A/N – Hey guys I'm back with another chapter, warning, there is mild language and a hint of mature themes, just a wee bit, don't worry. So, anyways, hope you like this one, 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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"Ha! Some peaceful second life I got, guess I have to throw those plans out the window. Me? Lucky enough to have normal second life? So that was an effing lie."
Brielle spat out bitterly as she tried her best not to curse in her head at the sheer annoyance and disappointment she felt.
She could not find the right words to express herself and her patience wore thin at an exceedingly alarming rate.
Brielle couldn't think straight, and she no longer had the capacity to properly assess the situation clearly. This usually happened whenever she was angry.
Curtsey of her characteristics in the last life, she can be quite hot-headed and impatient, which eventually led her to say things she didn't mean to say and act rather impulsively.
It wasn't her best trait, and immediate regret usually came soon after she had time to rethink her actions.
Half conscious of her spouting, she thought, not even a second life sparred her from her flaws that was now on full display for the world to see.
Her brows furrowed deep, her frown intensified and the wrinkles that formed on her forehead spoiled her lovely features.
Her inside voice quivered like it was preparing for an eruption, before it finally erupted and went on full screech mode.
"Dear God, I know you're listening out there, let me apologize in advance, but let me just say for once…..…WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!"
Brielle shouted internally, she couldn't hold it any longer and a profanity was let loose.
Brielle, in her past life rarely cursed, and the only times she ever did was either through the slip of the tongue or accidentally in her mind but never had she cursed intentionally.
Frustrated, Brielle decided to try and talk to God almighty and get some well needed answers. Although she knew He wasn't going to answer directly, it didn't mean she would stay quiet about the whole thing physically.
"I know I have committed sins here and there, but those sins weren't as horrible as theft or murder! What did I do to deserve this hell hole of a place for my second life?!"
Brielle screamed internally, ready to burst out in rage for unnecessary the dangers she could possibly encounter during her stay in this universe.
She could've just been reborn in a different country, or continent, so why put up the hassle to create a fictional world come to life?
Surely, God must either gifted her a with a chance of a life time knowing she was a huge fan of the franchise, or He was just creative when it comes to punishments as a less painful substitute for hell itself.
Either way, she was not gonna lie, after that mind-blowing revelation, she couldn't deny she was a tad bit excited, but that was the kid inside of her, but frankly speaking, it wasn't as great as it sounded.
She was mature enough to realize the dangers that lurked in every corner, depending on where she was. Danger is a very recent occurrence in the One Piece universe, especially if she winded up in the peak of the great pirate era.
Bloodthirsty pirates and decent pirates such as the Whitebeards alike, was ever so present and the probability of her getting slaughtered in between the chaos created by pirates or fights between the marines and pirates was very high.
"For Christ's sake, PEOPLE ARE INSANELY STRONG HERE! ONE WRONG MOVE AND I COULD BE DEAD ON THE SPOT! AND I'M NOT EVEN EXAGERRATING! I know a certain someone who can throw LITERAL cannonballs at 100 miles per hour! AND DON'T YOU DARE FORGET ABOUT THE CRAZY POWERS GRANTED BY THE DEVIL HIMSELF! Good God, You must be kidding me!"
The infant yelled without noise, as she tried to relieve even the slightest bit of tension she felt at that very moment.
It was just one thing after another, wasn't it?
First, her death, second, the terrifying birth experience, and now, the grand revelation, what other possible revelations would she learn next? That she wasn't human?
That last one made her laugh sarcastically inside her head.
She did not know how much more she can take, these things started to take a toll on her, and with a very young physical body, it exhausted her very quickly.
"Alright, let it all out. Breathe in-, breathe out Brielle, calm yourself. You're not you when you're angry. You'll get grey hairs early if you're too stressed like that."
Brielle thought as she proceeded to try and calm herself despite the many other comments that wished to rupture out of her system.
She knew very well that getting angry for long periods of time won't do her any good, so she decided it's best to just relax, accept the facts and get it over with calmly.
After a while, she managed to relieve her stress and anger.
She prayed for a while, and asked for forgiveness. She was a catholic at heart, and her beliefs still carried on to her second life.
After her prayers, she realized she needed to give herself a much needed reality check.
"Okay, let me get things straight, not only am I currently reincarnated as another human being, I also happen to be reincarnated in the One Piece universe where there are always constant fights between pirates and the navy, revolutionaries trying to overthrow the world government, not to mention the existence of those blasted celestial jerks, oh, and human slavery is a thing. Now wasn't that a mouthful."
Brielle thought as she tried to organize her thoughts, and reached back to her previous memories for more information.
"Hmmm, well, Eichiro Oda sure does a great job making this universe as wacky and eccentric like no other." Brielle agreed with her statement
"Now, if I remember correctly….Geographically speaking, there are no continents of any sort, mostly islands, there would be four seas, namely the north, south, west, and east blues, which is known to be the weakest of all seas. There is the so called Red Line that acts kinda like an equator, that reached 10,000 meters beneath the sea and soared high up the surface, deeming it unclimbable, and lastly, there are also hundreds and thousands of islands out there, not only in the Grandline but in the New World as well."
The baby thought, as she reminisced her previous memories, which was definitely a key asset in surviving this new world.
Knowledge is power, as they say, so she cannot afford to lose track of her precious information from her memories of avidly watching her favorite anime.
"Now comes the harder-to-grasp part, there more than one type of uh, human species? I guess?, as far as I know, there are the regular humans, the skypieans from Skypiea, giants from Elbaf, zombies because of Moria, CYBORGS and humans that have been experimented on, the fishmen and merfolk from Fishman Island, the dwarves from Dressrosa, the minks from Zou, many many others, oh, and an obvious classified exception by themselves: devil fruit users. Whew! That's a lot to take in."
Brielle enumerated in her head, now sleepy as a result of overusing her brain that could only do so much for her age.
"I need to take a break." The infant yawned in response to the thought, and decided to take a nap to replenish her energy.
Soon enough, the child went into a deep slumber, with the comfort of her thoughts and the faint background noise from outside the room, she was out like a light.
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A day passed, the baby girl was surprised she could finally manage to open her eyes.
Give and take a few days after birth, the puffiness of her eyelids were now gone, and she was free to observe the world around her in her limited eyesight.
"Whoa, I can open my eyes now! Ugh, so blurry, and monochrome. It's like I'm looking at a washed out 1930's film. Hmmmm I wonder what my parents look like." The child thought as she blinked in response to the dim light of the room.
The doctors beforehand recommended to avoid bright or harsh light in her room to allow the baby to encourage her to open her eyes faster as baby's eyes are said to be sensitive to it.
The couple took the advice and it paid off rather quickly. Within a few days, their baby did in fact open her eyes because of it.
Brielle tried to follow her mother's blurry face as she hummed with her eyes closed.
This new achievement didn't go unnoticed for too long, and it did, her parents seemed more excited for her than she was.
Melody noticed as soon as she stopped humming and looked at her baby as she carried her in her arms. She had to do a double take to clarify if what she was seeing was true.
Brielle could only blink in response as Melody's eyes widen in surprise.
"Honey….! Come here quick! You need to see this!" The mother whisper-shouted to grab the attention of her husband who was currently managing his monthly reports across where she stood.
"What is it honey? Is there something wrong?" Alexander said as he quickly dismissed his work to see what his wife wanted him to see.
To say they were overjoyed was an understatement. As they saw wide brown doe-eyes stare back at them, they couldn't hold back a squeal, which mostly came from Alexander.
"Dawww! You are so cute! Ahhh why is my baby so adorableeee!" Alexander gushed on and about, and cooed the entire time.
Ever so slightly, he landed a gentle pinch on his daughter's chubby cheeks.
His wife watched in amusement at his usually within-closed doors antics.
The sight of a man of reputation, a manly looking marine captain suddenly went all soft because of his daughter was heart-warming.
One could easily sense the amount of love he has for his daughter, and his family.
"Ahhh honey, she has your eyes, oh so beautiful brown eyes." Melody said, as she complimented both their daughter and her husband.
She adjusted Brielle's blanket so they could see her face more, which amplified her cuteness if it was even possible.
Out of the blue, Brielle bubbled out a bunch of syllables that further multiplied said cuteness ten-fold.
"Goo goo?" Brielle piped in unexpectedly, and tried her best to stare at both of them, a bubble of saliva formed on her delicate lips.
The parents tried their hardest not squish their precious baby in a bear hug in a fraction of a millisecond.
"Yes baby, you have beautiful eyes, just like your father." Alexander explained as beams of pride radiated from his smile and proceeded to gently lift Brielle high up and into his arms.
He finally started to get the hang of the baby carrying thing.
"Yes, yes, honey, but she also has my nose and lips you know!" Melody chimed, as she didn't want to fall short of how she resembled her daughter.
"Oh honey, of course she does, isn't that right Brielle?" Her husband asked the little ray of sunshine in his arms, which only responded in high pitched laughter.
It was music to the couple's ears, ecstatic that their baby was very responsive to them.
The three of them continued to bond over the next hour, to which they spent and played with Brielle, they tickled her and blew on her tummy that resulted in a happy fit of giggles.
They laid on the bed together, with Brielle positioned on the top of her father's lean stomach while her mother sang with her lovely voice right next to them.
Brielle felt very happy, it was such a long time ago when she experienced this much joy. She forgot how happiness felt like for a while, until she spent time with them.
They made her laugh, feel safe and secured, and unconsciously made her contented with the world at that moment in time.
She wished time could stop, so she could enjoy being herself with her new family. She didn't want to admit so early in the game, that her previously blockaded heart from the past was burst open and intruded by two loving parents.
She loved again, so openly and so quickly, that she couldn't catch herself doing so.
As a person that's been deprived of companionship and close bonds, everything she yearned for so much in the last life, her cravings, were satisfied with familial love that was so pure and unconditional, that she could only love back in return.
Before she knew it, she had truly become the daughter of Melody and Alexander Merlin.
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Time passed, and a month had already gone by. The month went by rather quickly, and before Brielle knew it, she was aboard a ship and ready to sail.
A distinctive smell infiltrated her nose as she inhaled deeply, and she took in the unique olfactory smell of the open sea with a sigh.
The hints of saltiness drifted in the air along the breeze, which made her experience a new state of calmness, yet at the same time an unknown thirst for adventure.
Like a call of the sea, it beckoned her to sail across her vast waters.
She was fairly excited to see where fate led her, which in this case was her parent's destination.
Frankly, she didn't know where they were headed, as her parents never mentioned anything yet, so all she could do was make guess on where they would go.
"Look Brielle, that wide blue out there is called the sea." Melody pointed out, and cut Brielle off her thoughts to allow her to get a better view of the ocean that looked like it stretched for miles on end.
What Melody failed to address, were humungous metal doors that bore the mark of the world government in the far distance.
Brielle didn't took notice immediately as she couldn't really see very well.
Still, she was fascinated with what the world had to offer, she had stars in her eyes although she could only see a Gaussian blur of blue occupying the large horizon, and bit of grey in the background of it all, which was strange, but it was still a beautiful scenery.
The seemingly immovable large gates of justice slowly creaked open to let them pass through, and the once unstable currents that roared behind it, flowed smoothly and allowed them to sail easily on it.
Melody tightened her scarf and fixed her daughter's clothes in a way that partially covers both their faces.
She hurried off inside the ship in her private quarters as some of her husband's crew acknowledged her presence and greeted her while they assisted her husband in managing the ship.
The sails were lowered, and the anchor was pulled up. The weather was perfect and they were off.
There was a light rocking because of the waves, but it was barely noticeable.
After a few minutes, the rocking eventually stopped, as if they just floated and never inched forward, which worried Brielle quite a bit.
"Are we even moving? It's like we stopped in the middle of the ocean." Brielle thought as she looked around the small room she was in. Her mother appeared calm and read a book to pass the time.
"Mom doesn't seem too worried though, am I missing something here?" The baby pondered, and wiggled around in her crib.
"Hmmm, so, if we're at Marineford, then that means the grey thing I think I saw earlier were the Gates of Justice! Aaaand considering we are travelling someplace else, and since dad is a marine captain, then he and his crew could travel through the Calm Belt safely, right?" Brielle voiced inside her head.
"Then that means, we are indeed sailing through the Calm Belt, I guess it makes sense, the sudden absence of the waves and wind, but how does this ship move without it? Wait, isn't the Calm Belt also the breeding grounds of sea kings…."
Her thoughts made her fear for her life and unconsciously began to cry.
"Uh-uh- UWAAAAA!" Brielle wailed in discomfort, large fat tears rolled down the side of her face and wet her pillow.
Melody looked up from the book she was reading, confused by Brielle's sudden cries, she got up and went to her daughter's crib.
"Hush now Brielle, why are you crying? Are you hungry? Did you wet your diapers?" Melody asked and got a quick look at her blankets. It wasn't wet, so she positioned herself to breastfeed her, but she wasn't drinking it either.
What could possibly set her off?
Melody then thought that maybe her child wasn't used to travelling, and maybe she got dizzy, itchy, or maybe even scared.
"It's alright Brielle, are you scared? Don't worry, Daddy and his crew are taking care of us. Nothing will hurt you, I'm here, Daddy's here, and everything's going to be alright, so don't cry."
The reassurance apparently did the trick, Brielle's cries died down, and seemingly understood what her mother just said.
"Okay Brielle, no need to cry, you're seventeen for Pete's sake, stop right there. Stop scaring yourself, you heard mom, dad's got this, also, don't marines have that special sea rock- kairoseki, was it? To camouflage themselves from sea kings? So there's no need to worry."
Brielle reassured herself and decided to have faith in her parents that there was, by no means, any harm out to get her.
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More time passed and they finally arrived after what seemed like forever. It took an awful lot of time before they landed, and she wasn't taken out the room she was in so she couldn't watch the sea like she'd hoped.
The room was equipped with everything they needed, and the food was brought outside for her mother to take, which was strange.
She thought she would be bored by the ride, but she was wrong.
Thankfully, her mother brought her entertainment. She brought a bunch of small toys for her to play with, and activity things to keep her active.
There were also an array of colors on the playing cards her mother got with her that always caught her attention.
She could see the vibrant colors and she was easily entertained by merely looking at it.
Melody was also a very attentive mother and always played with her and kept her company.
She sang her songs and did everything she could with her, to which she was extremely grateful for.
Other times, she just stared at her mom, which was enough to keep her distracted.
She would look at her mother and gaze at her face. She can't see clearly yet, but she can already tell that her mom was beautiful.
She had milky white skin, golden hair, and the most mesmerizing emerald eyes she had ever seen.
She definitely got the looks, and she could certainly tell because a particular pair of the crew were always chit-chatting amongst themselves just outside their door more than once.
It just so happened that her mother was asleep during those times, and she was wide awake, so all she could do was eavesdrop on their conversation.
They talked about how pretty and voluptuous she was and often complained how unfair it was that she was confined in that room willingly and that they were unable to get a good look at her.
She heard things in between the lines and it was very clear that they had more than honorable intentions.
She could imagine their lecherous faces as they fantasized about her mother in their sick imaginations. It disgusted her and made Brielle sick in the stomach.
They, who knew very well that her mom was their captain's wife, still found the time to discuss her 'assets' right next to her door!
She didn't want sleazy marines ogling all over her mother.
This made her very first encounter with marines, (aside from her dad and that one lieutenant) to be a very unpleasant one.
Sure not all of them were like the two, and the rest were rather industrious and worthy of respect, but those bad apples that spoiled the bunch accidentally made her neutral respect for the marines fall into dirt.
Don't they have any dignity? Would they stoop so low as to covet another man's wife? Utterly unacceptable.
These are the types of people she hated the most. If only she could do something about it, but unfortunately, she was just an infant, defenseless and at the mercy of others.
She hated that feeling, of being unable to do anything, there were always some sort of restraints that held her back.
She endured the thoughts of those marines until the day they finally docked on land. It was a long week, and she was more than relieved that her family would finally be far away from the two perverted marines.
Over the course of the ride, she didn't see her father often, as he was in charge of the whole voyage, which meant he was always outside the room, away from them.
Although he would visit sometimes, or call them through a den-den mushi, they almost never interacted.
There was another thing, those mushis weirded out, the snails talked and imitated her father's facial features and reactions, which was a normal thing, and it was something she needed to get used to.
Anyways, they went out the room at last. The wind was strong and felt pleasant on her skin. Her mother carried her away and onto new land.
Her father bid his crew goodbye, as they turned the ship round and off they went.
Alexander reunited with his family after a long week of travelling.
"Honey! Brielle! I've missed you! we're finally here!" Alexander exclaimed happily as he hugged his wife and daughter.
"Missed you too honey, now we can finally relax and spend time with our daughter, thank goodness they actually extended your leave for a month, they're usually not generous when it comes to that." Melody stated.
"Well, I have been requesting this for a long time, ever since you were pregnant with Brielle." Alexander explained, as he put an arm on his wife's shoulder.
"Then that's good, so, are you finally telling me where we are?" Melody asked her husband curiously.
Alexander chuckled, before he finally spilled the beans.
"Melody, Brielle, Welcome to-"
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A/N Hahahahaha that's right folks, we got our very first cliffhanger! Sorry 'bout that, It's because I haven't decided where they would be yet, and also because I made this chapter waaaaaaaay too long. I hope you like this chapter, and see ya'll soon. - Diwata
Word Count: 3,764
Date of Publication: December 28, 2019