Chapter 17: Exploration of the Mind

Chapter 17: Exploration of the Mind

_________ POV Enel_________

It didn't take me long to find one of the locals nearby. This island did still have people besides pirates after all.

I met a barkeep, he was a bit snarky about losing business, but he was also somewhat thankful to me for getting rid of all of the troublemakers at the same time.

He contacted a nearby marine base for me, after he explained the situation to the dispatcher, they said they'd send a fleet here to collect the pirates.

So there I am, sitting on a golden chair in the middle of the bloodbath I had created.

People in this world are really resilient, it's surprising enough that this many people survived. Apparently, only a hundred or two died in this confrontation, the rest are either unconscious or too injured to move.

Well, there are also those that are too injured, and most likely won't last until the marines arrive to arrest them.

In a sense, I should feel a bit more discontent about taking these many lives. But I can't help feeling satisfied, as if I just finished a hard day at work.

Did that god do something to alter my thoughts? Or is it truly Enel's memories that affected me?

I remember being a bit more... Lenient with others.

There were times when I was mad at others, there were even times when I got into fights... But nothing to this extent.

I remember the numerous times my students called me out on my cynical nature. There were many points in my life where I acted out of instinct, I let one emotion take over my thought process and ended up in uncomfortable situations.

Even my research, the part where others started calling me a genius, it all felt unwarranted. I was only leaving one single emotion to rule my mind. At the time it was curiosity, it drove me to find out more about the world.

I put a lot of time and dedication into that, with countless hours spent toiling over books in dimly lit rooms.

In retrospect, it wouldn't be surprising if I were to wake up one day in a mental institution. If all of this was a dream in my deluded mind.

But the ones I met in this world, Gan Fall, Wyper, Aisa, and even the Straw Hats, are all real. Not exactly as I remember them from the show, at least not in all aspects, but they are all real.

The days I spent training and the pain I forced myself through were also real. Still, paranoia is present in my mind when I think of what exactly sent me here... That God didn't seem outright well-intentioned.

It's also odd how he seemed to be targeting me. He made his messenger follow me all over the earth until I finally had the courage to stand up to him.

I find this entire situation to be somewhat suspicious.

The god also said Enel's memories wouldn't affect me in any bad way... Well, from the way he said it, I guess it mostly depends on me.

Thing is, I don't feel like Enel's memories and arrogance affect my decision-making or thought process, but they certainly affected me to some extent.

Even with Doflamingo, it felt like I wasn't truly myself when fighting him. A conflict of personality perhaps.

The old Enel wasn't much of a fighter intellectually, he was smart, but not really experienced or all that talented in fighting. But he was a cold-blooded killer that looked at others like they were insignificant.

Maybe I inherited that trait from him? Or maybe it's just my mind trying to rationalize its actions through different means.

Perhaps I am just adapting to this world to the best of my ability. This world is extremely brutal, and being weak is a mortal sin.

At this point, the straw hats were also getting a bit confused.

"So... The old Enel used to be some type of tyrant?" Nami asked, she was a bit intrigued by the whole situation.

Luffy just silently listened to everybody. Same for Robin, who was feeling even worse about the misunderstanding she created now...

"Yeah, he was a sadistic son of a bitch. He even destroyed an entire island, which was also the island he was originally from.

He enslaved a lot of our people and prevented us from taking back our homeland for almost 8 years..." Rika said as she looked down a bit, her anger was stirring just remembering what Enel had done.

"Yeah... And the current Enel needs to live with those facts, he probably already moved house since you guys discovered him." Wyper said as he took another swig of his drink.

"That's... Not fair." Aisa said as she looked down with sadness.

"Well, it's true that it's not his fault for the actions of past Enel, but he also is mature enough to understand that trying to repair his reputation is a waste of time."

"So that's why he's just been in hiding for the last few months?" One of the other Shandia Warriors ended up asking.

"Well, yes. Enel now has different goals, he's a lot more driven. We trained a few times, and I can tell with certainty that he's a better fighter than Enel used to be, that's without even using his devil fruit..."

Wyper laughed a bit as he remembered the many times he was beaten to the ground by a golden staff. Even barehanded, Enel was able to deal with him rather easily after a while.

"This would've been nice to know beforehand..." Rika said, the irritation in her tone making Wyper rise his brow a bit.

"Well, not like he would blame any of you for attacking."

"That just makes it worse." One of the warriors said with some sweat on his brow.

The straw hats also started feeling a bit bad about judging Enel so quickly.

"... But he still made our crewmate really uncomfortable! Isn't that right Robin?" Sanji ended up bringing it up. Wyper looked a bit confused at that.

"Actually... He didn't do anything bad... I was mostly like that due to my own inadequacies. Enel is really similar to me, I guess that made me a bit emotional..." Robin said while looking at the ground in shame.

"... So that was also a misunderstanding? Why didn't you tell us sooner?!" Luffy said with a frown.

"I was going to tell you all about it, and more, when we got back to the ship... I figured we'd still have time to talk to him again... Who knows where he ended up now though..." Robin said with a sigh.

"... I guess it was just bad luck then," Zoro said as he took a sip from his drink.

Luffy also smiled when hearing his first mate. He seemed to be filled with a strange amount of determination.

"Yeah! I'm sure we'll run into him again. I'll have him join my crew next time." Luffy's usual smile returned as Nami sighed in exasperation.

The party continued after that.

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Eyy, the first chapter of the day! I will upload a second one a bit later, currently am at work (but I slack a lot so I have time to write stuff).

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)