546 Spring Time (A Bellamy SI) by Arthedain007 (One Piece)
Latest update:November 3, 2023
Summary:One piece is a world of monsters and insanity...and I've been thrust right into the middle of it. And unlike many of my fellow Self Inserts, I wasn't even given the decency of reincarnating prior to the start of canon. Instead, I'm Bellamy and I'm on Jaya. Current Arc: Time Skip Period
Link:https://m.fanfiction.net/s/14271795/1/Spring-Time-A-Bellamy-SI
Word count:131k
Chapters:49
Chapter 1: Hello World
„Captain, we're approaching Jaya."
Someone once said that there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally, acceptance. Mind you, I wasn't experiencing grief per say. More like…confusion? Frustration? Perhaps befuddlement is a better word. Anyhow, my response to being slapped in the face by reality wasn't exactly that different from a person experiencing grief. Put yourself in my shoes and tell me you wouldn't react like I did. I dare you.
"Someone get me a drink! It's too early for this shit."
And just in case it wasn't blindingly obvious…I was in denial.
Fast forward a little bit and I had come to accept my new reality.
One, I was on the island of Jaya populated for the most part by the scum of the earth. Two, I was hence by necessity in the world of One Piece and most likely fucked because I did not know how to fight. Three, I am doubly fucked because my crew will likely mutiny without continued looting, plundering and carnage. And finally, I am royally fucked up the arse even if or probably especially if I avoid said looting, plundering and carnage because the psychopath whose flag I'm flying is going to come kill me for being boring. And if that last tidbit didn't clue you in as to whose body I inadvertedly hijacked…
"W-what can I g-get you, Captain Bellamy Sirpleasedon'tkillmepleaseIhavechildren!"
Sigh.
"Just hand me an ale. A cold one." I'm not even sure why the bartender is so scared of me. It's not like I killed anyone yet. In fact, I didn't raise a single finger in violence since I got here. I even pay for my beer like the law abiding citizen I am...was...
Thunk.
"I'll have what the captain's having. Quickly now."
One thing you start appreciating on jaya is how much better and faster the service gets the more you scare people. Case in point, mere seconds after the order is placed, my second-in-command is leaning back in contentment, drink in hand.
"Sarquiss."
"Captain."
"Make sure to clean up later. I don't want bloodstains on my ship." The man just grinned before knocking back his glass of ale. Upon reflection, Sarquiss and to a lesser extent, the rest of Bellamy's crew may be the reason everyone is so scared of me. Over the last five days we had been on the island, they have started ten barfights, six riots in the streets, beaten up seven pirate crews for giving them "funny looks" and caused some thirty casualties…eight of them fatal. Oh, and commandeered the pub's whole supply of alcohol on the third day. Heaven knows where the poor barkeep managed to get replacements.
You wouldn't know it from just the show, but Bellamy's crew is fairly competent by paradise standards. Sure, only Sarquiss has a bounty worth mentioning but all of them would have had a fair shot at an Olympic medal on my old world. Unfortunate for them that this world was populated by monsters who could crush mountains with their fists and where even unnamed extras could toss a grown man around like a ragdoll.
Anyway, thanks to my surprisingly tough crew, I had been left alone and unmolested, brooding on what to do next. Couldn't leave because the log pose refused to reset. Couldn't train without making the crew suspicious, not that I knew how. Couldn't stay sober because I'd go mad. Thankfully, the crew had decided that my moodiness was a byproduct of absolute boredom and had pried no further.
I did experiment a little in the privacy of my room and discovered two things. First, basic control over Bellamy's devil fruit came naturally to me just like the body remembers how to walk after amnesia. Second, I could compress my springs effortlessly, regardless of their size and toughness, which irritated the hell out of the physicist within me. Yes, I'm a nerd, deal with it.
It did have a lot of potential though.
"By the way captain, a new crew arrived today."
The force a spring can exert is directly proportional to how much it is compressed.
"Most of them are the usual garbage but their captain does have a fairly decent bounty."
Thing is, in order to compress a spring initial effort is usually a mandatory requirement.
"Guy is worth 30 million. Of course, he isn't at our level...I mean I'm worth more by a good margin."
That puts a soft cap on how powerful a spring can be. But if said requirement doesn't apply to me?
"I don't know…maybe he'll be some entertainment? He should be able to survive a punch or two."
I can turn part of my body into springs. Nobody said how big that spring had to be. Or for that matter, what it needed to be made of…
"Wanna go have a look? Lily took some of the boys to keep an eye on them."
Chrome Vanadium maybe? That was industry standard back home.
"Are you listening to me? Bellamy!"
"Huh, what?" I feel as I should be offended at the way he dramatically sighs but that big knife scares me.
"Wanna check out the thirty million?" The Strawhats are here?
These are not the Strawhats. Absolutely no clue who they are. And I know my one piece canon. Which means he's fodder.
Fodder is waving a club at me! I'm a named character! Higher up on the food chain of mooks…oh that was close. I ignore the amazed exclamations of the crowd for how expertly I judged the range of that club. It was on purpose…honest.
"Just because you have a higher bounty, you think you're better than me? I'm Big Bat Barrick! Bully of Blackden Burgh!" The guy looks absolutely ridiculous. Black leather jacket, slicked back hair like a counterfeit Elvis, black sunglasses with large black sideburns. Not too bad, right? But the pants! The pants!
"I'll beat you into the ground and show the world I'm a greater pirate than you! For I am Big Bat Barrick!" They're neon pink! With glitter! And ballooning around the knees. And lets not even talk about the shirt.
"Look at how scared you are! Frozen in fear! This is the great Hyena? This?" Neon green shirt in the style of Elizabethan England. Maybe, just maybe if he were as scary as Doflamingo, he could pull it off. Maybe. But with how…wide he is, I'm more concerned for his cardiovascular system.
"Today will be the day you'll all remember as the day…"
It's my first fight and all, but I can't help it.
"Do you require mental aid?" Absolute and total silence. Most of the crowd look terrified. My crew on the other hand are smirking. Barrick? Barrick just looks confused. "I hear that prolonged exposure to stressful situations can result in irrational behavior and uncontrollable urges. You might want to get that checked out."
"…wut?"
"I have a good doctor on my crew if you need it…which I'm fairly certain you do. Hey Muret! What's your professional opinion on this?"
"Nothing quite as drastic captain." You can hear the malicious glee oozing from her voice. Ladies and gentlemen, that is my doctor. "He's simply mentally underdeveloped. No one would dress this…ugly otherwise."
My crew breaks out in peals of laughter, Sarquiss visibly having trouble standing and leaning on Lily for support. Lily on her part seems to tolerate her boyfriend hanging off of her like a limpet, all smiles for now. When the crowd joins in, this proves to be too much for Barrick.
"I'll beat you like a dog, Hyena!" he screams as he charges at me, club raised high. The ground trembles with every step he takes, deep footprints left in his wake. His face is distorted in fury, spittle is flying everywhere and his expansive reservoirs of lard are flapping violently. But…he's so…slow.
Just a quick step to the side and a half turn leaves me facing his undefended back. Wind one arm back, transformation, compression. When Barrick turns around, it's just in time for my fist to knock his head back. And to my personal surprise, it felt surprisingly instinctive. I love muscle memory.
"You broc me 'ose! I kill you!" He isn't down but I hadn't really expected him to be. Regardless of his jarring fashion choices, he's still a pirate worth more than most off what east blue had to offer…discounting outliers like the Strawhats of course. But he's not scary. Should I be scared?
Jump, jump, duck, sidestep, slap. Eew, not doing that again. That felt gross. "Please stop getting spit everywhere!" Barrick just howls in response to my polite request. Rude.
Lean back to avoid a wild swing, transform my waist, hands on the ground and…flip. My foot collides with his jaw with a very satisfying crack, sending my opponent to the ground...defenseless. But I'm a generous man so I wait for him to get up, which he does eventually if unsteadily.
To be honest with myself, I do have a reason for prolonging the fight and it's not just because I'm a sadist. I'm going to have to learn how to fight eventually, if I'm going to be living as Bellamy from now on. And that in a world with monsters like Luffy, Dellinger or Doflamingo, even if one discounts the marines. And nothing teaches you how to fight than good old experience. Logical conclusion? Use this live punching bag to test out my new body.
One of the first things to figure out is something critical to my survival. How tough am I? The simple answer is, very.
That's a solid steel bat he's swinging around, probably weighing a good fifty kilograms. And it does nothing when I block it with my forearm. In fact, it looks like it hurt him more than it did me from which I can only conclude that one piece physiology is broken as hell. Barrick flails at me for a good while I just stand there, blocking everything a lazy nonchalance. It's quite easy to be honest, which seems to piss him off even more.
Objectively, Barrick is likely faster with his bat than most athletes back home, but speed is almost always relative when it comes to combat. And like I mentioned already, he's just so much slower than me that he may as well be standing still. Weaker too if the amount of damage or lack thereof is any indication.
It doesn't even hurt when I grab his bat midswing. Bellamy for all the ridicule he got for being taken out in one punch…has a tough body. Ergo, Luffy is a monster.
Before Barrick can blink, I'm in front of him, jabbing him in the nose. And by the time his counter arrives, I'm long gone by the time his left hook sails through the space I had just vacated. Without the expected resistance, Barick is flung around by his own momentum, revealing is unprotected flank to me, which I take advantage, burying my fist into his side with a quick two jumps. A desperate backswing is easily avoided by a little backwards hop, something which is surprisingly easy when you have springs for legs.
Jump in, jab, jump out, repeat. Faster now. Jump in, jab, jump out, repeat. Faster. Jumpin, jab, jumpout. Faster. Jumpinjabjumpout. Within a minute Barick's nose is doing a very good impression of a squashed berry.
Having proven beyond all doubt that I have the speed to keep dancing around him forever, let's try something else.
Make some room, crouch, transform my legs…was this how Bellamy did it in the show?
"Spring hopper!" Oof, the tunnel vision, no wonder Bellamy didn't even hit Luffy in that fight. This is just like Kuro and his knock off soru but worse as I'm moving around in 3D, trying to adjust the angle with every jump. The more jumps I chain together like this, the faster I get, but also the more difficult it is to see where I'm going. This is not going to be effective at all until I can get a better reaction time or haki as I'll be relying on pure luck to bring me to my target. Oh, there he is! Turn, legs in front, IMPACT!
All breath escapes Barrick's lungs as his belly button is forcibly introduced to his spine by my boots. In my humble opinion, he's not getting out of that hole anytime soon. In conclusion, not a bad perfomance for my first fight. Not bad at all. Maybe I can survive this after all?
"Whoo! Let's raid us a ship, boys! Ack!" And there goes Sarquiss, folded in half by Lily's punch. That's what you get for ignoring your girlfriend. So while Lily leads the charge to the docks and Sarquiss is groaning on the ground, I'm going back to my room.
I've got plans to make.
My part in the storyline begins whenever the Strawhats arrive on Jaya, which will have to be soon. Avoiding my canon defeat is simple. Just don't pick a fight with them, don't beat up Montblanc and don't steal his gold.
But what do I do afterwards? I don't know what to expect from islands the Strawhats didn't visit and frankly I'm not ready to face off against the other Supernovas on my own yet. Plus, the strawhats just come across all the opportunities in the world. Just take the dials from skypiea for instance. They turned two lackluster fighters like Usopp & Nami into viable threats. The gold is a nice bonus.
So leeching off the Strawhats for a while is an idea, allowing me to use my canon knowledge to my advantage. But…Enel. My Crew and I are not ready to face Enel. I might be okay if I turn myself into a human-spring-lighting rod but the rest? Plus getting to Skypiea is a danger in and of itself. What was it? When you ride the knock-up stream, you either all make it or none of you do?
The unknown potentially safer path or the known dangerous path? Decisions, decisions…
Knock knock
"Captain?"
"Yes Eddy? What is it?" my navigator seems unsure, which is odd for him. Not that I've known him long but I do have Bellamy's memories…scattered everywhere. And from what I've seen, Eddy had a cocksure attitude all the time, much like the rest of the crew. So seeing him like this is new.
"The log pose reset…kinda."
"Kinda?"
"Thing is, it's pointing up."
Ah. Seems like my choice was made for me. Of course it fucking was.
Link:https://m.fanfiction.net/s/14271795/1/Spring-Time-A-Bellamy-SI
