Chapter 2: The Growing Darkness
Old Jerry's heart-wrenching scream pierced the ears of the surrounding pirates, and their grins suddenly vanished, as if a chicken had grabbed its neck.
"It hurts so much! Let me go! Let me go now!"
In the midst of the excruciating pain, Old Jerry's senses became unusually sharp.
It felt as if he could clearly feel his soft brain, like tofu, being squeezed by some dry fingers, ready to burst at any moment.
His vision went completely dark, and warm fluids oozed from his eye sockets and between his legs.
The only difference was that the fluid from his eye sockets was red, while from between his legs, it was yellow.
"Damn it! Kill him! Kill him quickly!"
This sudden turn of events left the pirates stunned for a moment before they began drawing swords and short guns, attacking from all directions.
Rorschach stood there amidst the surrounding wolves, his five right fingers deeply embedded in Old Jerry's face, holding him up in front of him, with a look of tearless sorrow on his face.
"Do you know? I thought this would be a life full of colors and adventures, compared to the dark fate I lived in my previous life, this place was going to be a new journey in my short life."
"I waited for twelve years, and those who seek to fulfill their dreams and sail freely on the seas never came. Instead, I found an insatiable belly, I found a group of pirates who kill and rob, I found the death of an ordinary father who only knew how to fish!"
Blood filled Rorschach's eyes, making the sunken sockets appear as if they were glowing with a bloody light.
"Tell me! Why?!"
The uncontrollable grief and anger seemed to want to explode his soul and body from the inside out.
Rorschach resembled a mad tiger, his five fingers deeply embedded in Old Jerry's eye socket closing in, and with a terrifying cracking sound, Old Jerry's entire face shattered, and his body fell heavily to the ground from Rorschach's hand.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Finally, the loud gunshots echoed after the pirates loaded their powder in their panic.
The iron balls emitting a pungent smell of gunpowder passed by Rorschach without hitting him.
The short guns in the hands of the pirates, only twenty meters away, seemed like terrifying toys, and the shots barely hit the target.
Only the pirates wielding sharp swords posed a real threat to Rorschach.
Rorschach was very hungry, the world around him was saturated with blood, and just standing was consuming a lot of his strength.
Not to mention facing more than ten fierce pirates.
Unable to dodge quickly enough, his long body suffered multiple slashes from sharp swords, the pain piercing his heart, making him tremble slightly.
It hurt so much.
But compared to the brutal beatings he endured in his previous life at the hands of his gambling-addicted father, and compared to the pain he now felt in his heart, this pain was nothing.
Rorschach was not originally from this world.
In his previous life, he had a dark childhood that was not worth mentioning.
His gambling-addicted father dragged the middle-income family into a bottomless abyss.
Unable to bear it, his mother asked for a divorce, and he had to live with his father.
When his father won money, he was very generous and kind.
He would take Rorschach to amusement parks and buffet restaurants.
But when he lost money, Rorschach's nightmare began.
Beatings, curses, tantrums, and blaming others, his father would vent all his anger on him.
This caused young Rorschach to suffer from severe depression early on, starting to shut down his heart and reject any warmth.
Since then, he loved reading novels, watching anime, and playing games.
His grades plummeted.
When the school principal asked about his situation, it resulted in more beatings.
Finally, early one morning, Rorschach became a free bird, flapping his wings away from what was called home.
When Rorschach opened his eyes again, he saw an elderly couple sitting together, their faces lit up with a loving smile, and he saw himself in a cradle, a small child.
The couple, Mr. and Mrs. John, loved him very much and took great care of him.
Finally, Rorschach felt the true warmth of humanity.
Mr. John went out to sea to fish during the day, and Mrs. Elizabeth stayed home to take care of the new child, weaving baskets and plates and exchanging them with the villagers for some grain to manage the household.
Life was simple, but it was Rorschach's dream.
But Rorschach's birth placed a great burden on Mr. John's already poor life.
For some reason, Rorschach had an enormous appetite from birth and grew very fast compared to his peers.
The villagers of Red Leaf Village relied on fishing as their main source of livelihood.
There was no other choice.
The island lacked resources, and the land was poor, even if they planted seeds, they harvested little grain.
Sea traffic was closed, and they rarely saw a merchant ship for months.
The poor village had no natural resources, as if it were an isolated island floating away from the world.
But even this isolated island paid taxes and collected the annual gold for the kingdom every year.
The great pressure to live forced the elderly couple to save on everything and work harder.
Under these difficult circumstances, Rorschach still maintained an optimistic and active attitude.
Firstly, because he truly felt the warmth of family.
Secondly, after growing a bit older, he learned from the village elder, who was the most knowledgeable, about the world he was in.
This was the world of "One Piece"!
The world he loved and adored in his previous life.
His passion for "One Piece" was deep to the point of madness.
He could recall the names of all the characters in the manga, their origins, their appearances, and their fruit abilities.
During the hardest times of his depression, the enthusiastic and impactful "One Piece" anime helped him get through the toughest moments of his life.
Knowing this, Rorschach was insanely happy, feeling that his life was complete.
He had loving parents and a dream to pursue in the distant sea.
He even thought about his future plans.
He wanted to start training from a young age, become strong, and earn a lot of money to make his parents live comfortably.
He wanted to find Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji in the East Blue, and join their pirate crew with a shameless face to witness the vast ocean.
Perhaps one day, he would meet the strong in the sea and compete with them.
He even thought that his large body, surpassing his peers, might contain mysterious powers that could help him be at the forefront in the world.
But all these dreams gradually shattered after his mother, Mrs. Elizabeth, died of a common cold three years ago.
He couldn't understand how a common cold could kill his mother.
Aren't people's bodies in the pirate world as strong as monsters?
The harsh realities began to unfold, making him realize the true face of this world.
As he grew older, his appetite became increasingly abnormal.
He ate enough for ten people, but felt hungry as if he had eaten nothing.
His stomach was like a bottomless pit, no matter how much he ate, he felt hungry.
At the same time, his height grew at an astonishing rate, reaching 2.3 meters at the age of twelve
Because of that insatiable stomach, he suffered from severe malnutrition, which turned his hair white and made his body emaciated, leaving only skin over large bones.
In this state, Rorschach couldn't even complete simple tasks like helping his father with the fishing.
He became useless, spending his days at home waiting for his father to return from the sea, consuming 99% of the catch.
Old John, who had lost his wife, grew even older.
Every time Rorschach saw his father return from fishing, exhausted but with a loving smile on his face the moment he stepped into the house, Rorschach couldn't hold back his tears.
Rorschach hated his own helplessness.
He thought about ending his life again to relieve that poor old man.
One day, after watching his father leave the house, he sat for a long time and pulled out a rusty spear from behind the door.
What he didn't expect was that Old John, who was usually busy all day, suddenly returned just as he was about to stab his throat with that spear.
That day, Rorschach was beaten for the first time since arriving in this world, as his father, Old John, tearfully hit him for half an hour.
After the beating, Old John, crying, said to him: "Son, you have to remember, your coming to this world did not harm me, it saved me and Elizabeth. No matter what happens, even if one day I leave, you must live strongly and live a life better than ours. Your life has not yet begun; your life has meaning!"
From then on, Rorschach regained his strength and began doing everything he could to contribute to the home.
He gave up his illusory dreams.
When Old John went to sea to fish, Rorschach would take the bamboo basket his mother had woven and collect shells and small fish left by the tide.
He also learned how to make delicate bracelets and necklaces from the small shells he found.
Rorschach shed his shyness as a modern person and exchanged those crafted bracelets with the women in the village for unpalatable black bread or fish.
He clearly remembers the first time he returned home with the black bread he had exchanged, and how Old John wept with joy when he took the bread from him.
"My son has grown up; he will be a great man. Elizabeth will be proud of you," Old John said, patting his head affectionately.
Then came today.
Old John felt unwell, and Rorschach insisted on keeping him at home, not allowing him to go out fishing.
Early in the morning, Rorschach left and went to the beach to collect shells and fish.
Today's haul was very good; Rorschach even found a crab the size of a wooden basin.
He was very happy and began planning how to use that big crab, along with the remaining salted fish at home and the black bread he had exchanged, to cook a delicious dinner.
Then he saw the village burning, with the sky red and filled with smoke.
When he returned home in shock, he found the familiar wooden house had turned to ruins.
Old John was clutching tightly to the black bread that Rorschach had exchanged yesterday, as flames consumed his body, still trying to protect that small piece of bread in his arms.
The sound of the blade cutting through thin skin stopped when it hit the hard bone.
The pirates attacking Rorschach began to realize a terrifying truth.
No matter how much they hit him, this skeleton stood there without saying a word.
No screams!
No retreat!
No crying and begging!
Despite being covered in blood, he stood there, radiating an aura of horror, like a ghost from hell.
Finally, one pirate couldn't help but scream in fear, dropping his dull blade and running away.
The pirates felt that what was before them was not a human!
In that moment, Rorschach felt a black force rising from the depths of his heart, threatening to consume him completely.
"Why? Why? Why?"
A voice was roaring in his heart.
"Why do I have to suffer like this? Do I not deserve a decent life?"
"Should the weak die? Is poverty a crime?"
Rorschach suddenly raised his head, his eyes blood-red, looking like an angry ghost, staring at the nearby killer Jericho, his voice thundering.
"Answer me! Pirate!!"
Boom!
An unknown force exploded from within him.
The ground beneath his feet cracked, and Rorschach charged madly into the group of pirates, his right arm sweeping wildly, breaking their dull swords.
The terrifying force hit four or five pirates, who had no time to scream as the upper part of their bodies shifted from the impact, bones breaking with a loud crack, blood spraying out like arrows from all over their bodies.
"Let go of me! Get away!"
One pirate couldn't escape and was grabbed by Rorschach's large hands, watching helplessly as Rorschach opened his mouth full of sharp white teeth and bit savagely at his face.
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