The first thing Yuta noticed when he opened his eyes was water filling his ears and the horrible taste of salt in his mouth. The second thing he noticed was sand stuck all over his face, some of it even in his nose. He sat up with a groan, spitting seawater.

Beside him, Maki slowly lifted her head from the shore. Her hair clung to her cheeks, dripping wet, and her tank top and skirt were soaked through with ocean water.

Actually, that made quite a scene to admire—if she wasn't looking absolutely pissed.

She blinked once, then twice, and then her face twisted into a glare sharp enough to slice the sea in half.

"…We were about to kiss, Yuta," she said flatly.

Yuta's lips trembled. He threw his head back toward the sky and shouted, "WHYYYYY?! Why does this always happen to me?!"

"Kami Sama, what the hell did I do to you to deserve this…"

"Don't scream in my ear!" Maki snapped, smacking him on the head. But then she groaned and flopped back onto the sand. "Damn it. I was actually about to enjoy myself for once." She was similarly flustered.

While they could make out anytime, honestly, both wished to make it a memorable moment. Not like this.

Yuta sat there miserably, his hair a wet mess plastered to his forehead. "I'm sorry, Maki. It's my fault. My luck is… it's like the universe personally hates me. Every time I think something good is about to happen, sigh… explosion. Curses. Or… apparently, random ocean teleportation."

For a long second, both of them just stared at each other, silent and dripping wet. Then, like a switch had been flipped, both shouted at the exact same time:

"DAMN IT ALL!"

Their angry voices echoed across the empty shore. Then, suddenly, they both burst out laughing. The absurdity of it all—the kiss ruined by a stupid notification, the teleportation, the beach—was just too much.

Maki wiped tears from her eyes, still chuckling. "You really are cursed, huh?"

"Tsk tsk… not just cursed, my lady. I'm cursed in love," Yuta said with a dramatic shrug, trying to act cool even though he had seaweed hanging off his shoulder.

She snorted. "Don't worry about it. I've had bad luck all my life too. I mean, you've seen my family. If anyone understands how rotten fortune feels, it's me."

Yuta smiled softly at her words, but then she ruined the moment by pointing at his shoulder. "By the way, you're wearing a seaweed cape. King of the ocean, huh?"

Yuta yelped and ripped the seaweed off. "Seriously?! Can I at least suffer with dignity?!"

After wringing out their clothes and gathering themselves, the two decided to explore. The beach ended at a thick green jungle, the kind that looked like it had secrets waiting at every corner.

"Any idea where we are?" Maki asked.

"Well," Maki said, hands on her hips, "if there's one thing I've learned from all this traveling… people live somewhere. So let's just find people."

"Yes, I usually travel to places where chaos is the biggest. Such is my luck. Chaos at least needs people to be around, right?" Yuta nodded. "Hopefully not the 'angry pirate with a cutlass' kind of people though…"

"Don't jinx it, you idiot."

The trek through the jungle wasn't easy. They slipped on mud, got bitten by bugs, and Yuta almost fell into a river twice. Each time he saved himself, he shouted, "See?! The world really is out to kill me!" while Maki laughed and told him to stop being dramatic.

Eventually, though, they stumbled across a small village hidden deep in the trees. It wasn't big—just a cluster of wooden houses with tiled roofs, smoke rising gently from cooking fires. Not many people were around, but they spotted an old man standing near a forge.

The man was dressed strangely, with a red mask on his face shaped like a tengu's long nose. He leaned on a cane, watching them curiously.

"Uh…" Yuta scratched his head. "Hello? We're kinda lost."

The old man chuckled behind his mask. "Lost, you say? Then you've washed up on quite the shore. This is Wano Country."

Yuta blinked. "Wait. Wano?!"

Maki's jaw dropped. "Isn't this where we were going with Straw Hat before?!"

Yuta's face lit up with panic. "Does that mean the Straw Hats are around? Oh no. Not again. I just wanted to stay away from the action for a little while, and now that idiot's come storming in and stirred up trouble again. I don't have the energy for that!"

Yuta and Maki stood in front of the masked old man, dripping seawater and looking very out of place. The man's long-nosed red mask gave him an intimidating, almost comical appearance, and the hammer and forge behind him suggested he wasn't just a simple villager.

"This is the samurai land, right?" Maki had to make sure. She too would like to take a little break if possible.

The old man tilted his head slightly. "Samurai land…? Hmph. Not anymore." He gestured toward the distant mountains, where black smoke faintly rose. "Our country has been under the control of Kaido, the Beast, for years now. Orochi sits on the shogun's throne, a puppet who dances on Kaido's strings. The land suffers. Those who resist… vanish."

"Yup, this is the place," Yuta grumbled.

Maki frowned. "Yes, Straw Hat would be coming soon." She sighed in defeat. They just can't seem to catch a break.

The old man gave them a confused look. "Straw… hats? I know of no such name. If you speak of pirates, the seas are crawling with them, but none by that title have ever come to Wano."

Maki and Yuta exchanged a glance.

"The place is isolated, don't worry. It's normal for people here to not know about what's going on outside the borders of these lands…" Yuta whispered to her.

"Not many pirates come here. However, about two decades ago one did—the Whitebeard Pirates. The shogun of our land, Kozuki Oden, even traveled with him to the outside seas," the old man said, as if reminiscing about the past.

However, on the other side, Yuta caught something in the old man's speech.

'Two decades?' Yuta felt chills run down his spine. Shouldn't this be more like three or even four decades?

"…Don't tell me…" Yuta whispered.

"—we're at least ten years too early," Maki finished flatly.

"Heh, you figured it out already," Yuta snapped at her.

"I just assumed the worst. It's your luck we're talking about. Not to mention, it doesn't make sense, seeing we were already a decade in the past when we got teleported.

I was already pondering this the moment I arrived. It would be strange if we found ourselves in the right time, in fact.

Though this is still just guesses. We still have to find out for ourselves."

Yuta fell to his knees in the dirt. "FUCK!"

The old man, oblivious to their outburst, simply continued. "Ten years, twenty years… it doesn't matter. For now, all you need to know is this: Wano is a cage. The ports are closed, the seas are watched, and Kaido rules with fear. If you two are outsiders, I suggest you tread carefully. Otherwise, you may not live long enough to regret it."

Maki sighed, rubbing her temples. "Fantastic. We're stuck in a war-torn country, a decade before anything even remotely hopeful happens. You weren't kidding about your devil's luck."

Yuta groaned, but in the back of his mind he was already making plans. If they were stuck in Wano ten years before Luffy's arrival, then maybe this was the perfect chance to train, to learn control over his new time-traveling ability. If he couldn't rely on luck, he would have to rely on strength.

And so, while the old man went on about Wano's suffering, Yuta and Maki silently made their decision—survive, adapt, and figure out a way home.

xxx

Please Consider Donating Power Stones if you like the Chapter.

"Thank you Very Much for All Your Support"

If you want to read up to 20+ Chapters in advance, check my Patre on

Patreon.com/Kamidemond