The water was endless.
A shimmering blue expanse stretched out beneath me, still and warm like a blanket left in the sun. I wasn't sinking or swimming, just drifting, suspended over the surface as if gravity had taken a coffee break. No sky, no horizon, just the ocean. My arms floated limply beside me; my hair lazily tugged by a breeze that didn't exist. It should have been peaceful.
But something felt off.
I opened my mouth to speak, to ask if this was a dream, but no words came. Then, through the silence, a voice cut in, sharp and irritated.
"Oi. Enough beauty sleep. Wake up already."
My eyes snapped open.
Except they'd already been open. Or maybe I never had eyes to begin with here.
The sea was gone. Replaced by a void. An endless, star-splattered canvas of darkness, like someone had spilled a galaxy and forgot to clean up. I floated in nothing, weightless and confused, my heart thumping like a drum in my ears. Across from me sat a man—or something that looked like one—lounging in a worn leather chair that had no business being in this place.
He wore a black jacket zipped to the collar, gloves that gleamed like oil, and a blank white mask with no mouth, just a single black slit across where the eyes should be. He leaned back like he was in his living room, legs crossed, one arm draped over the chair's back.
I stare.
He waves. "Heyyy, there he is. You're late."
I blinked slowly. My tongue felt like sandpaper. "Am I... dreaming?"
He tilted his head. "Nah. You're dead."
I stared at him. Then I laughed, short and hollow. "Sure. Okay. Makes sense. I'm dead. Right."
"You're taking this better than most."
"I'm not taking anything. I think I'm still asleep. I remember… I was..." I frowned. My thoughts were gnarled. Every time I reached for a memory, it slipped through my fingers. Faces blurred. Names faded. Even the shape of my own house, my own life, collapsed like fog under light.
"What—what the hell? Why can't I remember anything?"
The man sighed and leaned forward, the slit in his mask tilting down as if to look me in the eye. "Because you're panicking. So cut it out."
I opened my mouth to argue, to scream, to demand answers—but the words choked off. My breath hitched. I was shaking. Not from cold. From something deeper.
"Hey," he snapped his fingers. "Stop spiralling. Deep breath. Now, can you remember your name?"
I swallowed hard. Closed my eyes. Dredged through the sludge of my mind.
"Rickard," I said, voice rough. "I think... I think it's Rickard."
"Good. Step one done."
I looked at him again. The stars behind him twinkled like they were mocking me. "Why am I here?"
He shrugged. "Because you're interesting."
"That doesn't explain anything."
"Does it have to?" He chuckled. "Fine. I'm a being from a higher plane of existence. Call me the Watcher. I observe the infinite web of worlds, and sometimes, I interfere. This is one of those times."
"Why?"
"Because you've been chosen."
I stared. "Chosen for what?"
"To go to another world."
I barked a laugh. "That's insane."
"Is it? You come from a world where stories spill from your kind like rivers. Fictional worlds. Some are echoes. Some are shadows. Sometimes your stories catch glimpses of the real multiverse."
My throat was dry. "You mean... our fiction..."
"Isn't always fiction."
He gestured lazily. "You, Rickard, were born in a world that brushes against others. And you? You noticed. You were drawn to stories. That makes you a good candidate."
"Candidate for what, exactly?"
He leaned in. "To be dropped into one of those worlds."
I frowned. "Why me, though? There are billions of people."
"You have the mindset. You think fast. You adapt. You might not remember it all, but deep down, you get it. Plus, you know the world you're going to. At least, the version you read about."
I narrowed my eyes. "What world?"
The Watcher tilted his head back, almost dramatically.
"One Piece."
Something in me jolted. My heartbeat spiked. Images stirred. A ship sailing over an impossible ocean. A boy grinning beneath a straw hat. Fire and smoke. Laughter. Tragedy.
"I... I know that one. I used to love it," I said, voice trembling. "I don't remember everything, but I remember that world."
"Exactly," he said, clapping his gloved hands. "See? You're perfect."
I stared at him. "You're insane."
"Probably. Buuuut I'm also your ticket to adventure."
Something behind him shimmered. Another being stepped into view, quiet and sudden. It was short, hunched slightly, wrapped in a robe that shimmered like oil-slicked water, every colour shifting and writhing. Its hood hid most of its form, but from within the dark fabric poked several thin hands, long-fingered and graceful. A single, unblinking eye stared out from beneath the hood.
"This is Jerry," the Watcher said cheerfully. "Say hi."
Jerry did not say hi.
"He's going to send you on your way. Jerry, do the thing."
The robed creature rolled its massive eye in what might have been annoyance and began weaving its hands through the air, tracing glowing symbols that pulsed like heartbeats. A circle formed beneath my feet, humming with power.
"Wait," I said, my voice rising. "You haven't told me why I'm going! What's the reason? What's the point?"
"Oh! Right!" The Watcher snapped his fingers. "Whoops. Well, good luck!"
"WAIT—!"
The ground vanished.
I fell.
Colours exploded around me. A swirling kaleidoscope of moments that weren't mine yet still pierced through the fog of my missing memory.
A man made of molten rage driving a fist through a brother's chest. Blood and fire and the world cracking.
A girl singing with a voice that split the sky, the heavens fracturing like glass under a scream.
A ship, bright and defiant, sailing into a storm.
A boy in a straw hat, grinning, standing at the edge of the world.
I felt my stomach flip. My heart squeezed.
"I HATE YOU, WATCHEEEEEEEER!!!" I screamed into the whirlwind.
Far above, in the quiet starry void, the Watcher scratched the back of his head.
"Ah, crap. Forgot to tell him why he's going," he muttered.
He looked at Jerry. "Think he'll be fine?"
Jerry slowly raised a middle finger.
"Yeah, yeah," the Watcher said, shrugging. "He'll figure it out."