"Wealth, Fame, Power. Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates, attained this and everything else the world had to offer, and his dying words drove countless men to the seas. 'You want my treasure? You can have it. I left everything I gathered in one place, now you just have to find it.' These words lured men to the grand line in pursuit of dreams greater than they'd ever imagine. This is the time known as the great pirate era".
Roger left behind whatever treasure he found on the island, Laugh tale, but there's something else he left behind, something that only a few people know about. He left behind the woman he loved with a baby on the way, me.
I don't believe this, I died in a car crash at 38 just to find I've been reincarnated, but not only that, but as one of my favorite characters, Portgas D. Ace.
When you think of my favorite shounen manga or anime, it is, by far, One Piece, not even close. And besides Shanks, the leader of the Red-Haired Pirates, Ace just might be my favorite character in One Piece.
Not that I'm complaining, but could you imagine being born as Shanks, the son of Figarland Garling, and raised by the Roger Pirates?
Ace is not a bad consolation prize, though, but when you think about it, of all three, Luffy, Ace, and Sabo, Ace wound up being the weakest of all three. Both Luffy and Sabo learned how to use Haki. Meanwhile, Ace became strong quickly, but not strong enough, and ultimately became overly reliant on his Devil Fruit.
In a way, you could say that punching that celestial dragon was one of the best things that could've happened to him. After Luffy punched the celestial Dragon Saint Charlos, the Navy Admiral Kizaru, Sentomaru, and multiple Pacifistas were sent after him to hunt him and his crew down.
That day, Luffy got lucky; he and his crew learned the hard way that he didn't have what it takes to survive and dominate the new world like he did Paradise. Normally, when you're learning a lesson like that, you don't get the chance to do anything about it because you die soon after, but Luffy was saved by both Reighley and Kuma.
Luffy also got a second dose of the same lesson at the great underwater prison, Impel Down, and in Marineford. If it wasn't for Bon Clay and Invankov, Luffy would've been killed by Warden Magellan's poison. In Marineford, keeping Luffy alive was a collective effort from Ace to Jinbe to the Whitebeard pirate commanders.
It's nothing short of ironic but true to say that Ace never had the luxury of feeling helpless to make him realise earlier that he needed to get stronger exponentially before he got to the new world. Just like Shanks said for Blackbeard, Ace was under the umbrella and protection of Whitebeard, but unlike Blackbeard, Ace never realised the amount of strength he needed to survive in the new world.
The consequences of Ace's overreliance on his Mera Mera no Mi(Flame-Flame Fruit) proved costly against Blackbeard and Akainu, but hey, he was both captured and died like a true man refusing Blackbeard's offer to join his crew and fighting for the honor of his father and captain whitebeard that's impressive the will and courage to die for what you believe in.
Even in the one piece world, that's not something you could say for a lot of people. Not a lot of people could say that, although things did not go as planned for me, I died on my terms, saving the life of my younger brother, who put his life on the line trying to save me. I say all that to say, you're a fan of One Piece like I was, you need to understand that in this world, it's the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest. If you're not strong in this world, you're at the mercy of those who are.
Now it's been three years since I was born into this world, and I live with Dadan and the mountain bandits. Ever since I could walk, I've been training as hard as I can so I don't die like the original Ace did during the paramount war.
I wonder when I'll be able to meet Sabo and Luffy. I haven't seen the old man Garp for quite some time. He makes it a habit to visit me every few months, but it's been over 8 months and I haven't seen him. Well, he is the hero and a vice admiral of the navy, so it shouldn't be a surprise that sometimes he can't come and see me.
Well, enough about Garp, he might be busy because Luffy will be born soon. I think he'll be born in May. I'm not sure of the exact date, I think it's May 5th, so I don't know if Dragon will just hand Luffy to Garp right after he's born, or if he might be looking after Luffy's mother directly have some guesses, but I don't even know who she is?
Well, let me stop worrying about Luffy for right now. I hope my presence didn't change things too much, but now it's time for my training. I'm training early because I decided I'm not going to waste my second chance at life; I'm going to live my life to the fullest. I decided it would be for the best if I chose not to eat a devil fruit in this life, so I need to be extremely strong to survive without one.