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Back when Bai Ye was watching the anime in his past life, the scenes where Luffy invited someone to join his crew always left a deep impression on him.
He even used to think, "Man, being one of this guy's crewmates must be awesome."
But now that he was actually standing in front of Luffy, being invited—as the very first recruit—he kinda froze up for a second.
"I'm Luffy. Monkey D. Luffy. I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!!!"
Right after asking Bai Ye to join, Luffy hit him with his classic catchphrase again.
It sounded like something straight out of a middle school kid's imagination—but strangely enough, Bai Ye and Koby both felt something click inside them.
This guy… he meant it. And somehow, he just might pull it off.
Bai Ye didn't hesitate any longer. The opportunity was right in front of him—why second-guess it?
"Alright!"
Bai Ye answered with a nod. "I don't have any family or friends in this world anyway. And since you're aiming to be Pirate King and you're inviting me to come along…"
This time, he didn't clasp his hands together in a martial arts salute. He stood tall, stared Luffy straight in the eye, and said—confidence and excitement burning in his gaze:
"Then I'll raise some hell with you… Captain!"
"Hell yeah~!"
Luffy grinned and lightly punched his right fist into his left palm.
"Didn't expect to find a crewmate this soon after setting out. Now I just need to find nine more… One of them's gotta be a musician…"
"C'mon, what kind of pirate crew throws a party without music?"
"Hahaha, Bai Ye, you're the best!"
As Luffy rambled on about random stuff, Bai Ye couldn't help smiling. His eyes softened, and a grin played at the corners of his lips.
Classic Luffy.
Neither of them paid any attention to Koby, who stood off to the side, looking absolutely floored.
If there were a narrator right now, it'd probably go something like this:
"To Koby, the two people in front of him looked completely insane.One was shouting about becoming King of the Pirates, then inviting some guy he just met to join him.And the other? The guy accepted without blinking.Koby could feel his already-fragile worldview beginning to crack."
But neither Bai Ye nor Luffy cared what other people thought.
Especially Bai Ye. Even though he agreed without hesitation, he had his own reasons for joining the Straw Hat Pirates.
Looking across the One Piece world, most of the major factions fall into just a few categories:
Mountain bandits…
Let's be real—being a mountain bandit just doesn't cut it in a world where the sea rules everything.
Bounty hunter? Not bad. No rules, self-sufficient.
But the downsides? You make too many enemies, and you've gotta do everything yourself.
The Revolutionary Army and the Marines are basically two sides of the same coin—both are organized, have ranks, and follow a system.
As for the Revolutionary Army, Bai Ye just couldn't care less. Honestly, in the original story, they were kind of underwhelming—nothing that ever really stood out.
Now the Marines… they were actually a pretty solid choice. Too bad that with Bai Ye's strength, sooner or later he'd have to protect the Celestial Dragons.
And that was a dealbreaker.
He just didn't want to do that. Simple as that.
Who wants to be a lapdog for a bunch of pigs?
Which really only left Bai Ye with one real option—to join the Straw Hat Pirates.
Sure, 99% of pirates are trash, but that last 1%? They're basically adventurers who just happen to fly the pirate flag.
Bai Ye had zero patience for the former. But the latter? He could live with that.
And Luffy's Straw Hat crew was exactly that kind of pirate group.
Plus, joining them came with some obvious perks:
First off: Unlike the usual hot-blooded shonen protagonist, Luffy actually protects and cares for his crew. Everyone sees that. So Bai Ye wouldn't have to worry about getting tossed aside as cannon fodder later.
Second: The whole One Piece story follows Luffy's perspective. That means for Bai Ye, it's like having a cheat code that lets you see the future.
And come on, if you've got cheats and don't use them, you're just a damn idiot.
Sure, Luffy can be totally unreliable sometimes, but with Bai Ye around, there's no need to stress too much.
He could even fix a few regrets from watching the anime in his past life while he's at it.
Third—and this one's huge: Luffy is hands down the most overpowered second-generation character in the whole damn world.
Forget anything else. Just look at Marineford—Sengoku and Kizaru practically let the ocean split for him.
A guy like that, blessed with insane plot armor and a legendary bloodline? Who in their right mind would turn that down?
Let's break it down:
—Grandpa? Garp, a top-tier powerhouse and legendary Marine.—Dad? Dragon, leader of the Revolutionary Army and "the world's worst criminal" in the World Government's eyes.—Brothers? Ace, second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, and Sabo, chief of staff of the Revolutionary Army.—Mentor? Freakin' Red-Haired Shanks, one of the Four Emperors.
And Luffy himself? He ate the Mythical Zoan-type Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika.
Nika, the so-called "Sun God" of the Flower Country legends—a kind of spirit that lives on rubber trees.
Before awakening, the fruit worked pretty much like the regular Rubber-Rubber Fruit. Stretchy powers, yeah—but also boosted with Zoan-level healing and endurance.
After awakening? As the Five Elders said:
"He can fight however he wants, and make everyone around him laugh with joy. This is the Sun God Nika, the Warrior of Liberation."
In other words, Luffy is destined to free the world. He is the next Joy Boy.
Honestly, at this point, it wouldn't surprise Bai Ye one bit if Luffy turned out to be the world's chosen son.
So really—why the hell wouldn't Bai Ye get on that ship?
With his decision made, Bai Ye turned his attention back to the mysterious book in his mind: The Daoist Compilation.
And before long, his eyes flew open, filled with excitement.
From what the book was telling him, it really did contain the complete heritage of Daoist techniques throughout history.
Stuff like the Fenghou Qimen—which combines Eight Trigrams and Five Elements magic.
Then there's the Golden Light Spell and Thunder Magic from the Zhengyi sect of Longhu Mountain.
And of course, the Fu talisman arts from the Maoshan school, famous for their expertise in using magical charms.
It even included alchemy and artifact-crafting methods—a full-on mystical toolkit.
The only catch? Bai Ye couldn't just absorb this stuff instantly. He'd have to study and practice.
But here's the silver lining: Bai Ye could actually enter the book's inner world, and inside, he could adjust the flow of time—slowing it down to train more efficiently.
That bought him some much-needed time.
Because not long after Luffy sets out on his journey, Marineford is gonna go down—and things only get crazier from there.
The sooner he learned these techniques, the more options he'd have when things hit the fan.
Oh—and that wasn't even all.
The Daoist Compilation also gifted him a "newbie starter pack."
It was called Innate Primordial Qi.
Bai Ye had already noticed that ever since arriving in this world, his physical body was way stronger—and he could feel a kind of internal energy, like "Qi."
But compared to Innate Primordial Qi, that regular Qi was basically child's play.
To put it simply: it's the difference between martial arts and full-blown immortality cultivation.
The Daoist Compilation gave him a seed. All Bai Ye had to do was use his inner power to nurture it and gradually convert all his Qi into a higher form—Primordial Qi—and his strength would skyrocket.
With that in mind, Bai Ye looked over at his newly acknowledged captain.
"Hey, Luffy, I need a favor from you."
"....."