-6 Months After the War-
.
.
.
"…one last thing, before I forget it.
That first android also said she often thought about possibly meeting the god who designed this spiral of life and death.
She wondered if she'd ever get the chance to kill him.
Heheheh…
I, too, wonder…
In light of a conclusion like this…"
.
"H̴͕̀̑̾͘O̶͖̥̍͝W̴̛̪̱̳̯̽̉͘ ̷̪̲͆Ṃ̴͍͚͆́̅̃Ä̵̻̠̠́̇̈́Ń̵̖͕̠͈͂̀̚Y̷̟̺̩̗͂̿̒͗ ̴̙͑Ò̶̤̣̠͝F̷̲̟͍̌ ̴͚̩͈̄͝Y̷̢̭͐̃̄O̸͇͍̔͝Ű̵̢̻̬͇͆ ̴̮̍̏͜H̷̡͎̫͛̅̀͝Ŭ̷̢̫͍̲M̶͙͈͚̬̽A̷̤͗Ņ̵͈̎̎̀͑S̶̨̩̺͆́ ̶̩̏̒F̷͓̙͂Ě̶̘̼͉̼͊Ē̷̲̏͝L̶̨͇̔͌̾ ̵̗̮̱̈́̓̈̑T̶̮̾Ḩ̵͉̆͝E̸͙͑͠ ̸̮̣͈͐̂̈́̾Ŝ̸̰͔̟̃̀̀A̴̰̬̍͘M̸̹̻̽͋͐É̶͎̜͓̂ ̴̙̿͘͠͝W̵̻̟̙̠̊̈́̀A̶̟̣͙̗̔͒̋Ỵ̷̦͉̇̊?̵̻͚́͊̚"̷̈̋̓
THIS BITES! The First Half
-o-END-o-
Author's Note of Xomniac, Ego of the CrossBrain: Seven years. Seven. Years. I started this in high school. I started it when I was 18. Just a no-name, no-talent kid with more ideas than actual sense or taste, rambling off ideas to a guy he barely knew over Skype… and then one of them stuck. One of them stuck, and it grew… and it grew… and holy shit did it grow. Grow beyond belief, beyond reckoning, beyond all reasonable measures of sanity, probability or possibility. I just… I can look back on this, all I want, and it will never be any less amazing.
Because the fact is… for the past 7 years, This Bites! has shaped my life. Literally shape my life. Through my last years of high school, through every year of college… hell, even in terms of my social life—which I distinctly didn't have for the longest time, let me tell you—there isn't a part of my life that This Bites! hasn't been touched or affected in any way.
And now… It's over. At close to two million words and seven years of hard work… It's over. And that's just hard to get over…
But then, don't count us down and out just yet. This Bites' first act might be over, but the story? Dream the hell on. We've got no choice but to wait for Oda to finish laying out the finishing touches of his masterpiece—no chance whatsoever of us going in there blind—but once he does? Once we know what we're getting ourselves into? Then come hell or high water, however many years we'll have had to wait, we're coming right back here, and we're getting right back to the grind.
Because This Bites!... It's a story that just won't quit. Not like that.
But! Until that day comes… don't touch that dial. We of the CrossBrain have so much more to offer than just fanfiction. Keep an eye out, and who knows… maybe there'll be an original story or two that catches your eye, just so.
Until then…
This is Xomniac, signing off.
~o~
Author's note of CV12Hornet, Superego of the Cross-Brain: I don't think I've ever stuck with something as long as I have This Bites! Before this, I barely wrote anything. I didn't have the discipline to stick to an idea. I still don't, most of the time, an experience I'm sure most authors are familiar with. It was helping Xomniac write this fic that showed me I could take an idea and stick with it long-term. It was this fic that told me I could write myself. Still wish I could be more productive, but what can you do.
As the years on This Bites! dragged on, and our update speed slowed, and especially this last year of hammering out the denouement, it wound up being me who would prod us back into working on this. Me who reminded us what more we had to say. And as we watch Oda's masterpiece finish unfolding, I suspect I'll be the one to keep up our own interest, and try to incorporate his many curveballs into our story.
This is a long-winded way of saying that I'm proud of This Bites!, and the work I've put into it. At all the jokes that landed well, at some desperate improvisations to close plot holes, at the battle scenes - and above all, the reactions of all of you when you read it. More than the rest of the Cross-Brain, my interest in this is sustained by you guys and your comments.
So thank you for reading, and stand by for new content from us, collectively and individually.
~o~
Author's Note of The Patient One, Id of the Cross-Brain: Once upon a time, a 22-year-old young man by the name of Mitis on TV Tropes started making pages for prominent One Piece fan fictions. Xomniac reached out to him and asked him to make a page for his story as well, a relatively recently published Self-Insert story with 11 chapters. Having little experience with good SIs, Mitis looked at the story, liked the story, and agreed to create the page. A few weeks later, with a bit of spare money in his pocket, he casually asked Xomniac for a physical description of his character, which he took to a deviantARTist named Nouin. Nine days after that, he presented the sketch to Xomniac, who was so blown away that he invited him backstage, where he allowed him to help write This Bites! with CV12Hornet. It wasn't long before Xomniac gave him leave to write the bulk of the chapters, channeling Xomniac's own ideas…and a few weeks later, the three of them formed a Freudian Trio.
Seven years later, I owe so much to Xomniac, CV12Hornet, and this story. I recognize my own abilities as a writer and editor, I've made so much progress towards reclaiming the heart that I lost as I grew up, I've met real friends and the love of my life through this story…and I've discovered how very, very fun it is to be on the giving end of a writer's trolling. Despite my ample experience on the receiving end, it's simply too much fun.
But even now, I'm a fan first and foremost. A fan that just so happens to have gotten this far thanks to a couple of simple acts of kindness that led to this story becoming all that it is. It has been my great pleasure to uplift this story, to help make it all that it could be, and it will be my pleasure to continue aiding this story and others in the future, inasmuch as I can.
Thanks be to God that I've made it this far, that I've been this fortunate and blessed. Thanks be to all of you for supporting all of us. And of course, thanks be to Eiichiro Oda. All of our brilliance simply builds off of his for this story, so let all credit go to where it is due. We'll be back, God willing, soon enough.
…it's honestly rather unnerving for me to say this. But the future won't wait, so we can't either. It's time to let this story rest until the time comes to pick it up again, and turn our attention to works that we can truly call our own…and likely some more fun fan fictions along the way. But I'll leave a few of my own recommendations for anyone looking for quality One Piece stories. And by no means is this a comprehensive list:
Boy With a Scar by Syluk
Coby's Choice by SwordOfTheGods
Come Morning, Together Again by mapplepie
The Coward's Redemption by Ssjhadic
For Better or For Worse by Syluk
A Gamer in South Blue by LordVishnu
The Hero That Never Came by TheGleeman
Justice by Black' Victor Cachat (Justice League/DCAU crossover)
Little Iron Giant: Reforged by Maximusmax
Platinum Pirate by Your Teammate (Pokémon crossover)
Somewhere To Belong by Pizza yum
Tomorrow's Romance Dawn by TheOtakuWithHazelEyes
Twelve Red Lines by Vikingr
…thirteen is a good number to stop on, yes…it's still just surreal to me to be concluding this. But it's time. As the last of the Freudian Trio, I leave you an expected message until we meet again: Patience is a virtue.