Chereads / One Piece: Red Ghost / Chapter 1 - 1. Beginnings

One Piece: Red Ghost

Gang_Capone
  • --
    chs / week
  • --
    NOT RATINGS
  • 206.6k
    Views
Synopsis

Chapter 1 - 1. Beginnings

Jin Narumi. That was his name, he was sure of that. He was always the most average student in the room. Did whatever he needed to do, to stay out of the spotlight.

Some may call him an introvert, he called it living life peacefully. He had no social skills, and would to not interact with anyone at all.

In fact, he disliked humans.

Those kind smiles they would plaster across their soft faces. But deep down they hid endless feelings of hate, jealousy. and envy for each-other.

"The only one you can trust fully to never stab you in the back, is yourself. And that's fine, you is all you need. You came in this world alone, and you will surely die alone." His fathers words.

Those three sentence struck a cord with him. And until his death, he always remembered them.

Throughout his life, he watched his 'friends' find their happiness or joy. They would brag to him about finding 'the one' for themselves. Only to marry a couple of years down the line and go through divorces that mentally scarred, and financially drained them.

He wouldn't say much whenever they came to him for consoling. 'Is this the happiness you chased after so much?' If it was, he was definitely better off without it. This further proved his fathers words. In this world... he was truly alone.

When he was young, he would doubt his fathers words at times. Maybe he could... give it a chance...?

And so he did, his first relationship didn't last long, and he was thankful for that. He learned many things.

One of them being, he had absolutely no tolerance for humans. They were deceptive, conniving, and scheming devils. Each and every one of them would express joy at a persons misery.

Of course, he couldn't exempt himself. Just like them, he was also human. So what was he to do? Hate himself as well? No, he learned to live with himself and for himself. When that finally clicked... he felt complete, like he had found the last missing peace to a puzzle.

No longer in his physical body, he continued to float aimlessly in the sea of darkness. This place brought him peace. The kind that washed over him when he was alone, inside of his room as he listened to his music and watched as the rain poured like it had a vengeance.

The calmness also made him reminisce of the few interactions he had. Half of them were with his father. His mother wasn't there for him, not because she didn't care for him, but she simply couldn't.

She died giving birth to him.

His father would mention her at least once when they talked. "Your mother was a beautiful woman. There was not one man who would reject her. I was lucky to snag a woman like her, but you? Give up. Your generation is too far gone, your generation doesn't know what love is."

And boy wasn't that the truth.

However, through his fathers words, Jin could feel a sense of bitterness and hatefulness towards him when his father spoke. After all, it must have not been easy dealing with such a tragic death.

Maybe he hoped to make his life miserable as well? Who knows. Jin still thanked his father for the lessons he taught, even if his father didn't love him in return.

Maybe his worldview would be drastically different had he had his mother in his life. She could have provided emotional support, motherly care, and affection.

Maybe he wouldn't be as heartless as he became later on in his life.

'Ha, still worrying about life when I am already dead.'

"You pour soul."

Despite the sudden voice, Jin didn't freak out. He couldn't freak out, he was the calmest he had ever been.

'What's going on?'

His surroundings shifted.

Now he found himself standing over as a ghost, watching two kids build a sanbdox together. A little boy and girl.

'...what?'

Not able to comprehend what was going on, he continued to watch. And right before his eyes, the children began to grow.

He followed them every step of the way.

From their primary school days, to their middle school days, high school days, and finally... university.

The bond they shared was inseparable. Both were there for each other during their hardest and most painful times.

There were times they would fight and cry. But they always managed to come back together and reconcile.

This was the classic example of two people who were hopelessly in love, people who went through their ups and downs together, and started from the ground up.

Call it childish, this was what Jin had dreamed of one point in his life, until reality came crashing down on him.

The little boy was now a man and the girl had blossomed into a precious flower, one that you would look at, and want to pick because it reeled you into its beauty.

The man stood tall, unblinking as he stared at the love of his life on a cleared balcony.

He slowly dropped to one knee, reached for his back pocket, and took out a box.

Covering her hands, the woman couldn't suppress her tears as they trailed from down her cheeks, neck, and unto her black one piece dress.

The man flipped open the small box, revealing a shiny silver ring, with a red crystal embedded right in the center of it.

"Will you marr-"

The woman rushed into his arms before he could finish his carefully planned proposal. "Yes!" She said enthusiastically. It was the best moment of her life, of THEIR lives.

A couple of years later down the line, she was due for a child. The couple celebrated, spilling the news to anyone they could. Family, friends, and even coworkers. They couldn't help their excitement.

'Huh...wait. Is that..'

"That's right Jin. That's your father, and your mother."

A middle man appeared to his side. He wore sandals and khaki shorts that showed off his slightly Harry legs. He was like a man on vacation, with his Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses.

Jin glanced once at the old man, then turned back.

"You might be wondering why I'm showing you this, right?"

"..."

"Well aren't you a fun one." He smiled. "Maybe you'll find the piece you've been missing. There's much you've yet to learn about yourself."

What the couple had not expected, was that the woman would conceive her child sooner than they thought.

The man hurried footsteps clacked impatiently as he walked around just outside the doors where he heard the painful screams of his lovely wife.

"Arghhh!!"

"Keep pushing ma'am!"

"Just a little more!!"

"Push! Push!"

In mere moments, the screams finally stopped. The light to the door turned off, and they were flung open. A couple of doctors stood with melancholy and apologetic faces.

The mans heart tightened, his heart raced, with fear for the worst.

"We're sorry, Mr. Narumi. We tried everything we could. But your wife... she won't be able to make it."

The news devastated him. But he couldn't allow himself to fall, not yet. Not until he saw her face again. He needed to be with her in her last moments. That's the least a husband should do for his dying wife.

He rushed into the room.

And there she was, she lied in the hospital bed, pale as a sheet of paper, with a small smile on her face as she carried the little child weakly in her arms. Beads of sweat rand down the sides of her head. Her soaked luscious dark hair sprawled all over the pillows.

"Waaaah, waaaah."

The doctors took the baby from her, as she had started to lose her grip. And the man darted to her side, squeezing her hand.

Tears threatened to come out of his eyes. His body shook and voice quivered. "D-don't leave me. Please..."

The woman gathered the last strength that she could. She gently stroked the mans hair and uttered a couple of words with difficulty. "Take care."

Imparting her words, her eyes slowly shut, and hand dropped lifelessly too her side. She was gone.

That day, a life had been taken, a heart shattered, and a family destroyed.

Jin finally understood what made his father so emotionless, and void of sympathy and love. However, that did not excuse the alcoholic tendencies he later developed on in his life.

Jin went through a lot of mental and physical torture early on his life, because of his father. But he never once came to hate him, which was odd considering he was not fond of other people.

But one question still replayed in Jins mind, so he voiced it out as he faced the middle aged man. "Why are you showing me this?"

"Shhh, look."

And he did. His childhood was played out like a movie. Then he started his middle school years, and finally the beginning of his high school year.

Freshman year of high school. He remembered that year vividly, because it was the year he lost someone important to him, his father. The loss hit him harder than he thought it would have.

At his fathers funeral, not many had shown up. After his father had started drinking, relationships with both sides of the family completely soured and broke down. It wasn't long before people completely cut him out of their lives. He lived a sad life to the end.

Then, time began to rewind.

He was a kid again. Sleeping like a bear in hibernation, on his less then comfortable bed that his father may have just picked up randomly off the streets.

It was night time. Stars were clearly visible and the winds ran rampant.

The door to his room creaked open. Socks slided against the hard wood as his father neared him with a knife in his back. After what felt like hours of staring, his father raised the knife intending to stab him in his heart.

...He couldn't do it.

It was his son, THEIR son. The child his sweetheart gave her life for, who was he to take such a precious life?

He glanced at the hand that held the knife. He was a monster. What father, or parent, would even have the thought of killing their child, and almost follow through it.

Smiling bitterly he snuck back into the living room and chugged another bottle of beer in silence.

From that day on, he would continue to fight his inner demons. At times, he came even closer to killing his son. It became too much, that he finally decided to... take his own life.

Tears unknowingly streamed down Jins eyes. 'He did it... for me.'

"Yes he did. For you, he sacrificed himself. He truly loved you, no matter the pain he put you through, they both loved you," the middle aged man said, as he stared in no particular direction. "I have to confess, I'm sorry as well."

Sorry? Sorry for what? Jin furrowed his brows, tears still streaming down his face, as he donned a look of curiosity as to what the middle aged man was talking about.

His families problems didn't have anything to do with him. Or at least, they shouldn't have.

"You weren't supposed to live a life like that. Your family was supposed to be a healthy and full one. You were supposed to grow up with both of your parents, just like any other child. But due to my negligence, your life took a turn for the worst. Once again, I'm deeply sorry."

The man bowed, at a complete ninety degree angle.

"Sorry? You think sorry is going to cut it?" Jins voice carried a sharper coldness than it usually did. If sorry was all it took to right a wrong, than the world would be a happier place.

Sadly, it didn't work like that. He has far too many scars to simply forget them, just because of a sorry.

The mans face was one of guilt as he raised his torso. "I know that I've wronged you. And I truly am sorry for it. And if you can't find it in your heart to forgive me, that's fine too. And for the mistakes I've committed against you and your family, I will reincarnate you in any world of your choosing, with two boons that will accompany you into that world."

"Huh?"

"Should I repeat my-"

"No," Jin said. "What's going on?"

He needed an explanation for the sharp turn the conversation had just taken. He was never a religious person, but even he was able to tell at first glance, that this was the man people referred to as 'god.' The air around him was ethereal, and majestic. Like a ruler, king of kings, someone that stood above all and held the lives of every single person under his influence in his hands.

"Right. Would you like the long explanation, or short?"

"Short."

"Okay, so. Basically when people die, they would usually enter the reincarnation cycle of that universe and are more than likely to reincarnate somewhere on the planet they had died in. However, for special cases like yours, you get to choose the world you can reincarnate in." He continued. "Originally that would have been all you were offered. However, both of your parents turned down my offer, and instead, wished that they could somehow use their chances to give you anything that will give you an edge in the world you chose to reincarnate in."

Jin remained stoic despite the bomb that had just been dropped on him. At the point he was at, nothing could surprise him anymore. "I...see. My parents huh? I decline."

"Unfortunately that is not possible."

"Why?"

"Because it is not."

Many would have killed at the enticing offer Jin was given. But because of his experiences, Jin did not want live life again. He found it meaningless now, and just a waste of time. "What happened to my parents?"

"They are enjoying each other's presence in heaven."

"Alright. Then I will take your 'offer'."

"Great! Than let's get started..."