To me, anime is an enigma.

Now, don't get me wrong. I sunk countless hours of my time into watching all sorts of shows. From the laughably bad harems, to the soul-crushing depression of romantic tragedies, all the way to the ridiculous monotony of the isekai genre, I've seen it all. But the one genre that really hit a nerve with me was shōnen.

I understand why shōnen is popular, I really do. The feeling you get when the hero finally overcomes adversity and achieves their goal is fantastic. It doesn't matter that even a five year-old could predict the ending - the true entertainment lies not with the suspense of not knowing what will happen, but with the action unfolding in front of your eyes. While shōnen series might not be the pinnacle of storytelling, they certainly have a value of their own. When I was younger, I absolutely adored shōnen. Coming home from school to watch my favorite characters kick ass was a daily routine.

However, as I grew older, this amusement gradually dwindled. I started deconstructing what I was watching, nitpicking over the smallest of inconsistencies and over-analyzing the finest of details. I just couldn't understand how a world could exist in which the power of friendship caused miracles to occur on a episodic basis. I became an anime watcher who preferred Baccano over Naruto, or Made in Abyss over Bleach.

And as I watched a group of Marines unload cargo off a nearby ship, I continued to agree with my idle thoughts.

It had been 9 years since my reincarnation into the wonderful world of One Piece. Or, at least, I'm fairly certain that's what happened. I could still be in a coma after that accident, but there's no point in thinking about that. I prefer to keep moving forward with what's in front of me, rather than worrying about possibilities I can do nothing about.

I was born again in a medium-sized port city in South Blue to a poor family of five. My father was a dock worker, and my mother was a waitress at the local pub. My parents weren't anything special - both had brown hair and brown eyes, along with fairly handsome, but unremarkable faces. Genetics dictated that these traits were to be passed on to me. To my dismay, I lacked the crazy anime hair that I had always dreamed of having. I was fine with that, though - I preferred to look plain, since I never wanted to stand out in a crowd. My level of plainness was increased by my parent's decision to name me Emma. I spent a long time trying to think of a plainer name, but couldn't find one that was decidedly duller.

All things considered, it could have been worse. While the threat of pirates was a constant source of worry, the island next to ours had a Marine base, so raids were pretty rare, and always quickly dispatched. Even though our family was poor, we still had enough money to make a humble living, and almost never went hungry. My mother had a friend who worked at the local apothecary, and managed to land me a job as an apprentice, to begin once I turned 12. That would get me a nice source of income, and a decent livelihood, more than could be said for a lot of girls my age. My life seemed set in stone, and I hadn't even hit double digits.

These random thoughts wandered through my head as I crouched in my favorite bush, which stood on top of a hill overlooking the docks. I rather liked this bush, simply because it allowed me to watch the harbor, while still keeping me concealed from sight, preventing people from bothering me. I enjoyed not being bothered.

Yeah, no, a life in this stupid town wasn't for me. For some reason, I was now living in an anime. Not just any anime, but a shōnen. Wasn't I supposed to go out on some grand adventure, sailing the high seas with my own band of scallywags, in search of a treasure that would make my dreams come true?

I wouldn't consider myself to be a dreamer. In fact, I barely possessed a fraction of the passion Luffy had showed in the series. Despite that, I still had a desire to go out there and do something. Get some answers for myself, solve some mysteries, and live life to the fullest. But above all, I wanted to live free. Too many people lived as slaves, both literally and figuratively. Rousseau was right when he said that "man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains." Working a dead-end job because you had no opportunity to get a good education wasn't nearly as bad as actual slavery, but it certainly couldn't be called freedom. If you could call any of my desires a dream, that would be it - to roam the seas and do whatever I wanted.

However, it's one thing to have a dream, and another thing to act in order to fulfill that dream. What was I going to do? Waltz into the local bar, and instantly run into some anime character with rainbow hair and a ridiculously overpowered devil fruit who would join my crew on the spot? This was real life. If I wanted to make a name for myself as a pirate, I'd have to work for it.

But could I really pull it off? I considered myself to be an extreme introvert. In my previous life, I avoided all unnecessary human contact, locking myself in my room for days at a time. I never thought of myself as a recluse, but in retrospect, that description was startlingly accurate. How was I supposed to just start picking up crew members for some crazy adventure when I could barely hold a conversation?

That's not even considering the fact that I'd have to get into fights. Like, real, actual fights, with people trying their hardest to hurt each other. Without a devil

fruit, I'd likely have to resort to using my fists and/or legs to beat up my opponents. The fruit route was out, because I really did not want to give up my ability to swim in a world nearly entirely covered in ocean. On the other hand, the image of my 9 year-old self smacking around a trouble-making brute at the local bar was ludicrous.

Though, if I was being honest, I could just pick up a gun, join up with some random freedom-loving pirate crew and see what happens.

I snorted at that foolish thought. How could I be free if I was forced to take orders from some overconfident, brackish captain? Weapons were tacky, too. If I was going out to sea, it would be on my own terms.

Again, don't get me wrong, I really did want to have an adventure. I truly felt like I was destined for more. I was dropped into this wide, wonderful world, full of treasures and secrets that I could scarcely imagine, with my memories and foreknowledge fully intact. To not take advantage of the opportunity I had would be madness.

I stared down the hill, watching the group of Marines lift some crates off the caravel they had just arrived on. The captain in charge was ordering them around in a manner not unlike the way my new mother kept my siblings and I in line.

While I wasn't super familiar with the ranking system used by the Marines, I knew that captains were pretty high up there. You needed to have a certain amount of combat strength in order to get there. It was only one step below vice admirals, a position that required mastery of at least one type of Haki. I was sure that a weakling would never get that high in the ranks.

The man in front of me, on the other hand, seemed to contradict that assertion. He was a lanky, weak-looking fellow, with no weapon at his side. Unless he was a fruit user, I seriously doubted he would be able to last in any serious fight. Yet, there he was, commanding the respect of an entire Marine division.

I could get over my crippling social skills. I could work up the courage to set off on an adventure, leaving behind a relatively secure future. I could even leave my new family behind in pursuit of my goals. But there was no way that I could fight as a purely melee brawler. And that was the one thing holding me back.

Back when I first watched One Piece, it never even occurred to me that the speed at which the characters were moving was utterly impossible. Not just because of the physical limitations of the body, but also the fact that the brain simply should not be able to process information that quickly. This was one of the things that really got on my nerve about the show - no explanation was even offered as to why everyone apparently had the ability to become a superhuman without a devil fruit, or even Haki. No, anyone could seemingly train and eventually get speed, strength and reflexes well beyond what anyone on earth was capable of.

I'd been living in this world for nearly 10 years, and I had never seen anyone move faster than they should have been able to, or lift something far above their weight. I figured that Oda just exaggerated the movements of the characters in order to support the genre and world. After all, One Piece would be much less interesting if Luffy just punched like a normal human.

But as I watched the captain move around, I still doubted that theory. Could the laws of physics in this universe really be that different? Could a human truly achieve super strength and speed just by working for it? If yes, shouldn't everyone be dashing across the town in mere seconds, or carrying massive amounts of material on their own? Nothing seemed to make any sense, and it pissed me off to no end.

I sighed. Thinking about stuff I couldn't do anything about was dumb. Then again, watching the docks everyday wasn't exactly a great pastime either. Better than running around with the other inane children my age, but still. I idly wondered whether anything would ever happen around here.

And apparently, that jinxed it.

Just then, one of the crates down at the dock exploded, sending several Marines flying through the air. A few dozen armed men jumped out of the alleyways, drawing swords and quickly engaging the Marines. A ship silently came around the sharp corner, its approach having been covered by the hill I was lounging on. The jolly roger on its flag was a shock, but not a surprise.

The Marines were able to fight back the pirates who were already on the island, but the reinforcements from the ship appeared to be too much. They were outnumbered 3 to 1, and completely surrounded. The explosion had started a fire, and several buildings on the waterfront were already covered in flames. In mere moments, my idyllic home had been defamed.

Under the cover of my bush, several emotions were running through my body. Fear from the pirates that were about to conquer my home. Sadness for the ongoing destruction of everything I had known in this life. But, most of all, rage, at the audacity of these ruffians. How dare they strut in here and try to loot my city?

I didn't exactly fancy my odds against the pirates, but I didn't care. I wanted to do something to help beat these fools back into the hole from whence they came. And so, filled with fury but severely lacking in critical thought, I exited the safety of my bush and ran towards my house.

By the time I reached my home, the pirates had moved passed the Marine resistance and entered the city proper. I dodged a few of them, resolved to get back to my family. I didn't stop and think about what I was trying to do - my mind went on autopilot, and autopilot decided that the best course of action was to go towards the pirate horde.

The first thing to bring back some rational thinking was the look on my mother's face when she saw me. She had just wrangled up my siblings, and was in the process of running away from the approaching menace when she noticed I was going in the wrong direction.

"Emma, what do you think you're doing?!" she screeched. "Why aren't you escaping? Turn around and run away now!"

I hesitantly smiled back at her. "I came to help, mom." I told her, as I started to realize that this might not have been such a great idea.

That was not the right answer. "Are you out of your mind?!" she yelled back, even louder than last time. "You're nine years old, what are you going to do?"

I started to answer her question, but was interrupted by a loud snicker behind me. I gulped, not wanting to turn around and confirm my suspicions.

"There's a pirate right behind me, isn't there?" I asked, fear finally starting to overcome my anger.

"Right you are, little missy." A voice said from behind me. "You're pretty brave, coming back to save your family like that".

I swallowed the terrible feeling rising from my chest and turned around. When I realized just who I was talking to, I couldn't help but gasp in shock.

The first thing I noticed was his height. He must have been six and a half feet tall, and had the muscle mass to bolster his frame. A blood-covered scimitar hung loosely at his hips, and an unkempt beard flowed lopsidedly off his ugly face. Despite the fact that he was in the middle of a raid, I could still smell the stench of booze reeking from his mouth. This guy was the dictionary definition of a pirate.

"Unfortunately," he continued, "that won't work out for you. My crew is much stronger than the puny government dogs stationed here, and I've got a bounty of 15 million beri. I'm afraid your little hamlet is getting burnt to the ground."

As he said that, he wore a smirk of pure confidence. The amount of smugness in his town caused my rage, once tempered by fear, to reemerge.

"You're awfully confident in your ability to slaughter defenseless innocent people, huh?" I snarled back at him. "Wow, you're so cool. A pirate who managed to win a fight with massively superior numbers against a disorganized and weak contingent of Marines. Amazing, you're-"

I would have continued my rant, but buddy had apparently heard enough. My mother gasped behind me as the pirate captain grabbed me by the neck and effortlessly lifted me off the ground with one arm. The amusement in his tone was gone.

"You know some fancy words, don't you, brat?" he growled, spit flying onto my face as he spoke. "Well, I better show you why I'm a cut above the rest!"

Instead of responding to that, I simply spat in his face.

Once again, that was not the correct course of action. On the contrary, it managed to piss him off even more.

"You're gonna regret that, kid." he said darkly, tightening his grip on my neck and preventing me from responding.

"Please, let her go! She's only a child!" my mother pleaded desperately. Unfortunately for me, her cries fell on deaf ears.

The pirate regained some of his amusement at her begging. "Sorry, sweetheart," he snarled, "but this one's been a bit too obnoxious for my tastes. She has to die."

He pulled out his sword, fresh blood still dripping off the edge from his last encounter. I nearly threw up, out of both disgust and fear. Noticing my discomfort, the brute laughed, and pointed his weapon at my chest.

I closed my eyes. Was this really how it was going to end? I'd barely started this second life. Sure, I made some bad choices at the end there, but I couldn't believe that it was all going to be over so soon. As he tensed up, ready to end it all, I idly wondered if I would be reincarnated a third time.

To my surprise, that question would not be answered so soon. Instead of getting stabbed, I was roughly dropped, and I fell hard onto the ground. Opening my eyes, I gasped at the sight in front of me.

That Marine captain I was watching earlier had shown up. The pirate was holding his arm in pain, his scimitar having fallen on the dirt. He was glaring at the new arrival, but I thought I saw some fear in his eyes too.

The pirate opened his mouth, presumably to insult the Marine in front of him. However, he didn't even get the chance. Before he could say anything, he was gone.

I blinked in shock, not believing what I was seeing. In a blur of motion, the captain had dashed up to the guy, and kicked him in the side of the chest so hard that he flew right through the wall of a nearby building. I barely had time to process what had happened before the roof caved in on the pirate, ending the threat he posed to my family for good.

"Are you alright, little girl?"

I broke out of my thoughts and looked up. The captain extended a hand. I took it, and he pulled me back up. He looked at me expectantly, and I realized he was waiting for a reply.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I'm good." I said distractedly.

He smiled, and started to run off. That was when it hit me.

"Wait!" I cried, causing the captain to stop and turn around.

"How can you move that fast? That shouldn't be possible!" I croaked out, my throat still hurting from the pirate's iron grip.

He laughed, and knelt in front of me.

"Lots of training, little girl. That's all there is to it." he said as he smiled and patted my head, as if that was something completely normal.

My eyes widened in disbelief. "B-but, that's impossible! You're saying you just lifted weights or something until you could move at the speed of sound!?" I sputtered. A thought coming into my head, I glared at him in suspicion. "You don't have a devil fruit, do you?" I asked cautiously.

He laughed again, seemingly finding my state of denial amusing. "No, I'm not a fruit user. I can't move at the speed of sound either, but I've met many people who can. If you're this shocked at me, I can't imagine what your reaction to an admiral would be!" he replied.

I tried to reply, but the only sound that I could produce was a startled gulp. The man laughed joyfully at my stunned face, then turned around to talk to my mom. After a quick exchange, he ran off, looking determined to stop this raid for good.

I sat back down, and took a second to organize my thoughts. So, you're telling me that I can train in a way that will give me actual superpowers, and allow me to fight people in the way I want, without having to eat some disgusting fruit or use a stupid weapon?

I grinned. Let's do this.

AN: And that's chapter 1. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this story, but I had a blast writing this chapter. I'm not used to writing in first person, so I'm not sure how this turned out. Feedback would be greatly appreciated, since I'm relatively new to writing and looking to improve. Thanks for reading!