Chapter 1: The Water Monster and the Crossing

  "How did you think of coming here to fish?"

  It was already noon. By the lake in Tianchi on Mount Changbai, a man in his twenties, about 1.8 meters tall, wearing a black suit, said with confusion.

  In his deep, black eyes, there was a hint of helplessness as he looked at the little girl standing beside him, her head barely reaching his waist. No choice, after all, this little devil was his boss's child.

  The little girl wore a blue dress and a duck-tongued hat, with the rippling water reflecting off the shore, casting a shimmering light on her face, adding an extra touch of liveliness to her already fair complexion.

  "Of course it's because of the water monster, 'Tianchi Water Monster'! Just hearing about it makes you want to see it, right?" The girl said matter-of-factly, as she pulled out two fishing rods from her travel bag and handed one to the man. She then reached back into the bag and pulled out two or three comic books with a giant monster on the cover. They were titled "New Chapter! Pongkaha Island Great Adventure!"

  "What is this?"

  "In the 66th to 70th volumes of ONEPIECE's Punk Hazard Arc, based on my speculation, the water monster in the Heavenly Pond is undoubtedly a Sea King. If I catch a Sea King, you have to ask my dad for a pond to raise it."

  The man heard this and couldn't help but curl up the corner of his mouth. He didn't say much about it, took out two small stools from his backpack, handed one to the little girl: "Okay, you're telling the truth, let's go fishing for your sea king!"

  It's already 2015, the secret of the Tianchi Monster in Changbai Mountain has been revealed by the "Walking into Science" column since it was first discovered in 1980. The truth behind "Underwater Volcanic Radiation Mutation", "Ancient Descendants..." and so on, of course, how much real information is hidden inside can't be told.

  No matter what the secret of the White Mountain Tianchi water monster is, it must be more scientifically based than the absurd fantasy of this primary school student in front of me. If his boss hadn't recently offended many people and wasn't worried about his daughter, how could he, as the leader of a mercenary group, have the leisure to accompany such a young brat?

  "Mr. Huo, you'll believe me after you've read it." The little girl forcefully stuffed a few comic books into the man's arms and then sat down by herself on the shore, starting to fish.

  Time passed slowly, and before I knew it, the sun had set, casting a warm orange glow over everything. The lake's surface was calm and peaceful as night began to fall, filling my heart with a sense of serenity.

  "Alright, it seems that the sea bass didn't show up either, but we did catch a lot of rainbow trout. We can ask your family's nanny to make a delicious fish soup with them. Let's head back, your dad should be back around this time too."

  The man handed the little girl a copy of "One Piece", and this afternoon, under the extremely boring circumstances, he finished reading those few comic books. He couldn't help but admire the author's grasp of the plot, whether it was the ups and downs of the story, the strange abilities that made people yearn for the Devil Fruit, or the unique islands, the female characters' exaggerated breasts, these are things that even adults might find hard to put down.

  However, for a mercenary like him who has passed the age of 25 and whose youthful days have already ended before they even began, the life on the edge of a knife is too long, and this manga's strangeness is just as dull to him as chewing wax.

  The man got up and started collecting the fishing gear by the shore, looked around, at dusk, some other local anglers also began to pack up their rods and prepare to return.

  Just then, the girl sitting next to him pointed at a place not far from the lake and shouted: "Uncle Huo, what's that?"

  Her loud cry attracted the attention of the man and some fishing residents around him, and everyone cast their eyes into the lake.

  On the lake surface about fifty meters away from the shore, a huge black shadow gradually emerged, like a submarine slowly rising from the bottom of the sea.

  Some onlookers saw this spectacle and immediately started making a fuss, taking out their mobile phones to take pictures without exception.

  "Heavenly Pool water monster, I didn't expect we'd run into it today too."

  "This is not uncommon, photos are sold to some websites, and maybe even some RMB."

  "This is too big, won't we be in danger? Let's retreat quickly!" A middle-aged man's face showed a hint of worry as he saw the huge black shadow in the lake starting to move towards them.

  "It doesn't matter, the shallow water area is by the shore, its huge body can't get in." Some people didn't think so.

  A faint sense of foreboding rose on the man's face, his long-standing intuition born from being on the edge of slaughter, making him instinctively feel that something was amiss with the situation before him.

  As they spoke, the huge black shadow in the lake suddenly accelerated its movement, heading straight for the two of them.

  "Get away from the shore, Xiao Bai!" The sudden acceleration was unexpected, and a man shouted loudly. A little girl sitting on the bench by the shore saw this scene and was so scared that her body trembled uncontrollably. She wanted to stand up but stumbled and fell into the lake.

  "Damn it!" The man cursed in a low voice, quickly crouched down, threw his backpack into the lake, and jumped into the water.

  "Uncle, save me quickly!"

  "Grab your backpack and unzip it!" the man shouted loudly.

  In a few gasps, the man had swum to the little girl's side, staring at the huge black shadow on the lake bottom less than three meters in front of them, their danger had not yet dissipated.

  "Hand me the gun in the package!"

  "A gun?" The little girl's mind was already in a daze, and she said stupidly. Seeing this, the man had no choice but to hold the little girl with one hand and pull the backpack floating on the water surface into his arms with the other hand, taking out a sniper rifle from it and mounting it on the backpack.

  The crowd on the shore had fled far away, among them two young men who saw something in the water and pointed stupidly: "Is that a sniper rifle?"

  The person next to him nodded: "Ran into a fierce man, does this guy want to take down the water monster?"

  At this moment, the huge black shadow in the lake has already leaned over, jumping up from the bottom of the lake, a huge wave swept over, and at the same time, a loud gunshot sounded in the air, with a loud bang.

  The waves engulfed and submerged the two people, also blocking the view of the onlookers.

  In the lake, only two people, a man and a little girl, saw it: a gigantic head floating half-submerged in the water, with a mouth full of blood-stained fangs, scarlet pupils next to which blood was splattered, its gaze reflecting the fury that seemed to have been completely ignited by a gunshot.

  This was the last scene that the two of them saw, and finally, when the huge water monster swallowed both people and luggage directly, the water monster dived back into the bottom of the lake and disappeared quickly from many people's sight in just a moment.

  ……

  Grand Canal, New World.

  Located under the World Government and Marine Science flag is the island of life - Punk Hazard.

  "Captain, Captain..."

  The gradually clear voice awakened the man from his coma.

  He slowly opened his eyelids, and after a dizzy spell, a long buzzing sound in his ears passed, the man shook his head before he came to.

  Before his eyes was a square-faced man wearing a white beret with a blue seagull emblem, standard white sailor suit, blue trousers, black boots, holding an old-fashioned rifle, staring at him.

  "You... are?" In the face of the situation, after a brief moment of calm, the mercenary's habit of scanning his surroundings kicked in. The iron-plated walls, the peculiar yet familiar markings, and the massive pipes above his head all led to one conclusion: Secret Research Facility, Chemical Plant...

  However, he had some doubts and recalled his last memory. He and the boss's daughter were swallowed by the Tianchi water monster together, and when they woke up, they appeared here.

  Especially the man in front of him, with his unique sea-wearing attire, and the two words "lieutenant" that had just been spoken, made him involuntarily think of the word "crossing", and his heart sank.

  The naval soldier saw the officer in front of him finally come to, and couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. With a hint of resignation in his voice, he looked at his officer: "Don't joke around at a time like this, Lieutenant Hobody. We're stationed here to prevent M. Caesar Clown from escaping. Dr. Begabung has already taken the other officers to apprehend him, but with Caesar's extreme personality, he definitely won't go quietly into the night. When the time comes, it'll be our turn to take action."

  The man heard the sailor's words and frowned: "You're saying I'm called Hobert... Dee?" The last word was dragged out very long.

  The naval soldier was perplexed, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and didn't know what was wrong: "Isn't that right?"

  At this moment, the man saw his own reflection on the iron wall and was stunned for a while.

  A typical Western-style character, with pink hair parted in the middle that would never appear in the real world, a sturdy physique, bronze-colored skin and an iron fist on his right hand.

  Damn it, it seems that those clichés I used to read about are real. Have I really crossed over? And what's more, my name was originally Hobert, but here it has become Hobodi.

  It seems that this body still has some of its own experiences, but it doesn't seem like I've inherited the memories of the original owner like those in the transmigration stories.

  "Right, you just said our mission is to prevent that what's-his-name Caesar, his name, say it again." The man who should be called Hobodi at this moment asked.

  The naval soldiers looked at their superior with a mixture of surprise and curiosity, wondering how he could forget the name of the person they were supposed to capture on such an important mission.

  However, as a senior soldier, he still did not dare to ponder the officer's temperament too much and immediately said: "M. Caesar Clown."

  Before Hobodi could think, a quarrel suddenly came from the other side of the gate, which was only a few meters away in the corridor of this research base. To his surprise, Hobodi found that he could also understand the meaning of the voices. The general idea was...

  "What a joke, I'm the Navy... need the first scientist!"

  Accompanied by a sharp loud cry, suddenly, with a loud rumble——