NOVEL WEB Chapter 1: Two Geniuses Meet
"Oh my god! Luffy looks so badass evading the pacifists' beam like that, it seems the training with Rayleigh really bore fruits!" I exclaimed inadvertently, calling for the attention of the driver in front of me.
"Sir, we're about to arrive" My private driver, Patrick, stated ominously... entering a massive facility on the outskirts of London.
*COUGH!*
"Sure, thanks Patrick" I regained my composure and put the newest tome of One Piece on the seat of the car, thinking about my presentation and preparing myself for a 'debut'.
...
Ever since I was a kid, I never had one dream; how to say? something I aspired to become. In my life things always happened… naturally. Like they were fated to occur, even against my [will].
From an early age, I loved maths. My father was an automobile engineer who taught me from an early age about numbers, measures, combustion and engines. It felt natural to follow in his footsteps as that was what I enjoyed the most aside from spending time with my mom who was a nurse... or so I felt, until she passed away with cancer.
At school, I was quickly labelled a weirdo. It felt natural to always be in my own world, going back home and trying my private experiments… you could say it didn't 'help' that my father August Graham was likewise thrilled by my experience and motivation to create new things. We both missed Mom, and we both concealed ourselves in the workshop to overcome that grief.
It felt natural to spend my whole life for the sake of my inventions… even overriding private contact, romantic relationships, friends… even my own health.
I felt I was fated to do what I was doing because I enjoyed it so much that nothing else seemed to matter. I quickly gained recognition and was even hired as an aeronautic engineer for Boeing after graduating from college... that was the first time I left my father for a long period of time, we both struggled to let go, but it was necessary.
It was during that time that I met important people in my life… and sacrificed them for the sake of my ambitions. I never had a dream. But there was something I wished to create since my young age. A water engine... if anything that was my father's dream which I believed myself clever enough to make it come true.
A machine capable of generating energy from water, there couldn't possibly be anything better for humanity who lived on a planet filled with water while we literally slaughtered ourselves for energy. For my forty years of age, at least a second of my life each day was spent on that idea. Is that a dream? I never saw it like that. I just thought it was possible and wished to create it, for me it was a challenge to overcome.
My only comfort outside of the workshop was stories and series. I loved anime, manga, sci-fi and fantasy. How wonderful would it be to live in a reality that isn't so limited by psychics? Instead of having to draw those limitations on paper in the form of equations and calculate results I could bend those results with my sheer will. Just thinking about it every time filled me with a mixture of amusement and disappointment. Amusing to imagine it, disappointing that it was so far out of reach.
One of the fiction words I enjoyed the most was One Piece by Eichiro Oda. That world was so marvellously crafted that I could only wish to live there and enjoy the sea, the people that lived so freely and enjoyed their life to the fullest... It is a dark story with more political thematics involved than most could ever fathom but within that thematic existed an unparalleled sense of freedom shared by the bright sea that engulfed the majority of that world.
The story mixed amusement with seriousness in a way that not many could achieve.
One Piece was the first thing that ever took my time aside from my experiments and well… sleeping. The one to introduce it to me was a college called Emma at Boeing, she was a bit of an otaku, until then I only read Jules Verne and a bit of Lovecraft. Sadly she moved to another country after learning everything she could from me. We were good friends, she had a crush on me… but I can't allow myself emotional distractions.
'If only One Piece was real… well, following the theory of parallel universes and antimatter, it should be real. Although it won't be exactly the same… there should be a reality close enough to it that it could still be called one piece but with many differences. Perhaps the protagonist will not be called Luffy, who knows…'
"We have arrived at the conference, Sir Alexander" Patrick stated again, parking outside the facility filled with luxurious cars. I was not going to be the only genius exposing my ideas... but I was going to be the only one exposing them on his own, without a team.
It didn't matter. Today is an important day for me. In front of the richest hedge funds in the world, I'm going to explain my idea of the future… a water engine. My reputation is renowned, my degrees certify my knowledge and they all expect a good theory as to why this is possible. With a good enough presentation, I could secure some funding for this project. As for the team to build it? I'd think about that afterwards... there weren't many ex-colleagues of mine that wouldn't want to involve themselves in a project to my name, that was the least of my worries.
I have never spoken to the masses like this, but then again... it felt natural because this is what I enjoy... so long as I can talk about something that makes me passionate, I feel like I can talk for days.
...
For the next two hours, I gave them the best of me with a smile on my face. I received a round of applause and many questions. Many multimillionaires exchanged contact details and invited me to their offices, broad smiles everywhere.
Or at least, that's what I believed.
"Should we drive back home, sir?" Patrick stated after we returned to the vehicle, I was exhausted.
"Yes please, I want to rest. The meeting was a little taxing".
He started the engine and I went back into my world, One Piece's latest tome, the end of Luffy and his crew's two years of training. We drove for a while until he stopped, I was so engrossed by the story that I didn't notice this was no traffic light. This was an alleyway.
When I was about to ask what happened since he hadn't driven in a while, Patrick turned around with something in his hands, wearing gloves.
"I'm sorry, Alexander… but you're not making it home today. Nothing personal, blame your genius brain and your naivety. A water engine will never work, not when you can handicap the wallets of those at the top".
Perhaps because I focused too much on my ideas, too much on a bright future... I forgot a variable, human's wickedness.
"W-Wha-"
He pointed what he had in his hands -a gun- towards me... the last thing I saw was the bright white moon shining on me as my gaze blurred.
*PA!*
*PA!*
*PA!*
Three bullets, three taps.
*PA!*
*PA!*
*PA!*
The tapping of heels, to be exact.
*RUMBLE!!*
His eyes opened releasing a small gust of red lightning. The ceiling was so far away that it looked unnatural, a gloomy atmosphere together with the subtle scent of blood permeated his nostrils.
"Ugh!" His first reaction was to cough and clutch his head in pain, his last memory, blood. His last sensation was pain.
"W-Where am I?" The boy inquired as the tapping of heels stopped.
"The Island of Kuraigana, Paradise, Grand Line".
Alexander noticed he wasn't alone in the room. The tall room resembled that of a mansion and yet, here there was just one chair... a single piece of furniture.
The voice belonged to a female. It was deep and yet melodious and graceful, filled with disregard.
"…"
When he recalled his consciousness and the blur of his sight disappeared, Alexander finally caught a glimpse of whoever was the owner of the voice.
A lady sitting on a throne-like chair. Wearing tight black pants and boots, her legs crossed alluringly with her whole torso covered by the newspaper that she was reading, next to her… a cup of what he presumed was wine, halfway drunk.
"…"
"…"
For a while, there were no words, but he recalled what she said, 'Kuraigana, Paradise, Grandline'.
"G-Grandline?"
"So you know how to speak, brat" the lady brushed past the next page, still with disregard.
On the back of the newspaper that was exposed to him, he managed to read the titular news: "After the death of Gold Roger and the beginning of the new pirate era. Violence has unfolded in the East and North Blue!"
"G-Gold Roger" The more data entered his brain, the more clear the conclusion became. 'Moreover, Kuraigana? there can only be one person on this island that resembles this description, but-'
"…" The woman kept silent as if waiting for his next words, as for Alexander... he was confused, 'Why is it a woman's voice?!'
"You're… no way. You're Dracule Mihawk!?" He thought, maybe, perhaps the manga didn't do justice to how feminine his voice could actually sound in reality, alas.
"…"
This time the woman did close the newspaper and Alexander's shock turned into utter confusion. Because what was in front of him was not a chad vampire-looking handsome male. But instead, an utterly gorgeous female with long black hair and deep yellow circle eyes that looked into one's soul whose beauty didn't lose to the Boa Hancock he recalled.
!!!
"How do you know my name?" She asked ominously, putting the newspaper aside and recalling the ominous energy she just felt emanate from the boy a second ago when he woke up, 'Haki? No, he's too young'.
"Y-you're, I mean… I thought you were a man?"
Aside from twitching her eyebrows, Mihawk said no further words and instead took a sip of her wine, watching him in silence as if analysing a prey. It was a moment later when the wine was finished that she finally spoke.
"Since you have recovered yourself, find your way out".
"Way out?"
"Where are you from? I found you laying on the shore of this island".
"I… don't know".
He couldn't say he was coming from another world. In hindsight, Alexander didn't even know how he arrived here, in front of one of his favourite characters, in a completely different world right after three bullets were put through his heart by the person he trusted the most.
His gaze downcast, Mihawk realised that this was going to be more trouble than she hoped.
"Amnesia? How troublesome… then you can stay until you recover your memories… don't expect me to get you food, there is a forest close to the mansion, and you can get fruits from there to feed yourself or fish. Your call".
"..."
With utter disinterest, Mihawk continued to read her newspapers... ignoring his presence from that point on. What she didn't expect was that Alexander would remain there for the whole day, just looking at her.
...
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"..."
...
"How long are you going to be staring? aren't you hungry?"
Alexander shook his head, it was a lie... he was hungry but he didn't know how to voice it out. Her character was as intimidating as in the manga, and being a female didn't help either as her beauty only made her feel even more unapproachable.
"What's your name?" She asked this time, a little irritated to be put on the spot like this, if this had been an adult male she'd just have thrown him to the sea to fend for himself, but this is a kid.
Alexander thought about his life, about the previous world, about how hard he worked for the sake of everyone and how that 'everyone' paid him.
'Alexander is dead…'
"… I-I don't know, I don't have a name".
Mihawk watched the boy in front of her who had tanned dark skin, white hair and deep red eyes, sitting down, vulnerable and looking at her as if there was nobody else in this world to rely on.
"Then from now on you're Veyron, come… this is as much as I'll do for you".
Mihawk stood up lazily, leaving her newspaper and cup behind then walked alluringly to the end of the corridor, followed by Veyron who quickly noticed that his body proportions weren't the same as usual.
!!!
He fell down the moment he tried to stand up.
'I'm a kid, again!?'
"What are you waiting for? You want food or not?".