Porter stared at the man in front of him; his heart bursting out of his chest, cold sweats wracked through his body, the flintlock ominously pointing at his chest. How did everything go so wrong in such a short time?! A life of mediocrity, and as soon as he tried something remotely adventurous, life punished him for it. The man in front of him smiled devilishly, clearly having a better day than the tall, skinny man he was mugging. All this commotion all over the city, where all eyes laid on the dire situation happening around the execution platform. The very execution platform the King of the Pirates met his end on; some scrawny, straw hat wearing kid had decided to climb it, and some clown bozo had him dead to rights, and all eyes were on them. This was prime time to get some quick cash.
"Come on man, not like this, I told you, I... just lost my job, I don't have any money to give you." The events of that day flashed through his mind in a moment, he had been working at a local diner for the past several months as a waiter after finishing school with bare minimum credentials. His life not going anywhere, a nasty habit had developed, almost out of the blue; a fixation on other people's money. He had begun very carefully stealing from the very customers he would serve, take from the register, any chance he saw, he would jump on it. Sure the money was good, but the thrill was what he was looking for, he loved the rush, and every day he would push his luck more and more.
However, that day... he pushed too far. He was serving a single, tall and thin-framed lady, with long, blonde hair, and a breathtakingly thin, short dress, with the coolest blue eyes you'd ever seen The look of pure innocence, and with her designer purse and dress, a look of wealth. Spilling water onto her lap and around her chair in a quick "stumble", he handed her a rag, and brought out his own to wipe around the floor under her chair, crouched at the perfect height to reach the fancy bag on the back of her chair...
In an instant, she had a vice grip around his wrist, shattering the cheap watch he had wrapped around it.
His luck had been pushed, he had unknowingly tried to rob a marine woman on her first day off in a very long time, she made sure to drive that into him as she beat him to a pulp, before throwing him out of his own workplace. Completely humiliated; his white dress shirt ruffled, his charcoal-grey dress pants torn around the knees, his ribs as cracked as his glasses, the blackeye she had given him a few shades away from matching the mop of black hair on his head, he just ran. He couldn't show his face around here anymore; his coworkers, the regulars, everyone had seen the commotion. He had no job now, that he was sure of, and his miniscule reputation was now in shambles. He just ran until he couldn't.
"Moms gonna kill me, how am I gonna explain this to her? Maybe I shouldn't go home.. but where do I go?" He sat down in the dirty, dark alleyway, contemplating his situation. He lifted his head a bit, and caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a massive crowd that had gathered around the Historic Execution Platform, the spot where Gold Roger had started the great Pirate era, talking about some treasure... what was it again? The One Piece? What was so special about a swimsuit?
Little did he know, someone else had happened to be in that alleyway with him. He slowly shambled toward Porter; the ex-waiter, seeing this, slowly rose to his feet, but froze when he heard a click. Even in the shadowy alley, he could very clearly see the outline of a flintlock. "Hey, kid... you shouldn't be in places you're not welcome in." he chided. Despite the fear in his chest, Porter countered.
"In an alleyway in my home city... right by the town square?" the man chuckled in response.
"No use in being coy, boy. I can smell the piss in your pants from here." Porter wiped his hand over the front of his pants as if to check to see if he indeed had pissed his pants. The man laughed cruelly.
"Empty your pockets kid; chore money, lunch money, whatever scrawny pukes like you carry on you nowadays, hand it over."
Despite his search for more excitement, this was way too much, especially because, his life was probably about to come to an end. As the man made a grab at his pockets, adrenaline pumped in his veins as he tried to get away, Porter's hands flailing aggressively trying to shove the man off, grabbing his brown, tattered jacket, trying to scratch at his eyes, pushing the gun away from him as much as possible. Eventually, in the scuffle, he grabbed at his attackers head, ripping the shabby ski-mask off of his face.
This was the mistake that would change his life. Forever.
"I wanted to make this easy, but you've seen my face." Click.
Because its what cost him his life.
"No, please!" Harb D. Porter pleaded, his face twisted in horror.
"Sorry, but... I'm dead!" Monkey D. Luffy apologized, his face twisted in a huge smile.
A bullet penetrating flesh. A sword slicing into rubber. A flash of light engulfing the execution platform. The deafening roar of thunder and the screeching of metal.
This will not do.
Monkey D. Luffy did it right, just like the rest of them. What made Harb D. Porter so different? The Universe wasn't happy.
This will not do.
A D. who did not smile at the eve of their death? By all laws of nature, Impossible.
This will not do.
A D.'s fate is to always change fate, no matter what. But this...
A D. with no satisfaction with their demise, nothing left behind.
This. Will. Not. Do.
A soul passing on, another changing course. A body's existence, another's demise. Satisfaction not obtained, but on all accounts, it must be claimed.
You are not done here, Harb. D. Porter; not until the Universe says you are. After all, your Destination hasn't been reached. That sense of emptiness, the sudden urge for excitement, was the Universe's attempt at putting you on course for something greater. In an unforeseen circumstance of a D.'s fate surpassing the Universe's will, a D. with no purpose in this world was created.
This.
Will.
Not
Do.
And for a moment, the world was no more.