3 A new World

Ansarah smiled at me through the darkness, not that I could tell, but she had long since expected this to be my answer. I seemed to have gone all fan-boy on her several times. So she had already scouted the multiverse to find a suitable location for me to be sent. Got to admire her work ethic, even while conversing she's still thinking of where to send me. God of travel indeed.

"As I told you before, each person has a counterpart of sorts in each universe, though that counterpart is usually incredibly and completely different from the individual. I will be sending you into the recently deceased body of one of those counterparts. Your soul will take his place and synchronize with your counterparts body. Giving you his memories and experience, not that it will be all that useful compared to the vast knowledge you've acquired while wondering. Seeing as you wish to go into the One Piece world from the manga you've read, I had to search pretty hard to find one that is close enough to the original while still having your counterpart meet his end naturally."

"Wow, honestly that's much more convoluted that I expected, but I guess it makes sense. You can't just shove my soul into any old vessel and expect it to work."

"Exactly! Now brace yourself, once's first time can be fairly painful." Said Ansarah with a hint of brevity.

"I know just be gentle."

The primordial god of travel froze for a second, she didn't expect her comment to seem sexual, let alone for James to respond the way he did, but she has long since gotten used to his strange attempts at humour.

"Stop fooling around and get ready, the gateway will only be open for a moment and you'll have to go through it yourself. I can't force you through the gateway, I can only guide your soul once it's on the other side and direct it into your vessel."

I calmed my mind and temporarily stopped thinking about the first thing I would do when I got into my new body, in a new world. Focus James, focus. I spread my consciousness and pinpointed the gateway, I could see the world spread out below. The red line clearly visible even from space. Without further ado I forced my soul through the gateway and towards my new home. "Thank you for everything. And farewell my friend."

Ansarah couldn't help by sigh, she had enjoyed her talks with this strange being. And wasn't relishing going back to constant silence. The other gods were so stuck up and treated her portals like they were sidewalks that they could use whenever. The word friend had resonated with her, it had been awhile since she spoke to her friends among the gods. Maybe it was time to reach out and stop the constant silence. She thanked James as he departed, but he couldn't hear her over the sound of his soul being hurled across dimensions.

It felt like falling down the worlds longest water slide. Only there was no water and no slide, just the fall. I never once doubted that Ansarah would send me where I wanted to go, she was far to respectful and cared far more for her duty than any being I had ever met. While I was pondering the only god I had ever met I felt a rather abrupt and forced landing. It was as if I had done the worlds most amazing bellyflop.

I scratched my head, curious of what just happened. When it hit me... I had a hand, I had a head, I could scratch myself. It felt amazing, to just sit down and scratch at myself for a minute. If you thought souls couldn't get itchy you would be wrong, the famed phantom itch was a hellish experience when you didn't have a body. But not I was free to scratch and itch to my hearts content.

It was then I felt extremely weak, far too much scratching had used up what little energy this vessel had left. I sifted through the memories of my current body to try and find out what caused his untimely yet fortunate death.

Ah, so he starved. I went back further into the memories of my current vessel. It turns out I was in the south blue on the island formally ruled by the Briss kingdom. This kingdom was currently going through a state of upheaval as the monarchy had failed to pay the celestial tribute and had gone to war against a neighbouring nation in hopes of raiding their vaults for enough to keep themselves allied with the word government. The citizens revolted due to the high taxes and attempted to overthrow the ruler, but had been overwhelmed by the army in near moments.

An organized military will almost always overwhelm a simple rebellion. A sad but honest truth. It seems this nation, located where the Briss Kingdom once stood was known was the Volti Empire and had recruited any willing citizen, with promises of food and shelter, in hopes of bolstering their forces. After forcing the weak and starving individuals through basic training they had shipped those who made it to the end, off along with the army's second battalion in order to gain the number advantage against their neighbour's, known as the Selvar Nation.

This failed spectacularly as the soldiers of Selvar were among the most well trained and disciplined within the whole of the south blue and mere numbers wouldn't be enough to overcome a nation that refused to pay the celestial tribute from the very beginning and has survived against the world government for decades.

This unfortunate soul happened to have joined the reserves in hopes of feeding himself, but ended up starving to death after failing basic training and being kicked out of the military. Such a sad and pathetic way to die really drove home the type of world I was reborn into.

I clenched my emaciated first. This body's life really wasn't pleasant, but it would all change from this moment on. For I'm no longer some nameless civilian wandering aimlessly through his life, nor am I a Soul wandering aimlessly through space. No I'm James Marshall || and I refuse to die weak and afraid. I'll explore the world, gather a crew and fight against those as I see fit. With nothing holding me back I forced my weakened body up, willing myself to move, I started my journey. My new life awaits me beyond the horizon and this time I refuse to live a mediocre one, I may not be the King, but I'll sure as hell be remembered for years to come, just as Noland was. Though hopefully I won't be remembered as a liar.

It's time for my own adventure to begin.