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Bai Ye, a young Taoist adopted by the Wudang Sect back on Blue Star.
Wudang is known as a symbol of Daoism and follows strict rules most of the time. But honestly, it's kinda like Kamar-Taj from Marvel.
They've got their ways of letting you browse the internet.
Bai Ye had been training on the mountain with his master for seventeen years. His biggest hobby? Watching anime.
And One Piece? Definitely one of his favorites.
But as much as he loved it, he never imagined he'd actually end up inside the One Piece world.
He looked up again at the people in front of him.
Especially that guy in the straw hat—definitely the man who'd go on to become one of the Yonko someday.
And next to him, the chubby, pink-haired, glasses-wearing kid—his memory was a bit fuzzy, but that had to be the future snitch in the Marines.
Holy crap… did I land right at the beginning of the story?
"Seriously?"
Bai Ye ran his fingers through his tied-up hair in frustration. He was a young Taoist from Wudang, after all.
Early to bed, early to rise, healthy diet, no bad habits whatsoever…
So how the hell did he just drop dead?
Is the transmigration system these days just picking people at random?
He patted his head and tried to recall what had happened right before he ended up here.
He remembered—right before he went to sleep, his master had called him into the room to show him a strange book called The Taoist Compendium.
According to his master, the book was written by a legendary Taoist figure who had traveled across all the major Taoist sects and compiled their teachings into one volume. It included not just Wudang's internal alchemy methods, but also Qimen techniques from sorcerers, dual cultivation practices from Longhu Mountain, and talisman magic from Maoshan.
Basically, as his master put it—if it weren't the end of the spiritual era, this book would be a top-tier Taoist treasure.
And Bai Ye? He wasn't just a rare talent in a thousand years—he was the kind of prodigy that only showed up once in a century. A straight-up freak of nature.
Thinking back on it now, Bai Ye finally pieced it together.
That night, his master had chatted with him endlessly and ended up stuffing the book into his hands while he was half-asleep.
And right before he dozed off, he'd placed The Taoist Compendium next to his pillow… then BAM—he woke up in a whole new world.
Bai Ye had a strong feeling that his shady old master had totally set him up.
What was this? "Better him than me" in real life?
While Bai Ye was still lost in thought, the two pirates in the room were reaching their limit.
All they'd wanted was a break and maybe a little booze—but what'd they get?
One of their buddies got knocked out cold by some guy hiding in a barrel, and then that guy had teamed up with Koby to spout nonsense at them.
And now—another guy pops out of nowhere, says something weird, then just stands there with this blank look on his face, like he's deep in some kind of philosophical crisis.
Watching this scene, the two pirates couldn't help but feel a little wronged.
Come on, man. At least pretend to respect us as professionals!
Fuming, the bandana-wearing pirate snapped. Rage rising, he grabbed his broadsword, bared his teeth, and charged at Bai Ye with a nasty grin on his face.
"Heh… DIE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!"
"Hm?"
Even as deep in thought as he was, Bai Ye still picked up on the killing intent coming his way.
He turned his head and saw the pirate charging at him, all teeth and fury. In an instant, Bai Ye's gaze sharpened as he calculated the guy's strength.
Conclusion? Total noob. Absolute weakling.
While that thought flashed through his mind, the pirate was already swinging his blade down hard, aiming to split Bai Ye in two.
Bai Ye stood completely still, looking so frozen with fear it made the pirate grin so wide it nearly reached the back of his head. That blade came slicing down with full force—
And then—at the very last second—Bai Ye moved!
In the pirate's eyes, the boy just tilted his body ever so slightly, and—bam—effortlessly dodged the killing blow.
Before the pirate even had time to register what just happened, Bai Ye moved again~
He didn't even look at the guy. Just shifted his weight, bent his knees, twisted from the waist up—waist to shoulder, shoulder to elbow, elbow to wrist~
A single Tai Chi push-hand move, practiced for ten whole years, flowed out as smooth as water.
To anyone else watching, it just looked like Bai Ye gently pushed the bandana guy after dodging his attack.
But only the pirate himself knew what it felt like.
He swore, even getting hit by Alvida's iron club wouldn't have hurt this bad.
"ARGHHHH!!!"
The guy's gut caved in from the hit, his tongue and eyeballs almost popped out of his head, and he flew backwards like a cannonball—smashing straight into another pirate, a burly guy with a face full of beard.
BOOM!!!
A cloud of dust burst up. And when it settled, the only ones still standing were Bai Ye and Luffy.
As for Koby—he was already back on the floor, too scared to move.
"Waaaah~~~ Sugoi!!!"
Luffy's eyes were sparkling as he looked at Bai Ye, completely starstruck.
"Long-hair guy, that move you just did was AWESOME!"
Bai Ye: "???"
Long-hair guy?
Dude! Who gave you the right to start handing out nicknames like that?!
Though a little annoyed, Bai Ye—being very familiar with One Piece and Luffy's… special way of thinking—let it slide.
He straightened out his Taoist robe and gave a proper fist-and-palm salute.
"Wudang's Bai Ye. I'm a Taoist."
"Taoist?"
Forget whether Taoists even existed in the One Piece world—Luffy probably wouldn't know even if they did.
"Is it tasty?"
"WHAT PART OF WHAT I SAID SOUNDED LIKE FOOD TO YOU?!"
"Speaking of food, I'm kinda hungry. Hey, long-hair, you wanna eat something?"
"Why did the topic change so fast?! And my name is BAI YE!!!"
Five minutes later—
Another storage room on the ship.
Luffy was happily stuffing his face with an entire barrel of fruit.
As for Bai Ye, while his table manners were way more refined than Luffy's, he also noticed something strange—
His appetite had suddenly gone through the roof!
Even compared to Luffy the big eater, Bai Ye could definitely hold his own when it came to food.
Had his body changed somehow after he crossed over into this world?
Bai Ye couldn't help thinking about the moment earlier when he sent those pirates flying. He'd always been confident in his skills, sure—but in his mind, while he didn't think he'd lose, he also didn't expect to knock both of them out cold with just a single Taichi push.
Sure, Taichi was about using your opponent's strength against them, but he could clearly feel that his own strength had increased—by at least ten times compared to his old life.
Back then, he could maybe "move a thousand pounds with four ounces."
But now? He could crush four ounces with a thousand pounds of force.
Even without using any Taichi technique, he could've easily knocked those two pirates out with one punch.
That thought made him kinda excited. After all, who wouldn't want to be Superman?
Especially in this chaotic era of pirates—raw strength is the only thing that truly matters.
With absolute power on your side, even things like "which side you're on" don't mean much anymore.
That got him thinking again about the likely culprit behind his sudden trip to this world: the book Daoist Compendium.
Back when he was training at Wudang, his martial arts were more in line with wuxia stuff—stuff that could kinda compare to things like the Navy's Rokushiki or sword techniques in this world.
But the Daoist arts recorded in the Daoist Compendium? Those were something else entirely. They were more like the top-tier powers of this world—like Devil Fruits and Haki.
Bai Ye took a deep breath and focused his mind. The moment he thought about it, he could sense something sitting in his consciousness.
Sure enough, it was the Daoist Compendium.
Looks like this was his cheat—his golden finger—for being reborn in this world.
Just as Bai Ye was about to dive in and study it, Luffy finally wrapped up his fight. He flopped down on his back with his huge belly sticking out, and turned to look at Bai Ye. There was a strange sparkle in his eye.
Luffy flashed his big grin, took a deep breath, and his stomach visibly shrank back to normal.
Then, with one hand on his straw hat and the other giving a thumbs-up, he pointed to himself:
"Bai Ye! I've decided—I want you to join my crew and be my crewmate!"
"....."