A/N- Whaaaaa? your gurl updated? It was supposed to be up a few days ago but my Internet connection was wack so I couldn't, anyways, here's the chapter, happy reading! – Diwata
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"Speaking"
"Thoughts"
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece nor its characters, Eichiro Oda does.
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Bethany was traumatized, to say the least.
After the whole birth ordeal, a part of her wished she wasn't born a second time, it was just too much for her.
In short, after an obligatory cry that indicated she's alive, Bethany passed out.
Though from an adult's perspective, it only looked like she fell asleep.
When she woke up from her slumber, she was confused as heck.
It almost made her question her existence again before she remembered everything and the haunting memory birth gave her major chills.
It took her a couple days before she fully grasped everything that happened.
As thankful as she was, the reincarnation thing was still hard to believe despite her musings. She didn't know anybody that lived twice, nor would she ever believe them in that matter, she was still slightly skeptical though.
What if, she was only dreaming? What if, she was in a coma, and the events that happened was just a lucid dream created by her mind in deep sleep?
So many 'what ifs' ran through her young head, and in order to satisfy her doubts, proceeded to slap herself with her puny hands in an attempt to 'wake up'.
But no matter how hard she slapped herself, she never woke up in her previous life.
Her actions worried her new parents to no end, and to the point that they approached the doctors about her odd and possibly harmful behavior.
The doctors were skeptical, and brushed off the couple's diagnosis of their child, without even bothering to see for themselves, and recommended to just keep an eye on Brielle and stop her from slapping herself.
Disappointed by the doctors' reply, the couple couldn't do anything but to try and stop their daughter from her tendencies.
Brielle went on like this for almost a week, but then she got tired (and hurt), and only then had she finally decided to accept the facts and face her new reality, much to the relief of her parents.
It was not every day you see your newborn child slap herself repeatedly throughout a week.
Clearly, there's something horribly wrong.
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As an infant, she couldn't really see anything, because her eyes aren't open yet, though she can feel the light touches of somebody's fingertips nurture her very gently, as if she could break when even the slightest pressure was applied on her fragile body.
As nonsensical as it was, she could distinguish her parent's touch from anybody else, from the doctors and nurses. To her, her parent's tactile motions were so different from the rest.
Her mom's touch was light and feathery, while the others were not rough, but not as loving as her mom's
Her hearing also developed progressively which lead her to discover a new strange thing about the place she was in.
The language used there was not in any language she can speak in, which only consisted of two: English and Tagalog, yet for some reason, she could understand them.
She could hear and understand their conversations fluently, which usually consisted mostly of occasional check-ups from her doctor, 'how are you's' and 'how's baby Brielle's' from her visitors' voices that she'd learn to recognize.
It was unnatural, it was like she heard and spoke the new language her entire life.
Maybe it was a special talent given to her by God to somehow survive in this new world.
Eh, she didn't really have the energy to think and give explanations anymore.
These strange things no longer fazed Brielle, and has grown to accept whatever madness her new life had to catapult at her.
Honestly, she was just done at this point, nothing surprised her anymore, but that last one did manage to intrigue her, which prompted her to once again go back to memory lane and try to figure something out.
"Hmmmm, this language sounds very familiar….it sounds syllabic and rhythmic as well, unlike English." The child thought mindlessly
"It also isn't in Tagalog, because if so, then there would be many –a syllables, also there is no 'z' sound, which I always heard. So no, definitely not Tagalog." Brielle concluded
"Which reminds me, it sounds very similar to those shows I used to watch, what were those called again…..." The baby pondered as she tried to remember her previous memories.
"Ah! That's it! Anime!...now, where was it from again?"
The child thought, and flailed her arms appropriately, as if the action would help her remember more.
Truly, she was a strange child.
Then after a minute, it finally came back to her.
"Japan! It's from Japan! I get it now! It's Japanese!" Brielle remembered shortly.
It was truly a 'Eureka' moment for Brielle, so much so that she blurted out of nowhere in real life.
"Ahun!" Brielle exclaimed, which surprised her mother that looked her way from her hospital bed.
"Ohhhh! what an active baby you are Brielle, so much like your father!"
Melody chuckled in the most motherly tone as got up from her bed, lifted her up and out from her crib, and proceeded to sway her side to side in a calming manner.
"Mystery solved! I still got it! At least I still got my good memory hehehe…." Brielle thought as she praised herself accordingly, before she settled in her mother's arms that rocked her small frame softly.
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Realizations aside, there was one thing that's very clear.
In this life, she wasn't known as Bethany Elle anymore, rather, a baby girl named 'Brielle', as the repeated use of said name was heard every time somebody either carried her, talked to her or just referred at her, the name 'Brielle' was often mentioned.
It didn't take an Albert Einstein to figure out her new name was 'Brielle'.
She rather liked the name, she felt like the name was made especially for her, it even scared her how well it suited her more than her previous name.
Another good thing was that, now that she's out in the open, she was able to hear the beautiful songs of her mother, in better quality. Her songs didn't have lyrics like she originally thought, it was more of a tune.
A song that she sang in 'Ahh-s' like a hypnotizing melody, which also happened to be her mother's first name, 'Melody'.
Very few people would visit her, so very few that she can count the people that came in regularly based on the repeated voices she heard. Those people visited for only a short period of time, for maybe about five to ten minutes max.
She guessed that, maybe her parents have some sort of trust issues, or maybe they could be fugitives hiding from the law (she hoped not) or maybe they just have very few friends or relatives in the area.
She didn't know, she wasn't in a place to judge.
Their most frequent visitor, was a man namedAlexander, who was apparently her dad. He would always refer to his wife as either 'Melody', 'Mel' for short, or his most used pet name: 'honey'.
That's right, they called each other 'HONEY', much like a newlywed couple, but hey.
She swore if they weren't her parents, she would've threw up right then and there from cringe, but at the same time she found it endearing, can't hate a man who loves his wife.
Anyways, from Brielle's time spent with both Melody and Alexander, she concluded that they're very gentle with her. Melody had this motherly touch, and was very soft, if you can use the word 'soft' to describe a person, and Alexander has strong manly arms, yet his touch was as gentle as his wife's, although he's little bit inexperienced when he carried her.
She was very lucky that she ended up being the child of Melody and Alexander, and she was very thankful that God made them her new parents. Chances are, she could've been abandoned, and unloved.
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Now, being completely aware that one's self is a week old baby, was already weird by itself, because normally, babies wouldn't be highly aware and focused about anything and everything regarding themselves.
For the duration of the week, she let her baby instincts do all the work for her as she was too exhausted to deal with anything else.
It was only after a few days when she realized she had been breastfed, it wasn't bizarre or anything, she was just a little weirded out. Wait, scratch that, she was VERY weirded out.
Sure she was also a female, both in the past and present life but, breastfeeding was just a whole other level.
It confused her to no end how there weren't any baby bottles.
So, she just chalked it up to Melody being a hands-on mom, as it was said that breastfeeding provided a better connection between mother and child.
And as much as she appreciated her mom's attentiveness towards her…..
It was something her dignity wouldn't allow…...or so she thought.
Mentally, she was seventeen, but her physical body was only seven days old, and to nobody's surprise, Brielle's baby body needed food, which lead back to the problem at hand.
Her first ever existential crisis in her new life, was known as breastfeeding.
Though eventually she would have to give up her 'womanly pride' in exchange for nourishment.
And so she consoled herself, there was no other option, and it was either to refuse to drink milk from her mother's breast and die, or to do so and live.
Of course she decided on the latter, a second life with the memories of her first life was a chance she did not want to slip, nor would she waste carelessly.
To die in a car accident was a common cause of death, and was largely acceptable, but to die of starvation because her pride wouldn't allow it? No, that was just plain stupid, and she wouldn't die too early this time round.
The looks of Melody when Brielle decided to pull up a stunt on her again and cry for milk, but when presented to it, shied away….
Priceless.
Brielle thought it was so very funny, and proceeded to do so. She cried and refused for about ten times in a row now. It was still a surprise that she hadn't broke Melody yet with her antics.
"Oh dear, Brielle, please drink your milk, aren't you hungry?"
Melody asked, as she looked as her daughter squirmed from her grasp, and away from her milk.
"Uwaaaa! Uh-uh -Uwaaaaaahhhhh!" Baby girl Brielle cried and was at it again.
Melody was worried once more, it had only been a few days that her daughter decided to stop slapping herself, and now she refused to drink her milk?
What strange behaviors would her beloved daughter show next?
"Is this normal? Is she supposed to be like this? it's my first time being a mother, maybe it's because of her heritage? My genes? Ohhh I don't know what to do."
The mother thought as she tried her best to understand why her daughter acted that way.
In the middle of her dilemma, knocks on the door was heard and a person came in with a basket of fruit on one hand, and a small bouquet on the other, which happened to be her husband Alexander.
"Hi honey, how are you?" Her husband asked, before he closed the door behind him and placed the basket on the table near Melody's bed and approached the two.
"Oh! Hi honey, I'm doing good, awwww and you brought flowers too? How sweet." Melody replied as she gave her husband a kiss on the cheek and accepted the flowers.
"Anything for you honey" Alexander replied as he offered to carry Brielle in his strong arms.
"How's work? I'm surprised they let you out early." Melody inquired and took an orange from the basket and peeled the fruit.
"Ahhhh, well I just know my way through work, hahahahaha….." Alexander laughed and scratched the back of his head with his free hand, the other held his daughter in a firm grasp.
"Honey, you aren't fooling anybody, you skipped work, didn't you?" Melody deadpanned.
"Maybeee, but can you really blame me? I was reaaaallyy looking forward to see how my beautiful wife and precious angel are doing, is that too much to ask? No one can keep a father from his family." Alexander reasoned out as he made a huge gesture.
"Oh stop it, but really, the higher-ups won't appreciate your work ethic, and you've just been promoted to Captain too, if you're not careful, they might demote you…."
Melody stated her worries as she chewed on the peeled oranges.
"I won't, I promise, now, how's our little angel doing?" Her husband asked clearly changing the topic.
"Speaking of, she suddenly refused to drink her milk, she wasn't like this before, should we go ask the doctor?"
Melody looked back at Alexander, as she put away the peels and fiddled the edge of her blanket.
"Oh honey, don't be worry too much, maybe, she's just uhhhhhhhh I don't know, shy….?" Her husband replied doubtedly with an unsure smile for measure.
"Alex….." Melody said, her voice audibly lowered, her eyes shadowed, which only indicated she was not at all pleased with her husband's answer.
"Ah! I-I was just kidding Ahahahahaha…..." His voice trailed off as beads of sweat visibly rolled down the side of his head, afraid of what might to come: the wrath of her wife's deadly mood swings.
"Do you not care at all for your daughter?" Melody questioned her husband, now sad all of a sudden, her tears threatened to fall.
"Nononono! Of course I do! It's just, maybe Brie just needs some time? To get comfortable? Maybe she feels too hot? Or too cold? You know how babies are, they're sensitive!" Alexander answered as he held his wife and their daughter.
"A-Alright, I'll try again, maybe she does feel hot, all cramped inside this small room." She said, convinced of her husband's proposition.
"As much as I love you Mel, you can be so hard to understand sometimes, one second you're happy, the next you're angry, then sad…..! It's so confusing!"
He thought and sighed in relief as he dodged a bullet, t'was a close call.
"Don't be stressed honey, you'll be fine, and so would Brie." Her husband reassured her as he stroked her smooth and shiny hair.
"Uwaaaah" Brielle cried, she seemed to want to be part of the conversation as she reached out for her mom.
"Common honey, try again, trust me, this time I'm sure she'll drink up." Alexander said and ushered his wife to try again.
"Alright…"
Melody positioned herself and held her daughter next to her, and surprisingly, she finally stopped being hard to get and drank her milk.
"Oh! Honey! You're right!" Melody exclaimed and looked at her daughter in delight.
"See honey, I told you so." Her husband replied and looked too smug for comfort.
"Oh hush…!"
"By the way honey, when are we going to sail? We can't stay here for too long." Melody asked as she continued to breastfeed her baby.
"Unfortunately not, not until the next few days. The weather has been acting up, plus there was a report of a suspicious looking ship not too far away from here, it was just there, floating. It didn't have a black flag with cross bones, but it didn't have marine's insignia either. The others suspected that they might be pirates, who knows? We can never be too careful." Alexander explained the situation to his wife.
"Alright if the weather's unfit for voyage, and a possibility of pirates going on and about, then we can't risk sailing with Brielle, it's too dangerous!" His wife exclaimed, worried about their child's safety.
"If the suspicious ship did turn out to be pirates, they would be asking for death. I'm surprised they had the guts to even go near here. This is Marineford we're talking about! If I were a pirate, then it would've been suicide for me…..!" Alexander exclaimed.
In the midst of their conversation, a knock on the door was heard.
"Who could that be?" Melody asked her husband.
"Don't worry, I'll get it"
Alexander stood up, and went to go check. He peeked through the door to see who it was, wary of who the person might be.
Cautiously, he opened the door slightly, in a manner that his body blocked the view of his wife and daughter.
What he saw was a marine officer by the door, when the person outside noticed him, he greeted him accordingly.
"Captain Alexander….!" The said marine officer stated and saluted in perfect posture the Captain before him.
Captain Alexander exited the room, and closed the door before he greeted the marine.
"Ah- hello, Lieutenant Judas…..….What brings you here?" Alexander inquired.
"Vice Admiral Garp is looking for you, he said you're presence is needed for confidential matters, and commanded: 'Bring that damn brat here or else!' which means to head over to the marine headquarters immediately."
"Ah, Is that so, alright, sorry for the trouble. Tell the Vice Admiral I'll be there, also, you are dismissed, Lieutenant Judas."
"Thank you sir." The lieutenant replied diligently before he headed back to headquarters to relay the message.
Alexander sighed before he went inside the room to see his curious wife.
"So? Who was it?" Melody asked
"Work. Vice Admiral Garp called me, pretty important I guess, he even sent me a Lieutenant to send the message, even though I have a den-den mushi right here…..well, he is Vice Admiral Garp, you know how he is." Alexander explained, as he looked at his den-den mushi on his wrist.
"I need to go honey, duty calls, you were right about the higher ups, they're gonna kill me if I'm not there in the next five minutes." Her husband complained and joked at the same time.
"Oh, alrighty then, off you go now." Melody replied with complete understanding.
"Bye honey, bye Brie, I'll see you in a bit, love you…!" Alexander said before he placed a quick kiss on his wife's cheek and his daughter's forehead before he gathered his things, fixed his uniform and readied to leave, but Melody cut him off.
"Love you too, oh, and honey?" Melody added, she stopped her husband mid-way through the door.
"Yes?"
"I told you so" Melody said, with a smile that mirrored her husband's smug look earlier.
"Hahahahaha you got me honey, well, I'll be off, bye!" Alexander laughed before he finally headed off to the marine headquarters.
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Marines, pirates, den-den mushi, and Vice Admiral Garp…..
Marines, pirates, den-den mushi, and Vice Admiral Garp…
Marines, pirates, den-den mushi, and Vice Admiral Garp…
"HOLD UP-"
If Brielle's eyes were open, it would've bulged out of her eye sockets as she unintentionally eavesdropped on her parent's conversation. It wasn't like she wanted to, it was out of her control, not her fault she can miraculously understand Japanese.
Not only has she received such crucial information, but also an impending mental breakdown
"A-am I hallucinating? Have I finally gone insane? Is this the price of incarnation…..?" Brielle thought in a state of denial.
"Don't tell me-"
The solid proof she'd just heard made total sense, sure there were actual marines in the real world, and in rare cases, even pirates, and maybe under a rare blood moon there actually happened to be a device called a den-den mushi, but the existence of Garp? the Vice Admiral Garp?!
Now that sealed the deal.
She could recognize that senile old grandpa's name anywhere.
"No no, I'm cool, I'm okay, this is nothing, calm down…."
Brielle thought as she tried to calm herself from another bombshell smacked to her face.
After a few moments of silence…
"HAVE I LITERALLY DIED AND REINCARNATED IN ONE PIECE?!"
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A/N- I'd like to greet everyone an early Christmas, please consider this as my gift to you, thanks a lot for reading this story, it really means a lot to me, if there are any errors or things you don't like then please tell me, please review, and have a nice day everyone!
Word Count: 3,346
Date of Publication: December 23, 2019