Bootleg Protagonist Chapter 1 -

Authors Note: This is my first work on this site so I could use some tips on how it functions and things I need to know about interacting with the community. I apologize for any errors I make in my work and ask for helpful criticism to improve my writing.

For the record I was inspired to write and self-insert by Cross-Brain and "This Bites!". Thank you for the inspiration. I will also be adopting some ideas for backstory plot from "New Game Plus" by DuncanIdaho2014. Thank you for your writing and getting me into fanfiction, it has been fun reading and I hope as much fun writing.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any of Oda's characters or settings I use.

I sigh, staring at the empty page on the computer screen. I couldn't decide what to write for my first fanfiction. This wasn't to say I didn't have ideas, I had plenty. My first plan had been to write about what would happen if Enel's mind had suddenly been taken over by someone more competent as a villain, but as time passed I began to drift towards more self-insert oriented stuff. I felt I could write better from my own perspective, meaning that it would make for a better introduction piece. If I was going to join this website I didn't want to make a bad first impression. But I still couldn't decide how to do it. Maybe a gamer fic? Nah, I wanted my first fanfic to be something that was more of my own. But I was having trouble coming up with original ideas. Everything I thought of seemed to be something that someone else had already done.

Maybe this is simpler than I think? I mean I don't have to do something original so long as I make it my own right?

Turning away from my computer screen midthought, I decided I might be able to think better on a full stomach; as it was currently I might try eating a whale(if you could find one in the desert).

Shouldn't I have eaten earlier? Maybe mom was right about me starving myself during work.

As I move to get up from my chair I suddenly cry out as the abdominal pain gets excruciatingly worse in a different area.

"That didn't feel like a stomach ache."

I sit back down and look towards my lower right torso.

That was...weird. I hadn't felt anything that bad since my case of pancreatitis last winter.

I move to get up again, hoping it was just one of my random cramps, but the pain quickly came back. I sit down once more but some of the pain stays this time ... and it's getting worse.

"What's going on?"

The sound of my voice does nothing to answer my question but I begin to think about theories to my current condition. Guessing by the area of the pain it can't be just normal hunger … can it? Stomach aches should not be able to get this bad at the very least. Suddenly my paranoid mind kicks into gear: "Maybe it's my liver?" I have a condition called Wilson's Disease that means my liver doesn't quite work properly. I won't get into the details but it had been treated, I shouldn't have anything to worry about ... or at least I hope so.

The pain is getting worse and it's beginning to become hard to focus on anything else. I slide my desk chair over to my phone before I pause, thinking about who I should call. I don't have anything concrete enough to call the hospital or the police and I'm not sure I should anyway. The best I could do is call my parents. But my parents are away right now and I don't want to bother them if it isn't anything serious. I debate in my head for awhile but eventually decide to call my mom. I figure it would be better to ask for forgiveness due to wasted time than to risk my personal health again.

But as I move to push the call icon the pain spikes and everything goes black.

Time passes as I try over and over again to do something, anything. The pain is gone but so is everything else. Touch, sight, smell, hearing, they all tell me nothing.

It seems to me that an eternity passes in the endless dark. And as it does I come to a conclusion: I am in a coma. I am still capable of thought but my body does not or cannot obey me. I'm not sure how it happened. Nothing like this has happened to me or my family before, but it's the only conclusion I can come to. After all, I'm still thinking so I can't be dead.

As I wait for something to change thoughts pass through my head. The first and most painful is the possibility of death. I have no idea if I'll ever wake up from this. I try to be calm with the notion but if I had control of my body I'd be hyperventilating. I try to cry, to show any emotion at all, but it just sticks to me without outlet.

I love my family dearly. They've helped through the roughest of times and made me happy every day that they could. Even now without senses I could imagine their faces. It destroys me inside to believe I might not see them again. I remembered my hopes and my dreams. The idea that I could lose the chance to complete them terrified me to the core. But more than any of that was the simple and unadulterated fear of the unknown. The idea of thinking and feeling nothing is completely alien and thus terrifying to me. It may be selfish of me to feel that my fear of death is stronger than fear of not seeing my family again, but I know that they will be okay regardless of what happens to me.

For what feels like hours I do the mental equivalent of raging and crying at the world. My thoughts scream into the void and roar at the universe. "I don't want to die!" "It's not fair I'm too young!" "I still have so much to do!" But bit by bit I force myself to calm down. There's nothing I can do now. As much as I wish things could go differently I no longer have control of my fate. I can only hope whatever hospital I ended up in or will end up in can save me.

Therefore I must be prepared for the possibility of never seeing my loved ones again.

In the silent emptiness of my mind, I begin to mourn each and every person I ever knew.

My friends. My family. Close buddies. Mere acquaintances. Teachers. Students. Grandmother. Grandfather. Mom. Dad. Sister. Brother.

I spend an eternity remembering each of them and our closest moments. Silently I apologize for the chance that I don't return to them. I hope that they forgive me and try to convey how much each of them meant to me. To my happiness.

I know that they can't hear me but it makes me feel better to believe that they can.

Eventually I run out of words to think and silent prayers to make.

It is silent once more.

With nothing much else to do I began to do reruns of stories I read and movies I watched in my head. Whether its the muting of my senses or the state of my mind somehow my memory of them has improved. I imagine settings and characters from countless works of literature, from anime to history books. Whole films play through my brain and I can almost picture myself in a theatre. There are some missing bits from things I haven't referenced in a long time but others I remember with complete clarity. But even with the vast library of memories to choose from I still meet a limit to which they can entertain me.

As soon as finish reflecting on One Piece I begin to wonder about how much time has passed. I'm certain whatever is going on with my brain has screwed with time perception. Its entirely possible decades or hours have passed. Without a shred of my senses left I cannot tell.

God if it's only been hours and I have to spend decades like this I think I might want them to put me out of misery now! Whoever them is. Maybe there isn't a them? It's possible I'm still lying unconscious on my floor. How in the world did I get unconscious in the first place? The pain was coming from my liver area or at least near it. If something was going on there, how did it affect my-

Just as I start to contemplate how liver failure could have transitioned into a coma I begin to make out a light.

Oh God everything is wrong.

I'm wet, my body feels raw and painful, my sight is blurry and is made up of shades of gray, my hearing is super loud, and I can't make out anything.

It's really hard to breathe and everything my senses are telling me is chaos. I shut my eyes and try to cover my ears but my strangely small arms barely obey any signal I send them. I want to cry so I do. I keep crying and crying until my lungs hurt and the chaos begins to calm down.

Slowly I begin to settle down and open my eyes. I still can't seem to make out my surroundings. I focus my hearing but the most I can make out is some random high pitched noises. As my senses slowly begin to come to me again I realize I am being held by some kind of cloth. I can feel some kind of pressure on it like it's being held by something uneven.

But as much as I would like to continue observing my surroundings I feel seriously tired.

As the comfortable warmth of sleep envelops me I begin to wonder just what the heck is happening to me.

I still have no idea about how long has passed. I keep fading in out of sleep with my senses in similar states of disarray. It seems to be a little better each time but not enough to allow me to make out much of my environment. But I have managed to come to a conclusion. It took a lot of on and off thinking since I keep falling asleep and my senses are still being assaulted but I think I know what's happened to me.

I have been reborn.

Somehow or someway the thing that caused me so much pain before I blacked out killed me and my soul and memories have been transferred to a baby. I went over tons of possibilities in my head and nothing I can think of in the medical world explains how or what I've been sensing if I had woken up from a coma. The black and white sight, high pitched hearing, and initial feeling of wetness resemble no side effects or treatments I heard of. The first real tip was my eyesight. I know that newborns can only see in relation to dark and light so my slowly improving vision made sense. But I finally confirmed my theory when my eyesight developed enough to recognize the fact that I was in a crib.

Many would believe that by coming to this conclusion I must be either insane or religious. But after everything I have recently undergone I have a right to my insanity at the very least. And either way once you eliminate the possible, whatever is left no matter how impossible must be the truth … or something like that.

Well if I've been reborn all that's left to do is wait for senses to develop and become accustomed to my new life. I've already mourned my old one no sense in repeating the action. In fact after coming to the realization I was reborn I celebrated a little. It's true I'd lost everything I had but some time ago I thought I might die permanently. At least now I still have a chance at being happy. Heck what I had was considered impossible and more than likely the first time something like this happened! I still mourned my family though and I hoped that they could move past me. Kind of a weird hope but I wasn't miserable so they shouldn't be either. I sigh again at thinking about my family and wonder what their doing right now. I was guessing at least 9 months and a few weeks have passed between my death and now. Maybe I could somehow meet them again? No, thats a bad idea. By the time I'm able to find them or meet them they'll have probably moved on. I'd only distress them and mess with their sense of reality. Better that I try to get on with my own life.

As for said new life I knew that I was going to be starting with a huge advantage. I had a whole 18 years of experience and schooling in my now undersized noggin and I wasn't above using it to cheat my way ahead. Of course to start my new life I was going to need to become accustomed to my new background.

For one I was still a boy. I didn't really know what to think about that. Sure I was more comfortable with what I was used to but I didn't have any preference besides that. This rebirth my have been my only chance to see what it was like to be the opposite gender. But that sprung up more than a number of weird thoughts in my head so I tried to move on.

I'm also still the same ethnicity. That makes me wonder about the state of the world I'll be growing up in. How much racism and other beliefs will have changed by the time I'm back to my old age. How my parents will be like. Which gets me started on my current environment.

I've already managed to make out some details with my developing senses. For one I'm on a boat. Most of the surrounding blurs are brown like wood and remain immobile suggesting structures. Of course any house can be wooden but I still feel rocking even when my sight suggests I'm immobile. However, the fact that I'm in a wooden boat disturbs me somewhat. After all metal boats are far more common in modern times. Once more digging into the weird possibilities of rebirth there's a chance I've been reborn in a different time or universe. Heck, I might not even be human! But that would discount everything my senses have already told me. Regardless, there's no telling the state of my being now that I've accepted the supernatural. Anythings possible but I might was well try and move forward with the logical conclusion I'm still in the same world and time.

But to get back on track I have been in the same room every time I wake up. The room I'm in is somewhat furnished. I can see brown blocks through the bars of my crib that resemble furniture. Maybe a desk? Moving on there are some smaller discolorations on what I assume are walls with the most prominent being largely white with markings of blue. The general rectangular look suggests a flag, banner, or painting but I can't make out the exact shapes yet. Finally there's a large window in the room because it is always either really light or really dark. That's really all I've been able to make of my surroundings.

However what's really interesting is the people that have been coming in and out of the room. The greater majority of them are similar height and shape with some kind of white and blue uniform. Some carry a kind of long brown long thing on their back. They vaguely remind me of muskets which once again clashes with my idea of my time period. I'm beginning to think I have been reborn in the past which really opens a bunch of possibilities for me. I have taken a lot of history classes so depending on the time period I can really live it up. But the uniforms I have been seeing don't remind me of anything I have heard of in history class. I'll examine that more later. But besides those bearing this uniform two other individuals have entered the room. The first is around the same size as the others but has some sort of flowing cape like clothing with blue shoulders. Beneath it is grey clothing and their wearing a wide brimmed hat. The second is much larger than the others and seem bulky. They either have a black hat or black hair with greying parts. They wear similarly coloured clothing to the others uniforms but have that same flowing cape with red shoulders. They are the one that I can assume is my guardian. They stay in the room the most and they get closer than anyone else. They take care of feeding me and whatnot. I can't make out a voice or face yet but I'm hoping to develop the ability soon.

Something that surprises me is the lack of a female presence. I should have a mother to take care of me or feed me. But I haven't been able to make out any females since I was reborn. Besides maybe whatever time I spent with my mother during the chaotic assault on my senses that was my birth. The only conclusion I can come to is they died or gave me to someone else. Both ideas disturb me and saddens me but I don't make any assumptions yet. I'll wait till I'm reasonably old enough to ask about the story behind it.

Well for now I'm just going to have to wait for my senses to develop more before I gain more information.

Today is the day. My eyes have developed enough to allow me to make out finer details at a close distance. I tested it out by observing the rims of the crib. Once my assumed guardian gets close enough I will be able to see his face. Not that it will do me much but there is seldom else for me to do at the moment. I might as well gain information.

On the subject of gaining information I'm beginning to parse out words from the now somewhat lower pitched noises I'm hearing. The words are in english so I won't have to learn a new language. It will somewhat difficult faking the language learning process though, so I don't know if I should be thankful or worried. Among the words I have managed to make out there are a few that stand out: marines, east, pirates, cannons, and home.

From this information I have deduced that I am aboard some kind of naval vessel that is heading east, has clashed with pirates, and is going to or from some kind of home. The whole naval idea fits with the fact that the majority of people I have seen were in uniform. East is just vague guessing from hearing the word, and it's only natural that any kind of government forces would clash with criminals. The problem with this last statement however is that I haven't heard or felt any kind of commotion, and that kind of conflict isn't something anyone but fictional characters sleep through.

However none of these deductions and questions matter as much as what I learned from the word cannons. Cannons have been outclassed by today's artillery weapons for a long time. I seriously doubt that any kind of cannon besides ceremonial would be operational in the present. Key word being "present." I must be in the past. The wooden boat and muskets both concurred with this theory and now that I know rebirth is real it ain't too far a stretch to believe you can be reborn in a different era. Sadly I still can't remember any historical english speaking naval groups that only wore white and blue.

Of course the fact that I know cannons exist and are in use helps me narrow down when I -

Thunk

Thunk

Thunk

These are the recognizable footsteps of my large assumed guardian. More than once I felt their approach to me whenever I started crying for formula or a change of swaddling clothes. Now was my chance to see their face.

A large white and grey figure with a flowing cloak looms over me from my left. I begin to make out some noises that sound close to words.

"He...ere...Lu...ow...re...y...toda..."

I almost make out the sentence and what I think is my name but before I have time to contemplate they are picking me up.

I finally see their face.

I recognize it. I don't know how or from where but I recognize it. The shape, the beard, the scar around their left eye, everything is familiar. Besides maybe the hair. I try so hard to remember. Something. Anything. I try to think about every historical figure I have ever seen a portrait but nothing comes to mind.

But everything clicks when I finally manage to make out the name they say to me once more.

"...wha...wi...at...face Luffy?"

This is THE Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp.

I am THE Monkey D. Luffy.

I promptly faint from that spike of brain stimulation.

There you go. My first chapter of my first fic. Anything tips or things I need to improve upon? Any problems with how I wrote it? Let me know and I might change it in the future.

I hope you liked it.