Chapter 5: Who am I?

April 14, 2016

11:40 a.m.

In the dining room of the luxurious penthouse the Sky Paradise

A week has passed since I left the hospital to recover at home. I have adjusted to this world much better.

Thanks to Stephen's memories that conveyed various stories to me, plus my common sense that is not much different from the common sense of people in this world, my life throughout the past week has been without any problems.

Except for... what career should I pursue from now on?

Three days ago, Christine called to inform me that on April 15, which is tomorrow, I had to go to the hospital to negotiate a position as a surgeon at the hospital to handle my salary, pending work, and follow-up on the surgical cases that I had just undergone 1-2 months before my accident.

Her tone sounded worried, afraid that I would lose my mind, throw a tantrum, screaming and shout a lot of swear word at her.

 But when I replied briefly in a calm tone "Sure, I'll go and sort these things out"

Christine was stunned for a moment. Before telling me that today, the 14th, at noon, you will come to my room to eat because she have something want to talk about.

I don't know which topic she want to talk and I'm not really interested. Because if i lost a career surgeon with a salary of 800,000 dollars a month is not a big deal to me.

From the information in Stephen's head, take 20 million to hire a broker to invest in stocks, hoping for at least 15,000 dollars a month in dividends, and it's done. You can live a chill and comfortable life. It can be called early retirement at... If you want to say it's good, it's must be good. I still feel empty inside because I can't go and get revenge for Mr. Corazon

The power of the Ope Ope fruit right now, even though it's been 2-3 weeks, it still hasn't recovered. That makes me think that maybe I'm not Trafga D. Water Law!

I might be Stephen Strange who suddenly got the memories of a boy from a strange world and got confused and thought he was Law. With the power of the devil fruit, but in reality, I am still the same Stephen!!

It was a very bad confusion in my mind. It made me feel like I was going crazy!

Many strange thoughts popped up, such as maybe I am not Stephen or Law at all, but I have the memories of both of them in my head and am in Stephen Strange's body!!

Throughout the past week, I have been surfing the internet, looking for E-Books about meditation, focusing the mind, and exploring oneself. I found many books that explained the principles through the science of belief. Some were strange cults, but I only pulled out the advantages that I had considered, helping me focus and explore my own mind to find the answer... Who am I?

But the answer I got was vague. Although Stephen's memories were not as clear as black and white pictures, I could recall and reminisce if I focused hard enough. I could feel the smell, temperature, and sounds in those memories.

Law's memories were also very clear. They were color pictures that were strong in emotions and feelings. There was just no evidence to confirm that I was really Law because I still could not use the devil fruit power.

Or is it because I came to a different world, a different body, the devil fruit power attached to my body and the soul did not come with me, making me unable to use my power?

Even though I was still confused, life had to go on. In the blink of an eye, I closed my eyes and meditated while sitting on an empty dining table chair. There was nothing except for 3 menus: American food, foreign food, and dessert. Time passed. It was 11:40 before I closed my eyes, now it was 11:56.

The moment I opened my eyes, my phone rang. Christine sent me a message saying that she was now in the condo lobby. I typed back, "OK," followed by opening the app, clicking on the QR Code for visitors to my friends in the condo, for Christine to scan with the officer to allow her to take the elevator, which had to be scanned again, and the elevator would go up to the specified floor. As for residents, they would use their room cards instead.

This condo, in addition to being luxurious, also has an excellent security system. Although it seemed a bit complicated at first, having to grab a card to scan and use the device to go anywhere, it wasn't that bad after adjusting.

Not long after, Christine knocked on the door of the room, which had a CCTV camera connected to the app on her phone to see who was in front of the room. No need to go and peek through the peephole by yourself, and even tap to unlock the door, but I choose to go and open it myself.

Respecting women by opening the door to welcome them is normal for me, even though Stephen is quite arrogant and haughty, so he has never opened the door for Christine to come into this room by himself. He only taps the app and shouts to tell which room he is in. It is . . . strange, but it depends on each person's personality.

Now that I am the user of Stephen's body, I will follow my personality!

Actually, I want to go down to the lobby to pick Christine up myself, but . . . that is a bit too much against Stephen Strange's normal behavior. Anything that is too strange and deviates from normal can be suspicious.

Therefore, I have to gradually change Stephen's behavior, little by little, so that the few people close to him do not be too shocked. Starting with using a trembling hand, grab the doorknob and turn it gently, pulling the door towards me slowly as much as my fragile hand can bear.

"Ugh…" The pain shot into the center of my palm. Even though it had been a while, when I moved all five fingers, grabbed an object like a door, and twisted it, it still hurt a little. It felt like there was one large needle stabbing the center of my palm, and there were 10-20 smaller ones stabbing along the nerve points that connected all five fingers to the muscles of my palm.

"Stephen!" Christine called my name in surprise, her eyes widening, her mouth almost opening. I nodded to greet her slowly, pressing my lips together. This was to suppress the pain in my hand, and to suppress myself from laughing at the wings of her nostrils, which were slightly twitching from the shock of seeing Stephen walk in and open the door to welcome her for the first time since she had the privilege of visiting the penthouse.

"Good morning Christine, or… should I say good Noon? Hehe," I greeted, chuckling softly, and pointing towards the dining room. That she was familiar with from having dinner with Stephen many times. "Please invite the ladies to the dining table."

"Ah...ah...yes." She blinked her eyes again before leading me to sit on a chair at the dining table and picked up the menu of foreign food to look at before looking at me who slowly sat down opposite her with a curious look. Why did my behavior change so much? But she chose not to ask about that. But asked what I wanted to eat for lunch.

"How about a single dish for each person and 4-5 dish of snacks ?"

"That's fine." I nodded before picking up my phone to order the snacks that Christine ordered. All of them were protein and vegetable-focused. For the single dish, she chose spaghetti carbonara. I chose the soft tenderloin steak.

After ordering food through the app, I waited for the hotel's dining area to cook and put it on a tray to serve via the food elevator to the lobby in front of the room. The waiter would check the order, put it on a cart before knocking on the room door to serve it to the table. It was something that I really liked.

Compared to the previous world that I had experienced during the famine I haven't eaten for days... It's like a lie compared to now, lying around, sitting around, reading a book in my room, using my trembling fingers to poke my phone a few times, and after waiting a little while, I can eat delicious food.

I don't have to risk running into gangsters, thieves, mafia, or pirates while I'm eating at a tavern, hotel, or restaurant on the side of the road. I don't have to worry about a navy suddenly extorting money, or... or having a high-ranking member of the kingdom or a celestial dragon come and poke, point, and choose this person or that person to be a slave without any regard for the basic rights and freedoms of the people.

"Sigh," I sighed before slowly shaking my head, getting rid of the bad feelings that kept coming up, comparing my life experiences in the pirate world to this world, which were so different.

"Stephen..." Christine called my name in a worried voice. "It's not often that you sigh like this. Even the most difficult heart surgery recorded in our Metro Hospital, you didn't sigh like this."

"Umm..." I dragged out a soft sound from my throat. "Just tired, because my hand can't hold the scalpel anymore."