One piece :Nox ( Before Dawn)

Sunlight pierced through the waves, gradually dissolving the darkness and making way for the dawn. The setting sun painted the coastline in fiery hues, its blinding brilliance harsh on the eyes. On the shore stood a woman, like a mirage. Her graceful hands gently caressed her rounded belly, and her gaze was fixed on the horizon, where perhaps he, Sal, was.

A tender voice, full of love and warmth, echoed in the ears. The woman, with high cheekbones, long golden hair cascading in waves over her shoulders, and a gentle face turned toward him, spoke:

"Roger, don't worry, I'll take care of the children, and we will all be proud of you."

"If it's a girl, she'll be named Ann, and if it's a boy, Ace."

"…"

The voice gradually faded, dissolving into the abyss of sleep. Sal slowly opened his eyes, lying in bed, and stared at the unfamiliar ceiling. Remembering the voice from his dream, he felt a deep yearning and whispered:

"Rouge, why do I keep seeing you in my dreams? I'm not really Roger."

"Hmm..."

The voice of the woman next to him brought him back to reality. The blanket covered the graceful body of a beautiful redhead who was still peacefully asleep. Without hesitation, Sal pulled back the blanket and got out of bed. He took a bag out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

The familiar voice of the system echoed in his mind, causing him to pause for a moment.

[Moderately alter the fate of Class C character Neel, reward 8 points]

[Class C characters experience positive emotions towards the host, initial friendliness level, experience increased by 5.]

Sal went to the bathroom and looked at his reflection in the smooth mirror. Handsome, slightly sun-kissed appearance, cheerful short black hair—this was the appearance of the young Pirate King Roger, or more precisely, Roger's body. His dark pupils glided over every inch of his skin, recalling everything that had happened. It still felt like a dream to him.

Sal was a resident of Blue Star. He died after falling from a high peak during a climb, caught in a beam of golden light. At that moment, he lost control of his body and plunged from several hundred meters high.

The void before death, the brief pain from torn wounds—all this was still fresh in his memory.

The golden beam was the system now residing in his soul. It's called the World System, rather a mundane name.

With the divine power inherent in the system, Sal inherited the body of a deceased powerful man. This powerful man was Gol D. Roger. Using the unpredictable powers of gods and demons, the system gathered the remnants of Roger's soul and integrated them into Sal's soul.

The absorption of the Pirate King's soul gave Sal access to half of Roger's memories and an almost complete set of combat skills. He was familiar with physical training, swordsmanship, wielded Haki, and even mastered advanced skills like Armament Haki and Observation Haki.

But the greatest advantage of absorbing the soul was obtaining the Royal Haki of a Conqueror, the pinnacle of power in the world of pirates.

The only downside was that he did not possess Roger's full strength, as his body was weak. The system explained that a complete replication required enormous resources and that the pitiful host was clearly not worth such expenses.

The System Interface that opened before Sal left no doubt: this was Roger's body, albeit an incomplete copy.

[Host: August Trel]

[Age: 26]

[Level: Level 3 (30/150)]

[Strength: Initial level]

[Physical condition: Initial level]

[Agility: Basic level]

[Devil Fruit: None]

[Skills: Advanced level]

[Armament Haki: None]

[Observation Haki: Basic level]

[Conqueror's Haki: Peak level]

[Points: 21]

The three main physical parameters were simply terrible. Like in a game system, Level 3 corresponded to the level of a marine sergeant.

Fortunately, the Observation Haki awakened, giving him a bit of confidence. At least he could sense approaching danger and avoid sudden death before he had time to react.

Among Roger's combat skills, swordsmanship was his most powerful. Decades of practice made him the best among the great swordsmen. Even his hand-to-hand combat skills were at the peak of mastery.

The only drawback was that, despite having access to the Conqueror's Haki, his weak body couldn't fully utilize it. Not to mention the Royal Haki, even with the regular Conqueror's Haki, his body might simply not withstand it.

The backlash from the Conqueror's Haki would tear his body apart. Fortunately, thanks to the system, he found himself in a familiar era where he had a plan to level up.

By leveling up, he would eventually reach Roger's peak strength, and possibly become even stronger. He just needed to elicit positive or negative emotions from those around him.

Aside from the leveling function, the system had another important feature.

[[Heavenly Lottery]]

[By altering the fate of others, you gain points as a reward. The stronger or more important the person, the more points you receive.]

[As the system's host, you can use points to draw various items from different worlds.]

[White lottery: 10 points, green lottery: 100 points, blue lottery: 3000 points, purple lottery: 100,000 points, gold lottery: 3 million points.]

Sal had tried the white lottery several times, but all he got was junk: regular food, mineral water, broken weapons.

As for the higher-level lotteries, he couldn't try them yet, as he lacked the points…

Suddenly, a group of marine officers appeared at the entrance of the hotel, storming in and starting a search. Leading them was a female officer with long pink hair. Her name was Hina, and she possessed the Cage Cage Devil Fruit. She was also known as Black Cage Hina and was a Marine Headquarters colonel.

She could create iron bars by joining her hands and even throw iron spears to sink enemy ships at a distance.

Hina was dressed in a bright pink business suit and a Marine justice cloak. Her slender, graceful figure was very attractive, and her facial features were delicate, giving her a heroic appearance.

It wasn't clear what the other marine officers were up to, but this woman knew very well that her target was Sal.

Sal immediately jumped off the windowsill and fled the hotel, causing confusion for the sleeping woman on the bed.

Meanwhile, Hina declared, "Hina suspects there are criminals here, I already... But whatever your intentions, Hina is very angry right now." The hotel boss stood there as if thunderstruck, wishing to cry but unable to...

Sal, dressed in a black trench coat and a bowler hat, held a freshly printed newspaper. Noticing that the Marines weren't pursuing him, he sighed in relief.

To explain why this crazy woman was hunting him, we need to go back three days. At that time, he was planning to board a ship heading to the Sabaody Archipelago, and he witnessed a battle.

Colonel Hina had organized the capture of a pirate with a bounty of hundreds of millions of Beli. Hundreds of Marines surrounded dozens of pirates, and Hina was on par with her opponent. The situation was in her favor. But at that moment, the marine officers mistook Sal, who was watching the battle, for a pirate and attacked him. He used Conqueror's Haki to stun everyone except Hina and the pirate with the bounty. This earned him a level-up to 3rd level, a jump by two levels.

The Marines, initially with the upper hand, suddenly found themselves in a standoff between two admirals. Although Hina eventually won, she was severely injured. Do you think she would forget such an affront? She's a very vindictive woman.

Having lost his pursuers and read the newspaper, he smirked, his heart filled with anticipation. He whispered to himself:

"Interesting times are beginning. Now is the perfect time to make a choice."

The newspaper pages featured photographs of the Straw Hat crew, including Roronoa Zoro, Black Leg Sanji, Nico Robin, the Devil's Child Nicole Robin, Cat Burglar Nami, and others.

The headline declared that two days ago, the Straw Hat Pirates had defeated one of the Seven Warlords, Gecko Moria.

He hadn't expected that the news king Morgans dared to write the truth. After all, the previous Warlord, Crocodile, was presented by the World Government as having been defeated by the Navy, and White Hunter Smoker received a promotion to Rear Admiral.

It was believed that in the coming days, the Straw Hat Pirates would land on the Sabaody Archipelago. Sal couldn't help but think about it. Could he become the successor to the Straw Hat?

As someone possessing most of Roger's memories, he understood the significance of Roger passing his hat to Shanks.

"No one can stop the march of a new era, just like the choice Roger made in his time."

Pushing aside these thoughts, Sal looked at the bustling streets. People were walking back and forth, among them were rare races like the Longarm Tribe and even tribes covered in fur.

From time to time, vicious and unfriendly individuals, pirates or slavers, darted through the crowd—this was not a peaceful place.

He spent three days on the island. The first three days he dedicated to scouting and observation, trying to act cautiously.

As far as the eye could see, red trees stretched towards the sky, their trunks reaching dozens of meters in diameter. Enormous roots protruded from the sea, forming extensive land areas.

From time to time, bubbles rose from the ground and floated into the air, giving the island a certain childlike innocence.

This was the final point of the first stage of the Grand Line, consisting of giant argimangrove trees.

Tourists, pirates, kidnappers, bounty hunters, slavers—people of all kinds could be found on the famous Sabaody Archipelago.

The Sabaody Archipelago consisted of 79 mangrove trees, divided into 79 communities.

Areas 1 through 29 were considered lawless, teeming with pirates, bounty hunters, and slavers. It was to this unpunished place that Sal headed. But before that, he stopped by a nearby restaurant; he needed to fuel up before the hunt. There was a familiar stranger he had met yesterday.

In the restaurant, a group of people dressed in white coveralls and hats were eating and having fun.

At the head was a man wearing a fur winter hat with leopard spots. He had special black bags under his eyes, and he wore a long-sleeved yellow shirt with a pirate symbol printed in the center.

This group of people were the Heart Pirates, led by Trafalgar Law, one of the supernovas, who had recently arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago. He had a bounty of 200 million Beli on his head and possessed the power of the Op-Op Fruit.

Suddenly, the noise of a battle erupted very close to the street. It was the Marines, led by Hina, who had started another search. Could this woman be so bold? There were ten supernovas on the island right now.