I'm stranded. At sea. All alone.
The boat I'm on is small, barely big enough for two or three people, and so flimsy it looks like even a moderate wave could capsize it. It's utterly unreliable.
There's no sail, no oars—nothing. Which means I can't move it myself. I'm completely at the mercy of the waves.
I don't even know where I am or which way to go. Even if I did, it wouldn't matter; I have no way to steer the boat.
"Ugh... how did I end up like this...?" The sigh slipped out involuntarily, a murmur that betrayed my desperation.
About half a day ago...
I was accompanying my Masters to the site of their transaction.
But then we ran into a colossal storm.
It was sudden, I'll admit. Still, it's hardly surprising on the Grand Line—storms like this are practically daily occurrences.
I guess I should be grateful it wasn't a full-blown cyclone.
Not that I was exactly out of the woods.
Still, if it had just been the storm, we might have stood a chance. But as we fought to keep the ship from capsizing, an iceberg suddenly appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the hull, tearing it open.
I'm not lying. It really did just appear, the iceberg. It came straight for us. One moment there was nothing there, and the next... BAM! What the hell is wrong with this sea?
Amidst the chaos of curses, shouts, and screams echoing from every corner of the ship, I knew instinctively that if I didn't act, I was done for. So I did what I had to do to survive.
With the ship practically doomed and panic spreading like wildfire, no one cared anymore if you abandoned your post. That's when I made my move.
I kicked down the warehouse door, grabbed whatever food and useful supplies I could find, stuffed them into a waterproof bag, and bolted.
Clutching a flotation device, I plunged into the sea.
Minutes later, I watched the ship split in two and sink.
For what felt like an eternity, I clung desperately to the device, tossed about by the waves. Then, miraculously, I spotted a small escape boat—likely torn loose from the ship during the storm—and scrambled aboard.
Honestly, it was nothing short of a miracle that little boat didn't capsize before the storm finally subsided.
When patches of blue sky began peeking through the clouds, I breathed a sigh of relief. I'd somehow survived.
...Though, realistically, I was far from "saved."
Anyway, that's how I ended up shipwrecked.
I have no idea what happened to my Master, the other slaves, or the bodyguards. There's no way for me to find out.
Trying to survive that storm without a lifeboat? Honestly, it seems utterly hopeless. If I hadn't even managed to escape the ship, I'd have been dragged straight to the bottom of the sea with it.
And my own situation is just as desperate. As I said, drifting in this vast ocean without a clue where I am. I managed to grab a sea chart and a compass, but they're useless if I don't know my current location. Besides, compasses don't even work properly on the Grand Line. Why did they even have one on board?
A Log Pose would have been great, but the ship's navigator had that. I only managed to grab a small amount of food and water. Even if I ration it carefully, I don't know how many days it will last...
This is even worse than Sanji's childhood in the original work... except I'm stuck on a ship with no land in sight and no rainwater to drink. This might be even harsher.
First, I need to ration the food into small portions. I have to make it last as long as possible. I'll try to stay still and conserve energy.
After that, it's all up to luck. Hopefully, a Marine ship will pass by, or maybe I'll drift ashore on some island. But if I run into a storm or get attacked by Sea Beasts or Sea Kings before that, I'm screwed. I have a sword, but I'm no swordsman. There's no way I could take on those monsters with just a single blade.
A harpoon would have been great... I could have caught fish. Well, maybe I could manage with the sword... maybe? If I have to, I'll give it a shot, but only if I can avoid exhausting myself too much.
...And the thing is, I'm used to using a 'sword,' but what I have here is a 'katana.'
This katana isn't for chopping; it's the kind you slice with a drawing motion. I've used them before, but I guess I never really paid attention to the subtle difference in feel.
***
Day 1 of the Shipwreck
My stomach's been growling non-stop for hours now.
What else can I expect? I'm rationing my food to the absolute minimum, so it's only natural. It'll probably be like this from now on, and worrying about it won't help.
I'm grateful the sea is calm. Maybe there's a Spring Island nearby.
A school of fish swam past the ship, and I tried catching one with my katana, but no luck. I guess humans aren't built for Hokkaido brown bear-style fishing.
Instead, my clumsy swing made the ship wobble violently, and I nearly fell overboard, so I hastily stopped.
If something slower came along, like a sea turtle, maybe I'd have a chance...
***
Day 3 of the Shipwreck
I'm so bored I could scream.
But this time, I can't even kill time with weight training. It would be a ridiculous waste of energy, completely out of the question. All I can do is daydream or stare at the empty horizon to pass the hours.
...Come to think of it, with my dwindling energy from malnutrition, I probably won't even have the strength for weight training in a few days.
As usual, there's no sign of a ship, an island, or even a shadow.
Day 5 of the Shipwreck
It's not just hunger anymore. I can feel my body starting to fall apart.
Probably malnutrition. I remember something about the body breaking down muscle and bone to compensate for the lack of nutrients.
I've already eaten more than half my food.
Still no ship or island today. Could it be that we've drifted way off the usual shipping lanes? It's possible. We were smuggling, after all, so we might have deliberately avoided those routes.
If that's the case, our already slim chances of rescue might be even more hopeless.
Day 7 of the Shipwreck
We were hit by a storm. The ship rocked so violently I thought we'd capsize. I was too weak to swim if we went down. I braced myself for death.
Thankfully, the storm subsided before we capsized. I thanked God, though I didn't even know if He was listening.
Day 10 of the Shipwreck
A sea turtle swam near the ship. By some miracle, I managed to spear it with my sword and haul it aboard. I butchered it immediately and devoured it, drinking every last drop of blood to quench my thirst.
I couldn't make a fire, so I ate everything raw. Parasites? Who cares. If they're there, I'll deal with them when they become a problem.
Day 14 of the Shipwreck
I suddenly remembered something I'd read in a book once:
Without food, dignity can keep a person alive.
Without dignity, food can keep a person alive.
But when both are gone, nothing matters anymore. You'll cling to anything.
That's exactly how I feel right now.
Yesterday, I finally ran out of food.
At this point, I don't care if it's a pirate ship or anything else, as long as they rescue me.
I'd even become a slave. They can do whatever they want with my body, just please take me in.
...But would they even want me? Not with this emaciated, skin-and-bones frame.
...Well, technically, there's still something left to eat...
Oh, don't get the wrong idea. I'm not about to start gnawing on my own leg. I don't have the guts for that. Besides, with my strength, I'd probably bleed to death long before I felt full. Guaranteed.
What I mean is... this last thing in the bag I managed to bring with me.
It's a fruit, about the size of a child's head.
But you can tell just by looking at it that it's no ordinary fruit.
After all, it looks like a melon... but its surface is covered in an indescribably intricate pattern. It looks like it could fetch around 100 million Berries.
There's no mistaking it—it's a Devil Fruit. Thank you very much.
It must have gotten mixed in with the stuff I just randomly threw into the bag.
Master... could this be the "big deal" he was talking about? But I was only scavenging in the food storage... How could something like this just randomly end up there?
There's no way a normal fruit in the food storage could suddenly transform into a Devil Fruit, right?
According to the Original Work, they're supposed to taste unbelievably awful, but at least they're edible and filling. I have no idea about their nutritional value, though.
What's more, eating it grants you some kind of bizarre, miraculous ability.
But... eating it makes you unable to swim.
For someone like me, adrift in the middle of the ocean, that's a pretty fatal drawback. If I fall off the ship, I'll immediately lose all my strength and sink like a stone. Game over.
Then again, I'm so exhausted right now, I doubt I'd have the energy to swim anyway. Maybe it's not such a big deal...
Besides, depending on the ability I get, it could be a game-changer—exactly what I need to turn this situation around.
A Zoan-type Bird-Bird Fruit for flight would be perfect, or maybe a creative power like the Wax-Wax Fruit.
On the other hand, if it's something like the Flame-Flame Fruit, I'd be terrified of accidentally setting the ship on fire. It's a gamble, I guess.
After much deliberation, I finally...
---
I've lost track of the days.
I ate the Devil Fruit after all.
But I didn't gain any powers. At least, I don't feel any different.
Could it have been a fake?
No, the taste was exactly as awful as they say... Still, I endured it, finishing every last drop of juice.
I barely have the energy to move anymore, so I spend my days gazing at the sky and drifting into daydreams.
With nothing else to do, I amuse myself by inventing stories in my head and reliving past events.
It was during these idle moments that I realized something.
Over the past few years, I've often felt that I'm far more detached than most people.
After pirates attacked and destroyed my hometown, I managed to move on and live positively surprisingly quickly.
You could almost chalk it up to being saved by my time with the Kuja.
But after my second home was destroyed... how could I chat so casually with the pirates who were responsible, the same ones who kidnapped me and tried to sell me off?
Even I thought it was a little too easy to just brush it off.
Then, even when I was sold to the Black Market Merchant's "Master," it was much the same. Negative thoughts rarely surfaced. In fact, I almost enjoyed my time there, treating it as a valuable experience and even enjoying the work.
...That's it. Experience.
I just realized that my habit of quickly forgetting or suppressing painful memories, my tendency to see things with an almost unnaturally positive outlook... it's all driven by the "experiences" I collect in each moment.
When I was staying with my grandmother in my second hometown, she once said to me, "Sue-chan, you really love studying, don't you?"
I think she probably meant "studying" not in the academic sense, but simply "acquiring knowledge." I was a voracious reader, devouring books on every topic and reveling in the thrill of learning new things and turning the "unknown" into the "known."
Looking back, I realize she was right. I do love discovering things I don't already know.
And that probably applies to "experience" just as much as it does to reading.
Ordinary people rarely get to hear firsthand accounts of real pirate adventures, complete with all the plundering and mayhem.
And being captured by pirates, thrown into their hold, and treated as a prisoner? That's definitely not something you experience in everyday life.
Sold into slavery, I was trained as an elite slave candidate, learning the ins and outs of various underworld trades and even participating in actual black market deals, among other things.
Back then, listening to the pirates' stories, I definitely thought, "How could they do such terrible things?"
But at the same time, my curiosity about this new knowledge and the thrill of acquiring it completely overshadowed any fear or disgust. I was fascinated to learn about pirate raids, what it was like to be kidnapped and sold, and how pirate battles really unfolded.
As a result, instead of feeling fear or repulsion, I eagerly devoured their stories with rapturous interest.
Perhaps when faced with rare knowledge or experiences, the ethical filters and brakes in my mind simply break down.
Even with this shipwreck, my first thought had been something like, "So this is what being shipwrecked feels like."
So that's it... Now I finally understand. This is who I am.
Come to think of it, I remember submitting a novel to a contest once.
And in the critique I received, there was something like this:
The more knowledge you acquire, the more experiences you have, the richer your life becomes, and the more depth your writing and stories will gain.
That's what it said.
Now, I've had some pretty rare experiences... I feel like I could write a really good story.
Thinking about it like that makes me want to write again for the first time in ages.
If I make it back alive, maybe I'll become a novelist.
Wait... what's that?
I think I see a ship in the distance... Is it a hallucination? A mirage? Or...?
To be continued...