One Piece: The True Codex

The final words of the Pirate King Roger before his death triggered a massive rush to the seas. Among those who set sail were ambitious individuals aiming to become the next Pirate King, reckless vagabonds seeking momentary indulgence, and desperate criminals broken by harsh realities.

This situation left the Marines stretched thin, struggling to capture the ever-increasing number of pirates. Simultaneously, competition among pirates became fiercer—if everyone turned pirate, with no merchant ships or bustling towns to plunder, what would they have left to steal?

In nature, when predators vastly outnumber their prey, they either starve, eliminate the weak until balance is restored, or adapt by changing their feeding habits to find new ways to survive.

Humans, being smarter than animals, wouldn't just wait to die. Many pirates quickly and intuitively learned a new skill—slave trading.

What a fitting job for pirates! When they defeated a fellow pirate with a high bounty but couldn't claim the reward from the Marines or World Government due to their own pirate status, they could choose to sell their defeated foes as slaves.

Given the chaotic nature of pirates, they didn't limit themselves to just selling fellow pirates. Before the Great Pirate Era, slave trade existed in this world, but it was during this era that slave trading, especially of humans, peaked in a short time.

As mentioned earlier, William's original body owner was a victim of this environment.

When William was twelve, he and his mother encountered pirates on their family ship. In despair, his mother took her own life, while William, being young and handsome, survived and was sold as a slave by the pirates. After several transfers over half a year, he ended up in the hands of the Celestial Dragons.

The Celestial Dragons, a group with a long heritage, still maintain a culture of slavery, enthusiastically keeping slaves of various races, including humans. As part of this culture, slaves owned by the Celestial Dragons are branded with the "Hoof of the Celestial Dragon," marking them as "inferior humans."

Regardless of your race or original status—be it criminal, merchant, or even prince—once branded by the Celestial Dragons, your identity was reduced to that of a slave.

The original owner of the body had thought of escaping or seeking help, but even declaring himself an illegally traded slave by pirates was futile. His frequent attempts only earned the disdain of his master, Saint Tordos. During a banquet, Tordos suggested using slaves for amusement.

Saint Tordos and another Celestial Dragon, who owned a slave boy of similar age to William, staged a performance to "pass the time" and "have some fun."

William and the other boy were locked in a cage, forced to fight like animals. William, leveraging his early sword training, won the fight. However, this experience planted seeds of fear in his young heart, leading him to behave obediently thereafter.

His behavior soon gained him Tordos's trust, who believed he had "tamed" William. To flaunt his "taming" skills, Tordos would occasionally remove William's restraining collar in secure places like on ships or at his residence, to demonstrate to other Celestial Dragons.

In those situations, Tordos wasn't worried about William escaping, and William knew he couldn't flee. He was biding his time.

The opportunity came in 1505 of the Sea Circle Calendar, two years ago, when Saint Tordos visited the East Blue, the weakest pirate region among the seas, as a gesture of confidence in the Marines' work. Naturally, he brought along his "obedient" slave from the East Blue—Morgan William.

During this trip, William patiently waited for his chance until a massive storm hit, which he saw as his opportunity. Amidst the chaos, he dragged Saint Tordos into the sea, killing him without regard for the consequences, and climbed onto a small boat he had previously untied and let fall into the sea.

The small boat, miraculously not capsized by the waves, was soon found by a pirate ship, and William was forcibly recruited. Shortly after boarding, he fell ill with a high fever due to the storm and stress.

The pirates intended to toss him overboard to fend for himself, but he unexpectedly recovered quickly. This was when "Sun Bo" took over William's body.

As for hatred towards the Celestial Dragons, the current William naturally didn't feel it as deeply as the original owner, who had suffered both physically and mentally. However, this didn't stop William from opposing the Celestial Dragons. Besides his modern perspective, the original owner had killed a Celestial Dragon during his escape.

The Celestial Dragons' privileges are numerous, but the most well-known and status-revealing is the protection set up for their safety. If offended, even an Admiral would have to intervene. Fortunately, no one realized a lowly slave had killed a Celestial Dragon. The chaotic situation on the ship meant no one cared about a slave's life, and no one imagined anyone daring to kill a Celestial Dragon.

To this day, neither the media writing the news nor the World Government conducting searches believed anything other than a weak Celestial Dragon being swept away by the storm, disappearing without a trace, possibly perishing at sea. No one saw it, and no one imagined a lowly slave committing regicide.

The young men discussed the newspaper content for a while, venting their discontent towards the privileged Celestial Dragons. However, whether it was the two hundred million Beli bounty, the Grand Line, or the Celestial Dragons and the Holy Land, they all seemed too distant, so they returned to their main topic.

William folded the newspaper and tucked it into his coat. He had set up a study in the courtyard to store newspapers and organize information about the outside world. Whenever he found something useful, he noted it in his journal.

After putting away the newspaper, he turned to the bored Edmond, who was biting his nails, and asked, "How's the task I assigned you coming along?"

The others looked at Edmond, who responded with a pained expression, "I wasn't too familiar with those guys before, so I'm still in the process of reaching out. I can't just ask to meet their boss right away; they'd definitely refuse."

Ignoring his complaints, William stood up, dusted off his clothes, and calmly instructed, "Speed it up on your end."

Edmond nodded obediently. The task wasn't difficult; otherwise, William wouldn't have entrusted it to him alone. Edmond originally lived in a village on the same island as Frost Moon Village. William wanted him to invite the local boss of that village to discuss a business deal with William.

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