Fanfic / Copycat Isn't a Compliment

In a world where fanfiction is relatively looked-down-upon and Self-Inserts may as well have targets on their backs, one young adult female overcomes her anxiety and Self-Inserts into another person's Self Insert.

Because why be a part of a story if it isn't the best version of the story, right?

Ami, or Hijiri Ami, has found herself in Loguetown and established a routine for herself while waiting for the Straw Hat's arrival. When she does her daily rounds through town, she spots the most unexpected persons - not a certain grey-haired, chain-smoking (and decent) Marine. Rather it's a blond man with a grey Transponder Snail riding on his shoulder. A snail and a man she knows from one of her favorite stories. She can't believe it... But well, why not, given how great that particular story is?

Copycat Isn't a Compliment is a One Piece Self-Insert Fan Fiction by NightFlowerLuv, based on and set in the popular This Bites! with the blessing of its authors. As the author herself put it, it is "fanfic-ception", as both Ami and Cross are aware that they are self-inserts and that she was put into This Bites.

Can also be found on Spacebattles.

Plus, a Patreon page.

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Tropes contained in Copycat Isn't a Compliment:

• Adaptational Badass: Ms. Monday wins the competition on Little Garden, having slain a dinosaur much larger than either Sanji or Zoro had. She easily dragged it through the jungle.
• Ascended Extra: Ms. Monday aka Lulu and Mr. 9 aka Charles / Charlie join the crew after Whiskey Peak. Igaram is also on Merry because he didn't play decoy for Baroque Works and wasn't blown up by Robin.
• Batman Gambit: Ami takes the newspaper with Vivi's photograph from Loguetown in chapter 2 and shows it off to her crew mates in chapter 4 after catching the two bounty hunters. She knows Cross will instantly understand what she's doing, and at least one of the others will see the similarities between the photo and Vivi in her disguise.
• Bookcase Passage: The reference room in Iwai's shipyard has several doors hidden in the bookshelves. One leads to Lala's bar, the others to safehouses.
• Cast from Hit Points: Like the Op-Op-Fruit, Ami's Copy-Copy-Fruit uses up her stamina. Justified because Copy Essence draws directly from her life force.
• Cliffhanger:
  • Chapter 6's ending, Join the Party!: Robin crashes the crew's impromptu party on Whiskey Peak after they defeated every agent on the island.
  • Chapter 9's ending, What Not To Do In A Jungle: Vivi, Ami, Charles, Cross, and Soundbite accidentally split up when they are attacked by the Ms. Valentine and Mr. 5 duo at the Merry and run into the jungle.
  • Chapter 11's ending, The Choices We Make: Wapol's submarine emerges from the waves while Cross is sick with the super-cholera.
• Delayed "Oh, Crap!": Ami catches a package the Unluckies toss at her before they escape.
  “There’s no way this isn’t a bomb, is there?”
  “Nope,” Cross shook his head.
  I turned back to the package, blinked once…
  And then I was but one of the many people screaming.
• Didn't Think This Through: A copy of Jigglypuff's ability Sing puts Cross' easily to sleep. But Ami forgot that Sing works on everybody who hears it. So she has also knocked out both Nami and Lulu, right when Wapol is making a move to attack Bighorn where the crew currently is.
• Grievous Harm with a Body: Lulu catches Ms. Valentine who attempts to crush her, then throws her directly into the flight path of Mr. 5.
  • Ami performs the same feat a few days later.
• Jaw Drop: Cross' jaw drops to the ground when Soundbite shows off his new range (up to a mile) because of his transponder.
• Made of Plasticine: Because of different circumstances, Nami only gives Cross a Dope Slap instead of a punch. So while it knocks him down, it doesn’t knock him out. Ami used the month she has already spent in the One Piece World to strengthen her body so she’s less brittle. The two of them still are relatively fragile compared to the others who, as natives, are Made of Iron.
• Mood Whiplash: In chapter 9, the lighthearted conversation about the advantages of being a royal switches tone once Vivi starts talking about the World Nobles having a grudge against her family.
  • It switches back to funny when Cross jokes if it was about a member of the Nefertari family breaking something priceless. Ami and Soundbite continue the Ouran High School Host Club reference. Vivi shuts the jokes down and reveals that her family was the only one who rejected the ascension to become World Nobles.
• Noodle Incident: Little Garden ends up similarly chaotic as in This Bites!. Ami finds herself having a picnic with the other Straw Hats, the giants, and Ms. Goldenweek, with her knocked-out Baroque Works associates surrounding them. She doesn't remember anything about how they ended up in this situation after saving Dorry and Broggy because she ended up overwhelmed. Cross and Ussop's attempts at constructing a timeline of the events failed.
• Not His Sled: Ami calls out Luffy when he attempts to break of Merry's mast as a makeshift weapon to get Laboon's attention. Nami violently makes sure to stop him.
  • Because of Ami’s interference, Vivi reveals that she’s Alabasta’s princess hours before they arrive at Whiskey Peak instead of around any of Baroque Work's agents.
  • Ms. Sunday doesn’t wait until the crew leaves Whiskey Peak on the Going Merry. Rather she crashes the party they are having on Luffy’s insistence. Igaram thus stays with Vivi, as he doesn't play decoy.
• Now You Tell Me: Nami only accidentally discovers that Cross is Made of Plasticine by giving him a Dope Slap. And Ami knew and shares the same weakness. So why didn't she tell so sooner when any of the crew could have accidentally injured them severely? She forgot.
• Oh, Crap!: In chapter 4 As You Mean to Go On, the Going Merry accidentally lands on Laboon's back while he was sleeping and rudely awakened him. He quickly sinks to get Merry off, then rises in front of the crew.
  • In chapter 5 Chaotic Heart, the Unluckies appear outside the control room inside Laboon's tunnels. Cue tossed time bomb.
  • In chapter 6 Join the Party!,
    • Vivi's ditziness rears its head as she once again reveals the secret of who is Baroque Works' boss. It leads to no less than 5 separate breakdowns.
    • Ms. Sunday makes an appearance much earlier than expected.
  • In chapter 10 Panic Induction and Reduction for Dummies,
    • Mr. 5 is hiding inside Going Merry, alone. That means that Ms. Valentine will launch an attack from the air.
    • After the group has dragged the two human agents into the jungle, they come back to find the Unluckies waiting for them.
  • In chapter 11 The Choices We Make,
    • Ami recognizes the symptoms of Cross' super-cholera seconds before he falls unconscious.
    • several moments occur quickly one after another when a large part of the crew step onto deck and Nami and Zoro confront Ami that Cross - who currently has no filter because of his fever - somehow knows about Vivi's relationships to both Alabasta's king and the rebel leader, their names, that Ami once said something about "spilling information she wasn't supposed to", and that she and Cross seem to know each other from somewhere. So they would like an explanation now.
• Poor Communication Kills: Because Cross didn't ask Ami about the events of his story, and she was too nervous to tell him ahead of time, Cross still lands in the goo teeming with super-cholera bacteria on Little Garden and falls sick.
• Recursive Fanfiction: Because it's a fanfic based on another fanfic.
• Relocating the Explosion: Ami scrambles for the hatch leading onto Laboon's back and shoots the bomb the Unluckies tossed her into the sky by reducing its gravity.
• Secret-Keeper: Ami and Cross to each other. Only they know at the beginning that they both originate from another universe, and that they have future knowledge because the world of One Piece is a popular story back home. Deconstructed when Cross falls ill and spills information he shouldn't logically know, like about Vivi's father and the identity of the Alabasta rebel leader. The entire crew, especially Nami and Zoro, homes in on Ami who implied she shares his source of knowledge. The tension only starts running higher once they are on the former island of Drum, with suspicion surrounding her, no confidant to share the burden with, and her own anxieties flaring up.
• Secret Underground Passage: Several tunnels lead from Iwai's shipyard to other places in the city, one each for some safehouses and one to Lala's bar and back. Fitting, as both have ties to Loguetown's underworld.
• Squee: When Sanji's drags out a barrel onto the deck as the Merry heads for Reverse Mountain, Ami takes a squeaky intake of delight.
• Stealth Pun: Chapter 6's title, Join the Party! The Straw Hats have a party on Whiskey island - the same party that Ms. Sunday crashes. Mr. 9 and Ms. Monday also join the crew aka they "join the party".
• Unreliable Narrator: Ami deals with severe anxiety issues and gets overstimulated easily. So she often misses crucial details and events like Carue boarding the Going Merry. At worst, her higher cognitive functions shut down entirely. It leaves her running on autopilot, unable to recall the events she witnessed. She also has trouble reading people and social situations in general, so she regularly jumps to the worst conclusions.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: That is Ami's reaction in chapter 1 as she recognizes Cross and realizes her self in the alpha dimension put her into This Bites!.
  • Followed by Cross' realization that they are both self-inserts and that Ami was put into the fanfic he's part of.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Cross, Soundbite, and Ami. Soundbite and Cross love to troll and insult each other. Ami and Cross are prone to grating on each other's nerves because of their different temperaments, attitudes, and approaches to the same situation (like when to reveal the secret that they know future events). Ami and Soundbite clash because the latter likes to troll or insult the former. At the same time they easily joke with and quickly jump in to defend each other. One good example of the trio's strengthening bond as of chapter 11 is Soundbite reaching out to Ami when he can't sleep while Cross is sick and unconscious and the crew is suspicious of her.
• What the Hell, Hero?: One of Ami's biggest points of contention with Cross is his tendency to insult and / or manipulate people like Smoker or Vivi with his words. She believes there are better ways than to emotionally break someone who doesn't deserve the harshness, even when the point he's making is true or it's to push events to a better path.