1 1. New Life

[I'm back writing again. It's been a tough few weeks dealing with work related stuff that I had no energy to do anything. I'm writing this fic to keep myself from getting bored of writing my other fic, but like that one I'll be updating slowly. Ill be releasing a chapter of that one in a day or two. Staying motivated is hard. Sorry 😋. enjoy.]

There was no truck-kun or a slow moving tractor, nor did he spend his life in a hospital or get betrayed.

No, he died while eating a ham sandwich.

He was eating his lunch while driving but spilled his drink. He planned to get another one on the way but he was in a hurry for a meeting at his firm and his stomach was protesting.

So he ate his food without something to wash it down.

The bread was so dry that it caught in his throat and he ended up choking to death while sitting at a red light.

-

"Hahahahaha! Death by ham sandwich! While not really original, it gets me every time I hear about a death like this."

The goddess that recieved him after he died wasn't what he expected.

She wore a red hoodie and tight jeans that were ripped and frayed, and her crimson hair was cut short in a punk rock style. Her assets we not over exaggerated and matched her slim athletic figure.

She was practically laughing so hard her sides hurt, causing me to start getting annoyed.

"Okay... I'm sorry but that is just funny. Look, let's get this over with." She waved her hand and a file appeared which she began to read.

"You're karma score is fairly good, you didn't hurt anyone unnecessarily and you did some good deeds here and there. You spent most of your life doing what was expected of you, and were diligent in your work. However..." she trailed off and I couldn't help but get nervous. "There's a flag here left behind from your previous life."

"What does that mean? Why would my previous life have any effect of my current one?" I asked hoping it would turn out to be nothing bad.

She paused and looked at me and her gaze held something else now.

"Well... it seems your previous self saved a world and died with an excess of good karma, which was supposed to carry over to to your latest life, but a clerical error in the after-life system caused those points to be withheld for review, but an agent never got assigned. This means... you didn't get the boons you should have been given in your latest life."

I could understand what she was saying and was hopeful this would benefit me somehow.

"This means you're entitled to a NL-dash-7 which is a new life with a wish up to the 7th power level on the multiversal scale." She turned away from me and waved her hand.

I didn't know what that meant but it sounded pretty good. I had been an avid consumer of manga and anime before leaving college and joining a law firm, so those terms were familiar to me for the most part.

A golden wheel appeared in the white room we were in and she turned to me and said, "This is the bane of many gamer's existence, a karma wheel that will decide what realm, and wish you will be entitled to. Sorry, you don't get to make the actual wish, fate will do that."

That was fine by me. I honestly expected to go to heaven or be reborn again anew, so being given a chance like this, I was very grateful.

The golden wheel looked like a roulette wheel and had 3 slots at the top and inside the wheel many colorful orbs swirled around.

The wheel spun and the all the colorful orbs swirled like they were in a vortex. Finally one orb left the swirl and made it's way up.

The golden colored orb left the center and found its place in the first slot.

A few moments later, a silver ball floated up and placed itself into the second slot.

And then a few moments after that a last ball with a bright blue color and green lines rested itself into the last slot.

The whole process was so magical and I felt myself going into a trance while watching the whole process.

"And... done! These orbs all belong to you. They each represent a boon you will receive in some form, all decided by fate. But don't worry, since you spun this due to an excess of good karma points, you should not get anything lame. Go on, take them." She motioned for me to approach and I walked up to the wheel and the orbs floated towards me and hung in the air in front of me.

"Just touch the orb and it will reveal itself and fuse with your soul body. The last orb is always the world travel orb, and will decide where you go and in what state, meaning either as a newborn or a premade body if the other orbs come into play."

I reached out to the golden orb, and as my hand touched it, I felt a warmth wash over me. A golden aura enveloped my soul body and now a shimmering gold aura remained on me.

"Oh! Not bad! That was a divine template... let's see... Ah, that's the template of a demi god whose divinity is related to the wind and waves. An Polynesian demi-god named Maui. That's really good! It even has potential to reach full godhood after a generating a bit of faith. Congrats!" She started clapping and I felt a little bashful but also happy. I had watched Moana and read a few things about the actual myth. I wonder if this template is the Disney version or the myth version. Guess I'll find out later.

But now it was time to accept my second boon.

I reach out and the silver orb merged into me. Nothing happened but the goddess was there to explain it.

"That's an interesting one. Not a totally overpowered ability but still fairly powerful. That's an ability called Moon God's Miracle. Once a week, under the light of the moon, a minor wish for an item can be made. It has some restrictions but the items made can be fairly powerful but if you wish for something absurd the wish could be denied and you'd have to wait a week to retry. Still it's a very good ability and can even be developed in some ways. Go on now, accept the world orb, I'm sure your eager to move on."

I was happy with that ability and was already thinking how I could use it, so I reached out for the final orb.

As I touched the orb, its burst and expanded into a blue portal.

"Haha, that's a pretty popular world. The world of One Piece. Looks like you won't have to endure a rebirth and will be placed randomly in your godly body. And don't worry you will be going to your own alternate verse so you won't run into any other reincarnators or travelers. Well good luck. Bye!"

I was sucked into the portal unceremoniously and felt like I was being sucked through a straw.

After a moment I found myself in the blue sky, falling down through the clouds.

"HOLY SHeeeeeT!" I screamed, as my face contorted from the wind pressure. I was momentarily scared but I quickly got my bearings.

The feeling if the wind felt comforting and the feeling of free falling for some reason wasn't as scary as it would have been when I was a mortal in my last life.

As I fell I had time to check myself out. My skin was tanned and my body looked like it was chiselled out of marble. My body wasn't the same as the Disney's version of Maui which I felt a little relieved by since he was a very big and robust dude but it would not have stood out much anyway since I'm in the world of One Piece. I looked more like the gif of the ultimate chad with a strong jaw and exaggerated muscular body.

I started thinking about the One Piece world as I finally descended past the clouds and was able to see what was below me.

My jaw dropped at how beautiful the world looked.

The ocean and islands I could see from this high left me in awe with how amazing it looked. It was like I was falling into a cerulean marble with green and brown dots that must be islands.

The reflection of the light caused the whole world to sparkle like a jewel.

I was so zoned out on the scenery, that I almost forgot I was falling and about to hit the ground of an island below me.

"Uh oh..." I braced for impact of curled into a ball. I was like a meteor ready to strike the ground. I didn't know how this was going to feel since I did have a demi god body, but my instincts still told me it was still gonna be painful.

*Boom!*

I layed sprawled out in a 10 meter wide crater. While it did hurt quite a bit and now I felt sore all over, I could feel my body already start to recover.

"Did it have to drop me from freaking space?!" I screamed my complaint at the sky, towards the heavens so maybe that goddess could hear me.

'Tch! I might as well forget about it. Now, where am I exactly?'

I crawled out of the crater and looked around and found myself surrounded by a few sparse palm trees on a small island with nothing but a modest pile of rocks with a cave.

"Is this a joke? Isn't this island a damn replica of the one Maui was stranded on in the Disney version?"

I was beginning to feel like the Goddess definitely did this to me for her amusement.

'Now, what do I do?'

-------

Maui's powers in my fic for now will be these.

Immortality (eternal youth)

Godly Physique (herculean strength and endurance)

Shapeshifting (any creature he can imagine. It costs more stamina to maintain the larger the creature he shifts into)

Fish Hook Mastery (Maui has innate talent at using his fish hook. He is able to utilize the weapon naturally.)

Super Swimming (like Aquaman, and he also doesn't have to breath while underwater.)

Love of the Sea and Wind (He doesn't control the elements, however he is favored by the wind and sea. This just means both will always try to help him subtly like helping him with sailing among other things.)

Language Comprehension (An inherent skill all gods possess. Allows them to read and write in any language they see or hear. Yes, even the ancient language on the poneglyphs.)

Moon God's Miracle (Once a week under the moonlight, a minor wish for an item can be granted. May fail if wish requires too many concepts. Results can be improved with generated faith and increasing divinity.)