After months of waiting, Ritter finally got what he'd been hoping for.
"Finally! Finally someone's here!"
Perched atop his makeshift lookout tower, Ritter nearly toppled off from excitement as he spotted a small sailboat approaching in the distance.
Eight months of surviving alone on a deserted island had transformed him in more ways than one. He was taller now, stronger, and his long hair was tied up in a topknot. The sight of a human ship felt almost too good to be true.
"Please be the Straw Hats... please be the Straw Hats..." Ritter clasped his hands together, praying fervently, when a chilling thought struck him. "Wait, what if it's the Blackbeard Pirates? No way, I need a better look. If I can't tell who they are, I'm bolting."
As the boat drew closer, Ritter squinted. On the bow stood a young man wearing a straw hat, next to a blond man with glasses. Their faces were still too far to make out, but that iconic hat...
"Luffy! It's Luffy!" Ritter shouted, practically dancing on the platform. "I knew the river god wouldn't screw me over that bad!"
He was so overjoyed at the sight of the straw hat that he completely overlooked the person standing beside the young man — who should have been a green-haired swordsman, not a blond with glasses.
He scrambled down to prepare, adjusting his self-fashioned outfit made of wild boar hide — his proud "primitive chic" look — and laid out his most prized possessions: roasted wild boar and coconut juice, all neatly arranged on the beach.
As the small boat touched the shore, Ritter dashed forward like an arrow.
"Luffy! Zoro! I missed you guys so much!"
The straw-hatted youth looked at him, utterly confused. "Who's Luffy?"
The blond man adjusted his glasses. "I'm Rayleigh. He's Roger."
Ritter froze in place, brain spinning into overdrive. Roger? Rayleigh? Those names sounded disturbingly familiar...
"Wait a sec," his voice began to tremble. He didn't want to believe it. "Your full names are...?"
"Gol D. Roger," the young man said cheerfully. "We just started our pirate crew!"
Ritter's expression shattered. He lowered his head slowly.
"Gol D. Roger... Roger... 'ger'..."
The name echoed in his mind, and suddenly the world spun around him.
"River god... damn you..." he collapsed to his knees on the sand, clutching his head.
In his heart, he screamed, This is four or five decades in the past!!!
Ritter looked up at Roger, who was outrageously youthful, and suddenly everything felt bleak. This man was supposed to be in his sixties by the time Ritter knew of him.
Sixty... isn't that the age to retire from adventures, not start them!?
"Yo! Pretty enthusiastic, aren't ya, kid?" Roger laughed as he hopped off the boat.
Ritter stared at his face — emmm, something about it just irked him. A random meme popped into his mind, and he blurted out, "How old are you, sir?"
The air froze.
Roger blinked at Rayleigh, clearly confused.
Rayleigh adjusted his glasses. "Captain, I think he's asking your age."
"Haha! I'm nineteen!" Roger declared proudly, thumping his chest. "Do I look mature? I'm gonna conquer the seas, you know!"
Ritter's soul left his body. Nineteen years old? The future Pirate King was only nineteen?! He'd time-traveled into One Piece... and the Pirate King had just set sail?!
"Then... this uncle..." Ritter turned to Rayleigh.
"I'm only twenty!" The future Dark King's face cracked. "Do I really look that old to you, kid?!"
"Not really, no..."
"So," Rayleigh asked with interest, "this 'Luffy' you mentioned, he's...?"
"Oh, just a friend of mine. We go way back. I got shipwrecked, you know how it is!" Ritter started rambling, only to stop himself with sheer willpower.
Eight months of isolation had made him desperate for conversation. Someone used to city noise, suddenly trapped in nature's silence, Ritter was practically starved for human connection.
Roger's eyes sparkled. "So you're on an adventure too, huh?"
"No, uh... ababababa... glub glub... conquer the sea... manly stuff!" Ritter shook his head furiously. "Ribbit ribbit! Sob sob!"
He dropped to the ground, hands splayed, demanding a sad background track. "God, what am I even saying?"
Roger was picking his nose. Rayleigh, meanwhile, had already started grilling the boar. Neither seemed particularly disturbed.
Ritter asked, confused, "Aren't you the least bit surprised to find a kid alone on an island?"
Roger burst out laughing. "Not at all! The sea's for everyone. That's the fun of it!"
Ritter thought for a moment. "Do you... want to become Pirate King someday?"
Roger and Rayleigh looked at each other, then suddenly erupted into uncontrollable laughter.
"Pirate King?! That's a cool name, I like it!" Roger wiped away a tear from laughing too hard. "Then it's settled! We'll be the Pirate Kings! I'll be the freest man on the seas!"
Ritter: "..."
Just as Ritter was about to say more, both Roger and Rayleigh raised their hands to stop him.
"That's enough talking, Ritter. Wanna join our crew? The adventure's just getting started. Sailing alone's no fun, is it?"
Ritter looked at their nonchalant faces. Too boring, huh? You've really got some nerve, Roger Pirates...
A fire lit in his chest. "Hey, Roger... let's fight!"
Ritter suddenly stood up, eyes gleaming with anticipation. This was the future Pirate King standing before him — not sparring with him would be a crime.
He was practically grinning. He'd time-traveled to One Piece and now had a chance to crush the Pirate King. Roger had just set sail. He couldn't be that strong yet. And Ritter had a Logia-type Devil Fruit, after all.
Roger was shoving the last piece of meat into his mouth. "Huh? What'd you say?"
"I said—" The mist began spreading rapidly. Setting the stage first was only fair, right?
Ritter eyed Roger still picking his nose and barked, "Hey! Take this seriously! I'm challenging you!"
Rayleigh sipped coconut juice from the side. "Captain, the kid's throwing down the gauntlet."
"Huh? Oh!" Roger blinked, then sprang up like a spring. "You wanna fight? You should've said so earlier!"
Ritter bared his shark-like teeth. "I did say it, you bastard!"
The next second, a chill ran down his spine. Roger hadn't moved an inch, but an invisible pressure suddenly enveloped the area, making every hair on Ritter's body stand on end.
"Here I come~" Roger said cheerfully, striking a strange stance.
Ritter muttered internally, What the hell, you're this strong already? I wouldn't have challenged you if I'd known!
He immediately turned into mist, which now covered the whole battlefield.
"Mist Veil: Mirage Clone!" Seven identical illusions appeared around Roger.
"Whoa! That's awesome!" Roger's eyes sparkled — then—
Bam!
A straight, no-frills punch landed squarely in Ritter's gut, folding him like a shrimp. All the clones instantly vanished.
Ritter: ??? Bro, are you Saitama? You just punched through my illusions like they were nothing. Don't forget, my mist can disrupt Observation Haki. You hitting me that clean just makes me look stupid!
"Ugh... how did you... see through it..." Ritter gasped, kneeling and dry heaving.
"Huh?" Roger tilted his head. "I didn't see through it. I just felt like you'd be right there."
Rayleigh added from the side, "Our captain's instincts are uncanny."
"The Voice of All Things, huh..." Ritter struggled to his feet, then slammed his palms to the ground. "Mist Prison: Thousand Needle Rain!"
Countless misty needles shot up from the earth.
Roger danced between them like it was child's play, humming a horribly off-key tune.
"My turn!" he yelled, suddenly lunging forward with explosive speed.
Ritter tried to re-mist himself, only to hear Roger shout, "Gotcha!"
A Haki-coated hand clamped around Ritter's neck. In an instant, he was dangling like a lifeless fish.
All hope vanished from his eyes.
"Huh? That's it?" Roger looked almost disappointed. "Well then, let's throw a party!"