The next day, on the One-Eyed Pirates' ship, several men waited anxiously. These were the crew's top executives: the vice-captain, the combat commander, and the raiding commander.
"Why isn't the captain back yet? If he takes any longer, we're going to miss Ponte's auction," the vice-captain growled, pacing the deck.
"You don't think something happened to him, do you?" the raiding commander asked nervously. "I mean, look at the last few times. Guys stayed out all night and then just vanished."
"Bullshit," the combat commander shot back. "The captain is a monster. What could possibly happen to him?"
"Then why the hell isn't he here? You think he gave up on Ponte? We can't survive the New World without a navigator!"
"How should I know? Stop asking me!"
Just as the argument was about to boil over into a brawl, frantic footsteps pounded across the deck.
"Bad news! The captain... the captain's in the newspaper!" a lackey screamed, waving a crumpled broadsheet.
"What?!" The executives snatched the paper from him, their eyes frantically scanning the page until they found a small column tucked into the bottom corner.
"...Thanks to the relentless efforts of the Marines, 'One-Eyed' Wally, captain of the One-Eyed Pirates, was cornered in the Sabaody Archipelago. After a fierce shootout and refusing to surrender, the pirate was killed in action."
The executives stared at each other in stunned silence. Their invincible captain was just... gone.
"Well, since Wally is dead, I'll be taking over as captain," the vice-captain immediately announced, glaring at the others. "Who's with me, and who wants a problem?"
"Why the hell should you be captain?!" "Yeah, who decided that?!"
And just like that, a bloody mutiny for the captain's seat erupted on the deck.
Time slipped by quietly. With the New Year rapidly approaching, Bardock decided to go on a massive shopping spree to properly celebrate his first holiday in this bizarre world.
He had already achieved his goal of stealing the Marines' Rokushiki techniques. Sure, he hadn't mastered all of them yet, but he thoroughly understood the underlying mechanics. His mind was made up: once the New Year passed, he was out of here. It was time to jump on his Flying Nimbus and go wherever the wind took him.
The shopping mall in Grove 30 was absolutely packed. It was always a bustling hub, ranking right up there with Sabaody Park as a must-visit tourist trap. Bardock pushed a floating bubble shopping cart through the sea of people, ducking into various stores to snag whatever caught his eye.
New Year's clothes? Buy. Limited edition sunglasses? Buy. Imported ham from Wano Country? 'Wait, is that even real?' Buy. Premium wine from the Kano Kingdom in the West Blue? 'Oh, absolutely.' Buy.
After thoroughly emptying his wallet, Bardock felt incredibly satisfied. Who knew shopping was this much fun? No wonder women in his past life had loved it so much.
By the time he strolled out of the mall, it was already getting late. He had arrived right after breakfast, eaten lunch in the food court, and now it was nearly dinnertime. Shopping didn't just make people happy; it made time completely disappear.
Towing several floating bubbles stuffed with his purchases, Bardock ambled lazily down the street.
Suddenly, a wave of panicked commotion rippled through the crowd ahead. As if commanded by an invisible force, the dense throng of people parted to the sides of the street and dropped to their knees, pressing their foreheads against the dirt. Bardock squinted, his stomach instantly sinking.
'Crap. It's a Celestial Dragon.'
He had been living in the Sabaody Archipelago for a month, but this was his first time actually running into one. Celestial Dragons visited the islands constantly, but since Bardock spent his days locked away training and only ventured out late at night to hunt bounties, he had managed to avoid them. Until now.
There was only one World Noble in the procession, and Bardock actually recognized him. It was Saint Rosward—the very same guy "God" Usopp would eventually crash-land on. Wearing the signature resin bubble helmet, Rosward sat imperiously atop a massive man who was forced to crawl and drag himself forward on all fours.
The entourage trailing him was massive. To his rear-left walked several scantily clad women wearing explosive collars, their tragic status as slaves obvious at a glance. To his rear-right marched a man in a sharp black suit and sunglasses, clearly an agent of one of the Cipher Pol factions, flanked by several subordinates. A small army of heavily armed guards brought up the rear.
'What the hell?' Bardock thought, eyeing the beautiful slave women. 'Rosward's aesthetic tastes seem perfectly normal. So how did his son Charlos end up looking like a deformed pig?'
Tearing his gaze away from the enslaved women, Bardock didn't stick around to play hero. While the procession was still far down the street, he quietly slipped into a side alley. He didn't have the strength to actually free them yet, so it was best to just stay as far away from the World Nobles as possible.
The Celestial Dragons were essentially the royalty of this world, but far worse than any historical aristocracy. Even ancient kings had to at least pretend to follow the law to maintain public order. The Celestial Dragons just didn't care. They did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. They blatantly partook in the slave trade that the World Government officially outlawed. If they saw a woman on the street they liked, they just claimed her as a wife. Shooting innocent civilians in broad daylight was treated like a casual hobby. They would even enslave royalty from World Government-affiliated nations without batting an eye.
If the Celestial Dragons didn't exist, Bardock could have genuinely convinced himself to join the Marines. Sure, the World Government had done some horrifically messed up things—like authorizing the Buster Call on the Tree of Knowledge in Ohara, or leaving the citizens of Flevance, the White City, to die a slow, agonizing death. But the Marines did actively hunt down bloodthirsty pirates and protect innocent civilians.
But as long as the Celestial Dragons existed at the top... it was a lost cause.
Shaking off the heavy thoughts, Bardock forced himself to adjust his mood. He wasn't about to let those scumbags ruin his New Year's Eve.
The night air was cool and filled with distant, festive cheering.
After wrapping up his usual grueling training routine, Bardock hauled a table outside his secluded house and loaded it with his massive feast. He sat quietly, watching the fireworks blossom across the dark sky. Popping the cork on the premium Kano Kingdom wine, he poured a glass, gave it a gentle swirl, and inhaled the rich aroma.
'Ah, forget it. I'm just not an elegant guy,' he mused.
He downed the glass in one gulp and dug into the Wano ham. It was incredible—rich, savory, and paired perfectly with the side dishes he had whipped up. He ate until he was completely stuffed.
'Wait, so Kaido has already taken over Wano?' Bardock thought, chewing thoughtfully. 'Momonosuke was sent twenty years into the future, and right now, it's about thirteen and a half years before Luffy sets sail. Luffy sails for a few months, trains for two years, and then almost immediately runs into Momo. Yeah, the timeline matches up. No wonder Wano products are bleeding into the black market.'
He reached across the table for more of the dishes he had made from scratch. Some were childhood favorites from his past life, while others were local recipes he had stolen by eavesdropping on chefs in this world. The centerpiece, of course, was the massive hunk of meat on the bone. Ever since he started reading manga, he had dreamed of biting into one of those iconic cartoon meats. Actually cooking it was a total nightmare—it was way too easy to burn the outside while leaving the inside completely raw—but the effort was entirely worth it. Who could possibly resist a giant, perfectly roasted piece of meat on a bone?
Burst after burst of fireworks lit up the mangrove canopy, casting vibrant, shifting colors across Bardock's face.
The entire archipelago was wrapped in joyous celebration, yet Bardock sat there, quietly savoring his own profound isolation. His mind drifted back to the mundane, peaceful life he had left behind.
'Like the old poem says,' he thought with a wistful smile. '"A stranger in a strange land, missing home the most when the holidays come around." '
He thought of the original Bardock's family. The boy had only his mother and father. When the shipwreck first happened, they hadn't run; they had frantically tried to reach him and save him. But when the massive wave finally crashed down, shattering the hull, all three of them had been swallowed by the dark, churning sea.
"I hope wherever you are, you found some good luck," he whispered to the night sky.
With a heavy sigh, Bardock stood up and headed inside. It was time to get some rest.