1 The Long Walk

If one were to look down upon the wondrous world, known throughout the multiverse as One Piece, from a great enough height then you would see a world covered in the sparkling blue of vast oceans dotted with large and small islands throughout the shimmering seas.

Looking close enough at this world one would be able to quickly see just how beautiful and mysterious this place truly is, and one of the greatest mysteries, which is also perhaps the greatest mar upon this great landscape, is known in this world as the Red Line.

A fitting name for this looming, behemoth landmass stretching across the entirety of the world itself, effectively dividing the world in half. Giant, stretching as far as the eye can see, looking like it is never ending as you stand at its feet.

So out of place, this Red Line looks when compared to the rest of the world. It's almost as if a passing god became jealous of this world's beauty and waved its hand scarring it for the rest of eternity, like slashing a masterpiece of a great painter.

No one truly knows how the Red Line was formed, or if they do it is a secret kept closely guarded from the rest of the world. Even stranger is the geography and the weather of this odd place with some areas at the top of the Red Line being a completely flat plane without so much as a hill to be seen for miles in one area, and in the next, there will be mountains rising so steep as to be nearly unimaginable to scale.

In fact, as one looks along the Red Line you will come across different weather zones that accompany the various geography without any clue as to why. Scorching heat, freezing cold, and everything in between can be found at one point or another along this red stretch of stone.

It is exactly upon the perilous landscape that we come across what appears to be a young boy, looking no older than 8 or 9 years old, with bright blood-red hair reaching down to his shoulders, and smooth tan skin. He has on what looks to be no more than ragged scraps for clothes and no shoes to be found.

Such attire gives the impression of a common street beggar, but if one is to give a second glance such an illusion would be quickly broken. A chiseled jawline with a face that is sure to make women weak in the knees once he is older, and an aura around him making the boy feel as if he is a prince waiting to ascend his throne.

An aura that makes those around him have a near unconscious urge to be near him as if whispering into the deepest parts of their soul, telling them that if they follow him they would be capable of reaching all their ambitions.

Even passed out as he is at this moment there upon the barren rock, if someone strong enough were to be near him they would be shocked to feel the unconscious and continuous release of something, especially from one so young, known to only to be possessed by those few worthy of being a king. You can be sure this boy is destined to be anything but common, and of course, in this world that kingly aura goes by a different name.

With the light shining down from the sun and wind gently caressing his skin and rustling his hair across his face, the boy's fingers can be seen starting to twitch and a light groan is heard coming from his throat. "Ugghhhh my head.. what.. what happened?..." The boy's eyes flutter open as these words are heard in a quiet, raspy voice.

He takes a second for his vision to clear and adjust to the bright light of the sun without moving and what meets his gaze is the bluest sky he has ever seen without a cloud to be found. After appreciating the beautiful sight for a moment the boy sits up with a grunt of effort feeling his body much weaker then what he is used to. Looking down at himself his mind immediately goes blank with shock as what he sees is not the well toned muscular body that he has spent his whole life training.

"What is this?!? This has to be a dream or something.. I remember my nose bleeding and passing out, maybe I'm in the hospital hallucinating on those drugs they're pumping into me.. Damn quacks need to lower the dosage, this is ridiculous even my voice is different! ... WHAT IS GOING ON?!!?!?!" Looking around at his surroundings he sees a foreign landscape unlike any he's known, red rock as far as he can see with little to no plant life to be found.

Feeling it beneath his hands along with the sensation of the wind blowing through his hair he starts to have a sinking feeling in his gut. 'It's all too real... this doesn't feel like a dream or anything like that.. but if that's the case.. then...' He holds his head as his thoughts start to race. Panic induced adrenaline coursing through his veins and the feeling of his heart rate spiking only serves to further confirm the terrifying thoughts swirling around his head.

'Ughh calm down Mike, calm down.. breathe, just... just breathe.. panic doesn't do anybody any good.. just breathe.' He calms his mind and tries to stand. "*Sigh* Huh such a weak body.. judging from my height and the sound of this voice I guess I'm a kid now.. probably around 7 to 10 ..hmm well better to be younger than older so ill go with 7."

After getting to his feet Michael took stock of his situation. 'Hmm let's see, I'm in a body that isn't mine, with clothes that are a few broken stitchings away from being rags, I have no idea where I'm at, have no food, no water... in short, I'm royally screwed, to put it mildly..'

As he stands there thinking of all this another disturbing thought enters his mind. 'Maybe... maybe I died?? Maybe I died and was reincarnated like in Hinduism? But if that's the case why am I not a baby? Why do I still have all my memories from before? Why did I get dropped in the middle of nowhere with no one around? ...So many questions and no answers to be found.. so frustrating ...but maybe.... maybe if I die here I will go back and wake up in my true body?'

He couldn't help but get excited at the idea of waking up and everything going back to normal. Getting more and more worked up the further the thought sunk into his brain till the fear of the unknown quickly started to cool his fervor as there was no guarantee it would happen. It's just as likely that if he were to die here that all that would meet him is the nothingness of oblivion or perhaps he would be sent somewhere even worse then here.

'No, I can't risk it.. If this is truly my life now then I guess I'll just have to make the best of it, staying here waiting to die doesn't sit well with me as it feels like quitting before I've even started and besides maybe this place could be interesting.. at least once I find some damn civilization.'

Having made a decision he collects himself chooses a direction and moves to explore his surroundings. As the minutes turn to an hour then one hour to two Michael starts to get desperate to find any source of water around him but all he sees is never ending red rock. With a grim face, he continues the search choosing to stay heading in one direction following the sun as it sets on the horizon.

Like this day turns to night without Michael finding what he is looking for. The sunrise of the second day found Michael hungry, thirsty, and pissed off as he was awoken by the downright rude pecking of a seagull.

Still half asleep Michael waves his hand around, trying to rid himself of whatever pest was interrupting his rest. The seagull, taking apparent offense to such an act, angrily squawks at him as it flutters around his sleeping form. The loud noise right next to his head brings him to full alertness as he looks around.

Seeing the bird, giving him what he could swear was an angry glare, freezes him in his tracks as this was the first living creature other than himself that he has seen since waking up in this world. After a second of marveling at the creature before him, his stomach growls in protest to its emptiness.

Eyes sharpen and muscles contract making a lunge for the potential meal in front of him. Seeing the change in the boy's demeanor the seagull quickly flaps its wings and narrowly avoids a swift end at the hands of the hungry human.

Flying up into the skies it thinks its seagull thoughts, 'Haa that was close.. to think that damn featherless two-leg dared to try and grab my glorious self even after I had so graciously bestowed a peck upon the poor looking creature... Humphh this is the last time you will receive any pity from my great self.. hmm let us see if you like becoming my practice target... FEEL HONORED AND RECEIVE MY PARTING GIFT LOWLY BEING!!' "CAWWWW"

"Ahh so close.. well at least its relieving to see some kind of life around, I was starting to feel like the only being on the planet.." says Michael as he shakes his head. Looking at the position of the sun he moves to follow the same direction as he was going yesterday, but as he takes his first step he feels something splat on his shoulder.

Looking to see what it was his face scrunches and his eye twitches with suppressed rage. turning to look up he spots his missed breakfast flying above, cawing down at him as if in mockery of what had just happened. "THAT.. DAMN... BIRD..... DARED SHIT ON ME!?! UGHH Screw you, you rat with wings!! ..Get down here so I can wring your neck!!!"

*CAWWW*

"Humphh Just wait, stupid bird, I'll get my hands on you than we'll see who'll have the last laugh.." After cleaning up the best he could Michael, now thoroughly annoyed, moves on and starts walking in search of supplies of any kind. Around midday when the sun was at its highest point he finally spots something to break up the monotonous view he has grown accustomed to over the last day and a half.

Off in the distance, still faint with how far away it is, the outline of a mountain rising high into the sky could barely be seen. It's a little off course from the direction he was traveling but seeing nothing else around he decided to head towards it in the hope of finding some kind of water spring to drink from.

With his dry throat clenching at the thought of a potential water source, he trudged on. During his journey, he notes surprised that his small body, despite how scrawny it looks, can keep walking for hours on end with no sustenance.

Even though he feels tired by the end of the day it's not to the point of exhaustion, 'Odd' he thought. Night came as his second day in this world came to a close without finding any type of shelter or a source of food and water. Forced to sleep out in the open, he does so with little concern to any potential danger as the winged rat has been the only creature he has seen all this time.

Morning of the third day comes and Michael is still sleeping soundly, having always been a deep sleeper, but when the light from the sun starts hitting his eyes he was slowly roused. About to open his eyes and sit up, he stops himself for a moment as he registers a weight resting on his face.

Staying still and listening to his surroundings his ears pick up a soft cooing sound and his face visibly twitched. Holding himself back from exploding in rage thinking, 'This damn BIRD! ..Dare to roost on my face, see if I don't snap your scrawny neck, pluck you bald then turn your feathers into pillow stuffing!!'

Feeling the human beneath it tensing and his breathing change, the great feathered being of the heavenly skies immediately awoke and was on alert yet the shock of being rudely torn from its slumber caused it to lose control and release its bowels .. yea.. totally wasn't on purpose. Seeing the limbs of this lower, ground-bound, life form encircle itself seeking its capture the bird quickly spread its wings and took to the air.

Rising off the humans head that it had chosen to make its roost for the night it felt a tug on its tail feathers. With an indignant squawk and a powerful flap of its wings, it was able to free itself but lost one of its precious tail feathers in the process. With a hateful glare but knowing its revenge has already been served it flew off to do its seagull things.

After his mad scramble to catch the damn bird Michael stood there with a clenched fist and grit teeth and nothing but feather to show for his effort. Calming down a bit he feels something warm and wet on his cheek. Feeling his anger slowly rising once again he reaches up to confirm his suspicions.

Rubbing at what's on his face he looks down and immediately lost it, flying into a complete rage. "DAMMMNNNN ITTTTT!!!!!!!!! FUCKING FLYING RAT! ...That's it seagull I'm done with you.. I Michael Richards vows on this day to take you and your kind as my sworn enemy! I will not rest until you are cooked and resting in my stomach!" After stomping around and yelling obscenities for several minutes Michael composes himself and continues on his journey.

With hunger gnawing at his insides and thirst making his throat feel like sandpaper he falls into a sort of trance, slightly delusional from his poor condition. Ever forward he marches only focusing on the growing silhouette of the mountain before him. So focused on reaching his destination he almost missed it, and if it wasn't for the sound of splashing his foot made he would have, looking down upon the most beautiful thing he has ever seen.

A puddle.. At is feet is a puddle of water several feet in diameter, most likely the last water left from a recent rainstorm. Some might hesitate from drinking from such a puddle thinking it may be contaminated or some such, but that was the furthest thing from Michael's mind. Dropping to his knees he dunks his head into the water so fast that he bangs his nose on the bottom.

Taking a huge mouthful of water and swallowing it with relish written across his face he feels a shiver of relief run down his back from the thought of finally having something to drink. After staying at the puddle for a while to get his fill, he reluctantly stood up to continue on his way knowing that this small amount won't last. With a stomach full of water and a mind full of hope to find more puddles along the way to the mountain, he walks on.

In the early afternoon of the fifth day, Michael reaches the foot of the mountain. Seeing it rise high above his head and stretch far from one side to the other, he couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated by the idea of climbing it.

Not willing to turn back and with the hope that he would find a source of food and water at the peak, or at least get a better look at the makeup of the surrounding area, he starts his climb. Going up this mountain was an ordeal in itself.

Tough not only physically but mentally as well, with his stomach feeling like it was eating itself and his mouth dry as a desert, this climb was proving to be a true test of fortitude. Though when he was what he guessed to be about halfway up he found that suddenly the steepness rose greatly, making it nearly impossible to continue climbing up.

Half disappointed and half relieved that he can not make it to the top and with how far he has already made it up, Michael is not willing to backtrack down the mountain. With daylight dwindling and the flickering candle that is his hope of finding something to satiate his thirst and hunger threatening to extinguish he quickly makes a decision.

Seeing his only option left is to try and make it across the mountain's face to the other side, he starts again on his way. Making it far enough around to reach the opposite side from where he started, he can now see two other mountains.

The other two are connected to the one he was on by ridges that met the face of each mountain around two hundred feet below his position. In the middle of these mountains was a triangular shaped valley that was filled with swirling clouds to the point that it was hard to see anything beneath them.

Straining his eyes to see anything of the valley below, the wind shifted creating a gap in the haze. There within that valley was something that lifted his spirits and lent him the will to continue on a little further. Down there at the bottom of the valley floor, Michael spots the color of green through the hazy white of the clouds. Rubbing his eyes to make sure it wasn't an illusion, he immediately sets off to reach the promised land.

"FINALLY!!! That has to be plants down there.. and where there are plants.. there is water.. and if I'm really lucky I might just get something to eat too.." *grmmuurrr* holding his stomach that has been getting louder and louder the past couple of hours. "At this point, I'll eat grass if I have to.. this hunger is killing me... literally."