Chapter Text
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Chapter 1
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Your eyes refuse to open as the Sun rages above you, your arms feel flimsy on the sand beneath you. Nothing was making sense as you tried to recall how you ended up on what felt like a sunny beach. The last you remember…
It was late October. Definitely Halloween now that you’ve thought about it, it would be silly if the new friends you made that evening at a party coincidentally were in some sort of human sacrifice cult right?
Silly or not it’s what you were presented with at midnight, flabberghasted out of your mind that a rusty ass dagger was plunged into your chest, missing the heart by the way, and now your heaving and suffering because they couldn’t pay two cents in anatomy class.
“OHH ALL FOR OUR EMPEROR OF ALL CONQUERS”
“HEED OUR SACRIFICE"
“BLESS US WITH YOUR PRESENCE IN OUR HALLOWEEN NIGHT”
Listen, if you weren’t the ones dying tonight, you might even consider joining the fun, but it’s a liiittle hard to keep a light atmosphere when you’re bleeding your lungs out and heaving in pain. At this point, if you were hospitalized, you were sure the rust in that dagger would’ve killed you first
The world is flickering black and white as their chants buzz into a distant hum. So this was it.
This is really how you die, gagged and stabbed in this abandoned church’s altar, with no one to help you delete your internet history. God, you’d probably be stuck on a missing poster and fade away over the years.
The black spot grew but so is the rusty pain in your chest, it’s all coming together as you sink deeper into the void, the unknown as people call it.
You closed your eyes
What an unfulfilling life you had, you couldn’t even finish One Piece that you thought you would live to see.
.
.
.
.
.
.
“—𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒑”
The voice stirs you, but right now all you want to do is some deep sleep, you know, catch up on all those late nights you’ve hauled up, watching and reading anime/manga. Is this some sort of death’s gate? If so you’re not quite ready to get up from where you are yet.
You’re no longer gagged nor bound in place, laying on this cool smooth surface was calming, not even one of those dirt paths the myths were all about. Curling yourself into a comfortable position, the air is just right, on the cooler and sleepier side. You feel like you could sleep forever
“𝑳𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒑”
The sounds send shivers to your timbers, like a distant echo egging you on, at this point even your own body jolted awake, eyes raked open by this intruding voice, spiking micro-needles into your head as you’re faced with something you’ve never witnessed before.
Horns,— or piles and miles of bones knitted carefully together for a skull head piece,the eye sockets are hollow stretch far beyond what your eyes offer as the glacial neck and shoulder were covered with hands. Multiple hands, some looks inhuman, some look sculpted, fixed in place like some morbid temple of limbs. The smooth surface you’re laying on is one of those bigger sprouting hands, cool as a dried concrete but something twisted in your gut as you realize where you are at the moment.
This… entity was looking at you. You can’t see the eyes, but you feel it, alive. The prickling feeling of being watched makes you hunched over, making yourself as small as possible.
“…𝑰’𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚.”
You blinked, even if the voice is giving your mind pins and needles. (Didn’t even know that’s a thing), it was… apologetic?
“Wh—“
“𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒂𝒚…”
The hands covering the neck now look sheepish. And the entity let out something similar to a groan of annoyance.
Ah.
The cult that killed you.
“𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚, 𝑰 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒂𝒅.. 𝒏𝑶𝒕 𝒕𝑶 𝑩𝑬 𝑶𝑭𝑭𝑬𝑹𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑴𝑬 𝑨𝑵𝑶𝑻𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑷𝑶𝑶𝑹 S̵̙͕̀̃O̖̼ͩ͌͐U̠҉̷̙ͦL̸̖̽̌͂ I̍̅̀̎̊N̺̻̔̆ͅ T̨͈͗̌ͥHͥ̽ͣ̃̔I̍̅̀̎̊S̵̙͕̀̃ F̘͍͖ͫ͘Ḛͭ̉̇͟A̷͙ͭͫ̕S̵̙͕̀̃T̨͈͗̌ͥF̘͍͖ͫ͘U̠҉̷̙ͦL̸̖̽̌͂ D̶͔̭̪̻A̷͙ͭͫ̕Ỵ̛̖͋͢”
The entity rambles on, the voices seem to be shouting from below the hands, but you’re not going to think about that too much right now. Now that you think about it, Halloween is sort of supposed to be a feast for the new England or Jack’O Lantern??? Something along that line, you can’t recall that specific history class that much anyway. Starring at this probably-around-the-age-of-New-England-or-mor-years old, you kinda feel sorry.
“Well.. then can you bring me back.?”
Your voice sounds hopeful when the voices froze, as if contemplating as more eyes stared at you, feeling small upon sitting on this entity’s hand.
You can sort of see it, slits forming out of thin air and it... open, sliming the air with those weird eyes. All of the pupils are staring right at you, definitely giving you heebee jeebies. But it's kind of cool... in a traumatic response way.
The eyes squint, individually. Like judging you for even daring to sprout such a thought.
“…𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏.. 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒈𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌..”
“…then if I were to be reborn.????”
“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒈𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐.. 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰’𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕. 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕.. 𝒕𝒐𝒔𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉.."
The entity admitted it to you, NOW the entity was feeling small towards you, even if they don’t say it outright. Some of the eyes closed and the air warped back to normal, some lingers but their gaze darts around the room, like trying to come up of a solution.
“What if.. I was reborn in another—like, alternate universe? Or like—“ you gesture wildly, an idea pops into your head, you cOuld be transported to an anime or a game world that you like. Right?? Like one of those fics you read.
The entity hums, considering and you might be tripping but it sounds approving.
“𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕.. 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕, 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑰 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅𝒔 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐… 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒎𝒚 ‘𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔’ 𝒏𝒂𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆”
“Such as.??”
At this point you were really hoping there’s some sense into those hooligans that stab you, maybe they have good taste in anime—
“𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑫𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝑺𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝑴𝒚 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒐 𝑨𝒄𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒂, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝑷𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆.”
(Based on my dearest friend’s recommendation that the author randomly ask)
You feel royally fucked.
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✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦ . ⁺ . ✦ .
You stare at this entity, very shocked, and mildly— no, eXtremely flabbergasted at how AWFUL those choices are—(C'mon it's sort of oKay choices).
But it’s better than reborning back with no memories right? At least from the logical(?) side of your reasoning, the anime world would be better than a near World Ending global warming, and the cRushing demand of capitalism Earth. So, you consider your options.
“OkAy.. Let me think about it,” You sit criss-cross on the cement ahh palm. Weighing in the options you're presented with.
Not taking chances with Demon Slayer (Techincally could be a serie in the far future, but author is not sure). One, you don't exactly have a good out door surviving skill. Not to the olden day level anyways, two, it's ridden with 'demons' that is basically a life gambling choice when the Sun sets. You're not exactly too keen on that. Practice sword fighting everyday in one place. You're really looking for another option that allows you to explore the world and possibility.
My Hero Academia? Well it's also another possibility, but you don't exactly want to repeat your algebra1 and algebra2 school cirriculum. And to add to your world exploring point, all you really know about is the Japan of MHA, not the whole world, so it's feels like a repeat of your life before your death. And the Pro-Hero system did come crumbling down in the end did it not?
Frankly, you just want a world where you can explore. With little worry of the creeping capitalism.
So that leaves you with One Piece. One very dangerous world, but one that you are semi-confident in the most. The problem is that the anime and the manga are not done, unlike the other 2. Still, out of all the 3 options you want this one. It's like it's cAlling to you from a philosophical stand point. Sure there’s sea kings, and pirates.. and deaths at every corner…—but there’s also your favorite characters!
((Dear reader this is called favoritism)) And at the worst case scenario, you can hop from island to island without worrying about visa or passport. Or join a crew, you have your eyes out for the plot armor ones already.
“I’ll go with One Piece.. can I have— like a really cool super power?”
“..𝒘𝒉𝒚?”
“To survive in that world.?”
“𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕”The entity sighed, and you feel some sort of twisted remorse settling in your chest. It's not from you, rather the entity's feeling influencing your emotions too.
“Then I wanna have a body like Mitsuri, you know the Love Hashira that has muscle and bone denser than normal people eight times?” You started, testing the water, and when there's no objection, you get a little more confident. “And a quirk called Blood Control, the one that pro-hero Vlad King has.”
“𝑶𝒌𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕, 𝒔𝒐 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔.. 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅. 𝒀𝒆𝒔.. 𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒖𝒔𝒆” You sweatdrop at the entity, now you're kind of curious how bad the power was and how it had gone horribly wrong.
“Since you know Demon Slayer, can I inherit the breathing styles too?”
“𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎” The entity sounds like a concerned parent to their second born child.
“Yes yes I will.” You said with a sheepish smile.
“𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒓𝒄 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏?”
“I'll be around 10? Around the time where Corazon was helping Law finding the cure, you know?” You say with a grin, already planning how you'd spare the kid some trauma.
“𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕..”
“𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒆, 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒊𝒏”
“Oh? Thank you for that.. I guess?” You're uncertain, but there's no going back now is it?
“𝑬𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒈𝒆. 𝑵𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚”