Alright, cards on the table—One Piece used to be my favorite anime. It's not anymore, but not because I like it any less. I just got into other stuff, you know?
Still, I freaking love it, so every now and then I go read some fanfics to satisfy my craving for that universe—since there's only one new chapter per week and, well... it's rough.
Like, there's a ridiculous amount of translated Chinese novels out there. That's not bad exactly, but almost every single main character in those stories is a cold, power-hungry psycho with a sex drive aimed at any young woman who appears—and it gets exhaaaausting. Then there are the "system" clichés, which aren't inherently bad either! But soon enough the same problems show up again—except for a few rare cases where they're toned down or almost nonexistent.
I mean, clichés are fun, right? Just like chocolate cake will always be delicious, no matter how many times you eat it. But if you replace the sugar with salt and mix the cocoa with cement powder instead of flour, I GUARANTEE it's gonna taste like crap. Even with chocolate on top.
It's also kinda sad when you come across fanfics that are clearly written by AI. They always have those super flowery descriptions, you know? But they overdo it so much that the whole text ends up feeling kinda weird. I don't know if that happens to everyone or if it's just me being too picky and getting uncomfortable with it.
I figure instead of just criticizing others, it's only fair to actually grow a spine and try to make something better—or at least different—first. So yeah, consider this story my attempt at doing that.
Even though I already have a few good chapters planned out in outline form (if you don't know what that means, it's basically writing down the future events in order before actually writing the full story), I still have some doubts about a few things. SO HOW ABOUT I ASK THE READERS WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE?! Let's be real, after this idea I'm basically a genius with a brain bigger than Vegapunk's, right? No? Shut up.
Anyway, I got off track... err, right, the story! I've been thinking whether I should make Ann—the protagonist, who'll be Ace's twin sister—actually someone born in the One Piece world, or someone reincarnated/transmigrated... I don't really know the difference, but they sound pretty similar, don't they? Oh, and I also thought about maybe replacing Ace with Ann.
I'm leaning more toward making her a kid from our world who ends up there, rather than creating her from scratch as a native of that universe—for a bunch of reasons I won't bother to list since I've already written too much. But I dunno, I just like that idea better? Working with a character who already has some level of knowledge and a past life/personality helps more than building one completely from zero. Though of course, she's definitely not gonna be like most One Piece fanfic protagonists out there.
It's already obvious, but if for some reason you STILL haven't noticed—yes, the story will have a femalelead. Seriously, it kinda bums me out that there are almost no fanfics with female leads. I really miss that.
To wrap things up, just a few quick notes: this is my first attempt at writing something that isn't an essay for a national exam, a college paper, or a base draft for my thesis. So I'll definitely need a bit of literary support and feedback from readers to know if I'm doing things right.
I'm only partially fluent in English—I can read and write with some difficulty—so if you notice any weird or incorrect expressions, please let me know, thank you very much.
Oh, and college! I'm in college and also work as an intern at a school, so yeah, not a lot of free time.
Add that to the fact that I don't want to rush updates and make the story shallow, and it means chapters probably won't come out super often. For now, I'll try posting one chapter per month, and maybe increase that later until I can manage one per week.
That's it! Leave a comment with suggestions if you think this story has potential.
Bye!