Disclaimer: I don't own either Bleach or One Piece, neither am I making any money off the distribution of this writing.
Ichigo saw his death coming even as he dove to save the kid from the incoming truck. It was ironic that after everything he had been through, every time he had stared death in the face whether he or it was a shinigami, ghost, mortal, hollow or even a zanpakuto, he had beaten it down and not let it claim him; now once again death had come to claim him. This time, however, he was unable and unwilling to fight back. Well, if nothing else he could say without a doubt that somebody up there hated him.
The truck careened into him at an uncontrolled 70 miles an hour, throwing Ichigo's body a further ten yards down the road where it landed face up staring up at the blue sky with vacant eyes. The hero of the winter war was dead before his body hit the ground.
The teenager came awake quietly. Unlike seemingly every pop culture fiction he had heard of, the ex-shinigami didn't need to take time to realize that he was dead. He had known his fate when he made his decision. Part of him had expected to wake up in Rukongai without his memories, but even knowing who he was didn't surpise him: experience had taught him how to hold onto his memories when everything else was taken away. Focusing on their memories was a large part of how a vizard stayed sane when they used their hollow powers. He was surprised, however, by awakening at all. From what he had figured out... well.
Without out his shinigami reiatsu to help retain the weight of his experiences, when Ichigo died, the teenager was almost certainly going to wake up in the Rukongai with no memory or power just like any other plus soul. Even worse, in some ways, was the knowledge that he would never gain powers again. Ichigo didn't think his dad had known when he had suggested it, but the fact was, that Ichigo had erased his reiryoku when he was still a living Human. Any change to his soul that occurred while he was human, while mortal, while transient, was irreversible once he died and became part of soul society. The only way to change that, to his knowledge, was reincarnation, to become mortal again, or true hollowfication, both of which would break down those limiters; neither were options he was willing to consider.
The soul pondered this for a moment, wondering just what had occurred in the seriously messed up life of Kurosaki Ichigo that had led to this moment. Finally, he snapped his eyes open with his typical resolve.
AN: This is a first for me, not only is it the first crossover I have published it will also have the shortest chapters (normally I stick with 2000-6000), this may or may not increase as I go on. If nothing else short chapters will mean more chapters more often, and I may publish several times a day. Also if anyone wants to beta this drop me a line and we will see how it goes.
AN2: So I did edits to this and the rest of the chapters leading up to Chapter 12 (I GOT A BETA! WHOOT!). Also as a reassurance to anyone who was worried. ALL THE OTHER CHAPTER ARE LONGER! (Chapter 12 is about 2250 words long :D )
AN3: Right so I did more bigger edits to this. basically I looked over my story, and how it was going, and decided the style that fit it best meant longer chapters. So... I reworked some of the chapters but I mostly just combined them and added in some clarifiers. You may want to reread it though...