PHASE I [ 6 00 ] You wake up, and you're in a camp ground. The graphics aren't bad here, not really, but they're definitely last gen -- not the type of quality expected out of ViViD. On top of that, every once in awhile, the scenery sort of... glitches before going right back to normal as if nothing ever happened. If you're particularly unlucky, your own body parts might glitch out for a moment too, appearing as nothing more than broken code and then back to normal. Pretty weird, right? Oh well, don't worry about it. Totally harmless.
Glitches or not, you're still in a camp ground along with everyone else. There's a fire, there's some tents, some trees. Maybe some s'mores? You got it all. You're also not wearing what you were before. No, now you're wearing some sexy shorts, or maybe you've got a whip at your side, or maybe you've got a really classy fedora. And if you're one of those lucky few who have all three at once? Good for you! Try not to blind everyone with all that sexy.
Or, you know, the game will glitch out again and you'll be stuck wearing something else. That's definitely not as sexy.
PHASE II [ 730 ] If you decide to finally go exploring that crazy jungle, you'll find that you have a wide range of exploring options. Seems ViViD's taking a crack at their very own open world game -- this one modeled after your run of the mill adventure game. There are rivers to swim through (complete with alligators)! There are cliffs to scale (complete with angry birds ready to peck at your face)! There are even ravines to swing across on vines (just like Tarzan)!
Actually, the game is made to allow you to do just that -- those vines are all conveniently lined up for everyone to use them to swing across. Go on, it'll be fun. If you miss, you'll just lose a life, right?
Of course, if you overshoot your goal, you might run into one of the other glitches; the white space that you'll stumble into implies that you flew right off the world map and are now in unprogrammed space. Don't worry, you'll dissolve eventually, slowly but surely, and will reappear on the cliff so you can try again. There's no other way around that ravine either. Still, it's only a little frightening watching your body disappear piece by piece, right?
PHASE III [ 900 ] If you manage to scale one of those cliffs or swing across that ravine or cross that river, you may find yourself a chest. It's a treasure chest, and you don't even need a key to open it! Open it right up, a cute little jingle will play, and… nothing will be there.
Or the item will be there, hovering in the air, something amazing, fantastic, incredible that you've always dreamed of having and wanting, and -- you can't touch it. No matter what you try, it hovers right out of reach, and you can't interact with it at all.
Oh, and the cute little jingle is going to follow you around now, on constant loop.
PHASE IV [ xxxx ] So you died.
No big deal. Perhaps you got eaten by a crocodile. Perhaps you fell off a cliff. Perhaps another player stabbed you (that's rude). Either way, you've only lost one life and you have two more so it's nothing. After all, this is just a video game, right? It's fine.
Except it's really not fine.
You'll find yourself in a graveyard, tombstones all around you (maybe one of them has your name on it -- hope the epitaph doesn't suck). It's nighttime, it's foggy, and you're with the other players who have also lost a life. For a while, nothing will happen. The cold and quiet of the night will start to seep into your bones -- and then a figure appears. It can't be killed, it is silent and grim, and it does not speak.
Instead, it approaches each person there, reaches out and touches them on the forehead. Even you. All you can see for a long moment is corpses around you, the dead faces of everyone who had been with you in the ViViD level, flesh rotting away and faces caught in expressions of horror --
And then you're all dropped back into the camp ground together again. It's sunny and cheery and everything is fine, and you're down to two lives. Just, you know... don't lose the rest, okay?
BONUS [ xxxx ] You have a butler now, congratulations! He's following you around everywhere. He's an NPC, and not a very well-made one; sometimes his face glitches out, and he doesn't so much walk behind you as just… appears right next to you. He's handy though because if you ask him to, he'll pull up the start menu. You can sort out your inventory there and exit the game if you wish (except no matter how many times you press the "quit" button, you... can't).
Sometimes, though, that doesn't work out so well. Not the start menu but the butler himself. He might appear next to you on a narrow cliff face, knocking you right off the edge, or appear right on top of a hornet's nest, making them angry enough to go after, well, you. Maybe he accidentally summons a bear when all you were trying to do was ask him where the next dungeon is. That's unfortunate.
You can't seem to get rid of him either, no matter what you do. How annoying. Hopefully he doesn't cause you too much trouble because that bear... well, that bear's pretty angry.
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namuuuuuuur
To give a grave understatement. Now, his coolness--
Ehh. It comes and goes.
Not to say that Namur goes without a look that can only be taken for complete surprise. This is the realest thing that's gone down for him since the day started. There are infinite worlds and possibilities out there, likely as not, but he likes to think that this might be a little more distinctive than mere coincidence. ]
... neither. [ This is where he makes his face fall into more of a neutral grimace and proceeds to try to pat out the flames on his pants again. Whether or not he'll end up catching his sleeves on fire remains to be seen. ] It's just some bad luck; trying to send a message with it or falling into a lake would make things worse.
corazoooooooon
Namur moves to stand over him, hand still outstretched, but this time palm up, inviting.]
Shit like that happens t' y' all the time? Oughta be tough as shitty whale skin, then. What's yer name, man?
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Rosinante straightens himself out as best he can once he's standing, offers a shade of a smile for Namur's words. ]
Thanks. [ For the save and the whale skin comment, which he thinks is a compliment. Most likely. ] You can call me Corazon. Of course, it might be helpful to know what to call you, too.
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[Namur rolls that around in his mouth a little, and only manages to come out with a badly accented version.]
Huh. Anyway. Name's Namur. An' I got a weirdass question for y' but I'm curious. Ever hear a the Grand Line?
[So far, no one that isn't from his own world has heard of it.]
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Before I got here, I never met someone who hadn't heard of it. If we know the same one, it's a relief to hear someone else is sharing my goal here. [ He stoops a little to get a better look at Namur. It's rare he comes across people who manage to stand higher than his waist anymore, and somewhere in the back of his mind, Corazon bears an appreciation for that, too. ]
Not that I can say I expected to meet a fishman anytime soon.
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[Look man, he can play the I know what you are game too. Namur shoots a look at Corazon, a rather pointed one, and if Corazon's awakened his Observation Haki, he might feel a... shift. After a moment Namur makes a noise behind his teeth, the shift gone as he casually turns as if to walk away. He waves at Corazon to follow.]
C'mon man, show y' the shithole where they host the newbs. Y' get one month free. After that yer out on yer ass, sheheheh!
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God knows Doffy taught that lesson to everyone. If there's more to Namur's look than natural means, however, it goes unnoticed. ]
It's not an insult to me to get help from any stranger, so... as long as you want to save the world we came from, I can't think of a problem between us yet. [ Slightly concerned with how shitty "shithole" is, now that's a problem. ]
Nice of them to give us a grace period, though.
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Dunno how much a that shit they tell y' at the meetin' y' oughta believe. Ain't all a it true, though, that much we know for sure.
[He walks briskly, leading Corazon toward the residential district and the basic apartments there.]
Did they give y' any job suggestions?
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Yeah, I got three. Deciding if I'm really suited for them might take some work, though. [ An antique shop... knowing his luck, he'd break more than he could pay for. ]
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I was actually between jobs before I came here. I took time off for something important, but... I guess I took a little too long with it. I wound up resigning. [ In a roundabout way by even the most lax of standards. But details are overrated. ]
Can't say I'm trained for work that doesn't involve sailing. I thought I'd find a ship to the next island and see what I could get there. Maybe fishing...?
[ Where he could peacefully live 15 minutes until accidentally falling overboard and drowning. ]
Still, doesn't make much difference anymore. What about you?
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[Namur spins, walking backwards for a moment so Corazon can see the tattoo on his chin. It still mostly looks like a big eight that someone tried to mess with. Namur pats it.]
People used t' recognize this shit here an' know better'n t' mess with the Eighth Division Commander a the Whitebeard Pirates. But truckin' on up t' Trabia all they says is whoa shit, sure y' ain't a monster? A'ight then, go t' school y' damn rube or yer out on yer tailfin. So I go t' their shitty military school an' get m'self all SeeD certified an' whatnot so basically I become a Marine, right, an' what happens next? Bam!
[He slaps his fist in his hand and spins around facing forward again, gesturing wide at the city around them.]
Wind up here where none a nothin' matters!
[He's not bitter about spending years in a boringass school for nothing, nope, not him.]
Lookin' t' try somethin' new, might as well go for it. Be anythin' y' want, do whatever the hell y' think's gonna make y' happy. Ain't like y' got nobody t' disappoint, an' if y' sink it ain't like yer goin' any further down than a shitty li'l pond full a garden fish, eh?
[Namur slugs Corazon's arm in a friendly way there at the end. Corazon wants to be all dodgy about his past, that's cool. Namur's got nothing to hide, he's used to wearing it all on his face anyway.]
So what'd they suggest?
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Seems so obvious now that he knows what that symbol is supposed to be, of course. What it once was? Same's the same either way. The spirit of it all remains, and he can appreciate that much. He's always been chained to something. The Holy Land, his brother, his duties.
He still is, in enough ways to bear remembering. At the very least, he allegedly has a world to help restore. And his past isn't something he sees as potentially useful or good to bring up, for the most part.
Even if only temporarily, the clean slate he's presented with here is a very genuine one. Starting a life under wraps with Law would have been a clean slate in a way, but he knows himself well enough to know he'd inevitably feel drawn to try to contain his brother again. He knows better than to dwell on anything that only could have been, too, instead of the opportunity he has. ]
Ah... antiques, "roller derby," or cosmetics. [ The pinnacle of career options. ] Sorry to hear about your troubles, but I could do with the fresh start. I don't think I've been in a position where the past doesn't matter before.
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Sheheh damn, man. Find any a 'em a li'l too dusty, come see me. Know a couple shitheads could use a good hand what knows a li'l somethin' usually goes 'longside sailin' for certain crews, if y' catch my drift.
[And it's not like you can exactly resign from being a pirate.]
[He stops in front of a towering skyscraper.]
Well, here y' are. G' luck with yer new life an' all that shit, an' I'll see y' 'round, eh?
[He holds out a hand to shake on it.]
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Goes to show what he still has left to learn about this world. He hesitates for half a second before reaching out to shake Namur's hand, more personal hangup than anything (that age-old conundrum where this fishman is interesting and he'd like to get better acquainted, but half of his brain is insisting that certain key aspects of his existence are putting the odds out of his favor in the long-term). ]
Yeah, you too. It's not like I plan on leaving town.