Chapter 3 - The New World(2)

"Do you want another serving?" Mary asked him, wiping his face clean with a cloth. Raiden would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy getting pampered.

As for Mary's cooking, it was scrumptious. Raiden was sure there was something about the ingredients in this world that made even a simple stew taste absolutely divine.

"No, I'm full." He said patting his stomach.

Mary nodded and picked up the bowl, "Now, get some sleep. You still need to rest." She patted his head and tucked him in.

"Um." Raiden nodded and laid down. He had a million thoughts going in his head. Mary tidied up the room a bit and then left, leaving Raiden alone with his thoughts.

'How in the world did I get transmigrated. And If the world of one piece is real, does that mean other anime worlds are real too? Have others from earth transmigrated to other anime worlds too ?'

"I hope no one gets transmigrated to Berserk!" Raiden shivered at the thought. That place was pure hell.

Raiden thought of asking his system but it looked like it was not a sentient one. Well not that he complained. He hated those sentient ones anyway.

Coming back to his previous train of thought, this world was not as fun as anime made it out to be. If you remove the rose tinted glasses through which you followed Straw Hats' adventure, this world was really dangerous and bleak.

Slavery, oppressive government, bloodthirsty pirates, corrupt officials you name it and One Piece had it all. It wasn't just that either. If you somehow survived that, there was a constant fear of getting murked by some random pirate.

*Sigh*

"I need to grow stronger if I want to survive here. Also, what year is it? I need a reference point to know at which point in the story I am at currently." Raiden thought to himself.

He waited for Mary to leave the house before he got up to look around.

It didn't take him long to find a newspaper. It was filled with bullshit propaganda from the world government. Anyways, it was year 1510. So nearly 11 years before Luffy left for his journey.

(AN- I'm not exactly sure in which year Roger was executed. So this is how I'll consider the timeline. Year 1500 - Roger's execution. Current year - 1510. Luffy was born in 1505 considering he was 19 in wano and by then it was 24 years past Roger's execution. MC is 10 right now so born in the year 1500.)

Which means he had more or less a decade to train and grow strong enough before the entire shit show started.

Raiden looked at his body. After a proper rest his body was nearly completely healed, "What an amazing body." Raiden murmured in awe. His trait, 'Member of D clan' made his recovery many times faster.

"Let's go out. I can't wait to see how this world looks in real life." Raiden said, excitedly.

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When Raiden stepped out of the house, he was immediately met with a cold morning breeze. The temperature was pretty pleasant.

He started roaming around the village, looking at everything with an excited gaze. The Black Rock village was more or less exactly what you'd expect from a rural, semi-modern island. Most homes were simple one story houses, built in a somewhat unorganised way, but the small population of the island prevented overcrowding.

Raiden could see a ton of different shops all over the place. The village was primarily a fishing community, so the air carried a faint scent of the ocean mixed with a strong fishy scent. For someone who lived in an urban metropolitan area, the fresh air was a luxury.

Although the village was small, people here were happy, the colors were bright. It was not cartoonish like he thought...but a weird blend of realism and how anime depicted it. It was beautiful nonetheless. Extremely so.

He spent quite a lot of time just wandering around and enjoying the beauty of the island.

"Man, I kinda want to just stay here and retire." Raiden said with a sigh. His past was really hectic. He barely had time to just...be alive. This island was everything he ever wanted in his past life.

He was walking by the shore, when he spotted Rock and a weird lanky kid talking. Being the only person other than grandma Mary whom he knew, he decided to go greet the old man.

"Grandpa Rock!" He yelled, trying to get the man's attention.

.

.

.

Rock was gearing up for his fishing trip with Bob, his 'actual' grandson, when he heard a childish voice call out for him.

"Hm?" He looked down and saw the kid he saved the day before running towards him with a grin on his face.

Bob being just as surprised, composed himself and smiled at the young child.

"Hey! You're Raiden right? My grandpa here told me your name. I'm Bob. Looks like you're more or less healed huh?" He crouched down and ruffled Raiden's hair with a smile.

Raiden looked at the new face and smiled childishly before nodding his head, "Yeah! I'm good as new. Hehe." Raiden was trying his hardest to stay in character, although he was cringing inwardly.

Rock smiled at their interaction. While he was surprised with how fast Raiden got over his mother's death, he just thought it was the boy's way of coping with it.

He sighed and ruffled Raiden's hair with a board grin, "So brat now that you're up and running, how about I show you the village?" Rock said with a smile.

"Yeah! Let's go grandpa!" Raiden replied with enthusiasm, 'I guess it wouldn't hurt wandering again with him.' Raiden mentally shrugged.

Rock's grin widened. He really liked the new kid's nature. Bob smiled at the little boy too.

He sure had happy vibes, especially after the tragedy he went through.

"Oi! Rock! What the fuck are ya doing?! Come over here quickly. We are about to sail off!" They heard someone yell out for Rock from the dock.

"Oh, yeah...the fishing trip." The old man slapped his forehead. "Bob, show him around the village. I'll be back later." He patted the boy's shoulder and quickly made his way towards his colleagues.

"Well, shall we go then?" Bob happily obliged and took Raiden's hand in his and started touring him around the village.

'Having a local show you around makes quite a difference.' Raiden thought. For him, this was an absolutely amazing experience. This world was just too bright and vibrant.

They were in front of a shop that sold fish bowls and suddenly, his mood soured. The image of a certain inbred, bubble headed pigs came to him mind, completely ruining the good vibes.

Raiden sighed. Beneath all this beauty, this world was just as dirty if not more than his last one. At least there, people actually feared the law, whereas here, the only law is strength.

This made his resolve to gain strength even stronger. Considering this world didn't really have the physical limitations of his previous world, he was determined to use this to is advantage.

The tour ended shortly with Bob bringing Raiden to show him their fishing boats near the harbour. Raiden learned a lot about the man he called 'grandpa' from Bob.

Rock was actually an ex, marine headquarters Rear Admiral, but due to a crippling injury that made him lose his ability to use haki. He was forced to retire and so he decided to come back to his home town and settle down. Surviving in the grand line without Haki was hard after all.

His 'grandma' Mary was in fact Rock's ex-wife, something Raiden had guessed, given their interactions. They separated when Rock started training his son to be a marine, something Mary was vehemently against. She knew how dangerous the job was and considering how Rock was injured as a marine, she wasn't wrong either.

As for Bob, his father had a one night stand with Bob's mother before he left to join the marines. Bob's mother who didn't want anything to do with him, so she dropped him at his grandparents place and vanished. Bob obviously explained this to Raiden in as age appropriate manner as he could.

As for why Rock and Mary separated, apparently Bob's father was KIA against a rather powerful pirate group. They didn't even get to see his body. Mary blamed Rock for the incident and never got over her son's death.

Raiden didn't blame either of them. Mary was right to be scared for her son, while Rock just wanted to make sure his son was strong enough to survive in this dog eat dog world. The old man had seen the worst this world had to offer, so he did what he thought was right. It was a sad story. A story that showed how cruel and unforgiving this world was.

Rock, to keep his mind off of that topic, took up the job as a fisherman and an unofficial guardian of the village. Being an ex headquarters Rear Admiral, even if he can't use haki and was of an old age, this man was powerful enough to deter any pirate groups that tried to invade the island.

Being the weakest of all the 4 seas, east blue pirates were not that strong to begin with and once the news spread there was an ex-Rear Admiral here, no one dared to raid the Black Rock village.

Raiden spent the entire day with Bob, sightseeing and eating anything he could find. By the time they ended their little tour, the sun was setting, Bob brought him back to the dock, and the duo just sat down on the beach, Raiden listening to Bob's stories.

"Enjoying the sunset, huh, brat?" Rock had come back from his fishing trip, and greeted both of them with a smile.

"Yeah." Raiden nodded at him.

"How was it? Did you like the village?" He said, sitting down next to Raiden.

"Um hm." Raiden nodded once again in response.

"Good, good. Hahaha." Rock ruffled his hair and stared at the sea with a smile.

The odd trio, of two massive men and pipsqueak, sat in silence, enjoying the beautiful scene. Raiden, without even realising, already started growing closer to the group. It felt fulfilling, after a rather antisocial past.

"Let's get back home. Mary would eat me alive if you're late." He murmured at the last part to himself.

Rock picked Raiden up by the scruff of his neck and placed him onto his shoulder.

Raiden panicked for a moment, "Hey! Hey! Grandpa, what are you doing!" He yelled, flailing his limbs around. It was already hard for him to maintain the facade of a kid, if the old kept surprising him like that, he would actually break the character.

"Hahaha. Enjoy the ride from there boy." The old man laughed.

Bob too, joined in. He hadn't seen his grandfather this happy in quite some time. Raiden seemed to have brought out a side of the old man he hadn't seen. Rock had always been the stern grandfather for him. Bob was just glad that he grandparents were happy.

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They enjoyed a nice dinner and surprisingly, Mary joined them as well even though she still held the same animosity towards Rock.

Mary sat down next to the boy and placed a bowl of soup on the table. Raiden had asked her to make the same stew she made before.

Raiden took a sip of the stew and smiled. "This is amazing, Mary. Thank you for making it again."

Mary chuckled softly, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "You're welcome, Raiden. I'm glad you like it. Did you have fun today?"

Raiden nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I did! Bob showed me around the village, and it was really interesting. The village is pretty."

Mary's expression softened. "I'm happy to hear that." She pinched his cheeks, her expression turning to a frosty glare, "Raiden, sweetie, don't leave the house without informing me. Am I clear?"

*Gulp*

"Y..yeah. I'm sorry." Raiden nodded hurriedly. He could hear the old man and Bob chuckling. Raiden glared at them with a murderous look, making them chuckle even harder.

Bob was happy to spend time with both his grandparents and so was Rock. Mary ignored the old man and just talked to her grandsons. As for Rock he was more than happy to just be in the presence of his wife.

"Need seconds?" Mary asked the little boy, who was busy shoving the stew in his mouth.

"Nhope." Raiden said, his mouth full of food. Mary chuckled lightly. The boy looked like a chipmunk.

The dinner ended not long after. Bob and Rock left Mary's house. Raiden helped her clean up the dishes. She picked up the little boy with a smile and tucked him in.

"Goodnight, grandma."

"Goodnight." She patted Raiden's head. Mary left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Now then, let's plan what to do next." Raiden murmured seriously, finally having some privacy.

He still remembered his last thoughts, right before he died. He wanted another chance. He wanted to live a life worth living. And he didn't want to die without achieving something. He had one of his wishes fulfilled. He got a second chance at life and he would be damned if he didn't make the most of it.

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