It's been nine years since Subaru's 7th birthday, and now he was 16. Ever since that day, he's been trained under his father, his father made him lift boulders that were ten times his size, and whenever he got used to it, Kenichi would always make it harder for him. He also trained his legs so that he wouldn't always rely on his fist for fights.

When Subaru was 8, Kenichi taught him observation haki, where he needed to have a blind fold on and try to sense and dodge attacks from Kenichi.

By the time Subaru was 9 he was able to punch and kick boulders to the point that they would shatter upon contact as well as lifting them without any problem and developing his devil fruit powers, as well as being skilled in one of the aspects of observation haki to where he can only sense the presence of others. As of now he was still trying to master the other aspects of observation.

Subaru was also taught the way of the sword by Kenichi, whenever Subaru would lose, it just motivated him to train even harder, even if he bled, he would still go at it. Subaru improved greatly and was able to keep up with Kenichi somewhat but not beat him, so he trained even harder and became extremely skilled when it came to swords, and he was able to further his sword's abilities by combining it with his Yin-Yin fruit powers. Once Subaru mastered the sword he gave it the name "Kuro" which means black.

For the next three years he was trained under his mother Naoko, she taught him martial arts, to be specific, she taught him kung Fu and everything she knew about it. Once Subaru was 12, he made his own fighting style called the "Shadow Arts" where he uses his devil fruit power and combines it with his kung Fu martial arts.

For the next four years, he simply focused on his devil fruit power and his sword, perfecting and further improving his skills as well as creating new techniques for both his sword and devil fruit. And now Subaru is 16, saying his goodbyes to his parents, who were both proud of him for working so hard to achieve his goal and supported him on his choice to go out and explore the world.

He wore an orange and black suit as well as a coat with the same color scheme, he also had bandages wrapped around both of his forearms.

(Arthurs note: The clothes he's wearing are the ones in the cover.)

"Alright, I guess I'm off then..." said Subaru as he was about to leave until his father and mother called out to him.

"Hold on son, before you go, your mother and I want to give you some parting gifts." said Kenichi as he pulled out a book.

"What's with the book dad?"

"It's a book that contains information about the three types of haki, when I was your age I took notes about them, and I figured they would help you evolve on your observation haki as well as learning the other two."

Kenichi then pulled out something that was wrapped in a cloth, at first glance it looked like a sword. Kenichi noticing his son's confusion, began to explain.

"You see son, that is a sword wrapped up in there, but it's not a normal blade."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"That sword was passed down from generation from generation. Your ancestors have wielded that blade, it's been through countless battles and now, it's yours son. Whenever you're ready to wield it, is completely up to you, the sword won't budge until it feels it's owner is ready for it to be wielded. Only a few select people have been able to use the full potential of that sword, some of them being your ancestors who came before you, so I have a gut feeling that you'll be able to pull it off!"

Subaru unwrapped it and placed the sheathed blade on his right hip, Subaru ended up growing a habit, where he would always carry his nodachi the given name being Kuro over his shoulder, whenever he got tired of carrying it, he would just strap it to his back. He placed the book his father gave him in his bag as he then gave his parents a hug, saying that he loves them and that he'll visit. Once that was done, he went off to the outskirts of Kuri Beach. The place was deserted so it was the perfect  place for him to get on his boat and set off on his journey where no one would stop him. 

On his way there, he ran into some of the guards that made sure there were no intruders on the island or anyone leaving the island. When they saw him, they immediately pointed their blades at Subaru, making him stop in his tracks.

"Stop where you are, and state your business." said the guard.

"Simple, I'm starting my journey and leaving the country so I can be a pirate." 

"Pirate? Once you leave this place, you'll end up being wanted. You'll have a bounty on your head, so why don't you be a good boy and run on back home to your mother boy?" said the guard in a mocking tone, which pissed Subaru off.

"Nope." said Subaru as he placed his nodachi on the ground. He wouldn't needing it.

He got into his martial arts stance and charged at the group of guards. When he got close enough, he kicked one of the guards on the side of the head, knocking him out on contact. The guard next to him responded by swinging his blade at the pirate, but Subaru simply ducked and struck the guard with his palm, 

"Shadow Palm!" exclaimed Subaru as he combined his devil fruit power with the attack, as a result darkness and shadows shot out of the back of the guard as he coughed blood and was sent flying due to the force of the attack.

"Two down, two more to go." said Subaru as he looked at the last two guards as one of them charged towards Subaru, only to be flung backwards towards a tree forcefully, getting knocked out in the process.

"As long as your shadow is in my sight, there's nothing you can do to me." said Subaru as he walked towards the last and remaining guard. The guard stumbled and fell on his back as he asked the boy.

"J-Just who the hell are...?"

"Natsuki D. Subaru, the man that's going to be the strongest pirate that ever lived!" said Subaru as he punched the man and knocked him out. As that was finally done, he made his way to Kuri beach and set off on his journey.

As Subaru was entering the current, he looked back at his home one last time, he was going to miss it.

A few seconds had passed since Subaru left Wano, he was minding his own business until he saw something that caught his attention. To his surprise, the first threat he encountered was not a fellow pirate nor an opposing navy officer, but instead it was a natural enemy, namely a maelstrom.

Subaru knew that if he got caught up in it then he would drown due to his Devil Fruit power, so in a last ditch effort he grabbed his bag, the sword his father gave him, and his nodachi and squeezed into an empty rum barrel that was fortunately in his dinghy.

Though not long after, Subaru soon ended up dozing off in the barrel as the dinghy was sucked into the maelstrom. Unknown to Subaru, was that 'someone' would end up saving him from his would be demise and bring him into a certain kingdom.

...

...

...

...

"Hey boss, we found this barrel and from the looks of it, it looks full."

"Well don't just stand there, bring it in so we can continue to serve these drinks."

"Yes sir!"

In the capital of Lugunica, we can see a couple demi humans bringing in a certain barrel into a demi human restaurant.

"Speaking of which, where did you find this barrel?" asked the manager of the building.

"I found it in a river on my way back here sir."

"Well lets see what we got." said the manager as he grabbed an object to crack it open.

Right when he swung the object down towards the barrel, it suddenly burst open with a fully awake Subaru as he stretched his arms out, accidently punching the manager and knocking him out.

"That nap was a great! I feel refreshed!" screamed Subaru before he noticed his surroundings.

"Huh? Who the hell are you guys?"

"No! Who the hell are you?!" exclaimed the demi humans in shock. Instead of giving them a reply, Subaru just turned around uninterested in the two demi humans while he asked.

"Hey, do you guys have any food?"

This irked the two demi humans as one of them placed their hand on his shoulder, which got Subaru's attention.

"Listen buddy, this is a demi human only restaurant, we don't serve humans! Now get lost!"

Seeing that Subaru wasn't moving, the demi human tried to scratch him, but Subaru quickly unsheathed "Kuro" and pointed it at him.

"What the hell is your problem?" said Subaru in a menacing tone as his eyes seemed to pierce through the demi human. This made both of them quickly make a break for it, leaving Subaru alone.

He sheathed his nodachi and placed it over his shoulder as he went out of the restaurant, seeing that it wasn't worth his time. What greeted Subaru wasn't a completely different town, where demi humans were roaming around as if it were common.

"W-What the hell...?" was all Subaru could utter as he wondered where hell he was. Everything was completely unfamiliar to him. So he quickly left that area and found an alleyway to rest for a bit, so he could father his thoughts and retrace his steps.

"Ok, so I was traveling on the sea, that maelstrom showed up, I jumped in the barrel and fell asleep, and the next thing I know, I wake up in some kind of restaurant with some weird looking animal people. I'll have to gather information if I want to know more about this place." said Subaru as he was about to get up and leave, he heard a few voices call out to him.

"Oi! Give us your valuables and no one's gonna get hurt."

"Huh?" The pirate turned around to see three people walking towards him.

Dum, Dumber, and Dumbest which is what Subaru decided to call them, had stupid grins on their faces as they thought they got easy prey.

"Hey he's got some pretty nice stuff on him. Looks like we got ourselves a noble, boys!"

"Look, I don't have time to deal with you guys right now, I'm busy." Subaru responded.

"You think you can weasel your way outta this?! It's a three on one! You have no chance!" the shortest one said.

The three of them smirked and cracked their knuckles.

Subaru just stood there with a bored expression on his face, as he yawned without a care in the world. This seemed to piss three thugs off and scowls began to form on their faces.

"Oi! We tried askin' nicely but-woah!" Dumber started approaching Subaru but was interrupted by a figure racing by. The figure was a petite blond girl, the girl looked at Subaru as she quickly left by jumping on the roofs.

'Well, she seems to be in a hurry.' Thought Subaru as he checked himself and his belongings seeing that they were still there. This led to the conclusion that the girl already had what she was looking for and was probably focused on getting back to her home. Before the person she stole from found her.

"Hey, that didn't happen to change your minds did it?"

"Actually, it rained on our parade and made things worse."

"I see, well I tried doing this the nice way without anyone getting hurt. But it looks like I'll just have to kick your asses." said Subaru as he sighed in disappointment.

Before they could react, Subaru charged towards the big thug and punched him in the stomach, immediately knocking him out due to his physical strength. He then did a roundhouse kick to the smaller thug, which resulted in him crashing into a wall and passing out on contact. The skinny thug immediately pulled out two blades that were hidden from view and charged at him.

When the thug was mere inches away from him, he stopped moving for a good 5 seconds and passed out, he seemed to be in pain before he fell.

'These guys weren't worth my time.' thought Subaru as he began to leave the alleyway.

"That's enough!" A new voice came up, causing Subaru to turn to the end of the alleyway to see a silver haired women, with purple eyes and pointy ears. Subaru walked towards her, but he suddenly stopped when she summoned icicles and pointed it at him.

"I'll have you know, I'm an experienced spirit user, and I know how to defend myself!" said the silver haired women as she glared at pirate.

"Huh?" Was all Subaru could respond with as he turned around and saw the three unconscious bodies, Subaru immediately caught on and quickly turned around to explain.

"No No No! You got it all wrong, they were trying to rob me, it was self defense!"

"We'll see about that. Puck!" the silver haired women called out a name, and sure enough, her spirit-cat appeared in her hand almost immediately.

"You rang? the spirit now known as Puck replied, before yawning.

"Nyaahh... I didn't think you'd wake me from my nap so early."

"Puck, I caught this man with three other guys unconscious. He's a criminal isn't he?!"

Puck passed a very, very small glance at him before giving a smug smile.

"He's guilty! 100% guilty! Guilty as the day he was born!"

"You damn rat! I'm gonna cut you up!" said Subaru as he placed his hands on his nodachi with a pissed off look on his face.

"Fine, fine, don't be so dramatic... and for your information, I'm a cat." with a sigh, Puck floated towards him and their eyes met, before turning towards the unconscious thugs. Something was telling the cat that there was something off about Subaru, his eyes and the way he acted reminded him of someone... he would need to be wary of him and keep an eye on him just in case.

He floated back towards the silver haired women. "He's not lying. I can't read any malicious intent from this guy. But still though... one vs. three, that's no ordinary feat. From the looks of it, you didn't use your weapons on you either. What'd you do to protect yourself? "

"Nothing really, I just fought them without really trying. They weren't worth my time." replied Subaru in a uncaring manner.

Puck stared at him for a bit before turning around.

"Yeah he's good Lia. Just weird."

"Hey!"

"Thank you, Puck. However, we can't waste any more time!" Emilia turned away from Subaru.

"We have to find the person that stole my insignia!" said Emilia as she began walking away.

"Wait a min— Oh come on, I'm not that weird!" said Subaru, getting frustrated, put his foot down. "I know who took your Insignia!"

That caught the both of their attention. Emilia immediately turned to him, and came close to him.

"Why didn't you say that in the first place!" Emilia's tone was much nicer, but Subaru felt a bit of whiplash from the tone-change.

"Because you never brought it up in the first place." said Subaru as he deadpanned.

"Ah... that's right." Emilia backed off a bit, blushing in shame, "Th-then, do you have it?"

"Well, no but I think I do know who has it. Was it a little blond girl with a red scarf and red eyes?"

"Yes! That's her!" said Emilia nodding in confirmation.

"I see, well no worries we'll find her in no time."

"Heh? But why do you want to help?" Subaru, already knowing that she's asking for his reason, shook his head.

"Well she passed by me and I didn't do anything, had I known that she stole something from you I would have stopped her at that moment, so part of it is on me as well. Look, let's just move before we lose her!" At the end of his sentence, he made a 'C'mon!' gesture, urging Emilia to just run with it!

"R—Right!" Emilia, putting her Insignia over her small worries, decided to go with it anyway. Subaru began running, and Emilia followed suit.

Puck stayed behind, looking at the goons, and all the spider cracks coming from the goons, where they laid down, unconscious.

Puck, shaking his head, trailed after the duo as he kept his guard up. Something about the boy told him that he was dangerous or had the potential to be. The spirit didn't sense magic coming off of him.

As the group were walking in the capital, they asked for information about the thief but there was no luck, so they decided to take a break and make small talk, where they introduced themselves, Subaru already knew Puck's name due to the silver haired women calling him out, it was then Emilia's turn as she lied saying her name was "Satella". Subaru knew she was lying but decided to play along. When they were going to ask Subaru what his name was, he cut them off saying that he had an idea on where to find the thief.

'I don't know why I didn't think of it before, I could just use my observation haki to sense her presence, I was able to get a pretty good read on it when she passed by me.' thought Subaru as he began walking away saying that they should check a more poorer state of the capital like the slums. On their way to the slums, 'Satella' stated that Subaru shouldn't get involved with her, when he asked why she responded saying that she was a half-elf, she was expecting Subaru to look at her in disgust or fear, or even hatred but he simply replied saying that he didn't care about her race, which shocked her, but she decided to keep her mouth shut.

Once they got there, Subaru could only be reminded about what his town was like, the poor state of the town and it's people barely hanging on a thread, he couldn't really blame the thief for stealing 'Satella's' insignia.

Subaru sensing the presence of the thief nearby, alerted the half elf saying that they were nearby. The presence lead Subaru and 'Satella' to a loot house as they were in front of the door. Subaru knocked on the door as he heard some shuffling on the other side. When the door opened, he met face to face with Felt, greeting them at the door, and quickly put his foot through the door as a doorstop.

"Wait a — Gah?!" Subaru cried out as his foot, even with his shoe as a buffer, got smashed by the door being closed. However, because of Subaru, the door didn't close properly, "Ow ow ow?! What kind of service are you guys running!? This how you treat your customers!?"

"How!? How did you guys find me so quick!?" Felt kept slamming the door on Subaru's foot, much to the chagrin of the boy.

Soon he pushed against the door, with his superior strength, forced the door open and began staring down at the crack, "That doesn't matter! We need to talk!" the pirate demanded, making the little girl reel back.

"Felt, let them come inside." Another voice came from behind the girl, as she hesitated... before fully opening the door, revealing the store owner himself, Rom.

He let out a chuckle. "Getting sloppy here, Felt? Our client's not going to be happy about this."

"I'm telling you, Old Man Rom, I lost these guys hours ago! There's no way they followed me here!" Felt cried out in embarrassment, but the store owner waved her off.

"Well, it doesn't matter either way. They're here now..." Rom gave the both of them a look, with calculated eyes.

Emilia, realizing they were in the presence of those that took her Insignia, turned serious.

"That girl over there stole my Royal Insignia. We have been looking all over Lugunica to find it, and it lead us here." Emilia held out her hand, and kept a cold face.

"Hand it over."

"Now, settle down there, Your Majesty!" Subaru noticed Rom motion under his desk, no doubt reaching for his club that he fought with before.

"Our client should be coming any second now. If you have any problems, you should send it their way —"

"I have no patience for the likes of thieves! I'm only going to ask once again; Give me my Insignia!"

Emilia began summoning large icicles around her frame, aiming them at Felt and Rom.

"Wa-wait a second...!" Felt stiffened at the show of magic, and Rom was on a similar boat.

Subaru was silent as he had a look of pity, he could relate to these guys so much, as his life was similar to theirs. He was cut out of his thoughts when he heard Rom start talking again.

"...And here I thought you were just a run-of-the-mill Magic User." Rom looked towards said girl, and noticed a defining feature.

"Ah. With those ears, you must be an elf, then."

"Ah...thats-" Before Emilia could reply, a knife that was aimed for Emilia was stopped mid swing by Subaru.

"Ara~ It seems that you've been alerted of my presence for quite some time to dodge that." The person was revealed to be a a tall women with a provocative outfit exposed her chest all the way down to her navel and wore a cloak.