- Due to reviews, I moved the list of scenarios and soundtracks to my profile page. Still, if you know any scenarios I listed or any good soundtracks (or its remixes), please don't hesitate to either send a PM or write it in the reviews. It can get really tedious to go through chapter after chapter of dozens and hundreds of chapters of various works or in the case of soundtracks going through hundreds, potentially thousands of videos and that's not including completly original tracks, unreleased music not included in the official soundtracks and official and fan original remixes.
Year 1507 (8 years since reincarnation)
A man comes out of the cellar with a carrying a large borderline mummified fish with seven syringe like object with inflated spheres on its end stuck into it. This was a Gardile, a fish that reminded me of skyrim's slaughterfish that resembled an alligator gar but in the gardile's case rather than an alligator it reminded me more of a small saltwater crocodile due to its size and very pronounced crocodilian head.
The man then squeezed inflated spheres and the dehydrated fish became fresh and hydrated. The absence of refrigerators meant that the tribe mostly relied on traditional methods of food preservation, I say mostly because one unique method involved a carnivorous plant called a Carnitrap.
The Carnitrap or the 'Sucking Chomper' as it's nicknamed is essentially a biological bear trap that overall resembled a Venus flytrap albeit one as if it was on energy steroids. The texture of the leaves resembled that of pumpkin rinds and stalked glands protruded from the outer midrib. The needle-like teeth it possessed quickly sucks out liquid such as blood causing the glands to inflate as it gets filled, a trait the Kailos tribe made use of to dehydrate meat, fruit, and vegetables. The Carnitrap would be cut along the pumpkin like ribs and had its tooth straightened out; even when cut it still somehow retained its ability to absorb moisture. It would then be stuck on whatever food needed to be preserved and stored for future use. The cut plant essentially acted as a syringe and a pipette, when the gland filled with moisture was squeezed it would fully rehydrate the food; however once its content was fully spent then it had to be replaced with a new one.
Just how the hell did that even work? Is it like how a decapitated cockroach are capable of living for weeks? How a dead snake can still move for a time even if decapitated? Or how severed octopus tentacles moves on its own?
No no, I shouldn't even go there, questioning 'science' especially biology in One Piece would just give me a headache.
I thanked him for his help, and went down the road back home without needing to pay. There was no system of currency within the tribe, other than Beris used when exchanging resources outside the village as there was no real need for money; in exchange for taxes paid in commodities and labor, every member of the tribe had their basic needs met [1]. If someone had an item they did not need, they would place it in a public area and those who have a need for a item can simply take what they find. Medicine and food is handled more meticulously. The food and ingredients from hunting, fishing, farming, and trading was distributed carefully to individuals with any surplus being kept in storage houses. Any outgoing foodstuff is tracked carefully to avoid food shortages or starvation.
This system allowed the male and females of the tribe to focus on their training, education, task and craft without ever having to be distracted or worry about financial problems or the availability and access to necessities.
Heh, wonder how Nami would react to this. An organized functioning society with no money or any form of currency would be unfathomable to more than 99.9% of the total population of this planet.
After arriving home I opened the door to the cabin and head towards the kitchen. The fragrant smells of meat, spices, herbs, broths and vegetables melded together to tantilize my nostrils and aroused my hunger as I entered the kitchen. The kitchen was a fairly spacious with a worktable in the center, a variety of utensils, foodstuff, box shaped wood burning steel stoves, and lanterns with a metal frame and glass fitted inside hanging overhead for lighting.
Oil was used instead of electricity but with a twist: a yellow bioluminescent fire resistant mushroom called a yellowglow was also burned inside the lantern. The mushroom was held in place just above the fire and when it was heated the mushroom would glow almost as brightly as a light bulb.
It was an interesting novelty but I prefer electricity any day; flipping a switch is much more convenient than manually adjusting each lantern and wood burning stoves which no matter how well made is less efficient, requires more effort to operate, and needed to be cleaned regularly than a gas stove though this was somewhat mitigated by the speed ingredients were prepared as my grandmother was demonstrating before my eyes.
She was chopping and slicing with a speed that was only possible in anime to the point her right hand and knife she was using appeared as blur and to top it off the vegetables somehow flew off in a neat parabolic arc and formed a tidy pile. After finishing chopping up chili, she turned her attention towards me.
"Welcome back," My obaasan, Sethlan Nika greeted with a smile. "Set the gardile on the table and I'll prepare it for dinner."
She was a tall well built woman who was the spitting image of my mother except with crimson hair and deep brown eyes that were lively and attentive. Though she was 54 years of age she looked only slightly older than her daughter and son in law with the only real indicators of her age being a few wrinkles and a few graying hairs. She possessed firm muscles despite being a weaver by trade, being capable of lifting a large yak over her head as if it was an empty cardboard box; I'm certain that she can easily beat both both Nami and Usopp at the same time in a brawl.
"I'll help." I said.
"Now now you must be tired from school, you should rest and let obaasan take care of everything." Obaasan replied with a tender smile.
"I'm not so tired I can't help you." I counter.
"You already help around the house so much despite your schoolwork and age, letting you rest is the least I can do, in fact I wouldn't mind if you relaxed more."
I stared at her visage before sighing, "All right."
First my parents, then obaasan. Why did they want me to relax so much when hard work is one of the central values of our tribe? More work can be finished faster if they continued to let me aid them and my family knew that I'm not at all interested in playing games and far more focused on training, learning and chores, so why? One Piece irrationality in general perhaps?...Yeah, that must be it. Shonen series has never been known for rationality in general especially One Piece.
Well, I suppose I could meditate in the meantime. I went upstairs and found a room to meditate, I assume lotus position. I breathe slowly, then calm and relax my mind.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Calm yourself, remove all distraction and doubt, expand your senses to perceive all that surrounds you and do not think but feel. I've been trying to unlock my Haki lately, focusing on observation haki first since it seemed simpler to awaken than armament haki.
I focus on my obaasan trying my best to clearly sense her presence. So far I can only 'see' a faint mist-like outline of a humanoid figure only for a few seconds, it was like turning on a malfunctioning lightbulb, it takes a few seconds to give off a dim light only for it to flicker out a few seconds later. Guess dodging attacks while blindfolded is the simplest and fastest method to unlock observation haki.
Still, it was very good progress all things considered, my rokushiki and seimei kikan training really gave me a jumpstart in my haki training I suspect it would have taken me much longer to see anything at all through meditation alone [3].
After some time I sense my family approaching from outside; their voices, footstep, scent; I long since surpassed the senses I've gained in the simulation as a fetus.
I decide to conclude my meditation session when they are right outside and head downstairs.
"Welcome home." I politely bow and greet my family when I see them.
There were four people standing in the entryway. The large man in the lead who was staring straight at me is my grandfather, Sethlan Koval a muscular powerfully built man over 8 feet with a chiseled strict looking face and a square jaw with a small beard that goes around his mouth. Needless to say his massive frame and strict expression made for an imposing figure but also gave the impression that he was someone who would be very reassuring to have as an ally in a fight. If I needed more proof that I was in the world of one piece it was seeing people close to or exceeding Robert Wadlow's height walking around without any passerby paying attention to them. When Ojiisan first held me in his hands as a baby it was honestly an intimidating experience, considering our size he might as well been a giant. Incidentally, a reason why some homes, such as mine, were noticeably larger than others was to accommodate unusually tall people.
To the left of Ojiisan were my parents while to his right is my uncle, Sethlan Niko giving me a bitter smile. As I learned, Japanese and English words for family members can apparently be used interchangeably.
"Still reserved as ever, even though I keep telling you that there's no need to be so formal."
He was slightly taller than my parents, about a basketball player's height with an athletic build to match, although standing next to Ojiisan made him look small and skinny in comparison. His crimson hair was tied behind his neck, the corners of his eyes were high and their pupils were grayish blue. His high nose bridge and thin lips gave him almost an androgynous face but the expression on his face was prideful but mature. Still, despite his looks and his youth, the impression he gave off was in no way inferior to Ojiisan.
He also had a peculiar smell. It wasn't strong due to washing himself beforehand but it was well within my ability to smell with my nose. It was a complicated mixture of an overly-ripe fruit, flowers, herbs, spices alongside animal fat and flesh. According to him, it was an insect repellent that was necessary and required of anyone who ventured into the great forest.
"You just don't have enough manners," Ojiisan remarks. "One brat in the family is enough."
"Hmph! You're just too uptight." Uncle retorted to his father.
"Don't you two start," Kaasan interjected firmly. "Especially before dinner."
And just like that the two men dropped the matter and headed for the dining room.
We were in the dining room, which was lit by mushroom lamps placed here and there throughout.
The dining room sprawled out at around 30 square meters. The room had minimal decoration but it was clean and when combined with the light from the lanterns it gave off a hospitable atmosphere. In the center were two rectangular dining table put next to each other side by side to form an even longer rectangle.
There were six of us seated in a rectangular shape; On one side was my parents and I with my mother in the center, my father to her right, and myself to her left. Right across my us were Ojiisan in the middle, Obaasan to his right and uncle to his left.
In my previous life, I only saw my maternal and paternal grandparents occasionally before they died so seeing and interacting with grandparents regularly was a brand new experience for me.
"We give thanks for the bounty of the island." Ojiisan declared in a solemn tone. "We offer our gratitude to our kin who provides the tribe with food and to Sethlan Nika for tending the flames and providing us our nourishment for this night..."
Everyone repeated what he said, it was the ritual the Kailos tribe performed each night before dinner. Then, after the short prayer was done, everyone started eating suddenly.
Tonight's menu was red rice that was grown in the agricultural area of the village located north, noodle soup called thukpa, vegetables prepared in a variety of ways such as gundruk a fermented and dried mix of leafy vegetables, steam filled dumplings called momos, a chili cheese stew called ema datshi, and finally the main course, the gardile with a firm crust outside glew succulently radiant and the light sauce that covered the fish gave it a subtle elegance; all beautifully presented in traditional plates and wooden bowls, food in anime always looked more appetizing than food back on Earth.
The moment I took a bite of the gardile I had a vision of taking a pleasant swim in a beautiful clean river and then swimming faster and faster until I practically became one with the water. Its firm succulent white flesh had a very clean, buttery slightly sweet flavor which combined with a light flavorful sauce that held up well to the fish [2].
Yes I experienced a foodgasm despite the fact that I was in one piece universe not shokugeki.
All the other dishes inspired similar levels of foodgasm except for the gundruk but that had more to do with the fact that I never liked fermented vegetables on its own in general rather than any issues with quality. Even someone without a fine sense of taste would have been able to taste the quality of the food. Nothing was too greasy and the flavors were quite well blended.
As I enjoy the food I look around me and it was a peaceful scene. Everyone was enjoying the delicious food engaging in conversation with one another especially uncle and ojiisan who was devouring the food with gusto and taking generous swigs of alcohol called Arag, the latter more so. It wasn't everyday my family all came together for dinner due to their schedule and work but when they did one could tell that this family truly derived joy from each other's company. It was a family environment that brought serenity and peace of mind to the soul and spirit, if all family relationships was this happy then it was no wonder that the Kailos tribe was relatively insular.
Almost made me want to forget about all the tragedies in this world even if that was impossible due to my third benefit, but even without it I could never allow myself to forget.
The exponential surge in piracy since Roger's execution and all its resultant chaos, the destruction of Ohara, the death of its scholars including Robin's mom Olvia and Robin being forced to be on the run as a fugitive by the World Government, the purge at Baterilla and Rouge's death, the enslavement of the Boa sisters, and Lucci's massacre of 500 soldiers.
These are tragedies and disasters that have already took place so far or in the last case soon to happen this year if it didn't already take place; events I could do nothing to prevent.
Logic dictates that inserts should avoid altering events as much as possible in order to keep their knowledge relevant as possible and time travel stories warn how the past should never be altered in any way lest their be dire consequences but that was not an option for me.
As someone who was going to a force of change in the future, it would be a complete disgrace if I just sat back and let terrible events completely play out as it did in canon however the problem was I wasn't in any position to make as much changes as I wanted due to several factors.
First and foremost was location. When you live in a remote island that never appeared in canon with only little contact with the outside world causing butterflies is a tad more difficult to say the least. Not at all helped in the least that many canon events takes place in different oceans.
In chapter 700 or episode 629 there was a line on how even a tsunami that destroys cities starts out as just a little ripple that no one notices but when the world is divided by the calm belts where there's never any wind or ocean currents and a single super continent that divides it in half that means that causing butterflies is even more unlikely; even if I can cause tsunamis just by splashing water in a beach it wouldn't reach where I want it. Unless my mere existence alone can somehow influence events hundreds to thousands of miles away then there was nothing I could do about later chronological events until I leave Kairama island.
Second, the minimum age for independence in the tribe is fifteen. No responsible adult would ever let a preteen sail out to the sea by themselves and would certainly never accept anime/manga meta knowledge or vision of the future as an explanation. To say nothing of the fact that leaving behind a loving family without a word or regard for their feelings for strangers who as far as they're concerned, doesn't even exist would be a dick move.
Third and finally, I didn't even have a vessel capable handling the grand line yet. I had to experiment with the materials available in the village then build and test a variety of designs for a boat out of those materials in the simulations. Then I have to find a way to procure the materials and find a way to construct the boat without attracting too much attention.
Knowledge is power but it's also a very heavy burden to bear and in my case it only weighed down on me more strongly as more time passed. It was extremely frustrating but I couldn't let my knowledge crush me, instead I will use that frustration to fuel my drive me forward to achieve my ambitions.
I glance back at my family once again, the atmosphere harmonious as ever.
That being said, I won't have the opportunity spend time with my family much after I leave so why not take a load off for now and enjoy this while I can?
[1] The Inca civilization is one real life society that had no concept of currency and consequently no shops or markets despite being the largest empire of South America and having an abundance of gold and silver.
[2] The taste of the gardile is based on the Arapaima/pirarucu/paiche, a large freshwater fish found in the Amazon.
[3] According to the "Vivre Card - One Piece Visual Dictionary" there is a connection between Rokushiki and Haki, stating that "the training required for the acquisition of both mantra and rokushiki is akin to that used for acquiring haki" (from The Library of Ohara site)