I hit the ground, blood flowing from the cut on my head. I shouted, blood running down my face.
Then with a *splat*, I landed in the hot sand, the heat hurting my skin.
The sand stuck to my mouth, feeling like tiny pins.
The sand wasn't just hot—it felt like it was trying to pull me in.
I screamed, rolling on the ground, my body hurting.
Every part of me felt weird, like I was wearing someone else's skin.
The sun was burning my head, harsh and cruel, heating my bones.
For a moment, everything looked blurry.
The light was so strong I had to blink to see the trees above, their branches moving with the wind.
"Okay," I said, and closed my eyes with trembling hands.
"This is new.
"
I took slow, careful breaths, focusing on the sound of my heartbeat and the taste of seawater still in my mouth.
I needed to think.
Something had changed—everything had changed.
First, I wasn't dead.
My chest moved up and down, my heart beating steadily—no big wound, no blood loss.
Just… alive. It didn't make sense. A bullet in the gut doesn't just vanish with sand and sun. But here I was. Not a ghost. Not a corpse. Just a breath. A breath.
Second, it wasn't my body.
It was taller, more muscular, and—good gods—was that the Uchiha Sharingan?
I looked at the symbol glowing on my forehead like a holy mark.
I could feel it—the chakra under my skin was humming faintly.
And finally, I was something.
White sand, rolling blue waves, palm trees moving in the breeze.
The whole scene was so clear it felt real.
Like the sky.
I clenched my fists and shivered.
"Of course.
Imagination is not allowed.
" I sat up slowly, sand falling from my feet. A bird called in the distance—low and unfamiliar.
Without moving, I started testing what this new body could do.
Maybe it really was an Uchiha.
Maybe not.
With purpose, I made my hand signs—Frog → Snake → Monkey → Dog → Horse → Tiger—and took a deep breath.
My fingers moved automatically, as if my muscles remembered every move in a movie playing in my mind.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu! "
A weak puff of smoke came out of my mouth.
Not even a spark. Just. . . disappointment.
I looked at my hands.
Big, rough knuckles. Faint lines of chakra barely visible under the skin.
"\.
. . Well, that's embarrassing. " My voice cracked a little, part from frustration, part from disbelief.
I sat there, alone in silence.
Even the waves seemed to laugh at me.
After trying and failing for several more days, I switched to chakra control.
Tree walking seemed like a good start. I balanced stones on my head, walked barefoot on sharp shells, and said affirmations like I was some kind of stranded monk.
I focused my energy into my feet, took a running start---
---and face-planted into the tree.
"Ow.
"
Just then, a coconut fell from the tree and hit me on the head.
Of course it did.
Nature: 1, Uchiha: 0.
I groaned, lying at the base of the tree, feeling both physically and mentally defeated.
My pride had more bruises than my body at this point.
Things got weirder on the seventh day.
I had just picked up a handful of berries when a loud, wild screech echoed through the trees.
It was shrill, angry, and full of rage.
I froze, dropping the fruit from my hands.
Twenty furry faces looked down from the branches, eyes gleaming with mischief.
They were organized.
A whole group of monkey chaos.
"Uh.
Hi? " I waved awkwardly, trying to look calm.
The first mango hit me right in the forehead.
What followed was a wild, embarrassing chase that included:
Me screaming like I was crazy
Monkeys throwing fruit like they were in a war
My Sharingan finally activating---two tomoe spinning wildly---as I dodged a storm of thrown things with super fast reflexes
I tripped over a root, face-planted into the sand, and the monkeys celebrated by throwing bananas at my butt.
I just lay there.
There was no point fighting destiny.
On the tenth day, I was waist-deep in a stream, scrubbing off days of dirt, when I heard it---a low, rumbling sniff.
My blood turned to ice.
A 600-pound bear was digging through my clothes, its huge body blocking my way like a mountain.
Its nose twitched, sniffing my worn-out shirt like it was owed money.
"Shit.
"
I jumped out, still wet, and made shaky hand signs.
"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu! "
POOF!
My "fireballs" looked more like sparklers, fizzing up in the air.
But the bear.
. . squeaked.
It actually squeaked, turned around, and waddled off like I'd just done a really bad magic trick. Its big backside wiggled as it disappeared into the jungle.
I stood there, half-naked and confused.
"Did I just scare a bear with bad fireworks? "
I started laughing.
It was either that or I'd start crying.
That night, I sat by a weak fire (thanks to my still-bad flame jutsu), cooking fish on a stick.
The stars stretched out endlessly above, and the ocean whispered against the shore like a lullaby sung by ghosts.
Three clear facts hit me.
I was dead.
Or at least, the old me was. The man from the battlefield was gone.
This was the One Piece world.
The big bear, the crazy animals—it all made sense now. I hadn't just traveled through space—I'd stepped into a story.
And my Uchiha powers worked… kind of.
If "worked" meant barely working and really embarrassing.
A noise in the bushes made me tense—until a little monkey came out, holding a coconut.
My jaw clenched.
I sighed.
"Truce? "
It threw the coconut at my face.
As I rubbed my sore nose, I couldn't help but laugh.
Maybe this second chance wasn't so bad.
But if I ever met Ace, I'd never tell him about the monkey wars.
TO BE CONTINUED...