blue.
The bounty hunters watching couldn't help but exclaim in shock at the sight of these heads.
Some of them had once crossed blades with these pirates and naturally, had suffered defeat.
Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined these pirates' heads would one day be displayed here at the Marine base.
Such a scene was something they had only seen in their dreams.
"Mr. Caelan, 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 Caelan, they all knew very well just how terrifying he truly was.
"Thirty million… not bad."
Caelan took the briefcase, weighed it casually in his hand, then turned and walked away.
It wasn't until Caelan 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.
…
Caelan 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! Congratulations, host! Wealth value increased by 30 million!"
Hearing the system notification, a slight trace of concern appeared on Caelan'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.
Caelan 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, Caelan had been bound to the Heroic Spirit Synchronization System upon his arrival.
At the start, he had drawn the SR template [Berserker Class 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 template's personality and traits, he could increase his synchronization rate and gain the power of the template.
He could even spend berries to accelerate the synchronization process.
Caelan 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 template while hunting down vicious pirates across the weaker seas of the East Blue.
At the same time, he exchanged the pirates' heads for large sums of bounty money to further increase his synchronization.
With this dual approach, his synchronization rate soared.
"Open system panel."
Caelan muttered in his heart.
A translucent light screen appeared in his mind.
…
[Host: Caelan Alaric]
[Template: Berserker Class 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 Caelan 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: Caelan Alaric]
[Template: Berserker Class Heracles]
[Synchronization Rate: 34%]
[Berry: 5 million]
At the same time, Caelan 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."
Caelan 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, Caelan 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 Caelan chose to become a pirate himself, pillaging 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 Caelan had developed in his previous life. He was just an ordinary person at heart.
Caelan would not sacrifice himself to save the suffering masses, but neither would he slaughter 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 template, 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."
Caelan 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.)
Caelan Alaric (IMG)