Sea of Dreams: Chapter 2 (Patreon)

It didn't take long for me to find out what happened and in retrospect, it was kind of obvious if a bit insane.

Apparently reincarnation was a thing. Or at the very least, it was a thing when some unknown entity decided he wanted some new daytime entertainment and chose to plant your soul and memories in a newborn infant. However often that might happen.

Though I may have had the soul of an adult, I was still stuck in the body of an infant, and that included the infant brain. The first several years of my life were a blur of colors and sensations, one thought passing through my brain only to be immediately replaced by the next, little rhyme or reason to be found in any of them. As such, it took me a while to find out exactly where I had been reborn.

As I grew older and my mental facilities sharpened, I was actually able to listen to what was going on around me without immediately getting distracted by something shiny that caught my eye. And more importantly, I was finally able to actually retain the information that had been spoken.

And the more I did, the more it began to make sense.

My new parents owned a tavern and given that they both needed to work in order to make ends meet, I often found myself within earshot of every Chatty Cathy who decided they didn't care about the literal baby playing behind the counter.

The conversations were extremely enlightening to say the least, and soon enough I knew for certain where I had found myself. Talks of pirates, bounty hunters, fishmen and most importantly, a World Government, all pointed to one thing. That guy had placed me into the world of One Piece, as manifested by Eiichiro Oda himself.

I had always been a pretty pragmatic person, at least that's what my therapist said, and so instead of having a panic attack at the idea of inhabiting the same world where people could kick you at the speed of light, I managed to bottle it all up and come to terms with my new situation as level headedly as I could.

For starters, I had died. My old life, for all intents and purposes, didn't exist anymore. My family, my friends, my shitty job, I would likely never return to them.

It hurt, knowing that. I wouldn't even try to lie and say that it didn't, but I had been somewhat prepared for that fact when I died. Still, I had managed to speak to my brother one last time and that was the best I was going to get.

Riley Davidson was dead. Irana D. Porter, on the other hand, had a full life ahead of her.

My new name had been more than a little shocking to discover once I actually had the facilities to do so, and not just in the fact that it was so different from my old one.

Though I seldom had time to actually watch it, One Piece had long been one of my favorite anime. Before my death, the last actual arc I remembered finishing was Dressrosa, and as such I could easily make the connection between my own name and some of the most important people on Luffy’s journey, including the boy himself.

I didn't know what exactly the D. in my name stood for, never having actually researched the significance of it, but what I did know was that anyone with that specific middle initial was destined to change the world in some way.

Whether that be saving a little girl from the extinction of her people, or becoming the biggest threat to the world's status quo at large, the Will of D. made someone a cut above the rest, if just based on pure potential for change.

I didn't really know how that worked, as I didn't feel any particular desire to change the world as I grew older despite the D. in my name, but I figured it had less to do with a desire to do so and more of an inevitable outcome from our actions.

My own grandfather had certainly lived up to his own Will, if by accident.

Raphael D. Vincent was a name that I didn't remember from the show itself, and it was quite possible he never even existed in the first place. And his actions certainly pointed towards that. If he had existed, he certainly would have been mentioned.

According to my mother, grandfather was the quintessential swashbuckling pirate, looting and drinking his way throughout the various islands in the sea as he and his crew did whatever took their fancy. Mostly stealing and fighting.

His crew quickly gained infamy far surpassing any other, becoming known and feared throughout the entire East Blue where they were seemingly content to stay, having no desire to venture into the Grand Line like most others.

Eventually, it all culminated with a grand heist several years before my birth. See, due to the relative weakness of the East Blue as a whole, the World Government had a habit of using the sea to transport extremely important cargo without fear of it being set upon by powerful pirate crews. They had done this for decades, often transporting things such as Devil Fruits and shipments of sea stone through the sea with little trouble.

Until my grandfather set upon them. A single raid on the convoy, innumerable losses on the Marine’s side and several on his crew as well, and Raphael D. Vincent had cemented his place as the person who completely halted the convoys coming through that part of the sea.

Nobody was sure what exactly he stole, not even my mother, but it was apparently important enough that the World Government wanted it back. Badly.

It was the first time that an Admiral had been dispatched away from the Grand Line since Ohara. Over the course of a month or so, they tracked down every member of my grandfather's crew and imprisoned or killed them one by one. And when they finally got to the man himself, he went with a smile on his face, having lived the life he had wanted.

And as one final kick in the teeth, they never did manage to find what he had stolen from them. Immediately after the heists, my grandfather had squirreled away his ill-gotten goods in a location still unknown to this day, giving the proverbial middle finger to the World Government on his way out.

All in all, I had quite the legacy to live up to.

As I grew, I began to learn more about where exactly I had ended up. I was lucky enough to not have been dropped somewhere in the Grand Line or, god forbid, the New World, and had instead been born in a small village on the weakest sea.

Jam Island was one of many small islands that made up a rather large archipelago in the East Blue. Coincidentally, it also happened to be the same archipelago in which Syrup Village was located, home of the future sniper of the Strawhat Pirates, Usopp.

I had no interest in actually meeting the boy who would likely become the greatest sniper in the world. In fact, I had no desire to seek out any members of the Strawhat crew. That way lie trouble.

Even disregarding the fact that I might mess something up in this world's timeline, I was more than content to leave Luffy and his friends well enough alone.

I was in One Piece. There was an entire fantastical world out there to discover. I wouldn't do that by treading the same familiar ground that the future Pirate King one day would.

Oh yes, I was intent on becoming a Pirate. I had been handed a new life and there was absolutely no way that I was going to let it become the same monotonous grind that my last had been, wasting away day after day until I died. In this life, I would live.

My new parents were more or less okay with my decision, having cottoned on day one that I wasn't like most other kids, and had acquiesced with my desires. With a few conditions of course.

The most important being that I would wait at least until I was nineteen to leave so they would have time to prepare for my absence.

That worked just fine for me as it gave me time to actually prepare for the dangers that I might find on the sea.

The East Blue may be relatively weak, but that didn't mean a damn thing when monsters like Luffy and Zoro or even Arlong existed. If I was going to be a pirate, there was absolutely no way I was going to be the Usopp or Nami of whatever crew I found myself on.

If I was going to be a Pirate, I would be prepared for it, I would be strong. That I swore.

Thus began the next several years of grueling training that would have no doubt broken my old body the very day I started. Jam Island was lacking in deadly beasts apart from what could be found in the sea so that cut out Luffy’s preferred method of training and the only pirate crews who visited wanted nothing to do with training a snot-nosed brat even if I had wanted them to.

That left every shonen protagonist’s go-to way to get stronger. Lifting heavy shit and punching even stronger shit.

It drew more than a few eyes when a little brown-haired girl started running laps around the island lugging a rock bigger than she was and punching rocks and trees, but they got used to it pretty quickly and just dubbed me the weirdo of the town, a title that I lived up to as the years went on.

And as the years did go on, my training provided results. I grew stronger at a steady pace, able to lift more and punch harder than most grown men on my island by the time I turned thirteen, and by the time I turned fifteen, I had completely left them in the dust.

Now, nearly nineteen years after my arrival in this world, I was confident that I would be able to handle most pirates in my area of the sea. Which I was currently proving as I used that strength to beat some sense into a particularly rowdy customer at my parent's tavern.

“I don't know why you're so mad! I haven't even done anything to you!” The man I was currently trying to hit with a barstool screamed out. He held a hand up, fending off my attack with some difficulty.

During my training, I found I had a penchant for heavier weapons, axes especially. Something about the weight in my hands as I swung them really stuck with me, made me feel stronger.

I was currently using that penchant to swing the stool especially hard, but just soft enough not to cause any permanent damage.

The nearby patrons were watching the show with great interest. A good deal of them were regulars and knew who I was. They also knew that this wasn't an odd occurrence in the slightest.

I scowled, bringing my weapon around for another pass, slamming it down on his outstretched arm and eliciting a howl of pain, “You cussed out my friend shit-for-brains! You think just because you're a pirate you can do whatever you want? I'm gonna make sure you can't walk tomorrow much less mouth off to the person serving your drunk ass even more drinks!”

He scrambled away from me as I stalked towards him, holding his hands out defensively, “Wait, wait! I'm sorry, okay!? I didn't know she was your friend!”

“That doesn't mean a thing! It's common decency to be polite to the person serving you drinks! Ignorance is not an excuse for being a shitty person!” I growled out, stomping towards his cowering form as he hastily got to his feet.

Suddenly, as I neared him, his hand darted down to his belt, fingers wrapping around the pistol held there. He pointed it at me with a fearful look on his face, “S-stay back!”

I stopped about two feet away from him, scowling at his cowardice, “Really? A gun? What, you're too afraid to fight like a man?”

His face turned red, standing out on his plaid skin, “You've been hitting me with a chair!”

“Yeah, and?”

His red face twisted in anger and the gun shook in his grip, “F-fuck you!” He shouted, finger depressing the trigger as he prepared to shoot me dead.

I had been expecting him to try something like this though.

Quick as lightning, I shot my foot up, literally kicking the pistol out of his hands in a move that I never would have been able to do on Earth. As he stared after his flying weapon, I lunged forward and slammed the stool into the side of his head, sending him sprawling back to the floor.

His gun clattered to the floor beside his face, thankfully not going off and injuring one of the people watching the display. I watched his body for a moment and when he didn't get up again I shook my head at him, “Idiot.”

That likely would have killed someone back on Earth or at the very least given them major brain damage, but people in this world were made of sterner stuff, he'd be up before morning, much as he didn't deserve it.

I spat on his body, leaning down to retrieve the pistol he'd dropped and looking it over. It was actually in pretty good condition unlike its owner, with unchipped wood and smooth metal. Must've been pretty new.

“You gonna keep it?”

I turned my head to the side to find one of the regular patrons, Jack, looking at me. Well actually, he was looking at the pistol in my hands with a gleam in his eye that indicated what the question was really about.

I smirked, “Why? You want it?” I dangled it by the trigger guard, giving him a look, “You know the rules, name your bid.”

Jack ran the only weapon outfitter on the island, usually catering to any pirate or bounty hunter who happened to wander in. Most of his stock was bought and refurbished weapons he happened across so deals like this weren't uncommon at all.

Jack brought a hand up to rub at his beard scrutinizing the pistol as I held it in front of his face, “Hmm… Wood looks good and I probably won't need to do much in terms of fixing it up before selling it… I'll give you fifteen for it.” He offered.

“Deal.” I said immediately, grinning as he retrieved several bills from his coat and traded them for the gun, “Sweet. Pleasure doing business with you.”

He just gave me a nod, placing the weapon into his jacket as I sat down at the bar beside him. I grinned at the woman behind the counter, “Hey Hera! I don't suppose I could get a free drink for defending your honor could I?”

The woman gave me a look, the laugh-lines on her face moving as she raised an eyebrow. I just kept the grin on my face and eventually she relented, reaching down below the bar and placing a cup on the counter.

“I'm not sure what we'll do without you here, Ira.” She sighed, pouring clear liquid from the bottle into the cup, “Sure as hell gonna be a lot less lively, that's for certain.”

“Two more weeks right?” Jack asked as I thanked the woman for the drink..

I nodded, taking a slow sip of my drink, savoring the burning flavor as it filled my mouth, “Yeah, just two. I've got enough saved up that I could just go tomorrow, but I promised my mom I'd wait till my birthday at least.”

Two weeks. Two weeks until I set out on the adventure of a lifetime. Well, this lifetime at least. Even now I could feel my skin buzzing in excitement at the thought of what I might find out there, of the enemies that I might face and struggle to overcome.

It was so exciting. I couldn’t wait.

~~~

During the two weeks before I set out, I made sure I had all of my affairs in order.

Soon enough, the day was upon me. Those last two weeks seemed to fly by as I got my affairs in order, and at last I was ready to set out.

I shrugged my shoulders, bringing a hand up to adjust the strap that was slung across the front of my coat. The heat weight of my axe shifted on my back as I turned to the water.

Floating a few feet from shore, attached to a wooden post in the ground and bobbing gently on the waves, was my ship for the journey ahead. It was a sloop, small and almost nothing compared to the much larger ships in the sea with no canons to speak of, but it was mine.

Along with the ship I had purchased two barrels of provisions, one with fresh water and the other with dried meat and some fruit. Protein was protein and scurvy was no laughing matter even in One Piece. It certainly wouldn't last me any significant time on the open sea, but it would at least get me to the next island and maybe a bit further. Far enough to find a crew willing to take me in at the very least.

I gave it a final once over, before turning back to shore.

There wasn’t a large crowd to see me off, but I hadn’t expected that in the first place. The only people standing on the shore, just a few feet away, were the only one’s I wanted or needed to see me off in the first place. My parents, as well as my little brother, tied to my mother’s front.

Despite not being my original parents, these people had raised me and I loved them just as much as I had my old pair. I felt myself getting a little teary eyed as I turned to look at them as I unmoored my ship.

“Well… guess this is goodbye.” I spoke quietly, holding the rope to my boat in one hand.

My dad immediately interrupted me, raising a hand, “No, not goodbye. That means you aren't coming back. And I'll have you know that I expect to see you in my house at least once a year.” His stern face softened slightly, “Or at the very least a letter on how you're doing. So your mother doesn't worry, you know?”

I nodded, the knot that had suddenly appeared in my throat making it hard to speak, “Will do.”

My mom stepped forward, holding out a bright blue piece of cloth for me to take, giving me a gentle smile, “This belonged to your grandfather. It was practically the only thing he wore in the first years on the sea and I think he’d want you to have it. We certainly have no use for it.”

I took it with gentle hands, unfolding it to find a blue bandana with white decals interspersed throughout. It was well kept, with nothing but a few stitch marks to indicate it had ever been worn by the man. It also appeared to be only a section of the full thing, with a quarter or so of it having been ripped away and the frayed edges repaired.

As I unfolded it fully, something fell out, falling to the ground below with a dull thud. I looked at it in surprise. I hadn’t felt

“Hmm? What's that?” Mom said curiously. I bent down, picking the thing up with gentle fingers. It was a flat rock, slate grey in color and almost rectangular. Almost, because it seemed to simply be a chunk of a larger whole, an uneven break separating it from its fellows.

As I brought it up to my face, I was able to make out detailed inscriptions in the stone, carved with something much cleaner than a knife. I squinted, eyes roving over it as I tried to place the material and exactly what was written on it.

The familiar salty smell, so much sharper than even the sea only a few feet behind me, clued me in to what the stone was made of.

“This… It's sea stone.” I said in surprise, running my fingers along the grainy etchings inside of the extremely rare mineral, “Someone inscribed a map into it. Or part of one at least…”

The stone felt extremely solid in my grip as I examined it, despite its thin nature. It depicted the East Blue, that was for certain, as I could easily spy Jam Island and the archipelago it was a part of, but whatever the map actually led to was long gone with the rest of the stone. There were two black X's on separate islands.

“Did grandfather put this here?” I asked, taking in the islands depicted. They weren't named, but the features were pretty stand-out: a large mountain on one and an even larger lagoon on the other. They would be easy to spot if ever happened upon, especially in a sea like this where such features were rather rare.

It was clear what it was, a treasure map. But to what?

“I’ve never seen it before.” My mom said, somewhat confused, “That bandana’s been in a box for nearly as long as you’ve been alive. How did we never feel it though?” She looked towards my dad, who shrugged, just as confused as she was.

I hummed, the piece of sea stone was oddly light. Maybe they had simply mistaken its weight for the weight of the cloth itself?

I shook my head, stowing it away in one of my coat pockets. I’d figure it out later. There were more important things to take care of at the moment.

I brought the bandanna up to my head, sliding it over my hair and tying it off. After a bit of adjusting, it fit snugly on my head, and after getting it just right I turned to my parents, spreading my arms out, “Well? How do I look? Think I’m ‘piratey’ enough?”

My coat fluttered in the breeze as I struck a small pose for my parents, giving them a sunny grin. My father gave a deep belly laugh at my antics, “You look great honey! I’m sure you’ll fit right in with the other ne'er do wells you meet on your journey! Especially with that axe of yours!” He joked.

“You better come back and visit us when you become a great pirate, little missy!” My mother gave me a stern look that was undercut by just a bit of sorrow, “Your little brother will no doubt want to hear all about it.”

Said little brother babbled happily from his place strapped to my mother's chest, and I gave him a gentle smile as I bent down to ruffle his hair, a similar shade of mahogany brown like my own. His topaz eyes squinted with the force of his smile as his little baby fingers grasped at my own much larger set, immediately trying to pull them into his gummy maw.

“I'm gonna have so many stories to tell. I'll make sure of that.” I said softly, gazing at my younger sibling. I pulled my fingers free from his grip, grinning slightly as he gave a whine of unhappiness before turning to my parents.

“Well, I'm off I guess.” I grinned, stepping backwards onto my sloop. It shifted under me, small enough to be affected by my added weight yet big enough that it should have no problem braving the sea, “I’ll be sure to visit every once in a while! Maybe I’ll even bring my crew around!” I promised, deftly unfurling the sail and moving towards the helm.

“You better!” Mom called after me as the white sheets unfurled, immediately catching the wind and pushing me out to sea, slowly at first, then much quicker, “I want to meet the people who will be sailing with my daughter and watching her back for the next few years!”

“Be safe! And don't you even think About dying or getting captured out there! I want plenty of wanted posters to put on my tavern wall!” Dad yelled as a large gust of wind caught the sail, turning my previous cruise into one that was much faster, sending me soaring away from the place I had called home for some time as I steered my sloop onto the open ocean.

I turned my eyes back to the island I had called home for this entire lifetime, a sense of longing filling my heart even as I sped away. I would miss it.

And yet even the longing in my heart didn't hold a candle to the excitement throbbing in my veins. It filled me, buzzing through me as a smile stretched across my lips unbidden.

I moved from the helm, stepping forward onto the deck proper and gripping the mast. My hair fluttered around me, floating in the breeze as I inhaled the smell of the salty sea in front of me, stretching seemingly forever and ever in an endless expanse of sparkling blue.

My grand adventure had begun, and I would experience all that this world had to offer.

One island at a time.