[Grand Line]

Finally. It was finally that time. The event Shin had been dreaming of for the past six months since he came to this world. It was finally released.

[Grand Line].

When Shin first transmigrated to this world following his death, he fell into despair. Not because he would never see his friends or family again. Quite the opposite. The world Shin transmigrated to was practically identical to his old world, minus the fact that he was dead.

However, there was one major difference that set the two worlds apart. The absence of One Piece. Ever since he was a middle schooler, Shin had been following the manga. It was safe to say he practically grew up with the series. His obsession with the series was so great that even as he was dying, all he could think about was being able to see the end of One Piece.

Thankfully, one day, he found his salvation. An upcoming game said to be the very first full-dive virtual reality videogame ever. Developed by the mysterious GODA Corporations, and vouched for by even the United Nations.

You guessed it.

[Grand Line].

Of course, the concept of a full dive virtual reality was already enough to inspire excitement in Shin. However, it was the name, and ultimately the setting that drew his interest. The name speaks for itself, and the synopsis... well, see for yourself.

"The very first fully immersive virtual reality videogame is finally hitting the shelves on October 20, 2022! In [Grand Line], explore a completely new fantasy world along with fellow friends and various enemies. Find the hidden treasure of the Pirate King, Gold Roger! Join the World Government and protect the world from evil pirates! Or even join the Revolutionary Army and topple the balance of the world yourself! Decide your fate in a videogame experience like never before!"

"Featuring:

A completely unique power system, with mystical Devil Fruits!

A different, hidden power system, for you to explore!

Four different vast, open seas, split into the North, South, East, and West Blues!

Various fighting styles and races!

Completely open world PVP and PVE!

State-of-the-art AI!

Not to mention the Grand Line, a mysterious, dangerous, and unpredictable sea route spanning the whole world.

And much, much more!"

Understandably, Shin was completely drawn in by the synopsis of the game. After all, it was almost identical to the setting of the manga One Piece. And what One Piece fan hasn't dreamed of exploring the seas themselves, and going on a grand adventure in another world?

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(Shin POV)

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Finally slipping into the recently delivered VR capsule, I braced myself for the new experience. There was a slight sense of vertigo that quickly faded, before I realized I was standing in front of a rather large holographic screen, about the size of a normal desktop monitor.

'So this is what VR feels like, huh? It's so realistic. It just feels like real life.'

Soon, I was prompted by the monitor.

[Would you like to start your Grand Line adventure?]

I quickly tapped on the [Yes] button that popped up.

The somewhat blank room I was in began to morph. Eventually, the room finished its transformation to a seemingly futuristic room, with a blank humanoid body in the middle.

Another prompt popped up, along with a screen full of information.

[Customize your character]

I mostly speedran through the appearance options, besides changing a few things such as hair color to make sure I'm not too recognizable. After all, I don't want people who have seen my game avatar to be able to recognize me in real life. That's just... unsafe. Anyways, I've always been a handsome guy, if I do say so myself, so I didn't need to change that much to be satisfied with my appearance.

My original somewhat long black hair, usually tied back, was changed into short, messy, white hair. And my previous piercing blue eyes were turned into a bright red shade. People might be able to recognize the fact that I quite literally just inverted my appearance, but, probably not. Anyways, I just want to get into the game fast.

Moving on from the [Appearance] section, I quickly looked into the [Race] tab. Surprisingly, there was only one race, [Human].

However, a small caption was under the race saying, [Through the use of a rare item, one can awaken their dormant bloodline, and change race].

It's somewhat understandable, I guess, that racial changes would be somewhat rare. After all, races such as Lunarians or Giants have an extreme advantage compared to normal humans. And while there was no such thing as a bloodline awakener or race changer in One Piece, due to it being a game, there had to be some liberties taken.

Moving on, there was only two more sections before character customization was completed. First, was, of course, [Name], and second was [Location]. To start, was username. As one of the first players, I decided to try my luck with a common username, and surprisingly, it wasn't taken.

[Tarnished]

Ever since I'd played the game Elden Ring, [Tarnished] was my go-to username, just because I loved the game that much. Of course, most of the time it was already taken, but the times it wasn't I would always use it. Plus, I just personally liked one-word usernames as they feel much cleaner.

Under the username, was a second option, for character name. Here, I had already thought of a name months in advance, while I was waiting for the game to come out. But whether the name would work... is a different story.

[Gol D. Jackson]

Gol D, obviously was the name of the Pirate King, and Jackson was the name of his ship. Sadly, however, it didn't work out.

[Name declined.]

[Surname (Gol) is restricted to NPCs only]

I tried a variety of others, such as Rocks, Silver, and Newgate, but not a single one worked. However, I did notice one thing. The system never said the D. was restricted. After a while of pondering, I finally decided to use my backup in case an already established family didn't work.

[Sparrow D. Shin]

Shin, of course, came from my birth name, and Sparrow is a homage to arguably the most famous pirate of all time... Jack Sparrow. Even if he's not exactly... real. Anyways, thankfully, this time, the name was accepted.

[Name has been registered as Sparrow D. Shin]

[Detected presence of D. in name!]

'Wait what?'

[Emergency Quest: Prove Your Will!]

[Details: As a carrier of the initial D, one must have the will to match! Prove your will by surviving against Pirate King, Gol D. Roger for five seconds!]

[Lose Condition: Give Up]

[Win Condition: Survive for five seconds]

[Bonus Objective: Have 100% Sense Synchronization on for the whole time]

[Rewards: Will of D]

[Bonus Rewards: Conquerors Haki, ???]

[Would you like to accept]

[If you would like to accept the quest, please sign the liability waiver]

[If you would like to accept the bonus objective, please sign the liability waiver and agree to the monitoring of body condition]

'On one hand, the fact that a liability waiver exists is already a horrible sign. I can already tell that this is an absolutely horrendous idea. On the other hand... it's the Will of D. I've already died once to multiple stab wounds. This can't be that bad... right?'

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I was wrong. It was worse. WAY worse.

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A/N: Anyways, that was the first chapter of my brand new story. This is something I've been wanting to write for a while, but I still have a few things I'm undecided on, so I'll be looking at your input. Please respond to the sentences below with a paragraph comment if you want to give input. Additionally, you can also put general input in the comments below.

First:

What should Shin's Devil fruit be?

I'm thinking a devil fruit along the lines of [Three-Eyed Fruit: Model Jade Emperor]

Or maybe [Mink Fruit: Model Sun Wukong]

Or [Skypiean Fruit: Model Seraph]

I personally think Mythical Zoans are extremely unexplored, especially since the existence of the Human Fruit and its variations implies the existence of other fruits applied to other races. Of course, it doesn't have to be a race-specific Mythical Zoan, but I felt that it would be much more interesting if it was.

Other suggestions for fruits are welcomed too.

Second:

As for characters

Would you prefer completely OCs?

Or mostly OCs with a few characters based on existing anime characters from slice of lifes? (ex: Kaguya-sama, Quintessential Quintuplets)

Or mostly characters based on existing anime characters, with a few OCs?

Finally:

Fighting styles.

Do you prefer only fighting styles from One Piece? (Ex: Black Leg)

Some cameo fighting styles from other media? (Ex: Renewal Taekwondo)

Completely original fighting styles? (Made up by me)

Or a mixture of all of them? (If so, write down the split you would want)

Anyways, this story is very much still in the Work in Progress stage, so please give me your suggestions. I may not implement them, but I will definitely take them into consideration.