Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 320 RECAP EPISODE

Hancock and I were still in the Junction. I was about to make my choice on the next Path, but Hancock stopped walking around. Turning to me I could feel a mix of curiosity and anger from her. 

“I want you to start at the beginning…again,” Hancock Boa said. 

In the One Piece world she was about 30 years old, but also the most beautiful woman in the world. In her normal body she was 6 foot 3 inches tall, long black hair down her back, wide eyes, large bosom, perfect legs, and deadly. With a devil fruit that could turn people to stone she had been through much in her life. As the mother of our children I had made her my wife. And on a whim, I had made her my Companion and Summon, whatever that meant. 

The Hancock in front of me was about 15 or 16 years old, the same age as my body. Her black hair down to her shoulders. Her chest was a large C-cup currently. In a tight white shirt and black yoga pants I wasn’t sure where she got the clothes, but that was a small matter in the scheme of things. She was the first person to come with me in the room that acted as a backdoor to different worlds. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but decided she deserved the truth. 

“My original name was Weston Kline,” I said. 

“But Weston is your first name, why do you always say the family name last?” 

“Where I come from, we say the first name…first, and the surname second. So my name is Weston.” She nodded. “Try not to interrupt. I’m sure you have a lot of questions. I will try to go into as much detail as possible.”

Closing my eyes for a moment I took a deep breath. “My name was Weston Kline. I grew up in a country called America. I had a very normal youth. A few friends here and there, my best friend…I can talk about him later,” I said, cursing Maximus. “I became an accountant. Had a wife-”

“Her name?” Hancock interjected.

“Clara,” I said. “We had 2 kids. George and Sarah. I think I was about 55 when I died the first time. I thought I died in my sleep, but I got some memories back a few weeks ago and it turns out I died from a heart attack while walking.” Hancock moved to sit down at the center of the room, so I did the same. The young girl was attentive as she listened.

“Ugh where to start?” I mumbled. Unsure how to make this all make sense. “So I died, and some alien or god or whatever brought me and another 9,999 people to a room like this. Each of us was given a choice of 4…branches of…world types,” I said, not sure how to explain manga to the girl from a manga world. 

“So Books?” She asked, pointing to the door with Books written above it. 

“Yes, in my world we know of other…worlds. And we learn about them through Books and other…sources of information,” I said. She nodded slowly. I guessed she pictured them like History books since her world was one I traveled to. “Traveling to new worlds through doors was way out of my original world’s reach though. So whoever brought me here is really advanced.” 

“From these 4 branches of worlds, all 10,000 of us picked 11 worlds to focus on for each branch. These 44 worlds were behind doors. We could go to one, experience the stories that we knew of, and live lives.”

“Why were you sent to do this?” She asked. 

“No idea,” I said. “I doubt any of us 10,000 know. But me especially….so you know how you have a devil fruit and a side effect of the fruit is that you can’t swim?” She nodded. “When I got here I had the option to learn a skill called Memory Meld. Behind all of these doors are versions of me. With this Memory Meld skill I was able to learn everything that the version of me in that world knew. But the side effect was I couldn’t remember anything leading up to my death, or what happened when I came to this place.” 

“Why?” She asked. 

“Why can’t you swim?” She shrugged. “I don’t know either. I guess to make it so I don’t know what worlds I picked. Make it all a question. Most people didn’t take the skill. They just take over their versions and muddle through what they don’t know.” 

I could see Hancock was lost, but I kept going. “How much do you want to know about what I’ve done since I got here?”

“Everything,” she said firmly. 

I sighed again but nodded as I began to pace. “First there was High School of the Dead. In that world there is a zo-outbreak.” Saying zombie would just confuse her since the Shichibukai Moira could make zombies. His were far different than the ones I dealt with. “This outbreak made people into living corpses. These corpses hungered for human flesh. They would attack whoever they could, killing them, and making them into an infected that would then hunger for flesh. After only a few days most of the population was afflicted by this virus and dead.”

“That sounds scary,” she said. 

“It is. In that world I was about 16 years old. I traveled with a group of kids from my school and we survived against the living dead. The next place I went to was Gantz. In that world a…being would summon you to a room and make you fight aliens.”

“Aliens? Like from our moon?” She asked. In One Piece I knew people lived on the moon somehow, more Oda magic, but I hadn’t had any dealings with them. 

“Kind of. But these weren’t friendly aliens. They ate people and were really strong. They could rip your head off by barely touching you-”

“You fought these beings?!” She asked, fear leaking off of her. 

“I did. I actually destroyed a huge armada of aliens that were planning on destroying our planet,” I said. Hancock’s eyes were wide, believing me wholeheartedly. I got a little into telling of my exploits since she was such an apt listener. 

“After that I went to Naruto World. That was where I learned to use chakra.”

“Chakra? Like what you gave me?” She asked. I nodded. “It isn’t from our world?”

“No. Did you ever wonder how I could lose my memories, but somehow I knew how to use chakra?”

She zoned out for a moment. “I did wonder that once, but…never again,” she said, confused. 

“I’m sure whoever brought me here messes with minds so you don’t ask too many questions about me,” I said. There were far too many times in the worlds where I could do something supernatural and no one asked questions. Like pulling items out of my shop. 

Jeez I forgot I had the skill. After checking a few worlds the shops weren’t all that useful so I ignored them. 

“Chakra was special to Naruto World. In that world I became a ninja…think of ninjas like the Marines, but instead of capturing pirates our job was to kill. I was trained since I was about 8 or 9 to kill other-” 

“8 or 9?!”

“Yes,” I said. “Naruto was an unforgiving place. Hell, I’m lucky I wasn’t born a few generations before the main stor-events.” I corrected, trying not to imply that I thought all of this was fake. “War always broke out. There were really strong people and monsters. I started living in Naruto World when I was about 12. The main bad guys there were a group of ninjas that wanted to take over the world. I just recently ended them.” 

“Recently?” She asked. “But I’ve known you for 2 years?”

“Right, so not all of this happened at once. I am able to travel between the worlds. When I leave one world, time freezes for that world. It’s been 2 years since we met, right? It’s been over 5 years for me. I would jump between the worlds when I wasn’t confident about winning.” 

“Time would freeze?” She asked, stunned. Not fully grasping the concept, she didn’t ask any other clarifying questions so I kept on.

“My Hero Academia World was next. In that world people have something like Devil Fruits,” I said. “Instead of pirates we have villains. I was part of this school that teaches you how to fight against the villains.”

“Wait,” Hancock said, raising her hand. “In this Naruto World you were a ninja trained to protect your home? And in this Hero place you were trained to fight bad guys? So you were a Marine?” That appeared to mess her up more than most anything. A frown on her face she acted like I had stepped on her snake. 

“No-I-Well shit, yeah, kind of,” I said.

“Why? Why be good in other places but not my home?”

“Because the Marines are corrupt…or something,” I said, unconvincingly. “Dude, I don’t know. I just followed what felt right. With the Straw Hats the worst thing we did was steal some gold and fight against the government.” Like terrorists. “Quit sidetracking me-”

“Sorry, you’re right. But this doesn’t tell me a whole lot,” she said. “You went to these worlds that were kind of like mine. You were asked to pick them? You travel between these worlds and…do whatever you want?” 

“Yeah, pretty much. I get quests and rewards from the powers that brought me here, but mostly I do what I want.”

“But why would they want you to do this?”

“No idea,” I said. “To watch us fight? Like the Challenge you jumped in on.” 

“That seems…like a waste.”

“I agree,” I said. I still didn’t know how to break it to her that I thought her world was a figment of someone’s imagination in my world. I would let that come out slowly. There was only so much information someone could take at once. “I’ve been going at this blind for a long time. Just trying to stay alive. Enjoy the lives I’ve been given.”

“Then why were you prepared to give up?” She asked. 

“I…wasn’t?” I asked. “I think part of what happened is my lifeforce and apparently my will to live was drained from me. But also…I have not always been the best person. The fight you and I had, it was fresh in my mind. You were right. I lied to you. Hell, I never even considered keeping my word with you. I have a wife in another world, and more women I want to marry. One woman had a miscarriage or else our kids would already have another sister. I would like to say it’s because you all live in different worlds, but that shouldn’t have mattered. I had no intention of keeping my promise and I’m sorry for that.”

I could tell the words hurt her. Tears in her eyes, she held back her anger as she studied me. I continued on, my guilt pouring out of me. 

“I have done a lot of bad things, Hancock. I’ve killed dozens of people. It started in High School of the Dead. In that world, everyone was dying, being eaten by zombies. And we were trying to survive. This stupid teacher. He let so many people I saved die. I went ballistic. He was the first person I ever killed, and it slowly devolved from there.”

“You don’t like killing, then?” She asked. Coming out of her own thoughts to study me. 

“Not really. I think I started to. And I kind of shut down my emotions. There were just so many people hurt by villains,” I said. I thought back to some of the people I killed in MHA. “One especially bad one in My Hero Academia, he had this super power where he could freeze people. Like boom, they couldn’t move. But he would molest girls with the quirk. I mean, did he deserve death-”

“Yes,” Hancock said, without question. 

“Yeah, of course. But another he uh had a quirk to watch people from afar. This girl could feel him watching her. She couldn’t sleep. I found him and gouged out his eyes and-”

“Yes, he deserved it too,” she said emphatically. “Weston, there are so many bad people out there. If you give them powers, they will use it for evil. Have you ever heard of the Room Devil Fruit?” I shook my head. “Someone had it a long time ago. They were able to make a room around themselves. This room was outside of our world. In it the man could hold most anything, but he would take people there, and do very bad things to them.” It sounded like my Makuramoto, which wasn’t too comforting. 

“The last man that had the devil fruit was called the Devil of South Blue. He would go to a town, take in girls and boys that knew nothing of his power and do unspeakable things to them. When he was found the townspeople ripped him to shreds. Some people do not deserve to have power.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to think that about myself,” I admitted.

“What do you mean?” She asked, confused. 

“I mean, I was normal,” I said, my voice wavering a little. “I didn’t have any special powers before all this. I had 1 wife and 2 kids. I came here and thought it wasn’t real. I knew of your world but I didn’t know for sure it was real. These people, you, none of you were flesh and blood to me. And after I learned that you were, I didn’t change my ways. I got worse. I’ve done some bad things with my Chikyugi, Hancock.”

I didn’t currently have my Chikyugi. My lust was barely there. I thought back to what guilted me at the moment, but didn’t guilt me when I did it. “One girl was part of this army attacking my village. I used my lust on her. No warning, just made her cum a boat load until she didn’t know anything but lust. You, Nami, and Robin, I took you into my Makuramoto, tied you up, and did what I wanted.”

“That was different-” 

“Was it?” I asked. “I have slept with a lot of women, Hancock. I’m worried that I may have crossed the line with some.”

“Like who?” She asked, worried. 

I tried to think back. “Hinata maybe,” I said. “She is 16 like my body in Naruto World. We were engaged to be married by our families. But she wouldn’t do anything like that until we were married. So I married her. Granted, Reina and Hina were that age when they were tied to me, but Hinata... she was so…innocent.”

“Do you love her?” 

“Yes, but I had other women there. Other women I loved. I’m scared that I set my sights on marrying her, and I made it happen too fast. Before she could change her mind. I just got so far up my own ass. I was never like this before. I’d have sex twice a week with my wife. But hell with the Chikyugi-”

“Did it change you?” She asked. 

“Yeah, of course, but I got a hold of it-”

“Did you?” She asked. “Were you really in control?” 

A part of me wanted to say maybe not. “I’m a fucking grown ass adult. I knew what I was doing,” I said. “Hancock, I love you. I really do. But I’m worried I’m not the man you met.” 

“I know you’re not,” she said. “You are far stronger than the man I met. And yes, you’re a manwhore, but I still love you. You have struggled through this alone long enough. Let me help you. Let me work with you through these worlds.”

“I don’t know if you can-”

“I can, trust me,” she said with a smile. “I have received many notifications since you did whatever you did to me. I will be joining you from now on.”

“What kind of notifications?” I asked. She had a small smile on her lips.