Chapter 1: Death and New Beginning

Author's POV

"Damn, another day with these capitalist vampires," Thomas grumbled with annoyance as he opened the door to his apartment.

It was late. Thomas had been forced to work overtime at the convenience store where he worked.

Thomas was a young mechanical engineering student. He wasn't exceptional in his studies, but he wasn't bad either.

"It's been a while since I played online. I shouldn't become a zombie who only knows how to study and work," Thomas thought as he made himself comfortable before opening his computer.

"What's this?" he said, frowning.

There was an ad in front of him offering to participate in a survey. Of course, Thomas tried to get rid of it, but it simply kept coming back each time.

"Okay, I'll participate in your stupid survey," Thomas mentally concluded after checking the time.

Tomorrow, he had an extremely busy day. He wanted to relax as quickly as possible before going to sleep.

[Welcome, dear participant, to our survey]

[Please answer our questions honestly]

"Why do they think I'd answer honestly just because they ask?" Thomas declared with an evil smile forming on his lips.

He was angry about wasting his time because of this damn survey, so why should he cooperate?

[Here are our questions, and please answer honestly]

Thomas felt like he was being warned to be serious, but it just pushed him to mess around to get a little revenge.

"LOL, you're taking my time and you think I'm going to be nice to you?" he muttered clearly with a sly smile.

[In what way would you like to die and be reincarnated?]

[Quick note: please give as much detail as possible]

The words displayed on his screen were strange, but Thomas didn't take them too seriously and started answering while laughing.

"I want to die from an explosion due to a gas leak and reincarnate into a random body in the multiverse after my death, hahaha," he read, laughing at the words he had written before moving on to the next question.

[If you are reincarnated, what power would you like to have?]

After reading the words displayed on the screen, Thomas began to think about the next silly thing he was going to write.

"I remember I always had to study much more than my friends to keep my grades average, so..."

After reflection, Thomas wrote that he would like to have all the abilities related to Vegapunk, but without drawbacks like the long skull or seawater.

[Do you like a particular world or do you want to randomize your choice?]

The words on his screen began to make Thomas uncomfortable, but after glancing at the time, he clicked on "randomize."

"Great, now I can start my..." Thomas couldn't finish his words as there was a violent explosion coming from his kitchen.

Firefighters would later discover that it was a gas leak that caused Thomas's death.

...

Author's POV

It was a sunny summer in the state of Oregon.

Sitting in an almost empty bus, two children about 11 or 12 years old could be observed in deep sleep due to the long bus ride.

Currently, the boy next to the young girl seemed troubled and was sweating profusely in his sleep.

An outsider to his mind would think he was sick or having a nightmare, but the reality was much darker: an unknown soul was fighting the young boy's soul for complete control of the body.

Unfortunately, the young boy's soul couldn't be stronger than the invader's.

The unknown soul eventually gained the upper hand during their confrontation and devoured it.

This allowed it to inherit all the knowledge possessed by the young boy's soul, but it also had consequences for the unknown soul, such as being influenced by the vestigial emotions of the body's original owner.

After a few minutes, the young boy woke up with a start on the bus, which also woke up the young girl next to him.

"Oh! Did you have a nightmare, Dipper?" Mabel asked teasingly.

"Uh... no, of course not," the young boy named Dipper refuted by instinct, avoiding the girl's gaze.

"Okay, okay, if you say so," she replied, shrugging, but it was clear she didn't believe "Dipper's" words.

"It seems the explosion and the survey weren't a dream," Dipper thought, frowning.

He remembered everything: the online survey, the explosion in his apartment, but also the memories of the original Dipper.

"If I've really 'reincarnated,' then I must have also obtained the advantages I asked for in the online survey," he calmly analyzed the situation while looking at his hand.

Thomas had never been an incredibly intelligent man, but currently, he felt like he could see clearly all the problems he had encountered in mechanical engineering.

Not only that, but he had an extremely detailed memory of all his activities, both as Dipper and as Thomas.

"So this is how Vegapunk sees the world," he thought, observing the forest through the window.

Dipper didn't know it, but he had a strange gleam in his eyes at that moment.

Anyone would have been afraid of the unknown, but he was acting differently than usual.

He was in a strange world that he considered fictional, but Dipper felt no fear, only excitement and pure curiosity.

He also hadn't noticed that he was thinking in an extremely calm and rational manner, even though he had literally been sent to another world.

"This place is better than Earth and my past life," he mentally concluded after a short reflection.

He had been a fan of Gravity Falls in his childhood, and the idea of living in this universe didn't repel him.

His situation on Earth wasn't so good: his mother had died at his birth, and his father had died shortly after he started university. He didn't really have very close friends.

"Dipper, I found some fun stuff under the seats!" Mabel declared excitedly.

"It's strange to have a new family," Dipper thought, watching Mabel who continued to rummage around him.

...

"Kids, welcome to Gravity Falls," declared a man in a suspicious suit. He was Dipper and Mabel's great-uncle.

"Are you Uncle Stan?" Mabel asked, alternating her gaze between him and the photo their parents had given them.

"In the flesh. Come on, time is money," he said, showing them the way to his home.

"It's strange, I feel like I'm being watched," Dipper thought, looking towards the forest next to the road.

He had obtained all things related to Vegapunk but without drawbacks, which included the physical potential of One Piece characters.

He now understood what the original Dipper was talking about at the beginning of the story, and frankly, this situation made him uncomfortable.

"It's really a miracle that the organization founded by Old Man McGucket was able to keep the whole situation under control," Dipper muttered, observing his environment.

"Welcome to my humble abode, but also my bread and butter: The Mystery Shack!" Uncle Stan declared loudly to Dipper and Mabel.