One Piece: Bai Ye Deputy Captain of the Straw Hats

Translator: PapaSmurf0700

Totto Land, Whole Cake Island

"MAMAMAMA! Now that's what I call an exciting declaration!"

Beside a towering cake within her palace, an old woman the size of a giant roared with laughter. There was no mistaking her—one of the Four Emperors, a name as feared as Whitebeard's: "Big Mom" Charlotte Linlin.

"From this day forward," she boomed, her voice shaking the very walls, "let Totto Land become the one true government of these seas, my children!"

"YES, MAMA!!!" a chorus of voices echoed around her.

-----

"The live broadcast cannot be allowed to continue."

That was the only thought racing through Vice-Admiral Tokikake's mind. He moved in a blur, his blade flashing toward the man holding the sole active Visual Den Den Mushi. His timing was perfect. In that moment Bai Ye was swarmed by reporters and their camera snails, while the Dark King Rayleigh was locked in a tense standoff with Admiral Kizaru. It was now or never.

But Tokikake made one fatal error. He overlooked one person.

The one who had walked onto the stage first, said only a few words, and then quietly ceded the spotlight.

CLANG!

A gloved fist intercepted the sword strike with impossible ease. Monkey D. Luffy tilted his head, his gaze fixed on the stunned Vice-Admiral.

"No," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "You're not touching my crewmate."

With a powerful swing, Luffy sent Tokikake's blade flying harmlessly into the sky.

Bai Ye watched the scene unfold with a faint smile. Only a captain like Luffy would willingly act as a bodyguard on a stage like this. Seeing such unwavering support, the Priest knew he couldn't let him down. He stepped forward again, his voice ringing out across the archipelago.

"Oh, I see it now!" Bai Ye clapped his hands together as if struck by a revelation.

"It must be because Whitebeard's territories have no slaves! In his domain, people aren't afraid of being sold off by the very people sworn to protect them. No one worries about being fitted with an exploding collar. No one fears being captured for the amusement of some pig who calls himself a descendant of the Creator!"

"It must be the absence of these things that makes Whitebeard and his men 'pirates' and not a 'government'!" he proclaimed, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "That must be it, right, Admiral Kizaru?"

Though it was phrased as a question, everyone watching heard the damning answer. Bai Ye stood before the entire world and began to dismantle their reality, piece by piece.

"You speak of 'upholding justice' and 'executing pirates'?" he scoffed. "You're making an example of them. You want the world to see the grim fate of pirates so they won't notice that life might actually be better under a pirate's protection than under your thumb!"

"Is the World Government truly just? Or does it merely maintain its own tyrannical rule? You use the Heavenly Tribute plundered from your member nations to place bounties on your enemies, branding them as evil."

He leaned closer to the Den Den Mushi, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "So what would happen if a bounty were placed on the World Government? After all, when it comes to treasure, they have more than anyone."

"If I were to issue a bounty for the Celestial Dragons today, could I execute those two pigs in the name of 'justice' tomorrow? Why does the World Government get to decide what is right? Is it simply because they hold the biggest stick?"

…

"Ooooh, so you're just spewing nonsense," Kizaru drawled, his lazy tone failing to hide the edge in his voice. As an Admiral, he had a position to maintain. "Whitebeard earned his bounty because he is a pirate who burns, pillages, and kills. He is a threat to peace."

The Admiral looked directly at Bai Ye, his eyes like chips of glass. "Are you really trying to defend pirates, Priest?"

Even now, Kizaru believed this was all just an elaborate plea to whitewash piracy. A futile effort. Evil was evil.

"Whitebeard took to the seas because his homeland was destroyed by the World Government for failing to pay the Heavenly Tribute," Bai Ye countered without missing a beat. "You say he burns and pillages, but he provides absolute protection to the lands under his flag. The World Government preys on non-member nations and exploits its own people. Tell me, Admiral, which is the greater evil?"

"Every kingdom is built on a foundation of blood and bone." Bai Ye's voice grew solemn. "But the World Government… oh no, yours is different, isn't it?"

And there it was. All the planning, the misdirection, the chaos—it had all led to this final, devastating point. Everyone had misunderstood his goal.

"Yours is built on a foundation of nothing," he declared. "Because the history of the world before your reign… was ruthlessly erased."

-----

The world of One Piece was a warped world. Bai Ye had known this from the beginning. The deformity wasn't in its systems; slavery and feudalism had existed in his past life as well. The true sickness, the true deformity in this world, was in its people's minds. It was the result of the cruelest act the World Government had ever committed.

They didn't just conquer the world. They lobotomized it. They destroyed history.

Without history, every person born on this sea was indoctrinated with a single, unshakeable truth: The Celestial Dragons are the descendants of the Creators. The World Government is the rightful ruler of the world.

Subconsciously, without even realizing it, the brand of the Celestial Dragons was seared into their hearts. Without history, no one knew that dynasties could fall or that systems could change. Without history, no one knew that the World Government's rule wasn't ancient or preordained.

It could be overthrown.

That single, erased concept was the secret to the World Government's eight hundred years of brutal rule. It's why the Revolutionary Army took so long to appear. It's why they unleashed a Buster Call on Ohara. Sometimes, a single piece of history is more dangerous than an army. And in this world, studying that history was a crime.

That was the point that angered Bai Ye the most. It reminded him of similarly shameless powers from his previous life, but with one key difference: those powers could only brainwash their own citizens. They couldn't rewrite history for the entire planet.

So Bai Ye laid out his plan for Sabaody. Kidnapping the Celestial Dragons, exposing the slave auction, making demands of the World Government—it was all an elaborate distraction. He let the Navy believe it was all about rescuing Ace.

But his true purpose was far grander. He wasn't using treasure as bait, like Roger did. He was using the World Government's own sins against them.

Was life under Whitebeard's rule truly a utopia? Of course not. But after Bai Ye had exposed the horrors of the human auctions, a territory simply without slaves already seemed like paradise in comparison.

He only needed to plant a single seed of doubt. A simple question to make the entire world wonder:

What secrets are they hiding in that blank century of history?

And with that seed planted, Bai Ye's true plan was only just beginning.