A fan's dilemma (1)
"It's been a year. I think it's time you start moving."
The shitfaced man instantly sobered up. "what?"
"You heard me. How long have you repeated this day?"
"...I lost count after three hundred."
"You've been stuck here in this moment for 3 years. Just because I gave you the power to repeat time doesn't mean you get to abuse it to hole yourself in a specific moment.
I gave you that so you wouldn't have any regrets regarding anything in your life.
So that at some point you'll feel like you've everything you wanted to do and can finally move on.
Instead of that, what is this?
repeating the same one day for three years. What more do you want from this place?
From this moment.
Explain."
"...sigh...Mr God, you know the reason. You know it all. why still ask?"
"Because you need to have this conversation with someone that knows you. Someone who won't forget everything after one day.
Someone who you feel safe around."
"Hah! Is that the reason you're in this getup? As Robin of all people?"
"Well, it gave you quite the surprise! Plus, it makes the situation more funny!"
"...do you adjust your personality for everyone?"
"Yeah. obviously. I act however I want to! Now, get to talking."
Rick then took out a big bottle of really strong rum from the bar and took out two glasses.
"Want some?"
"No, it would set a bad example. I forbid the thing in so many religions yet the people keep drinking this piss."
"..well, suit yourself. I'm getting me some."
With that, he started to drink straight from the bottle.
"Well, continue talking. What's the holdup?"
"don't rush me! It's been three years' worth of stuff, I need to think.
hmm...where do I begin?"
"Well, this is like a therapy session for you that I'm doing free of charge. for now, so, how about we start from the beginning? What did you do in your first couple of runs?"
"Hmm..Well, I had no strength back then, and before I learned a sort of version of seimei kikan I had been fun-sized and couldn't really do anything. Had no stamina and no strength."
"Hmm, and how did that make you feel? Hopeless and weak?"
God[Robin] was wearing a pair of professional-looking spectacles and was turning the page of a notepad. She/He/whatever was looking like an extremely professional therapist that takes thousands of dollars from people by prescribing sleeping pills and simply listening to them.
In short, God was in a perfect therapist cosplay.
"...Please take things seriously."
Even though Rick said that he took out a small notepad of his own and ticked an item off from a bucket list.
[Robin wearing a uniform, (Check)]
"Cough* where was I?
Right! early days.
Well, I only had two options to choose from. Get more skills from other people that I probably couldn't use but would feel great to have.
Or, I could learn skills one at a time and then eventually systematically without wasting time become capable of doing everything.
...
So of course I chose the former.
Now, who were the ones I got killed by?
I started with Zoro."
**
[You have been killed.]
[Reenacting your killer's trauma]
**
"Well, it was as expected. Kuina and starving and being 'saved' by Luffy and feeling surprised that a guy like Luffy exists.
What skill did I get?
Hmm. let's just say that it was not good."
**
[choose one from your enemy's skills]
And then there were many cards with their backs turned on Rick so that he would not be able to read their contents.
But they were color-coded. Some were bronze, some purple, some silver, and only 1 gold.
So, Rick chose the gold-colored card.
And it was something that he could never expect.
[Directions of fate.
Rank: S
You will be wherever you need to be. Not wherever you want to be. Let fate guide your directions.
-You will lose your sense of direction completely.]
"...Bit*h what the f*ck!!!??"
He promptly discarded the card and destroyed it.
**
"Hmm, yeah. It didn't go well.
Anyways, where was I?
Oh, getting killed by people and getting random "high-quality" golden skill cards.
Well, I had to try out Franky next.
Because I thought that his quirks were somewhat tame and wouldn't affect him as much as the others.
I was sorely mistaken again."
**
[You have been killed]
[Recreating your killer's trauma]
"..Hmm, just the regular backstory from One Piece. Having to watch his beloved mentor/father getting hurt by his creations and being captured because of him.
Hmm, immense guilt and regret.
Hmm, depression and sorrow.
Desire to prevent it from happening. Finding strays like he used to be and giving them a home to quell the infinite guilt.
hmm, so, regular One Piece backstory. Checks out."
[You may now pick a skill]
Just like the last time, a slew of skills laid out in front of him.
"Well, that won't happen again, right? I'll definitely get a useful skill from the golden one, right?"
There was only one golden skill and Rick took it.
[Genius pervert
Rank: S
This skill belonged to a man whose ingenuity was as unrivaled as his lack of shame.
-The more your strip the more free you feel and your brain activates.]
"...Ugh....why do I still hold hope?
All of them have a 'catch' don't they?
Sigh...."
Rick let out the longest sigh in his life. He accepted his fate. So far it seemed like only the devil fruit skills don't have catches.
**[Sanji]
[You have been killed]
[Recreating the trauma of your enemy]
"*sob sob.
That was tough. How could they treat such a nice kid like that?
And damn you Zeff!!
For being such a great man/dad. Now I miss my dad."
Next was the time to choose skills,
Two golden this time.
"Hmm, let's hope that this one isn't crazy."
[Specialized cooking intuition
Rank: S
You have the greatest cooking intuition in the world. No matter what it is, if you've eaten it, you can make it!
-You get a boost in speed if there are either hungry people or women that you want to feed.]
"Huh, that's not that bad. I used to love cooking before. This is a great skill. Now I can also woo women using food.
Not that I need it. After all, I am extremely charming.
I am so charming that even though I 'used to be' ugly, I was still in the friend zone of tens of beautiful popular girls.
Yeah! I had the funny guy charm.
Now that I'm in One Piece world filled with weird people, I'll definitely find someone who'll like me for my personality and not just looks."
A tear fell to the ground for absolutely no reason. After all, why would Rick shed a tear at this beautiful revelation or the thought that, even in this weird world, he is still ugly as hell? Absolutely no reason.
**
[Chopper]
Two golden skills.
"Hmm, a 50-50 chance. Great, not like I've ever lost any of those.
{Says a Genshin impact player that lost the gacha 50-50 chance all the time and got so many terrible characters and weapons that he made more than 15 accs to get a 'lucky acc'. But he lost the 50-50 chance every single time even in that "Lucky Account".}
[Genius doctor
Rank:S
You learn anything regarding being a physician and have an extreme intuition regarding patients. The more you help patients, the better you feel. However, you can't take compliments. Every compliment will make you feel embarrassed and abashed.]
"Huh, that's great. I can finally tell my parents that I am a doctor.
'Mom look, I am a doctor now!! You don't have to worry about my marriage anymore. beautiful girl's parents are going to line up to marry me to their beautiful daughters.'
Also, there is no drawback. Such a perfect skill. Chopper, you were always my favorite Strawhat!!!
I love you!!"
**
[You have been killed]
[The trauma of your enemy is being recreated]
"...I don't wanna talk about this one."
Two golden skills.
[Hana Hana no Mi
Rank: S (may be subject to change depending on potential awakenings.)
The Hana Hana no Mi is a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows the user to replicate and sprout pieces of their body from the surface of any object or living thing As further allusion to this, pinkish-white petal-like particles form at and then swirl away from where the parts sprout and vanish, as well as around the user itself.
-Special situation. As the user has a devil fruit skill, a new condition applies.
-The user may use this skill only if the other devil fruit skills are not being used. This condition applies to all devil fruit skills. Only one of them may be in use at a time.]
"Well, that went much better than expected. I guess I won this 50-50.
...I think?"