– Bellamy –

The liberation of Tequila Wolf had been, by all metrics, a resounding success. Not only had we rescued Robin and the imprisoned revolutionary elder, but we had also freed near two thousand slaves, most of whom had nowhere to go having been born and raised into bondage. In other words, they were the perfect recruitment pool for the Revolutionary Army, at least as support personnel and workers if not as straight up combatants. That we had managed all this without any significant casualties of our own made the victory all the sweeter.

Or at least it did for the revolutionaries.

In the case of my crew, the situation was a little more complicated. Yes, we didn't have any lasting losses either - despite me getting stabbed - and yes, all the individual battles had gone in our favor. As for the stabbing, I had managed to basically weave Kumadori's hair through my coil chassis, once it had been slowed down by my tekkai. Ergo, it had been a flesh wound and nothing more. But in a lot of cases it had been a close thing, too close in Sarquiss' case. If Lily hadn't awakened her armament in time, I'd be down a first mate right now.

Then there was Hewitt.

Unlike most of the others, Hewitt hadn't won his fight and had to be bailed out by Aisa. Did it matter that he'd faced an agent alone while almost everybody else had fought in groups? Did it matter that Kalifa had observation haki and the other agents did not? Hewitt certainly didn't seem to think it did. He tried not to show it, but for anybody who knew the guy, it was impossible to hide just how much it was bothering him. This of course put a dampener on the general mood, and as Hewitt was our cook, the customary victory celebration was being postponed indefinitely.

Usually, it would have been Ross or I who would cheer him up, but as Ross had won his fight…yeah, like me he'd decided to give Hewitt space instead. Plus, in my case, I had my own set of issues.

Why did I not have haki yet?

It had been a question which had been plaguing me for months at this point. That I wasn't the first on my crew to unlock it had been understandable. In the beginning, we'd only been training observation haki under Shura's guidance and Bellamy hadn't displayed a lot of talent for the art in the show. On the other hand, people like Laki and Rivers were snipers, whose entire combat style revolved around predicting the enemy's movements.

But when Ross unlocked armament during one of Izou's training sessions, the situation had become incomprehensible. I was stronger than Ross by a significant margin and I would wager nearly anything that I had more willpower. Case in point, I had adjusted remarkably well to being plucked out of my home universe and being shoved into Bellamy's body.

Now that even Lily had unlocked armament, the excuse that I hadn't had enough training just didn't hold water anymore. When I'd approached Izou with the issue, he'd been about as confused as I was, because in his experience I really should have unlocked some form of haki by now. That I hadn't was an anomaly.

The one clue I had, was the slight amount of fuzziness Izou and Aisa could feel from my soul. It wasn't like I hadn't thought of it. It would have been difficult not to. From my regular practice with Aisa, we'd also noticed that it had decreased over time and more importantly, noticeably every time I had come closer to accepting that this world was real in some manner or another. Like the time I had realized that my crew had become my friends for example.

From there, it hadn't been that big of a stretch to infer that this fuzziness had something to do with my soul and Bellamy's soul not having integrated completely, or that I needed to accept both sides of myself as myself before I could unlock haki. Or at least that was the current theory. If this were the case, it would have to be one of the biggest clichés in the whole genre. And it wasn't like I didn't accept that I was Bellamy now. I'd come to terms with that a long while ago.

So, the question remained, what was I missing?

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"What do you think defines a person, Izou-san?"

"A lot of things, captain-san. A lot of things but also nothing at the same time."

"I…didn't take you for a philosopher, Izou-san."

"You asked a philosophical question. Is it any wonder that the answer to a philosophical question, quite possibly THE philosophical question, is philosophical in nature?"

"Touché."

"Anyway, your question has been asked in a variety of forms over the centuries, but the most common version I've come across has been the question as to the nature of personal identity. Is this similar to what you had in mind?"

"It's similar, yes."

"Personally, I've never heard anyone ever come up with a perfect answer, but I suppose a couple attempts have come reasonably close. One such is the so-called body-theory, which suggests that one's personal identity is inherently bound to the physical body we inhabit. As we've only ever inhabited this body from birth until death, we have to be the same person from birth until death. It's intuitive I suppose, but it's also one I consider very flawed or at least incomplete. Would you care to guess why?"

"Because the body doesn't stay the same."

"Exactly. One doesn't even have to get into the issue of whether or not every part of you has been replaced at least once. Purely in growing into adulthood, you've radically changed your physical body. So, if our identity is intrinsically tied to our physical body, has our identity changed with it? Are we a different person than we were back then?"

"That would depend on a lot of factors. I'd say that baby me was still me, even if the body is different." Especially even if the body was different. I was inhabiting a different body than the one I was originally born in, but I was still me. Just with…other things added into the mix.

"But why?"

"I would suggest that the core aspects which constitute my identity are the immaterial things, such as my memories or my thoughts. Those things seem to transcend whatever physical changes I undergo."

"And now we are approaching the realm of the Memory-Theory, which suggests that because the memories of our younger self are our personal memories, the past me who lived those memories must be myself. Even if we don't remember those memories perfectly, as long as we remember some past version of ourselves who did, our chain of memories remains unbroken, and we can say that we are still the same person."

"Makes sense."

"Then, what if we lose those memories, possibly through dementia? If we can no longer remember a past self who remembers our memories, are we still the same person?"

"...that's a difficult question."

"Like I said, no one has been able to come up with a clear answer so far, but apart from the two I introduced to you just now, there are many more. Which is why I say everything and nothing."

"Because no ONE thing defines us, but everything about us, our bodies, our memories, our beliefs and our dreams…everything together makes up who we are."

"Yes. Though, to be fair that answer answers nothing at all, for if everything defines us nothing really does."

"...if I may ask, how do you define yourself, Izou-san?"

"I am what my heart tells me I am. I am a son of Whitebeard. But the question you should be asking is: who are you, Bellamy-san?"

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While my talk with Izou hadn't resulted in any great revelations, it had opened up a new avenue of thought. Like I had mentioned previously, I had already accepted that I was Bellamy (or that Bellamy was me) with some added bits. I knew who I was. I was Bellamy. However, I don't think I'd ever asked myself the following question.

Who was Bellamy?

What made him tick and how would that adapt to the melding of our two selves? What were his hopes and dreams? Should they be the same as mine?

For that matter, what were mine?

I had told Shanks that I was going to be an Emperor of the Sea. That goal hadn't changed. But what did that truly mean for me?

Originally, I had set it as my goal, because I had believed it to be the pinnacle a pirate like me could achieve in this world. Well, apart from becoming the Pirate King but one, that was Luffy's thing and two, I wasn't particularly interested in finding the One Piece. Sure, I wanted to know what it was, but I knew so little about it that I was having a hard time desiring it.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Also, just like the title of Pirate King was proof to Luffy that he was the "free-est man" in the world, the seat of an Emperor was to be confirmation that I was no longer a discardable piece on the board. That, whatever Bellamy's fate may have been in canon, it had been circumvented, the ultimate proof I was right in my belief that fate was not absolute. And I couldn't deny that a small part of me wondered if I wouldn't be able to go home if I achieved greatness here.

But…did I need the confirmation?

If the answer was no, was it a goal still worth pursuing?

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"You absolutely should."

"I should?"

"Well, duh. It's an Emperor. A ruler of the seas, power incarnate! We'd be bloody legends!" Sarquiss excitedly stood up. "Doesn't the idea just get your blood going?"

"Become a legend…"

"Plus, you'd be the ruler of a kingdom in all but name, more powerful and influential than those arrogant noble sons of bitches who sneered at us all the time back home. Think of all the fun we could have!" Sarquiss said, spreading his arms wide for emphasis. "All the wealth and riches one could ever want! And the babes! Think of the babes!"

"..." I just gave him a pitying look.

"Bellamy? Why are you looking at me like that?" Sarquiss asked, slightly offended before a light began dawning behind his eyes.

"..."

"Lily is behind me, isn't she?" he whispered, as if it would change anything. It didn't.

"I think we should have a little chat, right Shithead?"

"Lily darling, i-it's just a joke I swear…Lily? Please put that away…CAPTAIN SAVE ME!!!"

"See you later, captain!" Lily chirped as she dragged her pale boyfriend below deck.

His piteous screams echoed throughout the ship that day, futilely seeking aid where none was forthcoming for by pure happenstance the entire crew had gone temporarily deaf…

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"Why not? The reason we originally set sail was to have fun and go on exciting adventures. I'd say becoming an Emperor fits the bill."

"It definitely won't be boring." I agreed, slightly nodding along. To become an Emperor, one had to unseat one first, which was one of the most challenging things one could do in this world.

"You know, I thought you'd be more gung-ho about this. What happened to the Bellamy, who told us that he was going to be the main character of this story before dragging us all up the Knock-Up Stream?"

"I'm having my midlife crisis."

"Makes sense…after all, you are approaching senility."

"Oi!"

"But seriously Bellamy, why not? It's not the danger, is it?"

"Nah, at the rate we're growing, I'm confident that in a few years, we'll be able to handle just about anything the world can throw at us."

"Then if it is not your concern for our wellbeing, what's the problem?"

"I'm not entirely sure."

"Then don't worry about it. If it's important, it'll come to you." Muret shrugged. "In the meantime, just relax and enjoy the journey."

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"I mean I haven't known you for that long, but it did seem like you were being chased by something." Laki told me when I got around to her. "It's gotten a bit better now, but until the events at Marineford happened, you had this air of incredible tension about you. In a way, you reminded me of Wyper."

"That doesn't seem like a fair comparison."

"You both have some far-off dream, which requires strength you do not have. Always preparing for said dream and in doing so, you sacrifice basically everything that makes life worth living."

"Like I said, not a fair comparison. I'm not nearly as bad."

"Maybe, but the point stands. Are you having fun?"

"Fun?"

"If there is one thing I learned from watching him, it is that pursuing one's dreams should be fun. Otherwise, it's no longer a dream but a nightmare, isn't it?"

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The answers my crew had given me were all over the place, but most of them agreed on one thing. Whatever goal I decided to pursue, I should have a good time doing it. But, if I asked myself whether or not I had been having fun trying to become an emperor, I would have to say no. Not that I hadn't had good times so far, but looking back, my declarations thus far that I was going to be an emperor, that I was going to be a main character…in a way, all those had been symbolic of my deep-rooted refusal to wither away into mediocrity regardless of my current circumstances. A roar for the world to bear witness, that I wasn't going to just give up. A sign of my struggle to adapt and survive in this strange new world.

I hadn't been like Luffy, who'd nursed that one dream for a decade and constructed his entire identity around the belief that he was going to be the Pirate King one day. Quite on the contrary, I'd had less than a year in which to set a goal and ruminate on the details while simultaneously dealing with the influx of a second set of memories with all the personality changes involved. To expect that I would have the same level of zeal for my hastily set goal as Luffy had with his, it really wasn't fair.

That all being said, how much passion one had for one's dream didn't always correlate with how long one had nursed it for…it just meant you had to find the right one.

And I think I had.

The conclusion I had reached in the end was a little surprising but at the same time, not.

For want of a better way to put it, I enjoyed self-improvement, a trait which had carried itself over from my past life into this one. Though back then, it had been geared more towards academic achievements than combat, but the underlying principles were the same. You had to remember that I was a physicist, a term often synonymous with being a nerd. A subspecies of the human race who usually had one trait in common: pride in their own (intellectual) superiority. Pride, that I could always be better if only I tried.

That pride often translated into increased investments to maintain said superiority and the resulting dopamine rush from the visible progress further fueled efforts in this direction. Obstacles which were placed in my path became challenges and steppingstones on my way to greatness. My life had been mine to mould, mine to decide, my fate only dependent on my own efforts. This had been partly why the sudden loss of control over my circumstances had been so anathema for me.

Anyway, to get back on track, like being free had been Luffy's core tenet, being a better me – and hence the best amongst my peers – had been mine, irrespective of whether or not I objectively was. It just so happened that in my past life, the aspect in which I had been focused on had been my academic prowess. Becoming Bellamy had only changed my focus from brains to brawn.

Fortunately, this desire to be the best was something Bellamy would have agreed with as well. Sure, he'd more or less stagnated before being pounded into the ground by Luffy, but at the time of my insertion, he'd been a proud man. Running away from a challenge (fight) didn't sit well with either of us, as one couldn't be the best if one ran away from a challenge. Did this mean I hadn't been terrified when I faced Enel a few days into my new life? Of course not. Did that mean I ran away to leave it all to Luffy? That was a no as well.

The world slowed down, the stars inching across the dark canvas of the sky. The moon hiding behind a cloudy veil, slivers of silver light illuminating a school of fish cruising beneath the waves.

Hence why, after getting used to this life and despite the near-death experience, I didn't shrink back from planning to challenge Doflamingo and why I'd been excited to fight the CP9. My mind had simply classified them as milestones. And if I reached these aforementioned milestones, my original objective of proving my canon fate false would have been naturally completed already.

The ocean breeze caressed my skin, flowing and swirling about my skin, the sea whispering in my ear, the Pearl greeting her captain.

To take things a little further, claiming the title as an Emperor of the Sea then became less of a goal in of itself, but more of a side effect.

A final gear slotting into place, a key turning in a lock. The metaphorical gates being opened.

For, if I kept growing stronger and stronger, reaching milestone after milestone until I reached the top, I'd have become an Emperor already, wouldn't I?

And suddenly my world was more.

After all, what else would you call the Strongest Man Alive?