God's Gift for the Future (神から未来のプレゼント, Kami kara Mirai no Purezento?) is a oneshot manga by Eiichiro Oda, originally published in the October 1993 issue of Monthly Shonen Jump Original.
It was later reprinted in 1998 as part of Wanted!, a compilation of Oda's pre-One Piece stories.
Plot
Bran is a pickpocket who, although trying to correct his way of life, just cannot stop his "bad habit". God himself decides to kill him and give his soul a strict scolding to prevent him from doing more bad things in his future lives, then plans to kill him with the Pen of Fate, which forces the events written with it to come true. However, instead of writing "A meteorite will hit Bran's house", he accidentally writes "A meteorite will hit Branchi"; Branchi being a big department store. He only notices his error when an angel tells him.
God then decides to meet Bran himself and to give him the notebook as "a present" without saying anything more. Bran discovers the uses of the notebook, as casual things of his day were "predicted" inside the notebook, before noticing the last entry: "A meteorite will hit Branchi".
Some hours later, God appears again to speak with Bran, telling him that if he wants to be forgiven and to live, he needs to save the lives of all the people in Branchi. He also clarifies that only things written with the Pen of Fate will occur; nothing will happen if the notebook is written in normally. The only way to reverse an event written with the Pen would be to erase the writing with the "Eraser of Fate", but he lost it.
Despite arguing with God, Bran eventually heads to Branchi, while on the way to Branchi, stealing a gun from passing bodyguards on his way.
In an initial attempt to clear the store, Bran speaks to the CEO and explains the falling meteorite, but is simply laughed at. Desperate, he decides to enter the department store's radio studio, using his stolen gun to hijack the broadcast and announce that he planted a bomb in the building. He threatens everyone to evacuate if they don't want to die, and states that the bomb will explode after thirty minutes.
His announcement causes mass panic, and everyone rushes outside. However, his plan worked so well that everybody got outside too quickly, leaving only him inside the mall seven minutes before the arrival of the meteorite. In an attempt to stall, Bran decides to go outside and talk to the media who have come to report on the story. However, the CEO recognizes him from earlier, and accuses him of lying because of his "fake meteorite fortune telling". Everybody begins to laugh at him, and Bran shoots the ground in front of an observer to calm them down, declaring that a meteorite will definitely land on the department store.
With only a few minutes remaining, a woman notices that her son, Yoshio, is still inside of the building, so Bran dashes in to save him; as he does so, the police prepare to arrest him the next time he comes out. Finding Yoshio on the sixth floor with thirty seconds remaining, Bran grabs him and jumps out the window, falling as the meteorite hits Branchi just behind them. Shocked at Bran's correct prediction, the evacuated shoppers rush to catch Bran, but he lands safely on the ground in front of them. Returning Yoshio to his mother, Bran comments about their "luck" in the store being empty and walks away, declining their thanks.
Back in Heaven, God and his assistant Angel discuss Bran's good deed and decide not to kill him. God notices a new entry in the notebook, revealing that Bran had stolen the Pen of Fate and written "Bran somehow lands unharmed and lives happily ever after, sucker!", leaving both entities impressed with Bran's skills. On Earth, Bran empties the CEO's stolen wallet, disappointed that there wasn't much inside.
Trivia
- This is the first time Oda's joke characters Domo-kun and Nnke-kun appear.
- Oda claims to have written this story simply for the reason of wanting to draw a large building being destroyed.
- This is the first manga which Oda drew knowing he wanted to create "a story".
- This is perhaps Oda's only published story to take place in contemporary times (albeit still with strong fantasy elements).
Author Comment
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| English translation by Greg Werner. For comprehensive translation credits, see here. | |