In the East Sea, within the territory of the Kingdom of Oikote.

In a camp in the mountains and forests, a man dressed in a thin shirt and cloth trousers held a bounty notice, comparing it to the girl in front of him, and asked,

"Is this you?"

The girl had a head of golden curly hair, fair skin, and a delicate appearance. She wore an ornate dress with sleeves that clung to her arms, while the skirt was very wide, adorned with lace that accentuated her tender neck. Although she didn’t wear any gold or silver jewelry, she looked like a noble lady, the kind with big golden waves in her hair.

The girl’s eyes were cold, and her tone even colder: "No."

"This is you," Sag said.

The girl glared furiously: "You should know better than to ask!"

Sag grinned: "I ran into five waves of mountain bandits on the way—finally got a good start!"

In response, the girl merely glared at Sag with murderous intent; if looks could kill, she would have taken this man down with her.

"Don’t bother."

Sag patted the ornate pearl-handled rapier at his side, "You’re my first job, so naturally, I need to prevent all sorts of unexpected situations."

Saying this, he pointed a finger at the girl’s forehead, and her legs automatically began to move, walking in a specific direction.

This filled the girl with despair; she never imagined there was someone in the world who could do such a thing.

Not only had he instantly taken away her weapon, but with just a poke, she found herself unable to move and now was being controlled to walk automatically...

"Don’t you strong ones have dreams? Why be a slave to money!" the girl shouted.

"Hold on..."

Sag waved his hand, "Money is a good thing; everyone works for money, earning a living based on their skills. I deserve what I earn—what does it matter if I'm a slave or not? As for dreams..."

His expression darkened a bit, and he gritted his teeth, saying: "I do have a dream! My dream... is to have a piece of land, to farm and fish, and to live a carefree life in this damned world until I die!"

Norton Sag, twenty-two years old, had lived here for twenty-two years, and now... was a bounty hunter for less than two months.

As for this place... it was the world of the Pirate King.

A highly dangerous world filled with either gigantic beasts, ferocious sea kings, or those ruthless pirates.

It was also an extremely twisted world.

Being transported to such a world was indeed unfortunate for him, but since he was here...

Fortunately, this place was the East Sea, relatively safe with a population of less than three million.

Even better, when he crossed over, he brought with him a cheat for "Beidou Fist."

That is to say, the "Iwa Xia" fist technique, which allowed him to walk boldly through the East Sea.

Sag had no interest in stirring up the sea, but he thought being a landlord and a rich man had a lot of potential.

Having a large territory would allow many to depend on him for their livelihood, hiring a few secretaries, employing a group of underlings, acting tough when needed, and enjoying music when not...

Just thinking about it made him a bit excited.

At first, Sag wanted to follow in his adoptive father's footsteps, starting with farming to enclose a large area of land and become the king of farming!

But it resulted in nothing.

Farming didn’t work; fishing might.

The vast sea was rich with fish, and even a child could catch fish effortlessly. Fishing well could lead to wealth—he could become the king of fishing!

Every day was a blank slate.

Perhaps he wasn’t cut out for being settled; maybe he should venture out a bit.

The sea is so vast, and there are so many merchants; relying on becoming a merchant to build up initial capital was also an option...

But the ship sank, and the cargo was lost.

If he couldn’t go the proper way, he could try the backdoor!

Becoming a king of folk songs, only to face martial law.

Becoming a king of bodyguards, only for the employer to go bankrupt.

Becoming a king of mercenaries, only to face a peace agreement!

In short, ever since his adoptive father, who was content with farming, died, Sag’s life couldn't be said to have been flourishing; at least he had achieved nothing.

Now Sag was trying to be the king of bounties... a bounty hunter.

In the year 1520 of the Sea Round calendar, twenty-two years after the Pirate King's death, it was an absolute era of great pirates!

Encountering pirates was as easy as picking up stones on the road; it was an age where one could catch a pirate from the sea with little effort, and being a bounty king should be promising...

But he couldn't find a single one!

From tens of thousands of Berries to millions, whether mountain bandits or pirates, he couldn’t find a single one!

Damn it!

How could others encounter the eight million Berry Sig...

Hmm... who was Sig again?

Can't recall.

Not only could he not find anyone, but his luck was particularly bad.

He caught a pirate only to find out there was no bounty, and as soon as he released him, a bounty was issued, benefiting his competitors...

What the hell is wrong with this world!

Fuming with anger!

It could be said that apart from not being a navy or a pirate, Sag had almost done every profession, and he didn’t like pirates. As for the navy...

Sag scratched his head full of white hair and pulled out a stack of bounty notices from his belt, with a long-nosed purple-skinned monster at the top, the bounty totaling twenty million.

If it weren't for this bounty notice, he might have given up on being a bounty hunter.

The notice featured the highest bounty in the East Sea, a fishman named Arlong with a bounty of twenty million Berries!

"Wait until I catch you for the reward; once I have the money, I'll hire people to go to the Conomi Islands, and once I catch this group, I’ll be rich," Sag said with a smile.

He couldn't find pirates floating around on the sea, but he could still find those with a nest, like this Arlong Pirates.

Besides Arlong with his twenty million Berries bounty, there were also the fishman Hachi with eight million Berries, the fishman Kuroobi with nine million Berries, and the fishman Chew with five hundred and fifty thousand Berries, totaling over forty million Berries.

They were just sitting at home; could it be that Sag was so unlucky he couldn’t even catch a single one?

With this money, he could buy several villages in the East Sea, which would count as fulfilling his dream.

"I didn't plan on catching you originally," Sag said, "but there's no other choice. I don't understand sailing, and none of the ships were going to the Conomi Islands, so I had to come to the Kingdom of Oikote first, and then I saw you."

When those ships heard they were going to the Conomi Islands, they all refused. With no other choice, Sag relied on cleaning the ship's deck to somehow make it to the Conomi Islands in the Kingdom of Oikote.

By the way...

The ship he cleaned the deck on ran aground and sank halfway when it docked.

He originally wanted to head straight south to the Conomi Islands, but coincidentally, he saw a bounty notice on a telephone pole in this kingdom; it was of this woman, with a bounty... of one hundred thousand Berries.

In fact, Sag had little hope; he didn't expect much from such a roaming bounty criminal, as he had never encountered one anyway; he took it on a whim, just out of luck.

"Grab what you can," he thought, "even if it's just one."

He encountered five waves of mountain bandits on the way, all without bounties, but the last wave of bandits had indeed seen this girl, and Sag picked up on the lead!

A great start!

I'm not really that unlucky!

Isn't this business making a comeback?

"What’s your name?" Sag asked, his mood brightening.

The bounty notice of this woman didn’t have a name, only a photo and the bounty amount.

Her strength was not weak; she had attacked him the moment she saw him, and her swordsmanship was quick, but unfortunately, Sag was faster, striking her with a pressure point and rendering her unable to resist.

The girl said nothing, only glared at him with rage.

"Don’t be so ungrateful; after all, this is a memorable first time. Tell me your name, and I’ll collect your body later, burning paper for you during the holidays..." Sag said.

The girl glared at Sag but seemed to think of something, her expression dimming as she lowered her head. After a moment of silence, she said quietly, "Binderta Lily..."

"Binderta? Sounds familiar; I think I’ve heard it somewhere."

Sag stroked his chin, displaying a pensive expression.

"Underneath your bounty notice," the girl said.

Sag took out the girl’s bounty notice; although it had no name, there was a line of small text below the bounty amount. He looked for a long time, nodding from time to time, then solemnly faced the girl.

"I can't read."

"……"

The atmosphere fell into an awkward silence.

A light breeze blew through, adding an extra layer of discomfort to the already tense situation.

Veins bulged on the girl’s forehead as she shouted, "Why are you looking so seriously at something you can’t even read?!"

Sag blushed at the girl’s words, instinctively turning his head away.

But he couldn’t really be blamed.

Once someone reaches adulthood, their ability to learn declines and solidifies; he was just an ordinary worker in his past life, and he couldn’t be expected to suddenly gain insight upon crossing over.

Moreover, the written language in this world is neither purely English nor Japanese, mixed with some strange Roman letters and completely unintelligible characters. Aside from a few letters and numbers he recognized, everything else looked like scribbles to him.

Who could understand this stuff? He didn’t have the opportunity to learn when he crossed over.

"Well, my adoptive father was a vagrant, you understand..." Sag said awkwardly with a smile.

What is a vagrant? It’s someone who doesn’t know where they popped out from.

Lily held back her anger: "It says below that the bounty notice is issued by the royal Binderta family of the Oikote Kingdom. Capturing this person will get you a reward in the royal city."

"Right! Binderta, I heard of that when I came; it’s indeed the royal family here..."

Sag clapped his right fist against his left hand, showing a look of realization, but suddenly reacted, "Hmm? Aren’t you the mountain bandit leader?"

The girl’s face turned beet red, "I am of the royal family, the princess of the Oikote Kingdom, not some mountain bandit!!"