Brand New World

Ch. 2: Old Memories of New Crewmates

"Hey guys," Luffy shouts as he pulls me on deck," that guy Robin caught is awake!"

"So my savior`s name is Robin," I say while looking at her. "May I ask the name of the other girl I assume helped take care of me?"

"I`m Nami," Nami replied, "but I didn`t treat you. Chopper did."

"Chopper?" I asked. "So, which one of you is Chopper?"

"I am!" I look down and see a child-sized reindeer standing on its hind legs, and wearing pants and a pink hat. "I`m Chopper. It`s very nice to meet you, uh…"

"He`s Kakusei," Luffy replied quickly while hanging on my shoulder. "At least that`s what we`re calling him. He can`t remember who he is."

"Oh, so he has amnesia," Chopper said. "That doesn`t happen very often. Did my medicine help?"

"Yeah, it did." I replied slowly. "Chopper, are you a reindeer?"

"NO, I`M A TANUKI!!!" he yelled back. "Oh wait, yeah I am."

"How can you talk and walk on two legs?" I asked a little confused.

"I ate the Hito Hito no Mi," he replied, "and now I`m a human-reindeer."

"Wait, what`s the…GAH!!!" I said as I clutched my head in pain. More memories flooded into my brain and I knew exactly what he was talking about. He was talking about a Devil Fruit, one of several in this world. You eat one, and you get, in short, superpowers. They came in three types, Paramecia, Zoan, and Logia. Chopper ate the Hito Hito no Mi, a Zoan Fruit, Luffy ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi, and Robin ate the Hana Hana no Mi, both Paramecia Fruits. I knew of others who had eaten these Devil Fruits, but I hadn`t met any of them. This confused me to no end.

"Are you alright?" Chopper asked me, snapping me out of my daze.

" Yeah," I replied. "I think I just got some of my memory back."

"Really?!?" What`d you remember?" Chopper asked me.

"I remember what Devil Fruit is," I replied. "I understand all the different types and everything."

"Cool," Luffy replied. "Anyway, the rest of the crew still needs to meet you. " He pointed to a green-haired guy about a year older than I was lifting weights about the size of a small car, whatever a car is. "That`s Zoro. He`s a swordsman and he fights with three swords."

"Sounds interesting," I said with one eyebrow cocked. "I`ll have to see that sometime."

"Hey," Zoro said, going right back to his training.

"Over there is our sniper, Usopp," Luffy said pointing to a black-haired guy wearing a bandanna.

"Nice to see you," Usopp said with a huge grin on his face, "and just to let you know, I`m the captain of this crew."

"Bullshit," I said as if on instinct.

Usopp then jumped back and said in shock, "How did you see through my lie?"

"I didn`t," I replied calmly, "I can`t say how, but I just know you`re lying."

"Oh," Usopp said calmly now, "well either way, I just blew my own cover, didn`t I?"

"Kinda," I said in reply.

"And last, but not least, is our cook, Sanji," Luffy said as he pointed over to a blonde guy about the same age as Zoro with a really curled eyebrow.

"Nice to meet you," Sanji said calmly with a covered plate in his hand. "Now if you don`t mind, you`re probably hungry, so I whipped up something for you to eat."

As he lifted the cover, Luffy and I almost drooled at the same time. Sanji made a serving of spaghetti covered in a three meat sauce with meatballs twice the size of golf balls, cheese-filled garlic bread sticks, and a bowl of rigatoni in the same meat sauce. My stomach growled like a half-starved bear that just found a barrel of fish lying on the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luffy grab for the plate, and in an instant (at least that`s what I was told how long it took), I grabbed my plate, threw it into the air, did a back flip, landed perfectly on the railing in front of the room I was in, and caught my plate without disturbing the contents of my meal. I uncovered my meal again and began to eat, and after a few seconds of stuffing my face, I realized they were all looking at me in amazement (Luffy and Chopper had stars in their eyes), except for Robin, who was looking much calmer than the others.

After swallowing my food, I asked, "What?" Then I realized where I was. "How did I get up here?"

"You jumped," Robin replied calmly, "and with those kinds of movements, I`d say you`re a martial artist."

"You think so?" I asked. As I was about to start stuffing my face again, Luffy spoke up.

"Hey, Kakusei, wanna join my crew?" he asked earnestly.

"Give me a minute to finish my food," I said, "then we`ll talk."

After I finished my food, I sat back and patted my stomach with the enjoyment of the delicious meal Sanji made. "Thanks for the great meal, Sanji."

"You`re welcome," Sanji replied.

"So are you gonna join my crew or not?!?!" Luffy asked in anticipation.

"Well," I said with a pondering look on my face, "I`ve decided to GAHHH!!!" An enormous wave of pain surges through my head, a few seconds feels like an eternity of pain. Then it just stops. I look around and see nothing but darkness. Then hundreds of images and scenes fly around me. Many memories are coming back to me at once. My life, I was a normal kid who had an interest in manga. I am able to analyze most any fighting move after seeing it once or twice. I am very intelligent and had mostly good grades in school, but excelled in art classes. I even published my art on the web for others to see. I read more and more manga, learning more and more ways to fight and learning martial arts moves even if I did not have the body to use them. More mangas flood into my head as more and more moves I`ve learned and want to emulate in battle flood into my head as well. But one manga stands out above them all: One Piece. Then everything clears but what is in One Piece. All the images shown before me are of my new friends and their adventures up to this point. Their pasts are shown before me as my own memories, but I read about them, not lived them. I`m wondering what the hell is going on here, when I hear a voice.

"Hey, Kakusei, you alright?" Luffy asks me as I wake up. "You passed out as you were answering."

"Oh, sorry about that," I said trying to hide what happened to me. "Well, my answer is…yes. I will join your crew Luffy. I`ll be a Straw-hat pirate. Who knows? Maybe the rest of my memories will come back along the trip."

"Yeah!" Luffy exclaims. "Tonight we party in honor of our new crewmate!"

"Yeah!" everyone else exclaims. I just sit there and smile at them, but my heart feels heavy over what I now know.

"Kakusei seems upset," Robin thought to herself. "I`ll talk to him tonight after the party."