Why Him?!
A/N: Another experiment. I don't plan to tend to this one too much, since I kind of thought up this idea…two days ago? Was reading this one Naruto story about an SIC-reincarnation. Then I read this great story putting Usopp as the main character. I got to thinking that there weren't too many Usopp-centric stories, and I kind like the idea of the Naruto one, so here we have this. Not sure if too many people will read this…Nmma, oh well. I like to write, and this is an interesting experiment.
Well, tell me, readers, what you think of it. Be sure to follow, vote, and leave a review. Even a few words can tell me if this is worth publishing further than the three chapters I have down so far.
"AAAAAAAaaaahhhhh!"
One of the most used tropes in fanfiction is the self-insert or character falling into the plot. Sometimes, some great and powerful entity declares that some random bystander or fan gets to go into their favorite manga, TV show, et cetera. Or maybe an idiot went and said the wrong thing, and that [insert entity here] happened to take offense. At other times, you get to be reincarnated as an OC (original character) or replace an existing character.
So, what god did I offend to become not only some kid, but to become him of all people.
In the mirror, I saw three things: curly black hair; a green bandana; and most importantly of all, the beginnings of a painfully long Pinocchio-themed nose.
As a longtime fan of One Piece (manga and anime) as well as various fanfictions, I knew exactly who this guy looking back at me was. Or rather, who I had become. Why universe, why did you make me Usopp?! First, I was a girl before this, that I knew for sure (whatever entity or phenomena that decided to stick me here also had fiddled with my personal memories). Second, Usopp was considered the weakest and less popular of the Straw Hats. Don't get me wrong, the guy improved a lot after the time skip. But…he was Usopp. A terrible liar, a coward, the guy who nearly tore his crew apart with his thoughtless words during the Water Seven arc. He was Oda-sama's deliberately most human character of the Straw Hat gang.
I let my head thump against the wall of my little home.
Okay, quit moping around and do what you do best. Think! Alright, maybe Usopp's character wouldn't be that bad of a fit for me. I have to admit, like our favorite Long Nose, I was a terrible liar too, not the most brave or outgoing person for adventures, and had a mountain of insecurity issues. But, maybe I could use this to improve the guy. Usopp may have been the most human, but he had a lot of potential, too. If I added my scholarly tendencies, wit, and bibliophilic knowledge of One Piece, maybe I could pull off not dying.
I established a few things. One, a quick look my birth certificate and the calendar declared me eight-years-old. Two, according to the angrily thrown obituary shoved into a corner, Banchina, my mother, died a year ago. Today, in fact. I made a note to take some of the small savings I found to purchase a candle for her. Third, I seemed to retain all of Usopp's memories from this point back as well as some lingering emotions if the melancholy I felt after looking at the date was any clue. Fourth, I could recall lots from my (multiple) readings of One Piece but just about nothing about my personal life, just studies, pop culture, and things like that. Except for the slight feeling my life back home was uninteresting and kind of lonely.
But, just because I remembered things now, didn't mean I would later. I made another note on my things-to-do-now list to purchase a few notebooks and start writing. Speaking of lists, my own was penned in English for secrecy. Whatever inexplicable force that left me here had deigned to leave me that on top of Usopp's own literacy and understanding of Japanese (or whatever One Piece characters would refer to their own language). Although…literacy would be stretching it. Village boy meant not too much formal tutoring or inclination to do so.
I took out another spare sheet of paper and titled it, Life Goals. I listed things in order of execution:
1. Develop a workout plan (I couldn't be a house shut-in, I needed at least some of those muscles from post-time skip Usopp if I want to do what I planned to do). Maybe work on haki and Rokushiki, I at least knew the principles of the former, and the specifics of one of the more useful of the six powers.
2. Earn villagers' trust (no running around as the boy who cried pirate).
3. Create an emergency fund (I rather not be in debt to Nami as much as Zoro). I think Usopp lived off his neighbors' kindness, at least in the beginning after his mother died. But, maybe he did handyman work which would explain a bit about how he knew roughly what to do to patch up Merry. I would probably have to do odd jobs and stuff around the village eventually – I don't like being in their debt, perceived as it might be. Were there more of them on the Gecko Islands? I hope so, then I could incorporate that into my workout plan.
4. Plan out how to handle Kuro when he arrives. I had no illusion that he could pretty much kill me out of hand if he so much as got a hint I knew something. So, ignorance was bliss, and underhanded preparations makes life sweeter.
5. Save who I could. Portgas D. Ace, Edward Newgate (though, I had some doubts how I could possibly manage that), among others.
But there was the voice in my head relating what every reader of SIC fanfiction knew: fate, and pardon my language, would try and screw us over with butterfly effects and twisted up scenarios to maintain the status quo. When we thought something would work out, usually something we didn't know would come and bite us back later. I need only refer to This Bites by the great Xomniac to know that much.
Though, I prayed to the whatever-force that I was in the manga and not the anime (since that was fresher in my mind, plus I only ever watched the one movie. I rather not get into the craziness of Shiki or Kami forgive the Baron Omatsuri *shudder*).
With all these things in mind, I left my house to familiarize myself with my home for the next several years.
So, that's my introduction. Let's see how my plan pans out.
New inhabitant of Usopp's body, out.