Sashimi Incoming

…

"Erm… Do any of you have clothes that I can use? Oh, and if you could let me use your shower, that would be great as well"

"... What?!" One of the chefs from the group yelled, clearly unable to hear the man since he was too far away.

"..."

Furrowing his eyebrows, the man cleared his throat and elevated his volume. 

"I said, do any of you have clothes and a shower that I can use?!"

Unfortunately, it didn't do much to make him be heard, as the confused expressions on the group's faces remained.

"What?!" 

"Tsk"

Thus, after realizing that speaking in this way wouldn't work, the man walked down the monster's corpse and threw himself into the sea.

-Splash!-

And, after swimming to the entrance of the restaurant, which was where everyone was gathered, he sprang out of the water and landed right in front of the group, showcasing his bloodied body in all its glory.

-Thud!-

""...!!""

"Good evening to you all" Once there, he greeted them all with cordiality. 

After all, he may have been devoured by two sea creatures and spent almost four months inside their stomachs being dissolved apart by their gastric juices and other toxic substances, but that didn't mean he had forgotten his manners.

""...?""

The sudden greeting in such a strange situation gained him incredulous gazes from everyone present… and more than one quick glance at his sea serpent down there, but in the end, no one greeted him back. 

Be it because they were too stunned to return the greeting, or simply because they were unmannered bastards, it was not clear.

However, the focus of the conversation didn't stay on that matter for much, as soon, Sanji took a step forward and shot him a questioning glance.

"Who are you? And how—no, why did you come out of that thing?" He asked, causing everyone next to him to also look at the naked man in front of them with curious expressions.

The unknown man glanced back at the sea serpent's corpse for a moment, "Hmm…" before he started scratching the back of his head with a troubled expression.

"... Ah, that?" He pointed at the beast with his thumb. "One day that fucker appeared in the part of the ocean where I was, and decided that it would be a good idea to eat me. So, in return, after I was swallowed and arrived at its stomach, I decided that I was gonna eat it from inside out in revenge… "

Then, after shaking his head with an annoyed expression, he began tapping his head with a mocking smile. "... And, after many weeks of munching my way across its body, I finally managed to get to its brain. Needless to say, I left his skull completely empty, and after the poor guy collapsed from the headache, I found myself in front of you guys, completely naked after my previous clothes were dissolved, and covered in that thing's blood from head to toe"

As the man finished speaking, the entire group fell silent, clearly too baffled by what the man had just told them.

"..." 

Fortunately, the silence did not last much longer, as Sanji was the first one to say something.

Though, it certainly wasn't something filled with deepness and great meaning.

"... Hah?" 

Upon exclaiming that, Sanji looked at the man in front of him with a dumbfounded expression that everyone next to him shared, as if they were hearing the most ridiculous story ever.

Then, as everyone was processing the man's tale, a voice from a certain long-nosed youth surged from within the crowd. Making many of the people there look at the man questioningly. "B–but, if you got eaten, then why didn't you get digested? Don't try to lie to us!"

However, in front of the question, the man simply shrugged his shoulders with an innocent face. "I get what you mean, but I'm fairly hard to kill, so in the end I managed somehow"

"What a crazy bastard" Sanji muttered under his breath.

And, as everyone nodded in agreement with Sanji, a certain voice rose from amidst them.

"Amazing!"

"...?"

When the naked man turned to look in the direction of where the voice had come from, he saw a black-haired youth wearing a straw hat looking at him with glistening eyes.

"...!"

And, as he caught sight of the youth's appearance, the man's eyes widened for a moment, as if he had seen something shocking.

However, that expression only lasted for a second, as his face went back to normal in the blink of an eye.

Thanks to that, no one managed to notice that small shift in the man's face.

"Uwooooooh!"

Once the young man arrived in front of him, he looked at him with awed eyes while drooling an absurd amount of saliva from his mouth. "You said you ate that thing from inside out?!" 

The man nodded his head with a calm expression. "Yup, from muscles to tendons to bone marrow, I ate everything that was on my path as I tried to find in which direction the brain was"

"How much meat was that?!" The young man prodded, his mouth salivating like a waterfall.

The man chuckled, though, certainly not because he was amused. "I don't know, but certainly more than I would have liked for sure"

However, his expression quickly changed when the young man asked his next question… Or rather, declared his demand.

"Join my crew!"

"Oi, Luffy!" 

Upon the youth's request, some complaints emerged from his crew, however, he simply ignored them and looked at the naked man with an inquisitive gaze.

"..."

In front of such a request, the man raised an eyebrow and looked at the youth, or rather Luffy, with an odd gaze. Most likely wondering why he was being offered to join his crew all of a sudden.

However, after he recovered from his daze, he closed his eyes and grabbed his chin as if he were entering into deep thinking.

And while he did that, Luffy insisted with an enthusiastic smile on his face. "So, what do you say?!"

Unfortunately, he was bound to be disappointed.

After a few more seconds of thinking about it, the man's eyes opened and he shook his head while shrugging his shoulders.

"Sorry but no thanks"

"Eeeeeeh, why—?!" The young man seemed like he was about to say something. However, before he could finish, the naked man gestured for him to stop with his hand, before he turned to look back at the other people. "Before that, like I asked before, do any of you guys have any clothes you can lend me? It's a bit… Uh, chilly here"

And as he asked that, many gazes were directed at his sea king.

However, in the end, after most of the people there began glancing at each other, evidently not wanting to be the one to offer themselves, Sanji stepped up and raised his hand.

"I can lend you some pants… But first answer what I asked you before" He said, looking at the man with a suspicious look in his eyes.

The man tilted his head in confusion. "But I already did?"

"You told us why you came out of that thing, you didn't answer who you were"

"Oh" Hearing that, the man gasped as his mouth turned into an o-shape. Letting out a fake cough after that, and presenting himself with a faint bow. "My name… Is Eric"

"Eric what?" Sanji prodded, wanting to know his full name in case he was some famous pirate or troublesome individual.

However, he never got his answer.

"... My surname is not important, just call me Eric" The man—Eric, said as he averted his eyes, evidently dodging the question.

"...?"

However, before Sanji could say anything about the matter, Eric quickly changed the topic.

"Now that the matter of my name is over… Can you give me those pants you spoke of—No, hold up, before that, can I take a shower first? With all this blood on me, I don't think it's proper for me to wear any clothes for the time being" Eric looked at his blood-covered body.

To say that he looked like a tomato right now was an understatement.

"..." Unsure of what to answer Eric, Sanji turned to look at Zeff, who was the owner of the restaurant, and therefore of the showers that the cooks used as well.

But upon seeing Zeff simply shrug his shoulders with an uncaring expression, Sanji nodded, before gesturing Eric to follow him with his head.

And, as the naked man made his way through the group and entered the restaurant while following Sanji, the people standing at the entrance were left standing there, still in shock after everything that had happened.

-Clap!-

However, they all snapped out of their daze when Zeff clapped in the air and yelled at his cooks.

"What are you waiting for? we have a restaurant to run!"

Being reminded of that, the cooks looked at each other, before they stood upright and saluted Zeff like soldiers.

""Yes, owner!""

After that, everyone went back into the restaurant, forgetting completely about the giant corpse of the sea serpent that had been just seconds from ending their life earlier…

Except, however, for a certain orange-haired girl who did look back at the creature for a while after everyone went back.

The reason for it, and what her thoughts were at that moment, was a mystery.

…

°

°

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|An hour later…|

…

After a shower that lasted way longer than expected, mostly because of the dried blood stains that had stuck to his skin and the fishy smell that only left after he almost ripped his skin apart using the sponge, Eric finally left the bathroom and received some tight black pants from Sanji so that he wouldn't go with his schlong swaying left and right as he walked.

Once the matter of not going around naked and the smell was solved, Eric went to talk to Zeff. 

Since he was the owner, he wanted to show him some gratitude for the pants and the shower. However, since he was completely broke at the moment, he could only offer to work for him for a few days to pay for the gesture.

You may say that, as someone who was aiming to practically declare war on the World Government so that he could take revenge on the Tenryuubitos, it was dumb to waste time there.

But for Eric, time was something he had long stopped caring about.

If he wanted, he could easily stay immobile on a rock in the middle of the ocean for decades, and not grow bored in the slightest.

His time in the afterlife had made him completely unfazed in front of something as simple as impatience.

And besides, it was only proper to repay kindness. He may have become immortal, but not because of that was he gonna become an asshole.

…

At least not in all aspects.

Fortunately, though, he and Zeff eventually got to an agreement where the sea serpent's meat would work as payment for both Sanji's pants and the shower he took.

After all, for Eric, the meat was useless, and while he was sure it was quite a pricy ingredient considering that it was a beast that was most likely not very consumed, he didn't really care if he was on the losing side here.

Though, he did ask for a meal as a bonus for giving them the serpent's meat.

After all, for the past three to four months, his diet had only consisted of raw meat, bones, bone marrow, cerebral matter, tendons, fat, blood, and lots but lots of gastric juice that managed to get inside his mouth when he was careless. 

At this point, he was desperately craving some real food.

And although that petition hadn't suited the chef that well, in the end, after hearing what he had been eating until now, he relented and accepted to cook him a good meal. It wasn't like he had anything better to do anyway.

Once the agreement was set, Eric went to the dining hall, picked up a table that seemed to be at a fairly good distance from the other customers, and sat down to wait for his food while his mind began wandering around to pass the time.

'... Talk about ominous'

And, the first thing that came to mind, was of course his unexpected encounter upon finally having achieved freedom.

After getting out of the serpent, he was surprised to see that he had arrived at the Baratie, where Sanji worked before joining the Straw Hats.

But the matter didn't end there, to make the whole situation even more suspicious, he had apparently gotten there the same day the Straw Hats had!

If that wasn't ominous, then what was it?

Normally, he could have thought of it as a coincidence, but in this new life, the word coincidental wasn't looking very believable for him.

He woke up as a slave and then got eaten by two giant creatures in a row, calling that a coincidence did not seem very likely.

So, it wouldn't surprise him if fate, or whatever force was that controlled luck, was the one that had also made him "coincidentally" arrive there at the same time as the Straw Hats.

As for the reason? He had no idea.

Who knew what kind of machinations fate had going on in its head?

Another matter that was currently buzzing in his mind was Luffy's invitation.

When it happened, it took him by surprise, after all, besides eating a titanic snake from the sea, and well… Showing up naked, he hadn't done anything that he thought would make Luffy like him enough to invite him to join his crew.

He hadn't declared a praiseworthy goal that rivaled in greatness to that of Luffy, nor had he even become friends with him.

And yet, the guy invited him outright after meeting him.

'But well, I guess at this point in the story he still needs more crew members… So it makes sense that his criteria for choosing people isn't that high yet' He theorized as he caressed his chin.

Though, it wasn't as if the reason behind it mattered much. He had refused the invitation, after all.

As tempting as it sounded to become a crew member of the main character that entertained him so much when he had been watching the anime, at the moment he was not fantasizing about having great adventures through the sea like him.

Living in slavery for three years, and spending around 6 months in total living inside the stomachs of huge beasts… had kind of awakened his sense of reality.

The world might have been once fictional for him, but now, he was not in fiction.

Pain here was real, and so were his countless deaths over stupid things that, if he was not immortal, would have been the end of the road for him.

Such occurrences and the frequencies at which they were happening had instilled in him a great thirst for power so that he wouldn't find himself in such helpless positions ever again.

A thirst for power that, coupled with his previous objective of setting a proper meaning for this new life once he got his freedom, had culminated in one but final goal he had set for himself when he had been tearing his way through the sea serpent.

A goal that he could follow thoroughly from this day onwards, and that he could strive to achieve over anything else.

"To reach the pinnacle of this world"

He meant that in all its meanings.

Fame, strength, riches, influence… He wanted it all.

He wanted this new life of his to go all the way to the end, and have as a meaning to reach the top of the world and become unrivaled by anyone.

Pirate King? Sure, it sounded pretty much like he was describing just now, but truthfully, he was aiming further.

The Pirate King had stood at the pinnacle of all the seas, he on the other hand, wanted the reach the pinnacle of the entire world.

Something more akin to… World Domination.

"I sound like a third-rate villain now…" Eric sighed.

Although he said world domination... He simply wanted his identity in this life to reach its maximum potential in all aspects. He wanted to achieve everything possible.

If he was to use game terms... He wanted to win the game of life.

And while he didn't doubt that staying in Luffy's crew would be fun to an extent, he preferred to focus on his goal than to play friends with him. Especially because considering his goal, it would be probable that both of them would clash at some point.

Plus, he wanted to avoid bringing disaster upon the group.

With his unproven but almost certain theory that he was currently a magnet for bad luck, he was sure that if he stayed by their side, tragedy would strike the crew sooner or later.

A tragedy that, in the worst case of all, would mark the end of the Straw Hat pirates.

After all, they weren't immortal, he was.

Which, now that he thought about it, also gave way to an important rule he had set for himself after deciding on his goal.

From now on, as he traveled to the seas in search of ways to become stronger, he was gonna be traveling alone.

He wasn't gonna create a crew, nor was he gonna get a companion to aid him during his voyages.

Otherwise, with his bad luck, he didn't doubt that if he did, eventually that would end up in tragedy.

As such, he planned to reach the top alo—

"Hey there!"

"...?"

As Eric was busy pondering over his future, he heard a familiar voice come from his side, and his eyebrows furrowed.

When he looked up, he saw that the very same guy he had been thinking about not too long ago had arrived at his table and was now sitting in front of him.

'This guy…' Eric felt his eyebrow twitch.

"Aren't you supposed to be serving the customers?" He asked Luffy. After all, the young pirate was supposed to be currently working as a waiter for Zeff to pay for the damages he caused to the upper part of the Baratie after a confrontation with marines.

So, why had he come to sit beside him?

"Nishishi... I broke too many dishes, and they told me to take a break" Luffy replied carelessly, causing Eric, who was looking at him dubiously, to sneer in amusement.

His amusement, however, didn't last for long, as immediately after revealing why he wasn't working, Luffy leaned forward and shot him a wide smile. "So, about what I asked you before, you are joining my crew, right?"

Unfortunately, the answer that he was expecting never came.

"Nope"

"Eeeeh? Why?!"

Eric simply rolled his eyes.

"I've got my own set of goals, and I don't think they will mix well with yours"

"Eh?! What are they?" Luffy asked with a curious tone as his eyes glistened in expectation.

Seeing his curious tone, Eric chuckled, before he scratched the back of his head.

"Eh, nothing much, just standing at the top of the world, and while I'm at it, commit a little genocide"

Once those words left his mouth, Luffy and he stared at each other in silence for a minute or so, until the pirate let out some words that caused Eric to laugh out loud.

"You don't look like a bad guy, though"

"Hahahaha! Well, I just want to kill a certain group of people, not everyone"

"Heeeh…?" Luffy didn't look all that impressed. 

"So, do you still want me in your crew?" Eric asked, genuinely curious as to how the protagonist who always seemed to be all smiles and giggles would react to his previous statement.

However, to his surprise, the pirate's response was nothing like he expected. 

"That depends, did they do something bad to you?"

In front of such a question, Eric fell silent.

'Is he seriously considering it?' He looked at the pirate incredulously.

However, after pondering it for a few seconds, he shook his head and gestured at Luffy to leave.

"Well, it isn't your business, and as I already said, I won't join your crew"

"But—"

"And if I were you, I would consider me as a potential enemy in the future rather than a potential crew member. After all, you… you want to become the Pirate King, right?"

"Eh? How did you know?!" Luffy stared at Eric wide-eyed.

The undying man simply smiled knowingly as he caressed his chin. "I know a lot of things, but that's beside the point… The pirate king is, in a way, someone who stands at the top of the world" And, as he talked, he pointed up in the direction of the sky. "The position I aim for is beyond that, I aim to stand at the top of everyone and everything"

"..."

And, as Luffy seemed to be getting lost in thought, Eric smiled and crossed his arms.

"Between your goal and mine, there's bound to be a confrontation at some point, right?"

When those words left his mouth, both of them fell into silence. Simply staring at the other in silence, and letting their gazes speak for them.

However, in the end, Luffy was the one to yield.

"Alright"

And without wasting a second more, he stood up and left. Accepting Eric's decision, and going to look for his other prospect to join his crew instead.

"At least he is the type of guy that understands" Seeing him leave, Eric let out a sigh.

And, as he thought about their conversation just now, he couldn't help but recall Luffy's appearance at the end of the Wano Arc.

'Joy Boy, huh?'

-Grip-

Eric closed his hand into a fist and assessed his strength.

He was strong… stronger than he could have ever imagined he would become before dying from a heart attack.

However, in this world, he was probably not that amazing in terms of strength at the moment.

At most, he estimated that he was currently in a middle level of strength, not being crazy strong, but standing far above the common folk.

However, if his goal was to stand at the pinnacle of the world, even if he was immortal, the level of strength he had at the moment was far from enough.

Prominent figures such as Kaido, Big Mom, Shanks, Whitebeard, and most likely IM too, could easily kill the current him over and over again without breaking a sweat.

And while he didn't think they could kill him definitively, that didn't mean they wouldn't eventually find a way to suppress him without killing him… Such as encassing him on sea stone, or something like that.

To reduce those chances of reaching a definitive bad end, achieving a fitting level of strength was essential.

But for that, he was gonna need to prepare first.

'The first thing I need…' Eric pondered, before he tugged a hand in his pocket and frowned faintly. '...Money'

Strength could be cultivated with training, and he could train at any moment, so it wasn't his focus at the moment.

Money, however, was a whole other matter.

With it, he could buy everything he would need while traveling the oceans, from training equipment, food, supplies, weapons, etc…

However, as mentioned earlier, he was broke at the moment.

And while he could choose to go the pirate route and simply steal anything he desired, he was not that bad in the head yet to discard his morals for the sake of convenience.

…

At least not totally.

Thus, that left him only with the option of earning money legally.

And what was the best way of earning money quickly in this world?

"Bounty hunting, of course" He muttered as a smirk appeared on his face.

There was also the option of getting treasures using his knowledge from the series, but to get to where those treasures were, he still needed money for a ship and who knows what else was needed when traveling the ocean.

This meant that, for the moment, the best and most convenient way of earning money was to go and hunt down a pirate with a bounty.

One that, preferably, would be close.

But… Which one should it be…?

If he recalled correctly, at the moment, the next big adversary that the Straw Hats were about to face was Don Krieg. One of the big pirates of the East Blue.

"... But if I take him down, it's hard to say if Sanji will join them" Eric glanced at Sanji, who was serving the customers around the dining hall, narrowing his eyes as he got into deep thought.

While he was determined to reach his goal of standing at the top of the world, he wouldn't go as far as sabotaging the Straw Hats… At least not for now.

However, if he didn't fight Don Krieg, what other pirate could he take down instead?

"What a problem…" Eric muttered, scratching the back of his head with an annoyed expression as he thought of a solution to his problem.

Maybe he could kill-steal Krieg from them? But honestly, that didn't sit well with him either.

It was lame, and as the future man who would stand at the top of the world, that would leave a stain on his record.

'But damn, I would really use some money right now…' Eric groaned as he patted his pocket and cringed at the emptiness of it.

However, as he was wondering whether to abandon his pride or not, a certain melodious laugh reached his ear and made him raise an eyebrow.

"Hahaha!"

When he looked over to the origin of it, he saw three familiar figures.

Zoro, Usopp, and…

'Nami!' Eric's eyes widened.

When he saw the beautiful orange-haired thief, he recalled the existence of another pirate.

The one whom the straw hats would have to face, not long after defeating Don Krieg.

'Arlong…'

When he remembered his existence, Eric thought about how plausible was cashing his bounty instead of Don Krieg's.

'While Arlong's defeat is an important event for Nami's development, she has already formed a bond with the crew… So, it shouldn't cause that much of a ripple effect… I think…' Eric thought as he observed the girl laughing merrily along with Usopp, Zoro, and Luffy who had gotten there just now.

Then, Eric tried to recall what Arlong's bounty was.

"Uh… Well, it was above 10 million Bellys for sure" He concluded from his vague memories about that specific detail.

And, as he thought about that possibility, his eyes landed once more on Nami.

"...?"

To his surprise, however, the moment his eyes moved in her direction, they ended up making eye contact with the girl, who was looking at him with a confused expression.

Once that happened, a faint smile appeared on Eric's face.

"Sashimi it will be…"

"—What? I already prepared you something, don't go changing your requests all of a sudden!" Suddenly, as Eric was lost in his thoughts, Zeff's voice sounded from his side and snapped him out of his daze.

When he turned to look at the old man, he saw him carrying a plate full of different types of food by his side, apparently about to serve it.

"Sorry, I was just thinking of something, don't mind it" Eric tried to calm down the cook, however, this one simply ignored him as he scoffed.

'What an attitude…'

After that, he got his food served in front of him and began to dig in. Leaving the matters of the future for the future him.

…

-To Be Continued...-