Authors note:
To those reading this fanfiction I thank you for giving it a shot, I hope I can live up to the expectation that those before me have set. Before I start, I must note that this is the first fanfiction I have written and as a person with dyslexia there might be errors. All projects are journeys and hopefully, I find a way to get what I intend into text for all your enjoyment. In terms of personality for the SI it's based on me, do not despair though this is not a Mary Sue fic, I have a lot of personality deficiency's to stop that. I have also made a rule that if I have to Wikipedia something then I cannot have my SI know it off by heart to equalize any modern-day shenanigans, though I know roughly how some things work. Right now I will try and get a chapter out every day as it's not like I have anything else to do, though I might go to a once every two days I will see how it goes.
Writing in italics
Names of techniques or fruits
I DO NOT OWN ONE PIECE, I never will
Chapter 1 start:
Truth be told I don't know how I died, though I often forget much about that life. At this point, it's just the simple things like who I was, where I lived even some the faces of the people closest to me. Sometimes brief memories of my previous life pop up from time to time, most of the time what stares back at me when I try to recall who I was is a black void. After all this time I just learned to ignore it. It's quite funny in a weird way, to have everything stripped from you, leaving just the core of your very being and being told to get on with your life. When that happens you learn a simple lesson, you don't matter and you never will.
The only path is to forget the past, what's left of it at least, and to look to the future. In terms of reincarnations, the one-piece universe was a mixed bag, there were worse and there were better. Considering I was born in England to a middle-class family in a pretty nice town, I had a pretty good life all things considered especially of what I can recollect of my past life. In comparison, the One Piece world was filled with a corrupt, power-hungry government that allowed slavery and a major pirate problem that plagued civilians. That was not even taking into account all the genocides or the fact when two marginally strong opponents faced each other everything around got raised to the ground. If you were born in a peaceful island in one of the blues it was quiet and pretty mediocre. I could be reborn in Doom so I'm counting my blessings. As I said before not the worst or best a mixed bag.
That was exactly where I found myself in Foosha village, in the body of one Monkey D Lucy the gender-bend of Monkey D Luffy. I know it's confusing, even I'm confused and I have been here for 7 years! But I was selected to be a genuine pig of the Gods and as a balancing measure for keeping my One Piece knowledge I had to be nerfed so they made me a girl. Which makes the Gods both sexists as well as a pain in the ass. They went on and on about making things interesting but refused to comment when pushed. So I was reincarnated as the main protagonist of a story I wanted no part of. To make matters worse our personality's don't even mesh I'm an introvert dreamer who has issues with motivation. The Gods forced me to be the one person who has the most effect on the series because of their personality and iron will and replaced them with the exact opposite personality. I believe they are laughing in whatever heaven exists.
Needless to say, I acted nothing like Luffy and still don't, though that has an untold amount of benefits considering his stupidity ended up almost killing everyone around him. Though by acting like myself I caused an almost equal amount of issues. Children are not stupid they know when something doesn't belong and by acting as myself I alienated almost every child in the village. I will forever be the child who speaks like an adult, who acts like one, who just doesn't belong. To the adults I was just as anomalous, a child who knows more about life than they should: who learned to speak, to run, to calculate, to think rationally faster than anything they ever have known. How do they act to such a child? By acting as myself I was rejected by everyone around me, they were nice to my face, but I could never be part of either.
Stripped of almost everything I was and then rejected by all those around me I did the only thing I thought possible, I withdrew from everything around me. For a long time, I rejected a world that rejected me, I rejected the circumstances I had ended up in. Around me were people devised in the head of an author, going around their lives like nothing was wrong. But everything was wrong! It was all so wrong! Do they exist? Does this world exist? Or even more importantly do I even exist? If this is a world of make-belief made up by a mangaka to earn some money to pay his electricity bills what does that mean for me. When everything around you is questionable can you just go on living your life?
It took me a long time to give up asking that question, most of my time in this world. I just figured out that trying to answer that question would just make everything worse. It's better to just ignore the idea that your existence is questionable and everything might not exist. The less said about Gods and fate the better.
During this time of self-isolation, I spent my time reading anything to just forget my situation, though the fact there was nothing else to do also helped. Probably the biggest culture shock ever. I came from, what I can only just remember, a place of instant gratification where there was some type of entertainment system always in place. In this world, there was human interaction and the great outdoors, as an introvert who rejected human interaction and spent most of their previous life inside it was hell. So I spent most of this life with my head in a book, anything to ignore where I was or who I was. Eventually, I just read all the books in the small Foosha village library and then I did what I always have and just retreated into my thoughts.
Looking back without Makino I would have withered away into nothing in my isolation. In a way, she became my only friend, my only true one at least. I had many people I knew, some I had a working relationship with such a mayor Slap but the only one to be with me to the end was Makino. I owe her a debt I can probably never repay her. When I got stuck too deep in my thoughts she was always there to drag me back to reality, when I needed taking care off she was there for me. She always acted like a mother hen and in a way that saved me, as sad as it is to admit that, from myself.
Over time with some help, I managed to overcome my existential crisis over my existence to run into another one… what the hell do I do now!?
If much of the story is based on the actions of Luffy and his personality then where does that leave me? I can't act like Luffy, we are just too incompatible personality-wise and the story is mainly dragged by his insatiable desire to be the pirate king. I don't even know if I want to be the pirate king. Hell, I don't know what I want to be, Marine, Pirate, civilian or revolutionary. In my previous life, I wanted to go down a politics route from what I can tell but do I want to try that? Be a minor Politian on a far off island away from any major power dealing with mediocracy. How does that affect the story? Do I even want to be that? This world is so different from the one I came from, there are so few democracy's from what I can tell and even fewer ones that mater. A world of dictators kept in power by a corrupt system, of pirates controlling through fear, can the dream of my preferred job even exist in the way I dreamt it here. Do I have to give up even my passion and hopes from that life to exist in this world?
I can tell from my memories of reading the manga that this is a world where the strongest survive, a world of monster eat monster. But to kill goes against everything I believe in! To harm others to better yourself… I fundamentally disagree with that belief and yet can I survive in this world with that viewpoint? How many morals, how much of myself do I have to eradicate to live here? What do I do? What can I do? I feel as If I am stuck in a storm without end and every direction it goes infinitely. To sacrifice my very identity to survive and follow the story, or to sacrifice the story and everyone in it for the sake of my morality.
I… am alone… what do I do? ... Where do I go? ... I-
''Lucy! Lucy! Tea's ready!'' Makino's shout breaks me out my thoughts, my hand stopping mid-sentence over the old leather notebook that I had taken to make notes in. It was a gift from Mayor Wood Slap for my sixth birthday, old second hand from his personal study. Already before I even got it the pages had dogged corners and had started to yellow from its many years stuffed at the top of a shelf not used for decades. Though for the purpose of being my personal note collector it was perfect and Mayor Wood Slap had many like it so it worked for me.
''Yes, I can hear you!'' If there was one thing I had learned from personal experience it was that if you did not go to Makino, then she would go to you. My ear still hurt from being dragged from my room one too many times for ignoring her calls.
Sighing into the quiet of my room, I took the time to rack my eyes briefly over the wall of text I had just inserted into the dusty old notebook before closing it softly with a small thud. You learn to cope with your issues and let me say that I have enough to fill a book, literally. With nothing more to do, I stood up from my small wooden chair located next to my equally small desk, packed on all sides with books that I had collected over the years. All my joints popped from the sudden movement and after a moment to fully stretch I started out of my room in the upper floors of the Party's bar to the bar proper.
Makino was cleaning the beer glasses, preparing for later when the villagers would pour in to enjoy a night of alcohol and laughs. When she saw me though she placed the glass down onto the wooden surface behind her a smiling crossing her face as she put a plate of lasagna and a glass of apple juice onto my favourite seat.
''So Lucy are you doing anything interesting upstairs?''
''Not really I was just re-reading one of my books'' Like I was going to say 'yes I was just writing in my unofficial diary about my existential crisis and I'm secretly from another world that the Gods plucked me from to play games with'. Makino unaware of my inner thoughts only smiled back watching me slowly devour the meal in front of me.
''Oh, which one?'' At this question an interested look crossed her face, let it be said she truly cares for me.
''The one about the righteous marine capable of turning into a giant, you know the one with the evil devil pirates lead by 'Hellspawn' captain Kancy'' As I said devil pirates I put two fingers on my forehead pointing upwards in a crude imitation of horns. At this, her eyes flickered with understanding and a small snort passed unceremoniously out of her nose. She knew that book well considering she read it to me many times when I was younger before bed. It was both degrading for my intelligence and one of the best memories of this life. It was an alright book, but the villains were two dimensional. Though considering the world government produced it that was not confusing.
''One of my suppliers is going to the Goa capital in a week, do you want me to buy you a new book?'' She asked once again picking up a glass, a different one this time, and started cleaning it a smile on her face all the while.
''Yes!'' A new book is a blessing, re-reading books removes so much of the joy of them. To truly enjoy reading something you need to have an air of suspense and old books loose that when you know what's going to happen. It doesn't help that I have read everything in this sleepy little village.
At my slightly immature outburst a small chuckle erupted out of her throat. In a way she was one of the few people to break me out my shell I had built during my first crisis. I was much more open before in my old life I don't know how but I can just tell.
As silence settled between us she realized that I was content with not talking and so took over the conversation by detailing her day, all the people she talked too, the gossip and anything on her mind. As she controlled the conversation I finished my meal content to simply listen and be with her. After being rejected by society she was the only one I could turn too.
Perhaps half an hour had passed before a wheezing Gyoru, the fishmonger, burst through the style of the bar sweating profusely and looking pale. Makino and my eyes opened in surprise of the interruption to our personal time.
''Makino! Lucy! Pirates!' The horror in his voice overrode all other feelings in my mind. Who? Shanks? But what if it wasn't? What if they ransack the village? What if they kill Makino-
''Lucy get upstairs now!'' The sharp order from said women breaks me from my thoughts. On her face lies fear, unadulterated fear and perhaps beneath that determination. When I don't move fast enough she yanks my small dress by the neckline and drags me towards the stairs, fear present in her every breath.
''Lucy'' The words are quieter than the order before, but still carry that invisible weight that even as an adult I stand a little straighter. ''Lucy go upstairs, hide in my closet, bury yourself in as many clothes as possible to look natural. DO NOT come down till I give the all clear do you understand''
''But Makino I can help'' I am an adult damn it. I may be limited but I can help think of ways around the situation I can-
''Lucy'' The word is said in a small voice, almost whispered but so full of emotion. ''Lucy look at me'' Reluctantly my gaze met hers, she had knelt to be closer to my size, and the raw emotion visible was almost beautiful…no it was beautiful ''Lucy you've always been so independent pushing away the world, always burying yourself in books to hide the pain in your eyes. So afraid to make attachments, so afraid of what everyone thinks that you closed yourself off to save yourself the pain. Lucy, if I die promise me you'll move on promise me you'll find someone new to open up to''
''Makino please don't'' Somewhere in my head I can recognize that tears are falling down my eyes. I don't want her to go, as an adult I feel ashamed to be crying but Shanks arrived when Luffy was eight I was sure of it. These can't be the Red Hair pirates, so they have to be a different group. Most likely statistically they will be the raid and enslave type. Foosha had no defenses, no marines. It would be a sitting duck of a target.
''Go'' And with that she kissed the top of my head, picked up the rifle from under the bar she kept to deter the bandits that infrequently passed through the area and left to greet the pirates whoever they may be. I looked back from the stairs watched her stride out of the bar into the outside world before quickly climbing the stairs of the bar, rushing to the wardrobe burying myself under a mound of clothes and cursed my own powerlessness through my tears.
I would later find out after Makino rushed back to the bar an hour later that these where indeed the red hair pirates and that they were docking in the village for two months. Though the only thing I cared about was hugging Makino till my breath stabilized from my panic attack of almost losing the person I cared the most about.
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Foosha village was small, quiet and full of the windmills that gave it its name. The perfect place to sit down with a fishing rod on one of the cliffs near the sea and just enjoy the small things in life. That was why it was perfect in Shanks mind. Just a place to get away from the new world with its three squabbling Yonko, from the grasping marines and everyone else. It also supposedly held his former captains child if his informant was right. Truth be told there was little chance of that ever being reality, the marine searches where surprisingly on point with Portgas D Rouge's location and they pulled up nothing of substance. Still he trusted the informant and so he came to just see if there was a chance his late captain's legacy being alive. If there was then he could assess if they were safe here and if they were not… well a vacation would be nice. Smiling with his decision he walked along the small road between the docks to the small bar where the rest of his crew would undoubtedly be found.
And find them he did lazing around the stools like sloths their actions almost automated as they played cards, ate or just talked unenthusiastically. At his entrance some raised their arms in a show of welcome some nodded and others just kept up whatever they were doing before he arrived.
'come tonight they will party till the sunshine's through the saloon door' He thought with amusement flashing across his face at the fact his crew were such creatures of habit, not that it was a bad habit in his opinion. He would be up till dawn as well, undoubtedly well into a barrel of sake.
Finishing that thought he crossed the bar, sitting on one of the green stools between one of the village fisherman and a girl. He decided a slight drink might not be too bad and so ordered a bottle of sake from the barkeep, Makino if he remembered right, with a smile on his face. They were guests in this village and it would not do to get kicked out when they had a purpose here. It was also extremely rude to treat others like their beneath them in his opinion, to him all people deserved some level of respect. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he just realized that he had an admirer. Well he did not know if she was an admirer going of her blank facial expression.
Turning to look at her fully he took her in. The girl sat on the seat directly next to his on the right. Based on her facial features and body type she was around 7-8 years old. She looked around 4ft tall, average for that age range though it was slightly harder to tell when she was sat down. Slim with an average amount of baby fat, no natural deformity's or scars. Revan black hair cut short to her neckline arranged messily making her look almost like she just got out of bed, though the slight bags under her eyes didn't do her any favors. Neither did the slightly detached look in her eyes, like she wasn't quite there. She wore a simple light blue dress, no frills or fancy patterns. In all she looked normal, physically at least. What reflected in her eyes was another matter.
Realizing that he'd probably stared a bit too long Shanks decided to introduce himself to this strange child if only to break the ice ''Heya kiddo I'm Shanks what's your name?''
Dead silence was his only reply. In fact the only reason that he realized she had heard what he said was the slight twitch of her facial muscles in response. But let it be said that Red Hair Shanks was not a man who gave up so he tried again. ''I'm a pirate want to hear an adventure of mine?'' To sweeten the deal he even allowed a smile to spread across his face. No child has ever rejected his offer, he is just that good.
Dead oppressive silence replied again. In fact she seemed to just ignore his conversation starters to stare a hole in his head. Just before he could try again to start she pivoted on the seat turning 90 ° towards Makino before stating ''Makino I'm leaving for my cliff spot, it's too noisy in here'' she drank what remained of her apple juice, closed her book and started leaving the bar.
Shanks was dumbfounded. Did he just get rejected by a child? This has never happened before. As he was contemplating the situation Makino called out ''don't be back to late, Lucy'' to the leaving child's back to which she raised a hand in conformation.
''Don't worry about her'' A new voice from his right called out as he turned his view from the leaving child's back to the fisherman the next stool along. His puzzled expression must have shown because the fisherman continued without his reply ''She's always been an odd child''. Odd…huh, turning back to the leaving child only to find her walk slightly more brisk and her shoulders tenser. It seemed she had heard the comment. Though he had to admit the fisherman was right she was odd… odd indeed.
Right some notes, I believe that no one should be able to be removed from our world and inserted into another without consequences. Especially when the worlds are so completely different. It would be like removing parts of what makes you…you and then thrusting you into a new world that you could never fit into. The belief systems of One Piece and our world on morality are very different, especially rights. Compound that with the fact that you can't fit in with children due to your mental age or with adults due to your physical age. At best you would be misunderstood as a genius at worst rejected by both, which kinda happens to Lucy. So you have everything stripped from you, your life, family, beliefs, dreams and ideals are then forced into a world where you don't fit and then add the fact that society doesn't understand you. That's hard for someone to deal with. And its why Lucy essentially has a crisis on who she is in the first place. The consequences of this crisis will be felt throughout the story. On the scene with Makino's final request, I think that's a reasonable response to a pirate invasion. The chances of benevolent pirates is astronomically small. As for why Shanks went to Foosha, I think that's the most viable option even In canon why else would he do it? Oh and shanks noted everything out of habit he is a warrior.