PROLOGUE: DEATH AND REINCARNATION

It was just your typical kind of life. Well I didn't graduate from college, so not your typical life. I was your typical struggling
actor. I had been in the industry for 6 years but wasn't getting anywhere nor had my big break yet.

I had worked with in a movie, done theatre shows and stuff but was not where I wanted to be.

Now you must be asking how did I even got here in the first place? Well I was a fitness freak who had worked out
physically most of his life and who had a physique that anyone would love to have. Then combine that with a handsome face
and height 195 centimeters and you get a perfect looking man.

Because of that whoever I met told I should try my hand in acting and I know it was stupid but hey I wasn't super smart or
anything. All I had ever known and done was fitness, martial arts and watching anime and I read a lot.

I loved anime because it was my source of motivation and inspiration as stupid as it may sound but watching a person like
Naruto suffering because of the bad hand he was dealt, made all my problems I had faced like a pat on the back.

That was why I loved it and also why I never knew how to quit or even for that matter what that even meant.

My parents were actually quite nice people who never called me a failure even though I wasn't doing much in my life. I was
still supported by them after all. My father never had the chance to pursue his dream so he believed that atleast I should do it.

I loved them to moon and back; same was with my sister who I loved more than anything in the world. She just was the
best older sister and you won't believe we never fought once. You just can't fight with her because she was that nice, if there
was an award for the best sister I would give it to her.

Right now I was enjoying all the myriad benefits of the bachelor-pad life. Age thirty. No significant other.
 I looked to me side and a beautiful woman was waking beside me with her daughter who was around four I think. They
looked so happy, maybe one day I'll also…

I shook my head of depressing thoughts. I just didn't have time for love because I had so much to achieve. And furthermore
when it came to the opposite sex, apparently I wasn't the smartest person. Besides—really, at this age, I was kinda past the
point where a girlfriend needed to be my main focus. Work kept me busy enough. Plus, it wasn’t like I was gonna die without
one.

…I’m not making excuses, all right? It’s just that I started thinking…

“Aaaahhh!!”

Screams. Chaos. What is—What’s going on?!

“Move! I’ll kill you!!”

I turned around to find a man sprinting toward me, a backpack in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other. I could hear
shrieking. He was coming my way. With a knife. A knife? And at the other end of it…

The moment I shoved the woman next to me aside, I felt a burning pain run across my back. My body balled up as it
collapsed to the ground, trying to withstand the shock. I couldn’t tell what had happened. I wanted to move, but I couldn’t.

“Get the hell outta my way!” the man shouted as he ran off. I watched him go and then checked to see how my companions
were. The woman and the child were unhurt. That was good. But, man, was my back hurting. Beyond anything I’d describe as
pain.

Did I… Did I just get stabbed?

So I’m gonna die from a stabbing? Holy crap…

Damn, this was starting to hurt, though…

I felt my vision swim, and fell backward.

 Ouch, mother*** I think I broke my backbone…my spine…

Now that the pain was starting to fizzle out. Instead, I could feel my body was starting to lose any feeling. That… That’s
probably bad… I was losing control over my body, everything was becoming numb…

I tried to speak. And failed.

Shit. I think this might really be it… Like, the pain was pretty well gone by now. It was just numbness. I couldn't move my
hand or anything for that matter. I felt as if my energy had been zapped. I couldn't even gather a little bit of energy to move.

Who knew dying could keep you so damn busy?

I felt a current pass through my body as I started to realised that my body was locking up due to my heart not functioning
properly. Shit…

Before I could continue down that train of thought, however, I fell asleep.

Weird how death’s nowhere near as lonely as I thought it’d be.

That was the last thought I had on the mortal plane.

 CHAPTER 1

Reborn

It was dark. Too dark to see anything. Where was I? What even happened, for that matter? Someone was picking on me for
being a celibate sage or something, and then…

That was enough to jump-start my mind again.

My name was Sanjoy Sandhu. Just another thirty-year-old struggler. And when I shoved my friend aside on the street,
some random maniac stabbed me. Good. I remembered all of that. Which meant I must be fine. No need for panic. That wasn’t
like me anyway. I was known for having a cool head. The last time I panicked, it was grade school and all I did was wet my
pants, just a little bit.

I opened my eyes to look at my surroundings and I found that I was in a cave?

A very disturbing looking cave; where some evil monsters lived.

A shiver went through my spine.

I slowly got to my feet and looked around before I froze.

Wasn't I stabbed?

Panicking I check to see if I was hurt anywhere. Physically I seem to be in fine. Yeah I was a little cold but that was
manageable. But as I was checking my body I froze.

"W-Why do my hands look smaller?"

 I went to nearest lake and saw my reflection and trust me it took everything to not freak out and faint. I mean I was a
fourteen year-old boy again in a dark cave with rags for clothes.

Isn't in these situation, the kids get molested? I slapped myself before those thoughts make me pee in my pants.

"Sanjoy… calm down. So what if you are in a new world? So what if you are reincarnated? Even if both of them are true,
freaking out never helped anyone. There is a plus too, you are young and can live this life to the fullest you know?"

Yeah that was it, think positive and everything will work out like always. I was never the one to look at the negatives, as it
hurt my brain. Seriously I'm not kidding, please who were close to me, were awed by it. It wasn't like I was doing anything
special, its just that negative thoughts zapped my energy and gave me migraine, so I thought to myself one day it's only hurting
me why not permanently stop them. It took time but it worked and after a few years of practice, I had mastered it.

The girl you like has been set with your best friend? I wish them good luck..

The job I was supposed to have was already filled? Then I will get the next one and I'm sure it will be better.

Just like that little by little I had mastered my control over my negative emotions.

"Alright first I need to know where I am and then after that I'll decide what form of plan I need to make to survive. Sounds
good, let's do it."
 CHAPTER 1

An Unexpected Ally

"Status!" I shouted as I prayed to the gods that I had been blessed with a gamer system.

"Status!"…

"Status!" "Status!" "Status!"…

… Really what did I expect with my luck? I grumbled as I tried to find a way out of the cave. But everything was so dark in
the cave that it was becoming difficult to navigate. After half an hour of walking, it was starting to get tired. But then I saw a
very dim greenish blue light on the right side.

I hastened toward it without a care in the world. I mean when you have been in the cave without light for hours, you will
understand how does it feels. It wasn't about the dark, it was more about encountering something that would send me to after
life again. Thank you very much, once dying was enough, not gonna die the second time.

After reaching the corner, I turned right towards the source of light, only to curse every deity in the world. Fucking hell! It
was a glowing stone. Yeah you heard it right, it was a greenish blue glowing stone, not an exit to the cave.

DAMNIT!
 In a fit of pique I kicked the glowing stone, furiously. It was a stupid plan and it was going to hurt a lot but did care? No.
The stone in front of me was blown to pieces. Just like that. I looked at my foot that had kicked the stone and my eyes nearly
bugged out . My foot and the visible part of leg was covered in a black like substance.

"Eh?"

Once more, I gazed down at my foot.

Just what the hell happened? Why was my foot covered in black like substance that looked like carbon matte black. You
know some rich people cover their car in, yeah it looked the same.

So I was confused but then an idea hit me. I looked at my hand and imagined it being covered in same and to my surprise it
actually worked.

"Wow…

I have superpowers…"

But why did it feel like I was missing something important?

Well whatever first let's try these new abilities.

I went to a wall nearby and my lashed out my arm covered in black.

DOOON!

Much to my excitement, my fist went through the wall. I pulled it out and saw there wasn't even a scratch on my hand.

"Haha Haha I have superpowers!"

For the first time I came into this world, I whooped Joyously as I danced shaking my hips as I sung hips don't lie.
 It had been a day since I found myself in the cave and I have been trying to find my way out but the blasted cave was so big.
I had to eat anything I could find. I was really thirsty and—

Crack!

"Eh?"

The ground below me cracked and I was free falling.

"Ahhhh fuck fuck!"

I screamed as I tried to find something to hold on. I looked towards what I was falling and my face went pale. It was an
ocean, river whatever the hell but all I could see was water and I ashamed to admit I don't know how to swim.

I lashed my fist to the side in panic, so I can hold on to something and much to my surprise black fibre like tendrils shot
from my hand and wrapped around the nearest stone like pillar. I grinned in relief before harshly pulling myself towards the
pillar.

The relief died an ugly death when the strings sliced the pillar. Hey, at least it gave me some momentum.

Fwoosh!

My mouth instinctively opened and inhaled, ready to spew curses, only to inhale liquid instead. I promptly spat it out, my
eyes bursting open. Blurry images greeted me, followed by a profound realization. Water. Shit I have landed in the lake.

I couldn't breathe.

Lungs burning! Air! Need air!

Flailing madly I shot toward what I hoped was the surface, strong kicks carrying me towards the top. At least, that had
been the plan. Instead my body refused to obey, my arms and legs pinwheeling uselessly against the water. Instead of
swimming I sank. I tried using my black strings but it didn't work much to my horror. This didn't make any sense! I was not a
swimmer but I should atleast move forward a little I scrambled uselessly, searching for something, anything, desperately
propelling myself forward… was that… sand under my feet…?
 I put my feet on the ground to propel me upwards.

Swish!

I think if anyone had seen me now, I would have died of embarrassment.

Well you see when I tried to propel my great self upwards, I realised I was only in waist level water.

"Oh god this is embarrassing…"

Well atleast I was outsid—

(?)

"But hey why were my powers not working…in…wa…ter….oh god no…nonono! Don't tell me I'm in that world! The only
world where people can't use their powers in water!"

No matter how many reasons I tried to come with that I wasn't in that world but everything proved that I was indeed in
One fucking Piece.

…Well atleast now I know I'm a devil fruit user.

I laughed bitterly to myself.

"Fuck me sideways."

Anyways, without any other options available to me-especially after a final glance back at the ocean confirmed that there
wasn't a ship in sight-I started to march forwards into the depths of the muggy green hell.

To be honest, I normally liked taking nice and long walks. However, there were two primary factors missing that made this
little venture hell: first, I didn't have any music to listen to, so I was bored straight the hell out of my mind. And second, there
wasn't any beaten path to speak of, so I was forcing my way through a dense barrier of wild foliage that was doing everything
naturally possible to get in my way.

After what felt like forever of displaying my vast vocabulary to mother nature in a… shall we say, creative manner due to
catching my jacket on branches, tripping over roots and ducking under vines and whatnot, I caught sight of and dashed into a
clearing of grass.

First and foremost, as far as I could tell, the island I was on was most likely deserted, almost devoid of sapient life and
those that were there I had eaten them. I had made blade knives a foot long that helped me cutting down any animal I could
find. I had almost puked the first time when I had slit open a deer. Trust me when I say this, cutting chicken at home is way
different than cutting up an animal which has blood, organs and undigested food in its system. But after a few days I have
gotten used to it.

As for my devil fruit, I was sure either it was a unique paramecia devil fruit. Like Luffy my body was made of carbon
instead of rubber but unlike him, I can produce raw carbon and shape it into things I want to shape it in. But it was stamina
demanding and thank god I was sent here when I was at my best in stamina although I was weaker compared to when I died. I
mean I could bench press 200 kilos at thirty while at eighteen it was around 140 kilos because it been only three years then. I
could also make an armor of sort around me using carbon fibers, all I had to have was a good imagination. Now I haven't
awakened my devil fruit which could help me convert my surroundings into carbon. Well with tie that will come too.

But what was most unfortunate was that I had absolutely zero idea where I was. I didn't know which Blue I was in, even
which hemisphere I was located on! As it stood, I had almost no chance of being somewhere I could run into the Straw Hats.
East Blue or Paradise? Good! Any other Blue or, God forbid, the New World? Then it was almost certain death because of the
monsters that ruled New world specially Charlotte or Kaido. Just their names sent shiver down my spine.

For the last three weeks all I have been doing is hunting or fishing using the fish pole I created using Carbon and thank god
atleast I had food. I'd done my best to explore the island in hopes of finding some sign of civilization, but I'd come up with
absolutely jack squat. There had been the occasional run-in with the odd predatory sample of wildlife here and there, but I
have become a pro at hunting. You see I can make carbon fibre in any shape I want and also I can decide how much elastic it
can be, though not at the scale of Luffy's devil fruit but it was elastic enough for me to make a good bow. After practicing
everyday my markmanship, I have gotten good enough to alteast hit bigger targets.

It was just what I wanted to learn but not necessary, I mean I can make Carbon strings and wrap them around monsters
(Yea not animals, I mean a chicken the size of lion just what kind of bullshit is that) and slice them up. I have already
understood what devil fruit I have it’s Carbon Carbon devil fruit or Carbon Fibre devil fruit. I must say I really have a very
strong devil even though it’s a paramecia devil fruit. So, for the last three weeks I have been running around a lot to gain some
stamina.

Also using the inspiration from Altered Carbon, I have created myself a sexy looking futuristic Arm—

" C'mooooon, guys! Hurry up already!"

I froze, my entire body locking up. That voice… that was… could that actually be-!? I hastily ran towards the direction of the
voice to reaffirm what I waas hearing.

" Wait for us, Luffy! Geeze… impatient moron…"

" Well what did you expect? He is Luffy after all."

" The mosshead's got a point. He wouldn't be our captain if he didn't charge headfirst into the unknown, shouting his head
off."

" Uh… guys? I-I-I don't know about you, but I think my 'I-don't-want-to-go-into-that-wild-jungle' disease might be acting up!"

I jumped as I was running before shooting a fibre towards the branch near me and using it as a hook to send me forward
like superm—

"Hey, that's a pretty neat trick!"

Until a grinning, Straw Hat-clad head popped out from the leaves above me, causing me to miss the branch and fall face
first into the ground.

CRASH!
 "Oh mother***…" I groaned.

"Hey, that's a pretty neat trick!"

Until a grinning, Straw Hat-clad head popped out from the leaves above me, causing me to miss the branch and fall face
first into the ground.

CRASH!

"Oh mother***…" I groaned.

"Shishishishi!" The blur above me solidified into a familiar face as Luffy snickered. "You are funny!"

'Well it wasn't funny for me." I groaned as I slowly stood up, thank gof for devil fruit or my nose would have been broken.

I looked at the grinning kid who was shorter than I expected. He was 5'8" or something.

"Hello, my name is Sanjoy Sandhu. Nice to meet you but I think there could have better ways to introduce yourself rather
than sticking your face in front of me." I answered him dryly as I extended my hand.

Luffy chuckled sheepishly as he took my hand. "Nice to meet you, Sanjoy! I'm Monkey D. Luffy! Pleased to meetcha!"

"Nice to meet you too, Luffy! What brings you to this deserted Island?" I said as even I didn't know where the hell I was.

The captain shrugged, his expression never changing. "Me and my crew were running a little low on meat, so we came here
to resupply!"

I smiled eagerly. This was my chance to get the hell out of here! " Your crew, huh?" I asked him.

"Shishishi! Yup, you bet!" Luffy nodded. "We're pirates, you see!"

I took a deep breath to steady myself-

 "Hey, mind if I ask you something?"

Before freezing in surprise. I stared at him for a second before shrugging. "Sure?"

Luffy grinned from ear to ear. "Will you join my crew?"

I blinked as I tried to process his question.

Luffy, meanwhile, was not so lucky. "What the hell are you thinking, you moron, just asking every random newbie you
meet to join our damn crew?!" Nami snarled as she tried to throttle her laughing captain, shaking him back and forth by his
neck.

I briefly wondered whether or not I should have been insulted. Then I noticed just how tightly she was gripping Luffy's
neck and dismissed that train of thought with a self-conscious gulp.

"But Nami!" Luffy protested as he chortled, completely unaffected by the fact that his crewmate was trying to suffocate
him. "He's not a random newbie! His name's Sanjoy and he's really cool and is a devil fruit user like me!"

"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH—mmhm?"

I sealed her mouth shut carbon strings making sure they were soft and blunt.

I looked at panicking Nami, "Woman, can you keep voice lower or you want all the beasts in this jungle to come here?"

That shut her up and as she nodded, I removed the strings from her mouth.

"Now can you atleast introduce yourself without shrieking?" Nami blushed with embarrassment, really the woman was too
loud and too aggressive.

Sanji the lover boy came at me to kick me and I let him.

DOOON!

"Ah fucking hell! what the hell are you made of!" Sanji shouted at me, as he jumped on one leg.
 I looked at him dryly. "Carbon, stronger than diamond. You really are stupid aren't you attacking someone without any
notice. You know I could have permanently removed your leg if I wanted to."

Sanji and Nami looked at me in horror before they gulped when I flicked my wrist and everything on my right was sliced to
pieces.

Zoro grinned when he saw Sanji's expression before looking at me apologetically. "Don't mind the witch and shitty cook,
I'm Roronoa Zoro."

I shook his hand and nodded. "Sanjoy Sandhu. Nice to meet you."

While all this was transpiring, Usopp sighed wearily and clapped his hand on Sanjoy's free shoulder. "Sorry about Sanji.
He's got a good heart, but he's… eh…" He waved a hand in search of a valid word.

"A moron?" I deadpanned.

"Shishishishi!" Luffy bent his head backwards as he smiled at me. "See Nami? I told you that Sanjoy has cool powers!"

Nami looked at me wearily which made me sigh.

"Look I'm sorry for before. I have been stranded on this island for more than a month. Hunting and surviving, I had eaten
my devil fruit here only. You started calling me names, ignoring my presence not even knowing my name and it kinda pissed
me off."

Nami looked at me wide eyed before looking a little sheepish, "Yeah that was my fault, I'm sorry too."

I nodded and smiled at her which she returned before looking at the shitty cook with a raised eyebrow.

Sanji blinked, then huffed and looked away. "You are not getting anything out of me."

What a drama queen.

I looked at Luffy, "I don't know about joining the crew. I'm not a pirate you see even though I know my way around a fight.
I came here from a place that you never would have heard of. My ship crashed here a month ago and I basically have nowhere
to go, as I can't go back to the place I came from. So can I travel with you and decide if I want to join or not. If you can't do that,
can you atleast give me a ride out of here." I was still wary about joining them, knowing what kind of trouble they were going
to encounter but it was also the safest way.

Luffy grinned at me. "Oh no you are my crewmate. You are going to be travelling with us."

I looked at him bewildered. What the hell? He totally ignored what I said.

"But I—"

"No."

"Hey at—"

"No"

I slumped as I realised he wasn't even listening to what I said. I felt a hand pat my shoulder. It was Zoro who was giving me
a sympathetic look. "I know how you feel, trust me I know. He won't listen to anything you say."

I felt a hand on my other shoulder and I saw Nami giving me the same look. "Just give up. Trust me he would follow you to
the end of world and you only option would be to kill him which I don't think you would do…"

I sweatdropped at her logic before something hit me, "You tried to kill him, didn't you?"

Nami laughed mysteriously which was creeping me out. This… This woman was dangerous.

Luffy was laughing like a loon and his laugh was infectious. "Hey Sanjoy! What's your dream?"

My whole body tensed at his question. I realised I didn't have any dream… 'Shelly! One day I'll save every kid that have
been suffering. I will make sure they are loved.'

"I… I don't have one. It was just survival till now but if I could dream… then I want to help those in need. I want kids to
laugh and have a good life. I want peace for everyone. It might be a stupid, impossible dream but that’s what I want to do."
 That drew looks of awe and disbelief from the pirates.

"Wooow…" Luffy breathed in awe.

The crew stared at me with slightly shocked expressions, a new look of evaluation in their eyes as they took me in.

"Shishishi You are my new crewmate! I hhave decided and I won't back out!" Luffy said as he wrapped his flexible arm
around my shoulder. This guy was just too carefree but… he had a good heart.

"Yeah, but it wouldn't be Luffy any other way, would it?" Sanji chuckled melancholically as he puffed on his cigarette.

Zoro rolled his eyes at his crew's antics with a scoff before jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "Alright, enough fun and
games. It's getting late, might as well head back to the Merry. Fair warning, Sanjoy, you're going to want to brace your stomach.
The shit-cook's food-!"

SLAM!

Zoro blocked a kick from the blond cook with Wado Ichimonji's sheath.

"Watch your damn mouth, you crap-GRGH!" Sanji cut himself off as both he and Zoro suddenly doubled over, twitching in
pain.

I blinked in surprise, though I suspected I knew what the problem was. "Are… they alright?"

Nami growled darkly under her breath as she glared at the pair. "Nothing important. Just a couple of morons forgetting
that they were in a life and death struggle a week ago!" she snapped at them.

"Ouch." I winced. "My deepest of sympathies." I meant it, too. Arlong might have been half-way decently justified, but he
was still a sadistic fuck, and Mihawk hadn't done Zoro any favors either.

"Psh!" Zoro scoffed as he righted himself, albeit with minor tremors racking his body. "What, this? This is nothing."

Nami stared at him with a decidedly unimpressed expression for a second before jabbing him straight in his chest. The
swordsman's face immediately twisted in a grimace as he barely managed to suck in a grunt of pain.
 The navigator scowled and rolled her eyes at the green-haired man's show of machismo before addressing me, adopting a
pleasant facial expression with unnerving ease. "Anyways… I think it's high time we were introduced." She held her hand out.
"I'm Nami, our - and now your, I suppose - crew's navigator."

I smiled politely as I shook her hand. "Sanjoy, Sanjoy Sandhu. It's nice to meet you, Nami. I look forward to sailing with
you."

Nami nodded politely before scowling over her shoulder. "As for everyone else, Moron the First," she jabbed her thumb at
Zoro, who flipped her off in response. "Is Roronoa Zoro, while Moron the Second," she indicated the blond cook, who flipped
from snarling at Zoro to preening with hearts in his eyes, "Is Sanji. He's Usopp," she pointed at the long-nosed sniper before
waving her hand at Luffy. "And you've already met Monkey D. Luffy, our fearless-to-a-fault captain."

I smiled and raised a hand in greeting. "Pleased to meet you all, I hope we can all become good friends."

Well… looked like that was that.

I was officially, now and forever, a Straw Hat Pirate.

Now… I could only hope things would be smooth sailing from here.