Chapter Text
The last second of your life was spent watching a car rushing at you while you stood in frozen horror.
Damn it, I'll never know the end of One Piece because that asshole ran a red light.
There probably had been more glorious last thoughts in history, but for better or for worse, that had been yours. The next instant, there was a shock, a crack, and everything turned dark before your brain could even process the pain.
You opened your eyes in a place that looked like what you would have called the cliché occidental vision of the afterlife in any manga, anime, book, movie, or fictional production. A sort of palace made of white fluffy clouds shrouded in golden light, with just you in the middle of some sort of plaza, and an old guy with a white beard wearing an equally white toge.
Though the colourful spinning wheel shaped like a helm beside him was a teeny tiny bit more unexpected.
"Welcome to the afterdeath, Y/N," the old man greeted you with a smile.
"Erm, thanks," you said awkwardly, "but don't you mean the afterlife ?"
"Common misconception among humans, but no, this is very literally what happens after death," he explained. "Now, as a believer of fictions and fanfictions, you have been redirected to-"
"Wait wait wait, what do you mean a believer of fictions and fanfictions ? Do you mean every kind of belief has like, something existing for their believers, or followers, or whatever ?" you asked, feeling flabbergasted and a bit overwhelmed at the reveal.
"Do you really want to go into what classifies as a belief to mortals and how it applies to what happens after death ?" the old man asked you with a raised eyebrow.
You looked at him, thought briefly about religions, various beliefs, what that implied, and ultimately opted not to poke that hornet's nest.
"Probably not," you replied slowly.
"Wise choice. You don't want to know what the meetings between Odin and Santa Claus look like," he huffed with a little laugh. "Anyway, point is, you participated actively in the belief of fictions and fanfictions during your life, and your last thought was even devoted to it, which is always pretty flattering for a deity. So, you get a choice."
You blinked in shock, decided not to question the Odin and Santa Claus meetings part, and tried to process what you had just heard. It took you a minute, but you finally managed to accept that you were somehow both dead and still conscious, and apparently given options about what came next.
"What kind of choice ?" you asked the old man who was apparently the representation of a deity.
"You can either fade into nothingness, or try your luck at reincarnation," he told you plainly with a gesture toward the wheel. "Since you died thinking of One Piece, you'd be reincarnated there and given a chance to write a new story, though Fate will still mostly make events try to follow canon, so you don't end up completely insane or disappointed."
"Holy mother of plot twists, I can be reincarnated in ONE PIECE !?" you squealed in absolute glee.
"There's a catch though," the man warned you.
You deflated instantly, of course there was a catch. Why had you expected anything else.
"Why indeed," the man answered your thoughts, and you looked at him in shock. "Yes I can read your thoughts, you're one of my believers so that's within my powers," he confirmed, then gestured to the wheel. "The catch is that you won't be able to control when, where, and what species you will be reincarnated in, I can only guarantee it will happen within the limits of the plot, or close enough to allow you to interact with it. The wheel will choose all that, and you'll have to figure it out yourself after being born."
"Okay," you replied slowly, because that still sounded pretty awesome to you, "but… I mean, I won't remember my previous life, so it won't really matter, right ?"
"Did I forget to mention it again ?" the old man muttered. "I really need to make a note somewhere. No, you will absolutely remember your past life, that's the entire point of granting you this reincarnation as a reward, you know ?"
Your jaw dropped in shock.
"Also," he continued cheerfully, "you can either keep your current name and gender or choose another, whatever feels right to you. The wheel will respect your choice about that."
"So if I get this right," you stated when he was apparently done listing the various terms and conditions of agreement, "I can be reincarnated in One Piece, I just don't choose when or where or what as, but I'll remember everything, and I'll get the chance to see the plot happening in real time and maybe change it ?"
"That's pretty much it, yes. Or you can choose nothingness and the peace of no longer existing, but-"
"I choose to spin the wheel," you cut him off with a huge smile.
The deity laughed.
"You lot never choose nothingness, I don't know why I keep offering it !"
"Because choosing the end we prefer is the reason people turn to fiction and fanfiction in the first place," you replied knowingly, and watched the old man grin.
"Well said, my dear Y/N, well said. Come forward, young lady, and spin the wheel three times. One for each condition of your reincarnation. First when, then where, and finally the species."
You took a step forward, took a deep breath, and put your hand on the helm to spin it, feeling surprised at how comfortably warm it was. After a couple spins, it stopped on something.
"Mmh, not bad I guess," the old man said in an appreciative voice as he clearly could tell what the result was even if you could not.
You made it turn a second time, and watched his eyes widened minutely at the result this time.
"Well that's already a little more unusual."
At the third time, however, he froze, then looked at you with a pained and saddened expression.
"I'm sorry, child. I truly am. But not even I can change what the wheel has decided."
"What ? What do you mean ?" you asked him, feeling worried by his reaction. "What did the whee-"
But then the clouds at your feet started to spiral around you, envelopping you in seconds and making the whole palace around you disappear in a blurr of movements.
"Good luck, Y/N," the voice of the deity wished you gravely. "You will need it."
For the second time in what felt like less than an hour, the world went dark around you and your consciousness faded to black.
-o-oOo-o-
Deep in the New World, on an island protected by impossibly sharp and tall cliffs, in the very heart of a kingdom most people had never heard of, a baby cried for the first time.
"Congratulations, your Majesties, it's a healthy baby girl," the doctor of the royal family smiled as he cleaned the frail body and presented it to the queen, who, while panting and exhausted, still smiled in wonder at her daughter.
"She's so beautiful," the king whispered in awe as he came closer to his wife. "So perfect."
"She truly is," the queen murmured, and kissed the top of the baby's head. "Our little miracle."
After giving the last required treatments to the queen to ensure she would be fine after giving birth, the doctor bowed deeply.
"Shall I announce the birth process went well, your Majesties ?"
"Yes, do that," the king replied absentmindedly.
The doctor chuckled, and left the room with the nurses.
"To think I was diagnosed sterile," the queen smiled incredulously. "And now look at her."
"She's a gift from the Moon, no doubt about that," the king stated with a fond expression, and cautiously extended a hand toward the little girl.
To his surprise, the newborn made little movements with her arms, as if she wanted to catch his fingers in her own tiny hands, and when she ultimately managed to take hold of his index, she smiled brightly.
"She recognises her dad," the queen chuckled. "Only just born, and already so smart, we truly have been blessed."
"I have a feeling this little one is going to be a hurricane," the king laughed softly. "But you need to rest, my dear. Both of you," he added when the baby yawned widely.
"I suppose we do," the queen mumbled, her eyes already closing.
"Sleep, my love, let me handle the rest."
The queen's breathe promptly evened out, but the princess was stubbornly trying to stay awake for a little bit longer.
"Don't do that, my darling star. You need your rest too."
The baby stared at him with surprisingly understanding eyes for a newly born little girl, but it still took her a few more moments to finally fall asleep, and her little hands released the king's finger. He looked at the two most precious people in his life, and smiled before sending a silent prayer to the Moon for their good health, and express his eternal gratitude for the gift she had bestowed upon him and his wife.
The king pressed a brief kiss on his wife's forehead, then another on his daughter's, and took a second to carve this unique memory in his mind. Then he stood up, and walked out of the royal chambers to face the guards, servants, and various people assembled who were already rejoicing in a flurry of feathers, yet instantly stopped to bow at his appearance.
"My dear subjects, I am honoured and beyond exalted to announce you the birth of my daughter, Crown Princess Y/N of Lunaria."
-o-oOo-o-
Reader pov
The first years of your new life were nothing short of amazing.
To your complete astonishment, you had been reborn a Lunarian, and a princess at that. You had been floored at first to see all the people with white hair, black wings, and lightly tanned to golden brown skin, some with fire on their back and some without, but then you had felt absolutely elated at this opportunity.
Somehow, you supposed it made sense that by the time the main plot of One Piece happened, the tribe would have been believed to be extinct, only to be hidden in an island almost impossible to access for anyone who was not able to fly.
To top it off, your new parents were very loving, and apparently pretty good rulers since everyone in the kingdom seemed to be faring relatively well.
The only thing worrying you was the memory of the sadness in the deity's voice before you were reincarnated. It made you fear some tragedy would happen at some point, and as such, you had decided that you might as well use the fact that you had the memories of your past life, along with the cognitive abilities of an adult, to become the best princess you could. That way, even if something happened, you would be able to change it and help your people.
Though you had to admit it was also so you would one day be allowed to leave the island and see when exactly you were in the plot of One Piece, and hopefully get to meet all the characters you loved. And maybe perhaps save some of them, if you could.
Although for now, at the grand total of six years old, your goals were still limited to doing your best in all your lessons.
"Good morning, your Highness," your tutor said as the middle-aged man with glasses and a gentle smile came into the room dedicated to your studies.
"Good morning, professeur Reiger," you replied in kind with a smile and a little flap of your wings, which made the man chuckle lightly.
"We will start with history today. Do you remember our first lesson on that subject ?"
"Yes, professor," you answered. "You taught me Lunarians are actually two tribes so close that they only form one species belonging to the Sky, just like the Fishmen and Merfolk are two different tribes who form the people of the Sea, and the Giants are the people of the Land regardless of if they have horns or not."
"Very good," he approved and put the book on the desk in front of him before opening it. "Do you remember what the names of our two tribes are ?"
"The Solarians and the Starlings. Solarians have fire on their back and are more resistant, but Starlings have the capacity to detach their feathers from their body and control them with their mind. Father- I mean the King is a Solarian, and the Queen and I are Starlings," you said proudly.
"Excellent, your Highness," your teacher nodded. "At this rate I'm afraid I will run out of things to teach you before you reach the double digits," he joked lightly, and you giggled.
You opened your history notebook, already full of information, and got ready to learn even more about the species Oda had told so little about.
"Today, we will go more in depth about the reasons our ancestors chose this island to be their home," he told you, and you could feel your feathers fluttering with excitement.
-o-oOo-o-
Reiger pov
As usual, Reiger came to the throne's room in the early afternoon to give his report to the king. Being appointed as the royal tutor of princess Y/N had been the highest academical honour one could hope to be bestowed with, but the esteemed professor had to admit that at first, he had resigned himself to spend several years teaching a very young child how to read, write, and count.
He had expected a likely spoiled toddler, especially when the royal couple had asked him to start teaching their daughter before she celebrated her second birthday.
Instead, Reiger had been faced with a prodigy.
The princess was well-mannered, kind, extremely curious, and almost shockingly mature for her age. She absorbed information at a speed properly astonishing no matter the subject, to the point where she was already following a cursus most children in Lunaria only started to hear about when they reached fourteen or fifteen years old.
"Ah, good afternoon, Reiger," the king greeted him. "How was today's lesson ?"
"Princess Y/N was as studious and bright as ever, your Majesty. I swear her Highness' love of knowledge rivals her love of the Sky," he answered truthfully.
The king smiled, and stood up from his backless throne, a necessity for all Lunarians since wings made backrests rather uncomfortable – even if some Starlings enjoyed those when they detached all their feathers or went through molting season. He flew quickly to one of the massive windows, the one giving the best view on the flying grounds, where the princess was currently training under the supervision of her other tutor, the Head of the Royal Guard.
Lelya was a stern woman and one of the best fighters in the kingdom. She also was a Starling on top of one of the few Flying Masters of Lunaria, a woman able to perform all flying techniques from all five ranks of difficulty, which had made her the most qualified to teach the princess.
"I'm not sure anything calls to my daughter more than the Sky," the king said fondly as he watched the little girl work on a technique that had to be at least of rank three.
And indeed, even from that distance, the delight with which the young princess was flying and practicing was obvious.
"She truly is the Brightest Star of Lunaria," Reiger complimented with a proud smile and a discreet burst of the flames on his back.
"She most certaintly is," the king chuckled, then sighed. "Sometimes I worry she might be trying to grow up too fast. Or that this island might not be big enough for her."
"With all due respect, your Majesty, I believe Princess Y/N is perfectly happy as things are," the professor said, and barely refrained his wings from flapping in a show of incredulity.
As if the princess of Lunaria, the only heiress to the crown, the little girl adored by all, the so promising child of the royal couple, would ever leave their island when it contained everything she loved.
"Let's hope the Moon will prove you right," the king hummed with a smile.
-o-oOo-o-
Reader pov
Truth be told, if you had to choose the best part of your reincarnation so far, it was your wings. The absolute freedom of flying was a rush of adrenaline and pure joy that nothing could compare to. The wind under your wings, the various air currents you could play with, all the techniques you were learning, even just leisurely going through the clouds was nothing short of amazing.
And you supposed you should not have been surprised by the fact that you could also talk to birds to some extent, similarly to how Fishmen could talk to fishes.
And fine, maybe you had used that specific ability a couple of times to play pranks on some people, but in your defense, that haughty bitch who had claimed your mother's wings were clearly getting duller with age totally deserved to have a dozen pigeons poop on her feathers. You were pretty sure your father had winked at you knowingly when he had caught you grinning proudly, anyway.
By the time you were eight years old, Lelya, the Flying Master teaching you, had told your parents you had mastered all techniques of rank four and could therefore start learning how to fight in flight.
By the time you were nine, she had started to include Haki in your training as well so you could apply Armament to your feathers and use Observation to become even more proficient in the air.
By the time you were ten, you were able to go head-to-head with most members of the Royal Guard as well as starting to organise small public events and then submit said projects to your parents for approval.
Truly, aside from one little incident that had happened a few weeks after you had turned eight, everything was absolutely perfect in your new life.
-o-o-o-
It was your first lesson in aerial fighting, and since Lelya had decreeted you would train with members of the Royal Guard, both experimented warriors and new recruits, you were very excited.
But as soon as you set foot on the training grounds, you found a face with a tattoo you instantly identified. Every guard greeted you with warmth and your proper title after a bow, but you noticed this one particular new Solarian recruit, who had to be about ten years older than you, looked furious.
"Alber, you have something to say ?" Lelya asked with a raised eyebrow in warning, the name confirming your intuition about his identity.
"I don't think it's safe for a little girl to train with us, Commander," he replied. "Especially when she's our fragile Starling Princess."
Accusation of disrespect started flying all around as soon as he spoke, but among the noise of wings flapping angrily, Lelya raised a hand.
"Our fragile Starling Princess, as you called her, conquered in less than eight years the techniques you have yet to master in more than eighteen. Her independant control on her feathers is maybe one year away from flawless. When I say she is ready to start learning aerial fighting, it's because I am running out of things to teach her when it comes to flight. I doubt you would be able to defeat her in the air as things are," she finished seriously.
Your head snapped to the Commander in shock. You had not expected the stern woman to take your side so readily, or to imply that you could defeat the one that would later be known as King the Wildfire.
"I doubt our princess would want to take that risk," Alber replied while giving you a look that was very close to disdainful, though you were pretty sure the actual reason behind his attitude was jealousy.
"I would not be opposed," you said with your best innocent smile. "I am here to learn, after all, so maybe I can learn something by facing you ?"
The insult was just as subtle as his had been, but his anger intensified at your words.
"No permanent injuries, no lethal attacks, the sparring ends with your opponent surrendering or being blocked for ten seconds. Or unconsciousness, but try to avoid that one," Lelya stated as a set of rules, then flew aside with the rest of the guards.
You faced a man who was supposed to become one of the most feared pirates of the New World, who was already much taller than regular Lunarians, and who was practically dwarfing you with his size. But being bigger did not always turned out to be an advantage.
"Go !" Lelya said.
You both took flight, and Alber tried to use his flames to burn your wings and send you to the ground.
Keyword, tried.
By the time his fire started to go in your direction, you had already executed a downward spin to avoid the attack and sneaked behind him, fast enough to deliver a kick to his knee. With your difference in strength, it did not do much more than distract him, but it was fine.
Distraction was exactly what you were aiming for.
For the next minutes, Alber tried to either use his flames, his temporary invincibility, or the limited boost of speed he could get against you, yet he systematically failed to reach you. Your smaller size and greater agility in the air ensured he could simply not launch an attack you could not dodge, much to his obvious irritation.
"Come and fight me, coward !" he screamed at some point, clearly incensed.
"I am fighting you," you replied with a shit-eating grin.
Then you focused on all the feathers you had hidden on his clothes while you distracted him with your kicks and punches. With a thought, you used your telekinetic control on them to force Alber's wings to close, sending him crashing to the ground, then blocked him there with more feathers covering his wrists and ankles and pinning him to the grass.
"Eight… Nine… Ten !" Lelya counted. "Princess Y/N wins the spar."
You called all your feathers back to your wings, and released the much bigger Lunarian, who was now looking at you with a mixture of emotions you could not decipher. Anger, jealousy, begrudging respect, fascination, everything was flashing too quickly for you to identify it.
The next day, Alber left the island of Lunaria altogether, without telling anyone where he was going or when – or even if – he planned to return.
-o-o-o-
By the time you turned eleven, you could confidently say all was going well in your life. If your estimations were correct – and you mostly based those on the fact that you had met Alber, who you were pretty sure was supposed to be between forty-five and fifty when Luffy reached Wano – it likely meant Roger was still alive and kicking ass on the Sea.
To be completely fair, you would like the idea of trying your luck at meeting the Pirate King, but with how isolated Lunaria was, you could not really ask your parents to let you leave on an adventure to look for a pirate you were not even supposed to know existed.
Unfortunately.
Even if you were only one technique away from mastering all five ranks and gaining the title of Flying Master, thus becoming the youngest Lunarian in History to achieve that feat.
Even if you could now use Armament Haki on your entire wings, and even maintain it on up to three dozens of feathers even after you detached them from your wings, which basically turned them into very deadly daggers of various sizes.
Really, getting to be reincarnated as a member of an awesome flying species with the memories of your past life and the mindset of an adult was a treat. You were fairly confident that once you reached fifteen years old, you would be strong enough to convince your parents to let you go out in the big wide sky and explore the world by yourself.
-o-oOo-o-
But before you even got to turn twelve, your parents had rejected an offer to join the World Government, and sealed the fate of Lunaria.