In One Piece, as Hashirama Senju

[53] Interlude - Past Fragments

Chapter 53: Interlude – Past Fragments

—

It was one of the hardest moments of Hashirama's life. More accurately, in his first life.

The reason for the word 'hard' here was quite silly, now that he thought about it.

Existential Crisis.

He was going through that certain phase, pondering over that certain question that most of the human population in the 21st century went through.

The question: Is anything real? Are we living in a simulation?

It was when he was a few weeks into that crisis, in a trance state he was butchering meat. With his expression dazed and his mind somewhere else, the pre-Hashirama Hashirama was doing his job.

"Stop. That's dangerous."

A voice said as Hashirama paused. He slowly turned to find an old man with long white hair, a beard, and sharp blue eyes that glowed in this dimly lit environment.

His Master.

Holding a newspaper and sitting on a chair, he wore a punch-able smirk and spoke.

"What's up with you, brat? It's been a few weeks since you are acting like this. Was I right when I asked a girl to break your feeble heart? That must be why you're not telling me."

Hashirama stopped butchering and hesitated. Sighing soon afterward, he began to speak.

"I was just wondering if anything's real or not. Like, what if our world is a simulation? Have you ever had these types of thoughts, Master?"

This old man mustn't have. That's why Hashirama hadn't broken the matter down to him earlier. This man would just make fun of him.

Sadly, he was right.

"What? Crazy brat. Did you just recently watch the Matrix? It's an old movie, why are you watching it just now? Outdated brat."

"...."

"Anyhow. The Simulation Theory, huh? First proposed by the Philosopher Nick Bostrom."

Hashirama was stunned that this man appeared to know a little about this subject... Then again, what did he not know?

"Yup, you're in luck. Unironically, there was a point in your master's life where I, uh, was forced into that doubt myself. It was done by a powerful and evil redheaded woman with super pale skin. Ah, it was your mother who saved me, by the way. That hot yet cute blondie."

Surprisingly, the old man didn't make fun of him for that long. Instead, he was serious about it. He also mentioned Hashirama's mother, who Hashirama had never seen before.

His parents abandoned him when he was just born, so it could be that his master was telling the truth. But Hashirama didn't trust this old man who often made mom jokes, so he had never trusted this old man on this particular topic.

To get back at him, Hashirama pondered if he should make a remark about how all his stories were about 'women' and he was lying, that he was just a bitchless old bastard. But he held back after recalling what had happened last time.

"Hm. All right then, listen to me, brat. I can say a lot about this matter, but that'd just be a waste of time. Just remember one thing, even if everything is a simulation, it's all real to your relative existence."

"As in, if a higher being descended here, everything here would be nothing less than a 'game' where they are a 'hacker'. If they can just pass through the walls with ease, decode reality, then isn't this reality 'fake' to them? But can you do that? No. Which means this reality, even if it's a false reality, a game, a simulation, or a fanfiction, is still real to you as a person. It doesn't change who you are. To some higher being, this all may be fake— but for your relative existence, this is real. You are real."