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|Four years later...|

...

"Hmm... Dear... Do you think Rell might be slightly retarded?"

"Why are you asking me that Martha? He seems like a pretty normal kid to me"

"Hmm... It's because of how slow he is progressing with his studies... Most of the kids around his age already know how to add and subtract. However, he, on the other hand, had an incredibly hard time learning how to do it, and even now he doesn't seem to fully understand it..."

"Let him learn at any rate he wants. Even if he is retarded, he still has that charm and bravery that he inherited from me. So he is not completely helpless"

"I don't think there was anything to inherit in the first place, dear... -Sigh...- But well, it's not like you are wrong... We should just let him learn at his own rate. Though, I wish he could at least make some friends of his age. The last time I sent him to the park to play with the other kids he stayed alone playing in the dirt... It was really a heartbreaking scene..."

"Maybe he will become a lone wolf just like his handsome father... Hmm... As expected of my son"

"I'm getting tired of your jokes dear"

"Who is saying jokes here, Martha?"

...

-Sigh...-

Alright, I might have gone a little too overboard with my acting... Now my parents believed that I was retarded...

But well, whatever... it wasn't like it was the end of the world.

A lot of things happened during the past few years.

More exactly, five years had already passed since I arrived in this world... During that time, I relearned how to walk, and how to talk, as I had somewhat lost those abilities because of my identity as a still-growing kid.

Honestly, I felt like I was going through some kind of rehabilitation process at that time. As if I had broken my legs or something like that, and now I was getting treatment to walk again.

The feeling of not having any strength in my legs really made me feel like that. And it had haunted me for quite a long time until I finally became able to walk again.

The talking part, on the other hand, was much easier. As I only needed to remember how I used to speak, and that was it.

Though, in a certain way, it also became troublesome in its own way.

After all, although I became able to talk like a normal person extremely fast, I still needed to talk like a dumbass so that my parents couldn't get scared shitless seeing their five-year-old kid talk like a grown adult.

Though, I can't deny that it would be very funny if I suddenly went one day and said to them " Hello mother and father. Today really is a pleasant day, isn't it? I wonder if I would receive a candy since I have been behaving properly as you requested me"

I bet they would get scared shitless.

As for the studying part of my life... Well, the school that existed in this town was only for rich people. So I didn't get to go there.

Instead, I was just taught by my parents at home, and I assume that is what most parents do since school is too expensive for the majority.

As for how those lessons with my parents have been going... Well, I guess you might have already heard what happened.

During my math lessons, I might have acted a little bit too dumb for my own age...

But who can blame me? I don't really remember at what age I learned addition and subtraction, nor how hard it was for me to learn it... I just remember that I did, and at some point in my life I already knew how to add and subtract...

I just acted as dumb as I thought kids were at my age while trying to look normal...Though, it seemed that kids were smarter than I remembered... And that made me appear a little retarded in the eyes of my mother when she saw that I couldn't learn something as simple as addition and subtraction.

Well, what was done was already done. There was no use in crying over spoiled milk.

I just had to learn at a slightly faster rate, and I would rapidly go back to looking like a normal kid in the eyes of my parents.

Hmm, what?

Why was I not acting like a prodigy, showing and displaying my excellent adult mathematical skills, you may ask?

Well, because I didn't want my parents to put their burdensome expectations on me.

If I suddenly showed them that my mathematical skills were on a whole other level compared to the other kids from the town, it was very likely that they will consider me a prodigy, and start placing their expectations on me... Thinking that I had a talent beyond anyone else in the mathematical regard...

However, in reality, I was just an average guy. And while my mathematical skills were superior to those of a five-year-old kid, it would only be a matter of time before I could reach my limit on how fast I can learn and make it evident that I never was a prodigy in the first place.

And there was nothing more annoying than trying to maintain the expectations of others... So I wasn't going to try and become that prodigy through sheer effort either.

Some may call me unambitious... But honestly, I couldn't care any less about that. I had enough of doing my best to stand out during my previous life, and now, I wanted to take a small rest.

I had an entire childhood in front of me, for fuck's sake!

It was my opportunity to relax before I would become an adult again and be forced to take on all the responsibilities that will come at that age...

When the time came, I would surely do something to prepare for adult life. However, for the time being, I would make sure to enjoy my childhood to the fullest.

Though I have to say, dealing with kids of my age sure is a pain.

I can't act like an adult as I used to do when I was around kids since I was not an adult anymore. And seeing a kid act like an adult guy and treat the other kids as babies would surely be incredibly awkward.

Plus, I just couldn't enjoy being with them.

Kids are violent, noisy, and don't have any sense of hygiene.

Most of them would be picking their nose, and then trying to touch others as if nothing had happened.

If one annoyed them slightly, they would rapidly get violent and try to hit you. Trying to express their anger and disagreement through their tiny puny fists.

And of course, if you did even the meanest thing to them, they would start crying like little banshees and tear apart your poor eardrums.

-Sigh...-

It made me feel sorry for my new mom. However, there was no way I would get along with those little brats, as much as she would want me to make friends with them.

Instead, I preferred to play by myself... Quite sad, I admit. But it was still more enjoyable than dealing with them.

Now, onto a more serious topic... One that concerned my entire existence...

So far, during the past four years... Nothing had happened during these four years that I had been in this world.

No pirates had killed my family. And no tragedy had arrived at my doorstep... My life had been... Normal so far.

If you excluded the fact that I was reincarnated... Nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

Nothing like a "plot" or something along that line had appeared. And so far, every day was just a normal day no different from my previous world.

Of course, that excluding the few pirate attacks that would appear in the newspaper, or the few mentions about Marine eminences that were famous all around the globe. Those things were the only thing that remembered me from time to time that this was actually One Piece world.

My life was full of peace and uneventfulness.

Of course, I had my doubts about whether that would continue to be the case for the next years to come... So I tried training in order to break through my human limits and become stronger than any pirate that might want to mess with my life.

That's what every reincarnated guy does, right?

...

But as I said previously, I'm just an average guy... So you can guess what happened with that. Don't you?

Well, in summary, I didn't see any results during the first few weeks... So I kinda postponed it for later... And that "later", somehow prolonged for a long time after that.

I would still try to exercise from time to time. However, I never really lasted more than a few days...

My body didn't feel any stronger either. Maybe it was because I lacked training, or because I lacked talent, or simply because I was lacking in both.

But well, I was just five years old at the moment, so it would be comprehensible for my body to not increase in strength that much... Maybe when I got older my training would prove to be more effective.

I didn't really have a way to know... But for the time being, I had to take what I had. Which was the weak body of a kid, and the dumb mind of... Well, me.

Hopefully, no problem would come my way. Otherwise, I would be completely defenseless.

...

That was a flag, right?

Oh, shit. I just raised a flag! What am I gonna do?!

...

-To be continued-

°°°

(A/N: The only flags that are raised are the ones I allow to be raised. So, no need to fret, kid)