One-Shots: One Piece | One Piece x Reader

Thank you | One Year of One-Shots!

I've always liked to read - from a book I can hold in my very hand, to books that people have written on my favourite characters here on this delightful app.

No matter what, I've always liked to read.

However, there was one day where I had an idea.

The day was one of those chilly, English autumn days with fog hanging low over the flatlands like some kind of canopy or even a veil: just about concealing the houses stood upon a hill not too far away. Where cows grazed and cotton sheep blended into the mass of white they stood against, bleating meekly into the desolate fields with their silk ears flicking each time a measly nat would buzz on by a little too close. Maybe there was even a subtle horse's bray breaking the stone silence, locked up in a stable to keep from the cold.

I thought to myself, wrapped up in many a blanket on this frigid Saturday and no heating within my room, that there was something missing from my life. My phone - both breaking and clad in an old, scuffed phone case of the ASL trio - lay in my hands. Of course, it was open on Wattpad, here like you are now yet maybe on an iPad or even a personal computer, laptop, and I was reading away.

Maybe it was presumptuous of me to wander, but I thought to myself, "oh, this story didn't quite go how I'd expected. It was excellent, the emotions were drawing and the words harrowing, it's just..."

I remember looking up and out of my window in direct line of my bed.

The glass was slightly fogged up due to the contrast between the outside freeze and the inside warmth, almost a metaphorical standing for the mist that clustered at the bottom of the hill. A miniature version. In a way, it made the houses look like they were floating; and the monument on the hill looked even more spectacular than usual.

The old building was coated in drips of sunlight that just about shone through the thick haze, lighting up like some kind of god-sent object that just attracted the sun itself.

Though, I never liked walking up that hill.

It was muddy and all too tall for my stumpy legs to climb, I often got to a point where I would need to be half-dragged up by whoever accompanied.

If they did, however.

For I was alone, a lot of the time.

Like then in my room, with those blankets, that phone in my hand - thinking.

My face would do this thoughtful scrunch; freckles mushing on my skin and causing my cheeks and nose to almost look a shade darker. Maybe it was an English thing? We are polite in some ways, but the expressions we make when grimacing or cringing are quite spectacular.

No matter.

I still delved into my own mind.

"... how would I have done this differently?"

Then, there it was.

'TransponderSnail'.

Truly a curious name for an account I must admit that myself, I never thought my whole being would be associated with a fictional, ringing, snail phone. Though it does make me smile.

And if I were really one myself, I think I'd quite enjoy just sitting on Sakazuki's desk, or maybe hiding within his pocket...

But that is by the by, I still had this account.

Considering that I always had these little "what if"s and "unless"s inside of my mind when reading, I decided to do something about it. So instead of leaving it be and letting my imagination die out much like the final dregs of a roaring fire turned soot, I wrote.

I had ideas I never thought I would come up with, and I wrote them almost every day. Even when eventually I stopped that daily work due to the inevitable force that is life and beyond, I still made sure to carry on. I carried on for days, weeks, months - and the time started to extend.

There has been not one day - not one - where I haven't open Wattpad. Even if it's just to write a single word or just check over a shot, a book, I still open the app daily.

Every. Single. Day.

Even now.

Even now, one year later, where I'm sat, once more that freezing autumn day has come again, writing this.

Motivation: it doesn't take a lot for me to feel such a thing. I love One Piece, always have, and there is not a day where I'm not excited by the mere thought of the show.

Truly, it means the world.

Perseverance: this one is a little more difficult. Sometimes I take breaks for twenty-minutes before coming back to a shot or book, maybe even hours and sometimes even days. I know for a fact I have some shots lying around, begging for me to complete them. Yet, I always manage.

It just takes time.

But dedication? Sure, I have a lot of it, tons of it, but nothing in comparison to my readers.

You.

Some of you may have been here from the start, others may only be picking up this book today. But no matter who you are or where you lie, you are a reader to me. You are what makes this all possible, my shining light within the darkness.

The hand that guides and the crowd that cheers.

No matter what you said, when, where, on what book, I read your comments. Some make me feel happy, so much so I cry real tears, some make me proud. Some make me feel shock, some that make me laugh until those tears come back and my cheeks crease from my smile.

But through it all, I'm so glad it was you.

Thank you, from the deepest and most sacred parts of my very heart, thank you all.

For without you, TransponderSnail wouldn't quite be the same.

No, this book wouldn't be the same.

Thank you for now, and for all the times to come.

- TransponderSnail

17.10.2021 - One Year of One Shots