ONE PIECE: NEN MASTER - CHAPTER 1 (Patreon)

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was a glaring light painfully blinding me, drowning my entire field of vision with white, forcing me to squint in discomfort.

In aggravation, I tried to move my arms to my face, attempting to block the light, however, no matter how hard I tried, it didn't happen, my arms felt numb, heavy, maybe I had slept on them, which would explain why they didn't respond, upset, I waited for my vision to adjust, only to realize that a blurred shadowy figure was in front of me.

''Who is that?'' I thought, narrowing my eyes. Noticing that besides the first figure, there was another figure. One looked to be a female, based on the outline, the other a male if I had to guess.

For a couple of seconds, I just stared at the figures, as gradually, my eyes started to adjust to the light, detailing them more and more, as the figures themselves started to shape into something more than shadows and outlines, showing their true selves, in a manner of speaking.

Brown fur and fangs?

That was the first thing I noticed, thinking that clearly, I must have been high or something to imagine such things.

The funny thing was, I didn't feel concerned seeing that picture in front of me, somehow I was calm.

Perhaps my drug theory had some merit.

I was excruciatingly calm with all of this.

Bewildered by my own state of mind, I inspected the furry duo in front of me, detailing everything I could, the shape of their face, the texture of their fur, the color of their eyes, the smell they gave, the animals they paralleled.

I felt I was enthralled by the uniqueness of this circumstance.

Two cat-like creatures, staring at me, their eyes shining in a spectrum of emotions I was not familiar with, but none seem hostile, in fact, they all seemed, warm, welcoming, thrilled dare I say.

I wonder if this is the opposite of a sleep paralysis case?

As I contemplated that thought, the she-cat looked at me with a warm smile and spoke. However, her words meant nothing to me, in the sense, that I couldn’t understand a word she was speaking.

I guess dreams can’t create coherent dialogs, not that I ever had such a vivid dream before, mostly snippets of nothing that I would forget the day after.

Chuckling, the werecat, I calling him a werecat, said something in response, making the she-cat playfully smack him. Like before I had no idea what he had said either.

This was, fun, I suppose, but it was time to wake up.

So, mustering all my strength, I closed my eyes and tried to stand up from the bed, that had worked for me before, during my nightmares as a kid, yet, nothing happened, besides me moving a centimeter or two.

Upset with this development, I tried to curse like a functional adult, but somehow, all that came out was nothing but baby moans and groans. Which in turn prompted a series of awws from the two furry beings.

This dream, was… getting weirder and weirder, and it seems I can’t force myself to wake up.

I guess I will have to let things run their course.

—---------------------

So… yeah, I couldn’t have been more wrong at the beginning of my story, this was no dream, apparently, I’d been reborn, which would suggest I had died, a particularly important event of my life, I didn’t remember whatsoever, one that felt like I should remember.

Long story short, I was a baby.

It wasn’t that hard to figure out really, after being picked up and changed on a daily basis, or having a tit shoved to my face at least once every two hours until I sucked, despite my clear protests which seemed to make my new mother a bit more insistent on the matter, well, it didn’t take a genius. And if that wasn’t a good giveaway, so to speak, I was also covered in fur, from head to toe, or should I say, head to tail, yep, I had a tail, in all honesty, I feel bad for those poor souls changing me, can’t even begin to imagine how hard is to change a diaper in this situation.

Sure, this is degrading for me on many levels, but it has to be hard for them too, once again, fur + diapers! I rest my case.

But enough about that chaotic part of my life.

Taking the baby thing out of the equation, how bizarre it was all of this?

To think, reincarnation was real.

I guess I should’ve gone to church more.

Not that it would’ve helped now that I really think about it.

I mean, when religion speaks of reincarnation, it’s a human-to-human transition, simple in essence. This was probably not in their preparation material, I mean, who am I supposed to pray to now? Jesus’ cat?.

—-----------------------

I was one year old.

A one year old anthropomorphic tiger baby.

Hurray.

Not much has changed since my realization of my situation.

I was still as useless as babies come from the factory, with the exception this baby knew how to walk, did it in only seven months, suck on that average run-of-the-mill babies, I am superior!

Beyond that, I was learning how to talk, which was bound to happen after months of listening to others conversing around me, I’d had begun to pick up some words here and there, making a puzzle in my head. I was by this point able to understand around eighty or seventy percent of any conversation with relative ease.

Sadly, I was yet to fully control my bowels.

My primary goal, my Mount Everest.

Sure, laugh all you want, but pooping by myself, it’s my life goal, for now.

“Did you buy what I asked you to?” my mother who I had yet to figure out what her name was, said without looking at my father as she was otherwise occupied prepping for lunch.

“Yep, got everything, even the fresh tuna,” my father, who I had yet to figure out his name, replied watching me walk around.

It’s been a hassle finding their names out, they only call each other babe, love, sweety, and shit like that.

“Good, you know Valor loves his tuna,” my mother replied with a smile.

Oh yeah, that’s my new name, Valor.

A bit weird, I feel like the son of a celebrity from my time, who feels like naming her kid something unique and ends up giving him or her a rather strange name.

“Like father like son,” my father replied, purring.

Yep, purring was a thing.

My mother did it.

My father did it.

I… sadly did it, especially when happy with something, like peeing in the toilet instead of my diaper, or when eating candy.

“So, have you thought of giving little Valor a brother or a sister?” My mother asked, and that was my cue to go.

Deciding to explore the house once again, anything was better than seeing the babymaking process from scratch.

Anywho, the house in question was a wooden, three-story structure with over eight rooms, most of those rooms were empty, and the ones that weren’t were full of rugs and other similar items my father sold.

Outside the house, well, there was the city, a city of… furries? I mean, I have no idea how to otherwise describe it, I have yet to hear any adult giving the place a name, so it leaves a lot of room for imagination.

But yeah, the town was full of creatures like my parents, or for that case, me, but not all were cat-based, some were horses, some were dogs, some were bunnies, but none were human.

I wonder if humans even exist around here?

I guess I’ll find out eventually when I’m forced to go to school.

For now, though, time to get a workout, baby style.