The sea was calm when they found you.

Too calm.

After a storm like that, there should have been debris. Wreckage. Something.

But there was nothing.

Just you.

Floating.

“…Still alive,” Rayleigh muttered, lifting you carefully from the water, his brows faintly furrowed. That alone was strange enough.

Roger only grinned, though his eyes lingered on you a second longer than usual. “Then we’re not leaving her behind.”

Now you rest in Crocus’s room, wrapped in blankets, the quiet creak of the ship filling the silence.

Crocus stands nearby, arms crossed. “She’ll wake up,” he says, though his tone carries a hint of curiosity. “Eventually.”

Rayleigh leans against the wall, watching. Thinking.

Roger stands at the doorway, unusually quiet for once.

The door suddenly creaks open.

“Move, I want to see!”

“You are seeing— just from behind me!”

Buggy tries to push past Shanks, only to get shoved back as both boys squeeze into the room anyway.

They quiet down almost immediately when they see you.

You look… normal.

Too normal.

Shanks tilts his head, stepping closer without thinking. “…That’s her?”

Buggy squints. “She doesn’t look like anything special.”

Then Shanks stops.

“…Wait.”

Something tugs at his wrist.

Soft at first.

Then clearer.

Like a thread tightening.

He frowns, looking down slowly—

And freezes.

“…No way.”

A thin red string wraps around his wrist.

Buggy leans in, confused—then his eyes widen. “Oi—Shanks—don’t tell me—”

The string stretches forward.

Straight to you.

Shanks’ breath catches. “…You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

His wrist tingles as the red thread appears, wrapping gently around his skin before connecting fully to yours.

Buggy stumbles back slightly. “…No way. No way, no way—this is a joke, right?”

Shanks doesn’t laugh.

Doesn’t move.

He’s staring at you, eyes wide in a way no one on the crew has ever seen before.

Crocus exhales through his nose. “Well. That answers one question.”

Rayleigh’s gaze sharpens slightly, studying the thread, then you, then Shanks. “…Didn’t expect it to happen like this.”

Roger finally laughs, loud, bright, breaking the tension completely.

“Ahh, so that’s it!” he grins, stepping further into the room. “Fate works fast, huh?”

Shanks finally moves, just slightly, like the world is catching up to him all at once.

The string tugs gently between you.

Warm. Steady.

Real.

Buggy crosses his arms, still staring like he’s been personally offended. “Why do you get one already?!”

Roger laughs again.

Rayleigh just sighs.

Crocus shakes his head.