Chapter 3: Ready? Set? Go!
<span style="font-weight:400">‘System, I have decided. From the High tier, I want to purchase the Zushi Zushi no Mi.”
<b>[Very well user Rick. Starting research on Zushi Zushi no Mi avability ]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">‘Wait, avability? You mean that if someone already ate it I can’t have it ?’
<b>[Yes user Rick, only one devil fruit of a kind can exist at the same time]</b>
<b>[Research 66%]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">‘ Oh my Goddess! I hope Fujitora hasn''t eaten it yet.’
<b>[Research Complete]</b>
<b>[ Zushi Zushi no Mi is avable. Transfer to user Rick]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">‘YEEEESSSSS! I would have been so screwed if it was already taken!’
<span style="font-weight:400">The reasons why Rick thought this are multiple.
<span style="font-weight:400">First because from his previous experience he had knowledge about gravity, he didn’t want another fruit that he didn’t know extensively the physicsw behind, no matter how powerful the fruit.
<span style="font-weight:400">Second because the only other fruit he would have considered is Ener’s Goro Goro no Mi, but he got the feeling he should not take it.
<span style="font-weight:400">He was right, somewhere an author may have cursed and sued him quoting the fearsome “Copyright”.
<span style="font-weight:400">Third, because an Umi Umi no Mi does not exist, and if it did, may have been under copyright too.
<span style="font-weight:400">Suddenly an odd ck purples shaped fruit appeared before him.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘With this I’ll be nearly unstoppable… Well time to eat, <i><span style="font-weight:400">Itadakimasu</i><span style="font-weight:400">!’
<span style="font-weight:400">Rick took the fruit in his hand and gave it a good look.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘It looks like an apple, very deformed, but still an apple.I wonder what Newton would have said if he knew about the existence of this fruit, and what power it gives’
<span style="font-weight:400">He bit the fruit and grimaced. Devil fruits are known to have a really bad taste after all and Rick nearly puke after one bite. But he held it and then kept going until there was nothing left.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘I’m never ever eating another fruit in my life.’
<span style="font-weight:400">Just as he said this, he felt something inside of him. A change, something being born at his body’s core, spreading from it to every corner of him.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I’VE GOT THE POWER !”
<span style="font-weight:400">People who were minding their own business turned around to look at the origin of such a scream. Setting their sight on a kid jumping in ce with his arms up to the sky, they quickly ignore him, thinking it was just a young brat ying. To those that previously witnessed Rick with a focused look and waving his arms they were convinced: that kid has some serious screws loose.
<span style="font-weight:400">None of them knew the truth.
<span style="font-weight:400">That at that exact moment, one of the most fearsome and powerful beings in the world was born.
<b>[Zushi Zushi no Mi assimtion by user Rick confirmed. Sleep mode activation in 15 seconds.]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">‘Wait you’re going to sleep? Why?”
<b>[System’s AI only exists to help users begin their life in a new world, once the beginner package is bought and the user ready it is not needed anymore.]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">‘I see. Thank you for your help’
<b>[May you enjoy your new life user Rick.]</b>
<b>[Sleep mode ACTIVATED]</b>
<span style="font-weight:400">‘I wonder why I never knew the system had an AI before …
<span style="font-weight:400">Anyway, now the questions that matter. Where and When Am I ?
<span style="font-weight:400">Status ! ‘
<span style="font-weight:400">At the thought of “status” a window appeared before him. It was a map of the area. At the center of it was a blue dot representing Rick. Many yellow dots surrounded him.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘That’s neet, a map of the area and a disy of the living beings around me. It looks like a RPG map, since blue seems to be me, I guess the yellow is for people neutral to me ?
<span style="font-weight:400">Now where is the info about … There it is.’
<span style="font-weight:400">At the top right corner of the map Rick could see the name of the location he is and the date.
<span style="font-weight:400">Logue Town. -2 BGAP.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘ So I’m in Logue town! ce of birth and death of the pirate King, Gol D Roger. Hehehe, what a good town to start an adventure indeed. Now what is it with the date?
<span style="font-weight:400">-2 BGAP ? I guess with the minus the B of BGAP stands for Before, like -52 BC, Before Christ. But what does GAP stands fo....
<span style="font-weight:400">No way, I’m two years before Gol D Roger is executed? The Great Age of Pirates has not begun yet?
<span style="font-weight:400">I’ll have to wait 20 years to meet Luffy and the Straw-hat Crew! Shit!
<span style="font-weight:400">Wait, wait wait. That means I can witness the death of the greatest man who ever sailed the seas and the birth of a new age!
<span style="font-weight:400">That’s so cool !!! I need to n for the future’
<span style="font-weight:400">And nned he did.
<span style="font-weight:400">Rick’s ned to join the marines for a time, to do good deeds and rake Karma points until it was time to meet with Luffy & co. He could have chosen his own path but he wanted to help Luffy be the Pirate King, he wanted to be a part of the protagonists’ story of the manga he loved so much.
<span style="font-weight:400">His decision to join the marines for a while was a very careful one. Pirates train on their own, if they even train at all, or learn on the spot.
<span style="font-weight:400">By joining the marines he will be trained by people who know what to do, and will get stronger faster.
<span style="font-weight:400">But first thing first.
<span style="font-weight:400">‘I need to train my power, no one will teach me how to do that, no one can, I need to train my body too.’
<span style="font-weight:400">And so 18 months of hell began for Rick.