One Piece: Reborn as Enel

Chapter 67: Unanswered Questions and Waking up

_________ POV Narration _________

The first thing Enel saw when he opened his eyes, was light.

Then the light became stars, as more and more of them seemed to pop out around him.

It didn't take long for Enel to realize that he hadn't actually woken up yet.

Looking around, he could see many planets in the distance, many stars flowing in the rivers of the universe.

But why was he dreaming about that?

"I never understood this... Why do humans feel the need to dream?"

Enel was shocked, instantly turning his head to the voice, he could see it, a pair of red eyes staring at him... Familiar, yet completely alien.

Enel controlled his body, coming closer and closer to that voice until he could finally make it out.

The form of a middle-aged man with black hair, a small stubble and deep red eyes. The man was also wearing a formal suit, looking like he was preparing to leave for a fancy party...

Enel's eyes widened a bit as he recognized that form, how couldn't he? He had looked like that for most of his life...

"Why are you here? And why do you look like me?" Enel asked as his face turned a bit grave. He didn't know what to expect for an answer, but he certainly hoped for something, anything.

"Like you? No no, you no longer look like this. You abandoned your old life, taking on a different form." The voice of the older man seemed to echo in the universe around them, as Enel narrowed his eyes at the strange god's proclamation.

Enel looked at the god with a blank gaze, not knowing exactly what to say to that.

"I have always been curious about your species... I've failed to understand it even after so many years... What is... 'ambition'?" The god tilted his head once more, as its red eyes peered into Enel.

"Rather basic, that one... Ambition refers to one's strong desire to achieve something meaningful, to accomplish something great." Enel crossed his arms, deciding to humour the god in front of him.

Not that he had many choices at hand. It was either that or try to run away, which didn't even seem like an option, honestly.

"Basic indeed... Simple-minded and strange to hear from someone like you." The god seemed unimpressed with the answer, which made Enel scowl a bit.

'What do you want me to say? That's the literal definition of it.'

"What do I want you to say? Hmm... My bad, I guess I should have worded that better... What is 'ambition' to you?" The god's eyes sparked a bit, Enel stared at his former body's emotionless face for a bit.

'I forgot this thing can read my thoughts...'

"Ambition is what drives me forwa-" Enel's words were stopped instantly, as he instinctively felt something grip his heart.

It was as if his heart was placed in a vice, and Enel could feel himself squirming.

"Don't... Lie... To... Me." The god said without any change in expression.

"... Ambition doesn't mean anything. Nothing more than a way to trick yourself that you are doing something meaningful with your time." Enel ended up saying as he clutched his chest a bit. Saying exactly what the god wanted to hear, regardless of what he felt.

"Indeed. You know that. You are smart. Nothing that you do will ever have any effect on the world, all humans always end up as nothing more than buried bones... So why bother with all this?"

Images started flashing around Enel when the god said that, memories of his time in the world of one piece.

From helping the sky people indirectly to joining the marines, freeing Dressrosa and eventually betraying the marines. All of those scenes passed by as Enel looked on with a raised eyebrow.

"...I wanted to do it. Either due to curiosity or to achieve something... Or due to rage and other emotions." Enel said as he looked over the strips of memories that surrounded him.

"So strange. I don't remember you being so... Impulsive?" The god said as a smile cracked on its face.

"You never knew me that well, I guess? Most of what I used to do was on impulse... It's the same for most humans." Enel said as looked at the memories vanishing around him, revealing the stars once more.

"... Humans are so weird." The god said before shaking its head.

Enel just scowled again, he opened his mouth, hoping to get to ask some questions of his own.

The main one on his mind was 'What did you do to my soul?' The god could clearly hear his thoughts, but it also certainly didn't care to answer.

"I guess I should get to the real question... Why are you here?"

The god tilted its head, Enel could see its humanoid neck crack. Its eyes seemed to retract inside its head, revealing two black holes emptily staring at Enel.

A strange black sludge seemed to start spilling out of its mouth, eye holes and quickly cracking skin.

Enel tried to move, but he simply couldn't control his body.

The sludge quickly filled all of the space around him, as his vision became more and more blurry with each second that passed.

The next second, he forced his eyes open, shooting up from his bed in a panic as he took in deep breaths.

He managed to calm down rather quickly, as the air filling his lungs managed to cool down his head as well.

'And just like that, I'm back, huh?'

Enel looked around the room, he could see that he was in a small room, most likely on Whitebeard's ship.

'Why was I even there in the first place?'

Still, Enel knew that he wouldn't gain anything by simply pondering on that forever. He had other things to do currently.

The good sign was that he wasn't wearing any cuffs/wasn't restrained in any way.

'I guess I managed to befriend them in the end... Still, I can't make it seem like this was my goal originally. it would certainly make things worse.'

Enel looked to the side, his white staff and golden gauntlets seemed to be leaning on a wall nearby. The doctor probably took them off him at some point.

His clothes were also folded and placed near his bed.

Both of his arms had been broken in the war, but Enel knew he'd survive. His leg was also bandaged, thankfully it wasn't anywhere near as battered as his arms were.

The first thing Enel did was to get up and put his shirt back on, rolling up its sleeves in the process. He no longer had a jacket, as that had been ripped to pieces at some point during the scuffle.

His marine coat was still there, a bit tattered, but Enel decided to wear it for now, as it had somewhat become part of his style.

The next thing he did was to put the gauntlets on his damaged hands, tightening them as much as possible to keep his bones arranged at all times. Then he ended up putting the staff on his back.

Enel walked out of the room, and onto the deck. Opening the door with one of his earlobes as his arms hung limply to his sides.

They were currently on the high seas. Enel could hear shouts and music all around him, pirates dancing and drinking.

They had successfully escaped. That much was obvious.

The pirates seemed to notice him leaving his room, they seemed to still be a bit weary of him, but not to the point where they'd stop partying.

"Enel-yoi! Good to see you're up. Pops was calling for you." Marco walked over to Enel while drinking from a sake bottle directly.

"Sure thing..." The former rear admiral said as he started walking towards the figurehead of the ship, where he could feel the large man resting.

Whitebeard was bandaged up all over, as he had also sustained plenty of injuries, he was also hooked up to various tubes due to his illness, but that didn't seem to stop him from drinking sake directly from a barrel.

Whitebeard smiled a bit when seeing Enel approaching him, most of his crewmembers made way for Enel, looking at him with a bit of fear.

The captains didn't seem scared though, they were mostly just looking at Enel with some wariness.

But, at this point, none of them would even attempt to stop him from approaching their father. Everyone had seen Enel protecting Whitebeard during the war.

Both from the marines and from Blackbeard's crew. At this point, thinking that Enel wanted to harm Whitebeard would be rather strange.

"Enel... Glad to see you moving around already!" Whitebeard said with a wide smile. It was clear that the old man didn't mind being able to still party with his children, as opposed to being killed in the war.

"Yeah, my arms are still broken thanks to you. But I'll be fine." Enel said as he waved one of his earlobes around. They would act as his limbs until his actual hands healed. Good thing they were long enough to go to his waist.

"Gurararara!" Whitebeard laughed loudly, slapping his knee as his laugh then turned into a coughing fit.

"Might want to take it slowly on the drinking, old man. You're already injured and sickly enough." Enel said as he made a chair with his staff and sat down with his legs crossed in front of the large pirate.

"Don't tell me what to do now, this is a joyous occasion!" Newgate said as he smiled and took another sip from his barrel.

"... I guess a bit of celebration never hurt anybody," Enel said as he arched his earlobes, making it look like he was shrugging with them.

"Ace is safe, I am still alive enough to enjoy the company of my children. Things couldn't have been better, honestly." The legendary pirate spoke while looking at his crew with a tired gaze.

"This, this entire celebration, it's only happening thanks to you." Whitebeard put down his barrel for a second, looking Enel in the eye as his face turned a bit serious.

" I had stepped on that field prepared to lose my life... Actually, returning was never a possibility in my mind." The old man rubbed one of his knees while sighing a bit.

Enel let him speak, also a bit curious about what his thoughts were but also knowing that it would be rude to interrupt the old man.

"I was convinced that I would die, either to the marines or to Teach when he appeared. But it seems that fate had other plans." Whitebeard picked his barrel back up, taking another sip.

"I don't know what your purpose was, or why you helped us the way you did. But, I have you to thank for the smiles that my children are currently displaying..." Whitebeard continued to speak, as Enel heaved a sigh.

'I guess I should try to make my 'true intentions' a bit more transparent'

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Hope you liked the chapter!

Little encounter with god and all that, this was technically volume 1 of the fanfic done :))

Also, Whitebeard would obviously want to know about Enel's reasons too since it was a pretty major thing for him to betray the marines in such a public fashion.

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)

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