I Quit The Straw Hats And Became Yamato's Fiancee

If you have a few minutes to spare, please read this.

First of all, Happy New Year to my precious readers. You guys have made 2024 the best year of my life. It has been exactly a year since a friend of mine suggested that I start a patreon to help me buy an iPad. I'm extremely proud to say that I've accomplished this little goal of mine. You guys have shown me that I too am capable of doing something. To many of you guys, $20 might be nothing significant but I live in India and the cost of living here is very low compared to the US, UK or Canada so even in the two-three months that I earned even $150, I felt overjoyed.

I started this translation work because I was suffering from depression and was doubting if I had a purpose in life. Yes, a 19 y/o idiot doubting if he will ever achieve something in life because he saw other kids, younger than him, making millions online for the past three years, while he was sitting at home studying for a government job exam while also studying for a degree. Thankfully my family helped me recover but I wanted to distract myself from that negativity and focus on doing something positive. Then I came across the fanfiction genre and got hooked, reading fun stories.

When I am at my university and my classmates have to write some formal application, they always come to me because, not to boast, my grammar is quite decent. I thought that as I am already reading this stuff, why not try translating and editing it? At worst I might waste a few hours a day for some time and it might be beneficial for my mental health.

Thus I started doing it back in I guess November 2023 (I don't even remember the exact month lol) and when I saw the huge response from you people, I started actually healing. Every Power Stone, comment, review, all of them helped me realize that I am not worthless. I finally understood why successful people say that the hardest part of finishing a goal is taking the first step.

One of my friends, who is also a fanfiction enthusiast, suggested that I open a Patreon account as we saw that people liked my editing. I followed his advice and even some readers helped me on a few other things and finally, on January 1, 2024, my Patreon was up. I wasn't expecting people to join but I still remember how happy I was with earning $50 that month.

I can't convey how happy I felt as, for the first time in my life, I was able to give my father, mother and sister gifts. I saw how proud they felt. We have a festival called 'Raksha Bandhan' where the sister ties a 'Rakhi' to her brother's hand and promises to protect her and it's also a tradition for the brother to give her some money. This was the first time I gave her money that I earned myself and I can't express how proud my mother and sister were.

My father is someone who doesn't show his emotions but I saw the happiness in his eyes when he opened the first gift I have ever given to him on his birthday, an expensive shirt. When he wore that shirt to work the next day and called my mother to tell her how proud he was, I legit cried for the first time in about six - seven months.

You guys made it possible for me to overcome depression and helped me realize what real happiness meant.

Love you.

~MrTranslator