Nero. (2)

The old man laughed heartily every time he looked at Nero, feeling as if he had gone back in time to when his son had been born. The amount of joy he felt was almost the same.

He put down Nero next to him and started rummaging through a basket of clothing he had stashed in the corner. A sheepish smile appeared on his face as picked up a tiny pair of pants and looked at Nero.

"Hehe, I wonder what my wife will think when she comes home to see a new bundle of joy waiting for? Especially when she sees him all dressed up! Haha!"

The old man's mood only got better as he thought about the smile his wife would have on her face. He couldn't wait.

"Luckily, he's sleeping right now. How could I still call myself his elder if he sees me acting this way?"

The old man laughed to himself once more as he thought about this. Little did he know that Nero's consciousness was barely in his body. Most of it was focused on a tall, muscular, humanoid figure standing in the air.

Its figure was black with purple lines zig-zagging across it randomly in no specific pattern. Its eyes glowed with a sinister purple light as its gaze locked onto the old man.

This was an early manifestation of his psionic abilities. More specifically, it was an aspect of his Psi-Vampirism and was one of the powers Nero wished for before he reincarnated into this world. In fact, Nero had two more powers but they had yet to manifest themselves.

This was the reason that he was still 'asleep' even after all that commotion that happened earlier. His soul/spiritual power wasn't stable in the new body so he could only wait until it did. He even theorized that he wouldn't wake up completely until all 3 powers manifested.

But currently, that's not what Nero was worrying about. He was looking at the old man with a complicated expression as the man cleaned up his body and changed his clothing.

"Sigh, I was grown man before so being reduced to this...it's hard to accept. I understand why it's happening but still...hopefully, he doesn't do anything crazy. I wouldn't want to kill such a nice-looking old man so early."

A dark purple aura surrounded Nero's real body as he watched every action the old man took from the eyes of the humanoid. The aura was invisible to the old man but his senses were still telling him something was off. The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense and an uncomfortable expression slowly appeared upon the old man's face.

The old man suddenly stepped away from Nero after finishing up and sighed, saying, "Whew, maybe I got a little too excited earlier. I'm too old to be jumping around like this. Maybe I just need to rest a bit and get something to drink...Ah! Nero, don't worry! I didn't forget about you! Tomorrow, I'll get some of the ladies here to come to take care of you and you'll get some milk."

He seemed to gain another bout of energy as he walked out of the room, murmuring the names of potential women he would call over the next day. Nero saw this scene and relaxed his expression a bit. He couldn't help but give a small smile.

Unfortunately, he couldn't take any chances with older folks around his seemingly defenseless body. Being from earth, he had heard about and seen the heinous things some people did to children so he couldn't help but be on guard.

Many may call him paranoid, but he wasn't worried. Prevention is better than a cure.

Now that the old man was gone...

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Nero started getting accustomed to the humanoid's body by clenching his fists and throwing a few punches.

"I don't know how long I'll be unconscious for so I probably should get used to being like this. Could be a day, weeks, months, or even years. Hopefully, it doesn't take too long. Oh! If I keep this humanoid manifested for so long it might drain my mental power instead!"

Nero quickly retracted the ability and just stayed there in a state of 'conscious unconsciousness.' The only sense his real body had access to at this moment was his hearing.

"What a strange state of being. Anyways, I should be fine soon. No need to think about it that much. What I should be worried about is which world that god threw me into. He said it was a fictional world, one that I would enjoy. It couldn't be naruto as I don't remember that show having winged people like this. But the name Shandia sounds really familiar..."

Using the process of elimination, Nero tried to figure out which world he could've been thrown in. Hunter x Hunter, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho, even Dragonball, he couldn't remember a place like this in any of them. That was when a dreadful thought hit him.

"Shandia, winged people, I'm 100% sure that the 'ground' in this village is made of clouds...could it be Skypeia?! So it's One Piece? No, it couldn't be! But the evidence...is irrefutable. I hate that show."

This was a place that he didn't want to go. He liked the world the show took place in, but he hated the characters, so, so much. They looked ridiculous to him.

"I probably shouldn't be the one to talk about designs considering I like JOJO, but still...sigh. I guess I can only make the best of it. Who knows, maybe my perspective might change now that I could experience everything first hand."

Nero kept thinking about it and the more he did, the more he was convinced that he was indeed in the world of One Piece. Of course, he didn't take long to come to terms with the situation. The only thing he regretted was that he didn't research more about One Piece back on earth.

He only watched a small part of it as he couldn't tolerate anymore past the water seven arc. After that, he only watched the more exciting parts of the franchise in small clips. Who could've thought that this would be his future?

"I was too busy for all that anyways. Organized crime wasn't a business that I could afford to relax in for too long."

Of course, he only said this to convince himself that he couldn't be blamed. If he really wanted to find the time, he would.

Nero continued thinking about his current situation until he heard footsteps coming rapidly towards his little room behind a curtain.

"Judging by the number of steps, it should be about two people coming in. Who could it...wait is the wife of that old man? He did say that he wanted to show me to her. I don't know for sure so I should be on guard."

Nero manifested the humanoid once again and looked carefully at the old couple running towards him. Seeing that it was indeed who he thought, he retracted it. There was no need to waste mental power this time around. As long as he only manifested the humanoid's eyes, he would be able to see everything that happened.

That was when the curtains burst open and a short dark-skinned old lady entered with tears in her eyes. As soon as she saw Nero, tears streamed down her face and a wonderful smile emerged upon her aged face.

"Ohhh...my little great-grandson. Look at you."